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I want to introduce you to some real good folk. Kimberlie and Ralph Cole are the owners and farmers at West Wind Farms in Deer Lodge, Tennessee. I found them by dropping by and visiting with various producers at the East Nashville Farmer’s Market, and have since joined their Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. I got an email from them back around the first of the month that I want to share with you because in it I learned so much about them and their farm.

A little about West Wind Farms…..

West Wind Farms is an ideal made into reality. Serving as environmental professionals in Oak Ridge for decades, Ralph and Kimberlie Cole developed a common drive to do more with their knowledge of environmental protection and sustainability. With little more than a dream and a prayer, they started West Wind Farms over 14 years ago. Six years later, West Wind Farms became one of the first meat and poultry farms in the U.S. to be certified organic, exceeding the then-new USDA organic standards. After many years of both farming and working full-time off-farm to self- finance their dream, the Coles now finally farm full- time. Over those years, West Wind Farms has grown to be one of the most successful and well-known meat and poultry farms in the southeastern U.S. The Cole’s have an unwaivering commitment to high quality, organics, local food systems, animal welfare, and the environment. Their customers are adamant supporters, and the Cole’s attribute their farm’s success to their customers’ commitment to these same values. West Wind Farms’ delicious meats and poultry certainly make it easy too!

Whether you want grassfed beef or lamb, or pasture- raised pork, chicken or turkey, West Wind Farms can supply it. In addition to standard uncooked cuts of meat, the farm produces smoked bratwursts, kielbasa and other specialty sausages, smoked bacons, fully cooked Italian herbed hams, and a large selection of good-for-you deli meats and grassfed beef jerkys. No nitrates, MSG, or artificial preservatives added. You never have to worry, West Wind Farms’ meats and poultry are always tender, flavorful, and high quality. If you’re not a meat eater, the farm also offers great cheeses, nuts, honey, pet foods, and a whole cornocopia of other products. Over 250 products, and 3 CSA share options! When you spend your food dollars with West Wind Farms, you know you will be getting good value.

Being environmentalists at heart, Ralph and Kimberlie have made their farm a working example of green, sustainable living. Rainwater collection is the sole source for all farm and personal water needs. Livestock are rotationally grazed to distribute manure evenly on the fields and prevent erosion and runoff. A wooded riparian buffer is maintained around the mile- long frontage of White Creek which feeds Clear Creek, one of the most pristine waterways in the U.S. The Coles converted their delivery truck to run on clean- burning compressed natural gas in order to reduce carbon emissions on their delivery routes. The farm’s three large walk-in freezers, which devour over 95% of the farms’ electrical use, will be operating completely on solar power by the end of the year, with solar power remaining to give back to the grid. Of course, the farm also produces nearly all of the Cole’s food, as well as food for their customers, volunteers, interns and employees, with enough food leftover to contribute nearly 10% annually to the food bank. Ralph and Kimberlie are achieving their goal to live their lives in a way that ever-increases production over consumption, and serves the needs of their community in a very real and lasting way. You can feel good purchasing from West Wind Farms – it’s so much more than just dinner.

I was utterly amazed when I read this. I knew I was getting antibiotic-free, grassfed meats, but I had no idea the farm was so environmentally sound. West Wind Farms should be the photo you see next to the word “sustainability” in the dictionary. When asked what to look for in a meat provider, I send the questioner straight to the Coles.

You can find West Wind Farms on the web at http://www.grassorganic.com/

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade. Fight back this week by finding a source for local, grassfed (and finished) meats. You’ll be glad you did!

Photo by MoToMo on Flickr

I don’t entertain. I’ve never been secure enough in my cooking ability to have people over for a meal on a regular basis. And I’m just mentally unbalanced enough that a visit from someone requires three days of cleaning beforehand, making impromptu visits very uncomfortable for me. The few times I’ve had friends over I have been very ill at ease with the condition of the house, the food, the conversation. But some people come anyway.

Take my mother-in-law, for example. She’s a hardy soul. She stands not quite five feet tall and gave birth to three ten pound boys, each only two years after the last. She raised those boys alone after her husband took off, back in the 1960s when being a single parent made her a pariah. After the boys were raised, she found the man of her dreams and watched him slowly die of cancer. Now she’s on her own again, much stronger and smarter than she ever dreamed she’d be. She visits us often, as our house is halfway between her summer and winter homes. She loves to take the kids one at a time to go visit her summer home with her for a week or two.

She always asks what she can do to help when she visits, but I love treating her like a guest. We don’t have a room for her, but she sacks out on the couch quite happily, insisting the couch is the most comfy bed in the house (she could be right about that.) She loves to eat out, and it’s hard for us to curb the temptation to just go out all the time when she visits. Instead, she’ll take a grandchild out for a meal for some one-on-one time. One of her favorite places here is a tea room with lace tablecloths and real flowers on the table. To girls for whom “eating out” is defined as Taco Bell, McDonalds and Sonic, the tea room is the height of sophistication!

She knows about my sophomoric cooking level and eats the food I cook anyway. I told you she was brave, right? During this last visit, we discussed eating healthy foods. She said she hadn’t seen so many veggies at a single meal since she left her mother’s home. “I eat very healthy. I have my Cheerios with non-fat milk every morning and a Lean Cuisine frozen entree for lunch. Dinner I usually eat out, but I always have a salad first.” I smiled and nodded. I knew that night when we had dinner she’d ask about this vegetable, that sauce, and what-in-the-world-is-that?? and she’d get an earful then.

And so it is for the visitors at mealtime here. If you’re brave enough to come for a meal, you will be served the same, strange foods we eat right down to the raisin chutney on the coconut bread! I don’t even have any canola oil and white sugar I can break out for you. If you want sugar in your coffee, it will have to be the rapadura I keep for baking. If you bring margarine with you, that’s fine, but please be sure you take it home with you when you go and for heaven’s sake, please don’t offer any to the kids!

And I’ll need about a week’s notice before you come…