Yankee Farmer's market, LLC

On a trek up to Vermont his past weekend we spied a little advertisement in the Guide to New Hampshire Products and Services that we picked up in the rest area for a Buffalo farm & store.
Since we have recently become enamored with Buffalo and the fact that not only is it a leaner more healthy red meat alternative, but damn.....it tastes really yummy.

I have been making burgers all summer that are half ground beef and half buffalo.  At first I didn't tell his husbandliness that I was trying to sneak something new into his finicky dining repertoire.  Because if he knew something was different he would have done his usual 5 year strop routine and told me he didn't like it.  Actually he would have said in his Northern Brit accent, 'I don't fancy that'.  Fancy?  Who says fancy anymore?

The first time that I decided to make the duplicitous burgers I made sure he was out of the room while I mixed up the meats.  All I add to my burgers is salt, more salt than you think, and pepper and the, it would be a sin to omit it, condiment Worcestershire sauce. 

I called him upstairs just minutes before it came off the grill and placed it on his usual bun of choice with just red onion, cause he's minimalist in his burger accouterments.  Me, I waffle between Miracle Whip (Don't make that face! You never knew how good it could be until you try it and it blends in with all the burger juicy goodness on the bun...mmmmm) or sweet pepper relish with my red onion and a slice of my cheese fetish of the moment.

He took one bite, and then another, and then the food sigh came, then the mmmm.  When he was finished he smacked his lips and said, 'That was an exceptionally good burger!'.  Whereupon I grinned maliciously and spilled my secret about buffalo.  We haven't looked back since. Another recipe that we made first in school and that I repeat at home occasionally is for a buffalo shoulder steak marinated in red wine, juniper berries, jalapeno and onions, amongst other ingredients, and then grilled like a flank steak until just cooked on the outside and still pink within.  It is then sliced thin across the grain and the strained marinade is reduced to make a sauce.

So having now pulled husband over to the dark side I'm ready to try out new ways to cook buffalo meat.

We pulled off route 89 on to route 103 East and a few miles later we spied the sign for Yankee Farmer's market.  It's up a sharp right and up a steep hill that winds back to reveal the barn store and a fenced in pen.

The shop is clean and well stocked.  The meat case is full of frozen items and a sign board above lists prices. They have everything from ground buffalo to back and short ribs, top sirloin steak, strip steak, tenderloin and even buffalo hot dogs.  They also carry some venison items as well as ostrich items from a farm in S. Dartmouth, MA, which I hope will be a field trip for another day. Since we didn't know that we would be buying anything that needed to be kept we didn't bring along a cooler.  No problem, owner Brain Farmer packed our items the same as he would for shipping via next day air.  A small Styrofoam cooler was packed and an ice pack tossed in, he taped it all shut and even 12 hours later when we finally returned home all of the items were still frozen solid.

After we paid up and he was walking the item out to our car he said we could go up the hill and see the buffalo if we wished.  At the top in the pen there were about 6 of his herd milling about.  he also leases land at other local farms to keep his herd grazing. I reached into the 5 gallon bucket and tossed an apple in to the pen.  Two of them wandered over for sweet snacks.

No factory farming here.  I fed the buffalo and tried to scratch their foreheads, a few weeks from now I will be turning that package of stew meat I bought into a lovely buffalo bourguignonne.  It's a nice experience to see where your food will be coming from and to realise that if we all make the effort we can seek out and support these smaller farms.

Foliage season is fast approaching and I encourage anyone in the area to stop in and visit Yankee Farmer's market. Oh, and give the big guy an apple for me.

Comments

[Karen]

I make 100% buffalo burgers all the time now. Tastes, looks, and feel just like ground beef, with less fat than ground turkey!

[Alicat]

That buffalo that wandered over for sweets has an especially odd look about him. :)

I've never tried mixing 50/50 on burgers, I will have to do so soon!

Enjoying your site as always!

[halloweenlover]

I am cracking up because I would totally do the same thing to Josh. I'd just lie and say that it was the same until he judged it. hee!