Meet the Family Farmers Behind Bull Valley Farm Country Store (VIDEO)

By Mike Orso | March 3, 2023April 12, 2023

In addition to a multitude of once-a-week or so farmers markets, Illinoisans in Chicagoland can buy fresh, farm-raised products seven days a week direct from several farmers who grow and raise what they’re selling.

For example, Bull Valley Farm Country Store, located between the northern Chicago suburbs of McHenry and Woodstock, offers a wide variety of food grown by and produced by its farmer-owner, family members and other farmers from Illinois, Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest.

Bull Valley Country Store sign — *You can find the Bull Valley Country Store at the corners of Illinois Route 120 and Thompson Road between the Chicago suburbs of McHenry and Woodstock. Photo by Mike Orso*

“Here we have a lot of products you can find at farmers markets,” says store owner Michele Aavang, who also farms and has sold her beef at the Woodstock Farmers Market. “Since I do have the history at the market, I was able to connect with a lot of my friends from past markets and they’re selling a lot of their products in here, too.”

The store offers beef, pork and chicken raised by Aavang, her niece’s farm family and other local farmers. The site is also home to her son Grant DeYoung’s Cow Valley Creamery where cows are milked, the milk pasteurized, bottled and refrigerated on-site. In addition to fresh milk, the store also stocks everything from cheese, eggs and yogurt to lettuce and even tilapia raised by farmers.

Grant DeYoung, Phil Tonyan, Payton Cowell bottle and prep milk to be sold in the Bull Valley Country Store — Grant DeYoung, right, grabs milk off the line after Phil Tonyan fills bottles at Cow Valley Creamery, part of the Bull Valley Farm site that also includes a store. In the back, Payton Cowell dates and places Cow Valley Creamery labels on milk bottles. Photo by Mike Orso

“I tried to source everything as locally as possible,” she says. “That seems to be very important to the customers these days.”

For Woodstock area farmers Chris and Hannah McKee, who sell their Rush-Mar Farms meats at Rockford area and online farmers markets, the Bull Valley retail store provides an additional sales opportunity.

Customers checking out at the Bull Valley Farm Country Store — Michele Aavang, Bull Valley Farm Country Store owner, helps customers at the retail outlet offering a multitude of products grown and raised by her, members of her farming family, and other farmers. Photo by Mike Orso

“We can reach more people,” says Hannah McKee, Michele Aavang’s niece.

“Seven-day-a-week sales, it spreads the work load out a little bit too,” says Chris McKee, who, in addition to raising pork, beef and chicken, also raises organic crops along with hay for area horse farms.

The McKee family at their family farm — The seven-member McKee family farms on Hannah McKee’s great-grandparent’s rural homestead near Woodstock built in 1917. Back row from left, Hesston, Chris, Hannah, Hallie. Front row, Sadie, Kassidy, Clayton. Photo by Mack Klingbeil

Aavang hopes the retail farm store provides opportunities for her son, the McKees and other farmers who want to offer what they grow and raise directly to you.

“It’s getting harder and harder to farm here, to be honest,” she says. “If their kids down the road want to stay in agriculture, this would be a way for them to do it.”

Learn more about Bull Valley Farm Country Store in this Partners podcast:

Listen to “Chicagoland’s Newest Farm-to-Table Shopping Experience” on Spreaker.

See more: Family Farms Still Prominent Throughout Illinois