Let's eat!

6/10/10 Yes! My quest is leading me all sorts of places, so far as local as can be, right here in Columbia, MD.

Clark's Never Sell the Land Farm

Clark's had a special offer that if you purchased their grass fed beef, they would provide a small soft sided cooler for you and when you brought it back, you'd get a discount on your next purchase, throughout the season. When I went, their coolers had not yet come in, but the employee gave me a flyer that would allow for me to receive both the cooler and the discount on my next visit. My purchase there was a pound of ground beef, several pounds of stew meat, and a sirloin steak.

I prepared the sirloin in a cast iron pan with some seasoning. It was tender and cooked up very nicely!


West Wind Farm

In April, I put in an order to West Wind Farm. We just got to their meat  
This West Virginia farm's owner, Martha, lives in Bethesda, Maryland. Her herd hangs out on the fields of West Virginia, being rotated to new fields by a neighbor. She raises her cattle over one season, procuring them from a local farm that has the same beliefs that she does - no chemicals, no antibiotics, fed on mom's milk and grass only. She grass feeds and finishes. Grass fed apparently can be corn finished, and so she makes that designation so as not to be confused with feeding corn. She delivers locally, in Columbia, MD. See her page on sampler packets in order to check out the places delivery can occur and the costs of sampler packs, or by the cut meat.

Martha is wonderful, she has been educating herself on farming and ranching and decided that grass fed was the most natural, healthy way to raise her cows. She also strives to educate others. Her site includes good information and links to sites that give excellent explanations to all your grass fed questions. Check out her Grass fed benefits page for a ton of excellent links. If you aren't already convinced that you should ditch conventional beef for grass fed, her links are an education in themselves.

When I met Martha, she took time to explain to me how to carefully thaw my meat and provided written material to explain the benefits of eating grass fed beef as well as recipes to browse - as the preparation of this beef takes more care than its corn fed brethren. Martha is happy to answer questions and explain anything - she's wonderful!

We tried the T-bone steaks and the sirloin. Grass fed beef is terrific marinated and grilled up nicely. Do not overdo the cooking - our rare steak was very tasty and made for a very nice wrap for the leftovers the next day. YUM!!!

And so it begins....

My journey begins here in Maryland. For a dinky little state, we have a whole lotta farmland. My son and I had already been cruising the farmers markets in Baltimore and Columbia to find fresh organic and local produce and I was already familiar with the inhumane and less nutritious effects factory farming had on our food supply - but what can a busy family do to improve our food selection? My answer was to buy a nice energy star rated chest freezer and dive onto a google search and madly find organic farms and local producers of meats, dairy and poultry. Little did I know how much information that there was to wade through! As I began doing so, I learned a lot, and friends, coworkers and neighbors began asking questions, so I decided it would be practical to share what I found here with all the interwebs. It is pretty much going to be centered on Maryland, though it may expand. Please follow along if you have an interest.