The Hard Lessons

I found this article in the Burlington Free Press by Melissa Pasanen really interesting. Sterling College, in Craftsbury, Vermont, offers degrees in sustainable agriculture, among other subjects, and focuses on experiential learning. Pasanen's article follows Sterling students and their professor as they look at the issues surrounding making use of male goat kids - the unwanted offspring of goat dairy farming.

The students faced the difficulty of finding markets that appreciate goat meat - some chefs are not familiar with it, for one - as well as the finer points of what makes a good goat carcass for meat. The story takes them to a homemade barbecue rig under an elevated subway platform in White Plains, New York, a halal butcher in the Bronx who buys several live goats for his customers, and an upscale butcher on the lower West Side of Manhattan.

I encourage you to read the entire article, because it's an enlightening look at the realities many farmers face in making the bottom line work, while hewing true to sustainable ideals. And I welcome your comments here or on the Small Farms Forum about this (or anything else!).

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