09/01/2026
🚨⏰️📣Coward on the loose again!!📣⏰️️🚨
This is not a pitty post. This is a being in business post. In July we celebrated having our one year Anniversary. We shared a post about the joy in that year and also the transparency of so called "lows" in that year, the hard truths, because they exist.
Within the past year we have had about every department called on us due to a "complaint", some more than once. If you've been to our place, you know it is clean, if you eat or buy our meats - you know that is how we started. You know we like to keep our space festive and overall make it a place to simply enjoy a breif break from life. Sure, we may have a dirty spot on the floor here and there once and a while, a messed up food order, a paper towel dispenser that wasn't filled - little things that are honest oversights that we hope don't define us as a whole.
We tore a building apart, redesigned, set-up, interviewed and were running all within a few weeks - it still feels unreal looking back. If you don't know, we do have another business, but it is nothing like what we do at Keeney Farms, we totally winged it from day one!
Fast forward - last week someone filed a complaint to Labor and Industry on us, that is what you are looking at.
Before anyone says it—YES, there are rules. YES, there are laws. And YES, they need to be followed. We’ll be the first to admit that this was something we didn’t fully understand. We knew we had a business to run, and we knew we had kids who were eager to work.
These aren't just employee's. They are honor students. They play sports.
They’re involved in extracurricular activities.
They’re involved in their communities. Some work to help their families. Some work to pay for things they want themselves. And every single one of them has their own reason for wanting a job. They take pride in their work and the things that they earn with their money. Each kid has their story as to why they work.
Since school started back up, most of these kids work one night a week and one shift a weekend/other weekend. Some even come in after their activities because they don’t want to miss their hours.
That says a lot about them.
So to the person who chose to make this complaint—thinking you were hurting US…
You may actually hurt the kids. The kids who enjoy coming to work. The kids who take pride in having a job. The kids who enjoy having a little money of their own. The kids who are learning what responsibility looks like.
Maybe you wanted to make our lives harder, maybe that was the point.
"Job" well done. 👏
But here’s the part that really bothers us:
There are a lot of small businesses in our area employing young people who may not realize just how complicated the rules can be when it comes to 14- and 15-year-olds.
So to our fellow business owners—pay attention!! Learn the rules. Protect yourself. Because if it happened to us, it can happen to you!!!
And maybe that’s the biggest lesson we take from all of this. We are sharing this because business ownership isn’t always about the pretty pictures, the grand openings, the happiness, the farm animals and the smiling faces.
Sometimes it’s paperwork.
Sometimes it’s mistakes.
Sometimes it’s criticism.
Sometimes it’s learning things the hard way.
And sometimes, it’s realizing that not everyone who walks through your doors is rooting for you!!!!
But we’re still here.
Still learning.
Still working.
Still growing.
Still providing jobs.
Still doing our best.
And to the kids who work for us—we see you, we appreciate you, and we are proud of you.
So, coward on the loose, carry on.
So will we. 💪🏼🌾
