Meat is always a sensitive area. I have worked with poultry, pigs, and cows. In the past few years i have decided to help in the slaughter process in order to fully appreciate the whole meal on my plate. I have been elbow high in guts at a turkey slaughter only to be days later elbow high in sage, olive oil, and salt as i present our thanksgiving dinner.
It makes a difference.
Every meat eater should have to partake in the taking of a life; the same life that gives them the ability to live a little bit longer.
Really though, this isn't just about meat. The disconnect of our lives and what fuels us should out rage more than myself and a handful of others. Vegetable eaters should be out there on a hot, humid, august day digging and discovering potatoes under the surface of the soil. Connecting the life cycle of the potato to the french fry is all i am suggesting. It is not an outrageous thought.
Back to the turkey. So i had my family convinced to enjoy a bird at thanksgiving that was clean on my conscience.
Now i had to figure out what to do about other holidays.
I found Black Earth Meat Market.
The market is about 20 minutes away from my house. My family ordered a $60 rib roast for our christmas meal. My parents were not happy about the price. They could have bought the same rib roast at the local big box grocery store for a 1/4 of the price and 1/16 of the nutrients. Most likely the big store meat would have been from a feed lot somewhere in the west or southwest of the nation; pumped full of hormones, injected with antibiotics on a regular basis, and eating only GMO corn (not the natural food for cows). The $60 rib roast assured us of meat from within 100 miles, meat that was not full of all the modern day goodies, and that a farmer nearby got a decent price for the meat he produced. The arguement of "i can't afford that" might linger in your mind. My answer--if you realize that food should be of utmost importance right next to sleep and hydration then you will find a way to feed your body and family the most nutritional food possible (not necessarily rib roast).
I keep telling myself our society chooses the food they do because they lack the knowledge to know better or the time to think about it. But often times parents will open up a boxed dinner because it is quick not because they don't know that cutting up whole vegetables and sauteing them is better. They know.
Our bike trip encompassed all types of community oriented food and beverages so the meat market seemed to be a good fit. We walked in and looked around. Bjorn and i both grabbed for the pineapple brats. They are delicious. Bjorn restocked on beef jerky as the others looked around at the other local non-meat goods as well. We were surrounded by signs that said, "local", "grass fed", and "organic". It felt good.
The man working at the market, Christopher, walked out and asked if we had any questions. Did we ever! Although i had been coming to the market for a couple of years and knew they only sold meat from local farmers i still wanted to know more. After some conversation about the recent changes in management and the principles the market held he asked if we wanted a tour of the slaughter facility.
We all looked around unsure, yet excited. We were dressed in our bike shorts, jerseys, and bike shoes (not exactly slaughterhouse material) but we couldn't pass up the offer.
As we entered the slaughter house we noticed a sign on the wall.
Christopher took us through each step of the slaughter. While we were on the kill floor we heard a group of sheep on the other side of the wall. The market holds the animals over night in an effort to calm them before slaughtering. Usually i would feel a little queasy hearing the animals and knowing their time was about up but instead i had a calm feeling myself. The slaughter process was entirely ran by humans and at a very small scale. Within these parameters the chance for error and a gruesome death was very low. Temple Grandin helped develop the infrastructure and equipment for the animals and it is certified by the Animal Welfare Approved program.
Christopher invited us back for a tour when a slaughter was happening, which we all appreciated his openness to educate about the processes happening behind the doors of the market. I would highly suggest checking out the website and reading about the different types of meat they carry, "Grandpa's Way", "Grassfed", and "Organic". Before we left we had to buy a couple of pork chops as well. Bjorn and I realized before leaving that we had only purchased processed meat with spices and not a meat cut. We cooked our Red Wattle pork chops on the grill and they were delicious! So delicious that you may want to call and find out if their meat is carried in your local grocery store or at your favorite restaurant in the Madison area.
~heidi
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