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/