Before he even graduated from high school, Justin Miklaszewski of Raymond started his business, Two Creek Farms.    

Now, he’s 22 and this year graduated from UW-Whitewater and opened his first retail store, Two Creek Farms in Union Grove. 

If not for a full freezer, Miklaszewski might not have started selling meats while still in high school. The first year, he started with just a handful of Black Angus. People responded by the hundreds to his Facebook postings, and he saw a need he could fulfill. 

Now, Two Creek Farms also offers  pork, chicken and turkey plus cheese. He works with Johnson Sausage Shoppe in Rio for processing and offers everything from sausage and jerky to steaks and custom cuts. Thanks to online shopping and delivery through Market Wagon, sales have increased beyond his imagination and his customer base reaches from Madison to Chicago. 

In addition to running the farm and food business, Miklaszewski graduated this year from UW-Whitewater with a double major in general business and business management and a minor in international sales. 

Next, he’s working on opening a second retail location, with a goal of 2023 in either Whitefish Bay or Oak Creek. 

I started when I was 16. We showed pigs all throughout my younger years of 4H and FFA. One year we went to State Fair, August 2016. We brought up two pigs and we didn't sell them. We had to bring them back.

Our family freezers were full, so we decided to sell them to family or friends. Nobody was real interested or they had a bunch of meat already, so I decided to make a post on Facebook. Within an hour I had 250 comments asking if it was available. That was shocking to me. There is definitely a need in our area.

The following year I purchased some more pigs and some beef steers, only about five. Very small scale. I was still working part-time at a lumber company and in 4H and FFA. It was fun side money. 

Then that year we posted on Facebook and it blew up again. People liked that it was raised in Union Grove, Raymond and Racine County. People started calling me for a quarter or half of beef. It just kept growing. Luckily, my parents have 20 acres in Raymond. My dad grew up on a dairy farm, though my family sold that before I was born, but there is family history in livestock.

In 2018 I did my first ever farmers market in Racine. We were strictly going to try to sell bulk beef. That's all I had. It was slow. we had a few sales here and there, but it wasn’t generating enough to stay at that market. 

We had a few families ask if I had beef sticks or summer sausage and jerky or steaks. No, but we can.

We had beef hanging and pork handling at a processing facility in Rio, at Johnson Sausage Shoppe. I talked to Chris Johnson, the owner. How much would it cost and take for me to take this beef and turn it into cuts, steaks, summer sausage, ground beef and roasts? Once we implemented that into the markets, it took off.

We got into lambs, chickens and turkeys as well. That was a need we saw. We just kept growing. We’d have 50 to 80 people stopping at the house daily. It got to be a little overwhelming. It was time to get a storefront or a spot where I could have customers come to me, instead of to my personal home.

On January 22, 2022, I opened my first retail storefront in Union Grove. 

It has grown so large so quickly. We had to work with other farmers in the Union Grove area to help supply us. They're being generous enough to raise the animals I purchase, more a lease agreement. There is no way I can magically make a beef ready, so when we run low I work with other families that raise beef the same way we do. 

Market Wagon, that was a huge turning point for us in 2020. We reached so many more customers that way (with online ordering and local delivery) versus direct marketing through Facebook or radio ads. …  It works well. Anybody can go on their phone or computer and search up ribeye steaks or chuck roast or lamb shanks, beef sticks, cheese. 

I prefer when people order on Market Wagon, because it gives us more of a heads up on what we have to have ready for customers versus when you go to farmers markets. Say we sell out of our T-bones or ribeyes at the farmers markets because we have multiple customers come up and ask for those. Then I have to say "I sold out, you have to wait till next week" when I actually still have a bunch in my freezer, but I didn't know how many to bring to the market because some weeks are slow, some are busy.

We always can fulfill orders quickly and proficiently through Market Wagon. I know that every Monday I need this and this for my Tuesday market drop. Market Wagon then delivers it to customers, which is super nice. I don't have to charge the customer extra for shipping. That shipping for a smaller business is costly and hard. 

I always, always, 100 percent, no matter the day, I always say just get involved with 4H or FFA if you are interested in farming at all. That is how it started for me.

I grew up with a family that had farming experience, but when I was young, we lived in Racine and had a dog and a cat, that was it. My parents decided to go out to the country and once that happened it was we all like animals, we want to be on a hobby farm or small farm. That's what we did. Get involved with 4H and FFA, that is the best way to learn if you like it or don’t. 

All of our beef that we sell for food consumption is Black Angus. For pork we do Berkshire the majority, but some crossbreds mixed with Berkshire. It really is a better tasting meat if people know about pork, it has a better fat ratio. We do Cornish cross chickens for our poultry, and bronze turkeys …

We always have turkey products, legs and wings and thighs and breasts, but we don’t sell as many whole turkeys during the year. 

We are starting now to take orders for Thanksgiving. We do corned beef for St. Patrick’s day. We do hams for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Pretty much anything seasonal you would cook, we do that. It just depends on what a customer truly wants. 

Our biggest seller is our steaks. Always.

We do get requests. We get asked a lot for cow tongue, heart, liver for beef or pork, chicken feet. It comes and goes. Sometimes I think I hear it all and somebody calls and asks for something and I have to go look it up, because in the meat industry there are so many different terms and names. 

The absolute must have was a good, reliable, efficient and friendly processing plant. We don’t process any of our own stuff. We sub that out to Johnson Sausage Shoppe in Rio. 

I don’t have the funds to open a facility and package plant. It is millions of dollars. For me, that is not worth it yet to do it myself.

Something I started when I was 16 has grown so rapidly. I don’t want to give up because I’ve already gotten so far. This summer I employed 23 employees. I’m 22. I opened my first retail store at age 21 while still in college.

It is a pride thing for me, I want to see how much I can do and how large I can grow this and how many families I can feed. On top of it, I never feel like I’m working.

More:Kurt Schulz Deli reshapes into a breakfast destination, with cakes, pastries and meats

Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.

What: Two Creek Farms, 1360 15th Ave., Union Grove. 

When: Open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday

Farmers markets; Two Creek Farms can also be found at farmers markets in Mukwonago and Okauchee (Lions Market) on Wednesdays; Kenosha (Harbor Market), Oak Creek and Whitefish Bay on Saturdays; and Riverwest on Sundays.

Market Wagon: Delivery can be ordered at marketwagon.com