Fun on the Farm and an Opportunity for YOU to Have Grass-fed Beef thru Home Grown Cow!! (coupon code)

This past weekend was a busy one! I spent all day Saturday antique hunting with my mom in a HUGE warehouse called the Depot in Concord, NC...88,000 sqft of antiques and treasures!! Loved it! Found a few things for my home and then we headed out to lunch and then to IKEA in Charlotte. Unfortunately our IKEA visit had to be brief since but it turns out they were completely out of all that I went there to get...typical IKEA. However I did find someone selling a gorgeous antique empire chest on CL and was able to make a pit stop in Salisbury on my way home to pick it up!! It's gonna be my next project...more on that later :)

Yesterday we visited another local farm and got to hear a national leader in the grass-fed beef movement, Ridge Shinn, speak on the benefits of grass-fed beef, both in our health and on sustainability. You can see his Time Magazine article here. His presentation on the farm was very informative! The kids enjoyed seeing the cows up close and really liked playing in the barn where they were able to run around jumping across bales of hay! They even had delicious grass-fed meatballs for everyone and slices of beef brisket, YUM!!

You may be thinking "well that's great but how can I get grass-fed beef when I don't have access to a farm?"...well now you do! After my recent post on buying grass-fed beef I was contacted by a representative from Home Grown Cow, a site that is bridging the gap between farmers and consumers who want access to grass-fed beef and other sustainable products. It's a simple concept. Farmers supply information to Home Grown Cow on the products they offer as well as their farming practices and certifications and then Home Grown Cow provides the information into an online database where consumers can shop for beef, chicken, cheese, eggs, etc. You can search their site based on the product you want and the farming practices that are important to you. Then Home Grown Cow will give you a list of farms that meet your criteria as well as the products offered and you can purchase the items you need directly from that farm. When you place an order the funds from your card will be held until you are in receipt of your meat and are satisfied. At that point the funds will be released to the farmer. You have the option to pick up your order from the farmer (if they are nearby) or you can order from a farm that will ship directly to you! Either way you can buy with confidence! You can find more information on how it all works by reading their FAQ page.

Here is some general information from Home Grown Cow to get you started: (be sure to get discount code below)

1.       Our farmers’ market is open and free for any meat, poultry, and cheese farmer residing in the US.

2.       We allow the farmers to set their own prices and list their own offerings.

3.       One of our goals is to be as supportive of the American small production farmer as possible.

4.       We offer customer service to both the farmer and consumer – there is a live person to talk to at any stage of the transaction

5.       Our market is national, but if you can’t find a farm local to you raising the kind of meat you’re looking for, let us know and we will send an email out to our farmers to see if anyone has what you’re looking for.

6.       Many of our farmers ship direct to your door.

7.       We accept and hold credit card payment until the consumer has received their order and is satisfied it is what they ordered and in excellent condition.

8.       We assist in preparing custom cut orders for bulk purchases if desired.

9.       We are listed with the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin.

I hope this information helps you find the best meat and cheese options for your family! As a thank you for helping to spread the word about this new company Home Grown Cow is offering my blog readers a 5% discount code that is good on all orders thru Dec 31st, 2013. Just use the code "hana" upon checkout!!

I'll end this post by sharing a few images from our afternoon on the farm :)