As interest grows nationally toward eating locally-raised, hormone-free meats, one local family has decided to make it a little easier for their neighbors to do just that.

Carolyn Swanson hosts a neighborhood delivery so she and others living in Crown Hill can receive monthly deliveries of grass-fed beef, pork and poultry from Blue Valley Meats in Walla Walla.  Every Friday at 1 p.m., people meet in front of her home (9737 12th Ave. NW) to pick up their orders from Blue Valley Meats, whose website allows customers to order anything from pork chops to hickory-smoked bacon to T-bone steaks.  The truck arrives at 1 p.m. with customized bags of meats for everyone who placed an order.

“These families have been very enthusiastic about our meats and the word seems to be spreading,” said Blue Valley Meats co-owner Keith Swanson, who makes the monthly deliveries.  “You get a real sense of community,”  he added.  “I especially enjoy seeing people who actually live in the same neighborhood but are just meeting each other for the first time, and who then proceed to share their recipes and meat cooking tips like they were old friends.”

Swanson said that there are nearly 40 such buying clubs in the Puget Sound region, each one hosted by a family or small business committed to supporting the growth of local and sustainably-raised foods.   There are also deliveries to Loyal Heights Community Center and Ray’s Boathouse, but as a 1979 graduate of Crown Hill Elementary (the last graduating class at the school), Keith is partial to the delivery at his mom’s house.

“More and more people are learning about the benefits of grass-fed meats, as compared to the corn-fed alternative at the grocery store,”  Swanson said. “Grass-fed beef has more Omega-3s and a lot less of the saturated fats.  Plus, it has a richer flavor ….  it tastes the way that beef is supposed to taste.   We have older customers who tell us our meats taste the way they remember meat tasting from when they were growing up.  That’s fun to hear.”

“The problem today is that people aren’t sure who they can trust when it comes to reading meat labels in the grocery store and deciphering what do terms like ‘natural’ and ‘free range’ really mean.  While some grocery stores now offer grass-fed meats, all of the major natural food stores in the area are still sourcing primarily from outside of Washington state.”

Swanson says that meats from Blue Valley are easy to get. “To order, people don’t actually have to join anything or buy a whole cow.  They can just go on our website, choose a delivery location, place their order, and come pick it up.  It’s that simple.”

Blue Valley Meats was formed by former employees of Thundering Hooves after that company went out of business in early 2010.  Blue Valley partners with local ranchers within Washington state to produce meats that are 100% grass-fed, hormone-free, and from animals that are humanely treated.  They also run their own small butcher shop, so all of their sausages and other meats are processed in-house.  Their website, www.bluevalleymeats.com shows how to place orders and where to pick them up.