By Susan Marquez
All images from RemingtonLottFarms.com
When you think of a special meal, steak usually comes to mind. Steak is the food of celebrations. Other cuts of beef are used in the menu staples we eat every day: hamburgers, spaghetti, beef stew, tacos and more. Most folks are used to picking up their beef and pork from the grocery store, however Greg Lott is hoping to change that with Remington-Lott Farms.
Folks in the metro-Jackson area now have a different way to buy meat, thanks to a chance meeting between Jim Rowell and Greg Lott. “I’ve been in the cattle business for years,” says Greg. “Jim and his family moved their farm to the Canton area, near my family’s farm. We started talking and decided to form a partnership.”
Remington-Lott Farms began selling meat at the Mississippi Farmers Market on High Street in Jackson in February 2015, just in time for the Dixie National Rodeo. “We had lots of beautiful beef for sale, and our very first customer came up and asked us if we had any bones for sale,” recalls Greg. “She bought a whole bag of bones to make beef broth. That was our first sale!”
As people learned that the beef sold by Remington-Lott Farms was superior to the beef they were used to buying at the grocery store, the sales at the farmers’ market soared. “We dry age our beef for 18 to 21 days,” says Greg. “That makes for a better tasting cut of beef. Our beef is also raised with no hormones and we package it with no preservatives. Plus, people like to know where their food comes from. This beef is one hundred percent born and raised in Canton.”
As their customer base grew, the company decided to open a retail location in Gluckstadt. That was followed by three other locations in Flowood, Clinton and Ridgeland. The meat can be sold in smaller portions, but the CSA (commercially supported agriculture) model has been the most popular. “We sell either a half or a whole share of beef,” explains Chelsie Eaves, who is the granddaughter of Jim Rowell. “Unlike a lot of other farmers who have crops that only grow a certain time of year, we can raise, and sell, beef all year. Our CSA is for three-month increments.” The half share sells for $60 a month, or $180 total. Each month customers get six to seven pounds of premium grass-fed beef, including ground beef, and a variety of sirloin strips, stew meat and if they would like, pork raised in Carroll County. The whole share sells for $110/month, or $330. That is twelve to thirteen pounds of beef a month, or a mix of beef and pork. Premium cuts, such as filets, ribeye, porterhouse or T-bone steaks can be added to the order for an extra charge.
Other products sold in the retail stores include ground brisket, smoked beef sausage and beef bacon. “The bacon is so good, I sometimes eat it on crackers,” says Chelsie. The company’s newest product is an all-beef tamale. “We have them made at Tony’s Tamales in Bentonia,” says Greg.
Chelsie says her grandfather is 95 years old and still working in the cattle business. “He was so excited that we got into this business,” she says. “And he’s excited that we can share this delicious beef with others. What we are doing is taking beef back to the way it was in the good ol’ days! To me, there is simply no taste comparison. The flavor and quality are incredible. Our customers tell us that once they taste the difference, they can’t go back to grocery store meat!”
Greg says the company offers gift cards for sale at the retail locations and online. “It’s hard to find the right gift for someone who seems to have everything. But anyone would enjoy some nice steaks!”