By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
The Downing’s Farm To Fork store is open Thursday and Friday 1-6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
A growing number of today’s consumers are interested in the farm-to-fork movement, which means they want to buy as much of their meat, produce and other food items directly from a farm. One Panora farm family dipped their toes into the farm-to-fork movement in 2017 and has been expanding ever since.
Wade and Lisa Downing live on Wade’s family farm.
“The farm has been in the family for five generations, and we are blessed to be raising the sixth generation here now,” Lisa says.
A mutual friend introduced Wade and Lisa to each other in the summer of 2015.
“We have been together ever since,” Lisa says. “We had our son, Bryer, in November 2017 and got married in September 2019 at the Dallas County fairgrounds. That’s where Wade asked me to be his girlfriend after the rodeo in 2015. Shortly after we got married, we found out we were going to add our daughter to the family. Gwenivere was born in May 2020.”
Lisa grew up in Adel.
This freezer in the Downing’s Farm to Fork store is kept stocked with retail cuts of both pork and beef.
“All of my life, I said I wanted to be a farmer, even though I didn’t have any farm experience,” she says. “I even went to DMACC for ag business. It’s crazy how things work out. Wade is my perfect match and my best friend, and now I know why I had such a passion for farming. I would not want to raise our children anywhere but on this family farm.”
Wade had about 20 head of cattle before the couple met.
“Because of our shared passion for cattle, we quickly grew those numbers,” Lisa says. “We decided when we had our son, it was best for me to stay home with him, and we agreed to make our cattle one of our main sources of income.”
The couple started by selling their home-raised beef as either a whole or half of an animal, working with area lockers to supply customers. At about the same time, they purchased a couple of hogs to raise for pork to fill their freezer.
“The pork was too delicious to keep to ourselves, so we agreed to grow on that side of things as well. In 2022, we started talking about offering our meat in smaller quantities for people who didn’t have the money or freezer space to purchase a whole or half beef or pork. Also, my shirt and cup supplies were taking over the house, so we took the leap to create our on-farm store,” Lisa says.
Wade started building the store from the ground up in February 2023, and, by the end of March, it was moved into place.
“On June 3, 2023, we had our opening day and welcomed so many from the community and even hours away,” Lisa says. “Our goal is to get good quality meat onto everyone’s table and to continue to live our family’s dreams of farming and raising livestock.”
Shown inside the Downing’s Farm to Fork store on their farm are Wade and Lisa and their children, Bryer and Gwenivere.
The Downings’ cattle herd consists mostly of Angus, Angus Hereford cross cows, and select Angus and Hereford bulls with above average marbling and tenderness carcass traits.
“Cows and heifers have their calves on pasture in April and May,” Lisa says. “At the end of October, the calves are weaned and backgrounded in our feedlot until January. Then we select the ones we will finish out for freezer beef and replacement breeding heifers, and the remaining ones we sell at auction. Ones selected for freezer beef never receive growth implants and are fed corn and alfalfa we raise on the farm.”
Wade and Lisa buy hogs from good friends at Alborn Family Farms.
“We get them when they’re about 30 pounds and finish them out at around 300 pounds. All the pigs are crossbreds, all natural and raised outdoors. The hogs are fed corn raised on our farm with a mineral and vitamin pack mixed in when Wade grinds and mixes feed for them,” Lisa says.
In true farm family fashion, both Bryer and Gwenivere each have their own cattle herd and share a flock of chickens.
“Each of our children started with one heifer of their choosing,” Lisa says. “When they calved, if they had heifer calves, they got to make the decision to either keep her to grow their herd or sell her to build their savings account. They now have three breeding head each.”
Lisa says Bryer has always had a special connection with animals.
“He was the one who wanted to get into the egg business,” Lisa says. “Now he and his sister have about 25 hens and two guineas that are part of their evening chores.”
The kids’ egg business is called the B&G Chickenrat Ranch. The B&G comes from their names and “Chickenrat Ranch” comes from the family’s favorite show, “Bluey.”
“There was an episode called ‘Chickenrat,’ and one day the kids started calling our guineas chickenrats, and it just stuck,” Lisa says. “In the warm months with more sunlight, they can get almost two dozen eggs a day.”
The Downing kids’ egg business is called the B&G Chickenrat Ranch. The B&G comes from their names, and “Chickenrat Ranch” comes from the family’s favorite show, “Bluey.”
Downing’s Farm to Fork offers retail cuts of both beef and pork.
“Our retail meat is processed at Arcadia Meats, in Carroll County,” Lisa says. “A few times a year, we put some bundles together so our customers can get some of their favorites and save some money while doing so, or so new customers can try a variety of products and figure out what they enjoy the most.”
The top-selling retail meat is ribeyes. Other popular items are the Downings’ prime rib flavored shaved beef or pork, skinless brats, and bacon cheddar beef patties.
The Downings work with several lockers for their custom meat.
“We offer custom whole, halves, and quarters of beef, and also whole and halves of pork,” Lisa says. “The hogs are typically in the spring and early winter. The beef is throughout the year. We maintain a list of people to contact who have said they might be interested. We also post on our social media when we have custom options available.”
Besides the wide variety of meat options and fresh eggs, Downing’s Farm to Fork sells shirts, sweatshirts and cups Lisa makes.
“We also invested in a laser machine this year so we are diving into making signs, leather patches, ornaments, and more,” she says. “We are excited to see where this laser machine will take our business.”
Looking ahead to summer, the family will set up a tent and market their meats and other products at several locations.
“We will be set up at the Panora Square Market on Saturdays, Ada’s Acres Red, White and Blues event June 28, the Fourth of July farmers market in Yale, and the Twin Vines fall festival,” Lisa says. “We also plan to set up our trailer in Panora more often and will be looking for other opportunities to get our trailer out.”
While the Downings appreciate opportunities to sell at farmer’s markets and other locations, their favorite way to connect with customers is on their farm.
“All of our animals are housed right behind our store, so if our customers want to know where their meat comes from and what the animals are fed, we will gladly show them our operation,” Lisa says.
Downing’s Farm To Fork has a Facebook page where updates are posted and contact information is available.
The farm address is 2420 Teek Ave., Panora. There is a sign on Wagon Road south of Panora that points the way to the farm store a quarter-mile off the highway. The store is open Thursday and Friday 1-6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. To visit the farm by appointment, call or text Wade at 641-757-0651 or Lisa at 641-757-7194.