On a trip to visit friends and family in my midwestern hometown, I was able to meet with one of our awesome wholesale customers and offer samples of new Popsie Fish products in their store. I also got to meet with some potential future wholesale customers and I made salmon five ways for my friends and family. Overall the trip was full of great connections and delicious food.
First stop on the list was One Farm Market in Logan, Iowa. Owner and operator, Danelle Myer, said they became a Popsie wholesale customer because of our shared values for sustainable food sources and the personal connection that Popsie owner, Tony Neal, originally hails from Iowa.
Danelle has been a vegetable farmer on her family's land since 2010. In 2020 she opened a seasonal pop-up market that got an overwhelmingly positive response from the community - so she continued on with a "more permanent and expanded local foods store - One Farm Market."
Her customers have been loving our wild-caught sockeye salmon fillets and ground sockeye salmon packs and I was able to hear this directly from them when I set up camp in her store. Customers got to sample our new products - (smoked, wild-caught sockeye salmon and sablefish), and we got some great feedback on how super delicious it is. (I agree!)
I got to talk to folks that have been buying our product from Danelle and hear how much they appreciate that it's available. One person even told me about their fishing trip to Alaska years ago and how our sockeye salmon is the only fish that comes close to matching that experience. They shared recipes and their own smoking tips. It was so fun to do that I went back for more on a busy Saturday during Labor Day weekend. It was a real treat to meet our customers in person and I can't wait to do more of these trips.
I also had the chance to visit with Shadowbrook Farm owner and cheesemaker, Charuth, about partnering to offer our salmon in their CSA. Shadowbrook Farm has been providing Lincoln and Omaha (NE) farmers markets with delicious and sustainably grown organic vegetables since 1996. In 2006 they started milking goats and making cheeses resulting in their Dutch Girl Creamery. I was lucky enough to sample several products and can attest to the fact that they are amazing. These are exactly the kind of folks we love to partner with, making wild-caught sockeye salmon available to people who seek out buying from a small family owned fishing business. If you know a CSA you'd like us to work with, email us at wholesale@popsiefishco.com to let us know!
Last but not least was an amazing dinner with my friends and family. I showed off by grilling Popsie's wild-caught sockeye salmon fillets five ways. I loved sharing a little piece of Alaska with my loved ones - as I'm sure you do as well. See below for the recipes - by far the favorite was "Tony's Every Night Salmon" with "Hot Honey Salmon" as a close second.
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