Joining a Meat CSA

It started with an article I read in the News and Observer about CSAs (CSA = community supported agriculture). The local farmer has a group of people that purchase a share of his crop at the beginning of the season. The customers pay a flat fee for a portion of the harvest for so many weeks. Customers don't know what will come in this share each week, but they do know that it is local, most likely organic (depending on the farmer), and sustainable. Best of all, it cuts out the middle man and eliminates the ridiculous food shipping - sending our sweet potatoes to New Zealand while we are sold sweet potatoes from Argentina (that may be a bit of a hyperbole). Being frustrated with the illogic of our food economy, I immediately jumped on board. A friend had bought a CSA with Harry at Beausol Gardens, so that is the one I chose too. I have been buying summer and winter CSAs with Harry since 2009.

Some CSAs have vegetables and eggs and meat, some just one of those. Harry just grows vegetables. Delicious, organic, sustainable, succulent, wonderful vegetables.

But, my husband eats meat. And loves his meat.

Well, Karl, versed in Paleo diet and life philosophy, has been advocating a meat CSA since we got engaged. Several local farms/ranches offer meat CSAs. These are ranches with cows, chickens, pigs, and lamb. They have sustainable ranches, offer free range meat, and treat animals humanely - giving them happy living conditions until it's time for them to become food. It has always been our goal, and continues to be our goal, to eat this kind of meat. This year we are finally making that dream a reality!

We invested in a 6 month meat CSA with Coon Rock Farm and couldn't be more excited! We drove out to the farm to pick up our first share and deposit our money. Upon entering the farm, pink, muddy, chubby, oinking pigs trotted along with our car, safely behind a fence.

Traveling coop to fertilize

Our first month we received a chicken, fresh ham roast, two types of sausage, ground beef, and two pork chops. They have all been delicious. We look forward to continuing shares of fresh, organic, grass fed, free range meat - the way it was always supposed to be.

Alton Brown's Coq au Vin

Every girl needs some inspiration, a challenge, and a willing audience. This has been true of me since the days that I played dress-up - the inspiration was my grandma's heels, the challenge was modeling, and the willing audience was my immediate family.

Little did he know, my husband (as well as seeing frozen pearl onions at Trader Joe's) inspired a recent challenge:

Inspiration = Karl, onions; Challenge = coq au vin; Audience = Karl

Shortly after we started dating, Karl happened upon the Good Eats chef himself at a local book signing. I whined when he excitedly told me he was planning to get a signed copy for his chef-roommate. I liked to cook, I was supposed to be what he thought of day and night and night and day, why wasn't I also getting a signed copy? So, being his sweet self, Karl got me a copy too. :)

That was two years ago (ish). And I have just now made something from the book...

I used rice underneath instead of glutinous pasta. Notice the greens...in every meal!

Alton's Brown's Coq Au Vin

Some things I learned along the way:

- The recipe calls for two bottles of wine...I thought that was a lot and I only had one in the house...so I used one. Definitely use the two. The sauce did not have as much flavor as I hoped.

- The recipe says to let the chicken sit in its sauce overnight. I had three hours...it needed the extra time to soak up all that great flavor.

Victories:

- I started with a whole chicken, a dull knife, and a knife sharpener we got for Christmas. That ended up being a winning trio. Plus, I used Martha's book for directions on how to cut a raw whole chicken into its proper cooking parts:

- I used rice flour to dredge the chicken instead of wheat...worked perfectly!

- I made a more difficult recipe for dinner! I always have a deep sense of satisfaction after breaking the dinner routine and cooking something more gourmet. Like I said earlier, every girl needs a challenge!

Note: I have scanned that cookbook for other recipes to try...and it is difficult considering our restricted diet. But I did make Alton Brown's cashew butter (after soaking my nuts) and it is delicious! I can't wait to try his variation of satay sauce using the cashews.