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Taking Back Control of Our Local Food Supply

written by

Sue King

posted on

October 2, 2022

Harmonys Way Family Farm is a small family run farm that direct markets our beef, lamb and pork in our local community. Our family has been on a mission since 1998 to create a farm that cares for the needs of our animals in a natural, ethical way, and to provide not only for our family, but the people of our community with access to nutrient-dense, clean food.

An integral part of this mission (the butcher shop) came into existence out of necessity. Up until this time we had used multiple larger custom processors to get our animals freezer ready. Unfortunately, the quality of the processing deteriorated so badly that we would dread picking up meat from the processor. There is nothing more frustrating than putting your heart, soul and hard-earned money into raising high quality animals for our customers only to have the finished products come back from the processor poorly trimmed, inconsistently cut and below par packaging. We also learned that the bigger processors comingled the ground meats for convenience. So, we weren’t necessarily getting our own meat back. It was at this point that we decided to take quality-control into our own hand. In 2010 we built our on-farm, government inspected processing facility. This has allowed us to process all our animals into freezer-ready cuts for the people of our local community.

We believe that local food security is extremely important at this time. The past two years have shown us how vulnerable our food supply actually is. We simply can’t rely on a handful of faceless, multinational corporations to feed us. It doesn’t have to be this way. It is time to take back control of our local food supplies. It is time for farmers and consumers to come together and take back control of our local food supplies. I mean truly local; food that is raised and processed in our regions. Not just a supermarket that markets themselves as local but doesn’t carry food from local farms. It is time to build infrastructure that facilitates this food security. In our region we have so many producers that are committed to raising food for their community. We can’t feed our whole community from our one small farm. We need many small farms. As small farmers we can’t do this by ourselves. We need you, the eaters to partner with us.

As a result of one larger local abattoir closing many local producers have found themselves in a conundrum. They need a licensed facility that will process their animals for them and there are not a sufficient number of small abattoirs around.  As word got around to other small farms in our region, we were asked to process their animals also, which we have been trying to do. But we can’t help everyone.   

The dilemma Harmonys Way Family Farm now faces is “how can we be a part of the solution to this problem?” We have a small facility, but it was sized to process our own animals, plus a few more. 

In order to fill this need in our local community we will need to expand our small facility.

Phase one of the expansion to be able to help these other local producers who are now between “a rock and a hard place” contribute to our local food security is to expand our aging cooler and freezer space so we can process animals for them.  Anticipated completion of phase one is December of 2022.

Phase two will be to construct an inspected slaughter facility which would be completed by the summer of 2023. 

Together, as consumers and producers we can be the solution in taking back control our local food security. 

Please consider partnering with us to build a resilient, local food supply one step at a time. Your donations through Give, Send, Go will help build the facilities that local farmers need to continue to maintain and grow a local food supply that will stand the test-of-time.

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Are you Absolutely Satisfied with Store-Bought Pork?

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HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY PORK DISHES ALWAYS HAVE SO MANY SWEET SAUCES ON THEM? For many years this question never crossed my mind. Until we started raising and eating our own pasture-raised pork. But what lead us to start raising pigs?  Neither Larry nor I had much experience with pigs growing up. We started our married life buying all our pork in the grocery store, but then switched to sourcing it from a neighboring conventional pork producer. We were not aware that most of the pork that is available in the grocery stores comes from pigs that have never seen the light of day. They spend their whole life crowded into huge hog barns. They are fed an industry standard diet of grain with no green, living food at all. They are crowded into small spaces with many other pigs where their natural ability to move is restricted. Much to our surprise and horror, we discovered that the neighbor we were purchasing our pork from was raising them no differently than what we could get in the store. At that time, little did we know that eventually Larry would face a digestive issue from this type of pork. After certain meals he would feel sick to the stomach and end up with diarrhea. It got so bad before we clued into the cause. When we quit eating pork these issues went away. Now we had a dilemma. We really like pork but couldn’t eat it anymore. Being the DIY homesteaders we were back in those days we decided to buy a couple little pigs and raise them ourselves. We knew that we didn’t want to raise them in a barn. So outside they went. These were the happiest pigs I ever saw. They were free to roam around their pasture, rooting in the soil and wallowing in the mud while searching for whatever they thought was tasty to eat. We fed them grains from a neighbor, kitchen scraps and milk from our milk cow. When they were big enough to harvest, we sent them to the processor, not knowing if we would even be able to eat this pork. Much to our delight Larry had no adverse reaction to the meat. It was delicious! The meat was firm, not mushy like barn raised pork. It also had a richness to it that we had never experienced before.  No more bland and flavorless conventional pork for us.  No sauces required! We thought that we couldn’t be the only people who had experienced something similar and wished for a pleasurable eating experience. This success started us on a new farming adventure, raising pastured pork for sale. Encouraged by the success we had with our first pigs we decided to purchase our breeding herd. We have tried many breeds of pigs over the years and have settled on the Berkshire breed. They are a heritage pig that matures slower thus producing an excellent quality meat and the best lard fat that I think you can get. I have heard it said that Berkshire pork is the gold standard of pork among chefs. Besides that, they are very personable and entertaining to have around!  And mischievous. I truly believe from our personal experience that all animals that we raise for food need to be able to live in conditions that are natural for them and have the ability to express their God-given characteristics. When we domesticated animals, we became responsible to steward them well. We strive to do just this with all our animals. One of my favorite cuts of pork is the Boston Butt Roast.  It is juicy, tender, melt-in-your mouth meat. This is the cut that pulled-pork is made from. It is an economical cut that we also use to make ground pork and our special gluten-free, nitrate-free sausages. When you purchase our pasture-raised pork you will experience what real pork should taste like. We offer a variety of options when it comes to purchasing our pasture-raised pork.   Individual cuts to suit your needs. Pork Chops, Traditional salt-cured and smoked ham and bacon, Whole Tenderloin, Boston Butt Roasts, Ground Pork, Breakfast Sausages (Nitrate-free, Sugar-free and Filler-free). Coming soon!  Our "1/4 Pork Bundle."  Our newest addition to our pastured-pork line-up.  This bundle is perfect for a smaller family or if you have limited freezer space.  It will consist of a variety of the individual cuts, including Pork Chops, Pork Sirloin Steak, Ham Steak, Bacon, Ground Pork and Sausage. And, last but not least if you want to customize the cuts you receive, we have whole hogs available.   You can find all of these options in our online store. Do you want to try my simple Boston Butt Roast recipe? It’s so simple. I place the roast on a rack in my cast-iron dutch-oven. Add a little water. Sprinkle chopped onions on top (I used my home-grown dehydrated onions) salt and pepper. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 160F. I slice it and serve with apple sauce, oven roasted potatoes and a veggie.  You can purchase our pasture-raised pork from our online store or from us at the Grande Prairie Farmers Market on Fridays or Saturdays.

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