Megan’s friend John knows a guy whose parents have a farm west of town with a few head of cattle. They’re pastured, grass-fed, not pumped up on anabolics, generally not drugged unless they need it. Uncertified organic, if you will. Every year, John and a few of his friends pool their money and buy one of them, and split it five or six ways – they butcher it locally . If you’ve got a deep freezer it’s a serious bargain.
Of course, delivery is a little tricky. John’s schedule didn’t match up with ours, so he gave our share to his friend Giovanni who lives in Newton, and we planned to go by his place and get it, but put it off til the next weekend, and then the next, and the next.
And then Giovanni got laid off. I guess he’s on an H1B visa, because he’s now moving back to Italy with his family, and selling his appliances on Craigslist. He had an offer on the freezer, so I had to go get the meat right away. Midweek rush-hour driving in Boston isn’t exactly my idea of a great way to spend a Wednesday evening, and of course I got totally lost (I’ve learned Somerville’s little warrens of one-ways and missing street signs, but Newton?), but now I have seventy-some-odd pounds of grass-fed local protein.
And a sore back from carrying it.
And a sinking feeling about the global economy.
Secretly Ironic 
I reccomend that he become vegetarian. Meat is expensive, and being vegetarian can save him a lot of money, espically since he just got laid off. I also reccomend that he become vegetarian beavuse its a healthier lifestyle, and this guy, who buys organic cows, is obviously concerned about his own health.
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I’m not sure being vegetarian (a HEALTHY vegetarian) is always cheaper than being a meat eater. Especially if you are ovo- lacto- (which I would actually reccomend because it provides some much needed protein and variety). Also something to watch out for with vegetarian options and organics is the distance they travel to your market. If you had to import your tofu all the way from southeast asia, you may as well munch down on the local beef because your emissions quotient is the same.
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