New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Shelton farm’s meat earns USDA approval for sale in stores
SHELTON — Stone Gardens Farm’s meat products may soon be in the supermarket near you.
The farm — one of the largest vegetable farms in southwest New England and a staple of the White Hills agricultural community — is now a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspected butcher operation.
“There is a demand in the state where many farms and people are looking to get their animals butchered,” said Tom Monahan, who owns and operates the farm alongside his parents, Fred and Stacia.
“Many processing facilities are booked out to a minimum of six months, more so a year to two years,” Tom added. “With our new inspection approval, it allows us to help fill the need for a butchery to get these peoples animals and product on their shelves and out for commerce.”
The USDA approval allows the farm to butcher meat products — beef, pork, lamb, and goat — and sell it to any other retail operation, from grocery stores to supermarkets to other farm stands, throughout Connecticut and out of state.
Fred Monahan said being able to cut and process meat under USDA inspection opens a world of opportunities for the farm.
“It opens up avenues to make the farm more profitable and be able to grow sustainably,” Fred said. “We are already processing
lambs weekly for a farm in Newtown and selling wholesale cuts of beef to a farm in upstate Connecticut.”
The approval also gives the farm’s kitchen and meat-cutting room more options, he said.
“It is an exciting time for our farm and Shelton as a whole,” Fred said.
With all of the growth going on in the downtown area, the Monahans said the farm is already seeing new residents finding their way 5 miles north to the farm.
“It is exciting to see the other neighboring farms expanding, too,” Fred said. “Beardsley’s Distillery sells our Bloody Mary mix and makes different vodkas and moonshine with our melons, cucumbers and Jones Family Farms berries.”
The working relationship between the Beardsley and Jones families helps all three farms, and the community at large, Fred said.
“Hopefully our farms will be around for generations to come,” he said.
Tom Monahan said he reached out to federal inspectors and supervisors in July 2021 to begin the process.
He said some minor changes were made to the farm’s already state of the art facility and he tailored it to fit the needs of a USDA processing room. The process was finally complete this month.
Tom said the farm did not have to change its butchering practices to meet USDA standards.
“The care and precaution that was taken before USDA approval is going to
remain the same. The only difference now is, under inspection, I am allowed to sell products to and work with anyone,” he said.
Some of the meat for sale at the farm also will feature labels with the farm’s USDA establishment number.
“It means that the products cut and wrapped that day were done under USDA inspection,” he said
The only difference between this new label and the farm’s regular label is that an inspector from USDA was on site that day overseeing the entire process, he added.
“The products are the same as what you have been getting all along from our farm,” Tom said.