So, the farm near me is apparently inventing a new model

(Bob M) #1

I buy chickens and other products from a local farm. They first added home-cooked products, then added an actual butcher shop. They process all products there. You can still get half cows, whole chickens, pork (though they don’t sell 1/2 pigs for some reason), and get vegetables, including where you pay to get a certain amount of vegetables that they grow during the time you’re paying (a “CSA”, community-supported agriculture"). The chickens I get are part of a CSA, where I pay a fixed fee and get so many chickens per week/two weeks. (And, yes, the chickens are MUCH better than store-bought. Expensive, though.)

They also carry products from other farms.

The new model? A small store near me just went out of business, and the farm is now opening there. Instead of farm-to-table, it’s going to be farm-to-store. I’ve never seen that.

(This store was one where I got raw milk, goat milk kefir, and just other random stuff it’s hard to find elsewhere; like dark chocolate with stevia, regular dark chocolate chunks, dried seaweed, fermented hot sauces, … I was bummed when they closed.)

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

It’s good news for the area. We need a store like that. But it’s going to be weird for some of the customers, because the old store was mostly vegetarian products, and this will mostly be meat. And it’s good for the farmers, too, because my sister says they were having trouble getting a permit for a farm stand.

(Bob M) #3

Yeah, I would call the old store “eclectic”. It was a lot of vegetarian, but it also had meats, raw milk, hard to find goat products, etc. I bought a lot of chocolate there, in chunks, and I can’t find it anywhere else.

They had some chocolate coconut macaroons, that were fantastic if a bit over-the-top expensive. So good that I’ve been trying to recreate them in my kitchen. (Doubt it’s possible, because I think they use liquid sugars, which provide a moistness I’m not sure I can reproduce. I’m trying though.)

You’re right that it will be a shock to those vegetarian/vegan folks. But I think the farm has been walking a fine line between these groups. I mean you can get a veggie CSA, which we got for a while – until we realized that even 1/2 a CSA was too many vegetables for us.

I remain hopeful that some balance can be struck.

And I’d love the concept to take off, as I’d love to see this farm and even multiple farms at a location that’s more “store” than farm stand.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

My only concern is the possible effect on the Italian deli and butcher shop over in the next plaza (beyond the banks). They are also good folks with good foods. Guess I’ll have to make sure to patronise both! :grin:

(Bob M) #5

Good points. I would think they would both be able to coexist, but I guess we’ll have to see.

I’m still sad, because I liked all the workers I met at the old store. I went on Fridays (same time I went to get chickens from the farm), and the same people were usually there, and they came to know who I was.

(KM) #6

I am so jealous!!! I just said to my butcher, all I really want is a cow in a field and a stool and a bucket. If I can’t have that, then let someone else do the milking and bring me the product.

#7

luckily being a retired farmer and in the ‘farm areas’ but near bigger towns etc we have alot of ‘farm stores’ around me. From wineries to mom/pop local farms and more all have ‘stores’ at their locations and like mentioned, started out selling smaller and then opening actual ‘stores’ on the farm and outlier locations too if the farm was big enough to support it and they do very well. Very normal for around my area actually.

(KM) #8

Where are you? I’m in Indianapolis (USA) and I have not found anything like that. To be honest I have no idea where to look, but it sure isn’t jumping out at me.

#9

my area is a good bit outside of Charlotte NC
been here alot of years, our ‘very rural’ area now has alot more farms selling off and homes coming in, you know, the sad usual. But we have alot of orchards where they sell their fruits and have farm stores etc for meat sales etc. For about 15 yrs we sold our farm produce and sausage/chops from our hogs and eggs at local farmers markets. So those are still thriving here too.

(KM) #10

I used to live in small town AZ, they did have one local animal vendor at the Farmers market. Vegetable selections started out well, but within a few years it was obvious people were just bringing crates of produce over the border and trying to sell them for double the supermarket price.

#11

yea yea so get that. Not grown their own. Happens all the time at farmers markets which is why it is good to chat with the vendor and we had a picture board of our hogs and our 400 layer chickens and US IN the fields with the produce and more. Many can easily fool consumers at markets, not a doubt on that one!!

#12

I love those places, I pretty much rely on those for farm stuff since I’m a couple miles outside the city and have no farms near me, there’s a couple smaller stores that resell stuff from farms, but between the added price of it being quality, and then their markup, it hurts. Really miss my raw milk, but at almost $50/mo for 1gal/wk it had to be trimmed for other stupid stuff. Here you have to do the herd share thing so can’t just randomly buy it here and there, it’s cheap enough to do since it’s just a paperwork game/loophole, but it commits you to keep buying.

#13

my bestie owned a dairy farm before retiring and it was a family farm.
thru total policy and control to sell raw milk became an impossibility unless jumping thru law hoops to make it happen. Alot of counties just banned it outright for sale and ones that kept it available made the processing so complicated to hit the market for sell that farms just dropping offering it. Sad state of affairs which has taken over biz as we all know.

(B Creighton) #15

Where I live you can buy raw milk, but it has to be sold by the dairy’s own store. Nevertheless, there is a demand for it, and I am willing to go a little out of my way to get it. It is definitely not the most efficient model, as farmers each have to have their own store - multiplying the expense, etc.

I like the idea of a local farm co-op store or something like that, but I’m sure the law would require each farmer to label their food, so it can be traced in the event people get sick. That is always the concern the law has… and perhaps rightly so. However, a co-op store would sure save time, fuel and probably money, and would be kind of like a farmer’s market, except a lot more regular - maybe even a model where the store doesn’t actually buy the food, but just charges a commission to sell it, would work. This kind of thing is always so subject to local laws though… I just feel the need for the public to push for it, as it is the best way to promote regenerative farming that can compete while allowing the public to get better food.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

Fortunately, that’s not a requirement in our area. I’ve never seen raw milk at a chain supermarket, but small specialty stores and health food stores sell it quite easily.