08/20/2024
August 23rd 2024 is our 10th Anniversary! Holy Crow!
We’ve come a long way in those ten years, from getting our training wheels, weathering crazy covid times, economic ups and downs, to stark shifts in how and why people come through the door.
We’ve built a skilled, dedicated and passionate staff. MOST of our team has been with us for over 5 years, many since our very first year. They've grown with us and invested their own sweat and blood to help realize OUR vision. It’s about time we said some nice things about them.
Hopefully you'll get to know us better:
Seth and his ”Life Changing Pork Chop” Kilgus Farm Berkshire pork.)
James (JD) might relate to you how his first day, 9 years ago, he had to debone 5 pounds of anchovies,
or how 8 ½ years ago Justin became known as Carnivore's first “Thyme Lord.”
We also support a multitude of local farms in a farming community unique to food systems that share our value system:
Animal agriculture that meets or exceeds organic standards.
Sustainable wages for American farmers, local ILLINOIS farmers.
Hold agriculture to the lowest environmental impact, highest husbandry standards, and other sustainability metrics.
We support local fish farmers and distant sustainable fisheries, both industries fraught with myth, and also a heavy responsibility to prepare for the future where unrestrained wild harvest isnt even an option.
Also, most visibly, making sure the products that leave with you are the highest quality you can find ANYWHERE, period.
Not a single one of those attributes are particularly common in modern agriculture, and we’re super proud of what we’ve built here. Certainly it has ALWAYS been a struggle, and the post-pandemic world is even more-so. Its time to celebrate our victories.
Over the next couple of weeks we'll be posting short essays, nothing too long (promise!) and we'll try to keep those $2.00 words to a minimum. We will tell the story of why Carnivore Oak Park was founded, our decision to focus on local and sustainable farmers to supply our community, and how we got from there to here.
We'll introduce you to our farmers, such as Doug and Beth Rinkenberger's family at Garden Gate farms, who likely supplied your Thanksgiving turkey. We’ll introduce you to Marty Travis of Spence Farms and explain how he and his wife took the OLDEST FAMILY OWNED FARM IN ILLINOIS from mono-cropping to a regenerative agriculture system – all while raising his community – putting Fairbury, Illinois on the map as a model of sustainable community agriculture. And we'll be sure to re-introduce you to Justin Kilgus and the sixth generation dairy farm that has broadened into supplying Illinois’ best beef, pork, lamb and goat.
Most importantly we hope you'll come to understand why we’re so passionate about our relationships both in our local community as well as the deep closeness we’ve developed with our farmer partners who commit to the ideals that and our customer hold so close.
