What Really is a Local Farm?

Perhaps my most favorite part of our trip to the Adirondacks this weekend was our trip to Asgard Farm. Before our visit, the term “local foods movement” had just been a phrase I had accepted to mean “organic small farms.” Visiting Asgard enabled me to grasp a real example of what the phrase “local foods” exactly entailed.

The couple who owned the farm mentioned that they have approximately 45 milking goats, and were currently contemplating whether or not raising their heard to 60 would be too much given the size of their 1,500 acres. In the fall, the does are mated and by springtime, they give birth to “kid” goats that will either replace members of the milking herd or be raised for meat. The milking goats spend much of the year (including the winter) outside, as the owners indicated that they are often reluctant to move the heard inside. Moreover, the owners take pride in the fact that they sell a great portion of their kid goats to Heritage Foods in New York City as part of their innovative program their “no goats let behind” policy.

Apart from their goats, Asgard farm also raises cattle, mainly Devons. They also cross Devons to Red Angus and Herefords, which result in offspring that will possess the best qualities of both breeds. Their cattle are 100% grass fed, and in the winter they shift to a hay diet. The owners emphasized that the cows are never fed the special “feed” that cows are subjected to at large corporate farms. In supermarkets, I will often see a label reading “grass fed beef,” but it was not until visiting Asgard that I was able to make the connection between where the cows are raised to where the meat ends up.

One of the aspects that make Asgard Farm a true “local farm” is the fact that they attend local farmers markets and do not ship any of their cheeses or other products south past Albany. As Albany is approximately 150 miles south, even that stretches the definition of a local farm. Nonetheless, as I was traveled through the farm, walking from the goats to the cows to the chickens, I took a moment to take in the view of Whiteface Mountain, and realized that this couple wakes up to this view all year round. The foliage and temperatures change, but if it were me, the view of whiteface alone would be enough motivation to get me out of bed in the morning.