A Visit to Stony Brook Valley Farms -

A Visit to Stony Brook Valley Farm -  Beyond Halal - Faith in Food  June 2, 2012

Ryan and Sara Voiland of Red Fire Farm

Ryan acquired the farm shortly after 911, and decided to name it "Red Fire Farm."

Ryan chose “Red Fire Farm” partly to remember the fire event, and also because ‘New Red Fire’ is the name of his favorite red leaf lettuce variety.

Mohammad Saleem Bajwa

ISLAMIC COUNCIL OF NEW ENGLAND - treasurer

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS - director

ELKADER FARM HOLDINGS - RED FIRE & STONY BROOK VALLEY FARMS

7 Sansouci Dr. South Hadley 

New Management - Bushra Fouz (w blood soaked jelly) and husband Patrick Bensen

Bilal Mizra - A specialist in Kosher Jewish Ritual Slaughter, Bilal  learned Islamic values at the Islamic Center of Boston with close friend and convicted al-Qaeda sympathizer Tarek Mehanna.

STONY BROOK VALLEY FARM - Jewish ritual slaughter demonstration by Kamran Saleem Bajwa.

Western Massachusetts is a different place. So many of the houses have farm stands out front that our friend Kamran, who grew up in the area, told us “in the summer, you never have to go to a grocery store.” Everywhere you look there is food, and people who care about food. 


Bilal also came out of this world, a world where good food is important. 



As a Harvard undergraduate and a runner, he started to learn more about health and nutrition, and began to really care about what went in his body. After a few years working for Red Fire Farm—one of America’s largest CSA programs—he purchased several acres of gorgeous pasture and is now in his first year of business as Stony Brook Valley Farm. Right now he raises poultry and eggs, and Boer meat goats.



Demonstration of the proper technique for Jewish Ritual Slaughtering.

Kamran Bajwa

We stood in the drizzle watching the meat chickens peep and scratch around, a few weeks old and only half-colored by red-brown or peppery plumage. They huddled together around trays of grain milled on-site in an old dairy barn, fortified with kelp, clay, vitamins and minerals. An adventurous bird or two stepped through the fence and disappeared under broad burdock leaves only to reappear a few minutes later. 

We talked about kosher slaughter. A good kosher slaughter, done with a flawless steel knife so sharp that it must slice paper, is quick and painless, the cut effortlessly made by the weight of the knife. Kamran talked about using Bilal’s kosher knife for last summer’s Eid, marveling at how easily it cut.

 We saw the knife later—an impressive Weimar-era German blade with an ebony handle that he picked up on EBay. 

The blade is squared off at the end to avoid puncturing the animal’s throat, a mistake that is painful for the animal and invalidates the religious validity of the slaughter. There are many little mistakes that can invalidate a kosher slaughter, which means that kosher standards are high. We can learn a lot from the Jewish community about perfecting technique.

Bilal's prize ivory handled German 'kosher knife' is very efficient at slaughtering animals according to strict Islamic standards.

Ryan and Sarah Voiland of Red Fire Farm - "With a name like El Kader, it has to be good"