Good Meat Comes to Those Who Wait
They say that when it rains, it pours and today we are about to get drenched. Yesterday we received calls from our beef, lamb and poultry abattoirs that all of our meat is ready for pick-up. We took in 5 lambs, 8 steers and 75 chickens on different days, weeks apart, and somehow they all finished on the same day. That is an amazing amount of meat!! We have five large freezers ready and waiting for the frozen bounty and still we are a tad concerned that everything will fit.
In our feeble attempt to sidestep the feast or famine syndrome in our shoppe we keep our bull and ram in with the gals year round and allow them to breed naturally, at their leisure. That helps to keep our sanity intact (somewhat) during the spring months when most farmers calve and lamb out all their babies at once. In addition, this practice also helps to keep a steady flow of meat in the store.
This past year when we put our bull, Chuck Norris, in with the girls he bred 5 dairy cows in the same week and the beef cows fared about the same. I can only imagine that the sight of Chuck Norris in their pasture set their hearts aflame with the “absence makes the heart grow fonder” theme now that we are keeping the dairy and beef stock separate. Then, with the amazing amount of rain we’ve had, and our serious attempts at making our pastures more drought and flood tolerant, our grass is growing at an unprecedented rate. And that’s the reason Brayden is on his way to pick up eight steers, five lambs and 75 chickens this afternoon.
So this means that we will be fully stocked at the farmer’s markets tomorrow with beef, lamb, pork, eggs, dairy and chicken. We plan to purchase a small trailer next week so we can increase the amount of meat we take to the market each week and thus avoid the “sold out sign” as some have come to call it.If this weather keeps up throughout the season we will be able to offer half and whole steers in the fall so let’s keep our fingers crossed.
And so, as we come to the start of the feasting season we would like to thank all of our customers for their amazing patience and loyalty while enduring this period of famine. Week after week many of you purchased whatever we had left in stock and even though your heart was set on a rib eye you happily walked away with a sirloin or even a pork chop. That customer support has helped us come to the end of our last group of steers, lambs and chickens with nothing left in the freezers.
We would like to thank you your wonderful support of our farming efforts.
You never know, we may find that society in general will feel the effects now that our customers don’t feel they have to get up in the wee hours to get in line at the market just to get their River Cottage Farm meat. We should have enough for everyone, for a season!All meat photos – Rob Baas – http://countrysidefoodrides.blogspot.com