Strengthening Local Food Systems

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October 5, 2024

Supporting Local Food: How Jake’s Country Meats is Growing, Adapting, and Strengthening Connections

In light of recent disruptions, such as port closures, it's a timely reminder of the importance of local food systems. By supporting local farms, you’re making a conscious decision to invest in sustainable farming practices. Your choice helps keep our food supply stable and supports the story behind each meal. Whether or not supply chain issues affect grocery shelves again, we're dedicated to keeping you informed on how our farm continues to grow and serve our community.

Farm Growth and Improvements

This year has seen several exciting developments on the farm. Our farmer, Chris, has been with us for over a year, and his efforts have improved our breeding schedule, leading to higher conception rates and more piglets born per sow. Expanding our pig herd is a slow and intentional process that requires long-term planning on our birth-to-finish farm. As of 2024, we are pleased to see real-time growth, with more pigs on the ground than last year.

In addition to growing our pig herd, we've made significant investments in our poultry program. We’ve purchased and assembled two solar-powered, mobile hoop houses that protect our meat birds from predators while allowing them to forage and contribute to soil health. These structures move daily with purpose, building the soil while extending our poultry growing season. We've also improved our chicken brooder, enhancing our capacity to raise chickens throughout the year.

Expanding Freezer Capacity

One of the keys to maintaining a steady food supply is proper freezing and storage. Flash freezing food and keeping it at or below 0°F ensures freshness and safety for indefinite periods. After the busy summer season, we begin stockpiling inventory for the winter and spring. To meet demand, we've expanded our on-site freezer storage and secured additional space at a local cold storage facility, allowing us to increase our inventory without compromising quality.

Building Stronger Local Connections

Farmer and Producer Partnerships

At Jake's Country Meats, some of our most rewarding work comes from building relationships with other farmers and producers. Over the years, these partnerships have deepened, built on consistency and trust. This year, we’re proud to introduce our new lamb partner, strengthening our supply of grass-fed lamb heading into the colder months. Our connection with local fishermen and women remains strong, ensuring a reliable, sustainable seafood supply. And our egg partners have worked tirelessly to meet the high demand during the summer, laying the groundwork for year-round consistency.

Local Food Networks

Our reach has expanded across Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, as we've connected with more restaurants and small local stores. By partnering with these businesses, we create a stronger heartbeat for local food systems. When you shop at locally-owned establishments, you’re not only supporting the local economy but also helping to keep small farms like ours thriving.

Easy Access to Our Farm Products

At Jake’s, we believe in making our products accessible year-round, no matter where you live.

Weekly Shipping: Get pasture-raised meats delivered directly to your door! Orders leave our farm every Monday and Tuesday and typically arrive within 2-3 days. Learn more about our shipping options.
Farmers Markets: Visit us at farmers markets throughout the season. We bring a full range of products and accept pre-orders for easy pick-up. Markets run through October, with extended seasons at Wheaton and Lincoln Park, IL through November. Check out our market locations.
Winter Meat Drops: Once the farmers market season winds down, we transition to winter meat drops. You can stock up on our meats during monthly drops, starting November 23rd and December 14th. Order online for easy pick-up.
On-Farm Shopping: The Meat Shed is open daily from 10 AM to 7 PM for self-serve shopping. We accept cash, checks, and credit cards. Prefer to have some assistance? Stop by Monday-Friday between 8 AM and 5 PM at our red barn, and someone from our packing team will be happy to help. Visit our farm store.

At Jake’s Country Meats, we’re committed to growing responsibly, supporting local communities, and making it easy for you to enjoy wholesome, pasture-raised food. Whether you're shopping in person or online, thank you for being part of our farm family!

What 7 generations of Farming Teaches Us...

Earlier this month, we welcomed the Cass County Historical Society to our farm for their September event and meeting. We gathered together to talk about the history of our farm, seven generations of agriculture, and all the ways farming has changed along the way. Then we loaded everyone onto hay wagons and headed out to see what farming here looks like today. It was an evening about history, but the conversation felt just as relevant to the future. Because the story of how agriculture has changed is also part of the story of how we all buy food today. Walk through a grocery store and there are plenty of labels trying to help you decide what to buy. Natural. Local. Grass-fed. Pasture-raised. Sustainable. Premium. You can spend a lot of time reading packages and researching claims and still wonder what any of it actually looked like on the farm. That's one reason we believe knowing where your food comes from, and knowing the people who raised it, matters. Our Farm Changed, Too Generations ago, farms in this area were diversified because they needed to be. Livestock, crops, gardens and families existed together on the same piece of ground. Animals provided fertility for the soil, crops fed animals and people, and farms relied heavily on what they could produce themselves and on the communities surrounding them. As agriculture changed, farms became larger and more specialized. Livestock increasingly moved into confinement, and farmers became more dependent on commodity systems where they could be very efficient at raising something while having very little control over what they were paid for it. Our family lived that story. We raised hogs in confinement and sold into the commodity market. When hog prices collapsed in the late 1990s, our family had to take a hard look at whether that system could provide a future for our farm. Instead of getting bigger, we eventually chose a different direction: downsizing, diversifying and getting closer to the people actually eating the food we raised. Animals moved back outside. Pigs returned to pastures and woodlands. Cattle and sheep became part of our grazing system. Chickens and turkeys moved across pasture. We began thinking more intentionally about the relationship between soil, plants, animals and people, while building our own market to sell our food directly to you. What Does That Have to Do With Your Dinner? Quite a bit, actually. If you're trying to feed your family well, there's an overwhelming amount of information telling you what you should and shouldn't buy. One of the things a direct relationship with a farmer can offer is something much simpler: a source you can actually know. You can ask us what our pigs eat, how our cattle are raised, where our animals are processed or why we make a particular farming decision. You can visit the farm, see our animals and pastures, meet our family and employees, and follow along throughout the year. When you have questions, there's a real person on the other side of them. To us, that's one of the most valuable things about local food. "Local" shouldn't only mean that something traveled fewer miles. It can also mean accountability, transparency and a relationship with the people responsible for raising your food. We Aren't Trying to Farm in the Past After our talk, we headed outside to see some of these ideas in practice. We talked about grazing, livestock, soil and pasture, and we visited some baby pigs that held everyone's attention more than any story we could tell. Some of what we do today probably looks familiar to farmers from generations ago, but we're not trying to recreate the past. We use electric fencing, portable watering systems, tractors, refrigeration, USDA-inspected processing, delivery trucks, inventory software and online ordering. We're combining principles that have worked for generations with the tools and knowledge available to us today. That's part of agriculture. Farmers have to adapt. The question for us isn't how to make farming look like it did 100 years ago. It's how to take care of our land, raise animals well, produce really great food and build a farm economically strong enough to still be here 100 years from now. Strong Farms. Strong Communities. There's a lot of conversation about supporting the American farmer. When you choose to buy directly from us, you help create a market for farmers who want to do things differently. Those dollars help keep farmland in regenerative agriculture, employ local people, support processors and other small businesses. You help build strong communities, and maybe even more importantly with the average age of the American farmer on the rise each year, you give another generation a reason to believe farming can still provide a living. A Strong farm gives you an option. One that you trust to nourish you well. One that you trust to provide food that tastes incredible. One that you trust will consistently serve you. One that you trust to take care of the animals and land with respect. A strong farm gives its community a better way to feed itself, and a strong community gives its farms enough support to keep farming. Seven generations ago, our family couldn't have imagined what this farm would look like in 2026. We can't know what it will look like seven generations from now either. But we hope the people living here will still have the choice to know where some of their food comes from, to ask questions about how it was raised, and to know the farmer responsible for raising it. Thank you to the Cass County Historical Society for giving us an opportunity to look back at where agriculture has been and think about where it's headed. And thank you to every one of you who chooses to be part of what comes next. Strong Farms. Strong Communities.Real Food. Rooted Living. Renee & the Jake's Country Meats family

Beef In The News

There has been a lot of beef in the news lately. Beef prices are high, cattle numbers are low, and now there is talk about bringing in more imported beef at a discount to help combat prices for consumers. Then, almost in the same breath, there are announcements aimed at helping American farmers and ranchers by addressing some of the processing and market-access challenges we face. Despite what feels like whiplash, anything in the news today - will take it's effect on American farmers overtime, and the outcomes of these decisions will all be determined in due time. So what do these current events mean for our small family farm? And what can you actually do to help American farmers?

Create Your Own Job...

That’s exactly what my parents instilled in us kids growing up on the farm, among many other things. But this one…this one really stuck with me. And I bought into it a little too far, I’ll admit some days, and created a job with responsibility much bigger than I ever dreamed.