We try to grow as much of the food that our small Brooklyn backyard allows us, but there are limits to what we can produce back there. Livestock beyond chickens and perhaps rabbits for meat production are definitely out of the question for obvious reasons. Fortunately for us, it pays to be friendly with neighboring farmers.
This week, each household in our four unit building got together to order a whole 50 lb. pasture-raised lamb to share from Spring Lake Farm in Delhi, NY. Ulla Kjarval, who blogs at Goldilocks Finds Manhattan, helped to organize the delivery, as she is the daughter of Icelandic-American farmer Ingimundur Kjarval who has owned Spring Lake with his wife Temma and their daughters since the 80’s. Ingimundur and family produce some really wonderful grass-fed beef, lamb, pork and boar. I’ve had the pleasure of sampling some of their lamb before and was really excited to have the opportunity to buy some, straight from the source.
(Photo by Ulla Kjarval)
Today, Ulla and her father came by with boxes filled with the locally butchered and cryopacked cuts of lamb as well as some pork and beef that we had ordered. My neighbors and I enthusiastically divvied up the meat and now I’m pleased to say that four households in Brooklyn have enough grass-fed protein to keep us fed for the next few months.
If you are interested in buying large quantities of pastured and humanely-raised meat locally, check out the NYC Meatshare. You can co-ordinate with other grass-fed, local meat lovers to purchase directly from sustainable farms in the region. It’s a great way to help support local farms and get a great product while you’re at it.
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