Thanksgiving Turkeys!

It's that time of the year...
     Once again we'll be offering organic, pastured turkeys for your holiday meals. We're offering pastured turkeys fed a certified organic feed and given no antibiotics or artificial hormones. These aren't your "free-range" yet raised in barns turkeys, these are all rotated on pasture on certified organic farms.
     We're currently taking pre-orders for all of our wholesale and buying club customers for $10 per bird. The sizes are small (10-14 lbs), medium (15-18 lbs), large (19-22 lbs), and extra-large (23 lbs and over).

We'll always do our best to guarantee sizing, but there's a chance we might extend the size ranges within 2 lbs per bird. Cut off for sizing will be November 11th. There will be more birds available after that date, but at that point sizing will be first come, first served.
     We've had some issues with sizing before, but we've been monitoring the turkey sizes more closely this year. We're looking at average size being in the medium range.
     The reason that we can't guarantee sizing 100% has to do with the nature of nature.
     Our bird's health and well-being takes precedent over offering birds in a factory style certainty. In order to offer sizing the way larger, even "free-range", suppliers do, they have temperature controlled environments, feed rationing, and limited space. It's not necessarily rocket science, but it's more science than farming.
     That is, however, not how we operate. We like to keep our birds happy. That means that they're on pasture, encouraged to forage, given space to move, and don't have their feed rationed out to them. This means a fluctuation in weight that can't be equated the way that a CAFO operation can.
     And that's just how we feel it should be.
     That said, we'll do the best we can to get sizing lined up, but we will also have some freshly frozen turkeys if you need to ensure that you get a smaller size turkey if we don't have as many available.

If you're looking for something a little more edgy than the traditional holiday turkey, we have a limited amount of ducks, very limited amount of geese, and heritage breed chickens. All raised on pasture with a supplemental GMO/hormone/antibiotic free feed.
     Interested in ordering? Existing customers can place their turkey deposits with existing wholesale or buying club orders. But if you're not an existing customer, go to lancasterfarmfresh.com to find out how to buy from the co-op. You can also email: lffcmeats [at] gmail (dot) com.

Don't let the sticker fool you...

A number of you are probably familiar with our vacuum sealed packages with a very plain looking butcher sticker on them. It conveys little to no information about the animals that are raised for the co-op which might mislead customers to think that there's nothing separating LFFC meats and any other local or conventional meats.
   This, fortunately, couldn't be farther from the truth.


The plain labels on our meats are a by-product of bureaucratic hold ups and some slow moving processes within the food industry at large, but nearly endemic to the small farmers of the world. It's a situation that we always hope to rectify, but it's a long and slow process.
   It's what's not on the labels that matters most: our standards.
   Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op, and the farmers that it represents, are an anomaly in this modernized world, the unifying goal is to produce high quality products that are ecologically responsible, locally centered, sustainable, and, most importantly, ethically sound. In a market saturated by profit-driven consequences, there's a steady demand on well-intentioned farmers to slip under the heavy hand of market demands. While we strive to keep our pricing affordable, we don't cut corners to make sales.
   The meats and poultry that are offered by LFFC are based in a pasture-driven philosophy. Our animals are always pastured and all efforts push towards maintaining each animals natural behaviors. We don't want to just offer up an ideal image, we strive for the ideal.
   We use the following standards as a starting point and constantly build with the best ecological and humane interests in mind;


*All animals shall be on pasture.
*The pasture will provide the highest possible percentage of each animal's diet.
*All efforts must be towards enriching the pasture with a diversified growth and maintaining pasture health. This means cycling pastures, encouraging the growth of native plants, and offering as much acreage for pasture as possible.
*Absoluetly no GMO feed. No hormones, no antibiotics. Sick or injured animals should be treated by natural methods and practices. If those fail, animals should be treated humanely and pulled from production.
*Absolutely no debeaking of poultry. No physical alternations to inhibit an animal's natural behavior. No docking of tails or ears. Any dehorning or castration must be done immediately and no later than when an animal is older than 6 weeks. Dehorning and castration must be done humanely, quickly, and dehorning should be done without cutting. 
 *Absolutely no confinement of animals. If an animal must be quarantined for health reasons, it can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
*When animals are in-doors, they shall have ample space, light, and access to water.
*LFFC seeks to transform conventional farming practices and encourages all farmers to attain the highest humane and/or organic standards for all animals, whether sold through the co-op or not. 
*Animals must always be treated humanely. Period.


To put it simply, the meat we sell is the meat that we would eat. Raised to the highest standards, ecologically sound, local, and humane. It's a difference that you can taste.
   So don't be fooled by the often lacking information on our pricelist or the wanting labels on our meats. The purpose of this blog is to fill in those blanks and open our doors, so to speak. 
   If you have questions, please ask them.
   Thanks, 
   LFFC Meats and Poultry