Swoope, VA 24479
(540) 885-3590
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
Visited: April 3, 2010
Before I start this review (and forget), a few quick tips when visiting/planning your visit to Polyface farm:
1) Bring a HUGE cooler and make space in your vehicle! We took one large and one small cooler and filled them both with assorted cuts of meat, chicken and rabbit. Also used up a lot of space for the various cartons of eggs we bought.
2) NO CREDIT CARDS!! Polyface only accepts cash or check. The folks are SO kind that if you run outta cash and didn't bring your checkbook, you can send them a check via snail mail. SUPER NICE!!
3) Ask questions. As I just mentioned, everyone there is SUPER NICE, very patient and are more than happy to answer any questions you may have. The wife and I bombarded the staff with questions and they were so very helpful and nice to us.
4) Get there early!! If you're going in person, make sure to get there early. We arrived at 9:25am and they were already sold out of some choice cuts of beef. The wife and I whimpered as the couple in front of us bought the last of the beef heart....I should have kicked them in the shins and stolen their beef heart. :-(
5) Hours!! Polyface is only open to the public without an appointment Saturdays from 9am to 4pm. Check the following page for updates and exceptions to these Saturday hours (such as holidays or special events):
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/taste.aspx
So how did the family trip to Polyface begin? Well it started last year after reading some articles about grass fed beef, and understanding the difference in the cow's health versus corn fed beef. In doing some Googling, I found some excerpts from the Omnivore's Dilemma mentioning Polyface and the Salatin family and Polyface was also featured in a film called "Food Inc". Next, I read a convincing review by fellow Yelper Tina R on her visit to Maple Ave restaurant regarding grass fed beef. The idea for the trip was then finalized after finally having a chance to see the movie "Food Inc".
Well after all that, we left our little adobe hut at 6am determined to arrive at Polyface at 9am. The drive out to Swoope, VA was amazing as the weather was perfect, the traffic was light and the two little monkeys slept and were well behaved the entire trip. Three hours and one wrong turn later, we arrived at Polyface around 9:25am.
The parking lot was already full of cars and we were asked to park next to a big truck that dwarfed our mini van. The farm is beautifully surrounded by mountains and the first thing we noticed as we stepped outta the family van is how crisp and clean the air "tasted". The boys instantly ran towards the chickens and happily pointed and exclaimed "kicken! kicken" as their faces illustrated their fascination with all the noise, movement and coming from the chicken coops.
We headed into a tent area where an older couple in front of us had just finished buying the last of the beef heart and added them to their massive collection of meat; all housed in two giant coolers. While they finished up their transaction, one of the Polyface employees walked over to us, politely greeted us and asked if we had any questions or needed help. He handed us a list of all the meat and the prices.
Wow...the prices were friggin amazing!! For the cuts of meat and for all of the organically raised food listed on the sheet, the value was well the long drive! The meat being sold at Polyface is cheaper than the organic meat sold at Whole Foods and even beats the questionable organic meat sold a bigger supermarket chains like Safeway or Giant.
We took our time to decide what we wanted and made things easier by asking the Polyface employees to tell us what was in stock. In the meantime our boys ran around the farm and even sat with one of the Polyface employees as he tallied up our bill. You can tell that the people that live and work on Polyface are very family oriented and smiled and helped us entertain our monkeys as we picked out our choice cuts of meat.
Once we had filled up our two coolers, we were encouraged by the staff to pick our own eggs at the "other" chicken coup. They told us that eggs already packaged and being sold under the tent weren't as big as the eggs laid by the hens at the other coop. We thanked them, took a few empty cartons and headed up a hill to the other coop.
As we approached the coop, I wondered how the boys would react around live hens. They became more and more excited as we got closer and funny enough they were the first ones in the coop after I opened the door. Walking inside there were hens everywhere! One monkeys surprised me after seeing us pick some eggs by walking up to a hen, gently picking her up, setting her aside and then grabbing the egg from her nest.
The other monkey employed the "wave your hand until the hen leaves" technique to get the hen out of her nest before grabbing the laid egg. Both boys had an amazing time picking their own eggs and surprisingly understood how delicate the eggs where and didn't drop or break a single egg. Once we had filled up all the cartons with four dozen eggs, the boys proudly carried their cartons and we headed back down the hill.
We were eager to try out the eggs and meat and decided to come back to Polyface very soon. The drive out to Polyface was nice and very scenic. The last bit of advice is to use the directions listed on the Polyface website. Our GPS, Google Maps and other mapping services had no idea how to get to Polyface. Make sure that when you do use the directions from the Polyface website that you read them before hand.
Also drive slowly as the roads leading up to Polyface (once you leave the main roads) are single lanes and you will have to pull over to the side if a car is coming in the opposite direction.
So what's the verdict after finally tasting the grass fed organic meat and the eggs raised at Polyface? Friggin delicious! Call me crazy but you can actually TASTE the difference between the Polyface beef and the mass supermarket beef. The chicken raised by Polyface does NOT even compare as the flavor of their chicken totally destroys the chicken from supermarkets. Ditto goes for their eggs as you can taste the freshness and that extra bit of flavor that tells you, "Its made of good stuff" in found in regular eggs. I'm totally satisfied with all the Polyface products and have been singing its praises to family, friends and coworkers.
We'll definitely be back to Polyface and I'm so happy that we had a chance to make to their beautiful farm. For more information check out their website and bring plenty of cash or a checkbook!
:-)
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