Sylvia & Mervin Allgyer*
- Amish chicken/beef farmers. Has a stand at the local farmer's market where they sell their meat/poultry.
- Sell chickens by whole or whole cut up at $3.25/pound.
- Sell beef as quarter, half, or whole cow at $2.75/pound or they sell pieces frozen like ground beef, steak, chuck roast, etc. at variable prices.
- Beef is GRASS-FED! You can call and leave them a message with what you want, or go to their farm and check out the product before you buy. (Call before you go)
- Woman was SUPER friendly, definitely think I will be buying from them!
Contact: (724) 479-2095
Location: 202 Hoffman Road, Indiana, PA (Brush Valley)
Pucker Brush Farm--Pam Byran*
- Is a member of the Penn's Corner CSA, but you can also buy meat directly from her. She can drop her meat off at Yarns (a store on Philadelphia St) where you can pick it up from on Thursdays (I believe).
- Has grass-fed (the BEST and HIGHEST quality) beef, lamb, and goat that she sells by pound.
- Also gets chickens from an amish man. Waiting to hear prices for her meats. As of now she only has ground beef in her freezer left, and one steer that is not ready to be butchered (maybe spring 2013).
- Planning on starting her own Indiana based CSA in 2013. Will deliver pamphlets to Yarns in January/February 2013.
Contact: (724) 726-0435
Penn's Corner
- During spring, summer, and fall have a weekly CSA box delivered to Yarns (Philadelphia St) with approx. 7-10 items per box (produce, sometimes cheese, eggs, honey, soaps, etc).
- Winter CSA is every other week with a larger quantity in each box.
- Farmer's Friend Share--32 weeks--mid-April thru mid-November--$800--$25 per week
- Harvest Share--24 weeks--mid-June thru mid-November--$610--$25.42 per week
- Cabin Fever share--8 weeks--mid-April thru mid-June--$220--$27.50 per week
- Winter 2012 CSA's are all booked; however, you can get on their waiting list by sending an email csa@pennscorner.com informing them of your interest in winter CSAs. (Chloe is interested in combining a winter CSA if I get it with another family to save money and not waste food).
- If you sign-up for their emails you will be notified of when you can register for spring 2013 CSAs. They will inform you of sign-up time (was told it is approx in January).
- There are farm stands in Pittsburgh where you can purchase a la carte CSA box items that you order ahead of time. They have meat at the farm stands; however, they are only in 3 locations in the city...
Contact: http://www.pennscorner.com/
Yarnicks
- Beef and pork are raised on their farm, grain-fed, butchered by Cunningham's meats.
- Woman who worked at the market was very unfriendly and unhelpful when she was asked questions about the quality of her meat...
- Produce in the market was NOT all from the local farm.
Dixon Meats
- Beef comes from local farmers in Indiana. May be raised humanely, but was not given a list of the farmers.
- Chicken comes from large Amish farm in Ohio, not sure of humaneness.
- Pork comes from the state of Indiana, not sure of humaneness.
- Fish comes from Icelandic fishermen. Caught fresh and frozen on the boat. Unsure of their sustainability practices.
Cunningham Meats
- They do not know where any of their meat they sell comes from, they purchase from an auction. Could be small, local farmers or large factory farms. Not very helpful when on the phone with them.
Overall: In my opinion the local farmers (Pucker Brush Farm, Amish) are they way to go while shopping for humanely raised, healthy, happy meat and poultry. Maybe driving to Pittsburgh once in a while to stock up on other types of meats may be an option! (Or Olivia could possibly bring meat/poultry home from Pittsburgh when she travels home to Indiana).
Hoping Pam Bryan's CSA with Indiana farmers happens this spring. I would be interested to sign-up for the spring, fall, winter CSAs (summer I have my own produce).
*Note* Once I receive a call back from Pucker Brush farm and the Amish family, I will list the prices and products available.
(Almost finished with the book "Eating Animals" lent to me from Kristen's mother, if anyone else is interested in this eye-opening read let me know! (Also, "Omnivore's Dilemma" is another educational read.))
-Guest Blogger, Chloe :)
