In my quest to eat food that is grown/raised locally, without pesticides or added hormones, and in a manner that is cruelly-free, I made a trek to Calhoun, Georgia this morning to a small processing plant to pick up half a side of beef (about 180 lbs). The drive was pleasant and made all the better because I was accompanied by my friend Amy who is splitting the beef with me. We loaded up four coolers into the back of the Prius and headed out.

The beef was delivered to Sherrif's Meat Processing a few weeks ago by Ford Farm. I have been pestering Mike Ford since last winter when I first inquired about buying his pasture raised/grass-fed beef. When Mike sent me an email in late September that the cattle was finally ready but that he had more requests than they could possibly fill (selling on a first come, first served basis), I immediately sent an email to confirm my order and got a check for the deposit in the mail the next day. I was thrilled when he confirmed my order.

I called Sherrif's a week or so later and talked with them about the cuts we wanted. Being new to this I wasn't exactly sure just how much information they needed. They walked me through with questions like "how thick do you want your steaks?" and "Do you want roasts, ribs, organ meat?" Yes, to all. I'm not an organ meat eater, but the dogs sure do love it. I also requested the bones.

We pulled up to a small concrete building with a small receiving area in the front and a large walk-in freezer, and behind two metal, swinging doors the "processing" area. They brought the meat out already wrapped in white butcher paper, each package clearly marked with the cut of meat, in four crates along with a large box of bones with red meat still clinging to them. We loaded the packages into our coolers and stored the bones in the very back of the car. In so, the smell of blood and meat was a little overwhelming, so we put on the heater and cracked the windows.

We divided the meat and bones at home with each of us filling our freezers with a good amount of steaks, roasts and ground beef. I immediately threw the bones into two very large stock pots when I got home have simmered them for several hours (after sharing a couple small raw bones with each of our dogs) for beef stock. I'll freeze the stock for later use and the bones for occasional treats for the dogs--the largest rib bones I'm sharing with my daughter and her large Bernese Mountain mix.

If you live in the North Georgia area and are interested in buying healthier beef for both you and the cows, Ford Farm is a small family farm in North Georgia. Their cattle "graze well maintained pastures and are fed locally grown hay when grass is not available." They sell by the half and whole beef, mostly in late fall and early winter.

Here is their contact information.

Ford Farm
Mike and Beth Ford
1275 Emerson Road, Cohutta GA 30710.
(706) 694-4695.
E-mail: fordmb1@windstream.net.
Website: http://www.purebeef.onlinelocalweb.com/

Fall Planting

It’s a gorgeous day in Atlanta, perfect for planting the last of the fall vegetables. I managed to get 32 late season onions planted, as well as Swiss Chard, spinach, parsnips, broccoli—you may remember, I didn’t have ANY luck with broccoli in the spring. The problem was cabbage worms, along with my inexperience gardening and general lack of knowledge regarding combating pests organically—as well as Romaine, Butter, and Maevielle lettuces. We planted peas and snap peas a couple weeks ago and are still harvesting eggplant, red, yellow and Jalapeno peppers, and tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.

We haven’t had enough tomatoes at any one time to can, but we’ve been able to share a lot and have roasted several batches (stored in olive oil in the frig they will last a couple weeks), which are great on top of grilled fish or added to pasta, and we have been eating them in omelets, paninis, and of course salads.

We’ve had several failures along the way: carrots (only a few “short” carrots were harvested), beets (too small), beans (we just don’t have enough space to grow the amount needed to provide us with more than a meal or two), and squash. How, you may ask, can someone fail at growing squash? We are determined to learn the answer and will spend the winter consulting with Farmer D and reading (on top of the list are: Carrots Love Tomatoes, Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte and Food Not Lawns by H. C. Flores—a very thoughtful gift from our friends Bobby, Joanna and Jasper) so that we are better prepared next spring. We’ve also learned just how much work it takes to maintain a garden and that we don’t have enough space to grow the amount we’d like to.

Our success, of course, has been with the hens. They are healthy and provide us with 4 eggs everyday. We have been eating as many as we can and giving the rest away to friends and family. Two dozen eggs a week is a lot for a family of two, but they are so good. Mr. Man eats eggs in the morning and I’ve begun making omelets on the weekends—there is nothing better than eating your own eggs filled with veggies you’ve grown in your garden. Trust me on this one.

I’m hoping to extend the garden a little in the spring so that we can fit two additional 4’ x 4’ beds and plant three blueberry bushes. And, Mr. Man is building me a couple of cold frames for the beds so that we can get an early start next spring. We also need to think of an aesthetically pleasing way to section off the hens’ roaming area from the rest of the backyard, especially the patio.

Today A Blue Egg

Our White Leghorn, Letty, has been laying regularly for several weeks now and slowly the eggs have begun to get bigger, some days more so than others. Last week we began to find small eggs again, and although none of the other three hens is supposed to lay white eggs, we thought maybe Buffy, our Buff Orpington, was laying these little gems (all resources I’ve read say Orps lay brown eggs); she does afterall have white ears—supposedly ear color correlates to egg color.

Big Egg, Little Egg

We find ourselves observing our Rhode Island Red (Penny), the biggest of our backyard flock, and wondering what her deal is... she hasn’t yet laid an egg, evidenced by the lack of brown eggs in the nesting box. Today I found one small pinkish-white egg and one blue!! The blue is definitely from Matilda (aka “Tilly”), our Americana. So, we know that at least two, perhaps three, of our hens are laying. Maybe soon Penny will catch on and start earning her keep.

Blue Egg (I know it looks green, but really, it's blue)

The garden is doing well, and we have begun to think about fall plantings. We’ve planted more beets and are ready to get broccoli (yes, I’m going to give it another try), cabbage and spinach into the ground, and maybe some butternut squash, but definitely no brussel sprouts. I hate brussel sprouts. In the meantime, I’m hoping to save tomato seeds from the Heirloom Cherkoee Purple for planting next year. I looked up (thank you Google) how to save tomato seeds and found that you have to ferment them for a few days before drying and storing them.

Fermenting Cherry & Heirloom Cherokee Purple Tomatoe Seeds

Today's Harvest: Cherry, Plum, Juliettes & Cherokee Purple

Garden "Volunteers"

A few weeks ago I wrote about our “volunteer” tomato plants. We’re not sure where they came from, although we have some guesses that have to do with either birds or dogs—I’ll spare you the details—but we’re happy to have them. The cherry tomato plant has hardy been able to hold up its branches they are so loaded with tomatoes. I harvested many tonight and there are at least this many more that’ll be ready in the next few days.

Tonight's Harvest

These plants are definitely stronger than those that were nurtured as seedlings in a greenhouse and then transplanted into our amended soil in the, we thought, perfect spot in the garden. These plants are survivors... growing from seed directly “planted” in soil, unamended clay soil at that, in a location that gets less than the recommend amount of direct sunlight. Of course the best part is that they’re delicious!

I’m planning on saving some of the seeds and experimenting with starting them indoors and then transplanting them into the garden as well as sowing seeds directly in the garden next year. Hopefully their offspring will be just as hardy as these have been. I looked up how to save tomato seeds and found that you have to ferment them before you dry them. I’ll also be saving some of our heirloom Cherokee Purples as well. These are a little finicky, liking to be watered at the same time each week and the same amount. Otherwise they tend to crack somewhat. Ugly, yes, but still delicious. And I’d rather eat an ugly heirloom tomato than those sold by grocery stores that have been modified/bred for uniform size, form, and color, but are flavorless and mealey.

Heirloom Cherokee Purple Tomatoes