Beef and Ground Beef CSA Shares Available

For those who have been waiting for a Standard Beef CSA Share as well as a Ground Beef CSA Share, you can now order them on our website!  These shares are a direct result of customer suggestions.  As we continue to say, "We want to be your Farmer!"  Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming.

A little about our new CSA Shares:

A Standard Beef CSA Share consists of 30 lbs of our grass fed beef and will include ground beef, steaks, roasts, stew meat, short ribs, etc... We will make every effort to distribute the cuts proportional to the yield of the animal.  Due to the low yield of some cuts, not all CSA Shares will receive every type of cut available.  However, we will make sure that each CSA Share contains a fair and proportional variety of cuts.

A Ground Beef CSA Share will simply be 30 lbs of our premium ground beef.  Each package will contain approximately 1 lb of beef.  This beef is no different than any of our other beef.  We do not use cull or "retired" cows.  Rather our ground beef comes from healthy young steers.  We simply ask the butcher to grind all the meat rather than cut into the usual cuts of beef.  Because our beef is grass fed you will enjoy lean and healthy beef that tastes like steak!

As with all our beef, our cows are treated humanely and grass fed (pasture raised) from start to finish.  We don't feed our cattle any grain resulting in lower cholesterol, lower saturated fat, higher omega 3 fatty acids, and higher conjugated linoleic acids (CLA).  Our CSA Shares are a great way to sample our gourmet quality meats.  Find out why even our "Foodie" customers proclaim our beef to be the best tasting beef.  Feel free to contact us with any questions.  Order here.   

Now on Facebook

We may be a little behind the times, but we are finally on Facebook!  Several of our customers have suggested we create a Facebook page over the past couple of years.  After it was (once again) recently suggested we decided it would be worthwhile.  We hope to provide more frequent farm updates, as well as greater insight into our farm.  Our iPhone will allow us to post right in the field providing close to real time updates.  It is kind of interesting how our technology is changing farming.  Can you imagine explaining this capability to farmers 50 years ago?!  The thought makes me laugh!

Please follow us on Facebook.  You can "like" us and share our page and info with your friends.  This is a great way to support a family farm!

Click here to check out our new Facebook page.





 

Reflecting on 2010

This year has been a very busy year for us!  We have had lots of ups and downs but hopefully we have averaged an upward direction.  This year we were blessed with the opportunity to expand our farm.  We purchased a new parcel of land about 1 mile from our previous location.  We built a new home on the farm as well as a large workshop/barn.  We have some of our pens built and will work on more through the winter and coming spring.  Our new farm will give us lots of room to grow.  This spring we will plant new pastures as well as a small apple orchard.  Our new location seems to have a constant wind, something we plan to utilize.  As finances permit we plan to install 2-3 SkyStream wind turbines (or equivalent) to offset the farm's energy needs.

 

CSA Shares

Our CSA Share program changed a bit this year.  After delivering 10 lb shares every month to our CSA customers we found that many of our customers' schedules conflicted with our delivery schedules.  (Especially during the summer.)  It was also a little hairy tracking which customers had received their shares and trying to deliver make up shares etc...  We now offer a one time delivery of 30 lbs.  (3 months of meat by the previous standard.)  When you run low on your CSA Share, you can easily reorder online. We have some meat lovers who order this every month and others who can make 30 lbs stretch for 6 months.  We have a 30 lb Pork Share ($160) as well as a 30 lb Combo Share (15 lbs of beef and 15 lbs of pork)($175).  Beginning in February we will be offering a 30 lb Beef Share ($190) and a much demanded 30 lb Ground Beef Share ($150).  Our goal is to keep these Shares in stock ready for a quick delivery.

 

Poultry

Raising poultry has been the source of many of our "downs" this year.  In Vernon, our growing season is a mere 90 frost free days.  This is good info for gardening but as it turns out is equally applicable to raising chickens on pasture.  This strong winds proved to be fatal for nearly every breed we attempted to raise.  We have concluded that in order to successfully/profitably raise chickens in our area that we would need to provide the chickens with a heated building that allowed easy access to pastures outdoors.  Another option would be to team up with another farmer in an area with better weather.  However, our plans have recently been squashed by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF).  Last winter we spoke extensively with the inspectors to find out how we could legally and safely process chickens for our customers.  They helped us get set up under an exemption that allowed small farms to process their own poultry.  Under this exemption, we had a young aspiring butcher process our chickens outdoors on our property following safety guidelines set forth by the department.  This has worked wonderfully all year.  Recently, we received a call from the department informing us that we would now have to take the live chickens to each of our customer's private property and process them on their property in order to continue under this small farm exemption.  We protested their request stating that not only would it be economically unfeasible, less sanitary, and ridiculously time consuming, but that no city would allow for processing poultry in people's driveways.  However, they refused to budge.  Our only alternative is a costly one, which would require us to build a full blown processing facility.  Even if we were able to justify such an investment the UDAF informed us that there isn't an inspector in Utah who is even certified to inspect our facility.  So, for now poultry is on hold for 2011 as we explore our options.

 

Pork

Our Berkshire pork continues to be the product that defines our farm.  We are pleased to be acquiring the reputation of raising Utah's finest pork.  Even customers from Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, and California have found our pork worth the drive.  This year we successfully switched to our own custom feed that consists of 100% Utah grown grains.  Much of the grain is purchased from local farmers right here in Vernon.  The grain we use consists of wheat, barley, triticale, and oats.  These small cereal grains produce an even higher quality pork than pork raised on corn and soy.  The small grains produce a harder and whiter fat that our chef and foodie customers love!  We also love the fact that our grain isn't being shipped in from all over the country.  In 2011 we will began raising our pigs to a live weight of 300 lbs rather than the 250 lbs we have aimed for in the past.  In our own experiments, we found that a 300 lb Berkshire pig offers a higher yield in terms of meat to bone ratio.  The marbling is better defined and the meat develops a slightly deeper flavor.  Overall we feel this will take our quality up a notch as well as offer our customers a little more bang for their buck.

 

Beef

Our beef sales have pleasantly surprised this year.  So much so, that we have teamed up with some of our neighbors to help us keep us with demand.  These neighbors have committed to raising beef to the standards that we have set forth.  We have been fortunate to be able to work with neighbors that have quality stock and well managed pastures.  They also have considerably more land than we have.  Our grass fed beef is complimented by our butcher who does a fantastic job dry aging the beef until it has developed a rich flavor and tender texture.  Our customers have repeatedly been surprised by the mouthwatering flavor of our hamburger.  We frequently hear, "It tastes like steak!"   To which we chuckle and reply, "Why shouldn't it? It all comes from the same cow!"

 

Thank you!

We would like to express our gratitude to all of our customers for their support; both in terms of orders as well as in the many kind comments and emails we have received.  As we look forward to a new year we will continue to dedicate ourselves to raising the finest, safest, healthiest, and tastiest meats utilizing sustainable, humane, and natural practices.  We are excited to pursue new ideas next year.  This spring we will kick off 2011 with another Farm Day!  We plan to host several farm days in 2011.  Not only do we love to meet and mingle with you, but we also enjoy allowing our customers the chance to see where their food comes from.  Our farm days offer customers a chance to really connect with their food.  As always, we want to be your farmer!  Please feel free to communicate your ideas, suggestions, and comments.  Let us know what products you would like to see.  We have toyed with the idea of offering bratwurst/sausages that are spiced with local Utah flavors.  Or finding a local artisan to cure hams and bacon.  Perhaps Rose Veal is of interest?  We are constantly trying to learn and improve and would be happy to hear from you.  We hope that as you gather with your families this holiday season that the meats you prepare are delicious and nourishing.  

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

PS.  Please don't forget that our farm is very much dependant on word of mouth referrals.  Please feel free to forward this blog or our contact info to your family and friends.