Quickie: Now this is an interesting idea...

via bamcsa.ning.com

I happened upon this Bay Area CSA organization via the always wonderful and brilliant GOOD magazine; they were featured in the GOOD 100, hurray for them!

Opportunities to join local meat CSAs* here in Massachusetts seem to keep popping up, but we're lacking (to my immediate knowledge) a cohesive network to connect individuals who would be interested in going whole hog, so to speak.

These guys at Meatshare.org cleverly leveraged Ning, the DIY social network platform that admittedly I'm not too familiar with to create an online homebase where individuals in some local proximity could sync up with one another and coordinate to collectively purchase a cow, pig or sheep direct from a local producer. After it's been raised healthfully and sustainably, the meat is processed locally according to regulation. The meat-share group then divvies up the cuts amongst themselves however they see fit.

To be fair, I believe that there is a significant amount more information and detail necessary to understand what it takes to build and commit to a relationship with a meat producer. Building the social network, however, seems reasonably accomplishable, if you already know that the need and interest exists. So I'm going to poke around and explore how Ning works, and how Meatshare developed their model, and then I'll report back. I don't know who might be reading this, but if this sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, please drop a line in the comments.

In the meantime, here are some local (MA) meat CSAs.

Let me know if I've missed any:

Stillman's

Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds

Chestnut Farms

Comments

[Bad Apple]

River Rock Farm

[Kelly]

That's a great idea. We do Stillman's meat CSA but had the opportunity to purchase a whole steer a few weeks ago through Balance Rock Farm in Berlin. He raises all natural meat and had a couple of extra steer this year. It is a very economical way to get meat (we paid $3.85 a lb hanging weight, worked out to be about $6.00/lb for the amount of meat we got). We are interested in finding ways to get our hands on a whole pig or lamb but aren't sure how to find other's who might be interested in splitting an animal. Let us know what you uncover!

[Heather]

I certainly will, Kelly. I'm trying figure out the best angle for creating and facilitating the connection from producer to buyer. Open to any ideas and insights from your own experience. Thanks for stopping by! I see from your blog that you're as excited as I am about the Shared Harvest winter CSA!