In June, High View Farm’s Linda Geren brought half a hog to Reading Terminal Market for PASA’s “Snout-to-Tail” seminar. Local chefs made some miraculous creations with the rich, flavorful meat, but Geren’s humble homemade scrapple—served with homemade apple butter and new potatoes—might have been the star.
Geren and her husband Michael McKay first started raising all-natural, hormone-free pigs for their own use. “The one pig was lonely, so we got three pigs the next year,” recalls Geren. They started sharing their meat with neighbors and friends through shares, and eventually bought a bigger farm. To satisfy Geren’s interest in fiber arts and spinning, High View added a few lambs to their menagerie. (The dye-free, all-natural wool yarn is also for sale.)
Geren has a culinary background, so taste has always been the top priority. High View employs special finishing techniques to get just the right amount of marbling in their animals. In the fall, the pigs dine on ground-fall apples, acquired from Strawberry Hills Farm, a neighboring family-owned orchard.
You can order High View’s pork and lamb directly from the farm, and McKay and Geren are looking to expand into Philadelphia retail locations in the near future. If you reserve a half-hog, High View will even arrange for custom butchering, giving you the exact cuts and styles you prefer—chops can be cut thick or thin, hams can be smoked or cured, and you get to cast your vote in that eternal debate: pork belly versus bacon.
High View Farm, 166 Monmouth Rd., North Hanover, NJ, 609-758-6708, highview-farm.com
