The Meat

Last Thursday night, after tucking the kids in bed, I made a trek to my friend's house for the first of what will likely be a bi-monthly ritual. Our meat had arrived from Oregon!

Yes, again, out of the 100 mile foodshed. But the net footprint of the meat is the addition of a cooler to a pick-up truck that makes the trip anyway, once a month.

In her dimly-lit kitchen, with dishwasher running and children sleeping in the rooms next-door, we quietly (i hope) received almost a 100 lbs. of frozen meat to be split between three families.

Her husband had a miniature heart-attack as he calculated the ratio of frozen meat spread across the island in their kitchen to their available freezer space. We, most fortunately, have an entire, vacant freezer thanks to my husband's kegerator.

What I'm going to do, and whom I'm going to feed with that bone-in leg of lamb I ordered remains to be seen. But for roughly $4.50 a pound, I have 35 lbs of patured lamb, beef, pork and chicken, all raised humanely on a family farm. And I do take comfort in these seemingly small things.

As I dig in the supply, I'll post recipes and menu ideas.

If you're interested in sources for pastured meat in your community, here's a great resource: Eat Wild