By Ethan Forman
Staff writer
May 13, 2008 09:31 am HAMILTON — When you get out of your car at Green Meadows Farm, the chicken greeting you in the parking lot will not be destined for someone's dinner table anytime soon. However, there will be at least one chicken in the pot this year for the dozens who have purchased shares in the farm's sold-out community supported agriculture operation, which includes shares of chickens, lambs, pigs and turkeys. Increasing demand for locally grown food is giving a boost to Green Meadows and to Appleton Farms in Ipswich; both have expanded over the past six years. "There is such a meteoric demand for local livestock and dairy," said Wayne Castonguay, the manager at Appleton. "I can't really say (why), but people want to buy local products and know where it is raised." Green Meadows, which the late Maj. Gen. George Patton, the son of the World War II legend, founded and ran in his retirement from the Army, not only sells shares of its vegetable harvest, but shares of its livestock as well. Those who buy in become shareholders of the harvest from June to October. Community supported agriculture farms give consumers local produce and farmers a leg up on expenses, while also helping to preserve farmland. In 2006, there were about 1,200 registered community supported agriculture farms across the nation, according to the Robyn Van En Center at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., which lists 67 such farms in Massachusetts on its Web site, including Green Meadows and Appleton. Both the popular 6-year-old CSA program at the 658-acre Appleton Farms, which has 500 members, and the Green Meadows program are sold out. The Appleton program differs from Green Meadows in that it doesn't offer shares in the livestock, but lets its shareholders who come in for the vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit buy beef and dairy products from the 130 head of cattle on the farm. The meat and dairy products, like milk, meat and cheese, are limited for sale to members, Castonguay said. Andrew Rodgers, the manager at the 230-acre Green Meadows on Asbury Street, said the program is increasingly popular. "People want to know their meat is clean," said Rodgers, who did not want to give precise numbers on the program. Farms like Tendercrop in Newbury, which features its own beef, chicken and turkey in its butchery, show that people will pay more for local, grass-fed quality, Rodgers said. With the CSA, Rodgers rarely has any meat left over to stock the farm stand. "It's sold before it even gets into the freezer," he said. Green Meadows chicken shares cost $3.50 a pound, dressed weight. Stop & Shop in North Beverly advertised Purdue whole chickens for $1.29 a pound this week. The farm's pork cost $4 per pound, assorted cuts, compared with $2.99 pork chops at Stop & Shop. "I think it is very important to have locally grown food," said Joshua Massey of Hamilton, a CSA member in his fifth year. "It's fresher and healthier." Massey said he does not mind paying a little more for Green Meadows' meat, as "food is the cheapest luxury." After all, you are what you eat, he said. While the produce at Green Meadows is certified organic, the meat is not. Rodgers said the farm uses techniques to avoid the use of antibiotics, such as rotating the lambs from field to field, so they do not eat worms and parasites from the ground after they have been in one place for too long. Rodgers plans to expand the meat shares further next year by bringing in cattle to live on the farm this year. Cattle were once a common sight on North Shore fields, and several, like Tendercrop and Appleton farms, still raise them. "We are going to be doing beef," Rodgers said.
box Meat prices at Green Meadows r The turkey share runs $4.50 a pound for one 10 to 15-pound bird, according to the farm's Web site. The program is sold out even though there is not a single turkey on the farm, yet. r The lamb share buys a half a lamb, about 30 pounds, at $6 per pound, hanging weight, r The pork share buys 40 pounds of assorted cuts at $4 per pound, hanging weight. r The chicken share buys just one chicken, three to four pounds, at $3.50 per pound dressed weight.
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