our mission & vision
- At Yankee Flats Meats, our mission is simple: to provide our community with the highest quality, locally sourced meats while promoting sustainable farming practices and supporting our local producers. We are committed to transparency, integrity, and excellence in everything we do, delivering only the best from our farm to your table.
- Our vision at Yankee Flats Meats is to lead our community towards a sustainable food future by setting the standard for locally sourced, high-quality meats. We aim to inspire and empower others to make informed choices about the food they eat, making each meal a celebration of sustainable local farming and exceptional taste.
our story
Chapter 1
Farming Friendships
Yankee Flats Meats grew out of the needs of farming and the beauty of friendship.
In 2017, James and Chelsea Keenan moved their growing family out of the city with a simple plan to buy an acreage and farm pigs - a plan that would prove almost impossible. Almost, but not quite, and after five years, the Keenan’s small family farm was providing fresh, delicious pork to their community.
The only problem was that they didn’t have a good way to process all that tasty meat.
Around the same time, Scott and Lydia McKnight had been learning the hard way how difficult pig farming is - especially if you’re also trying to cut, wrap, and market your pork. Scott’s parents Stuart and Teresa McKnight supported them along the way - at times hosting waaaay too many pigs on their small acreage and often accepting bacon as a form of payment.
After a year of doing everything, the McKnights met the Keenans and it seemed like a match made in heaven. The Keenan family would raise the pigs and the McKnights would process.
What could go wrong?
Chapter 2
A Bad Dream Turns To a Good One
Well, the supply chain took a tumble and the families found themselves unable to find a local, reliable, provincially-inspected abattoir.
It felt a little bit like a nursery rhyme nightmare: hundreds of pigs but no way to market… and they couldn’t stay home.
But after over a year of hard work, the Keenans and McKnights began to see a big dream emerge from their friendship: Yankee Flats Meats.
Chapter 3
Better for Farmers, Better for You
Yankee Flats Meats is a provincially-inspected abattoir and processing facility that serves local farmers - giving family farms a way to bring high-quality meat to market.
The farms partnered with Yankee Flats Meats don’t need to “get big or get out”. They can stay local and stay family-run. It’s better for farmers, and it’s better for the animals they care for.
It’s also better for our neighbours like you, who get to enjoy a variety of delicious, wholesome, meats from healthy animals who’ve been cared for by people you know and trust.
And it’s even a little better for our world, since our farmers don’t have to ship animals across the province and we sell our meats right here in the Shuswap, Thompson, and Okanagan. Our meats don’t travel farther than a pig could walk - although a bit farther than a chicken could fly.
Chapter 4
Bridging the Gap Between You & the Farmer
At Yankee Flats Meats, our mission is to bridge the gap between you and the farmer because knowing where your meat comes from matters.
So, in March 2024, we opened our brand-new Yankee Flats Meats - Fine Meats & Farm Shop to bring these incredible meats, raised by our family farmers and processed by us, directly to you.
Downtown Vernon is now our second home, providing the community with a truly local butcher shop that has it all. Our Farm Shop offers a variety of fresh and frozen meats, charcuterie, and locally sourced grocery staples. You’ll also find take-and-bake meals made with our meats, farm-fresh veggies and eggs, freshly baked breads, artisanal gifts, and more. Learn more about our shop HERE.
Getting to know our new neighbourhood has been a blast, and the warm reception from the community has been amazing. We can’t wait for what’s next!
Well, that’s that, but if you’d like to write your own ending to this story, then head on over to our store and pick out a box of our delicious local meats...Or scroll on to meat (oops, meet) the families.
Meet The Yankee Flats Families
James and Chelsea Keenan
One-time city-slickers turned first-generation farmers and parents to five curious, hard-working, and sometimes barefoot kids.
Scott and Lydia McKnight
Chasing dreams (and sometimes pigs), carrying around the cutest baby on the farm, and keeping the cutting floor busy wrapping up the finest meats in the valley
Stuart and Teresa McKnight
Scotland meets Drumheller with a warm home, an ear for music, a great accent and an appreciation of really good food (although Yankee Flats Meats will not be offering haggis)