It all started with a tomato - kinda.

We didn't just go out and buy a bunch of cow. Just so you know. The way we ended up buying half of a 338 lb heifer started with an event held by the student association at our acupuncture school here in Austin (AOMA). Erika Schultz led/co-led an initiative to screen the documentary Fresh by Ana Sofia Joanes here on campus. The screening was followed by a local farmer's market and a panel discussion with local leaders in the field of community farming and agriculture. They ended up calling it "How to catch a tomato!" Instead we caught half a cow.

During the film, a toned down version of Food Inc that leaves you feeling less grossed out and a bit more empowered to make healthy grocery buying decisions, they clearly stress the need to let animals eat what their systems are designed to digest. For some, it would seem like a common sense decision but to the food industry it looks like the difference between lots of these $$$$$ or just this $$. Corn is cheap, fat cows weigh more and a 99c hamburger is easier to sell when the meat costs the value of its quality. The problem is that when a cow is fed, say other cows, or even corn if we wanted to spare folks the reality of our meat industry, it creates a cow that is not even remotely healthy or natural. Cows have 2 stomachs. Why? It takes a while to digest grass! Hell, if cows are anything like us it probably takes a while to digest corn too! But corn feed leaves the cow fattier and prone to more infections like E. coli. According to the website Healthy Theory "Unhealthy cows make unhealthy meat" and then YOU eat it.

Enough is enough - at least, I felt pumped up enough after watching the movie to ask if several of my friends who had seen the flick wanted to come together to buy local from a ranch that allows for free-range, grass fed and grass finished cows. I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted some healthy meat and about 7-8 of us chipped in. But where?! My questions went out to the panel, some friends and after a visit to the local, much larger farmer's market I narrowed the field to a ranch in Bastrop with a good rep and good prices - except Bastrop - was on fire. I shot an email out to Pati Jacobs at The Bastrop Cattle Company and told her we'd be in touch once the fires died down and she said if anytime was the time they needed to sell meat it was now. Most of her land survived but a few of her ranchers were burned out. Plus the drought has driven the price of grass/hay from $35 for once of those huge round bales of hay to almost $200/bale. So buy we did.

Ordering a half? First of all, they slaughter the cow/calf (we had a calf), skin it and sell the outside parts like the hide to wherever it goes. Then they put whats left on a big hook and measure the hanging weight. This is what you pay for. And the BCC charged us $5.35/lb. The cow is then aged for about a week before being butchered. You definitely lose some weight in bones and moisture during freezing but you get the organs and bones for soups if you want them. And, by the way, organ meats are the richest source of minerals of which our American diet is incredibly deficient. Back to liver and onions night folks! Once the meat was packaged into their individual cuts, vacuum sealed and hard frozen, you take delivery. Bring two large ice chests - like the biggest you can find and save a few bucks on your order. Or they will deliver for free!

So now, like Erika mentioned, my fridge has ice, a small bag of frozen veggies on the door - and beef, 18 inches deep. Don't ask where it is - it's in the freezer. Go help yourself to some and post your recipes on the blog. I'm especially interested in whether or not you notice a difference between "normal" beef and our grass fed beauty.




Keep us posted.

Josh