This time, our variety packs will feature pork chops, bacon, sausage, brats, pork steaks, and ham. So order as many pounds as you need (you’ll be surprised how quickly you can use it), and you’ll end up with a wide variety of delicious pork for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I also wanted to point you to a flyer that we prepared for the showing of Fresh: The Movie last night. It is laid out like a gourmet menu – so use it to select your entrees. And we’d be mighty thankful if you’d help us to spread the word about our meat availability in 2010. Thanks to all of you that came out – really enjoyed talking to you all after the movie.

FFF Menu Flyer

I’ve included a picture of some pork chops before we cooked them the other night. There was a lot of red meat in there! I guess all that rooting and searching for persimmons and pecans does add muscle.

If you’re interested in buying next fall or winter send us an email  steven@franciscanfamilyfarms.com and we can put you on the waiting list. We’ll keep you informed on the beef that will be available sooner too!

Chris & one of the boys on the big day.

After months of collecting fruit and nuts, setting up fencing, and letting the pigs teach us what they like and don’t like to eat, we’re finally eating what we like, PORK. Our two 3/4 Red Wattle borrows were finally taken to the butcher a few weeks ago and the last meat, the ham steaks, are back and it’s all ready to sell. We were anxious to taste our natural, hormone and antibiotic-free, free range, pecan/apple/persimmon/walnut/acorn/corn and forage finished heritage Red Wattle pork and are delighted to say that it’s all excellent! I’ve feasted on pork burgers, pork chops, bacon, pork steaks, pork chili, and of course ham and loved every bit of it. Now I can’t wait to share it with you, the customers.

We decided to keep a whole hog and we’ve already sold some so there is a limited supply left for those of you who read this. We’re selling by the pound, $3.75/lb for 20-22lb packs and $3.50lb for  a half that is around 70 lbs. If you check around, this a great price for what you’re getting. The variety packs are as close as possible to an even share of all of the cuts… so it will be approximately 3 pounds of pork sausage, 3 pounds of ground pork, 3 pounds of pork steak, 5 pounds of pork chops, 2 pounds of bacon, 1.5 pounds of spare ribs, 3 pounds of ham steaks (either fresh or cured), a pound of hocks, and some neck bones (which are optional and only $1/lb). That’s actually closer to 21 or 22 pounds, but that is more or less the breakdown and most of it is vacuum packed for a long life in the freezer.

Contact me at steven @ franciscanfamilyfarms. com if you’re interested, or if you have any questions.

It sounds a little out of place but Bill Crites of The Storks aquaculture farm in Chaffee, MO has been raising both Rainbow Trout and Pacific White Shrimp since 2005 in his 4 large ponds. Bill experimented for a few years in a small existing pond and then had 4 ponds and a well installed to really make a go of it. Each pond can be drained for harvesting of the crop and refilled to start the next crop in his rotation.

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Over the cooler months Bill raises Rainbow Trout and as it warms up he starts his warm season crop of shrimp. As quoted from his website:

We receive our shrimp as larvae which we place into saltwater tanks. For a period of forty-five days we slowly wean the shrimp off of saltwater so that we may stock them in our freshwater ponds. Our harvested shrimp grow to an average of 8-inches long.

Often people comment to me that these must be prawn and not shrimp but they are in fact real shrimp. To go a step further, Bill only feeds the shrimp and trout an organic meal, making them appealing for the health conscious as well.

Bill has also acquired a local convenience store in Chaffee where he sells his shrimp and trout by the pound, and cooks some of the best barbecue around. We’ve bought shrimp for special events a few times and it’s always been easy to prepare, reasonably priced, and tasted great! I wouldn’t even think of buying shrimp from the store anymore when I know I could be supporting a local farming family. In this situation the farmer is selling the end product so he is able to make the best return and that should make a buyer feel good. I love seeing other farmers try something new and different and it doesn’t look like Bill Crites is stopping where he is, he’s already started a small herd of sheep!

If you’d like to get some local seafood, give Bill a call, he can also give you cooking instructions and tips. If you stop by the store, Larry’s in Chaffee, MO, I’m sure he’d love to tell you how he got into the business.

The Storks

Article in Sauce Magazine

What is Salad Bar Beef?

“Salad Bar Beef” is a term used to describe cattle that have been fed a wide variety of grasses and legumes.  The whole notion here is that we’re extending the old phrase “you are what you eat” to “you are what you eat, eats”.  In other words, when you eat an animal product, you’re essentially eating a bit of whatever that animal ate in its lifetime.  And every day when our cattle are moved to a new paddock, they have a “salad bar” in front of them – consisting of a wide variety of grasses and legumes… just the kind of thing that your doctor would probably suggest that you eat!

Health Benefits

Our salad bar beef is healthier both for what our cattle eat and what they don’t eat.  Our cattle are given no hormones and no routine antibiotics.  Grass is essentially the only thing going into their bodies, other than the salt/kelp mix that they have access to for their mineral needs.  Kelp is dried seaweed, and is a natural source of trace minerals.

So what impact does this diet have on you?  In addition to minimizing potentially cancer-causing hormones and unnecessary antibiotics, grass-fed beef is better for your body overall.  According to Loren Cordain, a professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Colorado State University, grass-fed beef resembles the wild game our ancestors ate.  It contains less fat, less saturated fat, more CLA (an anti-cancer fat) and more omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed beef.  This means that the fat in grass-fed beef has more “good” fat, much like salmon, which has also been touted as a good source of healthy fat.

Quality / Taste

The heath benefits of salad bar beef would be of limited value if the beef ended up tasting awful.  But the beautiful thing is that beef that is finished on grass is wonderful – in our opinion, it makes other beef pale in comparison.  But don’t take our word for it:

Which steak tastes the best? – Slate Magazine

Environment / Sustainability

About 70% of the corn grown in the United States is fed to animals.  Instead of letting cattle pack on the pounds by eating grass, we move them all to centralized feed lots and ship in corn for them to eat.  We believe that it is a more sustainable option to let the cattle harvest their own food – by eating the grass directly from the ground.  This article from the New York Times Magazine lays out the life of a typical steer… it is well worth a read for anyone interested in the food that they eat:

New York Times Magazine – “This Steer’s Life”

How can I order?

Please let us know if you’d like to purchase salad bar beef from us.  We are building a list of folks who would like to be notified when we next have beef for sale.