Windy Meadows

Winter Morning Rhythm

Winter has its own rhythm here. At first light, the steers are already at the fence line waiting for me to come out. This group is much quieter than last year's crop, so there might be the odd bellow or snort, but nothing like the cacaphony that used to greet me most any time I was in eyeshot. I fill up my 5 gallon bucket to the 20-pound line with either soyhull pellets or a mix of soyhulls, corn gluten and wheat midds. These are all byproducts of food processing operations and fit the Farmhand Foods guidelines for supplementary feeds. In short, they are low starch feeds which are ideal for maintaining rumen and, thus, ruminant health.

I might grab a small bucket of kelp meal or high-magnesium mineral mix to add to the free-choice mineral feeder and begin my trek out across the pasture. The cattle move briskly with me, knowing that something good is headed their way. Some mornings their exuberance can be a little scarey as they kick and hop out of anticipation and, what seems like, good cheer. The feed goes into the feed bunk and they are immediately nose down scooping up the pellets, pushing and jostling for a better position. I fill up the mineral feeder and check the hay ring to see how the hay supply is holding up.

Our hopes for minimal hay feeding did not come to fruition this winter. As we kept the finishers on pasture the entire time, any thoughts of having stockpiled fescue vanished with each bite. I am also keeping them off the other paddocks as those are sown to crimson clover, which will be their predominant forage in the spring. So, between the hay and the supplements they are holding their own.

One final check to see that the fence line in their paddocks is in good order and then I usually pause for a minute or two. There is so much to see and feel in the crisp stillness. The frost on the ground reflects the color of the sky which is changing minute by minute as the sun begins to peek over the woods. The activity of the birds plays out in an ever-changing and entrancing dance. The northern robins have been here for a week or so. Finally, I rouse myself, take a deep inward breath and begin my walk back to the barn. The buckets go back where they belong and I head towards the house, that first mug of tea figuring prominently in my future.

 

Eat your greens!

 

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.

 

Fall Creeps In

Part of the herd grazing Fall grasses and clover

Fall is definitely in the air and in the leaves. The dogwoods have been turning for the past couple of weeks and we can now easily discern the gums and poplars, as well. We have wakened to low 40 temperatures all week. It is such a relief after the brutal hot and dry summer we had and such a delight to take a look at the herd in the morning as they rip through the Fall forage.

I spread a ton of Fertrell organic fertilizer a couple of weeks ago to replace some of the nutrients that go into the beef that leaves the farm. We do soil testing every year and are seeing continual, steady improvement. We could give the land a big blast of chemical fertilizer, but the effects are not long-lasting and only serve to degrade the life of the soil, as well as the watercourses downstream. Combined with our continual rotational grazing plan, we feel that we are moving in the right direction, if ever so slowly. Patience is the name of the game.

We shipped our first two steers to Farmhand Foods last month and will deliver another two next week. We will complete this year's commitment to them with five more in November. We are impressed with their efforts to aggregate small- to medium-sized beef and pork producers with Triangle region restaurants and consumers. They have lined up an impressive array of suppliers and are continuing to expand their lineup of end-users. We are quite proud to be part of this group. If you go to their website and click on Our Farmers - Beef you will see a nice write-up on Windy Meadows and just about my favorite photo of granddaughters Avery and Lily.

Fall is my favorite time of year. I made the first fire of the year in my study woodstove this morning. It is a pure delight to sit at my desk with a hot cup of tea and the fire crackling. Fall is also a time for a change of line-up on the dinner table. We had beans-and-greens with some of the spicy braising mix that Laura sent out to the CSA members earlier this week. Kristine picked all the remaining fruit on the Nikita's Gift persimmon. In a few days they will ripen to deep, translucent red. They are a good bit larger than the wild persimmons and have very few seeds with a very sweet, tropical taste.

Nikita's Gift Persimmon

An Ancient One Passes

Some time last night we lost one of the ancient ones on our farm. A white oak tree that towered over one hundred feet was brought down by a combination of wet soils and, what must have been, a strong gust of wind.

 

The barbed wire fence beneath it was utterly demolished, though only one or two posts appear to need replacement. With unbelievable good luck, none of the steers were nearby when it came down as they all appear to be in good shape. They were milling around the fallen tree when I discovered what had happened this morning, some chewing on leaves that were now within easy reach. Amazingly, none had breached the broken-down fence, always a worry whenever a storm passes through.

This tree stood between the south pasture and the pond and framed our southern view from the house. It had been damaged by lightning some years before, but appeared to be in perfectly good health. Obviously, it had been weakened and just needed that final push to come down. As I sit here and write, an old being, well over one hundred years, is dying. It is a sad day.