House Christmas Pictures

Here is the 2nd annual Garden St House Christmas Picture...and an extra one of austin and Missy...enjoy...

Local Meat

I've been dying to get my hands on some locally raised meat since reading about big meat factory farms where most of our supermarket meat comes from. I've been researching local farms with cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep and the main factor preventing me from buying any thus far was the price and the distance (most farms with meat are a good hour's drive from here since we are in the suburbs...). But, I came across a farm near Manchester, NH that had all of the above meats and a farm store open on weekends and was a small little family farm. On Sunday, Austin, David, and Alison and I went up there and were pleased to see some sheep and horses grazing and the owner told us stories of the pigs running around the woods and the difficulty of catching them to bring them to the butcher. The farm is not certified organic or 100% pasture fed, but I feel confident that the practices there represent a way of farming that the term "organic" just doesn't cover- a family caring for their animals, selecting a butcher based on the treatment of the animals, and letting animals do what animals do- run around the woods and pasture. And, best of all, they have some GREAT prices! We got some whole chickens, ground and cubed beef, a pork shoulder, sausages, and eggs. I think we'll be making monthly trips up there to replentish our chest freezer. If you're interested in getting local meat, check out http://www.localharvest.org/ and if you live near us, you can also check out the farm we went to: http://www.twistoffatefarm.com/ .