27 March 2025

Dear CSA members,

I'm currently writing to you with a week old baby resting on me!
Bubba 'Spike' is already feeling eerily agrarian, being born on the autumn equinox and on a day of dramatic rain in an otherwise dry season. We are feeling very grateful for his uncomplicated arrival and there's nothing like a sleepy newborn to get a busy farmer to slow right down.

(Picture of Rex and a grumpy baby Spike)

Meat Collection

Address: Kines Cafe, 11 Hope St, Brunswick

When: Saturday 5th or Sunday 6th April, between 8am - 2pm

How: Follow "CSA this way" signs and go directly to the fridge in the store room out back and help yourself to your labelled bag.

As per usual, if you are unable to collect your bag during these times please arrange for a robust friend to do so for you in the first instance.

Special requests for this month can be made via return email. We will do our very best to accommodate those. A reminder that bones are now allocated by request and randomly after that.

What we've been up to on the farm...and other bits
Goat MeatFrom May we are going to start offering goat meat! Did you know that goat meat is the most consumed red meat in the World? However, goat meat is far less common in Western countries, due to the animal's anarchist nature. This sentiment is well summed up by David Asher in 'The Art of Natural Cheesemaking" but which applies equally to meat production:

Goats are a belligerent species that have rejected the rigorous production regime thrust upon their bovine cousins. Unlike cows, who contentedly chew their cud in confinement and produce enormous quantities of ~~milk~~ meat year-round, goats refuse to be cogs in the machine of industrialized ~~dairying~~ farming.

Expert escape artists who resist being kept indoors and prefer a diverse diet of browse, goats do not tolerate being kept in close quarters. Their refusal to be bred at any time of the year and their limit of 1 gallon of milk a day...has stopped them from becoming commodities like cows.

If you haven't had goat meat before, or recently, it's delicious. It can be prepared like and likened to lamb, only sweeter, less fatty/funky and much more sustainable. Where sheep are grazers that will chew the pasture to the quick, leaving paddocks overgrazed, as browsers goats prefer our abundant invasive blackberries and are solving a problem (without glyphosate) rather than creating one.

If you would like to sample goat meat in May, this is possible for an additional $33 per kilo, to be invoiced separately. Just let us know soon! Following this we'll figure out a more permanent offering based on interest.

Farmers MarketIn another new beginning for the month, we will be representing at our first ever farmers market. Eeek, bit nervous! If you're local, come and say hello to us at Coburg Farmers Market on Saturday April 5th. Feel free to mill around like a possessed hoard, laugh loudly at our jokes or grill us on our farming practices 🙃.

Reminder about meat use-byGiven we have a few new members this month I thought I'd provide a refresher on meat use-by... As a general rule, sense of smell and knowledge of the nature of the cut (see below) are your best guides as to the wholesomeness of meat.

Mince and snags: mincing increases the surface area of meat and thus has a much shorter use-by date than steaks, one week from packing day. If you aren't going to use them within a few days I recommend freezing them.

Bones: also have a short fridge life because you are dealing with bone marrow rather than dense muscle. Pair this with bags that often tear on the bones themselves, I recommend freezing bones unless you intend to use them within 2 days. Apologies for the mislabelled bones last month! I have rectified this with our butcher.

Steaks and roasts: last a good 3 weeks, unless the vacuum seal has failed... in which case freeze or use within a few days.

Zintara Logo!We are gradually attaining the trappings of a "serious" meat business... Emphasis on the serious 🥸. Next up, Zintara bumper stickers!

(Drawing of 'ZINTARA' represented by pictures of a river, goat, snake, mushroom, cow, tree and road)

We also have an Instagram account, currently with zero posts and 4 followers 🥳 Follow along at home if that's your thing and watch two non-social media users come to grips with the modern world.

Lots of Love,
Jess and James (and Rex and Spike)