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Aquidneck Farms’ grass-fed cattle live longer, healthier lives. And they produce a nice steak. If you can get it, JANINE WEISMAN finds.
Pasture perfect. A New York strip from a former member of Aquidneck Farms’ pastured herd is higher in omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), beta-carotene, and vitamin E than feedlot meat. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE MARQUE
COOKING TIPS Do not overcook. Grass-fed beef is low in fat and requires 30 percent less cooking time. Thaw frozen beef in refrigerator. Never microwave. For grilling, sear quickly over high heat, then reduce heat to low to finish.
WHERE TO BUY AQUIDNECK FARMS PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING SUMMERTIME FARMERS MARKETS: THE EAST GREENWICH FARMERS MARKET Mondays, 3-7 p.m., through Oct. 26 Academy Field, Rector Street, East Greenwich | [email protected]
THE GREEN GROCER FARMERS MARKET Fridays, 3-6 p.m., through September Green Grocer, 934 East Main Road, Portsmouth | (401) 683-0007
ISLAND FARMERS MARKET Thursdays, 2-6 p.m. through Oct. 29 Aquidneck Grange No. 30, 499 East Main Road, Middletown | (401) 8472202
Also watch for Aquidneck Farms at Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s Local Food Fest Tuesday, Aug. 4, 5 p.m.-dusk, Castle Hill, Newport. www.farmfreshri.org/about/ localfoodfest.php.
Herd mentality. Grass-fed beef that has been reared on protected land in Portsmouth and then slaughtered and butchered right here in Rhode Island reduces carbon footprints and expands palates not used to the taste of beef raised naturally. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE MARQUE
“Ever see ‘Rocky’? That’s what it looks like. Those sides of beef.” BRUNO TROMBONI, co-owner of Westerly Packing counteracting the recession,” Victor said. Aquidneck Farms usually sends two steers every three weeks or so to Rhode Island Beef & Veal in Johnston where a quick encounter with a captive bolt stunner to the forehead puts an end to their otherwise idyllic story. If you’ve seen “No Country For Old Men,” you get the picture. Another film might help in visualizing the next stage of the process, when the cleaned, gutted and quartered meat is sent to Westerly for butchering. “Ever see ‘Rocky’? That’s what it looks like. Those sides of beef,” said Bruno Tromboni, co-owner of Westerly Packing, where Aquidneck Beef is aged, cut and packaged. The meat hangs for about two weeks, never more than three, to allow the fibers to release, concentrate the fla-
vor and tenderize the meat for butchering. Both beef processing facilities are USDA inspected. Last Friday when Tromboni returned my call, there were three steers hanging in a meat locker at Westerly Packing. Booth had told me that morning he anticipated a pickup the following Monday, but Tromboni said they weren’t going to be ready to cut until the following Tuesday, which means they won’t be Cryovaced and frozen and ready for pickup until Friday. Patience, it seems, is a virtue in life and in beef farming. But the system in place to process the farm’s beef is a big improvement over the way things ran before last summer when Rhode Island Beef & Veal agreed to take on cattle from individual farmers. Up until then, the closest slaugh-
terhouse that would take the farm’s cattle was in Benson, Vt. “Seven hours, turn around drive back. Then two weeks later, drive back up and get the finished product,” Booth said, still weary from the memory of the long trip. Aquidneck Farms is one of a number of southeastern New England farms that banded together to form the Rhode Island Raised Livestock Association and negotiate agreements to bring cattle to slaughter and prepare their meat for market. Distribution help comes from Farm Fresh Rhode Island, which provides an online ordering system for area wholesalers and restaurants and makes deliveries. Farm Fresh also helps market the beef at its Wintertime Farmers Market in Pawtucket. My cookout was a success,
Where’s the beef? Farm Manager Jim Booth is working to expand the herd at Aquidneck Farms to reach more local consumers. He sometimes has to disappoint loyal customers when supply can’t keep up with demand. PHOTO BY DAVE HANSEN thanks to my husband’s expert grilling skills and my sautéed onions on the side. I knew the extra effort it took to acquire the steaks was worth it when I gazed at the thawed meat before it went on the grill. It had a nice color and texture with just enough fat. Since it’s leaner, grass-fed beef takes less time to cook but the result
is still juicy and beefy. We savored every bite and finished our meal feeling completely satisfied but without the heaviness. We knew where this beef came from and we knew what it looked like when it was a living, breathing creature. A creature surrounded by one big salad.
JULY 1-JULY 7, 2009
mercury
page 12
APPEAL
$5.99 a pound; the regular price was $10.99 a pound. The meat-eating consumer who chooses grass-fed beef gets a product lower in fat and higher in nutrients like betacarotene, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids. Grass-fed beef has the same amount of fat as skinless chicken or wild deer or elk. A 6-ounce steak from a grass-fed steer has almost 100 fewer calories than a 6-ounce steak from a grainfed steer, according to americangrassfedbeef.com. But first you have to get your hands on it. Even a caretaker who works for farm owner Barbara van Beuren was out of luck one morning last week when she stopped by the farm while I was there seeking to stock up the freezer for a birthday cookout. Aquidneck Farms beef only became available to consumers last fall after four years spent assembling enough land and restoring it for growing grass to support a herd. Only 12 steers were slaughtered in 2008, and this year the farm expects to slaughter 25 to 30. Farm Manager Jim Booth has a list of people who seek a whole grass-fed tenderloin and are willing to pay for it. These are people who will be waiting for the truck to come back from the Westerly butcher who ages, cuts and packages the beef. “I have a fellow out of Warwick. He’s an asphalt paver. He’s got a standing order. A $110 tenderloin. He’ll be here 5 o’clock in the morning,” Booth said. “He gets mad at me if we can’t sell it to him because sometimes we’ll have a restaurant order and we’ll try to cheat him out of it. He’ll know. He’s just a guy who loves good beef and his wife is a good cook.” There are other loyal customers, like the woman who buys fresh ground beef at $5.50 a pound every two weeks at the farm. She uses it for dog food. Demand for Aquidneck Farms beef is strong enough to defy the economic downturn so long as educated consumers remain willing to pay for it. Michael Victor, the farm’s herd manager, and Booth are working to expand the herd and double the beef supply. “There’s such a strong local food movement that it’s
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y first clue was the empty section of shelf in the freezer at The Green Grocer after I snatched the last package of Aquidneck Farms New York strip steak. “We’re frequently reminded that we’re out of it,” explained Aly Marks-Wood, co-owner of the Portsmouth natural and organic foods market. The scene repeated itself at Sweet Berry Farm in Middletown where, once again, I nabbed the last New York strip available. But I needed a third for my cookout. Bliss Natural Grocers in Newport carried Aquidneck Farms’ ground beef and frankfurters and kielbasa but no steak. And that led me to the very place where the animals these steaks came from once lived. Located on Wapping Road in Portsmouth, Aquidneck Farms is managed by Farmscapes LLC, which owns and/or leases about 350 acres of farmland, a good portion of it protected by conservation easements. Much of the land is used for producing silage, a portion of it sold to dairy farmers. About 100 acres is designated for the nearly 90head herd of Black Angus and Hereford cattle to spend their days masticating in the meadows. This land’s salad bounty — a mix of clover, dandelion, chicory, orchardgrass, bromegrass and assorted perennial ryes — offers the kind of diet their ruminant stomachs were meant to digest rather than the grain and soy (and stale candy, pastry and garbage) fed to conventionally raised cattle. Raised on a healthy, natural diet, the grassfed herd never receives hormones or feed-added antibiotics. But this way of farming takes longer: a steer will take 18 to 26 months to reach market weight of about 1,200 pounds compared to the 16- to 18-month lifespan of conventionally farmed beef. Extra time needed to raise pastured livestock and the extra space they need to rotationally graze during the growing season mean a higher cost. Aquidneck Farms’ New York strip costs $14.99 a pound. I recently bought New York strip on sale at Shaw’s Supermarket for
Pasture perfect. A New York strip from a former member of Aquidneck Farms’ pastured herd is higher in omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), beta-carotene, and vitamin E than feedlot meat. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE MARQUE
COOKING TIPS Do not overcook. Grass-fed beef is low in fat and requires 30 percent less cooking time. Thaw frozen beef in refrigerator. Never microwave. For grilling, sear quickly over high heat, then reduce heat to low to finish.
WHERE TO BUY AQUIDNECK FARMS PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING SUMMERTIME FARMERS MARKETS: THE EAST GREENWICH FARMERS MARKET Mondays, 3-7 p.m., through Oct. 26 Academy Field, Rector Street, East Greenwich | [email protected]
THE GREEN GROCER FARMERS MARKET Fridays, 3-6 p.m., through September Green Grocer, 934 East Main Road, Portsmouth | (401) 683-0007
ISLAND FARMERS MARKET Thursdays, 2-6 p.m. through Oct. 29 Aquidneck Grange No. 30, 499 East Main Road, Middletown | (401) 8472202
Also watch for Aquidneck Farms at Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s Local Food Fest Tuesday, Aug. 4, 5 p.m.-dusk, Castle Hill, Newport. www.farmfreshri.org/about/ localfoodfest.php.
Herd mentality. Grass-fed beef that has been reared on protected land in Portsmouth and then slaughtered and butchered right here in Rhode Island reduces carbon footprints and expands palates not used to the taste of beef raised naturally. PHOTO BY JACQUELINE MARQUE
“Ever see ‘Rocky’? That’s what it looks like. Those sides of beef.” BRUNO TROMBONI, co-owner of Westerly Packing counteracting the recession,” Victor said. Aquidneck Farms usually sends two steers every three weeks or so to Rhode Island Beef & Veal in Johnston where a quick encounter with a captive bolt stunner to the forehead puts an end to their otherwise idyllic story. If you’ve seen “No Country For Old Men,” you get the picture. Another film might help in visualizing the next stage of the process, when the cleaned, gutted and quartered meat is sent to Westerly for butchering. “Ever see ‘Rocky’? That’s what it looks like. Those sides of beef,” said Bruno Tromboni, co-owner of Westerly Packing, where Aquidneck Beef is aged, cut and packaged. The meat hangs for about two weeks, never more than three, to allow the fibers to release, concentrate the fla-
vor and tenderize the meat for butchering. Both beef processing facilities are USDA inspected. Last Friday when Tromboni returned my call, there were three steers hanging in a meat locker at Westerly Packing. Booth had told me that morning he anticipated a pickup the following Monday, but Tromboni said they weren’t going to be ready to cut until the following Tuesday, which means they won’t be Cryovaced and frozen and ready for pickup until Friday. Patience, it seems, is a virtue in life and in beef farming. But the system in place to process the farm’s beef is a big improvement over the way things ran before last summer when Rhode Island Beef & Veal agreed to take on cattle from individual farmers. Up until then, the closest slaugh-
terhouse that would take the farm’s cattle was in Benson, Vt. “Seven hours, turn around drive back. Then two weeks later, drive back up and get the finished product,” Booth said, still weary from the memory of the long trip. Aquidneck Farms is one of a number of southeastern New England farms that banded together to form the Rhode Island Raised Livestock Association and negotiate agreements to bring cattle to slaughter and prepare their meat for market. Distribution help comes from Farm Fresh Rhode Island, which provides an online ordering system for area wholesalers and restaurants and makes deliveries. Farm Fresh also helps market the beef at its Wintertime Farmers Market in Pawtucket. My cookout was a success,
Where’s the beef? Farm Manager Jim Booth is working to expand the herd at Aquidneck Farms to reach more local consumers. He sometimes has to disappoint loyal customers when supply can’t keep up with demand. PHOTO BY DAVE HANSEN thanks to my husband’s expert grilling skills and my sautéed onions on the side. I knew the extra effort it took to acquire the steaks was worth it when I gazed at the thawed meat before it went on the grill. It had a nice color and texture with just enough fat. Since it’s leaner, grass-fed beef takes less time to cook but the result
is still juicy and beefy. We savored every bite and finished our meal feeling completely satisfied but without the heaviness. We knew where this beef came from and we knew what it looked like when it was a living, breathing creature. A creature surrounded by one big salad.
JULY 1-JULY 7, 2009
mercury
page 12
APPEAL
$5.99 a pound; the regular price was $10.99 a pound. The meat-eating consumer who chooses grass-fed beef gets a product lower in fat and higher in nutrients like betacarotene, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids. Grass-fed beef has the same amount of fat as skinless chicken or wild deer or elk. A 6-ounce steak from a grass-fed steer has almost 100 fewer calories than a 6-ounce steak from a grainfed steer, according to americangrassfedbeef.com. But first you have to get your hands on it. Even a caretaker who works for farm owner Barbara van Beuren was out of luck one morning last week when she stopped by the farm while I was there seeking to stock up the freezer for a birthday cookout. Aquidneck Farms beef only became available to consumers last fall after four years spent assembling enough land and restoring it for growing grass to support a herd. Only 12 steers were slaughtered in 2008, and this year the farm expects to slaughter 25 to 30. Farm Manager Jim Booth has a list of people who seek a whole grass-fed tenderloin and are willing to pay for it. These are people who will be waiting for the truck to come back from the Westerly butcher who ages, cuts and packages the beef. “I have a fellow out of Warwick. He’s an asphalt paver. He’s got a standing order. A $110 tenderloin. He’ll be here 5 o’clock in the morning,” Booth said. “He gets mad at me if we can’t sell it to him because sometimes we’ll have a restaurant order and we’ll try to cheat him out of it. He’ll know. He’s just a guy who loves good beef and his wife is a good cook.” There are other loyal customers, like the woman who buys fresh ground beef at $5.50 a pound every two weeks at the farm. She uses it for dog food. Demand for Aquidneck Farms beef is strong enough to defy the economic downturn so long as educated consumers remain willing to pay for it. Michael Victor, the farm’s herd manager, and Booth are working to expand the herd and double the beef supply. “There’s such a strong local food movement that it’s
mercury page 13
JULY 1-JULY 7, 2009
GRASS
M
y first clue was the empty section of shelf in the freezer at The Green Grocer after I snatched the last package of Aquidneck Farms New York strip steak. “We’re frequently reminded that we’re out of it,” explained Aly Marks-Wood, co-owner of the Portsmouth natural and organic foods market. The scene repeated itself at Sweet Berry Farm in Middletown where, once again, I nabbed the last New York strip available. But I needed a third for my cookout. Bliss Natural Grocers in Newport carried Aquidneck Farms’ ground beef and frankfurters and kielbasa but no steak. And that led me to the very place where the animals these steaks came from once lived. Located on Wapping Road in Portsmouth, Aquidneck Farms is managed by Farmscapes LLC, which owns and/or leases about 350 acres of farmland, a good portion of it protected by conservation easements. Much of the land is used for producing silage, a portion of it sold to dairy farmers. About 100 acres is designated for the nearly 90head herd of Black Angus and Hereford cattle to spend their days masticating in the meadows. This land’s salad bounty — a mix of clover, dandelion, chicory, orchardgrass, bromegrass and assorted perennial ryes — offers the kind of diet their ruminant stomachs were meant to digest rather than the grain and soy (and stale candy, pastry and garbage) fed to conventionally raised cattle. Raised on a healthy, natural diet, the grassfed herd never receives hormones or feed-added antibiotics. But this way of farming takes longer: a steer will take 18 to 26 months to reach market weight of about 1,200 pounds compared to the 16- to 18-month lifespan of conventionally farmed beef. Extra time needed to raise pastured livestock and the extra space they need to rotationally graze during the growing season mean a higher cost. Aquidneck Farms’ New York strip costs $14.99 a pound. I recently bought New York strip on sale at Shaw’s Supermarket for
