Thanksgiving: Just Words.

Have you seen them?

I have countless friends on facebook who have taken up the November monthly challenge of posting a statement of thanksgiving each day.

"It's a simple thing," I tell myself.

"Everybody is doing it, so I guess I don't need to.

It is just a few words...

random moments of gratitude.

What is it worth, really?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Is he still bleeding?  Is that normal for a cow's horn to bleed that long," I ask my farmer.

The steer had broken his horn on Friday and on Sunday, there was still a steady dripping coming from it.

"Yes, they can bleed a lot," he responded from the side of the trough where he was distributing hay.

He'd dusted some blood stop powder on it, but it was still a nasty mess.

Normally, we'd chase him into the headlock and try to get something wrapped on it,

but we had a bull (the result of a fowled clamping attempt when he was younger)

in that pen and it was a pretty risky business to try to get the bull out of there to work on the wounded-horn steer.  We figured the horn's bleeding would stop.

Monday, the steer was lying out in the field and didn't look too well.

My farmer decided to call the vet in the morning on Tuesday as he was still looking pretty forlorn.

When the vet arrived, it was looking as if the steer was in pretty bad shape.

He commented on how the steer's gums and the pinks in his eyes were pale,
like he was near death.

The vet said he had never heard of a cow bleeding to death from his horn,

He checked him for worms, and, although he had some, it was not a bad case.
His blood showed he was anemic, which pointed to blood loss being the cause.


It is hard to watch an animal suffer.
It is hard even when it is an animal that is destined to provide meat.

When you get animals as babies and bring them up:
have to keep their pens cleaned out,
keep their water fresh,
feed them twice each day,

fertilize the hay fields,
buy the hay seed,
plant the hay,
pray for rain to make the hay grow,
mow hay,
rake hay,
ted the hay,
pray the rains will stay away until the hay is baled,
bale hay,
move the hay
stack the hay,
and then feed the hay...

it is a consuming process.

However, there is nothing like watching your animals grow,
enjoy their meals of hay,
watch them stroll out through the green pastures of summer.


Care-taking brings a unique delight.

Certainly the time and commitment
and the money wrapped up in the whole process
makes for a relationship with these animals that is dependent upon each other.



"Will he make it,"
I ask the vet, not sure that I want to hear the answer.

"It is a 50/50 chance.  He has pretty severe anemia."
He explained to me something about the red blood count and some numbers I didn't understand.
He said something like
"35 is normal.
6 or 7 is at death's door.
This steer's number came out at 9.
It isn't looking good, but he does have strength still,
and we've done what we could."

 

It is never good to feel like there is only a 50 percent chance of hope.
Half of the time, he would die.
Half of the time, he would live.

I am more of a high-hopes kind of person.
High hopes are easier on the mind.

I don't like half-hopes.

 

I trudge down from the barn, looking up into the clouds and thinking a prayer.

Sometimes it seems strange to live on a farm and pray about animals,
rain for the harvest,
longevity for the equipment,
strength and time to get it all done,
the constant battle against the curse of sin on nature.

 

 Still, with all the verses in the Bible about farming, ripe fields,
gardening and vineyards,
I remind myself that God cares and understands.






The next morning, unsure of what will be found in the barn,
I opened my Bible next to my breakfast and skim over the words in the passage for that day.
I come up to these words:

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. 

 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Psalm 50:10-15 (italics added)

Thanksgiving.

Just a few words?

Maybe,

but not in God's eyes.

Thanksgiving is a sacrifice, a rich offering of acknowledgement that God is good,

no matter what the circumstances that might be at the moment,

no matter how full the pot of luxuries 

or how meager the crumbs of shifting securities...

God shares that He owns everything.

Nothing surprises God.

Nothing is out of His knowledge or domain.

He doesn't rely on the sweat of our own work,

the blood of our bulls:

it is not what God wants.

He does it all

for good.
 

He wants our thanks...

when hard times turn out with good results,

and even when they don't seem to to us.

 

"Nov. 21: Today I am thankful that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills...

but He cares about the one in our barn...

and I am thankful that this time, 

He gave him strength to live and moved him out to pasture again with the others."

Word Game...with Pictures.

There is nothing like a good game around the dinner table.

We were working on one tonight.

Violet thought up a few.

The other two tried, but, 

well, it might be a few years for them.

The farmer even got into it, and he SAYS he doesn't like games...

but we all know how those kind can sneak into the fun.

Here are a few:

Combine feline

and the appendage sticking out back from the torso of an animal.

 What is the answer?

Cattail.

Here's another:

If you combine studiously using the brain

with hat,

what do you get?

Yes, that is a thinking cap.

What about a boy cow

 and an amphibian from the pond.

Did you guess bull frog?

This one might be hard:

 mubbling and stumbling on words...

 

 and the key above "A."

Answer:

 Bumble bee.

 Here's another: 

Charlotte, friend of Wilbur.

Duck's feet.

 Spider web.

A couple more:

Eyes closed, body lying down resting.

The faces of flowers
(hint: she changed the beast with a kiss).

 

 Why, sleeping beauty, of course!
(Two of them, actually.  No beasts here.)

 What do you get when you combine:

the chips in cookies,

 and moo juice.

Chocolate milk.

Alright.  Last one.

This one is three parts:

Combine smiling,

the time of year when we harvest apples and pumpkins,

and addressing a group if you're from the south.

Can you think of any?

Linking to:
Minettesmaze.blogspot.com
Themodestmomblog.com
Bystephanielynn.com

"C"

"The three P's for the week."

Yes, I know this post is titled "C".

The three P's refer to my blog name:

I will post about something Pumpkin, meaning something from the farm, garden, you know, growing around here.

Next I will post something Pie, meaning kitchen related: food, kitchen, edible or decorative, etc.

Finally, I will post something Painted, or something I've created with my hands that will involve artistic materials of some type.

So there is the explaination of my subtitle,

clearly.

So today, because I wanted to join Jenny's blog fun of writing from a certain letter of the alphabet,

I will narrow this attempt even more by posting the three categories and they will start with the letter C.

Are you confused?

Confused.

 That starts with "C."

See?

1.

The letter "C" for the Pumpkin/Farming category:

Clematis.

My clematis are blooming, or at least these two are.

I love seeing these and forgot that I had decided to plant the 'Red Cardinal' clematis with the white one last summer.

I concede that it was a chipper choice to be made conscious of.

 2.

For the Pie Category today: I am talking edible in the kitchen.

Can you see it?

The kids and I have been checking them.

Others have been checking them, too.

Did you know that cows are curious.

Annoyingly.

Although they are pretty cute, too.

Yes, see.  He's checking out how far along the mulberries are, too.

We're all impatiently checking these countless candy-like clusters of suspended mulberries.

Ripen up, little creatures!

3. 

In the painting category,

I have just that to share: painting.

Ceiling panels from the barn roof that blew off in last fall's hurricane...

(okay, so they are roof panels, but I had to get the C in there somehow).

My super-duper-handy-recycling-penny-pinching-cents-smart farmer rehung the old panels on the back side of the shed that was rotting from too much water spray and lack of sunshine.

Corroding.

 I consciously chose to count this creativity-curtailed cause a commanding challenge.

To cut to the chase: 

I chunked the fun painting for chores.

Once that was done, I mixed some of the paint that was left with a bit of left-over black from another project,

added some floor texture,

and clomped on over to another chore that had been calling.

 These ummm....

uhh...

hmmm...

chippy children climbers that are cantankerous...

for their cutting creases containing chards of chips that cause crying when creeping into feet of children.

Corrected!

If your eyes happen to wander up to the crest of the porch, 

you will notice couch cushions helter-skelter.

Cushion chaos.

Cranky old cushions had seen too much weathering

and then the puppy last fall made certain I would have to recover them this season.

The fading strapping under the cushions became easy teethers for chumpy pup as well.

My clever creative man found this heavy lawn seat type strapping

and is carefully counting the measurements, cutting, creasing, and continuing his countless ways he's come up with cure-all ideas from his comprehensive collection in his many cabins 

(sheds: cabins was all I could come up with)

(maybe man-caves would have been better).

 >CLAP<>CLAP<>CLAP<>CLAP<>CLAP<

Cushion material has been purchased and curtain call will be coming soon!

(Confidentially, the cushion coverer is mentioning this to coerce herself into the sewing chair.)

And so I leave you,

with a certain sweet photo I cherish of my most current walk with child.

 Joining Jenny's blog party on the letter "C"

at: Jennymatlock.blogspot.com: Alphabe-Thursday
Firefliesandjellybeans.com

How Much Meat is on a Steer?

People often ask me what exactly a person gets when they buy part of a steer.

It is a trick question because it's kind of like asking

how many garments a person can make from 10 yards of fabric.

Some people like stew meat

while others don't
 and prefer it as ground beef.

Some like 1/2 inch thick steaks, 

others like 1 inch steaks.

Some people like 1 lb. roasts,

some like 3.

Some want the liver and the soup bones,

some don't.

I can tell you that you'll get ten yards of fabric in it's initial state,

or 1/4 of a steer in it's hung weight

(meaning what it weighs when it is slaughtered

cut into a half and then into a quarter

and then hung onto the scale, bones and all).

Okay, so that isn't too helpful when a customer calls and wants a visual image,

so I decided last time we got a 1/4 of our steer

to take pictures and show you so it might be a little clearer,

but this is a back quarter, which has more steaks and roasts.

We usually like to get a front quarter, but the other people we went in on this steer with

had already claimed the other parts, so we went with a back this time

(The customer buys the "cow" from us by weight before it is cut up

because that is the way it is supposed to be done in our state: we are not supposed to sell cuts

because we are not a retailer.)

Okay, so here is our freezer before the meat came.

The top has our chickens we buy locally,

the second shelf is the beef we had left over from the last steer

(the left-over ground beef is in the box).

This way, I know to use up the older meat first

(because my Farmer is very organized that way) :)

Here is our quarter in the boxes it comes in.

Yes, two boxes. It seems like it should be more when you stand next to a thousand pound steer,

but this is what happens. (Of course, we don't get the bones...

we should; maybe next time).

Here is what is in the boxes:

 Ooooo, everybody's favorite!

I am determined to try making a liver pate' that my sister in law made

that I thought was really quite good,

so we kept this stuff.

Here is the sirloins, which are a good size and two per package.

 See how my hand measures up.

My husband has a very large dislike for stew and stew meat.

Usually, we would get this meat made into ground beef,

but I made some jerky that turned out pretty good,

so I hope to make some more...soon.

This is the chunky packages of t-bone and porterhouse steaks;
we get 4 per package in at our request.

Yum, I think I need to go get some out of the freezer.

We haven't had any of these in a while.

 I can't remember what I do with this guy.   I'll have to ask the resident chef/Farmer.

He always enlightens me when I can't remember what part is supposed to be eaten how.

And then there are these:

Obviously, there are only one of each of these per steer,

but there never seems to be a whole lot of fighting going on over who gets them,

so we usually have the pleasure.

And then there are the 1 lb. rolls of ground beef.

There were 52 of them in this quarter.

Here is the freezer stocked with the beef.

It usually lasts us 6 to 8 months or so,

depending on how much pork and chicken we also have

and if I pick up some fish at the store.

This 1/4 weighed in (hanging weight) at 138 lbs.

We usually charge for the cow's hanging weight

and then the customer has to pay the butcher fee.

Based on the current price of local butchers,
(prices fluctuate on the cost of feeder calves/beef, etc)

for the back quarter this would be $2.50 per lb hung weight
(if we were selling it instead of keeping it.)

(Also, we usually sell mixed halves, which is less at about $2.25 per lb.
but the other buyer specifically wanted a front quarter;
buying a half is about $2.20 per lb).

The butcher charges $.52 per pound to cut/wrap/and freeze,
so that brings the cost to $3.02 per lb.
(There is also a small kill fee as well).

So, to buy this meat would cost somewhere around  $415

(there is extra costs too: if one wants patties made of the hamburger,

that costs extra per lb,
or if you want chipped steak made,
or the meat cut extra lean.)
(A mixed 1/4 would cost about $382)

The actual weight of the meat in packages is somewhere around 90 lbs,
(from what I just guessed by looking at it, give or take 10 lbs),

so if I divide $415 by 90 I get about $4.61 per lb.
(A mixed 1/4 would be about $4.25 per lb).

Is that much of a discount, considering one could just get ground beef in bulk from a butcher shop?

If one just prefers ground beef, probably not.

But I can tell you that our beef tastes far better than anything I ever had from the store,

it is butchered at a prime age,

it does not have tenderizers in it,

it is raised on a small farm where it's care is more particular,
it gets good hay that we grow ourselves without the use of harmful chemicals,
it is not dosed up with growth hormones or unnecessary medications

(we try to only use antibiotics or medicines when absolutely necessary).

We are also moving toward raising our own heifers and making our cows all grassfed

so that we can keep the babies on their mother's milk instead of switching them to a milk-replacer.

We find that this makes for much healthier calves,

much less need to use antibiotics or medications,

and a much healthier steer and healthy, beneficial meat to the eater.

People often wonder what they get when they look into getting part of a butchered steer,
I know I would want to know as well,

so I hope this helps those of you who are curious about what you get.

For a very helpful chart on beef cuts and cooking tips for those cuts
>CLICK HERE<

 Of course, having a freezer is essential. 
The following helpful information about the efficiency of having a freezer
was found on a local Craig's List ad by the owner of Clover Spring Farm,
"Don't have a freezer to store beef? Seven cubic foot chest freezers costs only about $190 and can hold a half steer (e.g., the Igloo model FRF472 7.2 cu ft chest freezer at Best Buy). So even if you only buy a half steer one year, the freezer only adds a cost of about $0.63 per lb in that year. Average this over 5 years and the freezer only adds about $0.13 per pound to the cost of the beef."

Linking up to:
Gnowfglins.com