Nina and Dusty Ravenstein had been thinking about opening their own shop when the opportunity came up to realize their dream.
Ravensteins opened new facility in July
By Lazo Gitchos
Mill Hill Custom Meats opened on July 4 in south Twisp. Owners Dusty and Nina Ravenstein, longtime valley residents, are glad to provide custom game and livestock processing.
Their storefront and butcher facility also offers regional and local meat including lamb from BCS Livestock, fresh seafood fresh on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a variety of sauces, rubs and spices.
Dusty, who worked in the meat department at the Methow Valley Thriftway in Winthrop for 20 years, has lived in the Methow since he was a teenager. Nina grew up near Twisp, and works as an EMT at Aero Methow. She is studying to become a paramedic. They have processed game for hunters from a small shop at their home for the last 5 years.
Demand for custom meat processing made the transition to a larger facility possible for the Ravensteins, who had already been thinking about opening their own shop. When a lease opened up in a new industrial building at the base of Mill Hill, it was the right time to make the move. Dusty’s parents, who live in the Tri-Cities, spent several weeks in Twisp this summer to help get the shop up and running.
After stepping away from the Thriftway this spring, Dusty set to work converting the nearly empty space into a full-service processing facility, including a walk-in cooler and freezer and a custom vented area for his smoker.
Meeting a need
Cured meat sticks are a popular product in the shop already, Dusty says, and hunters often have some or all of their harvest made into smoked snacks. He also smokes bacon, fowl and bratwurst.
The new shop is a big infrastructure upgrade, with a walk-in freezer, hanging rails that can transfer larger animals into the large cooler, and an unloading interface for a mobile slaughter truck. The Ravensteins hope to operate their own slaughter truck soon, but they say it’s hard to find employees to staff one. For now, they plan to work with a truck based in the Tonasket area.
Twisp has gone without a retail and custom meat shop since Thomson’s Custom Meats closed in 2018, and the Ravensteins say they’re expanding to the new shop to fill a community need for local processing.
Without a custom meat cutter in the valley, Nina said, “people had to go crazy distances to get their meat processed.” Now, hunters and people who raise meat for themselves can save the trip out of town. She says the summer is a great time to book your custom cutting for the fall, before hunting season fills the cooler and smoker with deer.
The Ravensteins agree on most things, but not quite everything. Dusty’s favorite cut is the boneless ribeye, but Nina’s is the flatiron. But they both like their steak with Chimichurri sauce, and they are both looking forward to a meaty fall season.
