Final Harvest of the Year
Our final farm task every autumn is getting the livestock from our various pens and pastures gathered up and delivered to favorite local butchers. Simple as it sounds, this is a puzzle of mighty proportions for us, made freshly complicated each year by the unique quirks and personalities of individual animals. This year is no exception.
The turkey harvest was delightfully straightforward. Our ever-curious flock followed me (just as they did all summer, through fields and barns) right into the trailer while some visiting children formed a quiet gauntlet to gently herd them from behind. After they spent a peaceful night inside, I hooked the trailer up to the truck and off we went to our Amish friends in nearby Darlington who run a beautiful open-air processing facility out of their garage. Last year when I brought the turkeys before Thanksgiving, we’d had a deep slippery snow that morning and I was so terrified negotiating their steep drive that I got out of the truck at the top of the hill and yelled down to the father to come and get me and my birds with his horse buggy! He simply laughed and walked me through the best way down. But I was very thankful to be taking that driveway this year on a warm dry-ish day!
But the 2009 Hog Round-Up is destined to be one for the Circle M history book. In fact, the round-up started four days ago and is not yet finished. After two days of tempting, coaxing and pushing, we got three of seven hogs into the trailer and had to give up on the rest while we left for our appointment at Black Earth Meats. The remaining four are undergoing trailer therapy (their sole source of food has been moved inside that scary box) while we search around for another meat locker who can squeeze us into their schedule before the pigs get too big and the ground too snowy. Hopefully they’ll be safely dispatched before the steers need their turn in the trailer next week! Ah, farming.
The upside is that delicious meat in tidy old-fashioned waxed paper packages will be on the other side of this whole adventure. We’ll soon be putting together some lovely mixed Market Baskets for you to give as gifts this holiday season. But now is the time to place orders for meat in larger budget-friendly amounts. Those of you who purchase whole or half hogs and half or quarter steers will be able to work directly with the butcher to create a custom order of cutting instructions. Here are the prices for these bulk options:
Whole or Half Steer $4.30 per pound hanging weight
Quarter Steer $4.50
A half steer is generally around 400 pounds.
Whole Hog $3.60 per pound hanging weight
Half Hog $3.80
Our hogs tend to run from 230 to 300 pounds.
Of course, you can certainly just pre-order specific cuts from us, too. You’ll find our current prices as well as a detailed description of our animal care philosophy under Homestead Meats. As always, thanks a ton for your support of our little farm endeavor!
