Richardson Farms

I don’t eat a lot of meat but when I do I want to either have killed it myself or have 100% confidence in where it came from.
So, this thanksgiving I bought a 20 pound turkey from Mike Richardson over at the Triangle farmers market and brined it up with salt, honey, lemons, etc.
It was fantastic and it cost $ 4.50 a pound.
Sure, there were lots of cheaper options. If I wanted to forget about all the antibiotics and poor living conditions of the birds I could have purchased a bird for around a dollar a pound but I just can’t reconcile eating anything that spent most of its life living in shit.
I think most people, if they truly knew the conditions factory farmed meat lives in, would choose to pay the extra money for quality.
I even noticed organic birds at Costco were around $ 3.30 a pound but I don’t know who raised those birds.
So, for me I want to know my farmer and I’d highly recommend Mike Richardson and his family.
Every dollar we spend on food is either a vote for local farmers who care about producing a healthy product or mega corporations that just care about their bottom line profit (like purdue, etc.).
Vote for Mike!

Demand only the best!!! Taco Deli carries their pork occasionally. They grass feed their animals. They are full of integrity. Call them and order your food from them. Ask your restaurants to carry them. Eat local. Put quality in your body!

I am big into eating all that I buy all at once for maximum freshness. It didn’t get much freshershest than this: I bought a 2-​day-​ago slaughtered chicken from Richardson Farm. What was really exciting was that I expected the chick to be frozen, but the guy told me he had just murdered the poor guy 2 days ago.
Not without a struggle, I let it sit in my fridge for a day because I had just eaten dinner, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it eating it. On the 3^rd day post-​slaughter, I did some major research on how to best go about roasting my local prize. Well… I figured nothing would pay my respects to the animal more than simply basting him in oil and covering him in salt to crisp up his skin…
Enjoy him I did. All 3ish, juicy, delicious pounds of him. Now don’t see me as a bottomless carnivore; I am sure 1 lb. of him was bone. I ONLY ate 2 pounds of chicken. :)
Another great reason to buy fresh, delicious tasting chickens from Richardson farm? I got my entire’s day worth of bird-​meaty goodness in this meal for about $ 11. You could spend $ 20 at a fancy restaurant for a formerly-​frozen, not very moist, overcooked «half chicken baked in a stone oven with lemon and herbs.» Not I… Not I.

Richardson Farms produces only open pasture grass fed cattle and free range pork, chicken and eggs to local Farmers Markets and restaurants.
I have been purchasing their eggs at the Sunset Valley Farmers Market for the past couple years. These eggs have made me an egg snob — I just can not eat store bought eggs anymore unless they are being mixed into something else. I can boil their eggs and they taste so fresh it would be a sin to salt them — 4.00 a dozen and totally worth the splurge!
This past Saturday I purchased a whole chicken at 3.50 per LB. I fed the organs and most of the dark meat to my dogs raw and boiled the rest to make a broth to store for a future soup and used the meat in chicken lettuce wraps. 14.00 worth of chicken that will make many separate meals. I poured some of the broth in a coffee cup and sipped on it straight no seasoning and so rich — yum!
They also sell Pork Belly by the slab or LB at 5.00 per LB.

I routinely purchase the ground beef, ribeye steak and New York Strip steak from Richardson Farms. It is all grass fed, free ranging beef, raised on a family farm headed by a veterinarian. The flavor is remarkable and everything I have purchased was well priced. Find them at the downtown Farmer’s Market on Saturday, the Triangle Farmer’s Market on Wednesday, or order online from their website. Awesome.

The perfect local mix here in central texas (Austin here): sustainable family farming & ranching. Separate from this utopian idea and philosophy is the functionality of the product: how does it taste? The answer: amazing.
And at a price point that is competitive with local supermarkets and stores (a couple of dollars per pound more expensive, but not prohibitively so, especially considering the freshness, taste superiority & sustainable background).
They sell at several of the farmers markets around town (Sunset Valley on Saturday and Triangle on Wednesday) and also provide some of the fine local restaurants with meat.
They offer the usual cuts of both pork and beef as well as home made sausage, eggs, chickens, and vegetables and melons in season. They also offer great unique cuts of pork and beef and can satisfy custom orders if given in advance. I’m looking forward to my Thanksgiving turkey that’s currently wandering their farm eating grubs and participating in the cycle: commissioned local food at its finest.

Richardson farm is an independently run family farm that has operated for several generations. As their website says, they «care deeply about the health and well-​being of [their] animals. All of [their] livestock are in large open areas/​pastures and are free to interact with each other.»
That’s the image one usually has when they think about farm animals. Sadly, most meat in stores and restaurants are raised in Concentrated Feeding Operations. Have you ever driven past a feed lot or a chicken factory? You can smell the filth and misery.
The Richardson’s feed their pigs and chickens grain grown right there on the farm – how’s that for reducing a carbon footprint?! They are devoted to conserving the environment by using conservation tilling. This conserves fuel and top soil. «Worms do the plowing».
My butcher at Wheatsville (you know your butcher, right?) shares my ideals about responsibly-​raised, high-​quality grass-​raised meat and has visited this farm. He gives them his hardy endorsement.
Their sausage and chops (and some other cuts) are available at Wheastville. I adore their chops.
They also carry chicken and beef and while I can’t vouch for those products, I am most certain they are excellent.
Richardson pork products can be found deliciously prepared at Somnios and Thai Fresh.
Swoon.