laniloa Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Is Sunnyside farms at the Arlington Farmers Market? If not, can anyone recommend a good vendor to buy meat from? Thanks. Polyface is at Dupont and Arlington. I'm blanking on the other meat guy's name but he is usually near Blue Highland Dairy and the goat cheese/sorbet guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScotteeM Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 On another thread, I mentioned the article in Mother Jones about Polyface Farm. Today I received the link to the article on line: No Bar Code I found it interesting. I like buying food that hasn't travelled halfway around the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jparrott Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Best chicken I've ever had in America. Firm, like French breeds, deep, sweet flavor. Stunning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 This message is for people who buy all of their food in supermarkets: Get your lazy butt out of bed on Saturday morning and go to the Arlington Market, or Sunday morning go to Dupont or Takoma Park markets. Support local farmers!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 This message is for people who buy all of their food in supermarkets: Get your lazy butt out of bed on Saturday morning and go to the Arlington Market, or Sunday morning go to Dupont or Takoma Park markets. Support local farmers!!! Too bad there isn't a subsidy to cover the extra cost. Polyface (or Sunnyside, or Country Pleasures, etc.) meat is a treat for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdt Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Too bad there isn't a subsidy to cover the extra cost. Polyface (or Sunnyside, or Country Pleasures, etc.) meat is a treat for us. While I like to support local farmers the products are not cheap. And you do need to shop wisely or else you will be paying more money for an inferior product. Make sure to taste what you can before you buy, in the produce area anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camille-Beau Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 From the Arlington Farmer's Market e-newsletter: Related Activity Speaking of die-hard locavores, Joel Salatin, will be speaking on November 13 at the Alexandria Lyceum. Salatin is a local food activist from Swoope, Virginia, and you buy products from his Polyface farm (www.polyfacefarms.com) when you shop with EcoFriendly Foods (www.ecofriendly.com/index.html) at the AFM. Salatin is a vocal defender of seeking food close to home, in "our own foodshed, in our own bioregion," and his farm maintains an open-door policy – anyone can visit any time to see he has no secrets. He speaks often and has written several books about his policy of raising livestock and poultry in fresh pasture, in habitats that suit their individual needs according to the patterns of nature. It's fascinating to hear him explain his complex farming methods: how he shuttles his beef cattle from salad bar to salad bar every day, about the Eggmobile that follows his pastured broiler chickens around, why he started raising pigs (they helped turn cattle bedding into compost), and how lumber got onto his sustainable harvest schedule. Hopefully, he'll also explain the paramount role of the earthworm in all of this. His talk is free, but you'll need to make reservations. You can contact the Alexandria Lyceum at (703) 528-5406 or by visiting http://oha.alexandriava.gov/lyceum. We should think about getting a group together for a road trip to Polyface some weekend this fall. Beau and I can take 2 passengers and a couple of large coolers to hold purchases. Anyone interested? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waitman Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 There is also a lengthy discussion of Polyface in "The Omnivore's Dilemma." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 From the Arlington Farmer's Market e-newsletter:We should think about getting a group together for a road trip to Polyface some weekend this fall. Beau and I can take 2 passengers and a couple of large coolers to hold purchases. Anyone interested? I can pick up 2-3 at the King St. metro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsadler Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Very interesting article in the Food section of the Post about how Chipotle will be using Polyface pork for carnitas in its Charlottesville area stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Very interesting article in the Food section of the Post about how Chipotle will be using Polyface pork for carnitas in its Charlottesville area stores. As I started reading the article this morning, I was concerned that Polyface was being co-opted by a big corporation, which could buy up all it produced, cutting out us small buyers. I was relieved to see that it was a way for Polyface to sell the less marketable parts of their pigs, the shoulders and legs, while the more popular loins and chops were going to local restaurants and farm market buyers. That said, I do like pork shoulder myself and I hope that Chipotle doesn't corner the small producers' market for this most succulent, sausage-friendly cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/09/this_just_in_84.html watch a short video clip about Joel Salatin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMango Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Eight months. Fifteen hay rides. Over 700 lunatics to date. After signing up in early 2010, yesterday was finally our Big Day™ as passengers on the lunatic tour at Polyface Farm. Crazy (ha!) fortune and luck found us with Joel Salatin himself as our guide. No two events are ever the same on these dynamic pastures. The farm structures each two-hour tour as a several-stop hay ride, three flatbeds carrying several dozen people. We saw everything from the farm’s horse-sized working dog to the “guard geese” to the pastured turkeys and broilers to the rabbit shelters to the world-famous eggmobile and acorn-finishing pig glen. Joel shared an incredible depth and breadth of knowledge about how Polyface does what it does, and how maddeningly replicable these techniques would be for others to follow suit. This is not a “pet the ponies and coo at wildlife” kind of tour. As you hear about flavor and ethical benefits of respecting “the pigness of the pig” and “salad bar landscape” practices, along with technical specifics for the electric fence and compost production process, you’ll find yourself in a knowledge-building, understanding-enhancing, reality-framing eye opener of a day. There is only one more event scheduled for 2010, but here are a few tips if you go in 2011 (and you absolutely should): Book early. The tour was only $10.50 per person. Due to Food, Inc., etc., seats have been selling out quickly. The day of your tour, arrive at the farm up to an hour early. The staff cannot wait for newcomers, and you won't want to race over the rickety bridge crossing into the farm area. Once crowded, the parking area is a bit hairy to navigate. Most participants seemed to be from the DC area, and it showed in the city-slam driving. Bypass all that via your early arrival. For the hayride, choose the center flatbed if you can. You will have the benefit of staying seated when the guide steps off the tractor to share insights. Bring a copy of your confirmation email. There are still a couple of bugs with the registration system; our email was the only record of our reservation. Wear boots and/or good-traction foot gear (of course!). Bring a poncho in case it rains, and sunscreen and sunglasses in case it does not. We needed both, a frenetic weather day. The store is open before the tour begins, so consider bringing a cooler with ice for your car. We skipped that, though, since Polyface products are blissfully available at so many other locations closer to home. We brought a small child (under 5), as did several others. Each stop took up to a half hour or more, with many of the little ones playing off to the side. This was more than OK, we wanted to spend time watching out for the young’un and translating the talks into kid-ease. But if you bring a tiny tot, realize you will miss at least half of what the guide says, you’ll be too far out of ear shot. You will not miss the chickens, though, they will follow you everywhere, even on the flatbeds. Riotous, stalky, feathery fun! This year, tours were on Mondays, and they may be next year as well. Remember in this part of the state, most of the businesses and many of the restaurants have weird Sunday hours, and several are closed on Monday. We traveled down early Monday morning, left Tuesday afternoon, so were able to explore Staunton in more depth (I’ll post about those restaurant adventures in another thread). The hayride design seemed a highly pleasant throwback to pre-lawsuit days. The passion, practices, and thorough knowledge base sparked many ideas and conversations for the undoubtedly diverse audience. I have my fingers crossed these tours continue, but also know how disruptive they must be to farm operations. If the 2011 tour calendar opens up on the website, sign up, jump in, and make a mini-getaway out of it. Get away from the city, and get closer to understanding more about where flavor comes from on the perennial prairies of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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