As I posted earlier, I have become very conscious of the environmental impacts of having such a large family. We have made some gradual changes which will not only benefit our family, but Mother Earth as well.
Watching the movie "Food, Inc." is a fantastic way to get motivated to feed your family naturally and locally grown food. As I have said before, two farmers markets a week in my town in addition to the farm stands and milk co-op I belong to are a great start. But I was ready to jump into something more.
So I bought a side of beef.
I heard lots of jokes about the front half or the back half, the left side or the right side, courtesy of my mother. My answer was always, "Knowing me, the left side. I'm saving the back side for you."
She makes me punchy sometimes.
I contacted a friend of a friend, and now a friend of mine, who owns a small Angus beef farm less than 3 miles from my house. The cattle are all grass fed without the use of antibiotics, except in the rare case of an eye infection. They are lovingly born and raised on this farm, with the exception of those pesky heifers who neglect their babies. Those calves are reluctantly bottle-fed by my friend with lots of cussing about that "heifer who I'm getting rid of very soon."
Once deciding to purchase a side of beef, I had to become schooled very quickly about cuts of beef and what I wanted. Basically, a side of beef is about 250 lbs. with about 20% lost in the processing. I would receive about 80 lbs. in ground beef and the rest in roasts and steaks. I had to decide if I wanted the prime rib roast put into steaks or not (that was a no for me, we'll use it at Christmas if not before), how thick I wanted my steaks (2 in.), and how much of my ground beef I wanted put into patties and how big they should be (half of the meat in 1/2 lb. patties).
My cow was ready last week. With specific instructions on how many coolers to bring and armed with my gloves to protect my hands from the frozen beef, my twins and I set off to Hagerstown to the Amish butcher who prepared my meat for me. I was looking forward to my trip, aware of a story brewing.
Once we got to the Amish butcher, I was immediately struck by a note on the door. To paraphrase, "Please respect us by dressing modestly and refraining from the use of profanity." The profanity part was not a problem, but the modesty? I certainly was not dressed like they were. With my shin-bearing capri pants and my v-neck short-sleeved shirt, I was exceptional aware of each square inch of skin exposed. What was I to do? So I walked in.
The people there couldn't have been more friendly. With a "Good day!" here and a "How are you doing?" there, I completely felt at ease. Really, really nice bunch of people. A young woman brought out a large cart of my beef and told me to just leave it when I was finished. As I'm loading my beef in the five coolers I have brought with me, Kate is chasing after a barn cat (very cute) and Luke is moving the cart all around (not so cute and completely dangerous). I say, "Shoot Luke, you're going to get hurt," and instantly my mind goes back to the sign on the front of the shop...refrain from the use of profanity.
I am not good at being Amish!
Back at home, freezer full of lots of beef. Beef short ribs cooking up tonight. Dee-lish! I think we will do this every year.
BUT, I will watch my language and dress more modestly next time.
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Post Script - As I typed this, I kept tying "beer" instead of "beef". I think I'm thirsty.
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