THE CLARK SUMMIT MEAT CLUB

In May 2008 we started our Community Supported Agriculture program with a series of three-month subscription periods. By paying for three months' worth of meat, poultry, and eggs up front, you will help us maintain our high standards of feed, animal welfare, and land stewardship, and maybe someday even expand. (We sure would love to get a mechanical egg washer.)

We are offering three sizes:
• Boar (15lbs each of 3 mos)
• Gilt (10lbs each of 3 mos), and
• Piglet (10lbs, 2 out of 3 mos)

Each month's share will usually be a mixture of a whole chicken, a mix of grilling and braising beef and/or pork cuts, including some ground beef and/or pork, and a dozen eggs. The composition will be different depending on what is seasonally available. Deliveries are the third week of the month on a weeknight, to central pickup sites in Emeryville, San Francisco (the Castro), and Tiburon in Marin County. For prices, more specifics, and FAQs, including how to sign up, see the Meat Club page.

RETAIL

Eggs

Our certified organic eggs are available in San Francisco at Bi-Rite Market and Rainbow Grocery, in Berkeley at Three Stone Hearth, and at our booths at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market (Saturdays) and the Marin Civic Center market.

The suggested retail price is $8 per dozen. This price reflects the extremely high cost of the organic feed that we use to supplement the hens' "salad bar" and because of the labor involved with truly free-range eggs on a small-scale farm like ours. (The eggs must hand-collected and hand-washed, and we lose chickens regularly to predators like hawks.) You will be amazed at our eggs' bright yellow yolks, reflecting higher levels of beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids from being raised on grass, and their rich eggy taste.

Poultry

Chickens are available from us at the farmers markets or via our e-mail list sent out a few weeks before harvest time; those must be picked up from the farm within a day or two of processing. They come with their feet, head, gizzard, liver, and heart. Our roasting birds (not available in winter) are $6 per lb. and average 4-5 lbs. each dressed. Again, this reflects the high cost of organic feed and the labor involved with doing things right, such as moving chickens to fresh pasture. In the fall we also offer stewing chickens — spent laying hens — for $4.75 per lb.; they average 2.5 to 4 pounds.

Beef and pork

Whole- and partial-animal sales: We prefer to sell our beef and pork directly to you, "on the hoof." That way the animals can be harvested humanely in the same fields that they have spent their happy lives in, with no travel stress. You can purchase beef by the quarter, half, or whole this way, and pork by the half or whole. Unless you buy the whole animal, you must rserve a space on a waiting list until all shares are accounted for. While this is the least expensive way to purchase our meat, and the only way to get offal like liver and hearts, you do have to work a little harder for it. You will need to send us payment in advance — including the harvester's fee — and to coordinate with a local butcher shop as to how you want it processed into cuts.

For prices, instructions, and Frequently Asked Questions (such as what a "harvester's fee" is), download this PDF.

Farmers markets and restaurants: We also send our cows and hogs to USDA- or state-inspected slaughterhouses and sell that meat to restaurants and farmers markets*. You can download this retail price list (Excel spreadsheet), fill it out, and e-mail it to us for convenient pickup either at the farmers market or on the farm. Our beef and pork are also being served at Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley (a Community Supported Kitchen) and several restaurants in Santa Rosa.

*We cannot sell pork or beef at our booth at the Santa Rosa farmers market (just chicken).

Contact us
Liz Cunninghame & Dan Bagley
email is the best way to reach us: liz (or dan) at clarksummitfarm dot com
(707) 876-3516
Mailing address: P.O. Box 105, Tomales, CA 9497