Naturally Local Meat Acre Station Meat Farm specializes as a butcher for hog and beef farmers who raise animals without steroids or antibiotics By Sidney Cruze
Acre Station Meat Farm’s fresh sausage recipe has stayed the same for 30 years. Butcher Richard Huettmann makes it daily, using a special combination of seasonings and the bowl chopper his father brought from New Jersey. The chopper, made in the 1930s, has a brown stone bowl worn smooth from years of use.
26 AUGUST 2009 Carolina Country
“My dad brought it here on a hog trailer,” Richard says. “He used it to make barbeque, German-style hot dogs and bologna, all with recipes he kept in his head. We’ve used it a long time now, and it’s not going anywhere.” Richard learned the butcher trade–– and the sausage recipe––from his father. He and his brother Ronnie grew up with the family business, committed to doing honest work and serving loyal customers. But even though the Huettmanns still honor these traditions, a lot has changed at Acre Station. Originally a small country butcher, Acre Station is now a custom operation that serves North Carolina’s small sustainable hog and beef farmers. By working with these local farmers to create the custom meat cuts and unique value-added products that bring them business, Acre Station is helping to rebuild North Carolina’s local food economy.
Old world tradition The Acre Station story began in Europe. Ernest Huettmann grew up and learned the butcher trade in Germany. At 19 he moved to America, where he married his wife Nancy and settled in New Jersey. After visiting Nancy’s family in Terra Ceia, Ernest fell in love with the Beaufort County landscape because it reminded him of his boyhood home. He moved his family
to Pinetown in 1975 and opened Acre Station Meat Farm in 1977. Ernest’s work ethic and attention to customer service made Acre Station a success. By the time he passed away in 1987, the business was thriving. At that time Acre Station operated out of one building, with the slaughterhouse and retail counter under the same roof. “We did everything ourselves, and our prices were cheaper than the local Piggly Wiggly,” Richard says. They added a new store about 10 years ago, which increased expenses. At the same time, prices dropped at local grocery stores, and people began searching for healthier alternatives to sausage and bacon. The timing could not have been worse. “We started looking for ways to grow the business,” Richard says. “Our building didn’t give us a lot of room to expand. We knew local farmers with a few cattle and small hog houses needed a processor. We also knew there was a growing demand for all-natural products, like meat raised without antibiotics and bacon made without nitrates.” The Huettmanns decided to target this niche market by becoming a custom butcher, one that provides madeto-order meat cuts and high-quality products, all from animals raised on local sustainable farms. “People want to know animals are raised humanely, without steroids