As the result of the article in the current issue on marketing alternative for hogs, I receive a letter from a woman in St. Charles, IL asking if I knew of anyone who raises organic meat in her area. She mentioned pork and lamb, but she may be receptive to beef and poultry also. If you are interested in helping her yourself, or know of someone, send your mailing address or telephone number to my e-mail account. I will pass it on to her so she can get in contact with you.

She mentioned she has pretty well been an involuntary vegetarian for about 20-years since she will not buy supermarket pork and lost her source of organic lamb.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), June 23, 2001

Answers

Ken,

Good evening! There is a chain of Mexican-food restaurants here in Ohio called "Chipotles" who is now using only range-fed hogs (no hormones or antibiotics either) in the "carnitas" (pork) meat dishes. The small pamphlet they included said that they were getting the pork from a farm in Iowa.

The only other info I have is a Chipotle's phone number, perhaps this lady could call them and see if they'll release the name of the Iowa farm to her?

The Chipotle's phone #: (614) 433-0221

Hope this helps.

-- Deb Mc (not@this.time.pls), June 23, 2001.

An internet search on organic pork did turn up some who will ship out of state - mostly from Iowa and Montana (a bunch of listings in the UK). However, I rather suspect it would be expensive when overnight delivery is involved.

In reading between the lines of her letter I get the impression she may be single and thus doesn't need a large quantity at one time, which is why she was looking for a local source.

When I relay the replies to her, I'll also mention she check out health food stores in her area.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), June 24, 2001.

Ken,

Your lady should try either Whole Foods Market or Wild Oats. I do not know if there is a Wild Oats in St. Charles but there is one in Hinsdale. There also used to be a farmer on highway 72 north of St. Charles that had organic beef for sale.

Hope this helps.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), June 25, 2001.

There is a Whole Foods Market in Wheaton. (Not too far from St. Charles)

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), June 25, 2001.