Woodland Valley Farms

5-star review. Completely. Read on if you want to know the details, because I am ready to say it all! Over a decade ago I read Michael Pollan's books and was introduced to the farming genius of Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. I started shopping at farmer's markets for my meat and produce, and I began the search for the perfect CSA. I was looking for a co-op that provided both meat and vegetables, specifically one that prioritized the things that mattered most to me. I wanted the animals to be treated humanely, for them to live and graze naturally. I also wanted them to be tasty. I wanted the produce to be rotated for sustainability. I also wanted it to be tasty. Now, I am not a farmer and I only know about this stuff from books and documentaries, but I am passionate about this. Unfortunately, for years, I couldn't find just what I was looking for. I had to go to several different farms for each type of meat (much of it came from online sources). I had to resign myself to pounds of kale each week and ran out of things to do with it. I did it all without complaint because I was happy for the few sources of food that I did manage to find. I even contacted Joel Salatin himself and asked if there was anyone farming like him anywhere near me. There wasn't, he said. About a year ago I happened to meet Chase and Alyssa. They run Woodland Valley Farms and they now deliver to us weekly the most perfect combination of food I could have asked for: beef. pork, lamb, chicken, eggs, and produce that just gets better every week. The eggs are gathered-this-morning fresh. The cuts of meats and flavors of sausage are incredibly varied. The produce selection is similarly varied, and they change up what they grow so that we never feel in a vegetable rut. It is the CSA I have been looking for my whole adult life. In April I got to go to Italy, where my friend and I ate amazing food every day. When we were having one particularly fantastic Florentine steak, she told me that when I went home I would miss the food, because nothing in America tasted as good as all that fresh, local fare. I knew what she meant, but I couldn't agree. When I got home, I would get to eat fresh, humane, and delicious food from local farmers who get to do what they are passionate about for a living because people like me want it. To me it tastes even better than what I had in Italy, partly because I know the people who harvest it and I get to hear the stories of how they farm and how they cook what they farm, and I get to eat it every single day! My hope now is that I can encourage more people like me to step further away from the grocery store and closer to the local farmer. God willing, I have many years left on this earth, and for the rest of my life I want my food to be what Chase and Alyssa grow and raise. The more people I tell, the more likely they are to stay in business. So, I will not be shutting up about them and their beautiful farm anytime soon! - Juliana Boatwright Taylor

I will not purchase anything from these people. I went there and the “lady of the house” was incredibly rude to me.