Beyond Farmers Markets: Jake's Winter Meat Drops
Drop sites and home delivery offer off-season alternatives for local food fans
Meet Jake’s Seasonal Meat Drops
Winter farmers markets provide a welcome source of locally and sustainably produced food after the outdoor season has ended. But there are also local farms and vendors that provide direct access to their products off-season through either home delivery or drop sites for pickup. Local Food Forum will feature several of these providers over the next few months.
Meet Jake’s Country Meats of Cassopolis, Michigan. Actually, if you frequent Green City Market, Logan Square Farmers Market or the several other markets where Jake’s sells during the outdoor season, there’s a good chance you’ve already met them.
A seventh-generation farm, Jake’s is run by Nate and Lou Ann Robinson, along with Renee and Nick Seelye, their daughter and son-in-law. Daryn Pobanz, Jake’s director of sales and a longtime friend from my many visits at their Green City stand, is in the photo above at a meat drop last winter at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. (Daryn’s tagline is #havemeatwilltravel).
Daryn provided the following description of Jake’s meat-drop service.
Jake's Country Meats, a seventh-generation family farm and a regular at Chicago farmers markets for over a decade, offers a winter solution for local, sustainably sourced meats with their monthly Meat Drops with location from Chicago to Detroit.
During the colder months, when most farmers markets take a break, these Meat Drops — held every third Saturday — provide customers with a reliable source of pasture-raised meats and wild-caught Great Lakes fish. The farm, known for its regenerative farming practices, extends its commitment to quality by partnering with local producers who share their high standards. This approach not only maintains a year-round connection with their community, but also supports the local food system.
There is one more drop in 2023 this Saturday (December 16). Orders are needed by Wednesday night for Saturday pick-up.
The rest of the winter dates are January 20, February 17, March 16 and April 20.
The drop sites in Illinois are in Chicago’s Lincoln Park and Logan Square, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Homewood, LaGrange, Oak Park, Park Ridge and Wilmette; South Bend in Indiana; and for my Michigan friends, you can find Jake’s in Ann Arbor, Berkley, East Lansing (Go Green!), St. Joseph, and Texas Corners. You can also arrange for pickup at the farm in Cassopolis. Click below for exact addresses.
Naturally Chicago’s Impactful Programming
As frequent Local Food Forum readers know, along with this independent publication, I am a communications contractor for Naturally Chicago, the association for the consumer packaged goods/entrepreneurial side of the Natural Products community.
Naturally Chicago is on a roll of programming that I believe Local Food Forum readers will find relevant and which I’m sharing here. Included are links to two recap posts that wrote for the Naturally Chicago blog.
As a mission-driven organization, Naturally Chicago was proud to host the Chicago premiere of the Common Ground film on November 18 .
This important documentary — which drew a full house at the historic Music Box Theatre in the Lakeview neighborhood — focuses on the benefits of regenerative agriculture in fighting climate change and restoring the vitality of our nation’s badly damaged soils. And it is an excellent example of how engaging storytelling can transmit a powerful message.
The event was elevated by the personal appearance of filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell, who participated in a post-showing panel with these local regenerative ag advocates: Chef Rick Bayless of Frontera restaurants fame; Dr. Silvia Abel-Caines of Garlic eScape Farm in Woodstock, IL; Indiana farmer Rick Clark; urban farmers Stephanie Dunn and Guadalupe Garcia of Star Farm Chicago; and Naturally Chicago Managing Director Jim Slama.
Click below to read the blog recap about the film's impactful message, why Naturally Chicago believes so strongly in regenerative agriculture, and the VIP reception's delicious local treats and beverages (made with regeneratively produced ingredients, of course) from Steingold's of Chicago, Windy City Mushrooms, Judson & Moore Distillery, Silver Tree Spirits and Greenstar Brewing.
Many of us have visited distilleries, and quite a few of us have attended panel discussions about the state of the adult beverage industry. But Naturally Chicago’s Cocktails and Conversations event on the future of beverages, held November 28 at Koval on Chicago’s Malt Row, probably was the first time any of us attended a panel discussion inside a distillery.
The panel took place on a platform that, on most days, is the starting point of Koval’s distillery tours. There we gained insights from three local beverage industry luminaries: Dr. Sonat Hart, co-founder and co-owner of Koval, who hosted the event; Kim Holstein, co-founder and co-owner of Twisted Alchemy, which produces top-shelf mixers from cold-pressed juices; and Giuseppe Infusino, Managing Director of InvestBev, a company that invest in adult beverage companies.
The rest of the evening was given over to Koval's excellent cocktails and spirits flights, a hearty buffet from Steingold's of Chicago, and lively socializing with our Natural Products Industry peers. Click below to read the blog recap with takeaways from the panel discussion and lots of photos.
Naturally Chicago is on a public event break through the holidays, but their first webinar of 2024 — Revolutionizing Natural Product Marketing with AI-Assisted Strategies — is on a topic that is both hot and perplexing to many people (me included).
The free webinar, which takes place Thursday, January 11 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. central, promises “a lively journey through AI in natural product marketing that’s not just informative — it's an adventure in making marketing smarter, faster, cheaper and more sustainable.”
AI is more than just tech. It's a dynamic tool for understanding, engaging and building a meaningful connection with your consumers, all while highlighting your commitment to sustainability and ethical practices.
Christina Perozzi of 44 Larkmoor Creative & Maitai.ai will be the guide on this virtual journey. A food and beverage marketing expert, she is transforming the industry with her innovative, AI-assisted, human-crafted marketing strategies. By leveraging AI's efficiency and cost-saving capabilities, she provides natural food brands with the tools they need to thrive in a competitive market.
Topics to be covered include AI-Powered Consumer Insights, Personalized Marketing with a Twist, Social Media Supercharged by AI, Predictive Analytics for Proactive Marketing, and Sustainable Messaging That Connects.
Click below to register.
Bob’s World, and Welcome to It
The big ball in the sky at dusk on Friday (December 8). Before we moved to Chicago 12-1/2 years ago, never did I ever imagine we’d see such remarkable sights on a regular basis.