About blessing way pastures

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Blessing Way Pastures is the vision of Angel for a regenerative farm and homestead.  

Laurie and Angel Phillips Permaloff moved from the big city to the country in August of 2013 after many years of yearning for a simpler life, lived closer to the land.  With a love of the great outdoors, Angel is thriving.  Laurie still works away from the home and it’s coming home to the land that helps her decompress and find peace.
We have worked toward this goal of growing more of what we consume, treading gently on the earth and finding ways to not only keep from detracting from the planet, but to actually help it regenerate.  What a wonderful world it would be if we all worked to make it a little better, a little healthier, more diverse and robust during our trips around the sun?

In December of 2018 Angel's folks, Carol and Bruce, join us here on the farm!   We begin a new phase of life with a deeper commitment to our vision and additional hearts and hands to contribute.

This web site is meant to share our journey with family and friends, old and new.  Thank you for coming along for the ride!
Many Blessings,
Angel
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7/1/22 - BLESSING WAY PASTURES - OFFICIAL POSTED ANNOUNCEMENT:
*As of August 1st, 2022 we will be raising our milk prices to cover both increases in feed costs and to start drawing an income for the first time in 3.5 years.*
In keeping with our commitment to Fully Transparent Farming, I will provide details below for anyone interested in reading more!
We are truly blessed to be able to provide nutrient-dense, powerhouse foods for the 275+ families that come here to the farm to pick up directly from us through any given month. We currently are running a 6-page WishList for families hoping for farm goodies and I do rotate through the list to provide milk/cream/eggs to those customers when we have extra from vacation cancellations and the like.
Thank you all for supporting our little farm!!
NEW PRICING:
A2A2 Jersey WHOLE milk with HIGH butterfat (8-12%)
100% grass-fed - no grains, ever. Period.
Filtered and chilled only, with all the probiotics, butterfat and enzymes intact!!
Real Milk - Half Gallon - $7.50
Real Cream - Pint - $15.00
*Double Cream ONLY sold here!! You spoon this out, no pouring!!*
*The rest of the story - *
When we started our dairy 3.5 years ago, it was with the knowledge that we were going to be lucky to cover our feed costs the first few years!! (We do not have enough acres, machinery or time to grow our own feed crops)
Our first mission was to provide an excellent food for our own family and build from there, growing our customer base and herd in tandem.
In 2018 hay was costing us $60.00 for a large round bale. Last year it went up to $85.00 and remains there this year, so far. We go through approx. 288 bales a year, so that's an increase of $7,200 per year, just for dry hay to feed our cows/sheep through the winter and transitional seasons on either end.
Feed costs for bagged alfalfa pellets, Chaffhaye, mineral supplements, Organic Soy-Free chicken feed, etc., have all increased by 15-18%. Fuel...well, you know that first-hand!!
We did not intend to draw salaries the first 3 seasons of milking 2018-2021 when we only had 3-4 cows in milk. This spring we had 3 of the heifers that were born on our farm come into milk and were expecting 7 milking cows to be in production. Thankfully the new girls are overachievers and are providing 4.5-6 gallons a day which is far exceeding our conservative forecasting of 3 gallons/day for a first-year heifer. YAY!
Sadly, Ginger, who was the first heifer born here and was to be a 2nd year heifer was discovered to have lost her calf somewhere mid-pregnancy. She showed no outward signs, so we didn't know she was no longer pregnant and dried her off 2 months prior to her 6/3 due date. Regretfully, we are now down her 6 gallons per day for this milking season and will hope to get her bred-back to come into milk again next spring. Combining the lost production for the season with still needing to pay approx. $300.00/mo to feed her, Ginger is costing us 20K this year that she's not in milk. Ouch.
Finally, I ran the numbers on what we are generating this year vs. our OPERATIONAL expenses (feed, fuel, utilities, taxes/insurance)
*NOT included are capital expenses like fencing, gravel for the driveway, a new skid-steer to move hay/turn compost, etc...*
Production is running @ about 21 gallons/milk per day, average. At $10.00/gallon that generates $76,650.00 worth of milk. We sell out of everything our family does not directly consume.
That sounds like a nice number, right?
Then you have to deduct the feed cost of $58,000.00, leaving $18,650 to "pay" ourselves with. We contribute, on average, 115 hours per week of our time to tend to this farm.
Angel @ 60 hours / Laurie @ 40 hours / Carol @ 15 hours. Not counting the seasonal/occasional "extra" jobs like sheep shearing, cleaning out the large chicken coop... etc.,
So, when you divide out the remaining income by the hours, in this first half of 2022 we're each making $3.58/hour for our labor.
As we have whittled down the costs as much as we're able for both time and financial inputs over the last 3.5 years, it's abundantly clear that a price increase is necessary at this time, so I started running some numbers to see what we needed to aim for.
IF we had Ginger in milk we WOULD have been producing approx. 26 gallons/day. That WOULD have been 9,490 gallons/year. IF we were charging $15.00/gallon that would have generated $142,350. That amount COULD have covered the feed costs of $58,630 AND an hourly rate of $14.00 for labor income ($83,720).
*Remember, Laurie and I have full-time careers that are necessary for us to afford our farming habit!!
So, currently reality without Ginger - if we raise our milk price to $15.00/gallon for the current year's average production of 21 gallons/day, we will still run $20,000 short of paying both feed/labor costs @ the goal of $14.00/hour.
God-willing, we will have Ginger AND our 2 current yearling heifers all in milk NEXT year (Yes - you have to feed them for 2 years before they have a calf and start producing milk!!) and the numbers will start moving in a more positive direction.
So, to summarize this long note: We are raising our milk price to $7.50/half-gallon, $15.00/gallon and we will STILL be subsidizing our customers milk with free labor through the next spring.
Thankfully, we love our cows and have a great passion for providing an exceptional product for the families that value what we offer: *Regeneratively Raised, 100% grass-fed, A2A2, vet-confirmed DISEASE-FREE Real Milk from our 100% Jersey herd of cows*
Thank you for allowing us to serve you and the planet!!
Many Blessings,
Angel, Laurie, Carol and Bruce