Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Extra CSA info

What is a CSA?
Our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a way for the food buying public to create a relationship with the farm and to receive a fixed amount of our high quality, grass-fed meat. By making an upfront financial commitment for three months’ supply of meat, members of the CSA will know for certain their fixed share (approx 10 lbs per month) and will come at a fixed time to pick up their share. More importantly, they will enjoy the predictability of getting access to the quality, locally produced meat they want, and they will be supporting the farm as a CSA is a more predictable and simple operation for selling our meat.
Why Eat Local, Grass-Fed Meat?
Simply….because it is “better for you” and “better for the environment”. Local, grass-fed meat is good for you. It is widely agreed that corn-fed meat contains more saturated fat and less of the healthy omega-3 fatty acids than pasture-fed meat. Our cattle is grass-fed in the warm weather and fed with locally grown hay in the winter. Our Tamworth Pigs forage on pasture and dine on grain, vegetable food scraps and bread. We do not use growth hormones and administer antibiotics only to sick animals. Our meat is leaner and more flavorful than most commercial beef.

Local, grass-fed meat is also good for the environment. Experts believe that industrial livestock production attributes to 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases, second only to energy production. Most of the meat the world eats is raised in animal feedlots where they feed animals processed corn and soy (instead of grass) to help the animals achieve slaughter weight (1100 lbs) much faster than they would on a farm (14-16 months on a feedlot vs. 24-25 months on a farm). In the US there are 10 billion animals slaughtered for meat consumption every year. Approximately 50% of all antibiotics in the US are prescribed to livestock animals to keep the industrialized meat production food chain safe. These operations feed our country but they have hidden costs: high consumption of oil and fossil fuel related to transportation, water and air pollution, concentrated toxic wastes, and the introduction of novel and deadly pathogens.

No comments:

Post a Comment