You’ll soon be able to get a slab of bacon with your broccoli at Community Market — at least in Sebastopol. The historically-vegetarian grocer will add pork, lamb, duck, rabbit, grass-fed beef and locally-raised chickens from Victorian Farmstead Meat Company when it opens its second location this summer at The Barlow.
Called The Chop Shop, local meat-purveyor Adam Parks has struck a deal with Community Market to operate an independent butcher counter within the grocery store.
“It will be a full service counter with all the meats we currently have as well as our own sausages, bacon and charcuterie,” said Parks.
“We’re really excited,” said Nica Poznanovich, assistant general manager of Santa Rosa Community Market. “This is a dream partnership,” she added. “We want to be known as having one of the most extraordinary and ethical meat departments in the country. Adam is so well-connected in his ability to achieve the quality that we want, so it was a really easy decision,” said Poznanovich.
Parks, who runs a small butcher counter at his Sebastopol ranch as well as selling at numerous farm markets throughout the Bay Area, has garnered a strong following for his sustainably-raised meats. Though he’d long been rumored to be “The Butcher” alluded to in marketing materials for the Barlow, Parks said the cooperative venture was more financially viable than a stand-alone business.
A small, but vocal collection of customers have voiced dissent over the addition of meat to the nearly 40-year-old grocer’s decision to go omnivore. “Our mission is to be an educational resource in Sonoma County. We can no longer ignore the want and need for extraordinary meat from local ranches,” she said. The Santa Rosa location, however, will remain meat-free for the foreseeable future.
Parks has been busy with other ventures as well. He told BiteClub that he’s also planning to take over the butchering area of Petaluma’s Agius Grocery for a USDA-certified “cut and wrap” facility. While most consumers might yawn at the news, the service would be a boon to other small-scale, artisan meat producers who have few other options for legally packaging their products for sale in the North Bay. In short, more locally-raised, locally-slaughtered and locally-packaged meat is a good thing for all local carnivores.
> Read more about The Barlow from BiteClub
> Read more about Adam Parks from BiteClub
We are all so proud of you both. Good luck!!!l. Love the Darby Family
We are all so proud of you both. Good luck!!!l. Love the Darby Family
This is awesome! Can’t wait to get some amazing local meats!
just an fyi. The santa rosa location will continue to NOT have meat, which is partially a concession to folks who don’t want to see dead animals while they do their shopping.
For me, it seems like a pretty business savvy model — of promoting sustainably and ethically raised meat at their new location (if you’re gonna eat meat, this is certainly the best way to do it) and keeping their original store meat-free.
Though I’m a carnivore, I definitely appreciate the sensibilities of those who aren’t. But in this forum, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Thank you Heather. I am happy to hear they are keeping the Santa Rosa store meat free…And I will end my posts to allow others to express their thoughts freely. Thank you.
Thank you Regina, for the words “and I will end my posts”. The more you talk, the more people tune you out, the less you talk, the more people listen.
I wanted to add for my sisters out there…that female farm animals are forced bred which means they have instruments inserted into their bodies while they are restrained or bred by male animals they haven not chosen. As women, it is up to us to not support rape in any form. Female animals choose their own mates and many go on honeymoons before mating and so we are contributing to this form of violence against female animals when we consume animal products. We are betraying the sacred feminine by breaking the mother child bond also.
Thank you for reading and opening your hearts…
Wow…. you must be real fun at a party…
Can’t wait to try some Bacon from the chop shop.
Thank you Regina, for speaking for the creatures that can’t. I’m saddened by this movement towards ‘healthy’ meat, and ‘free-range’ meat, and ‘happy’ meat. It is still killing and suffering and not the animal’s choice. It just makes the ones responsible for the killing and suffering (you, the eaters) feel better about themselves while still getting to feed their selfish desires for something ‘tasty’. In our world now, there are plenty of other things to sustain our bodies and our palates besides meat and animal products.
This is awesome! Can’t wait to get some amazing local meats!
I don’t mean to be critical, but after reading the replies here I wish people would take time to re-read their comments. There are numerous misspellings and typos in them. Sort of takes away the credibility. One word that pops up over and over is the word “there” when they mean “their.”
Sadly, what you are noticing is not just here on PD, but an apparent nationwide (global?) de-evolution of the English language. Ever since the advent of the internet it has been getting worse with every year. Or maybe we are simply seeing posts now from million of people who couldn’t write in the first place; it’s hard to say. What’s clear, however, is that they obviously cannot be bothered (or are unable) to edit their own writing before clicking the submit button, and aren’t the least bit embarrassed by their errors (notice that I didn’t write “there errors”).
I’m someone who actually did learn correct grammar, punctuation and spelling but who doesn’t have the bandwidth or attention span to worry much about anything my auto-correct doesn’t catch.
Yes, the Internet is responsible. As are phones which require us to type with tiny buttons.
However, the trade off is that we are sharing information faster than ever before. In the news business, we are under incredible pressure to try and get the information to users as quickly as possible. If we fail that, our message is often lost among the din of 100 other outlets competing for your attention.
So we can worry about copy editing or we can just try to push out the information and then circle back and fix the spelling errors later and hope that readers can glean the gist of it (if they’re even reading it at all) and overlook the typos.
The newspaper (print) does worry greatly about trying to get spelling and such right. I’m speaking purely for myself and other online journalists. It’s just a Catch 22.
Wow Regina take the fun out of anything. Yes we know about what happens to get meat to our tables, if this offends you so much, let me ask you this one question, do you own any leather products? If you do where they killed in a human way? And if you do then foreshame on you for passing judgement on the rest of the world who enjoy things in life. I for one an a bacon fiend, I have been to Italy were I saw one chicken one day and didn’t the rest of my trip. If you want to be a good and kind person then go spend it with the animals and let the rest of us who enjoy things alone. Why is it om for you to pass judgement on people who enjoy things. Yes I enjoyed a lot of thing but like most things that taste good and are bad for you to eat. It is funny how people who feel you shouldn’t eat animals make you feel like your doing something wrong. YOU AREN’T, you are normal. Just because you have feelings like you do, you shouldn’t make other people feel like that they are bad, because we aren’t. I love having things in my life. So please don’t make me feel like a bad or immoral person for enjoying them. Because if that is the case, every living thing has a right to live including Fruits and Veggies.
Michele, I don’t use any animal products because I do not want to cause animal suffering. Do you feel bad for eating animals? If you don’t, than there is nothing I can say or the animals can show you that will change you. And that is your choice.Unfortunately, the animals do not have a choice.. If you do feel bad, than take a moment and sit with it, and be with it and feel it and maybe there will be a whisper or a deep heart felt answer to change and move in a different direction in what you eat. I was saying how I felt that it’s not good for the animals, which is a truth and that I feel sad and that I hope that people will open their hearts to animals and take the time to spend with them and see the spirit inside. They each are as different and as unique as we are and once you see them for the spirit they are inside, it’s actually an easy choice to make:)
It might be good for the carnivores, but baby animals will suffer and die having their throats slit for a taste of flesh that is absolutely not necessary to sustain a human body…it’s for taste only I feel so sad for more animals who will be separated from their mothers, …almost all of the animals that are slaughtered are considered babies…Farm animals share the same emotions we do..pigs cry and feel grief, happiness, love, and joy. So do baby calves, mothers of baby calves…and all the rest of these beautiful animal beings…Chickens have more than 200 distinct vocalizations (words). Animals have their own families, their own friends, their own lives, their own culture…they are more like us than different..
You can receive so much more joy and love in your heart and spirit by spending time with animals at a farm sanctuary than the few minutes it takes to chew down and swallow their sadness:(
Tears for the animals and hope in my hear and soul that human hearts will awaken and be present with love and care for animals and protect these gentle beings instead of using them….
Regina …..This is a predatory world , from the smallest living beings to the whales all life consumes life. Nothing eats rocks. How can you stand killing all those lovely plants or endure the screams of the carrots ?
Hi Edgar,
Thank you for your question. Yes, it is true we have predators in this world. They don’t have a choice. We do. We can live full, wonderful, healthy beautiful lives on a plant based diet. I have never heard a carrot scream. I have held a baby goat and a baby pig in my lap and have met their gaze. They are so vulnerable and full of love and light. Almost all of the foods I eat are freely given…nuts, seeds, fruits, and veggies. My heart and spirit feels light and full of love when I eat this way. I invite you to spend time with a farm animal at a farm sanctuary where they are not afraid of people, where they feel safe and able to express their full being. Many animals had this from us because they are afraid of us and rightly so..So anyway, go for it…Sit on a grassy hill with a beautiful view and hold a baby farm animal in your lap and feel the love:)
Oops I meant to say “many animals hide this from us”
Have you ever seen free-range chickens scouring the landscape to catch and kill without a second thought the screaming, tortured bugs and insects that are only trying to freely roam the earth…until the savage chicken peck-peck-gulps it to a horrible stone-ground death by gizzard-grinding in a dark, wet spot? These are truly predatory birds. Being barbecued is simply karma for them.
You are SO hot. ….. Lets Hook up.
Regina – I once heard a carrot scream. It was terrible. The poor thing was used as an instrument in a forced breeding experiment gone wrong. Horribly wrong…
AWESOME!!!!! It’s about time…
It might be good for the carnivores, but baby animals will suffer and die having their throats slit for a taste of flesh that is absolutely not necessary to sustain a human body…it’s for taste only I feel so sad for more animals who will be separated from their mothers, …almost all of the animals that are slaughtered are considered babies…Farm animals share the same emotions we do..pigs cry and feel grief, happiness, love, and joy. So do baby calves, mothers of baby calves…and all the rest of these beautiful animal beings…Chickens have more than 200 distinct vocalizations (words). Animals have their own families, their own friends, their own lives, their own culture…they are more like us than different..
You can receive so much more joy and love in your heart and spirit by spending time with animals at a farm sanctuary than the few minutes it takes to chew down and swallow their sadness:(
Tears for the animals and hope in my hear and soul that human hearts will awaken and be present with love and care for animals and protect these gentle beings instead of using them….
They are great people with some awesome meat !!! Without there support CHOSEN SPOT could never happen !!! Big thank you to the Parks family !!!!
Great idea! I wish the Santa Rosa location would invite him in as well. I would shop there more often if I could buy high-quality, sustainable meat there. Instead, I usually end up at Oliver’s or Whole Foods, so I can do my shopping in one place.
Smart move- hope to see some fresh meats offered over at JC area store as well.
AWESOME!!!!! It’s about time…
Smart move- hope to see some fresh meats offered over at JC area store as well.
Congrats to Adam: fab farmer, good-food lover and entrepreneur extraordinaire!
Congrats to Adam: fab farmer, good-food lover and entrepreneur extraordinaire!