farmer with a beef

This picture is completely unrelated to the entry below except for being green.

The locavore thing has finally hit Block Island. I sent an article about Block Island beef to a friend who runs cattle in the Ozarks that made her tear out her hair. The movement there has gotten as far as buying heirlooms at the farmer's market, but there is not yet a huge market for organic anything.
     There is a large "organic" ranch there, but she reports: "All they have to do to certify their beef as "all natural" is to go to a sale barn, purchase cattle, take them back to the ranch & turn them loose for 3 months to graze. Most farmers put growth pellets in the calves' necks, and the organic people buy these same calves. They don't dig the pellet out of their necks. To me there is a huge difference between my calves which have never had ANY hormones/antibiotics & corn fed calves that have implanted hormones." She concludes, "Here I am plodding along & the most I get is $1.50/pound for true grass fed, all natural beef. Everything is marketing!"
   So I had this thought. If I had a market for her beef here in New York City, I could run a load back when I go out there. Might not be local, but the quality and price point could make up for it. Then I had this same thought about a friend's organic heirloom tomatoes in Alabama.
 And then I had this vision of myself in a refrigerated truck highballing it into the city with a load of frozen beef or perishing beefsteaks (or rather Brandywines). Want any?