HOW DID A VEGETARIAN OF 25 YEARS COME TO RAISE ANIMALS FOR MEAT?

Much to the chagrin of my parents, I was seven years old when I decided that it was wrong to kill and eat animals. Just like that, I gave up meat cold turkey. To be honest, I didn’t think much more about the decision; being a vegetarian quickly became a part of my identity and eating meat was something I just didn’t do.

It wasn’t until two decades later that I found myself working on a diversified organic farm—growing vegetables, as well as pigs, cattle, chickens and sheep—when I began to reexamine my rationale. Growing vegetables is an inherently extractive process, and doing so organically (without the use of synthetic chemicals) requires natural inputs to keep the soil healthy and productive. These inputs are most commonly byproducts from livestock production: manure, feather, blood and bone meal, among others. It turns out there’s no such thing as a vegan vegetable.

In the years since, I have revisited my decision and refined my thoughts around the ethics of raising —and eating—animals. I was even a finalist in an essay contest in the New York Times, arguing that raising and eating livestock represents an integral part of the agricultural balance. Last season was my first attempt at putting my money where my mouth is (so to speak) by raising a group of ten pigs on pasture. The project was a great success on every level, and I am excited to be giving it another go – and adding grass-fed lamb to the mix!

PIGS

WHY PIGS?

In addition to growing great meat, these pigs have been hard at work for the farm this season. They’ve lived their whole lives outside, and they’ve moved to a new piece of pasture every week.

They’ve moved through underutilized areas of the farm and through the apple orchard, eating the wind fallen fruit as they went. They rooted out all the weeds and turned the soil in the process. The pigs have also been the best generators of organic fertilizer that a farmer could hope for. They are highly efficient processors of waste vegetables and fruits, and they’ve distributed their gifts generously around the fields.

OUR PIGS

We are raising a new breed, Gloucestershire Old Spots, which are known for their hardiness on pasture, excellent foraging skills, docile temperament and superb quality of meat. They have been rotating through last year's crop fields, rooting up pepper plants, chomping on volunteer spinach and generally running amok.

We will begin processing pigs here on the farm later this month and will continue through July.

Shares can be purchased as a whole or half hog, and I will happily facilitate connections between folks who are interested in purchasing a quarter share only. More details can be found through the farm website. Price will be on a sliding scale between $4.75-$6.00/lb based on the hanging weight + slaughter/butcher fees to The Meating Place.

HOW DOES BUYING MEAT WORK?

PURCHASING PIGS

SAMPLE COST BREAKDOWN FOR A HALF PIG

Live weight of a pig at slaughter: ~280 lbs

Hanging weight of the carcass: ~190 lbs

Weight of a half of carcass: ~95 lbs

Deposit to farm: ~$200

Remainder to farm (@$5.25/lb): ~$298.75

Butcher Costs:

-Slaughter and Disposal: ~$38

-64¢/lb for cut/wrap: ~$45

-75¢/lb for cure/smoke of bacon: ~7.50

TOTAL (SAMPLE) COST: ~$589.25

HOW MUCH MEAT IS THAT?

You get to make all of the choices about how you want your share divided, including all of the cuts and the choices of sausage and cured meats.

Here’s an example of what you could get back from your half of a pig – this will obviously vary depending on the pig and your choices from the butcher:

• 14 lbs of Pork loin chops or roasts – you can choose thickness and packaging (chop are typically 1” thick and 2 chops/pack).
• 3 lbs of Spare Ribs – Ask for my recipe if you need one
• 9 lbs of Pork Sausage- can select sausage links or bulk sausage
• 15 lbs of Ham
• 10 lbs of Bacon
• 14 lbs of Pork Shoulder Roasts
• 5 lbs of Stew Bones and ham hocks– excellent for soups and stews and also a favorite for dogs
• 6 lbs of Fat – you can render this into lard to use in the kitchen

You should expect a side of pork (half of a hog) to take up about three cubic feet of freezer space. If your space is limited and that’s the only hold up preventing you from signing up, we may be able to lend you some room in our freezer here on the farm.

LAMBS

OUR LAMBS

Last season I expanded the footprint of the farm to include the full 24 acres of the property, which includes nearly ten acres of pasture. Our lambs have spent their entire lives eating grass in the fields, moving every couple of days to a fresh spot and sleeping in a mobile shelter for predator protection. The regular rotations keeps the grass growing and breaks parasitic cycles, which makes for healthier and happier animals.

Our lambs were bred by Bob Friedrich, owner of Union Mills Feed, in Mulino, Oregon. Bob is the fifth generation on this farm, which was founded in 1852, and he’s personally been raising sheep and goats for nearly 70 years! The sheep are an old and evolving cross of Suffolk, Dorset and Southdown, and they’ve been thriving entirely on pasture this season!

THE MEAT

Lambs are bought by the whole animal and require a $50 deposit to reserve. As with the pigs, my goal is to raise healthy animals and offer meat at an affordable price point. To that end, I will continue to offer a sliding scale of payment options. You can choose to pay anywhere from $5.50-$8.50 per pound, depending on what fits your family’s budget. Like the pigs, the lambs are not uniform in size, and we will do our best to accommodate requests for a larger or smaller animal. The average hanging weight of each animal will probably be in the ballpark of 40-50#

. The final price will be determined by the hanging weight of the animal (after it has been dressed). You pay the farm for the balance, and you pay the butcher separately for the slaughter and processing (cutting, smoking, wrapping).Whole shares only, though I will do my best to coordinate splits.

You will have a range of options for how your meat is cut and packaged, but the carcass basically includes:

• hind legs (either bone in or boned or in leg kebabs)
• loin (whole or in chops) -the rack (whole or in chops)
• the shanks (whole or ground)
• the shoulders (whole, boned or large chunks of stew meat)
• ground meat
• liver, heart, kidneys and stew bones

I am also planning to have the hides professionally cleaned and tanned (with the wool attached). If you buy an animal, you are welcome to purchase the hide.