Sherman Farm, North Conway, New Hampshire

Over Memorial Day weekend we were in North Conway, NH. Since this has become a regular vacation spot for us I knew I was going to spot light Sherman Farm. We went there last summer and were in awe of all the local produce, dairy, and meat they had there.

Since we rented a house for four days we had to buy groceries to stock it. We waited until we could go to Sherman Farm to buy a few things so we could buy as many local products as possible. One thing about North Conway and the surrounding area that is very disappointing is that even though they have a ton of local farms they don't have a farmer's market! They could have a killer one but they don't.

Sherman Farm is family owned and  run by three generations of the Sherman Family. They have a great farm stand, a huge farm, and super cool green houses! We were able to get cucumbers in May!

From their website: Today the farm grows approximately sixty acres of vegetables, has a 10 acre corn maze operating for six weeks in the fall, raises over forty head of Angus cross Beef cattle and 30 pigs for pork sales, hauls and delivers milk in glass bottles, and the farm stand which sells all the product raised on the farm is open daily year round.

We got milk, butter, eggs, beef, pork, and vegetables. We brought a few things home with us. I made soup with a soup bone and fajitas with skirt steak. The taste was obvious. Their asparagus is the best I have ever had.

However, though I am very committed to supporting local agriculture I am very disappointed in the way they treat their animals that we will be eating.

From their website: The beef raised for the stand are Angus and Angus crosses. The animals are fed a balanced diet consisting of corn silage, haylage and cornmeal. Our animals are not fed antibiotics or growth hormones. They live in pens in a large airy barn where they can roam freely, have feed and water available at all times and they sleep on bed packs. Our pigs arrive in the spring and live in large pens and enjoy a diet of waste milk from the dairy and special grain pellets. The pigs spend time lounging and playing with their blue balls. Visitors are welcome to see the animals, please stop in at the stand to let us know you will be visiting.

Um - playing with their blue balls? Swwwwwwweeeeeeet.

Tell me what you think, would that above statement make you buy from this place or no? It is obviously much better than the grocery store, but...? Let me know what you think.

Chip - in Farm, Bedford, Massachusetts

Those of you who shop at Whole Foods in Bedford, MA may be familiar with the eggs from the Chip-in Farm. When I shop there I look for items bearing the signage "I'm a Local" and I try to buy as many of those items as possible When it comes time to get the eggs, I always choose these. I can't quite remember, but I think the eggs are $3.50-ish a dozen. This weekend when I was going to Whole Foods to get meat, fruit, and vegetables I decided to make the very slight detour (201 Hartwell Road, Bedford, MA) and see what the farm had to offer first.

Wow. Just wow.

Yes, they had eggs, and of course they were fresher and cheaper, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. They had local beef and pork and their own free range frozen chicken. They also had other local products and baked goods, milk and ice cream from Shaw Farm (and others), and organic plants outside. We left having purchased four six-packs of plants, a frozen whole chicken, two pounds of ground beef, two dozen eggs, and two pounds of london broil for approximately $60.

Inside the little barn they had 4H projects from, I assume, the kids who lived on the farm. The animals were friendly and you could get vegetables from the store to feed them.

I would definitely go here again.