Organic Poultry Farm in Crown Heights Backyard
Naftali Hanau is a man who knows chicken. Not just the chicken at the heart of his organic meat business but this chicken, which he has raised for the past two years in his Crown Heights backyard. Some day in the not-too-distant future, this chicken will make delicious matzo ball soup.
“I’ll slaughter them myself,” Hanau said matter-of-factly. “I know them — I’m not going to let someone else do it.”
While Hanau is far from the only Brooklyn homesteader who occasionally eats from his flock, he’s probably the only certified kosher slaughterer in the borough raising birds in his backyard. Hanau and his wife Anna are also among the only producers of organic, pasture-raised Glatt Kosher meat in the world.
“My wife and I got our start in this business working on small scale organic vegetable farms, but on these farms they were also raising meat animals,” Hanau said of Grow and Behold, the couple’s 2-year-old kosher meat business. “We were surrounded by all these delicious looking animals but none of them were kosher.”
Though relatively few New York Jews farm, many face the same problem: while small-scale sustainable produce is just as kosher as its conventional counterpart and about equally popular among all stripes of shoppers, observant Jews like the Hanaus have far fewer choices when it comes to meat.
“Because of the intricacies of kosher meat processing and what’s involved in the technicalities of kosher processing, the cost of the supervision and the oversight — all the different factors of kosher production really prevent Farmer Joe from having his meat kosher-slaughtered under that supervision and selling it to you directly as Farmer Joe’s kosher steak,” Hanau explained.
“We work with those farmers and we work with plants that are equipped to do kosher slaughter and processing, which takes special equipment and personnel.”
What began as a line of poultry products (neither raised nor slaughtered by Hanau, who calls his backyard hens ‘the ladies’ and classifies their function as ‘eggs and entertainment’) soon expanded to beef and lamb. The animals are raised on farms in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and meat ships to eager eaters in San Francisco and Seattle, as well as along much of the East Coast.
“It’s definitely a big and growing market,” Hanau said.
The same way some non-Jewish customers look to kosher meat in search of a more closely monitored product, an increasing number of observant Jews are turning to Grow and Behold for cleaner, kinder, better-tasting cut.
“I’d like to say there’s three groups of people interested in our product,” Hanau said. “One group are quality conscious — they want the best, most delicious meat. The other group is folks who are new parents and younger parents who want clean food for their children.”
The third, he said, are ethical eaters who value the company’s commitment to fair and humane treatment of both animals and the people who care for and process them — particularly in light of the scandal that erupted four years ago after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at the world’s largest kosher meat producer uncovered thousands of undocumented immigrants laboring in unsafe conditions.
“We have customers in the (western) part of Crown Heights where we live, but we also have customers in the Hasidic part of Crown Heights,” Hanau said. “Someone who grew up Lubavitch is also going to have the same set of values.”
shlomo as always with bad English
doubt that NYC law allow to grow chicken in backyard. fine can be much more than you economy
also it smell so disgusting, that neighbors really struggle
Moishefrompardes
fyi, this is also shechted at david elliot, & has chk shechita.
chaim
What has lubavitch turned into??? Maspiyim and rabbonim are to blame…Making a living today is hard, shlichus is out of the question so what is left???
sprintza
Chaim,it’s sad that you think that raising animals humanely is a bad thing. With all the tzarbe l’chaim that goes on in most KOSHER factory farmed chickens, I don’t know how the CHK or anyone can even give them a hechsher! Every being on this earth was created by Hashem, who loves it, and should be treated with decency and respect. It is the fault of the Mashpyim and Rabanim that this important part of our Torah has been forgotten.
NYC Chicken Ordinance
The picture looks like he is holding a rooster, which if he is raising roosters also in his back yard in Crown Heights would probably be in violation of the NYC chicken ordinance – which I read allows hens but not roosters in built up areas of the city. See http://www.backyardchickens…
Milhouse
#2, Um, what? What has this got to do with the decline of Lubavitch? 1) What has it got to do with Lubavitch at all? Naftoli isn’t a Lubav, is he? 2) What’s wrong with what he’s doing? Why would it be a bad thing for a Lubav to do? In what way is it not in the spirit of Lubavitch?
Boruch
To number 3: He is doing exactly what the original Lubavitchers did in Lubavitch. Besides, what unusual about a farmer in CH??? Sorry, could not resist.
Anonim
I don’t care what some modernischer does, but this is just another New Age shtick and another YCT type profiting off Rubashkin’s tzoros. We should not be part of this nonsense.
The tzaar baalei chaim in factory farms is only that caused to PETA nuts who cannot stand people enjoying healthy meat.
Unless this is priced the same as regular chicken, it it also a ripoff of the first order.
To #4-Sprintza
it’s tzaar baalei chayim not tzarbe lchaim – just thought you might want to know.
yechi
If this guy had a regular job he would have no time for this meshugassim….If you are hungry you eat chicken…
Interested
What is his Number ?
I would love to buy some
gh
naftali can you post your number i would love to visit with my kids…do you rent chickens, my 2 year old wants one for 2 days.
to #5.
There are roosters opposite the Shuk and no one stops it. Indeed my children heard them crowing while policemen were across the corner on their beat. Not a big deal when there are more important crimes to enforce. Besides who wants to put a rooster in a cop car? You know what kapparos smells like.
confused
What does he mean by the “western” part of Crown Heights? Does he live past Nostrand Ave. in Lefferts Gardens? Is he part of our community?
to #9
In the good old days before computers, we could comment on a persons spelling. Now with clicking and typing it is albeit impossible to send a properly edited piece due to inherent errors. I can’t stand it when we carp on people’s level of education when it’s really just the computer.