Tag Archives: meat csa

September Meat CSA

In your share this month: 

  • Duck 
  • Bacon 
  • Ground beef 
  • Ground Lamb 
  • Breakfast Sausage 
  • Pork Roast  

On the farm 

The changing of the seasons always brings changes on the farm, too, and we enjoy the transition to autumn not only for the end of the scorching summer temperatures and the return of the PNW rains, but tasks on the farm are also starting to ebb a bit. All our pastured poultry pens will be emptying out over the next two months, 10 more pigs will be heading in to be turned into the bacon, chops, and sausages you have come to love. We are even hoping to get off the farm for a few days at the end of this month, for a couple of nights of camping and soaking in hot springs in SE Oregon, followed by two and a half days of music at the Sisters Folk Festival. But that is all contingent on thing that will be the antithesis of things slowing down for the fall, and that is our most recent Great Pyrenees addition, Jolee, is pregnant and due to have her puppies plus or minus a week on either side of our planned time away. Fingers crossed! 

In your bag 

You have quite a diverse share this month, with products from four distinct types of animals, instead of the typical three, with duck, pork, beef, and lamb. Your duck is a breed called Pekin, which is often confused with the dish, Peking Duck, and while you can make that dish with this breed of duck, there are many other recipe options available, as well.  

Ground lamb also only makes occasional appearances in your share, so this month you will have recipes for both these items! 

Meat CSA December 2021

Terra Farma Meat CSA December 2021

In your share this month:

  • Roast (beef or pork) THURSDAY – Sweetheart Ham SUNDAY
  • Chicken
  • French Garlic Sausage
  • Breakfast sausage
  • Bacon
  • Ground beef THURSDAY – Steak SUNDAY
  • Bonus

It’s time to renew your membership!

If you haven’t already done so, there’s still time to renew for next season, or all of next year, at a discount. We are being forced to raise prices next year, as, like everything else, our costs have increased dramatically this year, but we are extending the discounted price for renewals for the spring season through the end of this month. Also, you can sign up for the entire year of 2022 at 2021 prices. Our email to you on 11/17 has those links to sign up, if you can’t locate that, just let us know and we’ll send them to you. There will also be a new location in Woodstock, so if you are in SE, that might be a good option for you. We are also adding new shares, so if you have friends who have been wanting to join, now is the time.

On the Farm

Word of the season: Mud! One of the challenges of raising pigs on pasture west of the Cascades is creating enough dry space for them during winter. We do have a small-ish permanent building for some of them, but they all have outdoor areas that they love to turn into mud pits. The pigs think it’s great, the farmers, not so much. It doesn’t help that we currently have 22 pigs on-site, by far the most we’ve ever had through winter, but 6 will go in for processing in February and 12 more in late March, so there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel. We are also considering finding a beginning farmer that wants to raise pigs and has better winter facilities than we do, who we could mentor, provide them with animals and equipment, and guarantee that we’d purchase a certain number from them every year. It would help alleviate our workload a bit while helping to develop the next generation of farmers. If you know of anyone who might fit that bill, feel free to put them in touch with us.

Everything else is kind of in standard winter mode, with daily milking of the cows and goats, caring for the laying hens and their eggs, along with the rabbits, sheep, and the goats that are not being milked. The only recent new additions are a 6-month old steer that was given to us by some friends who bought a house in White Salmon, WA that came with a collection of poultry and this ones steer who they didn’t feel comfortable taking care of; and a batch of 100 baby chicks which will become our next batch of laying hens in about April.

Product Spotlight

French Garlic links – these are one of our favorites; flavored with garlic, red wine, and a collection of herbs and spices, these are delicious on their own or added to all kinds of dishes. We recently had them as an addition to homemade mac and cheese, so good! It’s probably best known, though, as an ingredient in the hearty soup, cassoulet; here’s a recipe:

Smoked Sausage Cassoulet

Ingredients

  • 2 bacon slices
  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 pound pork roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • ½ pound French garlic sausage, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 8 teaspoons finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
  • 8 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Step 1

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble. Add onion, thyme, rosemary, and garlic to drippings in pan; sauté for 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in crumbled bacon, salt, pepper, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Remove from heat.     

Step 2

Place half of the beans in a large bowl; mash with a potato masher until chunky. Add remaining half of beans, pork, and sausage; stir well. Place half of the bean mixture in a 3 1/2-quart electric slow cooker; top with half of the tomato mixture. Repeat layers. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Bonus item – Stroopwaffels

The classic Dutch treat that is literally translated to “Syrup Waffle” is handmade in our kitchen. You can eat these as is, like a decadent cookie, but we do highly recommend setting them on top of your cup of hot coffee until the caramel interior softens a bit, then dunk and eat.  Note: these do contain gluten, dairy, and eggs.

Meat CSA October 2021

In your share this month:

  • Beef Steak
  • Ground Beef
  • Bacon
  • Pork Chops
  • Chicken
  • Andouille Sausage

On the farm

Autumn is normally a time when things start to slow down at Terra Farma and we can feel the gradual ease into the winter routine; but not this year! The most exciting activity was the birth of our latest calf on the 13th, a little bull calf named Ozzy. Then, an hour later, twin baby goats were born, a little boy and girl, and all moms and babies are doing well. But that also means we have another cow to milk twice a day, and she’s a powerhouse – already producing over 7 gallons a day. Then, we had some neighbors up the road gift us their herd of 8 meat goats, and this was quite a gift because these are beautiful-looking goats. We are still trying to figure out where to put everyone.

But we are managing to cross some to-do items off our list; we just brought six pigs in for processing and the last batch of meat chickens will be done this weekend. Then it’s only a month until turkey day and that’s when daily chores will finally ease off for a bit. However, we are going to have more pigs on the ground through winter than we’ve ever had, and there are early indications that this could be a cold, wet winter, so things might get interesting if we have lots of snow and/or ice.

The real exciting news is that we are going on a little vacation! It’ll be the first time in five years that we’ve been able to get away for more than a weekend, so it’s sorely needed. We are heading out the last week of this month to a little cabin near Wallowa Lake in NE Oregon, and even though the weather doesn’t look like it’s going to fully cooperate, even if we just sit in the cabin and read for a few days, it’s still going to be great.

Featured item: Andouille Sausage

Some of you received this in your share earlier this year, but if you are new to our CSA, or have a half share and missed it, this may be an item you don’t have a lot of experience with. Even though it has French and German roots, andouille is a classing Cajun sausage and is most commonly found in a traditional jambalaya. The Spruce Eats website has a great page on it, so instead of putting a recipe in for this month, we’ll just send you to their page where you can find multiple meal ideas.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-an-andouille-995561

Thank You!

Meat CSA FAQs

Signups for the Jan-Apr 2021 season are open now in our online store.

FAQs for the Terra Farma Meat CSA

  • What is a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and typically refers to a subscription type program where you receive a regular share of farm products for a season, or other specified time period, in exchange for payment at the beginning of the season. This helps the farmer with up-front operating capital and security knowing that their product is already sold.

  • I’m familiar with a vegetable CSA, how is a meat CSA different?

While veggie boxes are usually weekly, meat boxes will be a once-a-month pickup, but will still have a variety of meats and cuts.

  • What will be in a Terra Farma share?

A typical monthly box will include 10-12 pounds of meat, which may include 2-3 pounds of pork, 2-3 pounds of beef, a whole chicken, an occasional duck, rabbit, and/or guinea fowl. Lamb and goat will also likely be included later in 2020 and certainly in 2021. This variety of meats is one thing we believe sets us apart from any other CSA. You can expect steaks, small roasts, sausages, ground meat, bacon, ham, ribs, and some specialty cuts; some items will make regular appearances while others will rotate in and out. Each month will not look exactly alike.

  • How much does it cost?

Each membership period will be 4 months and cost $445.

  • Do I get to choose what’s in my monthly share? There’s also an option for a half share for $225; this will be the same 10-12 pounds of meat, but picked up only every other month.

Like most veggie CSAs, each share will be the same, both to make sure we make best use of the entire animal and to give you a chance to try some cuts that you may not have otherwise chosen. However, we do anticipate there will be times when we have smaller quantities of certain cuts, and you may have an option to choose among a couple different individual items.

  • What about organ meats? I don’t think I want those in my share.

We are not planning on including organ meats in a normal monthly share, but if that’s something you do want, let us know and we’ll work with you.

  • Where will I get the share each month?

We are initially planning on two pickup locations, one at our farm in Corbett and another one in Portland. The Portland location is still being determined but will likely be somewhere in N or NE PDX. They will occur the last week of each month, with some movement possible around major holidays; the on-farm pickups will coincide with our chicken pickups on weekends, and the Portland pickup will be on a weekday evening.

  • What if I can’t come to the pickup because I’m out of town?

Ideally, you could have someone come in your place and pick up for you, but if that’s not possible, let us know in advance and we’ll make other arrangements.

  • What about add-ons? Eggs? Milk? Turkey?

We are not including these as specific options at this time. For the eggs and milk, since these are perishable items, the logistics of a monthly pickup create distribution difficulties. We would have high demand for these items the week of pickup, but not the rest of the month. However, if we have some available the week of pickup, we will send out a message with options to reserve. Looking to the future, as our membership grows, we will add additional pickup locations and could stagger them through the month to even out demand to create the possibility of a regular add-on.

While our popular Thanksgiving turkeys will not be part of the CSA, we will allow our CSA members first opportunity to reserve one. These do sell out every year, this perk can help ensure you get one.

  • Are there any other perks?

Yes, we want to create as much value for you as possible and we really want to build a community of like-minded eaters. We’ll be creating a private Facebook group (I know, we’re not thrilled about Facebook either, but I don’t know of a better alternative that people actually use; willing to hear ideas, though) to share recipes, tips, results, and any other pertinent info. We’re in the planning stages for some low-key farm events, some which may be CSA member exclusive, others where you’d have first chance to sign up. You’ll get a Terra Farma insulated bag to transport your products. Likely more ideas to come.

  • Any other questions?

Let us know at terrafarma@comcast.net