Our Vendors

Trust is earned, not printed on a package. So we name names.

Every vendor in this store cleared the same gates. Below is who they are, what they supply, and how far they are from our front door. Where we turned someone down, we say that too — on the standard page and in the journal.

Dairy

RAW FARM — Fresno, California

Raw milk, raw cheese, and kefir from a CDFA-permitted California dairy, sealed and bottled at a state-licensed milk products plant. We do not open it, repack it, or let it above 45°F between the truck and your hands.

Why them: raw dairy is the single most regulated thing we sell and the one where shortcuts do real harm. They hold the permit, they run the tests, and they let us see the paperwork.

Note: federal law prohibits shipping raw milk across state lines. Raw dairy is in-store only, and always will be.

Valley Milk — Farmer Joe's — Modesto, California

Raw cow, goat and sheep milk from a Modesto dairy, bottled sealed under the Farmer Joe's label by Valley Milk Simply Bottled. Cow milk comes in both A1 and A2; goat and sheep are naturally A2-type. It is in our cooler on delivery days and, like all raw dairy, sold sealed exactly as bottled.

Why them: a hard feeding line — no corn, no soy, no silage, ever — grass-grazed on pasture and raised without added hormones or antibiotics. The animals live their full natural lives on the farm and calves stay with their mothers; the founder runs a cow sanctuary for lifelong care. And they are right here in Modesto, which is about as short as a cold chain gets.

Note: raw dairy is in-store only. Federal law prohibits shipping raw milk across state lines.

Stuyt Dairy Farmstead Cheese — Escalon, California

Raw-milk farmstead cheese from a Dutch-heritage dairy family twenty minutes away in Escalon — Gouda-style wheels made with milk from their own herd, in flavors from cumin (the classic Dutch move) to smoked, garlic herb and habanero.

Note: raw cheese lives in our cooler. In-store and local delivery only.

Meat

Engler Grass Fed — Sonora, California

Grass-fed and grass-finished beef from a fourth-generation family ranch in the Sierra foothills, about an hour from the store. Michael and Mary Engler run it with their daughter Madeline.

Why them: “grass-fed” only describes how an animal started. “Grass-finished” describes how it ended, and it’s the word that actually matters. Engler put it plainly before we even asked — never any grains, never any feedlots, no excuses — and their cattle are raised without added hormones or antibiotics on holistically managed pasture. We asked for documentation on the finishing, not just the feeding, before a single package went in the case.

In the case now: ground beef (80/20 and 90/10), the Power Blend organ grind, stew meat, carne asada and New York steak. They also render suet tallow into a shave soap, which we carry — the whole animal gets used, which is rather the point.

Note: fresh meat is in-store only. Cold chain doesn’t travel in a cardboard box.

Marin Sun Farms — Petaluma, California

A major share of our beef comes from Marin Sun Farms, founded in 1999 by David Evans on his family’s Point Reyes ranch. They are vertically integrated from pasture to processing to plate and run one of the last USDA-inspected slaughterhouses in the Bay Area — the facility that cuts, wraps and seals our beef shares under federal inspection.

Why them: grass-fed, pasture-raised protocols, a plant that holds USDA Organic and Animal Welfare Approved certification, and the scale to supply a growing meat counter without bending the standard. Their certified-organic brand, Mindful Meats, is organic beef raised from organic dairy cattle — the organic line behind our certified-organic beef shares.

In the case & by the share: filet mignon and organic chicken at the counter, plus quarter, half and whole beef shares in three programs on the beef shares page.

Stemple Creek Ranch — Tomales, California

Loren and Lisa Poncia’s fourth-generation ranch on the Marin coast, raising 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb on certified-regenerative pasture. Their land stewardship won the national Leopold Conservation Award in 2026.

On the shelf: ground beef and patties, ground lamb, pasture-raised ground pork, and the jerky and snack sticks by the register.

Maui Nui Venison — Maui, Hawai’i

Wild axis deer, harvested at night on Maui with USDA-inspected mobile units — the only truly wild-harvested red meat sold in America. Every animal taken helps protect the island’s native ecosystems from an invasive herd.

On the shelf: aged medallions, 99% lean ground, and a ground blend with 10% liver and heart.

Yolo Land & Cattle — Woodland, California

A family ranch in Yolo County, run by the Stone family since 1976, raising grass-fed Angus on regeneratively managed rangeland. Their land-stewardship work has earned an Environmental Stewardship Award and includes a regional carbon project on the ranch’s grasslands.

Why them: whole-animal thinking. We carry their beef suet ($8/lb) and bone marrow ($9/lb), sold by weight — the parts most stores throw away, and exactly what you want for rendering your own tallow or roasting marrow bones. Regenerative grazing that builds soil instead of mining it is the kind of farming our standard is written to reward.

Note: sold by weight at the counter, in-store only.

Produce & microgreens

Green Digits Farms — Modesto, California

A local microgreens grower supplying the Modesto area with living trays of broccoli, mighty mix and fiesta medley greens — cut fresh, sold alive.

Sunburst Microgreens

Salad mixes, pea shoots, and alfalfa & clover — grown close, cut fresh.

Bakery

Nama's Kitchen

Naturally leavened sourdough under the Namas Sourdough label — plain, garlic-rosemary and jalapeño-cheddar loaves, sandwich bread and rolls, baked local.

Con Ternura Bakery

A small-batch bakery known for its sourdough chocolate chip cookie and focaccia — sea salt, cheesy garlic, and fire-spiced.

Tori's Baked Goods

Sourdough loaves and jumbo chocolate chip cookies, baked in small batches.

Candelo's Banana Bread

Organic banana bread, baked fresh in small batches.

The apiary — honey

We ended up with more beekeepers than any store strictly needs, and we are not sorry. Three of them keep hives within half an hour of the store. Taste two honeys side by side at the counter and you’ll understand why they all stayed.

Bill’s Bees — Los Angeles County, California

Raw, unfiltered, unheated varietal honey — buckwheat, orange blossom, sage blossom, wildflower and avocado blossom, each one tasting distinctly of what was blooming when the bees worked it.

Why them: one ingredient. Nothing added, nothing removed, never heated — which is the whole difference between honey and the pasteurised syrup most jars contain. Bill has kept bees since 1991 and has served as president of the California State Beekeepers Association. We vetted the operation ourselves.

Buzzin Apiaries — Gustine, California

Raw varietal honey from hives thirty minutes southwest of the store — wildflower, clover, orange blossom, button sage, and two you rarely see in a jar: cotton blossom and avocado blossom, pulled straight off Central Valley and coastal-range bloom.

Chrisman Apiaries — Oakdale, California

Hive-to-bottle raw honey from the next town over — wildflower, a hot honey with real heat, and a toyon varietal from California holly, the native shrub they say Hollywood was named for.

Fantozzi Honey Company — Patterson, California

A beekeeper-owned outfit one town south, pulling sage, orange blossom and wildflower honey off Valley and Central Coast bloom — alfalfa, melon, pumpkin — plus raw bee pollen and cut honeycomb, which they call the filet mignon of honey. Fair.

Big Island Bees — Captain Cook, Hawai’i

Single-floral Hawaiian honey from the Kona coast — ohia lehua, macadamia nut blossom, wilelaiki — raised by Garnett Puett, a fourth-generation beekeeper who is also a sculptor whose medium is his own bees. The honey is as singular as that sounds.

New Zealand Honey Co. — Timaru, New Zealand

The exception to our California-first rule, carried because real manuka does not grow here. UMF-licensed and independently tested — the 15+ on the jar is a verified grade, not a marketing number.

Pantry

Sciabica’s California Olive Oil — Modesto, California

Cold-pressed California olive oil from a family mill four miles from our front door. Nicola Sciabica started pressing here in 1936 with techniques he learned in Marsala, Sicily; the family is now in its fifth generation and is the oldest continuously operating olive oil producer in America.

Why them: ninety years of doing one thing, four miles away. There was never a question, and there was never a negotiation about shelf space. Their flavored oils are pressed with the fruit and herbs rather than infused afterward, which is why the lemon tastes like lemons and not like a candle.

Wise Goat Organics — California

Raw, organic, live-culture ferments: sauerkrauts, vegan kimchi, relishes and fermented hot sauces, several of them Good Food Award winners. Wild-fermented in small batches with unrefined sea salt and no sugar.

Why them: we spent months looking for a ferments vendor who wouldn’t pasteurize the life out of the jar. Live ferments are the whole reason to eat the stuff.

Note: raw and alive, so they stay in our cooler. In-store only.

Lala’s Jams — Petaluma, California

Small-batch jams and jellies from Leslie “Lala” Goodrich, who learned to make them from her Scottish grandmother and now runs the only jam shop in Sonoma County.

Why them: eight or nine jars per batch, in-season and organic fruit where she can get it, and organic cane sugar at under two percent of the jar — which is the part that matters to us. Most jam is sugar wearing fruit as a costume. Hers is the other way around. Several of her recipes are three ingredients long, and the Jalapeño Pepper Jelly took a gold medal at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair in the professional division.

Fatworks — Colorado

Chef-grade traditional fats since 2011 — duck fat, wagyu and bison tallow, Iberico lard from acorn-fed Spanish pigs, cultured ghee. They call themselves the Defenders of Fat, and our standard agrees with them.

Philosopher Foods — Santa Cruz, California

Sprouted, stone-ground nut butters and fermented “Gut Nuts” from a Santa Cruz farmers-market favorite. Sprouting and fermenting are extra work nobody sees; you taste it anyway.

Pluck — organ-based seasoning

Seasonings that sneak grass-fed liver, heart and kidney into everyday cooking, created by chef James Barry — a former private chef who figured the only way most people will eat organs is if dinner already tastes great.

Redbloom

A chili crisp built for sensitive guts — low-FODMAP, fifteen whole ingredients, Sichuan chili in avocado oil. No seed oils, which is why it made the shelf.

Vera Salt — from a spring in Spain

Hand-harvested from a protected inland saltwater spring, which is why it tests free of microplastics — the quiet problem with most sea salt.

Aloha Spice Company — Hanapēpē, Kaua’i

Seasoning grinders and traditional Hawaiian salts — red ’alaea clay and black lava — made in Kaua’i’s biggest little town.

Sunny Fruit — İzmir, Turkey

Organic sun-dried figs, plums and berries in portion packs — Smyrna figs from the region that has been drying them for a few thousand years. Nothing added.

Apricot Power — California

A company built around one thing: the bitter apricot seed, one of the richest whole-food sources of amygdalin (B17), grown in California.

Extraordinary Foods

Small-batch sauces — Fig BBQ, Citrus Got Real, Bang Bang Bang, and the classic reds and greens.

Sparrow Lane — Ceres, California

Artisan vinegars and balsamics made just down the road in Ceres — Champagne, Gravenstein apple cider, California peach, and a 25-year aged balsamic.

Melgard Farms — Turlock, California

A family farm and mill in nearby Turlock, stone-milling their own grain into fresh whole flour.

Oaktown Spice Shop — Oakland, California

Oakland's spice house, hand-mixing blends and specialty salts — applewood smoked sea salt, Montreal steak and chop, Cyprus citron lemon salt.

Nature's Pantry

Everyday kitchen essentials — Celtic French grey sea salt and table-ground black pepper.

Cheppy's Nut Sack

Organic almonds, packed simply for everyday snacking.

Luna's

Protein granola made in small batches.

LADS Home Ranch

Small-batch seasoning blends built for everyday cooking.

Coffee, drinks & sweets

Terranova Coffee Co. — Sacramento, California

A Sacramento roaster turning out organic beans in small batches.

Nala's Juices

Fresh-pressed juices made in small batches — cold, bright, nothing added.

Juiced

Cold-pressed juice in a dozen rotating blends, kept cold at the counter.

Yaya

Wellness shots — ginger, turmeric, citrus charge and sweet heat.

Happy Fungi Fusion

Sparkling mushroom sodas with a real functional dose — lion’s mane, cordyceps and reishi — and zero added sugar.

Adobe Mountain

Naturally still mineral water drawn from a California spring.

KAO Performance Chocolate

Functional chocolate bars built for a boost — coffee hazelnut, raspberry pistachio, strawberry walnut, berry almond.

The Conscious Bar

72% dark chocolate sweetened entirely with dates instead of cane sugar — one of very few chocolates that clears our sugar gate, on a technicality we fully endorse.

Our own kitchens & labs

Four of the labels on these shelves are ours, rendered, whipped and poured in Modesto. We hold our own line to the same gates as everyone else's — no home-team discount on the standard.

Frontier Organics

Our house apothecary: tallow-based skincare like honey tallow balm, muscle balm and Silk Revival, plus a honey bamboo scrub, Gold Strike beard oil, and a cotton tote.

Frontier Tallow Company

Our house food label, working grass-fed tallow into cacao nut butter, protein peanut spread, Cowboy Steakhouse butter, salted tallow butter and matcha butter cream.

TALO

Our house body-care line — renewal balm, Crème Veloutée, biosilk body oil and velvet body butter.

TALO Med

Our relief line — a CBD muscle balm and muscle oil for sore, worked bodies.

Tallips

Our tallow lip care — citrus honey glow, golden healing, mint silk and honey cacao butter.

Local makers

Mazzeltov Farms — Waterford, California

Goat milk soap, body wash and laundry soap from a woman-owned farm fifteen miles east of us. Every batch starts with fresh milk from their own herd, cold-processed with a blend of six oils and butters.

Why them: palm-oil free, sulfate free, no phthalates or parabens, and scented with essential oils rather than fragrance. The laundry soap in particular does something we didn’t expect — it softens fabric on its own, no dryer sheet needed.

Fig & Grove — Copperopolis, California

Cold-process bar soap, hand-cut and cured a minimum of four weeks by Claudia Akers up in the Sierra foothills. Goat milk, raw California honey, shea and cocoa butter.

Why them: essential oils only, never synthetic fragrance, and the colors come from clay, turmeric, alfalfa and charcoal rather than dye. Their bars use certified sustainable palm oil — we’d rather tell you that than have you find it on the wrapper.

Veritas True to Nature — Waterford, California

Solid shampoo bars handmade by Esmeralda Lopez, twenty minutes up the road. Nearly every botanical in them is certified organic.

Why them: no sulfates — they clean with gentler surfactants instead of SLS — and one bar replaces a plastic bottle. Cruelty-free.

The apothecary & bath

Myers Manor

A small-batch soap maker — a grass-fed tallow shampoo and body bar, and a purifying charcoal detox soap.

Totally Tallow

Hand-crafted tallow and goat-milk soap bars — unscented, turmeric & colloidal oats, and activated charcoal.

Orr4 Farm Stand — Joshua, Texas

Organic tallow soap from the Orr family's Texas farm stand — rosemary lavender, peppermint, lemongrass and sweet orange.

Nature's Love

Goat milk soaps, bath bombs, shower steamers and magnesium cream, made in small batches.

Radiant Skin

Tallow lotion in lemon eucalyptus and honey.

Herb To Body

Wildcrafted soursop in the Caribbean herbal tradition — living bitters blending twenty-odd herbs and roots, dried soursop leaf for tea, and cold-pressed black seed oil.

Heritage Store — Virginia Beach, Virginia

Cold-pressed castor oil from a company that has been at it since 1969 — the label still calls it the Palma Christi.

Salt + Soul Skincare

A facial dry brush made for lymphatic support and smoother skin.

Dr. Ginger's

Natural oral care — charcoal whitening and coconut toothpastes, and an oil-pulling mouthwash.

California Naturals

Naturally derived hair care — shampoo, conditioner, and an anti-thinning shampoo.

No Tox Life

Zero-waste personal care; their eucalyptus steam vapors turn a hot shower into a decongestant.

UpCircle USA

Beauty made from upcycled ingredients — bamboo cotton buds and a gua sha tool.

Desesh

Plastic-free shaving and bath — a metal safety razor and natural loofah slices.

Bath Accessories Company

Vegan kabuki makeup brushes with soft synthetic bristles.

Cheeks Ahoy

Reusable organic cotton facial rounds that stand in for single-use pads.

Tampon Tribe

Organic cotton tampons and pantyliners.

Rif Care — California

Period care made from upcycled hemp fiber — biodegradable pads, regular through night-long.

Wellness

Radical Jill's Seamoss

Small-batch sea moss gel — a mineral-rich addition to smoothies and tonics.

Journey Seamoss

Small-batch sea moss gel from a local maker, including a bright strawberry, lilikoi and lemonade blend.

PluriPotency

Loose-leaf tea and topical magnesium oil for everyday rest and recovery.

Lean One

Supplements for active bodies — collagen peptides and creatine monohydrate.

Equip Foods

Whole-food supplements from a functional-medicine clinician — grass-fed colostrum, beef organ capsules, and a beef protein that reads like food.

Magnum Solace

Magnesium chloride bath flakes, straight or blended with MSM or vitamin C.

The nontoxic home

Bamboo Switch

Everyday plastic swaps in bamboo and wool — toothbrushes, floss, utensils, a pot scrubber and dryer balls.

PlantPaper

Tree-free bathroom and kitchen paper made from bamboo.

Humble Suds

Plant-based cleaning — an all-purpose cleaner and a compostable sponge set.

MamaSuds

Castile-soap cleaning made simple — an all-purpose spray and drop-in toilet tabs.

Simple Ecology

Reusable home basics — cellulose dish sponges, organic cotton face rounds and towels.

ECOBAGS

Reusable organic cotton bags, including a soap saver that stretches a bar to its last sliver.

Bee's Wrap — Middlebury, Vermont

The beeswax-lined bread bag that helped start the wax-wrap movement — founded by a Vermont homesteader in 2012, B Corp certified.

Kitchen & home goods

Corona Woodworking

Handmade wood kitchenware — cutting and serving boards, a bread knife, a pizza peel, and board oil to keep them going.

Butte Copper Company — Butte, Montana

Copper barware and measuring sets from the town copper built — Butte sits on what miners called the Richest Hill on Earth. Solid copper, no plating.

Copper Mug Company — Arvada, Colorado

Pure copper drinkware and nothing else — Moscow mule mugs in hammered and smooth, a beer stein, and the Mr. & Mrs. barrel set that has become our default wedding gift.

CopperCulture

Pure copper water bottles, hammered or polished.

Cowhide Accessories

Handmade cowhide goods — keychains, wristlets, and a baby wipes holder.

For the little ones

Ecoriginals

Plant-based baby wipes made with Manuka honey, goat milk, and New Zealand spring water.

Taylor's Naturals

Gentle baby care — a refillable wash and shampoo, and a soothing teething rub.

Bleu La La

A heritage-knit swaddle blanket in organic cotton.

Clarice the Red Cow

The storybook world of Clarice — children's books, a matching plush, and a blanket.

Keycraft

A large, huggable Highland cow plush.

Pets

A Better Treat

Freeze-dried single-ingredient treats — chicken, beef, salmon, pumpkin — for dogs and cats.

Pure and Natural Pet

Fragrance-free dog shampoo and conditioner, plus an itch-relief formula.

Yumwoof Natural Pet Food

Human-grade, air-dried dog food formulated low-carb.

Magnolia Naturals

THC-free CBD for pets — treats and tinctures.

The greenhouse

Plant Patience

Houseplants for every corner — rosemary, monstera, ZZ, snake plant and pothos — with handmade macramé hangers.

Still open

We are still looking for organic pasture-raised eggs from corn and soy free birds. If that’s you, and you can clear the gates on the standard page, come talk to us at the store.