I’ve always been into the buy fresh/buy local movement, in theory. But in practice, I found it time-consuming, fragmented, and difficult to achieve in today’s busy world. How many times did I go to a small, locally focused market or farmers market with grand plans, but found they were sold out of the very things I was looking for, which then drove me to the supermarket?

How often have I wanted to buy hormone and antibiotic free pork or beef, only to be unable to find the cut I needed for a recipe?

True, flexibility is key to living the buy fresh/buy local life.  If you can’t find pork shoulder, make pork chops. If you can’t find beets, do something cool with turnips. But sometimes, you’re simply in the mood for beets. Or pork shoulder.

Fortunately, as the buy fresh/buy local movement gains momentum, more and more farmers are figuring out streamlined, low-hassle ways to get their goods to consumers.

Nick Wallace, Jake and Suzanne Velie at Wallace's Farm Booth at The Natural Living Expo, Des Moines, Iowa

For example, here in the great Midwest, Wallace Farms has just started a buying club for all kinds of humanely raised, antibiotic/hormone-free meats, cheese, and butter. The Wallaces raise grass-fed beef in Southeast Iowa–so you can get that, of course. But the family also works with a network of farmers so that they can basically be your one-stop shop for ALL your protein needs–from Alaskan Salmon to artisanal butter and cheese, to pork, pasture-raised turkeys–the list goes on.

Here’s the way it works: You sign up for their buying club, which only means you’ll be sent an order form a week before they’ll be coming to your town. You fill it out, designating exactly what you want (no obligation to buy anything). They confirm your order; you pick it up at a designated time and place. Very, very easy.

It’s ingenious. As Jake Velie, spokesperson for Wallace Farms says: “The consumer wants convenience and choice, and that’s what we’re giving back to them.”

It’s also a cheaper way to buy. No, it won’t be less expensive than commodity meats at your supermarket, but it will be cheaper than buying natural meats at a retail store. Velie says: “Having a direct relationship with the farmer, you can buy all of your protein at Wallace’s Farms at 30% less than at a store.”

Wallace’s farms delivers to Iowa City, Ames, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Ankeny, and Chicago (three locations). If you live elsewhere in the country–and have found a similar buying club, please share!