Back in April we decided to go organic and one of our goals as part of that change was to buy a chest freezer and fill it full of organic, grass fed meats from a local grower. After visiting one farm and doing research on plenty of others, I was sort of torn about how to best go about this. Thankfully, The Budget Nazi (TM) only gave me a budget of $300 with which to use for this task and that narrowed my choices down immediately.
As you know I was on the radio a few weeks ago with Darryle Powers from Blue Gentian Farm in New Richmond, WI and after looking over the heritage breed meat offerings he had, I decided that I was probably going to get at least some of my meat from him this fall. After pouring over some other farms’ meat selections and knowing that not all of them sell 100% grass fed beef and many only do sales in quarters, halves, and greater, I thought it would be best to go with someone that would sell ala carte. So yesterday I came up with a quick spreadsheet that listed the meats I wanted, the amounts I wanted, and it calculated how much left of the $300 budget I had to go. After showing it to the wife and being told “less pork, more beef” we came up with 42 lbs of meat totaling $297.
I sent the spreadsheet off to Darryle via e-mail and he worked through what I gave him and what he had in stock and gave me a call to let me know that I could pick it all up the next day at the Minneapolis Farmers Market. I don’t know about you but I thought that was a pretty damn quick turn around! After a 5% bulk discount which Darryle filled with other cuts of meat including summer sausage and deli ham, I ended up paying just under $300 ($299.07) for 44 lbs of meat.
So I headed on over to the farmers market this morning and wandered the aisles looking for vegetables to pick up for this week. For $3 I got a beautiful butternut squash and a huge pile of leeks which I plan to turn into a tasty butternut and leek gratin. Mmm. After doing all that, I went over and picked up my box of goodies from Darryle and brought them back to the car. I spent the next 20 minutes or so chatting him up about his recent foray into the land of Twitter which he plans to use as not only a marketing tool but as a way to let people know where they can get some of the best heritage breed meats anywhere around. If you’re on Twitter and you want to be able to take advantages of any specials he may run, I highly suggest you follow him there.
Anyway, I was impressed with the service that was provided to me by Darryle and his family and I look forward to defrosting some of those steaks, wieners, brats, and ground beef bundles and seeing just how good local heritage meats can be. If you’re in the market for some yourself, I suggest checking Darryle out as an option–I promise you won’t be disappointed.
See all the pictures from Blue Gentian Farm’s frozen meat delivery on Flickr here.
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October 24th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
44lbs of Blue Gentian Farm (@bgfarmboy) Meat: http://tinyurl.com/yglh96z
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 24th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
“less pork, more beefâ€. Fantastic.
October 24th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
After checking out their website, I’m hooked. Did you get any goat, chicken or lamb? I like that they have it all.
October 24th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
The chickens were whole and I didn’t want to deal with that with a baby coming.
The goat didn’t have prices on the web and I was working within a tight budget while not expecting a 12 hour turn around.
My wife doesn’t care for lamb although Darryle says that due to the kind of lamb he has it’s not quite like what you’re used to.
—
I’m sure that when we need to re-up we’ll look into some of the other options.
October 24th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Wonder what is different with the lamb he has. I am sure it can’t be all that baaaaad. :)
October 24th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Scott,
From their website’s section on sheep:
October 24th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Bill-I’ll be curious to read about how you like all the different varieties. I’ve just had his lamb chops (which I love) and eggs.
And you got him on twitter. WTG!
October 24th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Wow. Look what happens when @garciasn gets to know his farmer @bgfarmboy http://j.mp/4FiaUy
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 24th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Susan,
I can definitely give a little more info with every different cut we try. Mmm, beef, it’s what’s for dinner!
I can’t take all the credit for that. @CaroleJesse and Darryle himself should get some of the props!
October 24th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Buy your meat now people! RT @MplsFarmMarket: Wow. Look what happens when @garciasn gets to know his farmer @bgfarmboy http://j.mp/4FiaUy
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
October 27th, 2009 at 7:32 am
[...] weekend while I was at the Minneapolis Farmers Market picking up my delivery of Blue Gentian Farm meat, I had $3 in cash in my wallet. Wanting to have something nice and seasonable to go along with some [...]
November 1st, 2009 at 6:38 pm
“The chickens were whole and I didn’t want to deal with that with a baby coming”
Bill, one of the easiest and most delicious dinners ever (even company-friendly)
is roast chicken. Just crank up the oven, throw some olive oil or butter onto the chicken, sprinkle with kosher salt and whatever spices/herbs you want to (lemon juice &/or zest is also nice), throw it in the oven and forget about it until it is golden brown and luscious and juicy.
Easy and lovely and comforting:-)
November 29th, 2009 at 8:08 am
[...] pie. This year however I am hoping that a free range turkey from Blue Gentian Farm (same place I picked up a ton of meat from) will change my perception of the bird. Only time will [...]