If you’ve ever purchased a carton of Campo Lindo Farms eggs from your neighborhood grocery store, you’ve opened it to find a personalized note from farmer Carol Maddick. The notes often detail the latest happening on the farm, the good and the bad (recently, Maddick wrote about the loss of her beloved old horse). It’s a small detail that takes us city folks along for the journey of farm life while also uniquely connecting us to our local food system.
Maddick started Campo Lindo Farms alongside her husband and two children in 1991. The 280-acre farm is located in Lathrop, Missouri, just about 40 minutes north of KC. The idea to add little notes to the egg cartons came just a couple years after starting the farm. The Maddicks realized chickens were becoming their bread and butter, more so than the grass-fed beef they were hoping to be known for (Maddick is originally from Chile, where grass-fed beef is the norm). Plus, the more she delivered to KC grocery stores and restaurants, the less Maddick was interacting directly with her customers, so she wanted a way to continue communicating with them. She writes a new note every two weeks. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a cartoon in there as well, created and drawn by her mother.
“I think a lot of people have been so far removed from farms, so I try to incorporate where the food comes from and what it takes to grow it,” Maddick says. “I try to be lighthearted, but I like for people to keep in mind what it takes for us to raise the food that they’re eating.”
It’s not just Maddick’s notes that make a carton of Campo Lindo Farms eggs special. It’s also how the chickens are raised—pasture-raised, that is. Campo Lindo Farms is certified by the Global Animal Partnership, a food-labeling program that, let’s just say, some consider to be a little more meaningful than the FDA’s or USDA’s categories.
Along with eggs, you can also buy Campo Lindo’s chicken in the grocery stores, although they’re usually sold whole. (Both the eggs and chicken are sold in most local grocery stores, but head to the website, campolindofarms.com, to find one near you). From raising the chickens to dispatching, butchering and packaging the foul,
it’s all done by hand on the farm. Doing everything by hand takes longer in comparison to the larger automated processing plants, which can dispatch 800 chickens a minute (Campo Lindo dispatches 600 chickens in three hours). The slower process is also much cleaner, so there’s no need for all the antimicrobial chemicals.
“It’s more like how old-fashioned chicken used to be processed,” Maddick says. It’s also why Maddick and her many customers believe Campo Lindo’s chicken tastes better. Fewer chemicals means more natural flavor.
Because of the timely manner of Maddick’s notes, they’re a reminder that you’re buying one of the freshest products in the store. I went to the grocery store recently to buy a carton of Campo Lindo’s eggs. The next morning, I cracked the eggs open to find yolks the color of a tangerine—but not before reading Maddick’s note talking about preparing the chickens for the winter.
carol maddick’s Perfect Day in KC
Breakfast: Michael Turner, who used to be the chef at Classic Cup, was one of the very first chefs to give us a chance. Of course, I’m having something with eggs.
Scenic Walk: I drive by Loose Park while making our deliveries and always wish I could stop and take a walk through there. It has a beautiful pond and gorgeous tall trees.
Shopping: I love Pryde’s in Old Westport. You can be there two or three hours and not even realize it. I found a Chilean cookbook there, and it’s one of my favorites.
Lunch: The guys at Room 39 are my buddies. They have some of the best tacos I’ve had in I don’t know how long.
Bookstore: Right across from Room 39 is Prospero’s. It’s just incredible. There’s everything in there.
