Butcher Matters

We have a new Butcher!

This is Matt. He's the head butcher at The Meating Place. 

We take the relationship with our butcher very seriously. Even if we raise excellent pork, the cuts and smoke, cures and brines can make or break it. As many of you know, our previous butcher closed down. It was important for us to find a place we trusted, and felt we could grow with. We were pleased to find out that The Meating Place, a long-time staple for custom butchery located in Hillsboro recently expanded significantly. They now have a large retail meat space, a cafe, and massive, state of the art custom butcher shop.

Matt Ochoa is very experienced in the art of butchery and has worked in many different contexts. You can listen to a long podcast episode with him on the Meat Block Podcast, here. We also encourage you to give it a listen because it gives a very good description of how custom butchery works and how it's different from the USDA or retail butchery system. 

We had the opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour at The Meating Place and to taste both their standard and sugar-free bacon, sausage and the like to get a feel for how they prepared their meats. We were very pleased and think you will be too. Each shop has its own take on the staples, and we think you'll really enjoy their approach. But if you would like to try for yourself, give them a visit! 

Cut and wrap pricing will be just a few cents more per pound ($.65), but as of this year, our hanging weigh pork price remains the same it has been for the last four years ($5.25 per pound). 

"But wait," I hear you say, "Hillsboro? That's so far." Fair enough. Most of our customers are Eastsiders and fearful of the journey. We understand completely and are going to take that burden from you.

This year, when you purchase pork from us, you will still work directly with the butcher to determine cuts and cures via their online order form (you can also call to ask any questions you have), and you will pay the butcher directly, but we will pick up all our customer orders and host a pick up day at the farm, complete with coffee and pleasantries. This will also allow us to connect with those of you we don't get to see throughout the process. Of course, if you want to pick up directly, you may still do so, and if pick up day is untenable for you, you will need to do so as we don't have the freezer space to store customer meat. 

More details for our customers, tips on butchery and other things will be forthcoming!  If you are signed up for a 2019 share keep you eyes peeled! And if you are not, well, let’s get that resolved.

Go here to see The Meating Place's website, and find out more about their excellent business.