Cinco Frijoles Ranch

08/23/2026

Thomas Massie is correct. This is why buying local costs more, but the benefits of knowing where your food comes from is worth it.

08/19/2026

Just another reason to know where your food comes from.

The "egg" is made by synthetically printing a copy of the chicken gene for egg white protein. the gene is inserted into yeast, where it becomes a part of the yeast's DNA.
the yeast is sealed in a large steel tank called a bioreactor & fed sugar. it multiplies endlessly on its own - every new cell carries the chicken gene. Weeks later, the yeast is filtered out. what's left is dried into powder and sold as "egg white protein."

08/18/2026

Better shop local. This type of vertical integration is how Walmart put the Mom & Pop stores out of business and then raised their prices and lowered their quality.

YES, WALMART HAS ITS OWN DAIRY PLANTS.

And I don’t simply mean Walmart sells milk.

Walmart now owns and operates three milk-processing facilities in Indiana, Georgia and Texas. It purchases milk directly from regional dairy farmers, then processes, bottles and distributes it under the Great Value and Member’s Mark labels.

No, Walmart does not own the cows or the farms. It owns the processing plants.

That distinction matters—but so does what it means.

Walmart is no longer merely the retailer at the end of the dairy supply chain. It is also the processor, bottler, brand owner and direct buyer of the milk.

This is called vertical integration.

For Walmart, it offers greater control over cost, quality, supply and distribution.

For dairy farmers, it raises some interesting questions:

What happens to traditional processors when major retailers begin processing their own milk?

What happens to the farms offered direct contracts—and those left outside them?

How much negotiating power does a farmer have when the buyer, processor, brand owner and retailer are increasingly the same company?

Walmart doesn’t need to own the cows to hold enormous influence over the farms producing the milk.

Welcome to modern dairy economics.

And good morning. 😂

08/18/2026

Buy local. It makes a difference.

MILK PRICES FOR DUMMIES: WHO ACTUALLY SETS THE PRICE?

Dairy farmers do not decide what their milk is worth.

We cannot look at our expenses, add a reasonable profit, and put a price tag on the tank. Most of us ship the milk first and learn the final price later.

So who sets it?

In much of the United States, milk pricing operates through Federal Milk Marketing Orders.

Milk is divided into classes based on how it will be used:

• Class I: Fluid milk
• Class II: Yogurt, ice cream, sour cream and similar products
• Class III: Primarily cheese and whey
• Class IV: Butter and milk powder

Those prices are calculated using wholesale values for products such as cheese, butter, dry whey and nonfat dry milk.

Then it gets even more complicated.

The value of milk can change according to:

• Butterfat, protein and other solids
• The federal order and region
• How milk in that market was used
• Producer price differentials
• Quality and volume premiums
• Hauling, marketing and co-op deductions
• Whether milk was pooled—or sometimes depooled

That means two farms producing the same number of pounds may receive very different checks.

It also means the price announced in the news is probably NOT the exact price deposited into a farmer’s bank account.

And the gallon selling for $4.50 at the grocery store does not mean the farmer received $4.50—or anything close to it.

The farmer produces a highly perishable product every single day, ships it into a complicated pricing system, pays the expenses upfront and accepts whatever the final milk check says it was worth.

That is how milk is priced.

Clear as mud? 😂

08/17/2026

A place where you can know where your food comes from and not have to worry.

08/16/2026

08/10/2026

Another reason to know where your food comes from. BUY LOCAL.

Steers producing milk

Avocado oil labels being fake

Mushrooms and other fillers sneaking into ground meat

Literal lab grown meat at sprouts now

No wonder people want to be participants in their food production (if only the government would stop attacking me for making that an option 🤪)

https://members.acresusa.com/lactating-steers-hormonal-implants/

05/10/2026

Really happy how these strawberry cheesecakes came out. I cut fresh strawberries and drizzled them in fresh strawberry sauce. Was it a lot of work? Yes, but the cheesecakes are becoming a really big favorite. I'll have 4 boxes of lemon cheesecake, 8 boxes of strawberry cheesecake(both will be in the market fridge), mexican wedding cookies, and lemon blueberry scones. All I have left to do is add some homemade whipped cream on the side, but I have to wait for the syrup to cool.

I'll have them available 10am-3pm at The Post in Orange grove tomorrow. Don't forget to bring a freezer bag for some awesome local chicken, beef, and pork for a mother's day dinner. Nothing else says I love you more than getting her a treat that wont slow that mommy down! 💪 Fresh, nutritious, and delicious!!

Sincerely,
Rachelle Olivares the Baker