Back in 2020 we had the good fortune to pick up a retired Bluebell Freezer truck body for a fraction of the cost of a walking freezer.  Besides the price, it has many features that we’ve come to appreciate.  I particularly like the fact that it has two independent refrigeration systems on it.  As we often have thousands of dollars of product in the freezer, redundancy is as crucial to me as it is for NASA.  In the winter months I’m able to operate the system with just one of the units, but in the throes of triple digits, it takes both units to keep the meat below zero.  

Last week, we faced an unexpected setback when one of our refrigeration units failed. Imagine my panic when I went to prep the coolers for the Elgin Market on Thursday and it wasn't bitter cold in the freezer. I don't dare go into the freezer without a winter coat and gloves on as the typical temperature is -10*. Quickly assessing the situation I discovered that one of the compressors was not working. Thankfully,  I know a few refrigeration technicians and was able to get someone out to diagnose the problem the following day. It seems that the compressor locked up and needs to be replaced.  The saving grace was that the other system was able to keep the meat frozen and I didn’t lose any product.  Though the product is still frozen, it isn’t cold enough to stay frozen through a sweltering four-hour farmers market, especially when it’s 105 degrees (or higher) outside.  

Before we bought the Bluebell freezer, I was exploring the idea of storing the bulk of our product at a local food locker. I'd also secured several reach-in freezers to keep here at the ranch for the daily restocking of the coolers.  So, when the Bluebell went down, I had a backup strategy ready to implement.  I panicked a bit when I learned the original food locker was no longer in business, but I was able to find a new facility a few miles away and made an appointment on Friday to drop off the bulk of our meat.  Though our inventory is pretty low right now, moving a thousand pounds of frozen meat is never a joyful endeavor. 

 

Knowing it would take two weeks to get the new compressor installed, we set to work reorganizing our meat storage. On Friday, Molly cleaned 10 large white coolers, preparing them for the meat transfer from the Blue Bell. Meanwhile, John shifted enough inventory to the reach-in freezers to meet the market's demands for the following week. The remaining stock was then moved to the large coolers and transported to the food locker. 

Ironically, we now have to make an appointment to access our meat. This is going to make filling orders and restocking our market coolers a much more time-consuming endeavor.

 

The food locker charges by the pallet, so I couldn’t justify the cost to store some of our bulky, low value items.  As such, we are offering a 25% discount on all our bones (beef, pork, and lamb) as well as bags of fat (beef, pork, and lamb).  We’re offering the same deal on chicken frames (this is what remains after you remove the breast, legs, and wings).  Chicken frames make great soup stocks and are also excellent if you’re feeding your pets a raw diet.  

Our freezer misfortune is quite an inconvenience - both financially and logistically.  To help us deal with these additional challenges we’d appreciate it if you could place a pre-order as we are unlikely to have our full array of products at the markets.  Pre-ordering is simple. There’s a link at the top of every newsletter that takes you to our order form.  Once we’ve filled the order, we will send you an online invoice and schedule you for pickup at one of our markets. 

 

Thank you so much for your patience and support.  See you at the market!

We're pleased to announce the Pflugerville Pfarmers Market's permanent move to the Green Red Barn at the back of Heritage Park. Say goodbye to the hot parking lot, and hello to shaded comfort with parking available next to the barn.