Calling in the Big Guns

‘After 21 years as a Marine, Joe and his wife retired and bought a few goats. Therapy goats.’

Alison is walking our team through to story of the Bates Family Farm in Western Virginia. She explains that the goats became a passion and along with that passion came A LOT of goat milk.

‘The goat milk is full of fatty acids, similar to the PH

in humans,’ she continues. ‘That’s why it absorbs so well.’

This is Alison. This is why I am crazy about her.

Alison is a walking encyclopedia. She knows the story of every item she selects for her clients. She is the queen of knowing how and why we all shop. A retail goddess. And today she is training Team Dug In.

We huddle around, gripping our cheat sheets of information and absorbing the delicious smells of goat milk lotion and the stories that Alison shares.

An hour later ground beef is slowly sizzling. ‘Not too much steam,’ Karen says. ‘Slow and low. That’s how you cook grass-fed beef.’

She gathers us around the electric skillet. Reeling off recipes, cooking tips and the life history of the beef we’re about to eat, Karen serves up mini sliders.

Karen is a preacher in the temple of food. ‘Good food doesn’t need a bunch of stuff thrown in it. Good food, REALLY good food, is everything on its own.’

She is singing her gospel to a room full of new converts. Everyone is smiling and nodding and going back for seconds. Don, a friend from the next road over, stops in. He tastes the slider.

‘What’d you put in this?’ he asks her. ‘Nothing!’ Karen screams with laughter. ‘That’s the point.’ Another convert.

As the training session ends, we talk a lot about our core values. About how our customers should be treated and the importance of being experts in what we sell. We agree that we learn from each other but more importantly, we learn from our customers.

Then we decide that these days need to be shared with others. And so, this year, we’re going to do just that. We want to share what we learn with you. And, hopefully, you’ll be willing to share your expertise too.

Stay tuned for more details and thank you for making us better at what we do!

And, as always, thank you for stopping by,

Carolyn

#FarmLife