Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
Jo Douglas and her parents, Ian Douglas and Kristin Harris, take family burger night to a whole new level. This weekly occasion for the close-knit family is a time to celebrate local food, the Island community, and the home they’ve built together over the past several years. I was lucky enough to attend one of these special gatherings, and it’s safe to say I’ll have a hard time finding a more welcoming group of dinner hosts, a cozier dining room, or a juicier burger.
When I arrived at the family home, centrally located in downtown Vineyard Haven, Ian was already busy cooking bacon on his energy-saving induction cooktop. This was no ordinary bacon; this bacon was raised by Jo as part of her Fork to Pork operation on the Vineyard. As everyone enjoyed a few drinks and hors d'oeuvres, Ian plopped the bacon on a serving platter and headed outside to the grill to start cooking the burgers, also made with Jo’s local livestock.
Last year, Jo added three Hereford-Angus heifers to her stock. According to her, cows have been her favorite farm animal ever since she took her first field trip to a teaching farm as part of a program offered through her day school. “Jo was only about four when she first went. I picked her up from her first day at the farm — she was so disappointed because the cows were on one side of the fence, and she and the rest of the kids were on the other side,” Kristin laughed.
After taking a quick tour around the family’s beautiful net-zero home, it was almost time to sit down for dinner. I asked Ian how often they all get the chance to sit down and eat together. “We usually at least do lunch and dinner, pretty much every day,” Ian said. After doing the “Island shuffle” for years, Jo now lives upstairs in an attached accessory dwelling, so the family spends a lot of time enjoying each other’s company. “That’s one of the main reasons we moved to the Island — we knew we wanted to all be here together as a family, and we are so grateful for that,” Kristin added.
Once the burgers were done and everyone filed into the dining room, it was time to sample the fruits of Jo’s tireless efforts, and test Ian’s grill-master skills. My first bite into my bacon cheeseburger was illuminating. No wonder burger night is a household hit for Jo and her family. “I think this is the best burger I’ve ever tasted,” I said. “It’s just a little bit better than store-bought, right?” Ian joked. “You can see why we never buy meat from the grocery store.”
The only animal protein the family eats is raised locally, either beef and pork provided by Jo, or the occasional chicken sourced from Mermaid Farm or North Tabor. They’ll also get fish from the Martha’s Vineyard Seafood Collaborative, and will sometimes cook up venison that Jo trades with hunters for her pork fat. “The hunters really like to use my pork fat for making venison sausage, so I’ll give them some fat, and they’ll give me meat,” she explained. “I have a really close relationship with some folks in the hunting community.”
According to Jo, “you are what you eat” — a motto for the family when it comes to eating local meat and produce. And while she’s cognisant of the quality of food that she feeds herself and her family, she’s also always thinking about providing the best nutrients to her animals. Right now, Jo’s seven beef cattle are doing the good kind of “island shuffle” — constantly moving to new pasturelands. Jo uses four different areas of farmland for her rotational cattle grazing schedule, which means that the cows’ diets are varied, and they’re consistently getting the freshest grass.
Jo’s Leaf to Beef and Fork to Pork programs are going strong, and Ian and Kristin are supporting her every step of the way, although they regularly reiterate that her success is derived from nothing else but her own sheer determination and hard work. “She had a winning idea, and she worked twice as hard as everyone else to make it happen,” Ian said. “We’re very proud of her, and we’re lucky we get to share a meal and celebrate what she’s doing.”
Check out Jo’s new Leaf to Beef program and read Bluedot Living’s story about her Fork to Pork operation.
Read more about the Douglas family with Going Modular and Net Zero at Home in Vineyard Haven.
