bread & butter

No, Really, Where Can We Find the Beef?

A lean guide to local meat

bY EMMA MccLAtcHEY

You don’t have to give up your favorite fleshy entrees in order to eat ethically—but it won’t be as easy as swinging by Walmart for a $6 pound of ground beef, either.

Cutting out the middlemen in the food supply chain takes some legwork on the part of farmers and consumers, but has numerous potential environmental, economic and health benefits. Step one is knowing who and where your local producers are and arranging a meat-cute.

Browse this list of tips, farms and CSAs (short for Community Supported Agriculture, a way of pre-ordering produce directly from producers), and meat shops as a starter pack to a guilt-free meat diet in eastern Iowa.

TIPS

Hit the farmers market or take a drive. Meet your meat farmer where they’re at. Most welcome visitors to the farm, and are happy to explain their practices and prices. Build a relationship with the person who raised your Thanksgiving turkey.

Freeze! Buying in bulk or joining a meat CSA can save you money and shopping trips, but only if you eat what you buy. Label and store your meat properly, and consider investing in a deep freezer.

Ask restaurants where they get their meat, especially those that claim to be farm-to-table. You may feel like a Portlandia hipster, but it can encourage transparency on the part of local businesses and let them know customers care about their suppliers.

Don’t be afraid to try something new. If a seller you trust recommends a cut or product not on your list, consider expanding your palate. Ask questions, search out new recipes and offer feedback. Who knows? Venison, beef tongue or ground ostrich (all lean!) may become your new craving. Avoid waste. Food waste represents around 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The single best way to reduce your carbon footprint—not to mention save money—is to eat the food you buy. Track your meat intake, save up for a bigger freezer, host an impromptu dinner party, donate food—whatever keeps it out of the landfill.

FARMS

These farmers have easy-to-navigate websites for folks new to buying meat direct from the farm. For a much more exhaustive directory of Iowa farms, visit practicalfarmers.org

Crooked Gap Farm (Knoxville)

crookedgapfarm.wordpress.com Farmers: Ethan and Rebecca Book The meat: Woodlot-pastured pork, grass-fed beef and lamb, rabbit, poultry Offers a customizable “you choose” meat CSA. Delivers to Knoxville and Des Moines

Heartland Fresh Family Farm (South Donnellson)

heartlandfreshfamilyfarm.com Farmers: Leslie and Mark Hulsebus The meat: Pastured beef, free-range poultry Delivers across Iowa and the Midwest

Humble Hands Harvest (Decorah)

humblehandsharvest.com Farmers: Hannah Breckbill, Emily Fagan and Emily Spangler The meat: Pastured pork, grass-fed certified organic lamb Offers a vegetable CSA with meat add-on Available at the Decorah Farmers Market. Top: Cattle at Erinn Spevacek’s farm in northeast Iowa City. Above: Jamie Bierman of Twisted Oaks Meats wears a shirt that reads

“grass fed.” Zoe Pharo / Little Village

Jóia Food Farm (Charles City)

Joiafoodfarm.com Farmers: Wendy Johnson and Johnny Rafkin The meat: pastured chicken, organic-raised pork, grass-fed lamb Offers a meat and eggs CSA, with monthly pickup at the farm

Midwest best beef (Holy Cross)

midwestbestbeef.com Farmers: David and Annette Hill The meat: Grass-fed and grain-finished Angus beef, pasture-raised Berkshire pork Offers a monthly, customizable beef CSA for pick-up in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Available at the Iowa City and Dubuque farmers markets

Over the Moon Farm & Flowers, Coggon

overthemoonfarmandflowers.com Farmers: Shae Pesek and Anna Hankins The meat: Heritage breed Berkshire pork, Pesek Family Farm Angus beef, pasture-raised chicken and turkeys Offers a monthly meat CSA (fall is full, but spots are still open for winter, as of Oct. 1). Delivers to Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Marion and Manchester

Rehberg’s Pork (Walker)

rehbergspork.com Farmers: Donny and Lea Rehberg The meat: Berkshire pork, raised unconfined and on a vegetarian grain/soybean feed Available at the Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha farmers markets

Striegel Acres (Oskaloosa)

striegelacres.com Farmers: Marion and Marj Striegel The meat: Free-range ostrich (red meat, low-fat) Available for online order

Twisted Oaks Meats (Tipton)

Twistedoaksmeats.com Farmers: The Bierman family The meat: Grass-fed beef, pastured pork and lamb, free-range chicken and turkey Available at the Iowa City Farmers Market, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Delivers to Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, West Branch, Davenport and Des Moines

West Fork Farmstead (West Chester)

westforkfarmstead.com Farmers: Brian, Nancy and Natasha Wilson The meat: Grass-fed beef, heritage pork, pastured chicken Delivers to Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Kalona and Wellman

STORES

Anvil Meat Market and Deli

(Closing after Oct. 31) 92 16th Ave SW, Cedar Rapids anvilmeatmarketanddeli.com

big boy Meats

1100 3rd Street SE, Cedar Rapids bigboymeats.com

John’s Grocery

401 E Market St, Iowa City, johnsgrocery.com

Nelson’s Meat Market

1140 Old Marion Rd NE, Cedar Rapids nelsonsmeat.com

The other, other, other white meat

My pandemic project ended up being more unconventional than most. (I tried sourdough at the beginning, but forgot the starter in the fridge until last week.) As an anti-factory-farming activist, I found myself drawn to alternative food sources. I began raising and processing rabbits for meat and fur. Rabbits are a rare meat here in the States, but in other countries such as France, they’re a dietary staple as regular as roast chicken. Once you start raising them, it isn’t hard to see why. There are a lot of upsides.

They breed like, well, rabbits. At max rotation, three rabbits (one buck, two does) can provide up to 300 pounds of meat per year. That’s just a little over what the average American adult eats annually (about 264 pounds, according to the University of Illinois).

They’re compact. I raise my rabbits in nine-square-foot hutches for each adult, and usually only put two or three of the babies into each hutch maximum, which still gives them plenty of room. In total, the top amount of space taken up when we’ve got a litter or two of babies is around 72 square feet of backyard space.

They’re pretty dang good (and good for you). It’s a cliche, but it’s true: Rabbits taste like chicken, specifically rich dark meat. They also have lower fat content than chickens, so they’re a great protein-rich addition to a salad or sandwich!

Raising your meat is direct action. What’s a more direct way to protest the system than by seizing the means of (rabbit) production? There’s no surer way to make sure that your meat came from a healthy, caring environment than by raising it yourself.

It’s a great way to understand the true cost of your food. This one’s a little more of a tough sell, but when you have to kill and process your meat, it gets a little more special and a little more important. It’s not just a slab of pork you picked up at the Fareway, it’s the rabbit you raised and cared for. It’s a hard feeling, but a good one.

There are a lot more benefits to raising meat yourself, but it’s just one of many ways you can take an active stand against factory farming: Vote for politicians who care about the environment, write to local officials, join an activist organization or support local organic produce and farmers. —Malcolm MacDougall

Oglesby MacDougall