Like Havoc, Brette and I are members of a CSA in which we pick up our veggies once a week from a truck in a parking lot in Central Square. I just picked up this weeks share, and we have some great beets, carrots, mustard greens, and the best strawberries I’ve ever had.
In addition to the veggie CSA, we’re also members of a meat CSA, Chestnut Farms. The meat is local — raised in western Massachusetts and slaughtered nearby — and I pick it up once a month. It comes frozen, but I think it’s done so quickly after slaughter that the meat is still incredibly fresh when thawed… it never tastes like a freezer, it never has freezer burn, and it’s never tough.
They offer different cuts of grass-fed beef, pork, lamb, and free range chicken every month and often have eggs for sale at an additional cost. We’re not big lamb eaters so we don’t get any, but the rest of the food is some of the best stuff I’ve ever tasted. The pork in particular has a much richer flavor than anything you can get in the store (including Whole Foods)… those factory farms just can’t make tasty pork.
We get 10 lbs every month for $70. A quick survey of the freezer shows me that have: ground beef, ground pork, country-style spare ribs, pork chops, pork tenderloin, pork breakfast sausage, chicken legs and thighs, chicken breast, smoked bacon, and beef round eye roast.
If you’re a meat lover and live in Massachusetts, I suggest signing up even though there’s now a waiting list. If you’re elsewhere, meat CSAs are becoming increasingly popular (Results 1 - 10 of about 643,000 for meat csa.) and well worth it.