I got a deep freeze for my birthday this year and I've been busy filling it up with locally raised meat - all natural, no antibiotics or growth hormones or any of that other junk.
We got our first delivery of beef and we've been enjoying it every which way - roasts, steaks, burgers, sausage sticks, you name it. It's raised by a family that runs a farm about an hour from here. The farmer and his wife dropped it off and they were the nicest people. I love the idea of supporting local farmers and not only is the beef better for you, but it is DELISH! She just booked spots at the butcher for a few more cows so we'll be getting a quarter of beef soon.
My friend Donna and I also did a "chicken run" a couple of weeks ago to a farm not far from where she grew up. There's a women who runs a chicken farm and people say she raises the tastiest birds around. They came fresh from slaughter that morning on refrigerated truck. We just backed our car up to the barn and loaded up our coolers. They are the largest chickens I've ever seen (some the size of turkeys!), which is interesting considering they're fed no hormones. She explained that she just keeps them alive longer and they keep growing. They live in a large fenced area of grass, known in the food marketing world as "free range", with a coop to keep warm at night. There's something to be said for eating animals that lived a good life. It's good Karma, I think. Either way, they are so yummy, I'm hoping I don't have to buy regular grocery store chickens again anytime soon. I'm a believer!
Don't these guys look happy to you?
Well, maybe not happy about me being in their coop...
Check out the thighs on this one!
2 comments:
I love this Chelsea. I get my fruit, veggies and eggs every week from a local supplier who goes up to the organic markets and brings back whats in season from local growers, but I haven't gone as far as meat. I just use a local butcher, but it's not organic. I agree with you about Karma though, we should be more aware of where our food comes from and the life it has lived. Well done you for continuing to aim for sustainable living, I'm a big believer. See ya!
We keep saying we can't get good tasteful meat here in Denver. We know what it should taste like because we raised our own beef, pork, chicken when we were on the farm. Our first little tift was when we went to kill our first chicken. My dad did it and his mom did it so both of us thought they other should do it. He went to the field to plow corn so you know who ended up doing it. I would step on the head, pull, then watch it flop and flop and then into the boiling water and then plucking off those stinky feathers. I would then cut them apart and one chicken would fit in a bread loaf pan, fill it with water and freeze. That was 50 years ago but I've still not forgotten it. I do get pretty good large chicken at our Mexican grocery store. At least their leg bones are straight so I know they were not raised in a cage.
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