If you want to buy food that meets the all natural standards then try Copicut Farms

When I first embarked on this journey to find responsibly raised meat I tried the mail order services like Walden Meat Co and Crowd Cow.  Both are convenient ways to purchase meat raised the right way, slightly different business models as I explained in the reviews.  Something struck a cord with me with both was that I was buying meat from locations like California or Virginia and they were shipped by air and packed in dry ice with foam insulated boxes.  Seemed like a lot of packing to buy meat on a regular basis and didn’t flying meat around the country didn’t seem to be in the spirit of sustainability I was trying to achieve.  So I started to look for local farms near my home south of Boston that were raising chicken, pigs and cows in a responsible manner.  The ideal situation would be to find a farm that I could get easy access to and since I live close to the city my best bet would be a farmer’s market.

The closest Farmer’s market to me is the Milton Farmers market (2 miles from my house) and at that market was a meat vendor Copicut Farms.  Copicut Farms is located in Dartmouth, MA and they raise pasture-raised poultry and pigs.  I love this excerpt from their website which explains their animal raising philosophy perfectly:

“All of our animals are raised outdoors, and have constant access to our chemical-free pastures where they are free to forage for grass, legumes, and insects throughout all but the harshest winter months.  Pasture-raised poultry, pork, and eggs, and grass-fed lamb are a healthier choice, containing less cholesterol, less saturated fat, more omega-3, and higher levels of essential vitamins and nutrients than their non-pastured counterparts.”

They also have this paragraph under Human Processing:

“We designed, built, and operate our own State-licensed poultry slaughtering facility. This allows us to maintain an extremely high level of food safety and ensure that our animals are treated in the most humane manner possible throughout all stages of their lives.  Our pork and lamb is processed at the most reputable local Animal Welfare-Approved facilities under USDA inspection.”

This sounded like it checked all the boxes for me.  I visited the Milton farmers market many times throughout the summer to stock up mainly on chicken (parts with bones to make curries or stews) and eggs.  Sometimes the chicken was frozen but often it was fresh which was a bonus.  I also visited them at the Hingham farmers market on Saturdays when I couldn’t get to the Milton market on Thursday afternoon. Buying this meat is now the preferred way for me to buy chicken – responsibly raised with the right ethics and local.  The only downside is that I would buy a big batch at a time so I needed to ensure that there was plenty of space in my freezer and I needed to find the time to go to the  Farmer’s market which wasn’t always possible.  Thursdays I had to take time out during a work day and Saturdays wasn’t always possible with the work schedule.  Also the Milton market is not open during the winter. So some planning is required for sure but the produce is worth it.

BBQ pioneer in Boston – Sweet Cheeks Q

One of America’s culinary gifts to the world is BBQ.  Before I came to the US I had no idea how many styles, flavors and techniques there were that make up this delicious, smoky genre.  Traditionally BBQ was used to make less flavorful, cheap cuts of meat more tasty by cooking slow over a smoky fire.  Note the phrase ‘cheap cuts of meat’ – hence it is hard to find BBQ made from grass fed beef, free range chicken or heritage pork.  I love BBQ and have even started smoking and experimenting with different meats myself.  However smoking a pork butt or beef brisket is a long involved process that can take all day and a lot of prep and cleaning up.  Therefore I limit this exercise to 2-3 times per year.  During the other times of the year I needed to find a place to satisfy my BBQ cravings that was in line with my new meat philosophy.  Sweet Cheeks saved me….

This excerpt from their website was music to my ears:

“Doing it right: For us, it’s using the best of everything possible. All of our meats are responsibly sourced and all natural. Most of our beef is “Never Ever”, meaning it’s all sustainably-raised “Super Natural,” premium Black Angus beef that is NEVER EVER treated with hormones, antibiotics, or chemical additives. Other beef options are from small New England farms adhering to similar practices. Our pork is Berkshire, our chicken and turkey are all natural. We use local farms when possible. We’re committed to doing what’s right.”

I was lucky that I found Sweet Cheeks quite quickly during my search for BBQ constructed from responsibly sourced meat.  I haven’t found another BBQ restaurant in Boston that adheres to the same meat standards.  If I was to be real strict on the Meat Philosophy rules then I would need to ensure the the animals are being treated humanely and free-range, the beef needs to be grass-fed not corn-fed.  But the phrase above from their website is very comfortably and checks a lot of boxes.

I have been to Sweet Cheeks four times now and the BBQ is absolutely delicious – I have tried most the meats and they are all delicious.  The menus has plenty of hints to the meat sourcing philosophy – all natural chicken, heritage-breed pulled pork, all-natural pork belly and the phrase above should confirm your confidence to go all out here.  You order a ‘tray’ which usually consists of one meat and 2 sides – one hot and cold.  I suggest to go for the Fat Tray where you get 3 meats and 2 scoops (sides) – try them all and go back for your favorite!

Sweet Cheeks has been a savior for me – amazing BBQ concocted from responsibly sourced meat right here in Boston.  My search for others continues, haven’t found any others yet….

 

 

 

 

 

Meet the Farmer 2 – Lilac Hedge Farms

Continuing my search for local sustainable farmers I came across a farm located in Holden, MA (62 miles from my home) called Lilac Hedge Farm. Their website has a ton of information on their practices and farming philosophies.  If you want transparency then this website should have all the information you need.

One of the most interesting aspects of the website is the transparency of killing and processing process.  You don’t find that on most websites but on this farm’s website they don’t shy away from it.  It’s a good thing to raise animals in a natural way and an even better thing to ensure that they are slaughtered in as humanely a manner as possible.  Here is the section from Lilac Hedge Farm’s website on how they process their animals (link here) – not for the faint of heart!    I won’t go into the details of animal processing here – but one of the points that caught my attention is that Lilac Hedge Farms processes their beef at Adams Farm in Athol, MA (83 miles from my home).  This processing facility is the only facility in New England to have livestock holding pens designed by Temple Grandin who is regarded as the world’s foremost authority in the humane handling of animals.  For those that have not heard of Temple Grandin, she is an autism spokesperson (she is on the autism spectrum), a leading expert on livestock cognitive behavior, consultant to the livestock industry, prolific author and Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University.  I recommend that if you want to learn more about her check out her Wikipedia page. She has worked extensively with slaughterhouses to help design a more ‘humane’ experience during the slaughter process. Below is a quote from the wiki page from Temple Grandin which resonated with me:

“I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we’ve got to do it right. We’ve got to give those animals a decent life, and we’ve got to give them a painless death. We owe the animals respect”

So one Saturday morning in September I took my eldest son to Roslindale Farmers Market (6 miles from my house) to seek out the Lilac Hedge Farms stand.  The stand was very busy this Saturday when we were there.  The women at the register said they raise all their own animals (beef, chicken, pork, lamb) and she usually worked on the farm. The photo below also shows their pricing.  For comparison, their chicken breasts are $11.99/lb compared to $14.50 on Crowd Cow plus you also have to pay shipping(here is a link to my recent article on Crowd Cow).

I bought a pack of chicken drumsticks, thighs and boneless breast (I wanted all the parts to cook a chicken curry – need to bones for the gravy!) plus a pork butt roast (which I will smoke and make pulled pork) and some skirt steak (for fajitas).

Later that day I was preparing the chicken for the chicken curry.  I opened the pack of chicken breast(s) and found that the pack was actually one breast.  I had written before about how the chicken breasts I had bought from the Marble Creek Farmstead though Crowd Cow were so much smaller than you buy from the supermarket – most likely due to the fact that they were not grown with hormones.  However this chicken breasts was much larger but not as large as a supermarket chicken breast. I looked up the websites of both farms and both state that they raise Cornish broilers for chicken meat.  I guess MA chickens naturally grow larger than AL chickens?

(BTW the chicken curry was delicious – kids ate all their dinner!)

 

Meet the farmer – DaSilva Farm

Previously I had written about my experience with a couple of mail order meat services: Walden Meat Co and Crowd Cow.  Both good experiences, customer service was excellent, meat tastes great but the extra charge for shipping makes it even more expensive.  I also thought that the good done supporting a small farm was slightly offset by the wasted resources taken by shipping chicken breasts from Alabama to Massachusetts.

This then lead me to look for local farms in the Massachusetts or New Hampshire area where I could purchase from directly, saving money on shipping and saving the environment by not putting meat on plane.  I quickly found that there are a lot of farms in the area that practice sustainable farming for all types of meat and eggs.  Many are within a couple of hours drive from my house as well.  Even better was that I found that there are some of these farms at some of the local farmers markets close to where I live.

One of the farms that I found was DaSilva Farm located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island – 60 miles from where I live.  Their website states that they pasture-raise their poultry and pigs, chemical and antibiotic free.  Even better they have a stand at the Braintree Farmers market every Saturday – only 5 miles from where I live! Checks all the boxes for feel good meat – responsibly raised, local small family farm that doesn’t have to be shipped – there is also a cute photo of the farmer and his family– how can you not support them!  So one September Saturday morning I took my oldest son to the Braintree Farmers market as we were on our way to soccer.

Sure enough manning the DaSilva stand himself was the farmer Joshua DaSilva (I recognized him from the photos from his website).  He mentioned that he was short on produce right now but would be completely re-stocked in 3 weeks – so I bought a pack of maple pork breakfast sausages, a 4lb pack of bone in pork chops and some ground beef.  I packed them in the cooler I brought (everything was frozen) and went to soccer feeling pretty good that I supported that nice family farm.

When I got home I couldn’t wait to try some of the DaSilva farm meat that I bought.  Something I noticed was that the meat was processed at Northeast Kingdom Processing from St Johnsbury, Vermont.  Not unusual that a small farm wouldn’t process their own meat but it should be noted that this meat did travel from Rhode Island to Vermont and back to Rhode Island (500 miles).  Definitely not the same magnitude as factory farm meat which can me shipped from the midwest or even Australia.  I also noticed from the website that they didn’t mention that they raised cows (only poultry and pigs) but they sold ground beef – makes me wonder did they raise these cows themselves?

 

 

Walden Meat Company -responsible meat delivered!

Where to start in my search for sustainable meat?  Google of course!  One of the first places that pops up was a site called Walden Meat Co. (https://waldenlocalmeat.com/).  I am guessing this came up as a top search since I live in the Boston area and this company is marketed towards local farms in New England and New York and they are based in the Boston area.  They even have a butcher shop in the South End neighborhood of Boston.

The website does a great job explaining their standards which tick all the boxes:  “grass-fed and finished”, “raised outdoors on herbicide and pesticide-free pasture”, “never received antibiotics or hormones”, “humanely handled without the use of electric prods”.  There are a lot of options to choose from ranging from just ground meat to picking what meat and cuts you want (to some degree will explain later).

The Just Grind, Basics and Complete Options they pick what you get as described.  The Custom option you have a lot more control over what you get.  I went for the custom option.  Based on their recommendation for our family (I only counted 4 people since our 3 kids don’t eat a full serving) they recommended  20-21 lbs per month which are about to 10 meals (according to the website).  Around 2 lbs per meal sounds right. For the custom option, you need to make selections from each of the following: Base Cuts (pick at least 2), Middle Cuts (pick at least 5) and End-Cuts (pick at least 5).  There are a lot of options.  You will not get all of your choices, you will get a selection of your choices depending on what is available.  For example, you can’t just load up on ground beef and chicken breasts to fulfill your 20 lbs.

Got to say I was a little excited to see what I would get with my delivery.  The box above arrived exactly as expected – everything was packed in dry ice.  We ended up getting: ground beef, sausage of the month, hot Italian sausage, pork chops, beef sirloin steaks, beef brisket, beef roast, chicken legs.  I also got the bacon, eggs, and butter as an add-on. Each was well packaged and labeled – the meat like the steaks and chicken were also labeled with the farmer and farm where it came from – this was a big selling point for me since the transparency of knowing that it comes from a farm that has good practices is important.  For example, the chicken leg quarters were from Ben and Ruth Kane from Alton, NH.  A Google search for them comes up with their blog and website (http://crunchyfarm.blogspot.com/).  Great, they are a real local farm and all of their values look to be well represented.

However, when I looked at the ground beef I didn’t see a farmer or farm name listed.

So I decided to email Walden and ask them for a list of farms that they work with by product.  This was their response (very rapidly):

Hi David,

 Thanks for your question! Because the list of farms we work with changes often, we don’t publish a list. However all of our products with the exception of ground beef, sausage, ham and bacon will have a farm of origin listed on the packaging! Please let us know if you have any further questions!

Best,

Ceilidh

Not exactly the answer I wanted.  Would be good to know that their ground beef is also coming from a particular farm that is doing the right thing.

Onto the next, very important, question – How does it taste?  In my opinion, this meat is some of the best tasting meat that I have cooked myself.  You can definitely taste the difference.  How much of this is placebo effect…

In summary, this is a great service but may not be for everyone.  You have to be open to getting some cuts that you may not usually buy – could be a good thing since you will end up cooking meals that you wouldn’t usually cook – if that’s your thing.  It’s also quite expensive, 21 lbs/$234=$11/lb.  Also, this covers about 3 meals per week – for the rest of the meals you either need to supplement with other sources of meat or eat vegetarian.  Or you need to double the amount you order which gets very expensive.  But it will be some of the best tasting meat you have ever cooked and you will feel good about yourself.