Photos and text by Kate Levin.
It is difficult to avoid the controversy surrounding the practices of industrial farming and factory-raised animals. From animal confinement and quality of care to the overuse of antibiotics and the reality of GMO feed, many consumers are finding it increasingly difficult to look the other way and continue to put this “food” on their plates. The solution, though simple, often feels challenging: source your animal proteins from farmers you know and trust, who abstain from routine antibiotic use and GMO-laden feed and who raise their animals on pasture, allowing them to have the quality of life they are naturally intended to enjoy.
In Southeastern Massachusetts, this seemingly insurmountable task is made easy thanks to the hard work of John and Carolyn Dufort of Dufort Farms. Entering its 25th year, Dufort Farms sits on 32 acres of historic farmland in the heart of rural Rehoboth. An additional 120 acres of leased land provides ample fields and forage for their pasture-raised livestock. The Duforts pride themselves on raising the highest quality meat using age-old methods, including nutritious grass blends, rotational grazing, and humane treatment of animals. And all of their products are grown or raised without the use of hormones or antibiotics. Carolyn and John Dufort began farming because they wanted to live and eat, simply. “Cows were meant to be on pasture, pigs are meant to forage. It’s what they do. They weren’t meant to be raised on grain or in confined spaces,” says Carolyn.
The Duforts sell their farm-raised pork and USDA-certified grass fed beef, as well as their honey and homemade jams and jellies, directly to the consumer, year round at their on-farm store and at many area farmers’ markets.
And keep in mind that from July through September Dufort Farms offers one of the area’s best “Pick-your-own” opportunities in their field of 1000 blueberry bushes.
Dufort Farms
55 Reservoir Avenue
Rehoboth, MA 02769
(508) 252-6323
www.DufortFarms.com
Kate Levin is an artistic, sarcastic, curious, concerned, introspective extrovert working as a photographer/writer/marketer and living on the endlessly beautiful Southcoast of Massachusetts with her partner, their nine-year-old vegetarian taxidermy enthusiast, and a Bernese Mountain Dog who thinks he’s a cat.