First Ones Free!

After my last few posts I feel like one of those "Walmart Blogger Moms" that were paid to push products. Trust me that is not the case, none of the organization/businesses have paid me anything to run my mouth off about stuff. Plus to get paid I would have to have a following and I don't have a big one as far as I know.

Having said all that, the main reason I've been talking about the local businesses I have been plugging is because I'm excited about them and I believe in them. Last seasons CSA with Nourse Farm was amazing. The whole experience was wonderful and we enjoyed not only the bounty we received each week, but the feeling that we were working with a local Farm. I recommend finding an CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) through Local Harvest. I understand that for a lot of people the initial kick out of cash is hard, but for us there were several ways we benefited from doing it this way. The first way was that I found I was far less likely to let stuff go to waste if it came from Nourse than veggies or fruits I purchased from the grocery store. I don't know what it was, maybe the personal connection we made with Jon Nourse, the owner/operator of the business, who we saw almost every weekly visit or the fact that we had shelled out that lump sum of money to join. Needless to say we wasted very little. Secondly  the program focused us to try new things. Since you never know what will be offered from week to week based off the harvest you are forced to try new things or else you're technically losing your money. Lastly it gave us family time. With the exception of one or two times when Mad Dog went on his way home from work, we made a point to go as a family. This allowed the kids to see the farm and in Lex's case, he selected some of weekly bounty (and got to see the Horsey grazing in the field).

This week we ventured up to Athol, MA to Adams Farm for local meat. Yes, they are slightly out of the way for us, but our trip found us a host of new businesses to check out on future trips. We purchased a "Build Your Own Package", selecting 4 items form their list of 17 options. Our selection cost us $55.00 and was made up of: 5 lbs of Ground Beef, 5 lbs Sweet Italian Sausage, 5 lbs Center Cut Pork Chops and 4 lbs Boneless Chicken Breast. Now I can't tell you if the Beef is 85% or 95% lean meat (that would a question of the Farm), but I promise to let you know how it tastes once we cook it. We also picked up 2 dozen local eggs, cheese from Smith's Country Cheese and a pound of lamb stew meat for $4.50.  The stew meat was amazing! Unbelievable! We figure that if we do a run once a month or if we have the money purchase for 2 months we'll be good. The meat is all frozen and for the most part is broken down into what I would say is a meal (at least for our family). If you pick your package or select one of their per selected package deals you can email or fax your order in and it'll be ready to go for pick-up. Also off the same exit is Big Apple Farm and a few exits before it is Lanni Orchard.

I will lastly place one last plug! This is for our good friend Patrick, who owns Occasional Creek Maple which I mentioned in my previous post. Patrick is amazing and his wife Sara (who is also amazing) will kill me for writing that, she think we'll give him a big head. But in all honesty he is. Anyhow I would like to extend an offer to any of my friends that if they would like to pre-order syrup from Occasional Creek we would be happy to pick it up for them when we pick up ours. You can let him know that his "pushers" (Kim and Mad Dog) will pick it up for you.

Look around and see what is in your own backyard! Find a local farmers market this spring or pick apples this coming fall. Get out and explore what New England has to offer and bring the little ones along for the ride! (Did I just type that? Someone please shoot me!)