The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowVleesboerderij Barten
- Cattle, sheep or goats graze on pasture in the grazing season
Vleesboerderij Barten is a beef farm in the polder just outside Meerkerk, where the family keeps about 100 cattle and runs its own butcher's shop, slaughterhouse and sausage kitchen at the front of the farm.
The cattle graze the meadow behind the farm and are housed in roomy straw barns, and their website says they are fed a varied, natural diet without additives. Only beef from cows is sold, not from bulls, and because farming, slaughter and sausage-making all happen on the farm, the meat reaches the counter without a middleman. The shop also stocks farm cheese, flour, juices, honey, eggs, wine and beer from other farms in the region, which we haven't checked.
The shop is open Tuesday from 10:00 to 18:00, Wednesday to Friday from 8:30 to 18:00 and Saturday from 8:00 to 16:00, and orders placed through their website can be collected at a chosen time.
Their fijne rookworst (smoked sausage) won the Dutch national championship for smoked sausage.