 Petersen Pork - The Right Thing to Do!
This summer my family was fortunate to spend a few days in the company of Chris Petersen and his wife, Christy. We shared a relaxing weekend discussing the variety of problems that family farmers face today and the importance of sustainable meat production.
For those of you who don’t know the Petersens, they serve as a model of sustainable agriculture and as a voice for family farmers. Chris is the President of the Iowa Farmers Union, an organization that represents Iowa’s family farmers, and is a hog farmer. On their visit, Chris and Christy brought with them a whole hog from their family farm in Clear Lake. The meat from Chris Petersen’s Animal Ranch was already processed and frozen into cuts that I had chosen in advance. Half of the pork was sold to a good friend of mine in Peoria and the other half is nestled snugly in our deep freeze.
What gives me satisfaction is that I know that when I prepare meals for my family and friends using the Petersen’s pork, we will not only be enjoying delicious food, but we will be contributing to the livelihood and future of independent pork producers -- farmers like Chris Petersen, who care for the welfare of their animals, practice responsible farming, and whose dollars earned flow right back into their rural communities. Just as important is the taste of the pork the Petersen’s have produced.
The pork chops are beautifully marbled with no hint of the foul aftertaste and odor often generated by meat from pigs that have been confined over their own waste for their entire life. The outstanding juicy taste is a testament to the practice of raising animals that can see the sun and act like animals. There is no dry, tough pork chop meat here! The bacon has a flavor all its own and beautifully complements my Grandmother Brennan’s sweet and sour cabbage recipe, pefect with the stuffed chops from Petersen’s farm.
Thank you, Chris and Christy, for producing good food for our table!
-Karen Hudson, October 2006.
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