Local Pastured Raised Poultry

Shady Acres Dairy Farm in Elizabethtown PA has a stand at the Broad Street Farmers Market in Harrisburg. They sell pasture raised poultry, beef, and sell eggs, milk and homemade cheese from those pastured animals. YES! This is the way it should be. A farm, with fields, and animals in the field. And the farmer selling his products without the fancy packaging and processing. It was awesome to see this gent's stand. What really hit home was his brochure (he doesn't have internet or I'd link to his website). In it, was an order sheet that said:

Fresh Whole Broiler Chickens , 3-5 pounds a piece. $2.25/pound: Not packaged, bring your own containers. Order fresh chickens, and pick them up at our farm on the day they are processed between 2 pm and 6 pm.

It's like a chapter out of In Defense of Food! Michael Pollan spends time at Polyface Farm where the owner, Joel Salatin, processed food exactly like Mr. Wise of Shady Acres Dairy Farm. Yes, I'm vegetarian -- but will make exceptions for locally produced meat where I know the animals are raised and treated humanely, and the grain and food they eat is not part of agribusiness. And it appears I may now have that access without paying an arm and a leg for it! Natural Acres, in Millersburg (local) is locally raised, pastured beef, but way, way too expensive. I can handle $2.25 a pound for pastured chicken. Of course the first thing hubby said was, "but how much is regular chicken for a whole chicken." Don't ask Rick! Just think about the good deed you are doing for mother earth and local farms! I believe I may be stocking my freezer with local chicken.