Zach & Christina Menchini

Campfire Farms is on a mission to reduce livestock stress and produce the highest quality, best tasting product possible for you and your family.

Zach and Christina Menchini of Campfire Farms moved to Oregon in 2014 and raised 20 pigs on their farm the following season. In 2021 they produced about 300 pigs, 2400 chickens, and 1000 ducks. Most of the meat they sell is to people cooking food at home and sharing it with their loved ones.

“Our approach to farming is much different than how most pigs are raised,” Zach and Christina say. “Our methods are a combination of the “old fashioned” way that honors animals’ instincts and a forward looking consideration for our environment.”
Their animals are "pasture raised," which means that they “spend their entire lives outside and in an environment as close to their natural habitat as possible. Expression of their natural instincts leads to a healthier, happier animal, and a more nutritious and higher quality product than animals confined in modern meat factories.”

Zach and Christina don’t just care for animals. “We care for our soil and water, and seek to improve it every year through quick rotation of animals, which spreads out their manure and improves growth of forage and cover crops that we seed continuously. At most livestock farms, manure is a liability; here, it's an asset.”

How do you define your Good Meat® values?

It's meat that is a combination of good animal welfare and good environmental practices, which results in outstanding flavor.

How did you become Good Meat® producers?

The Union Square farmer’s market in New York City was our gateway drug. It was 2009, we were in our twenties, devouring Michael Pollan books, and getting our minds blown by pasture raised meats. We left New York and spent a year traveling and working on farms along the way to subsidize long term travel.

Our next step was a livestock apprenticeship in North Carolina and ultimately the decision to start our farm. We worked on seven farms over three years and learned about fencing and livestock, but also observed how other farming couples worked together or didn't work together. We made the move to Oregon for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one was that we thought we could farm and still get into the mountains to hike and ski. And we do. It's hard, but it is always worth it to stay connected to that part of ourselves.

What is one thing you wish more consumers knew about raising livestock for food?

We wish more people knew the true absence of guilt around eating meat that you get to feel when you raise it yourself. How it is possible to love up on a cute baby animal, castrate it, feed it, take it to slaughter and prepare a meal from that animal’s meat and to feel really good about every step along the way because there was care and consideration at every step.

What meat, or meat dish, do you eat most regularly and what do you eat for a special occasion?

As a family with two little kids, we eat a ton of hot dogs. For special occasions, we like to pick a cookbook and make several dishes from the same book; these days it’s from Jerusalem by Ottolenghi or India by Pushpesh Pant.

What is one of your biggest challenges as a Good Meat producer?

Money. How to make the meat math work. Where to find 80K for a barn or 20K for a generator while also paying feed bills and payroll.