Dear Customer:
Thank you for your order to White Egret Farm. This letter confirms that your products are
in production. Along with this letter, you will receive a Technical Bulletin, with information
about our products, including instructions for storage and handling. Again, thank you for
your interest. Your order helps to support both sustainable agricultural practices and the
production of traditional foods.
We'd like to give you some basic information about your order.
Product Shipment
White Egret Farm specializes in Health Conscious Farming™. When you receive your
product, it comes directly from us, without first going through a chain of distributors,
brokers, and retailers. This means that the nutrients and bioactive ingredients in our
products will have a much better chance to create positive physiological changes in your
body, because they have not been repacked, transported, and handled by several different
companies. From a financial point of view, receiving product directly from the farm means
that you do not have to pay for the profit margins and transportation costs incurred by other
companies in the food distribution system. You receive nutrient dense foods at no more
than you would pay at a retail location.
We are very good at finding the best possible shipping rates, and box combinations for
each geographic location. Products need to arrive at your location within 3 days (2 days
for poultry and meat items). For most orders this means shipping via ground shipping
services. However, other classes of shipping are available at higher cost. Your order will
be sent in a thick walled cooler with a cardboard shell to protect it. The shipping date for
your order will be determined by the number of orders ahead of yours, ground shipping
schedules to your location, and the type of shipping required for your order. You will be
called with a tracking number when your order has shipped. As of orders placed in late
August, 2004 we have about a 6-8 week waiting list. For mixed orders, we prefer to ship
when all items are available.
Ordering from the Farm Is Different
Ordering from the farm is different. It may not be as convenient as running to the corner
store. When you order from the farm, you begin to share in the world of primary production
with all of its ups and downs. We hope you have a clear purpose in mind for your order.
We hope you are seeking a source of products and nutrients that will improve your health
and well being. We hope you are ordering from us, because you want more than just a
source of calories. We think there is nothing more important than what you put in your
body, and we believe the extra effort that goes into your order will pay off in better health.
At White Egret Farm we concentrate on the nutrient quality of our products. This is the
point at which the experience of ordering from the farm begins to differ from shopping at
the corner store. On the farm the customer cannot come first. Our producing animals
must come first. Keeping our animals healthy, comfortable, and supplied with an excess
of nutrient rich feeds and forage is our first priority. This affects you, the consumer. For
instance, if there is a heavy rain storm, we may haul all the people out of the office to
help put dry bedding into pens, or if our baby turkeys get too hot, here in Texas, and we
have to buy and install fans that day, we'll stop and do it. If we have to stop to take care
of animals, we may not get as much office work done as we would like, but we will
maintain the health of our animals. Healthy animals are the basis for healthy products.
How Will Your Order Be Charged?
Due to the demand for our products, the fact that each order is custom packed, and the
extensive aging or production time required for many of our products, payment is due
when the order is placed. We must pay for all of our feed and materials in advance, and
we need to be sure that we have allocated our money and resources to the right mix of
products for upcoming orders. Additionally, to perhaps restate the obvious, our products
are packed for cool or frozen shipping, and we cannot let packed boxes wait on our
shipping platform, while we try to determine if each customer's credit card has gone
through. Since about 30% of credit cards are declined on the first try, we need to be
sure that each order has been approved before it is sent to be packed.
Payment Options
The farm accepts three types of payments. You may also pay by check on the honor
system, when you receive your order, if you make prior arrangements to do so.
1. Credit or debit cards
2. Checks over the phone (E-checks)
3. Checks sent upon receipt of invoice (on the honor system)
Other Order Policies
Return Policy
Because White Egret Farm ships natural dairy and meat products that are custom
packed, we cannot accept returns on products. Each order is customer-specific.
Replacement Policy
White Egret Farm self-insures its products. If an order arrives after the shipper's
guaranteed arrival time, and the product is unusable because of the delay, or physical
damage to the box, we will investigate the incident, and the damaged portion of the
order will be reshipped at no additional cost to the customer.
Cancellation Policy
Due to the demand for our products, the requirements for lengthy aging periods, and
the need to allocate the use of raw materials and money, any cancellation must be
received in writing within 10 days of placing the order. You may fax your cancellation,
but we cannot accept cancellations via E-mail.
Why Should I Bother to Order from the Farm?
For each person the answer to the question above will be somewhat different. The
most common answer is that White Egret Farm provides clean (no added chemicals,
steroids, growth hormones, or antibiotics), physiologically active traditional foods
that are not generally available on the mass market. In order to make these kinds
of products available, a cooperative effort is needed between the farm and its customers.
Working outside the paradigm of conventionally processed and distributed foods
has not been straight forward. In order to supply products based on unprocessed
milk, a pioneering effort was required for everything from regulations to packaging.
For example, White Egret Farm has paved the way for direct raw milk sales to
consumers in a climate where most regulatory agencies do not recognize the wisdom
of traditional food processing. White Egret Farm has persevered through three court
battles with the Texas Department of Health, and has won the right to continue
marketing its raw milk and raw milk cheeses.
It has also been a huge struggle to get meats processed without the standard
chemical preservatives, such as nitrites, sulfites, BHA or BHT. We have developed
our own formulations for smoked meats that preserve them in the traditional way,
using, salt, smoke, and spices.
Health Conscious Farming™ requires extra steps for each product, and that usually
means that we must develop relationships with suppliers and processors that
encourage them to do something out of the ordinary. We believe it is these types
of activities that will help bring nutrients back into our food supply.
We have also been instrumental in helping certain regulatory agencies understand
how the processing of traditional foods "keeps them safe". We intend to pass this
information on to our customers in various issues of our Technical Bulletin.
Dr. Weston A. Price discussed how traditional peoples went to great lengths to get
special foods that experience had shown would help them survive and be healthy.
In keeping with this tradition, White Egret Farm is a great supporter of the program
developed by Dr. Jordan Rubin in The Maker's Diet. The benefits to your health will
be obvious.
We encourage you to purchase foods based on the density of their nutrients and
bioactive components. The human body needs about 90 nutrients a day, and most
of us are oblivious to the nutrient content of what we eat. We support Garden of Life™
in their efforts to raise our consciousness of this issue.
Again, thank you for your support and your order.
Lee B. Dexter
Lee B. Dexter
Owner
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