If you’re starting to think more about where your meat comes from — thanks to disturbing documentaries such as “Food, Inc.” or books such as, egad, “Eating Animals,” — you’re not alone.
I just wrote a nifty little post for The Herald’s dandy new food blog, The Dish, about cowpooling, which is the art of combining funds with friends to buy an entire cow, usually grass-fed, for all your sustainable, local beef needs.
But buying beef in bulk just isn’t for everyone, and, yet, the unfortunate images from the factory farms in “Food, Inc.” linger, don’t they?
So I am investigating — as best I can — sustainable meat options sold by the cut.
When I think of Western Washington’s most perfect meat, I always think of Skagit River Ranch, a mom-and-pop operation that raises organic, sustainable meat.
You can find these guys — and they are great guys — at year-around Seattle farmers markets or you can visit the farm’s store in Sedro-Woolley, open on Saturdays.
They have fantastic sustainable meats, including the best local bacon I have ever had. Even Michael Pollan of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” fame is a fan.
But small farms aren’t for everyone, so I am looking into products that seem like they might be local at your neighborhood grocery stores such as Fred Meyer, QFC and Safeway.
Being local, of course, doesn’t make something sustainable, but I’ve often found sustainable options while researching local food.
I’m talking about bigger names such as Mount Vernon-based Draper Valley Farms (producer of the free-range Ranger chickens) and Hempler’s bacon, both widely available at popular stores such as QFC.
What am I finding?
Well, so far, it’s complicated.
Hempler’s bacon, made by Hempler Foods Group of Ferndale in Whatcom County, isn’t as local as I thought.
Because of a lack of exceptionally lean, local pork bellies, little of the bacon is from the Northwest, said Hempler Food Group president Stephen Bates.
Only 10 percent to 15 percent of all the meat (beef, chicken, pork, buffalo) the longtime meat processor buys is from the Northwest.
That includes some pork from Carlton Farms of Carlton, Ore., and beef from Oregon-based Country Natural Beef, a cooperative with 120 family ranches throughout the Northwest, West and Midwest. Hempler’s also buys meat from Painted Hills Natural Beef of Oregon and 3 Sisters Cattle Co. of Whidbey Island. Another 5 percent to 10 percent of the meat brought in for cooking, smoking and curing at Hempler’s comes from British Columbia.
All the rest comes from the Midwest; Ireland and Denmark (pork); and Australia and New Zealand (beef).
Talk about food miles.
However, most of the beef Hempler’s buys is grass-fed or pastured, Bates said, which is why the company often imports meat from New Zealand and Australia where grass-fed range cattle are far more common.
Bates, who called me back immediately and talked quite candidly about his operations, said no one is raising lean pork bellies in large quantities in Washington.
“We’ll make about a million and half pounds of bacon this year, maybe more,” Bates said. “The local supply wouldn’t even be a drop in a glass of water.”
To make matters more complicated, Hempler’s requires some of the leanest bellies in the world, Bates said.
“We have a bacon that is leaner than probably any bacon that you can find anywhere. That’s what we’re known for,” he said.
Bates said he’d love to work with a local supplier of pork that could meet Hempler’s standards for quality and quantity.
“Sarah, if I could, I would do it,” Bates said.
Like, I said, it’s complicated.
I hope to have more details on these issues in the coming months.
I am still waiting for a call back from Draper Valley Farms. I’ve asked to tour one of their family farms, which reportedly stretch from Lynden to Oregon City, according to Draper Valley’s website.
In the meantime, I am going to check out a new line of meat being marketed by the local chain of Top Food & Drug and Haggen stores, which also sells Draper and Hempler brands.
It’s Double R Ranch Beef, raised in Loomis, Wash., by the Asmussen family on 70,000 acres in the Okanogan region.
Their animals are fed locally sourced feed and grain. And, according to Top Food, the farm relies on extensive use of hydroelectric power, allowing the farm to boast a carbon footprint that is “40 percent lower” than similar ranches in the Midwest.
Well, OK.
That sounds promising, right?
What is your favorite locally produced sustainable meat source?
Let me know.
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