LET’S GO BACK
by Tricia Kimmel, March 22, 2021
Welcome! I’ve been agonizing for days now about what to include in this first post. I knew it was supposed to elaborate on “Who We Are”, but how do you condense decades of living into one snapshot that appears on the footprint of the web, and is probably fairly fleeting (if we’re honest)?
I got my inspiration last evening. As I stepped out the door into a beautiful dusk, I was first bit with the chill of March, albeit a very beautiful non-wintery March for Montana. And then I heard the most amazing, calming and invigorating music. It took me a minute to realize where it was coming from, but I soon spotted seven bald eagles silhouetted in the trees on the other side of the barn. I’ve heard eagles pitch their familiar squawk hundreds of times, but I have never in all my life heard them coo until last night. That’s the only way I can describe the music they were making. I quietly moved closer for a better listen and a picture, but the crunch of the gravel under my feet gave me away and they stopped talking. I was able to snap a photo, but I didn’t hear them again. Welcome back to the ranch, Ladies and Gents. It’s good to see you again after a long Montana winter.
The significance of America’s established symbolic icon in my yard last evening was not lost on me. We launched Wholesome Beef Direct to bring Kimmel Ranch beef to dinner plates across America because, well, that’s our God-given responsibility. There once was a time when families in the West ate the food they grew or hunted on their own land, or they were able to trade and purchase from neighbors who produced what they couldn’t. Anything else they couldn’t acquire locally arrived on a train or freight wagon to a thriving little general store in a growing town that was patronized by folks who didn’t feel the need to travel hundreds of miles to buy it directly. Rural schools were full, and communities were strong. People needed each other, and they knew it.
Today, entire fortunes are built and lost on the trade of agricultural commodities between countries. COUNTRIES! Somewhere along the way our food supply chain has evolved to bring (and send) vegetables, grains, fruit, pork, beef, lamb and countless other products to continents around the globe. Somewhere along the way, it was deemed that your beef must be run through an intricate web of politicians, lawyers, inspectors and modern-day cattle barons (think the Big Four Meatpackers) to be safer and better (…until the system breaks, as in the Coronavirus pandemic, but that’s a topic for another day.)
I’m not denying that there have been good safety measures implemented that protect our food supply. And I won’t deny that America’s farmers are better equipped to feed the world than ever before. But why does that translate into inferior-quality beef being injected into our food chain, when we can grow a better-quality product right here in our own backyard? Safe does not always mean healthy. Just because something won’t kill you, is it good for you? The quality of the food on our grocery store shelves is yet another topic for another post.
America, it’s time to take a step back in time. The long winter is beginning to fade, and hope springs eternal.
Call us to find out how to get Montana beef on your plate while improving the land, your pocketbook, and your palate! 844-406-BEEF
