So we just bough 1/2 beef through a friend down south Florida. We have no way of knowing the practices of the farmer that actually raised the cow.
Do you have pointers moving forward to ask their practices? Are the farmers open to questioning or will it make them defensive? What questions should we be asking? This isn’t just for me….I thi…
So we just bough 1/2 beef through a friend down south Florida. We have no way of knowing the practices of the farmer that actually raised the cow.
Do you have pointers moving forward to ask their practices? Are the farmers open to questioning or will it make them defensive? What questions should we be asking? This isn’t just for me….I think there’s a lot of us that have no clue how to shop around for a cow or anything else meat related for that matter. Most of us would love to know our meat is coming from a safe place nowadays, but don’t know how to find any.
Small farmers will welcome your questions and gladly answer your concerns. They know that their meat, produce, and other products are higher quality and better for you than those of corporate farms and want to educate the public/potential customers about the differences. To get started, try approaching farmers face-to-face at farmers markets or do an online search for local small farms and check out their websites or Facebook pages.
If you happen to live in Pennsylvania, especially in the vicinity of southwestern PA, here's the link to a comprehensive resource of small farmers and producers that I highly recommend from personal experience: https://www.pafarmsdirect.com/
I'd be astonished if a small farmer didn't appreciate the chance to answer questions (informed, interested customers are who we hope for), but if one wouldn't answer questions (assuming you didn't catch them at the wrong time) then I'd not buy from them. There are Facebook groups, groups with other online presences, etc., to connect producers and buyers. Your friend either should have been able to tell you about that producer's practices or tell you where you could find out about them.
So we just bough 1/2 beef through a friend down south Florida. We have no way of knowing the practices of the farmer that actually raised the cow.
Do you have pointers moving forward to ask their practices? Are the farmers open to questioning or will it make them defensive? What questions should we be asking? This isn’t just for me….I think there’s a lot of us that have no clue how to shop around for a cow or anything else meat related for that matter. Most of us would love to know our meat is coming from a safe place nowadays, but don’t know how to find any.
Small farmers will welcome your questions and gladly answer your concerns. They know that their meat, produce, and other products are higher quality and better for you than those of corporate farms and want to educate the public/potential customers about the differences. To get started, try approaching farmers face-to-face at farmers markets or do an online search for local small farms and check out their websites or Facebook pages.
If you happen to live in Pennsylvania, especially in the vicinity of southwestern PA, here's the link to a comprehensive resource of small farmers and producers that I highly recommend from personal experience: https://www.pafarmsdirect.com/
Here's a great talk by famous farmer Joel Salatin on this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkpiC5fxtWw
I'd be astonished if a small farmer didn't appreciate the chance to answer questions (informed, interested customers are who we hope for), but if one wouldn't answer questions (assuming you didn't catch them at the wrong time) then I'd not buy from them. There are Facebook groups, groups with other online presences, etc., to connect producers and buyers. Your friend either should have been able to tell you about that producer's practices or tell you where you could find out about them.