-
Todd Smith (from left), Mark Atkins and Katie Armour welcome folks to Nature Harvest Meat Company’s grand opening celebration for its custom processing/in-store meat counter season on Feb. 10. Atkins, the owner of Second Chance BBQ, collaborated with Nature’s Harvest to cook meat for customers at the event. (Gianna Sandy/The Oglethorpe Echo)
From the farm to the butcher to the barbeque, it takes a collaboration of local farmers and business owners to bring custom-processed meat to Oglethorpe County.
“In life, we’re all teams, whether it be your kids or your grandparents or your customers; we’re all a team, and we all try to do our best,” said Todd Smith, the owner of Nature’s Harvest Meat Company.
Nature’s Harvest, which is in Crawford, had its grand re-opening celebration on Feb. 10 after closing for hunting season last September. About 40 customers attended and shopped at the in-store meat counter and tasted the locally-raised meat products cooked by Second Chance BBQ owner Mark Atkins.
The partnership between the two businesses reflects their efforts to source their products locally and support each other.
“It’s not just about us personally building a business, it’s about building a business in order to build the community and work with others,” Atkins said.
Nature's Harvest sources its meat from local farmers and hunters as a way of supporting those in their community while keeping their products healthy.
“Everybody should buy local because they’re keeping us busy, and we’re taking care of them,” Smith said.
By using meat from local farmers, Smith knows how the animals were taken care of and what they were fed. This allows farmers and the business to work together to make sure the meat is processed humanely and free of any additives, preservatives and dyes.
“We want to take care of our families,” Smith said. “The easiest way to take care of our families is to feed them as healthy as we can.”
Atkins is working on establishing a physical location for Second Chance BBQ in downtown Lexington. In the meantime, his business operates by catering, cooking at local events and collaborating with other local businesses.
Atkins operates his business by buying meat from local businesses like Nature’s Harvest and Bell’s Food Store as a way to reinvest in his community and connect with his customers.
“Most of our customers are local people, and seeing that most of my customers are going to be local, I think it gives them a peace of mind knowing that I buy my products, my meats or whatever, from the same place that they do,” Atkins said.
Smith and Atkins are open to partnering with each other again.
“Anything to keep us involved with our town, I’m all in,” Atkins said. “I’m all for it.”