Braucher's Sunshine Harvest Farm - a Meat CSA!

In the dead of winter, when the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares stopped coming from Harmony Valley Farm, this City Girl had the delight of still feeling like she could support local farm fresh food with a meat CSA! Yup, you heard that right M-E-A-T CSA! And boy do I love it! It comes from Braucher's Sunshine Harvest Farm. Unlike a veggie CSA there is no sign-up deadline. You can sign up whenever you want for full or half shares and prepay for a 3-month or 6-month time frame.

A full share ($100/mo) includes:

• 2 whole frozen chickens (8 lbs.)
• 2 dozen eggs
• 4 lbs. of lean ground beef
• 6 lbs. of a variety of meats (beef & pork; roasts, steaks, stew cuts, kabobs, fajita meat, bacon, sausage, ham, etc.)

You have the option to omit pork if you wish.

A 1/2 share is approximately 10 lbs. of meat and eggs (half of the items listed for the full share above).

There are many things for this City Girl to love about our meat CSA. Here are a few:

1. I am able to enjoy organic, pastured, grass-fed and sustainably raised LOCAL meat!
2. I don't have to agonize over the seemingly expensive similarly raised meats at the Co-op. I pick up my share each month (which is always PLENTY for our family) and figure out what to make based on what we received.
3. I love, love, love having the large roasts they occasionally put in our share. They can be cooked easily (slow cooker, pressure cooker) and make enough meat that I can usually make a second meal out of the leftover meat for our small family. Two for one!
4. I love, love, love, love, love that they are so responsive to personal requests! When our twins were born I knew we'd have little time for cooking for the first month or two, or at least not enough time to make use of ALL of the meat in our share. So I asked them if they could include some *gasp* more processed meats in our order for a couple of months. We got delicious brats, hot dogs, bacon, summer sausage and the like for a while. It was great!
5. And my favorite of all - an excuse to take a trip across the river to Minneapolis for the pickup.
   
   In the summers it's at the Mill City Farmer's Market. I take my four-year-old, park the car at a park 'n ride on the light rail and ride the train to the market which is just a BLAST for him. We check out the market, get some lunch, hear some live tunes (yes, there's live music!) and enjoy the scenic river sometimes even taking a walk on the nearby Stone Arch Bridge. What a wonderful monthly outing.
   
   In the winters it's at the indoor farmer's market held at Local D'Lish in downtown Minneapolis. Such a blast to have a smaller winter version of a farmer's market. Lots of local vendors there often sampling their goods.

Want to check it out? Visit Braucher's Sunshine Harvest Farm online to read more.