No ranches on Cap Hill -- Join a meat buying club

BBQ Puller Originally uploaded by bkraai2003

Capitol Hill is a pretty diverse place so you probably know a person or two who eats meat. Even though they soil their bodies consuming flesh, the carnivores probably care about where that steak came from. And though the farmers market has a few vendors providing fresh beef and poultry, there is another option for putting meat on your table. One group of hungry Capitol Hill families is turning to the east side of the state for their local meat needs.

For a little more tha a year, Linda McElroy, has been buying her meat from Thundering Hooves, a family farm and ranch in the Walla Walla Valley, and having it delivered to her Capitol Hill home. She's the 'hostess' for a buying club that purchases meat from the farm. What started as a small group has turned into 85 families from Capitol Hill and surrounding areas going through McElroy for their carnivorous needs. While only about a fourth of the members order meat for the monthly delivery, that still amounts to a large group of families supporting this local farm. “For me it saves a trip to the store and supports a local family ranch”, says Linda. “I was already involved in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), so I was familiar with the process.”

According to Thundering Hooves' owner Keith Swanson, there are now 24 buying clubs in the Puget Sound region. “We used to sit at a farmers market all day in Seattle and make our customers come to us,” he said.  “One day it occurred to us that we could find a lot more customers if we would take our meats to them in their own neighborhoods.”

Thundering Hooves is one of dozens of Washington farms that provides grass-fed, organic meat products. Here is a list of other local farmers as well as more resources to help find a ranch for you, and locate stores and restaurants providing grass-fed meat. "It’s convenient, sustainable, and supports a local farmer", McElroy said.

Lucas Anderson is the Neighborlogs.com Seattle Editor intern. Follow him on twitter at http://twitter.com/lucasanderso/