Week 18: Winter Meat CSA FAQs

This week's share: Ground Beef

Next week's share: Brisket &/or Skirt steak

Hi Folks-- This week has been a whirl of prep for the Chestnut Hill Farm Harvest Festival and Southborough Heritage Day. Both are a great opportunity to meet folks and talk about the Winter Meat CSA. Plus they were fun events! We grilled beef skewers and burgers, made some pulled bbq beef, and had a blast!

Southborough Heritage Day

 As we move through Winter Meat CSA "signup season" I've gotten several good questions that I thought I'd address here.

I don't eat X. Can I substitute? With a few caveats, yes. This is the most common question I get! Whether you keep kosher/halal and won't use pork, or really dislike lamb, or whatever, I am happy to try to accommodate your needs. But, here are the caveats:

1. I need to know up front so I can plan distributions throughout the season. It is much harder to make a swap during pickup, so please don't ask! This will be a season-long decision, not a "can-I-have-beef-shanks-this-week-instead-of-lamb-shanks-because-my-relatives-are-coming-and-they-don't-like-lamb?" kind of thing.
2. Some meats are more limited than others. This year, broiler chicken and lamb will be harder to substitute in than pork or beef, and we will have more beef than anything else. So, everybody gets beef. If you'd prefer no pork, you'll probably mostly get beef in its place. If you're asking for no lamb, you'll get a mix of pork and beef in its place. No lamb and no pork will mean mostly beef with some chicken. (I don't have many people request no chicken!) All that said, I will have soup hens ("retired" layers) that I can substitute instead other meats upon request, and will do so at a discount--meaning that if you take a soup hen you'll get more than 7 pounds in your share to balance the lower value chicken.
3. Please try new things! This is directed towards the lamb skeptics, not the no-pork faithful, but if you haven't had good lamb in a while or ever, give it a chance. And soup hens make some delicious soup!

Will you let us know what's coming up next? Yes. Mea culpa: I didn't do a good enough job of staying on top of the blog during the summer beef CSA to give you a heads up for your weekly shopping and a few of you have asked for a longer lead time so you'll know what to expect. That's a fair complaint. I'm listening and I'll commit to supporting your meal planning with both "in this pickup" and "in next pickup" information.See up there at the top? Already implemented!

How will pickups work? As in, the actual pickup day logistics? In an effort to cut down on plastic waste, we won't provide a bag for each distribution, so plan to bring a reusable one. And unlike with Summer Beef CSA shares, we won't have you pick and pack your own--there will just be too many people picking up to manage inventory and hit our 7-lb/share target this way. Instead, we will usually bundle most of your vacuum-packed, frozen meat in butcher-paper-wrapped packages so you can "grab-and-go." If there is a choice of say, flank steak or hanger steak (like last week), we'll either have folks sign up for their choice the distribution beforehand or we'll wrap them and it will be the luck of the draw. Some larger items--broiler chickens and possibly larger roasts--we'll have you take separately.

Those are the big 3 questions I've been getting, but if you have others, send me a note or comment on this post!

Cheers everyone,
Jesse

P.S. -- I just have to share this picture of my daughter with that big sirloin tip ("flap meat") from the week before last. Oh my, grilling deliciousness!