Something we’ve done for years here…well, other than 2011, which will forever and henceforth be known as The Anomalous Year That Tried To Kill Me and Failed…is fill our freezer with meat. A side of hog, a quarter side of steer. All organic, grass fed, at-one-with-the-earth, classical music loving, Birkenstock wearing freezer meat. Yum.
When we moved last year, we still had a lot of beef in the freezer and there was no way we could take it with us. We were homeless for something like 10 days; freezer meat was staying in Colorado. So we “paid” friends who helped us pack up the last PODS with freezer beef. There was a lot of beef. They were paid handsomely. Since that time I’ve purchased very little meat at the store. With the recalls of the last few years, I’m wary of ground beef (and pink slime) and frankly, I had grown quite accustomed to knowing my rancher and then telling the processor just how I wanted my steaks. Yes I realize these are all first world problems, commence the hate mail now. We got our side of pig a few months ago and have been happily enjoying everything but the oink. Well, not everything; I’d requested the tongue and didn’t get it. For my dad! He has unique tastes…and memories of hog slaughter when he was a boy…then eating scrambled eggs and brains.
On Monday I picked up our quarter steer. Unlike Colorado, when I could grab the beef from the processor on the way home from the store (such an awesome blend of suburban and rural), I had to drive into Wisconsin and back. Easy drive, and my GOD it was nice being in a car by myself for so long. Delicious solitude. But I think they grow steer bigger in Wisconsin, ’cause I sure don’t remember getting this much beef back home. Fifty-six pounds of ground beef (among other things) will last us a looong time. And if it’s anywhere near as tasty as the pig, we’re gonna be a very happy family of carnivores.
Moo.
We shared our “Happy Cow” with several families so we ended up with about 30# each. Love the happy cow! (We buy his happy pork and pork sausage too, but skip his happy chickens, rabbits, ducks and turkeys. Can you believe he lives in (sort of)suburban Atlanta?
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