197 DIY Butcher Shop Feasibility Study with Liz Brownlee & Her SARE Project

February 8, 2023 by Corinna

Have you ever wanted to build your own butcher shop in your local area — to vertically integrate your business and stop the meat processing bottlenecks? Liz Brownlee of Nightfall Farm did. But she wasn’t sure if it was financially viable.

So what did she do?

She wrote a SARE grant for a feasibility study, got the funding, and then paid herself to research the idea. In the process, she found the information she needed to make her decision.

I first met Liz at a CSA conference in Indiana, where she presented her SARE project findings. I thought it was so good, I asked her to come onto my podcast to talk about SARE and how you can use it to fund innovative ideas for your business.

Plus I KNOW there are other farmers out there who could use her SARE project to help them take the next step in their DIY Butcher Shop. In this episode, Liz shares what she learned from her project, what SARE is, how you can use her SARE resource for your business, how to apply for a SARE grant (so you get funded), and how she’s making her meat CSA profitable.

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Who is Liz Brownlee?

Photo Credit: Beth McRoberts

Liz Brownlee and her husband, Nate, are the owners of Nightfall Farm where they raise livestock on her family’s land in southeast Indiana. They have converted 50 acres of corn and soybean fields into pasture, where they rotationally graze sheep, pigs, turkeys, meat chickens, and laying hens. Liz and Nate sell via their meat and egg CSA, restaurants, farmer’s markets, and independent grocery stores. Liz is the president of the Hoosier Young Farmers Coalition and works for Partners IN Food and Farming (PIFF), a new group that serves farmers and food system advocates in Indiana.

Find Liz’s SARE project resources here:

Resources for Starting a Farmer to Farmer Butcher Shop: http://www.nightfallfarm.com/processing.html

Print Version of the guide above

SARE Grant Funding Information Page

Some of the resources mentioned in this episode:

Join my free email list! I have a great “email onboarding sequence” that will guide you through the marketing jungle over the course of several months. Each week, you’ll get a new email with suggestions and tips to make your marketing better.

Sign up for my CSA Academy — and get access to my CSA member resource library to use for your own CSA (as long as you’re a paying member). Use coupon code TRIAL to get your first month for $1

Find my Facebook group for farmers!

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My hope is to feature guests periodically on the show. If you know someone who is innovating in the area of marketing as a farmer, please send me an email at mydigitalfarmers@gmail.com.

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