A very repairful year so far

It seems the 13-year mark of small business is when all your equipment decides to break down, especially if most of it was already almost a decade old when you started (but of course we didn’t own much “new” stuff. We like our equipment already “broken in,” ha!). We’ve had to do a boat-load of repairs this year. Matt says we can start calling him Jack, as in Jack of… ... Continue reading | 2 Comments

Long John Gets a Job

Sometimes our life here at the farm feels like an experiment of epic proportions. I think it’s partly that because we are a family-run farm, things change every day because WE change every day. The kids are growing to be more and more a part of farm happenings. They seem to love every minute of it and are always listening for Matt to come in and say, “Would you like… ... Continue reading | 5 Comments

The Things We Say During Cattle Work

Farming provides an almost endless supply of hilarious inside jokes and quotable little sayings. It seems we live very much “on the edge” and “by the seat of our pants,” never knowing what challenges the day will bring. One of my favorites you can find on various t-shirts and mugs, and it reads something like this, “I’m sorry for what I said while we were working cows.”

The average city-slicker doesn’t… ... Continue reading | 5 Comments

Basket full of pills?

We often have people ask for guidance on how Matt made his recovery from ulcerative colitis. And I would say that, fairly often, they have received blood testing results that reveal various deficiencies that are likely contributing to their health issues. And so it makes sense that they seek out the supplement forms of whatever nutrients they’re lacking. Or does it? I remember when I worked for a local health food store, I’d… ... Continue reading | 3 Comments

Chinese Pork Is Better Than Ours

Me again… I like an interesting headline, don’t you? But what I really dislike is headlines that deliberately deceive you. Thankfully for this writer-wannabe, English is ambiguous enough that reading today’s headline really doesn’t tell you exactly what I mean. So you clicked, right? I would totally click. We all know China’s scary food safety history. It’s a pretty dismal record.

So how in the world can I say… ... Continue reading | 3 Comments

Chinese Chicken?

As the farm-communications-personnel-person, I get LOTS of emails. One of those I received recently was introducing a business that offers the service of processing raw chicken into value-added, fully-cooked, ready-for-use products. Things like shredded or diced chicken; fried chicken legs or wings; filleted chicken breast; popcorn chicken and chicken nuggets.

OK, so what’s wrong with that?

Well, the business is based in China. And it reveals a very… ... Continue reading | 1 Comment

2019 Custom Grass-fed Beef Processing

Custom Grass-fed Beef Sale

We have a very limited number of spots on a batch of grass-fed beef going in for processing around July 3. Read on for details on how to fill your freezer with fresh beef cut just for you!
Our beef is 100% grass-fed and grass-finished, and is fat, marbled, and excellent quality. No tubs, no cubes, no grains, no licks–just rotational grazing, good breeding, good minerals… ... Continue reading

A NEW Saturday drop in Longview starting March 9!

Have you ever been stuck in a rut and just couldn’t find a way out of it? 

Matt and I were laughing about how self-evident some solutions are… and yet, until someone thinks of a solution for the first time, it simply didn’t exist before! Like the wheel. What a simple and yet oh-so-revolutionary machine! How could someone NOT think of it? But there was definitely a time when… ... Continue reading

What’s the Difference Between Lard and Tallow?

What’s the Difference Between Lard and Tallow?

A very common question I get about our products is, What is the difference between lard and tallow?

They are both types of rendered fat, and both have been around for a VERY long time. I’ve observed that very old words often have multiple meanings, or maybe the current meaning has shifted slightly away from the original meaning. All that to say… ... Continue reading | 25 Comments

We’ll beat the socks off Butcher ___.

Jerica here, with some geek confessions for you. I love math. Did you know I almost went for a degree in mathematics? I wanted to be a code buster or something, I guess. Now I spend my days trying to crack the code on taking care of a whole farm, a very ambitious hubby, and five cute little crazy people.

All that to say… I really like running numbers… ... Continue reading