Meat CSA reviews?

[missmushkila.livejournal.com]

Does anyone get a meat CSA from one of the farms that does pickups in the area? (Stillman, Chesnut, and Houde are the ones I've found.) If so, how do you like it and why? I'd like to sign up for one when we move back to Somerville, starting in December or January, but I'm a little wary to make the investment and commitment without having sampled the meat first. Would be very grateful to hear about any recent first-hand experience.

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

We are sharemembers of Chestnut Farm. You can sample their meat at the Arlington Farmer's market sometimes, I'm not sure if they're done for the season there.

I love the meat and love knowing the people who raise it (and sometimes even getting to meet the animals). They are not always able to take special requests beyond the nature of your share. (You can get no lamb and no pork shares I believe.)

Our share is mostly chicken beef and pork with some months lamb depending on what is available.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I don't know about CSAs, but I buy meat from Chestnut Farm at the farmers' market and am always pleased with it.

[veek.livejournal.com]

I'll second Chestnut Farms. I've been with them for something like six or seven years, and love them for the same reasons chenoameg does. The meat quality is fantastic, and they have a good variety of cuts. The closest distribution point is Arlington Center.

M.F. Dulock

[wolftone.livejournal.com]

Worth noting is M.F. Dulock's "Meat Club (http://www.mfdulock.com/meat-club/)". I have only purchased one share from them, but everything in the bag was excellent. Their philosophy is that over the course of a year, you go snout-to-tail on a few animals, never repeating a cut or species. I'm hoping that it will get me cooking some more exotic dishes. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate - they're ready to help you prepare anything.

Also, the fact that they're on a pay-as-you-go monthly model is important. I got burned when John Crow Farm imploded (https://www.facebook.com/groups/282370471922920/) and took a year's pre-payment into bankruptcy. Never doing that again.

I loved Chestnut farm when I was a member. The only reason I left is that I didn't feel like trekking up to Arlington anymore.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

We have a monthly subscription to Walden Local Meats and it's fantastic.

Also they deliver (insulated bag with dry ice in it)

[missmushkila.livejournal.com]

Thanks for these suggestions!

[3rdragon]

We're splitting a Stillman's half share and have been moderately pleased with them. (Not so much complaining about the meat, just that we're not sure it really fits into our lifestyle.)

My thoughts and experience so far (4 months/shares):
-We've gotten a chicken every week, often quite large
-----But they don't come with giblets, which I regret
-In addition to the chicken, we'll get some nice cuts of beef or pork
-And a few bony things (soup bones, ribs of some sort, once a chop)
-The website said that we would also get ground meat/sausage, but we've only gotten one little package of sausage filling
-The website also said lamb, but so far we've only gotten one small cut of lamb

It's not the quality of the meat that I'm complaining of, actually more the reverse -- I would rather have sausage than steak. Also the frozen chickens can be a little overwhelming. It's a big hunk of animal, and harder to butcher or quickly cook up when it's frozen.


Ditto on the being able to buy some at a Farmer's Market -- they do Union Square in the summer and the Armory in the winter (pickups follow those locations).

[obie119.livejournal.com]

I've been a member of Stillman's and Chestnut CSA and I vastly prefer Chestnut Farms.

One reason really is convenience - I live in Arlington, and a weeknight pickup means I go after work/daycare pickup. When I was on the Stillman's share, it was noon to 3 PM in JP or Brookline, on a weekend day. So basically we couldn't do a day trip and we really had to schedule a precious weekend day around picking up the meat.

I think some of the other issues with Stillmans were growing pains - meat CSAs were still pretty new-ish in 2007 (2006??) when we started. We switched to Chestnut about 4-5 years ago.

Anyway, with Chestnut Farms, it's a great community - I see lots of people I know at pickups. They are pretty flexible with requests/preferences as long as you make them very very early and don't overdo it. Right now I alternate between 10 lb and 15 lb monthly. I can't say enough about the quality of their meat, and the friendliness of the farmers and the people working with them. I feel very lucky to have to opportunity to get my meat this way!

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

We didn't have great luck with Stillman. The cryovac was often imperfect and a lot of things wound up freezer burned. They may have fixed it by now. But we switched to Walden this year.