Last year, I made a conscious decision to start getting more of our food from local sources. I considered a vegetable CSA share, but to be honest, I really didn't want to be all tied up in one farm when there are a whole variety of Massachusetts producers to explore. I did, however, seek out a farm that sells meat shares - enter Chestnut Farms and farmers Kim and Rich. We started off with a 10lb share, split with my parents, and when our 6 months was up, we increased to a 25lb share. Kim does drop-offs once a month around the MetroWest, which makes this a pretty convenient thing to do. (I will not lie or pretend that it isn't challenging to have someone else selecting a month's worth of meat for me, but I plan our meals two weeks at a time, and that has worked very well.)
This month's pick up was yesterday, and Kim brought her daughter Marlisa as well as a brand new wee baby lamb! I wish I'd brought a camera. The tiny little thing was just born on Friday, and I could feel his heart beating next to my hand. Truly amazing. If I thought I could convince my husband that this was a peculiar-looking, long legged cat, I may have smuggled the baby home in my coat. The whole thing was just so darned cool, and this is not the sort of thing one can do when one buys meat from commercial feedlots.
This summer, I'm still going to stick to farmer's markets and my own garden for produce, but I'm going to make a bigger effort to build relationships with local farms. I really think it's the way to go, even if it takes a little more time than this modern world expects. More thoughts on that later.
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