Meat me in Grand Junction

Farmhouse focuses on free-range, naturally raised livestock

Click to Enlarge Shane Wilson of Fruita opened Farmhouse, a premium natural meat market at 625 24 1/2 Road, two weeks ago. Sharon Sullivan

By Sharon Sullivan
Grand Junction CO Colorado
January 4, 2008

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    Joan and Carl Richardson said they don’t buy steaks in restaurants anymore.

    Not since they discovered natural beef, first at the former House of Meat, and now at Farmhouse — a new natural meat market on 24 1/2 Road.

    Joan was worried when House of Meat owner Jason Hicks closed his business in early December. She was relieved to find him working Wednesday as a meat cutter at Farmhouse. The Richardsons bought some sirloins that day at Farmhouse hoping they would be as delicious as what they were accustomed to getting from Hicks.

    They took the sirloin home and cooked it right away.

    “It was so great we had to come back and thank him,” Joan said.

    “He has the finest steaks we have ever eaten — that includes (steaks from) Arizona, Massachusetts, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.”

    Across the room another customer hugged her favorite meat cutter, Ron Bonds, who had worked at B. Finicky’s Fine Foods and Natural Meats, a store that also closed in December.

    “It was a super bonus to find the House of Meat and B. Finicky’s butchers here,” said Meredith Thornhill, who stopped at Farmhouse Wednesday to purchase pork chops and ground chuck.

    “Probably every person who comes in here knows him or I,” Hicks said. “There’s a good percentage of people out there that want to eat healthily and have a better product.”

    Farmhouse owner Shane Wilson is proud to offer not only natural meats, but meat that was locally raised as well. Farmhouse beef and pork comes from cattle and hogs born and raised on family farms in the North Fork Valley and Crawford area.

    Colorado Homestead Ranches is a co-op of six family ranches that raise cattle and hogs without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones. The co-op says its animals are subjected to less stress, and therefore are less susceptible to disease because the animals are raised on family ranches.

    If an animal does get sick and requires an antibiotic, it gets culled from the herd and is sold as non-natural meat.

    “But we don’t handle that here,” Wilson said.

    Wilson is a livestock buyer by trade and three of the families were already clients of his. After the co-op was formed, Homestead suggested Wilson open a store in Grand Junction. Homestead sold its meat at the downtown Farmers Market last summer where they’d sell out in a couple of hours, Wilson said.

    Wilson opened Farmhouse Premium Natural Meats at 625 24 1/2 Road, across from the Goodwill store, Dec. 21.

    “We got the health clearance from the Mesa County Health Department, those guys started cutting meat, and I went and got an open sign. The first day we cut $1,150 in sales,” said Wilson, grinning widely.

    In addition to the local natural beef and pork, Farmhouse sells wild seafood, free-range chickens, Boar’s Head deli meats and cheeses, and — in a few days — Buddy’s Wholesome Milk, which comes in old-fashioned glass milk jars.

    Buddy’s Wholesome milk is from a natural dairy in Hudson, outside of Denver.

    “They feed the same as organic cows, it’s just not certified organic,” said John Freeman, who owns Buddy’s Wholesome with his brother-in-law Buddy Nichols.

    “There are no growth hormones or antibiotics, and we don’t buy from other dairies. We do our own processing. If you buy milk off the shelf in a regular grocery store you probably just bought milk from 100 different diaries,” Freeman said. That makes it impossible for a company to know if the milk is growth hormone-free and antibiotic-free, Freeman said.

    The free-range chickens are from Maverick Ranch Natural Meats in Denver, and the seafood comes from Seattle Fish. There’s no farm-raised fish here, Wilson said emphatically.

    With a floor that looks like old barn wood and glass displays that circle the spacious room, Bonds and Wilson designed Farmhouse to look and feel like an old-time food store where you’ll find just the basics: Meats, milk, cheeses and bread, and eventually eggs and produce.

    Part of what Hicks likes about Farmhouse and the shop he used to have is the customer service he can give. Hicks closed his own business where he worked 18-hour days and now works a straight 40-hour week at Farmhouse.

    “It’s that old-fashioned help you don’t get anymore,” Hicks said. People can come in and request a certain cut and get advice on how to cook it, he said. “It’s a lot better product; more consistent in flavor and texture.”

    Wilson said he didn’t know that B. Finicky’s or House of Meat was on the verge of closing when he opened his own business. He’s happy he inherited the two long-time butchers from those businesses.

    “It just all fell together. I just had a good feel about this. I just kind of shot from the hip,” Wilson said.

    Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.