Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Meat Sources

I'm about to take the plunge and order some pasture-raised grass-fed meat. I've been gathering California-vicinity sources from the web. There seems to be nothing available within driving range of South Pasadena, though the local farmer's market in Alhambra on Sunday morning has a seller for "organic free-range chicken" and both that farmer's market and the one in South Pasadena on Thursday nights have sellers for organic free-range chicken eggs. After reading Pollan's book about what can constitute "free-range" I realize that the "organic, free-range chicken" eggs I've been buying from Trader Joes may not be quite the same as the pasture-raised free-range chicken eggs I've read about in Pollan and also Salatin. I think the eggs from the South Pasadena are the real thing, though -- I was shown pictures of the happy chickens. :)

Here are the links to the meat sources, from at least one of which I will order today. I selected these from a list I found at the Eatwild site for California.

Bison:
Beef:
  • Hearst Beef: contact page. Hearst (in San Simeon) seems to be a member of a whole series of "eco-friendly / sustainable" farming associations: "Heritage Foods USA", "Changemakers' Day 2008", "Slow Food Nation 2008", "American Land Conservancy", "California Rangeland Trust", "Good Housekeeping Seal", "American Grassfed Association", "Certified Humane by Humane Farm Animal Care", "Food Alliance Certified for Sustainable Practices". The contact page allows you to request a flier / price-list, which they mail to you. Ordering is by phone: 866-547-2624. Ground beef is $6/lb; NY is $36-$40/lb.
  • Bear River Valley Beef: order page. Located in Humboldt County. Can order online. Ground Beef is $4.5 / lb. Quarter Beef (105 lbs): $6.30/lb; half is $6.15/lb; whole is $6/lb. (420 lbs). Shipping extra.
  • Albough's Frosty Acres: half beef is $7/lb, quarter beef is $8/lb, including cutting and packaging but not shipping. Can't order online. Email: sales@frostyacres.net; phone: 530 299-3261 or 530 540 0172. Located in Adin, CA.
  • Lazy 69 Ranch: sells 1/10 beef (35 lbs = $250, or a bit over $7/lb). Both 1/10 beef and 1/4 beef includes free shipping. Handy freezer guide: Apparently a whole beef requires about 24 cubic feet of freezer volume. So 1/10 is 2-3 cu feet. Contact info: Dan@Lazy69Ranch.com; phone: 530-355-3451. Located in Round Mountain, CA.
  • Chaffin Family Orchards: Appears to be an excellent source of a wide-range of products, but I'm having trouble deciphering whether I can actually order meat here. Need to phone them: 530.533.8239 or 530.533.1676 or email: chris_kerston@chaffinfamilyorchards.com
  • Tawanda Meats: (also sells lamb). NY Steaks: $15.60/lb. (Can this be right??) Ground Beef (85%) $4.75/lb. Looks like you can order online. Lamb stew meat is $5.50/lb. Can also order "mixed packages" of beef and lamb. Located in Montague, CA.
  • Open Space Meats: have ordering by "packages", which can be ordered online. Seems like a good system. For example, "Medium Package" is 20 lbs ground beef, 10 lbs steaks, 10 lbs roasts: $279; i.e., about $7/lb. Seems like a good deal. You can also "build your own package" with differing costs/lb: NY is $14/lb, ground beef is $4.79/lb.
Of all of these, I like the free shipping on Lazy 69 ranch and the "package ordering" on Open Space Meats. Shipping and Handling on the Open Space Medium package added $58.59 to the order, bringing the total price to $8.44/lb. (But ordering on Open Space was very convenient.)

Lamb:
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