NOVEMBER ON THE FARM
Can’t believe November has come and gone already, one more month and its goodbye 2025, hello 2026; I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet. For about the last month I’ve been working on and off on our 2026 budgets and proposed financials and still are nowhere near finished. There’s a lot more to consider today than there was just a few short years ago. Back in the day we only had our farm production capabilities and our projected sales to consider, today there’s the market, smokehouse, farm, home delivery, meat share, and restaurants to consider when figuring revenue, and a whole host of things to consider when estimating costs and business expenses. We haven’t always done the best job when writing a capital budget; in 2025 we invested in and built a smokehouse which wasn’t included in our 2025 capital budget like it should have been. I don’t get my panties in a wad over it though since we do a better job at budgeting today than we did a few years ago.
Projecting our sales and coming up with a sales budget is something that we’ve gotten pretty good at over the years. Because we’ve been doing this for so long we know what months are good and which ones will be slow. One thing we’ve noticed and aren’t sure why, is how sales prospects seem to be shifting from one month to another. For example, for several years July was always a slow month with August being the slowest month of the summer season and December the slowest month of the year. For the past 3 or 4 years July has been a good month while August has remained slow and September has become our slowest month of the year; December sales are now equal to our normal months. I might be totally off base but I’m thinking the hotter summer temps are keeping people home instead of touring cities like Charleston. For the past few years, July has been hot but August seems to have been hotter than normal, or it could just be that by August we’re all tired of the heat and are staying indoors. Either way I’m glad to have those months behind us for awhile.
Those of you that have followed and supported us for the past several years know we have been transitioning the farm from Annie and I over to Amy and Jesse. After 7 or 8 years working on this transition, Jesse and Amy now own more Keegan-Filion Farm stock than either Annie or I do individually. Because of the outstanding farm loans Annie and I will continue to hold the majority share until these loans are paid off, but from January 1 on out, it’s their baby to worry about and handle. Annie and I will still help with bookkeeping, overseeing the financials, providing guidance, and taking animals to Kingstree for processing, and I’ll continue being active in the hog operation, but the rest of the operation is totally on them.
Anyone that has gone through this process on either the turning over side or the receiving side will tell you the process is far from easy. On Annie’s and my end we’re giving up something that we dreamed of over 35 years ago and worked 7 days a week to achieve. We’ve spent days and nights at the table trying to figure things out, especially during Covid when we watched all of our restaurant business go away overnight and were 3 weeks away from running out of money to operate on. If you don’t think that will keep you up at night, just try it sometime, I’m sure you will get a whole new perspective on things, I know we did.
On Jesse and Amy’s end dealing with the older generation can be problematic. We often view things from different perspectives; Annie and I are constantly planning ahead and have a backup plan for everything while Jesse and Amy often face issues head on at the very last minute. Annie and I put our personal lives on the back burner while Jesse and Amy insist on having some personal or family time every week. Annie and I are often slow to grasp on to new technology whereas they will quickly move towards something that will save them money or time and make things easier for them. We have QuickBooks, our POS system, checkout scanner, inventory control system, and loyalty plan because of Amy’s grasp of new technology. I’m not saying one of us is right or wrong, it’s just the differences in our generation and theirs. One thing I will say, our drive to make the farm succeed cost us a lot of years that we will never get back; vacations never taken, weekends in the mountains, fishing trips, all the things that most people work to enjoy. I hope when Amy and Jesse get to be our age that they can look back and remember the good times they enjoyed as a family and look forward to making more memories with Emmy and Joey, after all, that’s really why we work and make sacrifices in the first place, for our families.
On Saturday November 22, we held our annual open house here on the farm. This year we changed it up again and also had a Holiday Craft Fair in conjunction with the open house. We also had a friend of ours from Florida, Tom Lackey, playing guitar on the porch, handed out sausage and bacon samples, and gave everyone a pork slider for a snack. To say the day was a success would truly be an understatement; we estimate between 400 and 500 attended. We received nothing but positive comments from visitors and vendors alike with several venders asking if we could do something like this more often. Putting on an event like this takes a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun and is a great way to start the Holiday season. In a late November meeting we discussed the possibility of maybe holding a spring and fall open house and bringing the crafters back in to highlight their products; it’s a great way to celebrate the beginning of spring and our community; we’ll keep you posted once a decision has been made.
Christmas and New Years have us changing the market hours a little. The market will be open on Monday December22 and Tuesday the 23rd from 9 to 5 and Wednesday the 24th from 9 till noon. The market will be closed Thursday the 25th, Friday the 26th, and Saturday the 27th for Christmas Holiday. The market will be open on Tuesday December 30th and Wednesday December 31 from 9 to 5. We will be closed again on Thursday January 1 for New Years, and open again with normal hours on Friday January 2 and Saturday January 3.
2025 has brought us a lot of challenges but also a lot of successes. Now’s the time for us to look back on the year, see what worked and what didn’t, and make plans that will move us into 2026 and prepare us for the years following. Without trying very hard, I can see a lot of things that are going to keep us very busy but I know if we work hard, and work smart, we will continue to be blessed as we have for over 35 years.
All of us here on the farm wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.
Annie, Marc, Amy & Jesse
