Update: My Meat Meanderings

WELL. Funny how interested everyone is in meat these days. I have to say two years ago I wouldn't have given it a second thought, let alone blog about it, but now my partner and I have had to come up with a whole plan of how to work towards "Happy Meat".

After reading Catherine Friend's book, I expected the process to be long, drawn out and fraught with disappointment. The results we found were almost laughably easy. I drew up a list to put on our fridge of our "Happy Meat Goals". It went like this:

1) Talk to farmer at the ******* Farmer's Market
Questions to ask:
Are they locally raised and "finished" cattle?
Where are they slaughtered?
What percentage of their meals consist of grain, and what grass?
How much access to pasture do they have?

2) Farmer's Market - is there anyone that sells eggs or chickens?
Are the chickens caged?
If they're supposedly "free range", how much time do they actually get to spend outside? If they are kept in a barn, how many chickens are kept in what size of barn?
How are they slaughtered?

3) Research meat sold at the Save Easy.
Who is the source for this meat?
Where are the animals taken for slaughtering?

4) Purchase "Happy Meat"
Must be locally and humanely raised.
Small conventional/organic/pasture farm.

......
After creating this little poster for myself in an excellent move towards organized-goal-setting-behaviour, my partner walked down to the Farmer's Market that week and talked to the local farmer, owner of Star Dust Farm in New Brunswick.

In a matter of minutes goals 1 through 4 were accomplished, as this farmer raises cattle, hogs and lambs in the pasture, raises chickens free range (in the barn for the winter, then outside in the summer) and has his animals slaughtered locally.

All that really needs to be done is to visit his farm at some point in the summer, and maybe enquire further into where his animals are slaughtered.

More ethical, responsible global citizen ..... funny how become a more responsible (and ethical) global citizen almost always means embracing the local businesses. Oxymoronic isn't it? Regardless, I feel better already.

Happy meat, here I come!