January 2018
The big news for January is that we finished our granary, and started grinding heritage cornmeal and grits for local sale. We’ve sold some Bloody Butcher to a Ky. Distillery, and tried some for Wildcat Willy’s, perfecting the grain blend for our new distillery in our hometown of Winchester. Our goal is system sustainability, which means we sell wholesale and make deliveries in our regional food shed (as far as an electric car can travel is our self- imposed limitation for now), with the rest of our business online, delivered through our post office. The farm is to be a carbon sink, and we are figuring out how to measure what we do. Updates are on the Climate page
For our sustainable farm-based business to be viable, the online store needs to pay its way. So far, it hasn’t managed to. In this space, we are competing with Amazon, and we are severely hampered by Facebook, which won’t let us advertise or otherwise boost posts with hemp. The wholesale business is great, and we are in more than 100 retail outlets in Kentucky.
Any ideas to improve Laura’s Mercantile web store would be welcomed. Please let me know how we can do better: the product line, the website itself, or anything else.