Windy Meadows

Winter Price List 2011-2012

Item                            Price/lb.

Ground beef                 $5.50       One-pound packages

Ground round               $6.50       One-pound packages

Stewing beef                $5.50       Two-pound packages

Ribeye steak                $15.00      2 steaks/package

NY strip                       $15.00      2 steks/package

Filet mignon                 $19.00      2 steaks/package

Sirloin steak                 $10.00      2 steaks/package

Flat iron                       $10.00      Great for grilling  

Petite tender                $10.00      Great for grilling

Hanger steak               $10.50      Best for steak frites

London broil                 $8.00        top round; great for grilling

Skirt steak                   $8.50        Perfect for fajitas

Flank steak                  $8.50       Great for stir-fry

Sirloin tip roast             $7.50        3 lb. roasts

Rump roast                  $7.50        3 lb. roasts

Eye of round roast        $7.00        3 lb. roasts

Chuck roast                 $6.50        3 lb. roasts

Short ribs                    $6.50        4 meaty ribs/package

Shank                         $5.50        Great for braising

Liver                           $4.50        Liver lover's dream

Soup bones                 $2.50        Perfect for making stock

 

All Windy Meadows beef is raised on grass and clover pastures grown without chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Our Angus-Simmental cattle are never given additional hormones or growth-promoting antibiotics. They have free-choice access to certified organic kelp meal and high-magnesium mineral supplements.

Prior to processing and as weather and growing conditions dictate, we offer our animals locally-grown hay (certified organic, when available) and modest amounts of low-starch supplements such as soybean hulls. This helps them to grow at a moderate pace as they eat what their systems were intended to ingest. Our beef is processed locally, dry-aged for a minimum of 14 days for peak flavor and tenderness and flash-frozen to ensure quality.

Place your order by dropping us an email or giving us a call at 336.376.5559. All orders are taken subject to availability and are strictly first come, first served.

You will receive a 5% discount and get just the cuts you like by choosing the Personal Assortment Box which is any order that totals $150 or more. Or, you can leave the selecting to us. We will pack you a $150 Grower's Assortment Box that will have, at a minimum, six steaks, 5-6 pounds of ground beef, 1-2 packs of stewing beef, one pack of short ribs, one roast and a package of beef shanks. However, we pack it, you are assured of receiving at least a 10% discount on your order.

This winter we will also be offering the opportunity to buy a whole, half or quarter of a beef. The pricing is a substantial discount off individual cuts. At $6.00, $6.10 or $6.25 per pound, this is a most economical way to purchase meat. Why not gather a few friends and neighbors and fill your freezer with delicious, locally-raised Windy Meadows beef?

We are happy to deliver orders over $100 within a reasonable distance of the farm or you are always welcome to pick up any amount at Windy Meadows. Just be sure to call ahead at 336.376.5559 to make sure we are here.

 

Winding Down

Just about everything around Windy Meadows reminds us that the natural world is winding down. All the leaves are off the big oaks around the old house and in the yard waiting to be raked to provide future mulch. The vegetable garden,which nourished us and Laura’s CSA members, is a shadow of its month-ago self. The pastures are barely green. There are only five steers wandering the paddocks now and they spend an awful lot of time at the hay feeder. We’ve had some cold nights, but that big cold snap or winter storm has not come our way just yet. We feel we are about as prepared as we can be with row covers on all the veggies that still need it and we have about as much hay as we will need for a while.

 Fig bushes and rhubarb under cover

What a far cry this is all is from the explosion of the Spring months with the cattle racing to keep up with the rapidly growing grass and clover and getting nice and fat in the bargain. And, us racing to stay ahead of the weeds that love the moisture and warmth and lengthening days just as much as the plants we love to eat. Just thinking about all that work, really makes me enjoy the crackle of the woodstove all the more.

We will savor these times of short days and long nights, though there will be plenty to do. I need to service the tractor and the BCS, prune all the fruit trees, bushes and vines and move manure from the cowshed to the compost pile. I am ready to get on to the chainsaw work that has been waiting for me, like keeping dead wood off the pasture fences and working on that huge white oak that came down in September. We should have enough firewood out of that tree for at least two years. Along with the vegetables coming out of the hoophouses and from under the row covers, our cooking will center on the things we canned and froze. It is always a bittersweet sentiment when that last jar or bag of something or other goes into the pan or pot, but for now the pantry and freezers are stuffed.

It is a time of reflection for us. This year, more than ever before, we appreciate this place we call home and the people who are in our lives. Many of these folks pitched in way beyond the call of duty while I was recuperating from my accident and subsequent surgeries. I think of Liz who came out repeatedly to help Kristine with Spring CSA harvest. Her pay? A few carrots and some greens. How about my New Warrior Brothers and colleagues from Synergy who schlepped and spread truckloads and truckloads of mulch? Or Fidel and Samuel who worked tirelessly battling weeds in the orchard in mid-summer heat. Brian, who helped me haul the steers to the processor and who I practically had to beg to take payment for doing this, not once, but four times during the Fall beef harvest months. What about the gang who came out to help move the hoophouses? There are too many to name, but it is amazing to think of the abundance embodied in all the magnificent acts of service and kindness, large and small. We are grateful to you all.

Now, a little business. We have a full freezer of pasture-raised beef to sell. See the information and price list below for particulars. It is a great feeling to see the freezer full and it will do us all much better if it is in your freezer rather than ours. Besides what you see on the price list, we also have a few nice briskets, just in time for Hanukkah. So, call or drop me an email with your order, large or small.

The Fall CSA is winding down, as well. Next Tuesday will be the final basket of the season. Laura is well into planning for the Spring, so why not drop her an email and let her know of your interest. She has already been hearing from her existing members who are ready to keep the bounty coming their way. She can be reached at 724-996-0237 or llsustainables@yahoo.com. It is young farmers, like Laura, who are going to save our tattered food system and replace it with something beautiful and most delicious.

 

The Joy of Drying

Now that the summer garden is in full swing, most every day brings an opportunity to preserve some of the bounty. In addition to the pints of sauce that are beginning to populate the freezer and jars of pickles standing watch in the pantry, we have begun drying tomatoes.

As we are saving the Amish Paste tomatoes for sauce, plus whatever of the other varieties that are ripe at the moment, we've been using the new dehydrator for the Persimmon tomatoes and the two Russian varieties, Cosmonaut Volkov and Leningradsky. The huge yelowish-orange Persimmons are a big hit. Fresh they are quite sweet with barely a hint of acid. Dried they become considerably more complex with a lasting tartness on the tongue.

The basic process is pretty easy and takes very little work time. First, the tomatoes are washed and sliced between 1/4" and 3/8".

The slices are placed on the drying racks of the dehydrator. The Nesco Gardenmaster comes with four racks and the unit supposedly can handle up to twenty!

I filled four racks with four large tomatoes. I failed to weigh them, but they probably averaged a pound. Of course, a certain number of pieces went into the man with the knife. Then the top of the unit is placed on top, plugged in and the controls set. It is recommended that fruits and vegetables are dried at 135 degrees. The digital controls are well-designed and easy to use. The start button is pressed and the dehydrating process begins.

Based on my previous experience drying, I began checking at six hours. None were very dry, but they would have been perfectly good to start eating or using in cooking. After about eight and a half hours they were nearly all done, so I set them on a baking drying rack, while the last few were dried, which took about another half hour.

We store the dried tomatoes in a glass canning jar. This batch nicely filled a pint jar, which we leave on the kitchen table for snacking. Several other jars are in the refrigerator for later use. They are particularly good at intensifying tomato or other sauces. Just buzz a few in a bit of olive oil and add to the sauce towards the end of the cooking process. They add an entirely new depth of flavor that I think is pretty special.