Sloans Creek Farm Fresh Grass-Fed Meats 

I want to take this opportunity to tell you about my friends, Nathan and Ellen Melson.  Nathan and Ellen operate Sloans Creek Farm in Dodd City, Texas.  I met them back in March 2009 when the Sulphur Springs Farmers Market bloomed in its first season.  They are a very cool couple raising and selling grass-fed meats and marketing their hard work around the Dallas/East Texas area.

Nathan and Ellen raise heritage animal breeds such as Red Poll Cattle, Irish Dexter Cattle, Murray Grey Cattle, St. Croix Hair Sheep, Myotonic Meat Goats, and Red Wattle Hogs.  Their animals eat grass and forage freely on the farm.  Their hogs are pastured on soil and grass where they can root around, wallow in the mud, and compliment there grain based diet as they see fit with grass, roots, bugs, and worms. This is just as swine were intended to be raised.  The animals are not injected with hormones or subtherapeutic antibiotics.  Sloan Creek Farm is a non-certified organic, family farm.  And family farms care more about their animals, the environment, and the local economy.

Do you think organic foods and grass fed meats are expensive?  For someone like me, a consumer accustomed to low meat prices, at first it was difficult to agree on paying a higher price for grass-fed meats.  I wanted my family to eat healthy foods; I just wasn't ready to pay the price.  That was until we TASTED the difference.  I kid you not.  There is a distinctive difference in the aroma and flavors of grass-fed meats compared to large feed lot finished meats.  For example, fresh ground beef from grass-fed cattle actually smells clean and fragrant.  There's very little fat and I don't feel compelled to cover it with spices so it can taste like something else.  And let me tell you about the pork!  Oh wait.  I told you about the pork chops when I wrote, Grilled Boneless Pork Chops. Well, I feel the same way about pastured raised chickens.  I stopped buying grocery store chickens last year and there's no way I'm turning back.

I've learned something about myself and paying more for higher quality.  I don't waste food.  I use just what I need and save & stretch the good stuff out as long as I can.  I've learned, and still learning, how to preserve higher quality foods in the freezer and by canning.  Delicious fresh food raised by family farms is the way to go, my friends.  I'm not saying the grocery store is a bad place.  I still need the grocery store, but not for everything.

Farmers' markets are fantastic places to meet and get to know where your next meal is coming from.  I realize that as I write this article, it is the end of October.  Most farmers' market are closed and the growing season is over.  We still need the grocery store to get us through until next spring.  But not all is lost.  Fresh meats are still available!

Sloans Creek Farm is prepared for the holidays and has plenty of meats on stock.  Take a few minutes to read through their website, and download their Price List.  Then, call and order so you can taste the difference like I have.