Good Hard Work

A cold rain accompanied me on the drive through Michigan’s sweeping Cass County farmland. As the skies began to clear near Cassopolis, a substantial farmstead came into view, complete with a huge red barn and a farmhouse under the watchful guard of old-growth trees and an old-growth dog.

The door to the house swung open and there stood Nate Robinson, sixth generation steward of this family-owned farm that has been in existence since 1870. I was warmed not only by Nate’s welcome, but by the smiles of his wife (Lou Ann) and daughter (Renee), who twirled their chairs away from their computer screens and offered me a chair in their farm office—the headquarters of Jake’s Country Meats.

This is also the home of Renee and Nick Seelye, who represent part of the seventh generation. Minutes later, generation eight would toddle in and out of the room: Nick and Renee’s cute and curious children.

On 600 acres, the Robinsons collectively raise pigs (around 1,000 at any given time) and beef cattle (95 or so) year-round. Five thousand chickens and 500 turkeys are cycled in during the warm months.

All the animals are raised on pasture, outside, with non-GMO feed and hay that is produced on site. The farm is annually certified through an Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) program.

Another branch under the canopy of this 150-year-old family tree is Nate and Lou Ann’s son, Jake. An agronomist, Jake manages the farm’s cropland while maintaining and sustaining the integrity of the soil and pastures.

The first roots though, were put down by Robinson ancestors from the Netherlands.

“All the generations endured with just good hard work,” says Nate. “They helped each other survive, and neighbors helped neighbors.”

Nate and Lou Ann have farmed together for nearly 50 years and live around the corner and over the hill from Renee. They experienced the extremes of a volatile and wildly fluctuating pork industry market, and through the years they gradually shifted to a path toward a better product that could sustain their farm for the future.

Nate sums it up: “The farmers were getting paid by quantity, not quality. I wanted to flip it around and get paid for quality. The heritage part of our farm is in the way my great-great-grandfather raised his animals. It was outside. So we reached back in time and did it the old way. And everybody said we had something new!”

When Jake’s Country Meats was launched in 1998, they needed to figure out who their customers were. Lou Ann recalls, “That takes time. We invested a lot of time at the farmers markets, and we still talk to those customers all the time. Food and relationships work together.”

There’s also the relationship between the farmers and the animals. Renee’s husband, Nick, oversees all the livestock and manages the warehouse. He respects the circle of life: “Seeing all aspects of it from start to finish. The good and the bad.”

The unique structure of a working farm family has its advantages. “It gives us flexibility to be involved and do life together more often,” Nick says. “I prioritize my family over working by having a strong employee base I can trust to support the farm.”

Renee says, “That’s the beauty of farms. There are so many different things you can create out of one, that can apply to different personalities and siblings, and that way we can all connect through the farm.”

Leaving Lou Ann and Renee to get back to their work in mission control, Nate walked me out to The Meat Shed, their on-site farm store that is open every day and features frozen pork products, beef, chicken and fish. Their fleet of white box trucks stood ready to roll toward farmers markets, restaurants and retail outlets.

Nate is the family visionary, and as he walked back to the farmhouse, chances are he was thinking of some new flavor for Jake’s bacon or sausage. Me, I drove home with chorizo on my mind.

Jake’s County Meats 

55721 Decatur Rd. 

Cassopolis, MI 

269.445.3020 

For info about where to find Jake’s products, go to jakescountrymeats.com/locations

Deborah Rieth writes from a Michigan small farm, where her soul is nourished by gardens, kitchens and words.