Loop Day

Happy Piggies, Winter Sunshine, and a Gourmet Spread of Rescued Goodness!

Have you ever heard of LOOP Resources?

What an incredible mission, and what an opportunity for so many of us to participate in and benefit from! Every single day, thousands upon thousands of pounds of food waste are thrown away by grocery stores. Food that may no longer be suitable for the grocery store shelves, but is still perfectly edible for our livestock, both big and small. That’s where LOOP comes in. They provide the connection between grocery stores and farms, giving farmers the opportunity to pick up food that would otherwise be thrown away and put it to good use instead.

For us, this means so much! We’re a family that works in ministry, living on a small homestead where we try to provide as much as we can for ourselves. Whether it’s raising our own meat, growing a garden (which we’re still learning to do), or finding ways to make what we have stretch a little further, we’re always looking for opportunities to help offset the cost of living. Because, let’s face it, it’s hard out there right now. The cost of groceries continues to rise, and providing for a family isn’t getting any easier. That’s one of the reasons we’ve worked so hard to make our little homestead what it is today.

LOOP has given us another opportunity to make that possible. With some of our recent LOOP pickups, we’ve been able to cut our pig feed requirements in half, and sometimes we’ve barely needed to supplement their feed at all! That’s a pretty big deal when you’re raising livestock and watching every dollar. And the bst part?! If the pigs aren’t interested in something, perhaps the chickens will be! Or the turkeys! Or maybe even the dogs! There’s usually someone around here who’s happy to take care of the leftovers for us!

But beyond the savings, there’s something else about this program that I really appreciate. We’ve become such a wasteful society. We’ve grown accustomed to throwing things away and buying replacements rather than looking for ways to repurpose, reuse, or even fix what we already have. And when it comes to food, the amount we throw away is honestly pretty heartbreaking. Here’s perfectly good food that could serve a purpose, feed an animal, or help a small farm, and instead, so much of it ends up in the garbage.

Programs like LOOP are changing that. They’re taking something that would otherwise be considered waste and turning it into an opportunity. An opportunity for grocery stores to reduce what they throw away, for farmers to lower their feed costs, and for families like ours to continue doing what we love. It’s a win for everyone involved, and for small homesteads like ours, programs like LOOP really are a treasure!! I know for a fact we’re not the only family that benefits from what they’re doing.

If you’ve never heard of LOOP Resources, I strongly encourage you to check out their website and learn a little more about what they’re doing. In the meantime, we’ve got some pretty happy piggies over here enjoying the winter sunshine and what I can only describe as a gourmet buffet of rescued goodness!

Another happy day on the homestead. Thanks, LOOP, for recognizing that what one person considers waste can be something incredibly valuable to someone else!