The freezer is getting empty, so man must acquire meat to fill it!

Alas, I have been unable to get into the field to hunt so I must do what modern man does… and buy it. 🙂

I visited my local butcher to ask for another side of beef. I was dismayed to discover he no longer sold sides! But I spoke with him about it, and I totally understand and support his reasons. In short, it no longer made sense for him, business-wise, to do it. Heck, I was the first person to ask him for one in 2 months. Alas….  Of course I can still get cuts from him, but there’s something cool about having the whole animal, fully done as you want it, and all the choices and selection just sitting in the freezer.

I lamented on Facebook, and friend Schnookiemuffin told me about her friends at Sand Creek Farm. She said they were about to take some calfs in.

OK, I emailed them.

Emails exchanged, and it looks like we’re going to get a calf, about 500# live weight or so (probably yield 200-225# of meat). This will be “fatted calf”, if you will. Fed on momma milk and grass, mom’s all grass fed, organic, etc.. Apparently the meat will be a little more pink than red, quite tender.

To my knowledge, I’ve never had calf before. This should be different, and kinda exciting.

I’ve sent in my deposit along with cut sheet. I’ve only bought a side a few times, so I’m not 100% versed on the best way to get it cut and prepped. But calf is also going to be a wee different, and she had things on there like “arm roast”, and while Google told me about arm roast vs. chuck roast, I really don’t know what the fundamental difference will be… so we just got arm roasts to be different and we’ll see how it goes.

Oh… and they mentioned lambs too. Wife thought it’d be cool to try, so we’re getting 1 lamb as well. The few times I’ve had lamb I haven’t liked it because it was dry or tough. I figure folks just haven’t cooked it right, so this might be worth trying.

We shall see.

I reckon it’ll be a couple weeks before it’s ready for pick up. But I’m really looking forward to it! Not just because the novelty of calf, but more about knowing where my food comes from. How it was raised, how it was cared for, all that went into it. Food is better the closer you can get to where it came from. Closer to how it came from the Earth. Done old school. The CSA box we get from Johnson’s Backyard Garden. Getting this sort of local meat. The wild game I take. This is food.