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I’d love to see an outline of this, I don’t know where to find these farmers. I briefly bought eggs from a local farmer but after moving have not been able to f

I’d love to see an outline of this, I don’t know where to find these farmers. I briefly bought eggs from a local farmer but after moving have not been able to find a similar arrangement.

gowld 6y ago
Is "local farmer" better than "pasture raised" at the grocery story?
- Pfhreak 6y ago
  For me, yes. The label pasture raised could still imply corn finished (and a feedlot or CAFO). Knowing the farmer, seeing the fields, and building a relationship with them holds emotional value to me. It cuts out the middle man too -- my money is going to a local farmer and a local butcher, I can specify exactly which cuts I want, how I want them prepared, etc.
Pfhreak 6y ago
First is finding a local farmer and knowing their timeline for a harvest. In Western Washington, you can use http://www.tilthalliance.org/ http://www.tilthalliance.org/ to look up farmers by product (meat, veg, fruits, eggs, fish, etc.) Reach out to farmers and see who actually has something available, ask any questions you have about how they raise the animal. Ask about their process for ordering and whether they'll transport to a butcher. Put a deposit down on an animal. Once you've put your deposit down, you wait for your harvest date. In my case, they transported the animal to the butcher, where it hung for a couple weeks. During that time, you prepare a 'cut sheet'. This describes how you'd like the animal prepared -- steaks or roasts, ground meat or not, etc. The butcher can walk you through this and tell you what's common. After a few weeks, the butcher will give you a call, your meat is ready! Drive there and load your car with hundreds of pounds of individually wrapped steaks, roasts, ground beef, stew meat, soup bones, etc. Drive home and load up your freezer, distribute to friends who went in on the purchase with you, etc. Lastly, figure out lots of recipes. Learn to braise, sous vide, grill, make smashburgers, whatever. You are going to be eating a lot of beef, explore world cultures. There are so many different ways to prepare it, French is so different than German, Japanese is different than Korean, American is different than Mexican, etc. You have hundreds of pounds of beef to eat, variety is important.
HeyLaughingBoy 6y ago
Go for a drive in the country and look out for farms with "beef/bison for sale" signs up. If you don't see any, go into town and look for a butcher shop (or search for them online) and ask if they have farmers they work with to process steers. That's as close to a process as I can think of for someone who doesn't "know the right people."

I’d love to see an outline of this, I don’t know where to find these farmers. I briefly bought eggs from a local farmer but after moving have not been able to find a similar arrangement.

gowld 6y ago

Is "local farmer" better than "pasture raised" at the grocery story?

Pfhreak 6y ago
For me, yes. The label pasture raised could still imply corn finished (and a feedlot or CAFO). Knowing the farmer, seeing the fields, and building a relationship with them holds emotional value to me. It cuts out the middle man too -- my money is going to a local farmer and a local butcher, I can specify exactly which cuts I want, how I want them prepared, etc.

Pfhreak 6y ago

First is finding a local farmer and knowing their timeline for a harvest. In Western Washington, you can use http://www.tilthalliance.org/ http://www.tilthalliance.org/ to look up farmers by product (meat, veg, fruits, eggs, fish, etc.) Reach out to farmers and see who actually has something available, ask any questions you have about how they raise the animal. Ask about their process for ordering and whether they'll transport to a butcher. Put a deposit down on an animal. Once you've put your deposit down, you wait for your harvest date. In my case, they transported the animal to the butcher, where it hung for a couple weeks. During that time, you prepare a 'cut sheet'. This describes how you'd like the animal prepared -- steaks or roasts, ground meat or not, etc. The butcher can walk you through this and tell you what's common. After a few weeks, the butcher will give you a call, your meat is ready! Drive there and load your car with hundreds of pounds of individually wrapped steaks, roasts, ground beef, stew meat, soup bones, etc. Drive home and load up your freezer, distribute to friends who went in on the purchase with you, etc. Lastly, figure out lots of recipes. Learn to braise, sous vide, grill, make smashburgers, whatever. You are going to be eating a lot of beef, explore world cultures. There are so many different ways to prepare it, French is so different than German, Japanese is different than Korean, American is different than Mexican, etc. You have hundreds of pounds of beef to eat, variety is important.

HeyLaughingBoy 6y ago

Go for a drive in the country and look out for farms with "beef/bison for sale" signs up. If you don't see any, go into town and look for a butcher shop (or search for them online) and ask if they have farmers they work with to process steers. That's as close to a process as I can think of for someone who doesn't "know the right people."