Ranch Route
Bringing together America's Ranchers and Farmers, with those who value their craft and their story
How It Works
Two ways to connect
Whether you're looking to buy direct, or you're looking to reach new customers, Ranch Route makes the connection simple.
New here? See how Ranch Route works →For Buyers & Supporters
Find a Producer
The people behind what you love are right here. Find farm stays, tours and hands on experiences with real families across the country, hear their stories, and take their goods home with you.
Partners
Meet Our Partners
Real goods, real stories, real people
Hasselmann Family Farm
Marengo, IL
Hasselmann Family Farm is a traditional family farm located in Marengo, Illinois, just 60 miles from Chicago. The Hasselmann family has been farming in the Chicago area for over 100 years, starting with Henry Hasselmann's migration from Hanover, Germany, in the late 1800s. Today, under the leadership of Scott Hasselmann, the farm focuses on sustainable and regenerative farming practices, offering pasture-raised meats and eggs to positively impact the community and environment.
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Cody Iron Works
Cody, Wyoming
N.J. Pawley comes from a long line of horse trainers. He apprenticed with the teacher at the local college, took the course twice, apprenticed with a couple more men, and became a farrier. That is where the blacksmithing starts. A farrier has to make his own shoes, and then his own tools, and once you are making your own tools you are a blacksmith whether you have called yourself one or not. Cody Iron Works is a one man blacksmith shop in Cody, Wyoming, where N.J. Pawley hand forges hat racks, knives, dinner bells and hardware over coal and propane fire. He has been forging full time since about 2008, in this shop for seven years, and has been on Etsy since roughly 2010. Ninety percent of the business is online and he recently passed his five thousandth order. Almost every tool in the shop he made himself. For years the shape of his life was training horses in the summer and blacksmithing through the winter. In summer, when Cody hits a hundred and six degrees, he forges in the middle of the night. Every finished piece gets linseed oil, originally flaxseed, a protective coating smiths have used since at least the Middle Ages. It goes on hot and it smokes, and he admits it is dramatic. He is explicit that he does not sell out of the shop and does not want walk in retail traffic, for tax and licensing reasons. He teaches, but only two students at a time, because in a room where a set of tongs left in the rack is still hot enough to take skin off, two is what one man can watch. Everything leaves the shop finished in linseed oil, the way smiths have done it since the Middle Ages.
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Rockin' P Ranch
Sisseton, South Dakota
Bruce and Corrine Prins came to northeast South Dakota in 1973 with 400 acres and two young daughters born back in Iowa. They added on a piece at a time until the place ran to 2,000 deeded acres of native prairie outside Sisseton, tucked inside the boundaries of the old Lake Traverse Reservation. For sixteen years they ran beef cattle, then in 1989, Bruce did the math on a South Dakota winter. He bought seven head of buffalo on the theory that if he could sell a bison calf for roughly what a beef calf brought, he could cut the overhead that was eating him alive. Today the ranch grazes about nine months out of the year. The herd moves through rotational units, sixty days on the smaller pieces, ninety to a hundred and twenty on the largest, then off it and let it rest. About two hundred acres go to alfalfa for winter supplement and nothing else gets farmed. There are two herds. The north herd, about a hundred head, lives up there year round; those mothers have never once come home, and only the calves ever make the trip. The south herd, another hundred and fifty or so, comes in each fall. Bruce runs the ranch with his son John. The bison get handled exactly once. Every fall the herd comes in through the alley and the chute Bruce built himself, gets preg-checked and vaccinated, and the calf crop goes to auction, buyers bidding in person and online from across the country. The rest of the year, they're left alone. The doors are open, the grass is deep, and nobody's chasing them. Bison do things beef cattle can't. In deep snow, a bison drives her head into the drift, shakes it clear, and the grass is right there in front of her. Where a beef cow marbles fat into the muscle, a bison stores it in that hump and draws it down over winter like a bear that never quite hibernates. The operation also offers bison hunts and hides as part of its ranch activities. The family's direct-to-you meat business, Heritage Bison Ranches, is processed at local lockers they know by name. Rocking P Ranch hosts an annual live auction where buyers from across the country can bid in person or via online simulcast to purchase bison from the ranch's calf crop. The operation also offers bison hunts and hides as part of its ranch activities. Visitors can witness the management of a large herd of over 400 bison living on native prairie land in the Midwest.
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Circle View Ranch
Interior, South Dakota
The land came free, in 1918, if you were willing to prove you could live on it. Phil's grandparents were German immigrants who crossed an ocean because land at home was already spoken for. Here, 160 acres were offered to anyone who would build a house and stay. They took it, in the Badlands, and moved into a house made of sod. Phil's father was two years old. In 1933 the government drew a new boundary and the land inside it became Badlands National Monument, and the homestead was inside the line. By then Phil's grandfather had died, and his grandmother, Lena, was left with 12 children and nowhere obvious to go. She took the small settlement the government offered, and because she wanted to live near water, she used it to buy the land the ranch still sits on today. Twice, she went to the courthouse steps on the day of the sale and bought her own land back. Phil's father went on to fly B-17 bombers in the Second World War. He came home, ranched with his brother, and eventually the two split the operation so each could build his own. The home place kept growing under Phil's father, and Phil grew up on it the way his own children do now: on horseback, checking cattle, learning that the work does not stop because the weather is bad. The ranch today runs about 150 pair of Black Angus. Circle View borders Badlands National Park, but it has never been inside it. The land is 2,800 acres, and cattle are raised on native Badlands grassland with rotational grazing across leased and deeded pasture. Four ranches run by cousins now sit clustered together here, hemmed in by the park on one side and tribal land on another, with no real room left to expand. They still work the way ranching communities have worked for a hundred years: Phil goes to his neighbors' brandings, and they come to his. Nobody is trading hay checks by app. It is simply understood. Guests are invited to join the Kruse children in the barn immediately after breakfast to participate in daily ranch chores. Activities include bottle-feeding calves, delivering kitchen scraps to free-range laying hens, feeding baby chicks, collecting eggs, and watering the peafowl. These routines are performed both in the morning and early evening, allowing guests multiple opportunities to participate in the working life of the ranch. The expansive landscape provides ample opportunity for outdoor exploration, including badlands formations, a river valley, and rolling hills. Guests can enjoy activities such as rock and fossil hunting, flying kites, or watching the ranch's black angus cattle herd and haying operations. A herd of curious and friendly burros roams the property and often greets guests at the driveway during check-in. It is a fourth generation family operation on the same land since roughly 1940. Running cattle alone is not enough anymore to keep a family on land like this. A second consecutive drought year has forced hard choices about hay and herd size, the kind of decision every generation on this land has had to make in its own way. What has not changed is the standard Phil holds to: if there is not enough feed, the herd gets smaller before any animal goes without. Ask what the land taught him and he does not talk about the view, spectacular as it is. He talks about restraint. Manage the grass, not the moment. Do not take more than the land can give back. Guests are invited to join the Kruse children in the barn immediately after breakfast to participate in daily ranch chores. Activities include bottle-feeding calves, delivering kitchen scraps to free-range laying hens, feeding baby chicks, collecting eggs, and watering the peafowl. These routines are performed both in the morning and early evening, allowing guests multiple opportunities to participate in the working life of the ranch. The expansive landscape provides ample opportunity for outdoor exploration, including badlands formations, a river valley, and rolling hills. Guests can enjoy activities such as rock and fossil hunting, flying kites, or watching the ranch's black angus cattle herd and haying operations. A herd of curious and friendly burros roams the property and often greets guests at the driveway during check-in. Amenities at the ranch include a game room, board games, and a full guest kitchen for preparing evening meals. The ranch also features bonfires and vistas for viewing sunsets from the back deck. For those seeking a deeper historical connection, the original 1880 Hamm Homestead Cabin offers a genuine 'roughing it' experience without modern electricity or running water on the edge of the White River.
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Von Bergen's Country Market
Hebron, IL
For over 40 years, Von Bergen's Country Market has grown fresh fruit and vegetables right on their farm in Hebron, Illinois, alongside offerings from other local farms and producers. Their market is stocked with farm fresh vegetables, sweet corn, ripe fruit, cut flowers, and a wonderful assortment of market goods like salsas and cheeses. Their Community Supported Agriculture program lets you leave the shopping list at home: they pick it, they pack it, and each week you take home a box of freshly picked, ripe fruits, herbs, and vegetables at their peak.
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Honey Lake Bee Company
North Barrington, IL
Honey Lake Bee Company is a family run apiary in North Barrington, Illinois. Every jar of honey comes from their own beehives in the Barrington area, raw and natural, never blended or heat filtered. Alongside honey and honeycomb, the family pours 100 percent beeswax candles and crafts lip balms by hand, and they teach beekeeping classes and programs for anyone curious about the craft.
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On the Road
Follow Us on the Road
We're driving across the country visiting farms and ranches, meeting the people behind the goods, and sharing their stories. Follow the journey and discover real producers along the way.
Follow the Road
We're out there right now. Every stop brings a new farm, a new family, and a new story. Get each one in your inbox the day it drops.
THE STOREFRONT
Fresh from our Partners
Fresh from local partners and small-scale producers
Arugula
Jacobson Family Farms
$6.00
CRUNCHY UNSWEETENED PEANUT BUTTER
Hasselmann Family Farm
$6.99
8 Oz Jar Of Honey
Honey Lake Bee Company
Age 10 & Up: 1 Hour Semi Private Lessons (2 People)
Timmermann's Ranch & Saddle Shop
$156.00
Boot Jack from Upcycled Horseshoes
Partner Store
$60.00
Honey, Local Pure Raw - 2 lb
Jacobson Family Farms
$35.00
Black Amber + Lavender
Hasselmann Family Farm
$5.99
Beeswax Pellets Triple Filtered Cosmetic Grade Usa Beeswax Yellow
Honey Lake Bee Company
Tack
Timmermann's Ranch & Saddle Shop
Cowboy Triangle Dinner Bell with Horse Head Ringer
Partner Store
$59.00
Microgreens, Radish - Daikon
Jacobson Family Farms
$9.00
Primal Ground Beef (Organ Blend)
Hasselmann Family Farm
$14.75
Honey Bee Beeswax Candle
Honey Lake Bee Company
Pick-up and return delivery services
Timmermann's Ranch & Saddle Shop
Classic Cowboy Hat Rack
Partner Store
$50.00
Microgreen Mix, Rainbow
Jacobson Family Farms
$11.00
Raw Milk SHARP Cheddar Cheese
Hasselmann Family Farm
$7.99
Beeswax Pellets Triple Filtered Cosmetic Grade Beeswax
Honey Lake Bee Company
Age 10 & Up: 1/2 Hr Semi Private Lessons
Timmermann's Ranch & Saddle Shop
$136.00
Blacksmith Lesson
Partner Store
Lettuce, Green Sweet Crisp
Jacobson Family Farms
$6.00
SMOOTH UNSWEETENED ALMOND BUTTER
Hasselmann Family Farm
$11.99
Pillar Candles White 5 Sizes
Honey Lake Bee Company
Grooming Supplies
Timmermann's Ranch & Saddle Shop
THE RANCH ROUTE DIFFERENCE
Why Ride with Ranch Route
More than a marketplace, a movement back to real connection and honest goods
Stories That Matter
We bring awareness to the farms, ranches, and artisans behind the work, sharing their stories, their craft, and the people who make it all happen.
Direct Connection
We connect you directly with the people behind your food and goods, making it easy to discover, support, and build real relationships with the farms and ranches you trust.
Building a Community
Ranch Route is building a community rooted in authenticity, hard work, and trust, bringing together those who believe in supporting real producers and the values they stand for.