Monday, May 23, 2011

Hopcott - Local meat and produce market

After reading  Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver this Spring I have been thinking a lot about eating seasonally and eating locally.  It has spurred me on to grow my own vegetables this year for the first time in over 20 years.  Also I have been wanting to find a source of local ethically treated meat.  On Friday night at a party I was talking to someone who told me about Hopcott Meats Which is located in Pitt Meadows just about 15 or 20 minute drive away.  So Saturday, we made a field trip to Hopcott's

It was easy to find located right on the farm.  As it is only mid May (and a cool one at that) there was not much in the way of local produce, but they had a chart on the wall showing availability.


I can't wait to come in August.  Though they were not listed on this board, they did have some local rhubarb and Hungarian pepper, which can only assume were greenhouse grown.




So I picked some of both of these and headed into the store.  It is a large barn like structure and is full of freezers and coolers with meat and poultry, as well as home made looking pies and house made sausages.

We wandered around checking everything out and tasting the sausage samples.  When we first walked in there was a wonderful smell of beef cooking, which we found originated from a large rotisserie unit like the one you see in most supermarkets roasting chicken, but this one had barons of beef cooking .  They sure did look and smell good, but we resisted and chose our meats.


I picked up some beautifully marbled steaks and juicy looking pork chops as well as an organic free range chicken.  They also had freezer packs that you can buy and I am going to make an effort to clear up my freezer so that I can buy one of these.

I was so glad to discover this place and now I can fulfill my vision of eating local ethically grown meats and getting local produce.  I live at the end of a very productive valley as well as a short drive from the Okanagan where they grow a lot of fruits and vegetables, so it makes me angry when all that is available in the local supermarket is produce from the US or Mexico. Now along with the farmers market, and what I grow myself I will be able to access local produce from here.


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