where does one >find a butcher these days?

>John Pavao

Hi, John

Try your yellow pages under "Butchers" or "Abbatoirs" (abbatoirs often have
an on-site store)  In large cities butchers can be hard to find, but why not
take a Saturday drive to a rural area and check the phone books there?  The
city closest to our farm is Lindsay, Ontario - population 18,000 - but there
are four butchers within a half-hour drive.

 If >there are hunters in your area you could watch for hunting season
>and hunters who advertise an excess for sale during hunting
>season and freeze it.

But first, please ask them where they hunt.  If they travel to remote areas
for their game, aokay.  But if they hunt in rural areas, you could be buying
meat from deer which live on contaminated water (rivers & lakes fed by
runoff from farm fields and highways) and graze on field crops heavily
contaminated with pesticides, herbicides and fugicides.  We have a lot of
deer in this area and they are welcome to share our pastures/use our
livestock waterers - but the deer invariably choose our neighbours' corn &
oat fields and drink water from ditches that even our dogs won't touch.  And
our dogs consider fresh manure to be a delightful treat!

Chris