The place to find the best tastiest cuts of meat, to round out the other items in my freezer, and to make winter cooking so much easier.
Like today. A perfect crock pot meal. From beef short ribs, purchased at Wayne Nell and Sons. We took a field trip this morning. To visit a new to us Amish market, for comparison. To hit an orchard or two. And, to check out the main supplier of meats to our Friends and Farms basket.
I was on a mission. For ham hocks. Lamb. And, kielbasa. I found two of the three at Wayne Nell. And, on the way home, at Mt. Airy Meat Locker. I found the lamb I wanted to use for a number of winter specialties.
The Amish Market was our destination for lunch. After we checked out an orchard and the butcher. We found the market to be good, but not as large as the Shrewsbury market.
When I came home, I took the lamb and made six vacuum packs for the freezer. As for the short ribs that ended up in the crock pot, they just looked so good I had to buy them.
This was a simple crock pot meal. Put in the pot at 1 PM on high. Dinner at 6:30. One can black beans. One onion. A large bunch of spinach. Browned ribs and some dry rub. A little salt and garlic powder.
Go watch the Orioles beat Detroit. Sit down to a lovely meal. Served with a very impressive Delaplane Cellars meritage style wine.
An interesting wine which includes tannat. Not a common grape grown in the area. Soft, elegant. A great complement to the beef and beans.
Between our chicken share from the CSA, the protein in the Friends and Farms baskets, and a few well spaced trips to family owned butcher shops, I can keep the freezer stocked without having to buy factory farmed meats.
AnnieRie Unplugged 
I drive by a butcher shop when I’m on a mission to find discounted milk (yes, it sounds weird, but there’s a store that routinely has their organic milk marked down and it’s about 3 minutes out of my way, so I hit it). You’ve convinced me to pop my head in and see what’s happening. We still have plenty of ground Butch in the freezer–and did not get a portion of beef this summer because of it–but I’ve got a hankering for sausages.
I really like our local butcher shops. We are indeed lucky to have them.
I didn’t do the half lamb or package of beef this year. I am buying in small quantities.