This blog is about the intersection between evolutionary biology and food. But also about practical applications, sustainable agriculture, and general tasty things. I originally started eating this way to heal from chronic health problems and...it worked!
Melissa McEwen
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meatshare
10/28/2011 - 10:19
Last night I gave a presentation at the Brooklyn Brainery about how anyone can save money on local pastured meat by buying in bulk, aka, meatshares. You can view it below and we are coming out with a more detailed booklet soon!
View more presentations from Melissa McEwen
10/18/2011 - 14:02
Last weekend I visited my friend Ulla Kjarval and her family's farm Spring Lake Farm (they also have a blog) in Delhi, NY. I met Ulla on Twitter and I've been buying from her farm for my Meatshare meetup group. It was wonderful to get to visit and spend time with them and their wonderful animals.
The animals were hard to spot in the tall grass and their farm really was huge, at over 300 acres. Farmer Ingimundur has been steadily increasing the amount of grass the pigs are eating, so they are mostly grass-fed, which is rare even on similar locavore-catering farms. Because of the amount of grass in their diet, the pork has a delicious savory beefy quality.
Delicious spare ribs
Which is good, because I eat it a lot and so do they. Farmer Ingi says that because of all his contact with paleo/ancestral dieters, he has more fully embraced meat as healthy. He says he has lost considerable weight and has more energy than ever thanks to eating lots of pork belly for breakfast every day. That mirrors the experience Heath from Wooly Pigs, another pig farmer who has gone paleo with amazing results.
One thing I'll miss about NYC is my meatshare group. Small farmers have a lot of trouble marketing their meat and I'm glad we've been able to buy so much from Spring Lake Farm. Both the farm and our group have overcome many challenges and we've learned so much in the process (sometimes the hard way).
That's why next week I'm teaching a workshop in NYC about how to organize your own meatshare. I hope to educate the next generation of bulk meat buyers in NYC.
For the next chapter of my life I'm starting up Chicago Meatshare. And for everyone else I'm still writing that book about meatshare and how to plan one yourself.
05/08/2011 - 00:06
I bought a goat from Glynwood farm last weekend. I didn't make it a meatshare because goats are small enough for my two roommates and me alone. In fact, a whole goat can fit in a normal-size freezer. They are often less than 35 lbs total hanging weight, which ends up being like 25 lbs. I will be writing a guide to whole animal buying soon, but I have been pleasantly surprised with this goat. I buy lambs often and they vary in quality. Sometimes their fat just is very gamey tasting and has to be trimmed off or heavily spiced. I've had goat at Nigerian and other African restaurants that was like this.
But this goat's fat tastes amazing. I had the loin chops tonight. I simply rubbed them with curry powder, black pepper, salt, and added a dash of lemon juice. I had a random buckwheat craving (magnesium???) so I made a simple buckwheat pancake by soaking the local buckwheat flour in a thin raw milk yogurt for an hour or two and then mixing in an egg and cooking in a frying pan with butter and coconut oil. Yum.
10/15/2010 - 18:54
Yes, many things happen, especially when you are so busy that you can barely keep your head above the water.
- I am organizing a meatshare! With a farmer who follows the paleo diet herself from upstate! You can get more info here! Suffice to say, organizing these things has been a great education in the major difficulties of getting quality food from farm to table. But I'm learning more each day and our meat shares keep getting better.
- Jackson Landers is going another deer hunting class very soon, as well as a goose workshop in Brooklyn! I wrote about my experience at his class here.
- There is a Mangalitsa cooking demo at the New Amsterdam Market this week!
-Not to be weird or anything, but I'm going to Wise Traditions and The Young Farmer's Conference. Does anyone want to share a ride or a hotel room? Um, I am SO busy organizing meat things that I hath no time to tarry on these matters. Let me know!
Some recipes I want to make
- Roasted butternut squash coconut curry
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