Matt Greene

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

Well this was not planned....

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

This is why we started free local delivery. It was an accidental finding after we made a post about giving away eggs before we went on vacation to make sure they didn't go bad and go to waste. We turned the conversations from that day into a new model for us. People want quality whole foods, but they want it conviently and for reasonable prices. We are doing our best to meet both of those wants.

[AirBuddDwyer @AirBuddDwyer]

Hank - My own prison (Creed cover) [slop cannon edition]

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright covers this amazingly well. The IC's all knew something was being planned but individually they could not see the big picture. The inter-agency rivalries prevented anyone from getting all the pieces together that could have potentially prevented 9/11. One of the stated purposes of the Patriot Act was to resolve the failure of IC agencies communication between one another. In that regard, the Patriot Act was actually successful in accomplishing that goal.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

Depends on how much you want to spend. They sell conveyor type systems for automatic egg washing. I haven't used them personally but I do know you have to expect some losses with eggs that might be a little softer. They run around 1500. They make smaller automatic scrubbers that are cheaper but require more babysitting and manual feeding

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@djmixicon @untappedgrowth If the fed. gov right now allowed direct to consumer red meat through executive action the price of beef would instantly drop (when bought from a local farm) $.75-1.25/lb. That could easily be higher, depending on how far away the farmer is from the closest packer.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@Chudtrooper420 @catgirlprostate Strangely enough, the Bible, both Old and New Testaments speak pretty frequently about this. Almost like they 've been doing the same thing for thousands of years or something.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

I get the move, but its not going to do anything long term. It'll drop the price of ground beef a bit, but we can't keep dumping in foreign beef forever.

On top of that, the barrier to entry right now for new ranchers is extremely high even just to get some breeding stock.

With the price of entry on a heifer, even if I did rotational grazing to cut down on feed (will still need to hay during the winter). I'd still have to sell at $8/lb for a whole cow just to make a little bit of money.

I was paying $5/lb less than 10 years ago, I don't know how we get back to that price with the way things are right now but importing foreign beef in the short term ain't going to do it.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

Here in NY, we are starting to understand how state and federal regulations hamstring our ability to feed our local community.

Selling any dairy based product, even just at the farm, costs on the low end 1k a year in inspection fees. That doesn't count upfront investment of a separate milk house that the state wants. That could easily cost 20k+ depending on what you already have available. On a small scale, it's very unlikely we could ever break even.

All red meat needs to be processed at a USDA packing house. Where our farm is, the closest is over an hour away. Add on the $1/lb base processing fee to all meat sold, on top of the cost of transportation, to all meat sold. That doesn't account for special processing like smoking or sausage. With the price of cattle right now my break even is around $8/lb. That doesn't include any of the infrastructure costs either that have to amortizatized over years.

NY has some of the highest energy costs in the nation, despite all of the latest pushes for renewables. Freezers, cold storage, heat lamps, water pumps, deicers, etc... all add up quickly eating into any profit margins we have.

I cannot cut, mix or combine anything for sale without a home processer license which has its own set of fees and regulations. I can sell you pickling cucumbers, but the second I put them in vinegar and seasoning I need a 20-c license as a home processer.

None of this even mentions the price of diesel and gas that quietly raises everything we do.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Everything is stacked against the small producer. Can we make it work? Yes, and by the grace of God right now we are, but the margins are slim especially when you are trying to keep prices down under what people can pay for a similar product at the grocery store.

That's been the key to us moving product. Make it cheaper or comparable to the supermarket. A lot of people talk about supporting local farmers with their mouths, but most aren't able or willing to do the same with their wallets.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@longstoryfarms I feel this. Even on my vacations I can't help but think about how to work better or more ways to add work for my already full plate.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@PresbyInn @JohnStSomething Nothing beats Old 100.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@XP_Unplugged @ADRoblesMedia I wish this didn't ring so true. I've met men in Seminary who thought this exact thing. "Not my job. My job is to preach, let the other Elders handle it."

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

I think a real question that gets raised here outside of the money question is this: is the pastorate really the best way for me to serve God?

In the Reformed world the pastorate is largely performative. Outside of the credentialism you have to appease Presbytery and Synods, checking a box every step of the way not to please God but the please man. You are constantly performing for these men (and women) from the second you declare your intent to be ordained and that performance never goes away. You get on their bad side and you end up like Revs. Garris, Appleton, Ketcham, etc...

The focus then isn't the care of God's people and service to His kingdom, but rather man-pleasing masquerading as ecclesiology.

The question then becomes are you really glorifying God in all of this or merely glorifying an institution to the detriment of the sheep.

Can an intelligent, high-functioning man serve God and his family better in this broken environment where he needs to constantly watch his back lest he be stabbed in it by people that call him brother or in a position that properly utilizes his talents outside of the constraints of ordained ministry?

The answer depends, but it's not hard to see why men that could do something else would.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@C_R_Dad @NoshMuller I was thinking King Jeroboam to Amos, but this works too.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@ShawnMathis1972 That pamphlet is an absolute mess that essentially denies the existence of distinctly masculine and feminine traits and promotes atypical gender expressions. It leaves the Bible's frequent calls to "be a man" meaningless.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

If my experience is any indication, mostly snippets of liberals and heretics assigned from the profs. own book. Outside of research papers, a few electives and maybe a handful of core classes, I was rarely assigned to read any of the Reformers, Puritans or Church Fathers'. It was refreshing when I did, but the majority of the actual assigned reading didn't fit into the above category.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

@Scotchjake @infantrydort I'm sure this incident ended up on as a bullet point on at least one officers OER

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

The Iraq split should show the ingenuity of soldiers forced to make their subpar gear even somewhat suitable. Backplates strapped to HMMWV's as makeshift vehicle armor, lawn chairs welded to the back of cloth HMMWV's to serve as seats for makeshift turret gunners rawdogging it down Irish with a packed lip and a dream . All overseen by a statue of Rumsfeld saying you go to war with the Army you have not the Army you want.

[Matt Greene @mgreenetd]

I think that is the case with most people in groups like these (LDS/JW/RCC). Many who grow up in these groups have no idea what their adherence actually entails and they actually firmly disagree with the dogmas. This is very true with RCC's. A very powerful question is: if you don't believe in any of these things why are you still a member?

At the very least, it gets them thinking more deeply about what they supposedly believe and questioning the real motives behind their membership.

This doesn't really work on adult converts though, they are generally diehard believers in all the dogmas and know exactly what they believe. But for those raised in the faith, this question could be an absolute kill shot.