At Light Hill Meats, purveyor of locally raised beef and housemade sausages in Spring Hill, Ben and Lauren Neale are building an agricultural supply chain one link at a time.
Equipped with a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Tennessee at Martin, Ben became a first-generation cattle farmer when he bought a small herd of cows to try his hand at the beef business. Soon after he and Lauren had their first child, a meat-processing plant near Ben’s childhood home in Lynnville, Tenn., came up for sale. The Neales bought the business, renovated the facility and relaunched in 2017 as Light Hill Meats, processing custom, private orders for farmers in the area.
During the pandemic, when Lauren noticed many families on social media describing shortages of beef, she suggested to Ben that they start a fresh beef pop-up. Those Saturday morning sales gathered steam, leading the Neales to open their retail store in Spring Hill.
Motivated in part by the desire to nourish their four kids with foods that are minimally processed and without preservatives, the Neales also stock fresh seafood and dairy products—including ice cream from Nash Family Creamery—local cooking ingredients and organic wines curated by a local sommelier.
They also make an almost-endless variety of fresh sausages, available at their store, including Polish beef and pork, Italian with peppers and onions, maple blueberry and spicy Dragon’s Breath. In addition, they teach classes on the process. We attended a sausage-making and wine-pairing class in February and left with three pounds of delicious links we made ourselves. Each student starts with a mixture of ground pork and beef to customize by adding seasonings, fruits and nuts. Chefs and butchers Andreas Fragell and Blake LeBaron led us through the process, explaining how to grind the meat, how to knead the mixture to keep it tender, how to season, and ultimately how stuff into casings—the trickiest part by far.
Chefs Margot McCormack and Skylar Bush collaborated on a dish featuring Light Hill’s fennel-and-herb sausage, with charred cabbage, onion, caramelized apples and whole-grain mustard jus. Like an Impressionist canvas of French apple farmers hanging in the nearby Farm to Table exhibit, the pasture-to-plate entrée was a masterful celebration of local agriculture and tradition.
Light Hill Meats
Stephen P Yokich Parkway, Suites E & F
Spring Hill
