Our Story and Farm Beginnings

The year was 2013. After being involved with a successful family business for most of my life, I, Ryan, was ready for a change. I craved manual, physical, meaningful work. Although I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside my three brothers, I felt like it was time to move on, to turn towards something more meaningful that had been stirring in my soul for quite some time. 

Years ago, we had begun somewhat of a hobby farm with a few dozen chickens, several pigs, and a few beef cattle. Our goal was to raise meat and eggs for our family without any of the hormones, antibiotics, and GMOs commonly found in the average grocery store food. During that time, my wife Katrina and I, wondered what it would look like to make this product available for purchase. We began dabbling in selling bulk hanging sides of beef to local families. It went well, but the demands of my job, and the busyness of family life, soon interfered, and we decided to put this venture on hold.

And so, when my family’s business sold in 2013, I took this as my exit cue, and bowed out of my day job along with best wishes from my co-workers and family members. Thus, Vintage Meadows was born.

We chose the name ‘vintage” because of our desire to replicate homesteading farming practices back when small family farms fed their families, neighbors, and local villages. This model has anchored communities for centuries and is truly the backbone of local food sustainability.

Armed with prayers, dreams, and a decade of preparation, we began raising beef cattle, pigs, and chickens full time. We set up a booth at the Goshen Farmers Market that Katrina faithfully manned every week. Our hope was to build an integral reputation with our local customers by cultivating trust in relationships and transparency in our practices. We had great ambitions but soon realized these avenues alone would not provide sufficient income.

In 2015, we purchased an existing farm-direct-to-consumer food buying club with a customer base already established in the Chicago suburbs. This buying club enabled customers to place orders from us online. Food items were delivered to a nearby pick-up location the following week. We quickly realized this buying club needed a new vision, a refreshed platform, and revitalized energy, which is exactly what we began infusing our newly acquired business with.

Progress was slow. Inefficiencies and failures were disheartening. Was profit even a thing? When would all the hard work start to pay off? BUT after a lot of trial and error, a lot of prayer, and a lot of good (and not-so-good ) investments, Vintage Meadows started to produce the rewards that we had long envisioned. A working farm requiring hard, but efficient physical labor. Developing deeper relationships with my wife and three children, Destiny, Nick, and Connor, from working together on the farm. Partnering with other local, like-minded, small businesses, neighbors, and friends, to create a co-op type system.

Now, on the other side of nearly 10 years, Vintage Meadows has become something on a scale that we never even dreamed possible. It is our pleasure and great honor to provide you, dear friend, with quality food you can be confident in, and a valued partnership built on integrity and trust.