Congrats to our butcher….
….don’t know how I missed this, but Blue Ridge Meats in Front Royal, VA—better known around here as “our butcher”—received great press about a month ago in the Washington Post. Doug and Lois Aylestock do it the right way and that’s why we selected them when we began selling beef (and later pork) direct from our farm. Here’s the story:
Choosing the right farm to buy your beef includes choosing the right butcher. There’s a warning sign about one of the butchers right in this article though the writer doesn’t realize it. There is some point in the size of the operation where you have to be particularly careful.
Problems begin when processors get too large….and then go outside their area to look for cattle. They can’t know the originating farm….and neither can you. It’s about then that cleaning and storage protocols can start to be relaxed. We are even aware of butchers who shop at Safeway and then do the final cutting or grinding and pass it off as “local, natural beef”.
And yes, there are farms—well-known for their “holistic practices”—who go to the auction barn and pass on God-knows-what to their unsuspecting clients. There are hucksters in all businesses.
We’re proud to be associated with Blue Ridge Meats—Doug and Lois were recently at Thistle Hill with another of their farm customers—who wound up purchasing our “Boss Hog”.