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A few weeks ago at my Sunday farmers’ market I saw a new vendor. Under a bright white tent, the Moon Meadow rep offered dry-aged, pasture-raised beef produced without hormones or antibiotics. Available in a variety of cuts (chuck, ribs, shanks, rounds, and loins), the meat was kept frozen in a large cooler. I stopped, took some literature, and marched on.
I’m a little late, it seems, to the direct-to-consumer meat revolution, which appears to be gaining speed. Though I’ve bought low-mercury canned tuna direct from Seattle-area fishermen, and I buy 80 percent, or more, of my produce from the farmers’ market, I still buy meat—in limited quantity since I’m not a huge meat-eater to begin with—from the grocery store.
But I’m now re-thinking this decision. The Boston Globe recently printed a list of online meat sources in the northeast, and by plugging my zip code into the Local Harvest website I can find purveyors of grass-fed beef and other meat in my west coast area as well.
The time may now be right for me, and perhaps for you, to give smaller farmers a chance to earn our meat-buying dollars.
Cheryl Sternman Rule is a widely-published food writer and the voice behind the blog 5 Second Rule.
PLUS:
- 20 Beef Dinner Recipes
- How to Cook Less Expensive Cuts of Meat
