Beef
Indian Ridge Provisions’ PA Proud Lancaster Angus beef program has a new retail partner, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. With this partnership, the PA Proud name will change to Mid Atlantic Country Farms. This new partnership will allow for access to more high quality Angus cattle should the need arise.
Right now the only change is in the name. Our cattle will continue to be harvested at the Cargill plant in Wyalusing PA. Lancaster is still producing enough cattle to support the programs needs. In fact, the Angus cattle for A&P and Indian Ridge will be sourced from the same family farms we have always used.
Typically between four and six farms contribute cattle to each harvest. These harvests occur every two weeks. The participating farms’ names are available each harvest. The last harvest only needed two farms, which reflects on this slower time of the year. They were Wayne Hoffman of Dover PA and Tyrone Wehry of Dornsife PA.
Mid Atlantic Country Farms Angus beef from Indian Ridge Provisions is the only source for high quality locally raised Lancaster County cattle.
Poultry
FreeBird antibiotic free chicken from Fredericksburg PA is our choice for locally raised poultry. This 75 year old company contracts with local Amish and Mennonite farmers to grow their Cobb chickens. They must adhere to strict animal welfare guidelines. Qualifying farms must agree to maintain modern, bio-secure living quarters. They are spacious, cage free shelters that allow the birds to roam freely. They are designed in such a way as to allow fresh air and sun in, but protect the birds from adverse weather conditions as well. Fresh bedding, a constant source of fresh water, and a proprietary feed provided by FreeBird ensure that these animals live in a stress free environment. Weekly monitoring by FreeBird growers ensures the health and well being of the flocks.
Antibiotics are never used, the feed is entirely grain based – a blend of corn and soybean. No animal by-products, such as bone meal or animal fats, are ever used. These family farmers take pride in the chickens they produce, their family heritage and stewardship of the land, and their contribution to the local economy. All these factors come together to produce the best eating, healthy chickens available today.
Crescent Duck Farms of Long Island, NY have been raising Pekin ducks as a family endeavor since Henry Corwin decided to enter the duck ranching business in 1908. The farm has been owned by the Corwin family since the mid 1600′s. Today this 140 acre farm is managed by his grandson Doug with his wife and their children.
Crescent Duck Farms has developed over the last century a Pekin breed that produces a balance between excellent skin qualityand a higher yield breast meat with just the right amount of fat. This is important in the fine dining world, as too much fat on the breast is undesirable to the guest, but not enough leads to a dry, gamier meat. Crescent Ducks are prized by chefs all over the United States for their mild, juicy eating qualities.
Crescent Duck Farms never uses growth stimulants or hormones of any kind. Never ever antibiotics. The grain that is used to feed these ducks is grown on the farm. Environmental stewardship is also important to the farming practices of Crescent Duck. To that end, Doug entered into an unusual partnership with the Long Island Compost Corporation of Westbury in 1998 that keeps nearly all his farm’s duck manure and the nitrogen in it out of the water system. Instead of being injected into local fields as fertilizer and eventually leaching into the groundwater, the farm’s manure sludge is now heaped onto enormous compost piles at the farm and turned into composted manure that is packaged and sold at Home Depots and garden centers across the region.
Crescent Duck Farm raises delicious Long Island Pekin ducks locally and sustainably.