Progress on the Meat Processing

So after a bit of a downer at the beginning of the week I am returning to good spirits. At the beginning of the week after emailing back and forth with a gentleman from the Department of Health I learned that it was impossible to process meat in my home. It is pretty much impossible to make any food in your home and sell it. The regulation actually says you can't make anything that is attached to a living area. So that got me thinking about building a "shed". I was already planning on doing this and actual considered putting the "butcher shop" in part of it anyway. This kind of forced the issue and so it looks like I am going to build a "shed" that will have one half for processing meat and the other half for storing tools and doing home projects. The key is that they will each have there own entrance. I will regulate temperature and bring electricity and water out to the "shed". I will go ahead and tile, insulate, provide air filtration and regulate humidity on the butcher side. All in all it is a pretty great plan if you ask me. I have gone and looked up the zoning regulations for the type of house Dillon and I are getting and it looks like I could get it classified as a "Home Occupation" and therefore be able to "manufacture" meat products. All the verbiage and nuances of the codes make it very hard to figure out if it will indeed be possible to do all of this. I figure I will still continue down the path of perfecting my recipes. I will kind of ask around and see if this is possible but not submit anything till I know I have all my ducks in a row. If all else fails I was thinking of going to the local butcher and asking to use some of his space and see if we couldn't work out a deal. Lots of fun, who would have thought it would require this much effort.

Step One of Sausage Making From Home Complete

So I asked the Department of Health if you could build separate structure that isn't attached to my house for processing meat and there answer was: "Yes, a separate structure on your property (if allowed by Planning & Zoning) could be licensed. It would need to meet the construction requirements in the 2005 FDA Food Code. Plan review by our office and appropriate building permits would be required."

Snag in the Plan

So after some investigation I have found that it is very hard to actually sell your homemade food products at a farmers market. While this seems simple like bake a pie and then sell it at a farmers market it is not. You need to have a licensed pie baking facility and then you have to get all these health department certificates and so on. At least that is what the guy from the Alexandria Health Department told me. That being said they where very helpful and it seemed more then willing to find a solution. However that solution sounded very complicated. On top of that I have tried to contract the "Market Master" for Del Ray and haven't gotten a call back which has been frustrating. On a positive note I did buy 5 lbs of pork shoulder and 2 lbs of back fat for making some Italian Sausage this weekend. Amazingly enough pork shoulder is very cheap and back fat isn't as cheap, who would have known. In the end we have all winter to figure out how to handle the issue of getting certified or finding a place to cook that is. In the mean time we can work on out recipes.

Moving Delays

Well it doesn't look like I will be moving after all in November. The folks in the house are going to want to rent from me for awhile and so I think I might get in around XMas. Well at least this will make my Thanksgiving a little more laid back. In other housing news, it might be two years and counting but I have made great strides in fixing up the house now that I have to rent it. Most of the walls are now patched and the kitchen wall is getting some last touch ups before painting. If all goes well I will be painting the house in the next two weeks. Then its on to find renters.

Farmers Market

So me and a friend Pickard have decided to try and start selling our wares at the Del Ray Farmers Markets. Oh you didn't know I am producing wares, well I am. In fact I have been having great success with things like Pancetta and Brats, even making my own butter from scratch. Pickard has been making hot sauce and pickles so we thought we might go ahead and combine out talents and start a little business venture together. We are thinking of starting with some staples like Hot Dogs, Italian Sausage (Sweet and Spicy), Brats, Jerky, Cherizo and some other week by week items. For the week by week we are thinking of things like pates, mustards, pickles, hot sauce, pancetta, salami, pepperoni, etc. So the goal is to have some core items by that Spring of next year to sell and then if things go well we might just expand. All hail "Del Ray Charcuterie"!

Been Some Time

So a lot to write down. I have been busy with buying a new house and trying to get the old one finished to rent. I have also been putting in crazy hours at work. The good news is I am keeping it all somewhat under control. Things of note that have been finished are 2 pancettas, one brined and boiled ham, numerous condo projects, the Nats season, trips to COS for awhile, couple loaves of bread, butter making, and more that I can't think of. I am going to try and get pics of the new place up soon. I hope fully will be keeping up with this again here but we will see.