storefront location

Our store location is:

1117 South Farwell
Eau Claire, WI 54701
715-552-3366

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Links

Foodlums Just down the path from our store is the UW-Eau Claire campus, and that's where the Foodlums have pitched their fork. Supporting local food systems right here in our area.

Cornucopia Institute A local non-profit engaged in educational activities supporting the ecological principles and economic wisdom underlying sustainable and organic agriculture.

Western Wisconsin Farm Fresh Atlas This excellent site will guide you to all sorts of farms in our area.

WHYS Radio This is the website for Eau Claire's independent radio station. Look forward to hearing Just Local Food members hosting a food and farming show in the near future! Not without your support, though, so please check it out!

Organic Consumers Association The OCA promotes food safety, organic farming and sustainable agriculture practices in the U.S. and internationally.

Bike Library At this site you'll find a plethora of great information on bikes. Enjoy!

Family Farm Defenders One great way to support family farms is by buying their products through our store or delivery service. Joining the Family Farm Defenders is another. Wisconsin based non-profit.

Local Harvest The Local Harvest map makes it easy to find family farms, farmers markets, and other sources of sustainable grown food all over the country.

Buying Club Policies

We adhere to the cooperative principles and are an understanding group of folks. The below policies are general guidelines and we will do our best to meet your needs.

Order deadlines will be posted on our website. Orders are placed entirely online at the Natural Farms website. Upon joining you will be issued a password used to enter our secure site. The total amount and exact items to be delivered will be posted on the Natural Farms website Wednesday afternoon before Thursday truck delivery.

Orders can also be placed via paper mail, or over the phone. Printed catalogs are available for $2.50 and list products for three months at a time. We can deliver to your door in most areas of Eau Claire (and beyond under certain circumstances) for $5. Arrangements for delivery should be made with the coop at the time of ordering. If no arrangements are made, we will assume you are picking your order up at our warehouse between 4:30 and 7 pm the day of delivery. Orders not picked up by 7 pm will be held over and you may be charged a fee for storage of your order. Our warehouse is at 772 First Ave. Payment is due upon receiving your order.

We will store items at their required temperatures but cannot provide ice or other cooling agents upon delivery. Please make arrangements to be home or provide a cooler. After delivery we are not responsible for your food.

Please Note

Natural Farms is a wholesale supplier and will be out of stock on some of the products you order. Unfortunately, we can't get backstock orders until our next delivery (two to four weeks). They keep track of their stock online, so when you view an individual product you can see how much they have in stock, and when they expect another shipment. We will do our best to inform you of out-of-stocks ahead of time. Thanks for your understanding.

If you are interested in signing up for the buying club, please contact Joe at 715-577-5564.

Buying Club

We at just local food strive to provide you with a good selection and variety of food. But we know you want more, too! For this reason we offer you access to our main grocery wholesaler, and also offer special orders through all of our suppliers. For the best service, call or stop in!

You can also browse the online catalog of one of our distributors - Kehe - a worker owned business based in the midwest. Their online catalog is slightly clumsy and not easily searchable, but the brand index works OK. See it here. If you see something you like, make note of the item number, brand and item name and let us know! Posted prices on that site are not necessarily what you will pay.

Farmer's Market

Just Local Food maintains a booth at the following markets:

• The Downtown Eau Claire Farmers Market in Phoenix Park, Saturdays 7:30-1, May to October
• The Fresh Start Farm Mart at UW-Eau Claire, Thursdays 7:30-12, September and October
  

Just Local Food Cooperative has been at the Downtown Eau Claire Farmer’s Market since May of 2004. The Farmers Market is a "producer only" market, which requires all vendors to actually produce the items that we sell. Because of our unique cooperative model, and the fact that we are offering a product that helps diversify the market, the Board of the Farmers Market has allowed us a spot to sell a variety of local, farm-direct products. We also invite our many suppliers to join us at the market to sample and educate. We are at the market Saturdays from 7:30am to 1pm during the entire season which spans from May to October.

We are proud to stand alongside many of our suppliers at the market as we work together to establish year-round access to consumers.


Because we can never predict sales perfectly, we do sell out of some items before the close of market. Come early for a better selection.

our suppliers

The folks at Just Local Food are interested in promoting local food and the farmers that grow it. We are happy to try and answer any questions you have about the products we sell. We are facilitators between the consumer and producer, and we don't want to get in the way of a direct relationship. We encourage you to call the farmers directly, and even get food directly from them at their farm stores or at the farmers markets.

Our Suppliers: most links will take you outside of the JLF realm...

Angies Kettlecorn - That's it, just kettle corn...
Aromatherapy natures way - custom blends from Joyce Sobotta...
Barry Weiss - handcrafted kitchen counter compost pots...
Bass Lake Cheese Factory - All natural handcrafted cheeses...
Beaver Creek Ranch - bacon, chicken breasts, pork chops, brats and more...
Beelers -bacon, ham, wieners and where HELUKA® begins...
Blackberry Hills Farm - fresh veggies and fruit from Dunn County, Wisconsin.
Budz Potato Pancakes - Frozen spuds from Chippewa Falls, WI
Bullfrog Trout Farm - Fresh from Herby’s fish farm near Menomonie...
Castle Rock - organic artisan cheeses...
Class Apple - IPM Apples...
Coon Creek Family Farm - certified organic poultry and handmade goat milk soaps...
Co-op partners our partner in acquiring local, regional and international organic food...
Community Homestead wholesome breads, cookies and gluten free/dairy free muffins...
Crescent Meats - family owned in Cadott, WI
Crystal Ball Farms - Our dairy products and cream line milk...
Dahm's Sugarbush - Maple syrup and delicious maple candy...
DragSmith Farms - greens, spinach, microgreens and much more...
Eau Galle Cheese - Fine hard Italian style cheeses from Durand...
Eden Foods - Certified organic goods from a company we can trust...
Equal Exchange - Fair trade chocolate and tea, worker owned....
Farm Fresh Eggs - From a variety of local farms...
Farmhouse Bakery - farmstead goat cheeses and plenty of jellies and jams...
Farmer to Farmer - Fair trade shade grown coffee...
Flower Farm - spring mix
Foster Cheese Haus - Fresh baked bread...
Furthermore beer - local microbrews...
Harmony Corner Café - Fresh baked bread and scones...
Gingerbread Jersey Cheese - Freshly made natural cheese and curds...
Gifts from the Good Earth - Chickens from the Hansen family farm...
Golden Hills Buffalo Farm - Cared for by the Filla family...
GoMacro - macrobiotic snack bars from viola wisconsin...
Great Midwest - real wisconsin cheese...
Great River Organic Milling - organic mill tucked in a valley near the Mississippi...
Harmony Valley Farm - A family owned organic farm...
Holyland Deli - based in the Twin Cities, we get their excellent products fresh weekly...
Honey Hill Apiary - A family owned apiary near Maiden Rock...
Infinitea - local teashop specializing in organic and fair trade teas...
Jade Spring Artesian Water - Drawn from a natural artesian spring...
Just Coffee - organic and fair trade coffee, fresh every week...
Kehe Foods - worker owned food distributor...
Kettle Foods - potato chips made in Wisconsin...
Lambalot Acres - Lamb without the use of antibiotics or hormones...
Little Spring Valley - A big step in quality above commercial beef found at the grocery store...
Nature's Bakery - Locally baked granolas and trail mix
Obsession Chocolates - locally made chocolates and sauces...
Organic Valley - coop of family farms producing a variety of local dairy, meat, veggies and more...
Oskri - producer and packager of organic products, based in Wisconsin..
Party in pants - cloth pads for the princess...
Pastureland - organic butter from organic grassfed cows, high in Omega 3...
Pauls Bread - gluten free bread dough made in Wisconsin Rapids
Piney Hill Farm - natural veggies and spring mix
Restore Products - cleaning products direct from Minneapolis...
Rolling Meadows Sorghum Mill - Natural sweet sorghum and caramel sorghum corn...
Romar Greenhouse - Specializing in dog treats and heirloom varieties of produce...
RP's Pasta - natural ingredient fresh pastas from Madison, WI
Sand Creek Brewing - Specialty beers from nearby Black River Falls...
Schaefer's Orchard Run - Certified Organic Apples
Sno-Pac Organic - A variety of certified organic fruits and vegetables...
Sunbow - Great produce from Eau Claire...
Sylvan Hills - Certified organic produce from Spring Valley...
Viking Brewery - local craft microbrews...
Wheatfield Hill Organics - Organic beef and produce from Helen and family....
Whole Grain Milling - Organic flour, grains and mixes milled in MN...

contact us

Our store address is 1117 South Farwell, Eau Claire, WI 54701 Payments, orders and correspondence can be sent here. Our Phone number is 715-552-3366

Contact Drew with any invoicing or billing questions.

For food, nutrition and supplier questions email aaron.

FAQ

Where is your store?
On November 5th 2005 we opened our doors for retail sales. We are located near downtown Eau Claire at 1117 South Farwell .

Is there a membership fee?
Everyone is welcome! We are a worker owned cooperative, and the only members are the workers. We have no membership fee for our customers.

How did you come up with the idea for Just Local Food?
JLF was conceived from a few brainstorm sessions that took place around kitchen tables and living room floors. It was developed from the experiences of our original founders with an eye towards the future. We wanted to support local farmers, encourage healthy eating among our neighbors, and create interesting, sustainable careers for ourselves.

What is Just Local Food? (Aside from the information given on the Web site)
Just Local Food is much more than a grocery store, or a job, or a place for farmers to sell food. It is a unique community enterprise built on deep relationships and honesty.

Is there a great price difference in buying local food over buying food at a distribution center?
Local food is very different from industrial food sold at discount stores and distribution centers, and in that context, price comparisons are misleading. A fresh, local, organic apple is fundamentally different than an apple sprayed with pesticides, picked by migrant labor, stored for 9 months in warehouses injected with gases to manipulate the ripening process, then sold through warehouses throughout the country. The nutritional makeup is different, the flavor and taste is different, the environmental impacts are different, the social relationships are different, and subsidies and hidden costs are different.

What advice would you give to someone who is contemplating on buying local food?
Stop in our store! Start slowly. Pick foods you like or depend on. Find a source you are comfortable with.

If someone was to choose one local product to start themselves off, which one would you recommend?
Something they like a lot, eat a lot of, or are curious about!

What does Just Local Food have at their store? Is there produce, poultry, snack-type foods?
We are pretty close to a full service grocery store. Fresh produce, dairy, packeaged goods, bread and cookies, meats, frozen veggies. We even have frozen pizzas and mac and cheese.

What is considered local food?
There is no official definition or designation of what is local. At our store, we look at everything from a wide perspective and ask important questions: Was it produced around here? Can we get it direct from the farmer? What sort of processing takes place? Is it affordable? Is it distributed by co-ops?

How did you come in contact with the suppliers for Just Local Food?
We've found suppliers many different ways, meeting them at farmers markets, driving by their farms, visits and calls from farmers to our store, customer suggestions, even internet searches.

What are some of the processes involved, that you might know of, that sets apart local foods from distribution food?
The main benefit of local food in this context is that we can come to the answers to these questions on local food with relative ease! I can tell you what it took to get the ground beef in frozen one pound packages at our store, every step of the process and the names of the people doing it. Try that with the Hamburger at Wal*Mart!

How long has the store been in business?
Our co-op has been around since 2004, starting as a home delivery service. We opened our first warehouse store in late 2005, and moved to our previous location after a fire in 2006, and to our current location in the fall of 2008.

Is the milk raw?
No, all Crystal Ball Farms dairy products are all pasteurized at their state-of- the-art bottling plant. We do sell some raw milk cheeses. If you are looking for raw milk, check this list for a farm near you!

worker-owners

(this part desperately needs updating!)

Just Local Food is a democratically run worker owned cooperative. We currently have about ten workers. We will be posting more information about our workers and owners over the next few months.

who we are

The clearwater collective came together late 2003. Originally a small group of people, we incorporated as a worker-owned cooperative with the name Just Local Food Cooperative. Our goals are rooted in the cooperative principles, and we wish to provide nutritious, sustainable food to people in the Chippewa Valley. Our focus is on local and fairly traded goods, taking care to assure the producers and workers involved are compensated appropriately, and the consumers are assured a quality product at fair and reasonable prices.

The collective is officially organized as a worker owned cooperative with the state of Wisconsin, and owned wholly by the working members. Democratic principles guide our process. We wish to enrich ourselves and our community through fair trade practices amongst ourselves, our suppliers and our customers.

Our members come from varied backgrounds with a wide breadth of experience. From farming to foodservice, we've done it. A few of our specific experiences include: management of several conventional and natural food stores in the Chippewa Valley, restaurant management, computer tech, health education, child care, delivery, plenty of customer service and the operation of our own small businesses over the years. Our interests include farming and gardening, playing with the children in our lives, bicycling, community organizing and enjoying the outdoors. We're confident that our academic and real-life experiences have provided us with the skills we need to operate a sustainable, democratic and honest business providing quality products to our neighbors in the Chippewa Valley.

We are also consumers of the very products we sell. We have been to the farms and met the families that care for the animals and soil. We are making personal connections and developing relationships over time to create a true community of local commerce.

We also thought you might want to view an article in the Chippewa Valley Business Report that offers another view of the co-op.

Current worker owners:
Jordan Wolfe
Aaron Ellringer
Jen Tschernach
Cindy Schlosser
Laura Sommer
Mary Beth Kelly-Lowe
Drew Grunseth
Bob Andruszkiewicz
Susie Schulz

Christopher DeAngelis

Workers:
Shirley Campbell
Karin Kircher
Nik Novak
Aly Diller
Alicia Thibado
Jen Carey

Volunteers:
Lori Chilefone

our mission

Just: Honorable and fair in one's dealings and actions. Justice for the farmers, the earth, the workers, and the consumers. We don't just have local food, we have just and local food!

Local: The Chippewa Valley, Western Wisconsin, the Midwest Bioregion and beyond depending on the product and time of year!

Food: Material of plant or animal origin that is ingested to produce energy, stimulate growth, and maintain life. Good food is something to share with friends and loved ones, to keep traditions alive, to explore, to celebrate. Whether you eat to live, or live to eat, you'll find a lot of good here.

Cooperative: A jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise that values self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of our founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

Just Local Food Co-op Food Policy
(adopted by the worker owners in 2006)

We will do our best to provide food that is:
-Locally produced or distributed
-Organically and sustainably grown
-Low cost and high quality
-Unprocessed and unadulterated
-Produced or distributed by cooperatives, worker-managed businesses, small businesses and cottage industries
-Grown, produced or packaged in an environmentally beneficial manner
-Not produced or distributed by the exploitation of workers