We Ate a Rib-eye for Dessert!

In my last post I explained that we recently harvested our first two pasture-raised Black Angus steer. They lived on our lush, green pasture year round, eating grass and clover during the growing season and locally-produced hay in the winter.  They also got a handful of sweet feed in a bucket every day.  We did that so we could easily entice them back if they ever got out of the fence, which they did only once.  All we had to do was shake a bucket with little sweet feed in it and they came running! Because not everyone likes 100% grassfed beef, or even knows how to cook it properly, we finished our beef with a little grain.  That meant that during the last month we fed the steers a one to two pounds of grain each day.  This added some internal fat to the meat, making it naturally tender and juicy.

The steers were processed at Wells, Jenkins, Wells Meats (USDA inspected) in Forest City, NC.  They were such nice people to work with!  There the carcass was aged for two weeks; another secret to ensuring tender, flavorful meat.  Supermarket meat is rarely aged anymore because it is too costly a process.  Our meat was then butchered, vacuum packed, and frozen.

Today we sold our first two quarter-sides of beef.  I was envious that our customers were probably going to enjoy our beef before we did!  We already had a spaghetti dinner planned for the evening, so we ate that, but then celebrated our first sales by grilling a ribeye steak for dessert.  That's a picture of it above.  Oh my!  THAT was a good steak.  A very good steak.  It was juicy, flavorful, tender, and fragrant.  It was the best steak I have eaten in a very, very long time.  It was so good that we decided then and there to have steak for Thanksgiving dinner.  Now I can't wait to sample a roast and the ground beef.

We still have quarters for sale.  If you are interested, please read the post from October 19th for details or just email us at davis2722@bellsouth.net.

Our Locally-Grown, Grass Fed Black Angus Now for Sale!

A recent picture of one of the two steer.

Grass-Fed Angus Beef For Sale
UPDATE 5/24/2012 THIS BEEF IS ALL SOLD

                This is our first year participating in the adventure of locally-produced food, so please join us.  Know where and how your meat was cared for!   We obtained our calves from a large, well-known WNC farm operation which were then gently raised on our small family farm in Etowah, NC.  Our cattle are Black Angus steers, the best for high-quality beef.  They are grass-fed, with no hormones or antibiotics, supplemented with locally-grown hay during the winter and a grain finish (to improve taste and marbling).   The steers are 2 years old and in their prime.

The cattle will be handled at a local USDA-inspected processing facility.  After slaughter, the meat will be hung for two weeks -to age and tenderize before processing.  You won’t get meat from a half-dozen cows from different sources…everything you get will be from one steer.

We are selling by the quarter, but you can buy a quarter, a half or a whole steer!  All cuts will be vacuum-packed and frozen and will be available approximately mid-November for pickup.  We have a typical package (see below), but if you contact us right away (before the actual processing happens) we can have the cuts customized to your wishes.

Typical ¼ steer package:

• 1” steaks-2 round,  4 Sirloin,  8 T-bone (more or less),  8 Rib-eye,  8 pieces of cube steak
• Roasts-2 Sirloin tip,  1 shoulder,  2 chuck (center-cut)
• Other cuts-12 strips of short ribs,  10lbs. of stew meat,  28-30 lbs. of ground beef

Weights prior to butchering are estimates, but the steers should yield at least 100 lb. of meat per ¼.

Many other farms sell by “Hanging Weight” which means what the carcass weighs prior to butchering.  There is always waste, but average recovery of finished meat is about 60% of hanging weight.  So a lower price looks good, but when the waste is figured in, the real price per pound is much greater.  We sell per finished product, so you can better judge what you are paying for.  Since we do not know what the carcass weighs until it is butchered, you may get 100 lbs. or you may get more.  You pay per pound of what your quarter yields, but you only pay for what you get!

Here are some typical meat prices (including sale prices) taken from a local grocery store chain on October 1.  PLEASE NOTE:  This is for “Beef”-NOT for locally-produced, grass-fed Angus beef without hormones and antibiotics and other chemicals used to raise cattle in commercial feed-lots.  We believe that OUR beef is far better than typical commercial beef:

Sirloin steak- $4.78/lb., Rib-eye steak- $10.98/lb., T-bone steak-$12.98/lb., Top round steak $4.78/lb., Cube Steak $4.38/lb.,  Chuck roast- $4.98/lb., Sirloin tip roast- $3.49/lb., Stew Beef $4.28/lb.  

For  our  100% natural, locally-raised, grass-fed,  Black Angus Beef we are asking only  $5.25/lb  for everything!  Steaks, Roasts, Stew meat, ribs and ground meat.   

How to contact us:  
Glen and Jeanine Davis   (828) 243-0806 

Email:  davis2722@bellsouth.net

Spring is Here at Our Tiny Farm!

Our girls produce the best tasting eggs!

It is the second full day of spring and it is a GLORIOUS day!  Warm and sunny, with a gentle breeze.  It doesn't get much better than this.  It is perfect weather for working the soil, planting spring crops, cleaning and repairing equipment, picking up branches, etc. 

We hope to expand our tiny farming operation this season. Hubby has serious back, hip, and shoulder issues to deal with, so it is all about finding what works with what we have to give to the place. Hubby is still working out his plans for the steer; how long to keep them and how to sell the meat.  I'm tending towards getting another season of grass feeding in and using a CSA type arrangement to sell eighths, quarters, and halves. But, the grass-fed beef is his thing. 

One of the decisions I have to make is whether we should get into small-scale commercial egg production or just keep 6 to 8 hens to produce eggs for home use with a little left for bartering.  We've pretty much decided not to do meat birds, but I do enjoy the eggs.  I will put a pencil to paper later this week and figure out how many hens we would need to actually make any money at it.

We do want to increase honey, vegetable, berry, and herb production.  And we need to talk to our daughter about whether she wants to do any flower sales or not.  We are increasing production of asparagus, garlic, potatoes, popcorn, and winter squash this year.

We have signed up to be day vendors at the Mills River Farmers Market on Hwy 280.  Being a day vendor means we won't be there every week.  We are easing into this slowly because we don't want to get in over our heads, especially since I have a demanding full-time job that often has me out nights and weekends.  I would love to include some value-added food products to our sales, but our kitchen would never pass inspection for that purpose (because of the dog and cats), so I might look for a commercial kitchen in the community to use.  I have some wonderful recipes using fresh vegetables and herbs that I would love to share with you.   

Here are some pictures from the past few months on Our Tiny Farm

The steer (or is it "steers"?) battling it out on a sunny winter day.

They are growing up nicely, don't you think?

The animals produce lots of "black gold" for our gardens; management of which is made much easier with a little heavy equipment.

Aged manure was worked into the vegetable garden area in February.

The "Anne" magnolia is beautiful with a heavenly scent (March 22).

The garlic looks good for mid-March; ready for the first side-dressing of organic fertilizer.

Prepping the area for potatoes and peas; we all take turns with the tiller.

The steer enjoying the fresh spring grass!

Daffodil season is almost over.

These girls are going into their 4th season and they are still producing LOTS of eggs!

Our Tennessee Walker is a "mature horse", so we are very cautious in the spring to prevent colic and founder. That means restricting access to the pasture when the grass and clover start growing rapidly.  Like right now. He's not too happy about the situation and will do his best to try to open the paddock gate!

Wow, I have some catching up to do!

My on-line presence seems to be getting away from me!  Between my work and home lives, I (try to) maintain two FB accounts, two Twitter accounts, three websites, and three blogs.  Sometimes things fall through the cracks and obviously this time it was this blog.  So, I'll do a little updating on what's been going on around Our Tiny Farm for the past few months.

We built the steer a manger.  A really big manger!  And it works great.  It's positioned close enough to the fence line that we can just toss the hay over the fence into the manger.  Helps us move through the evening chores with ease (especially welcome on those really cold winter nights).

The horse and donkey are also faring well this winter.  By closing the doors on one side of the barn, they have a cozy place to sleep when the wind is howling.

I attended the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Winston-Salem in early December. We got the first snowfall of the season while we were there.  The snow was really pretty; I took this picture from my hotel room.  And the conference was great, too. 

We've had lots of snow at the farm, too.  It is so beautiful.  Just wish it didn't make getting around so difficult!

We currently live with four cats and a dog in the house.  There is no way to keep up with all the fur these animals shed, but they sure are entertaining.  I just thought this was the cutest shot of three of the felines!

Christmas morning the ground was clear when we went out to do the morning chores.  This is what the front pasture looked like by about 1:00 in the afternoon.  It was truly a "white Christmas"!

Winter evenings are good for cooking yummy meals and creating all kinds of useful crafts.  Right now I'm into knitting and crocheting with soft, hand-dyed yarns.  I crocheted this shawl for my sister-in-law, Bette.  It has lots of mohair in it and is wonderfully warm and cuddly. 

Earlier this month I particpated in the Southeastern Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Savannah where I took this beautiful winter shot by the river.

One of my employees gave me an amaryllis for Christmas.  It bloomed the other day!

So now I'm caught up.  I'll try to do better in the future.





Our Day Long Thanksgiving Menu

Photo from TasteofHome.com

We don't stand much by tradition at Our Tiny Farm. Matter of fact, we often get bored with it. And making the same thing every holiday is one of those traditions my family decided we could definitely live without.  Last year we made fondue feasts for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We had cheese fondues, broth fondues for cooking meats, and chocolate fondues.  This year when we first began discussing it, my daughter suggested doing Breakfast for Thanksgiving.  At first we all went, "What?"  But then we got to talking and planning and before we knew it we had some great ideas going.  A few days later my daughter brought home the Taste of Home Easy Breakfast and Brunch magazine and we quickly created a menu for the day.  Instead of having one big feast, we decided to have six courses spread throughout the day.  The first course was offered at 8 am and the last at 10 pm.  That way, the cooking never got frenzied, we never overstuffed ourselves, and we had time throughout the day to walk, be with the animals, play on the computer, read, etc.  Whenever we could we used vegetables and herbs raised in our own gardens, and of course, we used our own farm-fresh eggs. 

I mentioned this Thanksgiving plan on my work-oriented Facebook account and several people expressed interest in knowing what we were having.  So throughout the day I Twittered our courses.  For posterity's sake, I thought I would also document our menu here.  Most of these recipes came from the magazine described above and I think all of them can be accessed on tasteofhome.com.

First Course:
Sausage egg casserole (put together the night before)
Home fries (hubby's recipe; using our own potatoes and peppers)
Lots of fresh coffee

Second Course
Pumpkin pancakes (made with our own Seminole pumpkins)
Thick cut, pepper bacon
Fresh fruit salad
Screwdrivers

Third Course
Gingerbread waffles
Maple sausage patties
Screwdrivers

Fourth Course
Flaky biscuits with sausage gravy
Savory herbed scrambled eggs (our own eggs and herbs, of course)
Fresh fruit

Fifth Course
Ham-egg paninis (with our own eggs)
Fresh Davis cranberry relish

Sixth Course
Pecan-pumpkin pie (our pumpkins, of course)
Rich chocolate mousse
Coffee

Now I can't wait to see what we'll come up with for Christmas!

Jeanine Will Be Speaking at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on Nov. 4 and 6

Photo from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens website

This weekend I'm prepping for my presentations at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on November 4 and 6, 2010. 

On Thursday evening, I will be giving a lecture entitled "Exotic and Edible: Unusual Plants and Fungi for Home Gardens".  My objective is to get my audience of gardeners to "think outside the box".  Often when I talk to people about growing something new and different in their gardens, they mention new varieties or unusual forms of a common vegetable, e.g., purple cauliflower or white tomatoes.  In this presentation I want to introduce people to crops they might never have heard of or never thought about growing themselves.  Some of these plants or fungi are easy to grow, but others are challenging and only a few gardeners will be successful producing them.  But what fun, huh?  Wouldn't you like to be the first in your neighborhood growing wasabi, hops, or truffles?

Free Alston Lecture, Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 7 p.m.  No reservations required.

Then on Saturday, I will be offering a full-day workshop on "Growing Your Own Pharmacy".  This will be directed at home gardeners, but people who are interested in perhaps doing this commercially will also gain a lot from the workshop.  There will be several colorful Powerpoint presentations illustrating 20 or more medicinal herbs to grow in the sun and shade and how to grow, harvest, and dry herbs.  There will also be two hands-on activities.  One on making simple tinctures and another on propagating medicinal herbs.  All attendees will go home with "tinctures in process" and several potted plants.

Workshop is Saturday, November 6, 2010 from 10 am to 3 pm with lunch included.  $75 ($65 for garden members).  Reservations are required.  Contact the Botanical Garden directly for that information.

Atlanta Botanical Garden

Now, off to the stores to buy some of my supplies!  This is going to be so much fun!!!

Early Fall on Our Tiny Farm

 Beautybush

What a glorious fall we are having in western North Carolina!  After the hottest summer on record, I think we are all enjoying the cool temperatures, gentle breezes, clear blue skies, and the brilliant colors that our area is so well known for.  If you have never visited western North Carolina, this is the time of year you should choose to come.  This is when those of us who live here walk around thinking to ourselves, THIS is why we live here. It is SO BEAUTIFUL!

Our chickens enjoying fresh corn from the garden.

Life on the farm keeps us all busy.  The chickens are in various stages of molting.  They look so pitiful at this stage.  Makes some of them a little nasty, too.  We are fortunate this year that they aren't all molting at one time (that's what they did last year), so we are still getting some egg production. We have already replaced the chicken wire and sheet plastic on the coop and run, so all we have to do for the winter yet is throw a fresh coat of paint on. 

Our own Japanese hulless popcorn.

We grew our own popcorn for the first time this year.  We grew a heirloom variety that I picked up at a seed swap.  It is called "Japanese Hulless Popcorn".  It did great!  Easy to grow; no worms.  We harvested it all when we thought it was dry.  Then we spread it out on a table in the house and test popped a few kernels every few days.  When better than 90% popped, we shucked it and put it into the glass jars like you see in the picture.  It is very good popcorn.  One ear is ruby red, so we are saving most of it for planting next year.

The fall garden is producing spectacularly!  We have an abundance of Seminole pumpkins, butternut squash, bok choy, lettuce, peppers, end of season tomatoes, and leeks coming off right now.  The basil, broccoli, cauliflower, and summer squash are still growing.  And there are lots of herbs tucked up close to the house where they are protected from the early frosts.  The cellar is packed with pumpkins, winter squash, and potatoes. The freezers have a rainbow of great looking vegetables stacked neatly inside. The honey is in jars and waiting on the shelves for hot biscuits and cups of tea.  Life is good.

  Donkey had an abscess!

I'm happy to report that Murphy's Law is still functioning well at Our Tiny Farm.  Early in the month my dear hubby and I were all packed and ready to head to Charlottesville, VA for the Heritage Harvest Festival.  We went out to feed the animals before we left when we discovered the donkey was lame.  This is the donkey who has never been sick or hurt in his entire life.  But the one and only day this year that we both plan to "get away for the weekend", the donkey is lame.  We were so fortunate that the vet could come right out, find and treat the abscess, and reassure us that it really was okay for us to leave for a few days.  The fun would be when we got home and had to soak his foot for fifteen minutes twice a day for about five days.  That was an interesting experience, but no one got hurt!

  New flashing put on the barn.

Last winter was long, cold, and very wet.  We had snow on the ground from mid December through mid March.  That is very unusual for us here in the southern mountains and we really weren't prepared for it. Much of the winter the barn floor was a muddy mess.  It was not comfortable for the animals and I worried about their feet all winter.  So we decided to remedy that problem.  We are raising the floor of the barn.  We put more treated lumber on the bottom of the walls, put on flashing to prevent moisture damage, raised all the doors, graded away from the building, put a very thick layer of fine gravel inside, and built new ramps to the doors.  Tomorrow the new sawdust arrives to spread over the gravel.  It was quite a task, but now it is a very nice barn!.  

 

The big pile of "screenings" used to build up the barn floor. 

The next tasks on the list include building a run-in for the cattle, getting in our hay, and putting up a small greenhouse.  We never seem to run out of things to do around here!