When you walk through the supermarket, as you pick out your items, do you ever wonder where it all comes from? Do you ever wonder what goes into the food you are putting into you? Have you ever contemplated how many steer it took to fill that case of shrinkwrapped ground beef? How many were harvested for that pile of cryo-vaced tenderloin? Don’t worry, I’m not a vegetarian, I am not going to blast meat eaters. I LOVE meat, juicy and rare, seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled to perfection or braised for hours. I like to butcher it, I like to cook it, I like to look at it grazing or laying in the mud. I like beef. (And chicken and pork too) But I also RESPECT it. I respect the life that was given for me to enjoy that amazing steak, or chicken, or bacon. And there was a life sacrificed for it. Somewhere along the line we started to forget that. We look at meat and poultry in the grocery store just like any other item there, something that was produced, packaged and put on the shelf for our consumption, but we forget there was a life attached to it! That animal made the ultimate sacrifice for us to enjoy them, the least we can do is respect and appreciate that sacrifice, and honor it in our actions.
Most people buy their meats at the “Supermarket” for convenience and cost; they think it’s easier and cheaper, but in reality it isn’t. Saturday we are picking up a beef share from a local farm. We’ve been waiting for this since May, yes, May, so it’s been a long wait. It’s Black Angus, grass and grain fed beef from a closed farm in Stone Ridge, NY, CEO Natural Beef. The farm is owned and operated by the Osterhoudt Family; their steer is born, bred and bled all on the same land. They live naturally, graze as they like, sleep when they want, in general they live a good life. When it’s time comes, it takes a walk up the hill where it gets harvested for families like ours. There’s no shoving the steer into a truck and hauling them away, there’s no confined spaces or torture, no force feeding or overcrowding. They live as nature intended, imagine that! And just how much does this amazing quality of life cost us? Drumroll please…. $3.10 per pound, for 1/4 share of a steer, yep, less than the cost of ground beef at the Supermarket! (usually around $3.99 per lb) So that excuse of beef being cheaper at the store, doesn’t hold water here!
And I have to say this….this beef is like no other! I fell in love with it at first bite, literally. I was at Gunk Haus (one of my fav places to eat) and I had the burger for the first time; I was floored at the flavor. I’ve had some tasty meat in my day, but NOTHING has been this flavorful, this delicious, this amazing. The meat had deep levels of flavor; and I’m not talking about that gamey grassy taste you normally get from grass fed all natural beef, this was different. THIS beef could put KOBE out to sea…… I had to ask Dirk (one of the owners) where he got it, so he told me, and I googled my little heart out till I found their number! (he gets it through a local distributor) So I called, and had a lovely conversation with Holly (the Mom of the Farm) and we arranged that my sister and I would come up and get some of the beef before committing to a share. Becky needed a little convincing ;-), of course, the minute she tried the steak, she too fell in love, and so did Taylor! This meat makes the “stuff” in the “grocery” store, taste like the styrafoam tray it comes in! I really cannot speak highly enough of The Osterhoudt Family, or their Farm; they are some of the most lovely people I have ever met, and they really care about what they do and put their hearts into it
Point of my ramble is this, THINK before you consume! Plan your meals, utilize “leftovers”; turn your leftover steak into quesadillas, or something! Don’t just carelessly toss it aside. Eat responsibly, eat locally. Have respect for the life that was sacrificed to put that food on your plate!
*All pictures in this post were taken at CEO Natural Beef farm in March of this year. I don’t know which steer we will be eating, but she sure will be good!
“Change the way you think, change the way you eat, change the way you live, change the way you look at the people around you, change the way you look at life, change the way you look at the world, change the world.” – Jessica M. Berardi
Burlap and Butter Knives 
I like the way you think! …I’m one of those rare people that actually does put some thought into where my food came from..we’ve raised our own chickens for eggs..we would raise them for meat too if we could figure out how to keep them alive long enough (without coyotes or whatever chowin’ down on them first 😦
and I’ve often thought of goin’ in with some people and gettin’ my beef like this..as it is the only place I buy ANY meat is Adams cause at least there I can see them in their bloody coats, handling what I’m about to buy…and I’ve never once bought a bad piece of meat there (can’t say that for any of the regular supermarkets!) …but still I prefer to know where my meat came from and how it came to be on my plate…I’m sure I’ll be posting about this subject myself sometime soon
We are so alike Brandi. I want to come see your chickens, seriously, we need to set something up. I can’t speak highly enough of the beef we are getting, it is like no other I have ever tasted. And the family is truly lovely. If you are interested I can give you their contact info.
And I also use leftover steak on pizza. I make an insanly good one with alfredo sauce, roasted potatoes, artichokes and roasted garlic, it is HEAVEN!
p.s. my leftover steak is about to go onto a skizza – well my version of a skizza anyway..which is pizza made on flour tortillas hahaha
I am totally with you! Even though I buy beef rarely, my pork and chicken are always free range. The funny thing is that in France, where lots of people go to the butcher, butchers have often lower prices than supermarkets. Especially on free range, high quality meat!
I have heard about the Black Angus. It’s apparently an exceptional beef.
Thank you Sissi! I eat more beef than chicken and pork so it makes sense for me. I didn’t know that about France, that is wonderful! Just one more way we should be following their example! If more people knew they could eat better, for LESS, I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t try and change their habits as well?
This beef is amazing, unlike any other Black Angus (or steak) I’ve had. Originally I had it at the Gunk Haus restaurant, and was blow away by the flavor, and since they knew just where their beef came from, I went directly to the farm 🙂
I live in Switzerland, close to France, so I do most of my grocery shopping in France (prices and choice beat the Swiss ones in most cases and also the pleasure of buying at the butcher’s or at the French market; French shop assistants and market vendors are more communicative, smiling, funny…).
In Switzerland most people buy meat in supermarkets… The good part is here animal cages have always been forbidden (for example for chickens) and farm animals have better living standards even at the cheapest farm. Butchers are becoming rare though, and it’s such a pity.
In my French family there are many house cooks who have never bought a slice of meat or ham in a supermarket. Can you imagine it in any other country? I cannot… And all of them are not necessarily cooking freaks. They are just disgusted by the idea of buying low quality meat, stuffed with antibiotics and other drugs.
If I ate more beef, like you, I would do the same. I know a couple who buys half a beef once a year at a farm, then they go to the farm’s butcher who cuts the meat and they freeze it for the rest of the year.
WOW! What a difference! Thank you for sharing. That is exactly how it should be. It can be so disheartening to see how far America has fallen in terms of it’s respect for life, both human and Animal, and how we treat our bodies and what goes into our bodies (that is another post entirely!)
Somewhere along the line Americans became ok with ingesting things that other people wouldn’t even dream of, all in the name of the almighty dollar of course.
I am so glad that where you are, things are different! 🙂
Yum, yum, yum can’t wait to see you and the beef on Saturday!
I see in one of your photos you were puckering your lips to the cow…did you get your beefy smooch on while whispering recipes? ;~)
Becky and I went up a while ago ( I think you remember lol) and I was like “oh I’ll pretend to kiss her” and just as she snapped the pic the steer tried to lay a wet one on me!!! I jumped out of the way just in time lol.
Can’t wait to see you (and the beef) too! I am SO friggin hungry for that meat!
Jessica ~ we don’t have any chickens at the moment…we usually get them in the spring and because we let them roam free during the day..by fall they’ve all been picked off by some carnivorous woodland critter…whatever it is is SWIFT!! we don’t even usually find any stray feathers!! …we’re still working on a plan to let them roam free, SAFELY…I hope to get more in the spring
definitely send me that info! …we TRY to get all our red meat in the form of venison…but sometimes life, weather etc. don’t cooperate..I would love to have a place I know I can trust for good quality beef!!
and that pizza sounds amazing! I ♥♥♥ ARTICHOKES!!
I drew up some great designs for coops and runs that allows them plenty of room to roam, while safely protected from other animals that would steal them away. We should definitely talk.
I will FB message you the info on the farm as well. Venison is pretty new to me, I grew up not really exposed to it that much, but this year will be my first year harvesting and butchering it (hopefully, fingers crossed)! My friend Mark Elia has a fantastic local butcher shop (he’s also a teacher at the CIA) and he does a lot of the deer for local hunters, so I am REALLY hoping I get to help him this year! I would really love to learn to hunt as well, ahhhh a girl can dream 😉
awesome! …the spousal unit is pretty handy with building things..I always say I want them completely free cause they help with the tick population and having had lyme disease multiple times I’m all for anything that helps eliminate those little buggers (even if it means sacrificing some chickens) but that doesn’t seem fair…the chickens work hard to give me eggs…the least I can do is keep them safe from the evil chickennappers!!
I didn’t grow up with venison either…neither did the spousal unit actually..he decided to get into hunting about 10 years ago as a way of having control of and being responsible for knowing what the heck we’re eating (he’s come a LONG way from the guy I met who lived on banquet pot pies and frozen burritos!!)
I don’t personally have the patience for hunting…it requires a lot of sitting still and silent..I can’t manage either for more than about 30 seconds! …but I DO help with the butchering (mostly because I’m extremely picky about how the meat gets packed) …I let the guys do the heavy stuff..then I trim the roasts and steaks and chop up the stew meat
but if you want to hunt I can’t imagine you’d have a problem finding someone to show you the ropes…guys who hunt totally dig chicks in camo!! hahaha
but seriously…if you’re serious about wanting to learn to hunt…I know some people who could help
We so have to get together! Yes, I am VERY serious about wanting to hunt, and learning to harvest and butcher!
I am proud of you BOTH!!!! Way to go! We need more people like you. Which really means people like us, but you and I already knew that 😉
America is GREAT in a lot of ways…but the general food supply ain’t one of em!! …neither is the way ‘we’ seem to think it’s ok to work non-stop (particularly through meal times!)
it’s no wonder as a country we’re dying younger and fatter by the year!!
and YES this country (and it sounds like a lot of other places) need more people to wake up and THINK about how they are fueling their bodies…and how their food got to their table…hell they need to stop and ask themselves if that crap they’re about to consume even qualifies as FOOD!!
I could go on about this but I don’t wanna hijack your comments hehehe
anyway…if you want I’ll have the spousal unit contact you on fb about the whole hunting thing…I’m sure he can help get you on the path 🙂 ..fresh venison is like no meat you’ll get anywhere else!!
I always love to hear your thoughts Brandi! And you are right, on every point!
GREAT POST Jessica! Also great to see you last Friday…let’s do it again soon 😉
Thank you so much Winnie! It was great to see you too. Yes, definitely must do it again soon, let me know when 🙂
Jessica-I love this post! I just saw Food, Inc. for the 2nd time and am almost done with Omnivore’s Dilemma. You summed it all up beautifully. Keep spreading the word!xx
Thank you so much Lora! 🙂
Love that movie, and that book. Have you seen “The Future of Food”? That movie is great as well, very informative.
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