Eat better meat, less

‘Eat better meat, less,” is a phrase heritage pig farmer and Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance President, Tammi Jonas, is fond of using.

This time of year as we may find ourselves buying turkeys, hams and other meats we don’t often eat Tammi’s advice would be to learn what better meat is, find the farmers who raise it and cook dishes that use less.

There are many farmers across Victoria who think a lot about what makes better meat; farmers who raise animals in small herds, that graze on pastures, free to do the things they naturally do, playing a role in a system that builds soils rather than degrading them.   

These farms are not always easy to find and there’s a lot of meat misinformation around –  phrases like “free range” and “RSPCA Approved” don’t always mean what we hope they mean.

There are websites like Flavour Crusader – started by the food-curious Sharon Lee in 2011, the year the supermarkets started the $1 a litre milk wars. Sharon investigates where our milk, eggs, chickens, turkey and pork comes from and shares lists of small, mixed, ecological farms where people can find thoughtful farmers and their meat. 

There are also places like Glendalough Farms in the Strzelecki ranges that sell beef and lamb direct-to-customers. Owned by Greenfleet, a not-for-profit carbon offset organisation, one half of the property is regeneratively farmed with cows while the other half is being reforested.

Managed by Martin and Rebekah Axon-Johansson, Glendalough is restoring biodiverse native forest on the steepest and least accessible hills while the cows are rotated around the lower, flatter paddocks. Greenfleet regularly monitors soil carbon levels with the results demonstrating how two regenerative approaches to climate action can coexist.

This holiday season if you do find a thoughtful farmer online or at a farmers market you’ll discover that better meat can cost more, sometimes a lot more.

Which is why it’s good to take the other piece of Tammi’s advice to really find out what makes it better and use less.

Good news! 

If you can squeeze in another tommy (already regretting giving zucchini all that space) we have five CERES organic heirloom tomato varieties raring to go. 

Available from this Tuesday to Friday, we have a limited supply for delivery to your door, so be quick! 

The five varieties are!

Riesentraube
Kangaroo Paw Brown
Grosse Lisse
Roma
Cherry Orange

Find them here.

By the time you read this some varieties may have sold out! But have no fear, if you miss out you can get more tommies and so much more at our truly incredible CERES Nursery in Brunswick East – it also has the best books and tea towels…

Have a great week

Chris