Throwing Gasoline on the Fire 

It's hard to believe it's already been a year since the moment our business changed forever. This is all of the video I took, last March - April: a pivotal moment for 1915 Farm. Built on a belief and purpose, we nurtured and fed the idea for several years. Back in 2017 we believed the "tide" was beginning to turn as more people were starting to be more conscious about sourcing meat. We took the risk - started raising livestock with regenerative practices, left our jobs, figured out how to make the accessibility of our meats very convenient by shipping (at the time it was recycled medical coolers), put in so many hours building a website designed for ease of use, SEO performance, and conversion. And lastly and most important, all the content creation to share with you through social media and email. I even had an online chat feature on my website that would ping my phone which always seemed to be when Tanner and I were chasing escaped pigs around the farm   Just imagine me running while typing, Tanner probably throwing his cap on the ground as another pig "juked" us out and was running off into the sunset. Que my chat response: "Hello. why yes we have pork in stock, and it is very very free range". Our business at the time felt it was just starting to get off the ground. We had already made the investments to be able to scale, but didn't have the logistics or team behind it just yet, or the orders. 

Like building a campfire, we had a small but strong foundation of logs ready to light, and we just kept rubbing two sticks together day after day to get it going. Then March 18th 2020 hit, gasoline fell out of the sky and the wind picked up - and our fire was blazing and lit up the whole pasture (this is an analogy, however we have caught our pasture on fire several times). Out of nowhere everyone started Googling and our farm would pop up, and you told your friends and family about us. The calls were non-stop, the online chat was insane, orders went through the roof and I had about one day to get my inventory in check to make sure we weren't going to run out of meat to feed the loyal customers that had been with us from the beginning. The next two months were a blur, and our moms and my friend Hallie basically moved in to help. Amidst the absolute chaos, I was trying to keep a piglet alive that had a deformed jaw and couldn't nurse - hand feeding him several times a day (Let me apologize to online chats I never answered, Jaw Man was a hungry little boy ) He ended up not making it but really helped keep my stress from the business in check during feedings. There is no doubt it took a lot of really hard work and execution, but we would be fools to think we did it ourselves. The unsung heros - luck, timing, divine intervention and a community of people rallying to keep us pushing forward played just as big of a role. We will never take for granted the opportunity that was given to us. Thank you for embarking on this journey with us, I know many of you have been by our side and cheering us on from the very beginning.