Our Story

The idea for Gather came up during a long drive around central IL - Jake Calthorpe and McCullough Kelly-Willis, two Chicago butchers, were riding along with Marty Travis, the founder of Down at the Farms, visiting farms and brainstorming ways to further support sustainable agriculture in our region.

Gather CSA is a subscription grocery service founded on close relationships with the people growing, harvesting, and processing sustainably grown food in our region. Many hands make Gather possible, from the individual farmers, to the small scale processors who we trust with humane harvest and quality butchery, to the drivers who deliver our produce and dairy orders. You can read more about many of these people by scrolling through our “Who We Are” section. 

On the ground in Chicago, our team is small but mighty. We are a woman-owned and operated business with wide ranging experience in food and beverage. Our operation lead, McCullough Kelly-Willis, has over ten years of experience in whole animal butchery and local sourcing. Peach Miller brings their background in photography as well as years of experience in the beverage industry to help share stories about Gather’s network, while also helping with our week to week operations.