Very informative book about this farm. I would like to go visit this farm sometime in the future. The book title is: Folks, This Ain't Normal. The author is Joel Salatin. read more

I love Polyface! We saw this farm on Food Inc. documentary. It is a family owned organic farm. When we saw this on the documentary we immediately fell in love. This is the way animals should be kept. This was the highlight of our trip. Once we found out that it was nearby we knew we had to visit and purchase some meat for dinner. We came here when it was very cold in VA but we had a blast. It was nice to see the animals in such a great environment. The chickens and pigs were super friendly! We wondered around the whole farm. I also heard that Chipotle gets their Carnitas from Polyface! Make sure you have the following: A Full Tank of Gas- You will be in the middle of nowhere and not many places to stop by. Cash- That's all they accept there. Cooler with ice- You will most likely purchase a lot of meat so bring a large one. Comfortable shoes Once we were done wondering around we headed into the store. The two ladies were super friendly and answered all our questions. It was clean and they had several refrigerators with varieties of meats to purchase. Chicken stock, organic eggs, steaks, whole chickens, etc. It was heaven! If you are nearby definitely check this place out! It was worth it! read more

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Polyface Farms is arguably the world's most famous farm, with Joel Salatin being the world's most famous farmer. As Shawn G mentioned, Michael Pollen put their farm on the map for many people. His book is the reason that I buy ALL of my meat from Polyface. This farm is a shining example of a "biodynamic" farm. (Huh?) Allow Wikepedia to explain: biodynamic agriculture, a method of organic farming that has its basis in a spiritual world-view, treats farms as unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a closed, self-nourishing system. Not only is this method anti-industrial, humane, nourishing, responsible and conscientious but it also benefits the environment and animals and is the highest quality meat you can put in your body - nutritionally and energetically. This system is truly a beautiful symbiosis and I highly encourage you to explore more (please visit their website, read the multiple books authored by Joel Salatin or Pollan's book, or ask me - I love to talk about good food!). If you get a chance to hear Joel speak (in a video, seminar, wherever you can find him) you will be enlightened and magnetized by his wit, intelligence, and charisma. You can get their meat and eggs directly from the farm, select farmers' markets or through their buying club. They have many buying club drops in the DC area and deliver about once a month - less frequently in the winter season. You will most likely see and taste a huge difference. If you don't at first, believe me, you will when you go back to conventional meat. This review is making me think I am being too liberal with my stars for other businesses. Polyface Farms is five stars and beyond, not only as a source of food but for being local heros and healers of the land and people. I can hardly say there's any other business that compares: their dedication, inspiration, influence, perseverance and responsibility is second to none. read more

Great person (Joel) and place (Polyface Farm). I heard about this place via the aforementioned Pollan book, and took my family for the "Lunatic Tour". I'm glad that I did. What a great way to spend a Thursday afternoon in Autumn. Joel and one of his summer interns drove two tractors up the farm road, pulling trailers of tourists sitting on hay bales, and demonstrating pastured pigs, movable chicken coops, salad bar beef and the egg mobile (or whatever he calls it). Super great tour. Biodiversity is alive and well at Polyface. I really appreciate Joel's personality. He's not arrogant, but he has opinions. He's open and honest, and happy to answer any and all questions. Another great thing about Joel is that he's a living testament to his lifestyle -- hard physical work and a good diet will keep you young for a long time. One note: while you can definitely bring your young children, two hours is a long time for a three year old to have to pay attention to an adult talk about photosynthesis and cow days per acre. I ended up having to entertain my daughter to prevent any sort of public meltdown, and thereby missed portions of Joel's sermon, I mean tour. read more

Polyface - Farms Near Me - Swoope, Virginia

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Polyface is the best of the best! They produce great food for the many that want to eat healthy now.

PART 1 of 2: -------------------------- Due to Yelp text, limits, this review has been split into TWO parts. -------------------------- 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's on her visit to Maple Ave restaurant (http://www.yelp.com/biz/maple-ave-restaurant-vienna#hrid:48kKpnPDbtxqLtiMHR6n0g) 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... **Continued in Part 2 of 2 or visit my Yelp profile and click on my blog link for the FULL review** read more

The first part of this review is going to be about the local delivery option and the second part is about the actual farm visit. I have made a few orders from Polyface over the past years and have been satisfied with the eggs, bacon, and whole chicken. there are designated pickup areas throughout the DC/northern VA area and the pickup was pretty seamless. they threw in a copy of joel's book "holy cows in hog heaven", which was a very nice surprise. I enjoyed the eggs greatly. The bacon was good did not have that super smoky flavor you get from grocery store bacon. it was a bit saltier than expected, but it was still quite good. the fabled chicken (from Omnivore's Dilemma) was really good - granted i took a litlte extra care in preparing it so i wouldn't waste a $20 bird. The part that blew me away about Polyface Farms is the "open door policy" described in Omnivore's Dilemma. I went two weekends ago on saturday. Please read the "visit" instructions and print out the directions. my phone (verizon) lost coverage so my maps didn't load. my car GPS luckily came close, but it was the paper instructions that were most useful. When you turn onto the farm, it looks like any other farm. a big beautiful farm house, barns, and plenty of fields Some notable things about the farm: Store: you park by the store and you can go in and buy any meat or eggs (remember, it is CASH ONLY). there is also a map inside the store that has pictures on it which tell you where the animals are that day. you can use this to plan your walk around the farm. they have the pigs, eggmobile/henhouse, cows, and rabbits all over the place. they also have other merchandise to bring home with you. Rabbits: they're friendly rabbits that are in these covered cages which appear to be moved across the field so the rabbits can eat/fertilize new areas. they're really nice and you can pick some grass and feel them through the cages. we didn't open any cages, but they looked like they had a lot of space to eat and lounge about Chickens: they're in larger cages than the rabbits, but the same idea - where they can be moved across the field. you can actually see the cages staggered across the field to cover every inch. the chickens are different ages. some are full grown roosters, and some still have patchy white feathers. they are a bit more skiddish than the rabbits, but still cool to see up close. Pigs: they are out in the field in a fenced off area. they seem pretty happy exploring and laying about. they're HUGE and are pretty friendly. we happened upon Joel Salatin speaking with some people and he encouraged a child to go right up to a pig to pet it. the Egg mobile: this is my favorite thing on the farm. it is chock full of hens. it is just as the book described. we got really close to the entrance of the hen house and were able to look in. it was unlike anything i've ever seen. the Compost Barn: there is a barn that is near a stack of pallets which has chickens all over the floor and rabbits suspended above them. it looks like this is where the farm lets their fertilizer mature/compost. wood cutting: they have a giant wood planer/cutter that looks like its used to cut all the planks and boards for the farm. kind of cool to see they take these steps to be so self-reliant. chick house: the baby chicks are all in one place. it is kind of awesome to see all these little fluff balls running around inside. Piglet barn: if you go around to the giant barn where they store the hay (past the electrical/mechanical storage barn), you will find a pen which has pigs in it. on one side are the bigger pigs, and the other has a pen of small (20-30 lbs) pigs. the open air chicken processing area: it is on the side of the store. you can see the machines involved in processing chickens, even the metal cone described in the book. it is humbling and good to know that Polyface really does meet/exceed expectations from the description. The gardens: these covered outdoor gardens are amazing. tons of tomatoes and peppers, herbs, squash, zucchini are all over the place. there is so much produce and food, the Salatin family must eat better than your Whole Foods regular. The bottom line: i took photos while i was there, so you can kind of get the visual: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pillpusher/sets/72157630215740534/ go to the farm. it's an incredible experience which really puts your food into perspective (especially if you're already a Polyface customer). stay in Staunton for a weekend of farms and vineyards. if you see Joel (most notable is is hat, glasses, and larger than life personality), he's super friendly and impassioned for his work. read more

I love its duck eggs. However this summer was so hot; the ducks didn't lay eggs. I had to wait until it got cooler. I was sad not to have the eggs but that's what i like about this polyface farm products- all natural way!!! read more

This review is for the delivery option in the DC area, not the farm itself. 1. Beef products good. No different than other grass-fed options, or other pastured products delivered to DC area 2. Prepared/cooked products horrible. Worst sausage links I've ever had, and disgustingly salty bacon (threw it all away...it was that bad). Tried soaking it, but it was still grossly salty. 3. Customer service...non existent. At least, not by any standard of good customer treatment I've ever experienced (years of retail experience at management level). Here's a quote from my final email with them: Polyface: "We learned long ago that it's impossible to please all the people all the time, so for a number of reasons we've chosen to create the parameters of our end of the bargain and if that is unacceptable, perhaps someone else will be a better fit for you." This was in response to a request for a credit to my account (not a refund) for the bacon, since it was SO bad. That's about $9. I had ordered $77 worth of product from them for a "trial run," and was planning on ordering twice that much for our second order to stock up (just meat products, no prepared/cooked food). I thought that was a reasonable request, and it makes economic sense for the business to keep a new customer. Not only have they lost my repeat business, but any and all referrals I would have sent to them; I just moved to this area and have the ability to order from them--I've already had a half dozen people ask where to get local and pastured beef...not from Polyface will be my future answer. Thousands in lost revenue, all because of $9 and their poor attitude. Polyface: "I'm not going to be able to refund you your money since our policy is that we don't refund cooked products...Yes, we could refund your money, but we choose not to. " Unforunately, as you can see from their reply, they don't care about their customers. That's what happens when a small business gets too big too fast. Joel isn't present at Polyface very much, since he's too busy on the road preaching his farming methods and selling his book; his wife runs the business side, and it's evident she has no training in customer service. Find another option for grass fed and pastured products; they're out there, and they're just as good (or better) than Polyface. Kudos to Polyface for leading the charge in local, sustainable farming and their work with changing government regulations, etc. But that's no excuse for poor service...no matter what. Bottom line: I would REALLY love to give my business to them, but as a consumer I can't get slapped in the face and turn around and hand over my hard earned cash. And neither should you. read more

Do yourself a favor and read the reviews below about the farm visits. The folks below me are far more organized and thoughtful than I am. My simple suggestions are: Bring a cooler. Bring cash. Use the directions that are available on the Polyface website. We visited Polyface on September 7th for a Farm to Consumer Defense Fund fundraiser. We ate breakfast, took a hayride tour led by Joel himself, ate lunch, listened to a band and then listened to some folks involved with the raw milk movement etc. It was a great day and I learned so much about farm technique and law that my head is still spinning. The farm itself is truly the highlight. I strongly suggest that you take a lunatic tour when you visit. It is a FASCINATING system that they have set up and the family is passionate about it. The animals are gorgeous (and tasty). We simply couldn't help ourselves when we hit the shop. T-shirts, bacon, sausage, ground beef, eggs - there is hardly a spare inch in our freezer now. Go. Go now. I am now sold on the "Know Your Farmer" movement. Especially if my farmer is anything like the Salatin family. read more

I was originally very excited about joining the buyers club at Polyface since they do local drop off in my area, and I could pick it up locally. I picked up my order last week, a few pounds of ground beef, bacon, pork chops and a whole chicken. So far the bacon is the the most fatty bacon i have ever seen, It was beyond salty. So salty infact you couldn't take a bite without a few sips of water. The pork chops were about a 50/50 ratio of meat to fat and gristle!! The ground beef was decent but noting really remarkable. I have yet to try the whole chicken, but have very low exceptions for that. One other thing that rather bothered me about my order from Polyface was that, when you place an order they give you a price estimate mine was $61. They let you know that the actual price may vary so I was expecting maybe a $5-$10 difference either way. When I picked up my order up my total was $83. I was surprised with a $22 difference in what i was quoted. I won't be ordering from Polyface Farm again. I really like what they are trying to do, but the quality of the meat is really poor. And I believe it was more expensive then the grass fed/free range meats available at Whole Foods. The quality of the meets at Whole Foods was much grater. read more

1. Read all other reviews and take their advice. 2. Go there and do the tour. 3. Enjoy. Joel is awesome and has it down - this guy is no joke and represents the future of farming as it should be. Take the kids and teach them how to eat and live. Support restaurants that support people like Joel and his family. That is all. read more

Kim S wrote a great review about the Farm's system. Though if you get a chance, read Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" and watch "Food Inc." Whats really really great about Polyface however is how DAMN GOOD the food is. I mean thats Mr. Salatin's whole point: Raise animals in a way that they get to live like God/Buddah/Allah/Whatever intended, and guess what, they taste better! Chicken that tastes like itself! No joke! Their roaster chickens are amazing. You don't need to cook them with any fancy herbs or preparations - just roast or grill 'em. So good. Try their pork products, but make sure you meet the pigs first. Happy, friendly, and clean these oinkers make the case for happy animals equals great meat. If you find the giant fluffy hens to cute, or the the well fed and content pigs just to adorable, then you might want to seriously consider vegetarianism. You have to understand the animal to appreciate it. Our disgusting industrial food system makes it possible for the squeamish to scarf down pork, chicken, beef without ever considering the animal. Its criminal. If you have ever seen 30,000 head of cattle in a CAFO and not shed a tear, then maybe the system is ok for you. I was moved to profound sadness when I first saw one, and was REALLY moved when I saw the opposing system Polyface has wrought. I hope that the lessons from Polyface, and other poly-culture farms nationwide can grow to displace a lot of the egregious practices of industry. Animals have a soul that needs to be nourished before we can appreciate their flesh. Treating them like machines, automatons is doing ourselves a grand disservice, and this is why Polyface is so important right now. Learn, visit, sample and love their food, I know have and will continue to do so. Oh, I just went last weekend and got to shake hands with Joel Salatin himself! I may just be a d-bag yuppie to him, but he's a real hero to me. read more

I'm not local, but this was a major destination for me on my visit, having read about Polyface in the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. My friend and I went on a day when Joel Salatin was giving public policy grad students a tour of the farm. I already strongly identified with the Salatins' methods and philosophy of farming from reading the book, but the tour really brought these methods to life as Joel showed us exactly how pasture farming and biomimicry translate into higher profits per square foot of land than most farms (including industrial). A day well-spent with an educated, well-read, articulate farmer who opened up his land and home to a bunch of strangers and had nothing to hide about his methods. As far as the food quality, they had a frozen meat case in the retail store so we bought and cooked a cut of sirloin steak, spicy breakfast links and a pound of bacon which his wife said to soak in water before using because it's salty but "the best bacon you'll ever have." Price is a high premium compared to what you're probably used to paying. The sirloin was good and had more complex flavors than most steaks, though more tough as well (and I cooked it medium rare!). The breakfast links need more seasoning--they just taste like salty pork. (They could add lots more black pepper, red pepper, fennel, herbs, etc., plus it wasn't even spicy). The bacon was, as Beth T. yelped, so salty it was practically inedible--after soaking 30 min. in water, too. So salty it makes your tongue cringe as you reach for a full glass of water. They really need to play around with the curing salt. Thankfully, I was able to use the rest as crispy bacon bits in salads and on top of roasted potatoes. In sum, great farming concepts and methods, great responsibility toward nature, not so great meat products that need to be tweaked for optimal taste and quality. It would be a shame if they left their bacon and sausage recipes alone and kept turning customers off--their meat deserves to be the best! read more

One of the few farms in America that does things right. You will find the highest quality products here, and I cannot recommend them more.

The leading example of what ALL farms should be like. We purchased a lot of products when we were there. My wife and I haven't tried everything we bought yet, but so far the duck eggs, grass-fed ground beef, and forest-finished pork chops have been the best I've ever eaten anywhere. Home or restaurant. Daniel Salatin, the farm manager, greeted us on arrival. He and everyone else there, was extremely sincere, warm and friendly to us and eager to tell us where all the different operations were located so that we could go check everything out ourselves. I have to say, it's very liberating and very moving to see exactly where the food you're going to eat is coming from. Especially in this beautiful, regenerative, land-and-people-healing, eco-enhancing, symbiotic, soil-building, people-and-animal-respecting way. read more

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If you haven't yet, pick up a copy of Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" He talks about Polyface, and the amazing farming techniques they employ. Amazing mostly because they are so simple and render such great food. There are self guided tours, and ones you can pay for as well, but read the book and the website to get the background, then venture out there and purchase some pork, beef, chicken, or eggs. It's all super fresh and tastes amazing. There's also a list of restaurants that use Polyface in their cooking if you want to check it out first. read more

We became familiar with Polyface after seeing Fresh and Food Inc. Living in the DC metro area it was easy to find out that they had "buyer club" drops to the area. We began purchasing from them and never have had a problem. We've also visited the farm for a tour (and Joel was there- working the cash register in the store!). Their prices are comparable to other's, probably even cheaper for most things than Whole Foods. Eggs are def cheaper. We've moved a bit closer and just drove down there to stock up a bit for the winter (about 90 min each way). The personnel working in the store were very friendly. Our main purchase- breakfast sausage as we all love it. We also bought some other meats, including 4 packs of bacon. We cooked up the bacon this morning, and as another reviewer writes, it is gross. We're really shocked b/c it doesn't seem like anything else we've ever gotten from them, BUT it could be taste preference or something. I've never heard anyone else complain about it, though don't know if anyone else has ever gotten it. In reference to the reviewer who left them a 1 star and complained about customer service. It sounds more to me like she's complaining that he didn't get her way. Is Polyface perfect? Of course not, but they have their guidelines, one of which is clear that they won't refund cooked products. If one wanted big business with people standing by to answer the phone, then that's not what you are going to get with Polyface and that's not what most people expect. Anyway, try it for yourself. If you join the buyer's club, there is no limit or "contract" you have to sign. If you dont' like it then purchase someplace else. Go down and visit if you can it was a good experience for our family. FYI the Salatin's are big encouragers of "telling" everyone to fine a source near them! I'm sure if there was someone closer to you where you could get the same things that's what they would want b/c that is their main goal- teaching people to eat responsible, sustainable and local. read more

3.5 stars. I agree with the negative reviews that their *prepared* items are not very good. The bacon is extremely salty and their sausages can be a hit or miss. Their breakfast sausages are pretty good however. My gripes with them is their new delivery service. They have a new cyclical system where there are order periods for certain areas. So once it gets to your turn, most likely their great items like their eggs and poultry are sold out. Due to their special business model towards sustainability, they run out of high demand items almost always, which can be extremely frustrating Their rest of their items are decent though. I've asked them how long they store their eggs and most of them are at least a month old. I'm not sure if they store them with their bloom, but I've done the water test with some of them and they pass the freshness test. Their pork chops are very fatty, which might be a bad thing for some but I personally loved it. Their special item poultry like their freedom rangers and 2 year old hens had very flavorful meat and made great stock. The prices however are pretty steep. I get that they are trying to do the whole sustainability thing, but their prices even fail the test against Whole foods and some local farmer's markets, which probably dabble in some ethical and sustainable farming practices as well. So I'm a little skeptical of whether it is worth the extra costs for polyface's particular methods and whether it truly makes a difference in the quality of its food and the environmental impact. I will definitely still try to support them though, since it is rare to have a local farmer that employs such a novel and interesting concept in farming practices. I'm curious to see how their business model evolves from now and competes against corporate entities and other local farmers. read more

Brilliant! Don't miss the farm or their products where you can find them. Well worth the voyage or the price!

I am addicted to their bacon. It is recommended that you soak it in water for about 20min. before eating. It is salty but you realize it is something to savor. Instead of eating a pound pumped with Nitrates and a bunch of other crap. I am satisfied with a few pieces of this delicacy. But hey if that isan't your thing don't eat, buy somewhere else, or make your own. And for those who say they can get the same thing from Whole Foods, read Ominivore Dilema by Mike Pollan and get back to me on that one. Support or be your local farm. It is the only way to go.. read more