My local chain grocery store has placed Memorial Day reminders prominent locations, everything from charcoal and lighter fluid to buns, ketchup, and mustard. You still have to trot over to the coolers to pick up hamburger, hot dogs, and bratwurst.

In the coolers, the only brands present are the nation’s largest industrial farms. It is challenging to find products from smaller operations, and you have to go somewhere else to find steak from a cow that was raised humanely.

Farmers markets, food co-ops, and natural foods stores usually showcase local suppliers who run sustainable, humane operations. It can be expensive — maybe not kobe beef expensive — but be prepared to pay two, three, or even four times as much. While the price is discouraging, I like to think of it as encouragement to eat more vegetables.

Lately, I’ve been enjoying bacon and bratwurst courtesy of Black Oak Farms in Byron, Michigan. Here’s how they describe their fare:

We farm a 700 acre, second generation, sustainbale family farm on the south branch of the Shiawassee River nestled in the rolling hills of Shiawassee County. We raise Berkshire and Chesterwhite breeds. We ranked 1st in pork quality among 20 producers winning Organic Valley’s 2009 Best Pork Quality Award. We provide for the humane treatment and the health and welfare of our animals. Our animals eat all vegetarian food raised on our farm. Our meat is grown without any checmical additives, antibiotics or hormones.

Black Oak’s products are delicious and they have kept their prices very reasonable, making my shopping decision easy. Unfortunately — other customers at my local natural foods store feel the same way, and Black Oak sells out within a day of weekly re-stocking.

If you want to avoid the industrial meat coolers but can’t find a decent local farm, another option is to make your own sausage. My entire background in homemade sausage is a 30-second clip from an episode of Seinfeld. Luckily, Kevin Weeks from NPR has helped fill in some of the details. Over at that link you’ll find instructions for making italian sausage, lamb sausage, bratwurst, and more. I don’t think sausage-making will enter my weekend plans, but it’s something I’ll think about later this summer.

So I picked up some fresh chicken sausage from the local food co-op.

In this case it was al fresco spinach & feta chicken sausage. al fresco is a fairly large brand and they produce all-natural chicken sausage.

Here’s al fresco’s mission statement:

It’s all about fresh flavor from fresh ingredients. Our mission is to provide delicious all natural products that are easy to prepare as part of a healthy lifestyle – live life with flavor

Well that sounds fair. Plus it was at my local food co-op, which I trust to vet (investigate to discover) all the products they stock.

Ingredients in spinach/feta flavor: skinless chicken meat, feta cheese, spinach, water, salt, dehydrated garlic & onion, rosemary, spices, natural flavor, extracts of spice.

After heating/browning these sausages, they were served in Rudi’s Organic Bakery wheat hot dog rolls with diced red onion and organic brown mustard. As a side dish, I grabbed a bag of Kettle Brand Jalapeno chips.

This made for a great meal. The natural flavor of the chicken sausage is outstanding, and the spinach/feta complements it very well.

Cost

• $6 for a four-pack of al fresco chicken sausage.
• $3.50 for six Rudi’s Organic Bakery wheat hot dog rolls.
• $1.00 worth of red onion.
• $0.50 worth of mustard.
• $2.00 for Kettle Brand jalapeno chips (on sale).

Breaks down to $13 for 2-3 meals.

I finally caved in and bought a $7 pack of frozen Italian sausage. It was expensive (about 3 times as much as Italian sausage costs when it’s on sale at Meijer), but it felt like the right thing to do. The gentleman who runs that particular booth is one of the coolest people I have met at any farmer’s market (though I don’t know his name).

To accompany the sausage, I picked up some organic hot dog rolls from Foods For Living and prepared roasted potatoes from a farm in Dewitt, Michigan.

Here’s a picture of this excellent meal; or you can hop over to my Flickr photo page for a larger version.

(1) Seasoned roasted potatoes (mixed varieties) from a farm in Dewitt, Michigan.

(2) Italian sausage from Almar Orchards in Flushing, Michigan topped with organic mustard from Meijer and diced red wing onions from the Wildflower Eco Farm in Bath, Michigan. Organic hot dog bun purchased from Foods For Living.

(3) Kettle-brand salt & ground pepper krinkle-cut chips (all-natural) purchased from Foods For Living in East Lansing, Michigan.

(4) Apple cider (organic) from Almar Orchards of Flushing, Michigan, purchased at the East Lansing Farmer’s Market.

(5) Two Hearted Ale from Bell’s Brewery of Kalamazoo, Michigan.