As many of you are aware, last year was a terrible year for Frijolito Farm. Because of a combination of extended bad weather, rising costs, mechanical malfunctions, supply interruptions, and inadequate infrastructure, we ended up thousands of dollars in the hole despite having the highest gross sales in our four-year history. Sales were higher than they’ve ever been…but the broilers were underweight because I couldn’t afford enough feed to bulk them up. Hundreds of eggs had to be discarded because I simply couldn’t clean them fast enough. Over half the hens got killed by wildlife because I didn’t have materials to repair hen houses and build adequately protected runs. Early planting didn’t get done because the soil was too wet. Later plantings were mostly overrun by weeds, because spending so much time trying to mitigate the other problems caused me to largely neglect the gardens.
Failure is not an option, though. Several people have balances on gift cards they purchased last year. I owe them product. I couldn’t go out of business even if I wanted to. The challenge in front of me is how to overcome last year’s problems and succeed this year…while starting out with a negative balance.
To that end, I’m making some big changes.
