How to get it
Pickup at the farm
Already how the chicken works. Families with an order get directions and a window from us directly.
Order ahead, drive out, load up. It is the shortest possible distance between the field and your kitchen, and it is not a plan for later. It is how the chickens already work today.
There is no storefront and no delivery van in the middle of this. You tell us what you want, we tell you when it is ready, and you come get it. That is the entire arrangement and we would like to keep it that simple for as long as we can.
It is also the reason the price stays honest. Every step between a farm and a kitchen takes a cut and adds a day. Cutting all of them out is the single biggest advantage a small farm has over the alternative.
How pickup works here
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You order ahead, always
Nothing here is a shop you drop in on. We raise against a number, so we need to know what you want before it exists. Ordering ahead is what makes the whole model work rather than an inconvenience we are asking you to accept.
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You get directions from us directly
Families with an order get the address, directions and a pickup window from us, by name. We do not publish a street address for a working family home, and we would rather hand it to people who are actually coming out.
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A window, not an appointment
Pickup happens in a window rather than at a fixed minute. Farms do not run to the clock and neither should you have to. We give you a stretch of time that works and you come somewhere inside it.
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Bring a cooler and clear the freezer
For chicken this matters. A batch of around ten whole birds needs more room than most people expect and it needs to stay cold on the drive home. A cooler in the trunk is the difference between an easy pickup and a stressful one.
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You meet the people who raised it
We will be standing there. Ask us anything about how the birds were raised or how the flowers were grown, and if the honest answer is that we are still working something out, that is the answer you will get.
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It works for more than chicken
Anything the farm produces can move this way. Wreaths and centerpieces in the fall, flowers in season, vegetables when there are vegetables. Same arrangement, same list, different thing in the back of your car.
Start to finish
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1
Get on the list
Tell us your name, your email and roughly what you would want. Nothing is charged and nothing is committed at this stage. The list is how we know how much to raise, so an early answer genuinely helps us plan.
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2
We come back with dates
Once we know how the season is shaping up and how many families are in, we tell you when things will be ready and what the pickup window looks like. You hear from us before anything is decided for you.
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3
You confirm what you actually want
Closer to the date, an estimate turns into a real order. This is where you tell us the real number and we set that portion aside for you. Plans change and we would rather know than guess.
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4
You drive out and pick it up
Come out during the window with room in the car. It takes a few minutes, you meet us, and then you go home with food that was on this ground that morning or close to it.
Why we start with pickup rather than delivery
Delivery sounds like the customer friendly option and in the abstract it is. In practice, for a farm at our scale, it means one of two people spending a day in a truck instead of on the ground the food comes from. That trade is not worth it yet.
It also changes the price in a way people do not see. Fuel, time and the risk of something sitting warm in a vehicle all get built into what you pay, whether or not the receipt itemizes them. Pickup keeps that out of the number.
The part we did not expect is that people seem to prefer it. Coming out, seeing the place and talking to the people who raised your food turns a transaction into something else. That is most of what we are actually offering, and it does not survive a delivery route.
Other ways to buy will come. Farmers markets, and further out, shares and a farm store. They will exist alongside pickup rather than replacing it, because pickup is the version where the fewest things sit between the field and the person eating from it.
Questions people ask
Where do I pick up?
At our farm in Cass County, Iowa, near Atlantic and just off Interstate 80. We send directions and a pickup window directly to families with an order rather than publishing a street address for a working family home.
Can I just drive out and buy something?
Not right now. Everything is ordered ahead, because we raise against a number rather than keeping stock on hand. A farm store you can drop into is on the long term list, and it is a genuinely different operation than what we run today.
Do you deliver?
Not currently. At our scale a delivery route costs a working day and quietly raises the price for everyone. Farmers markets are the direction we are heading for people who want an option other than driving out here.
What do I need to bring?
For chicken, a cooler and cleared freezer space at home. A batch of around ten whole birds takes more room than people expect. For flowers or wreaths, just room in the car where nothing will crush them.
What if I cannot make the window?
Tell us and we will work it out. We are two people on a farm rather than a warehouse with a shift schedule, and a message ahead of time solves almost anything. Missing it without a word is the only version that gets difficult.
How far out are you?
About fifty five minutes from the Council Bluffs and Omaha area, and roughly an hour from most of Des Moines, sitting right along Interstate 80. Being genuinely reachable from both metros is one of the better things about where we are.
Elsewhere on the farm
Get on the list
Tell us roughly what you would want and we will come back to you with dates. It is what decides how much we raise, and it costs you nothing to be on it.
Join the list