Santa’s Sack Stuffer Special
20 pounds you won’t mind putting on for christmas!
Buy 20 pounds of frozen meats and get 15% off your total!
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Jerkying Around
Did someone say bison jerky? Thats right we aren't jerky-ing you around! After years of a jerky-less existence we are FINALLY able to bring you bison jerky once again. Do you think I said jerky enough times? That's how excited we are! It has been Rancher tested and approved, both kinds, (rough job but, someone has to do it) it is the perfect combo of flavor and texture. You'll want to try some for yourself ! AND you're in luck...we are bringing it to the final Canal Market District Farmer's Market this Friday or you can pick it up here at the ranch by appointment.
Monday, October 23, 2017
Fall Pork Harvest
It's time for the fall pork harvest! Our Tamworth pigs have been grazing all summer and are cleaning up the tree line as I write this. They are enjoying a plethora of hickory nuts and fall grasses. In order to ensure their nutritional needs are met, we also supplement with a small amount of locally grown non-gmo pig feed.
We have 3 pigs available to be sold in pork packages or as whole or half hogs. The farmers market will be over this week and soon the snow will fly. Pastured pigs store vitamin D (yep!, that vitamin you get from the sun) in their fat so you really can enjoy the taste of summer, all winter long, when you fill your freezer with our delicious pork! Contact us today to place your order!
2017 Pork Packages
20 lb Package $135
Cuts vary by availability but likely contain:
(3) 1 lb packages of bacon, 2-3 lbs chops, 2-3 lbs pork roast, 6-7 lbs ham steak, 5-6 lbs of sausage
40 lb Package $260
Cuts vary by availability but likely contain:
(5) 1 lb packages of bacon, 5-6 lbs chops, 6-7 lbs pork roast, 12-13 lbs ham steaks or whole ham roast, 10-11 lbs of sausage
Whole or half Hogs available
$4.00/pound hanging weight paid to CVBR plus processing costs paid to Dee Jays .
Visit this website for an excellent description of what you can expect when buying a whole or half hog.
Visit our butcher’s website to see what cuts are available and costs.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Family Traditions
Do you ever wonder how traditions get started? Why do we do the things we do and when we do them. Maybe you're not a nerd like me? I'll admit...I do have a motive behind my questioning. We just happen to have several large turkeys left from the fall harvest. I wondered to myself "Self, do people eat turkey for Easter?" The answer is, not traditionally.
This led me to even deeper thinking, luckily for me I had already had plenty of coffee and could muster deeper thoughts, BUT WHY? It made me think of the story about pot roast. Maybe you know the story? The one where the woman is fixing pot roast and slices off the ends and her friends asks why she is slicing off the ends and she says "that's the way my mother did it and she taught me to cook" and so she asks her mom "why do we cut the ends off the pot roast?" and her mother says "that's the way my mother did it and she taught me to cook" so then the mother asks her mother "why did you cut the ends off the pot roast?" and she says "because it wouldn't fit in the pan I had"! 🙄
So, do you know why we traditionally eat ham for easter? I'll say, my suspicion was correct. Back in the days before mechanical refrigeration hogs were harvested in the fall when the weather was getting colder so the meat wouldn't spoil while it was being cut into those precious chops, bacon and sausage. Think refrigerator temperatures. Turns out those hams that were set to cure in the fall just happened to be ready about the time of easter! It was convenience food!
So aren't we lucky to be living in the days of deep freezers? We can think outside the proverbial "small pan" and eat turkey for Easter if we want to! So, if you're like me and didn't get enough turkey at Thanksgiving you're in luck! Eating a turkey for easter will be just as convenient as ham. AND to further entice you to break with tradition we are offering these turkeys ON SALE! Regularly $4.50 per pound now $3.50 per pound. These turkeys are in the 19lb range so that will be about $20 off regular price! A great deal even if you just want to stock up on delicious, non-gmo, pastured poultry
This led me to even deeper thinking, luckily for me I had already had plenty of coffee and could muster deeper thoughts, BUT WHY? It made me think of the story about pot roast. Maybe you know the story? The one where the woman is fixing pot roast and slices off the ends and her friends asks why she is slicing off the ends and she says "that's the way my mother did it and she taught me to cook" and so she asks her mom "why do we cut the ends off the pot roast?" and her mother says "that's the way my mother did it and she taught me to cook" so then the mother asks her mother "why did you cut the ends off the pot roast?" and she says "because it wouldn't fit in the pan I had"! 🙄
So, do you know why we traditionally eat ham for easter? I'll say, my suspicion was correct. Back in the days before mechanical refrigeration hogs were harvested in the fall when the weather was getting colder so the meat wouldn't spoil while it was being cut into those precious chops, bacon and sausage. Think refrigerator temperatures. Turns out those hams that were set to cure in the fall just happened to be ready about the time of easter! It was convenience food!
So aren't we lucky to be living in the days of deep freezers? We can think outside the proverbial "small pan" and eat turkey for Easter if we want to! So, if you're like me and didn't get enough turkey at Thanksgiving you're in luck! Eating a turkey for easter will be just as convenient as ham. AND to further entice you to break with tradition we are offering these turkeys ON SALE! Regularly $4.50 per pound now $3.50 per pound. These turkeys are in the 19lb range so that will be about $20 off regular price! A great deal even if you just want to stock up on delicious, non-gmo, pastured poultry
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
How About Out With the COLD!
I really hate to complain, I really do. We have had such a mild winter so I really feel bad whining about the cold now. But, I'm going to whine anyway. That's whats farmer's do I guess. The weather is never just right for us it's either too hot or cold, wet or dry, Windy or humid. Why, you'd think we're hard to please or something! We had April weather in February and now it seems we're having February weather in March. I shudder to think what April and May will bring. We really aren't that hard to please at all. What's good for us is good for the planet...no extremes.
In spite of the cold the farming must go on and we are gearing up for our busiest year yet! We have over a hundred little chicks in the barn waiting for the weather to break so they can go out into the chicken tractors and start gobbling up that green grass that we know is hiding under this (hopefully) last blast of winter. In an effort to be more safety and energy conscious we purchased a new brooding system. Rather than the scary, energy-sucking heat lamps we purchased heat plates for the chicks. We have dubbed them the "Big Black Hens" because they emulate a mother hen. The chicks run underneath and touch the plates and warm themselves that way, just like they would with a hen. So far so good... the chicks seem content with their surrogate moms and we aren't worried about a bulb exploding and burning our barn down. Win-win!
In other farm news we are thrilled to announce that we have been accepted, once again, to the Canal Market District Farmer's Market in downtown Newark . It's quite the beautiful setting and perfect for vendor's and shopper's alike. With it's covered shopping area and large ceiling fans, no matter the weather, it's perfect for perusing the market and picking up your groceries for the week. While you're there you can enjoy live music and food trucks! It's the perfect Friday night date! We will be there every Friday evening from 4-7pm beginning May 5th until the end of October. We hope you'll come out to support not only Cherokee Valley but all the local farmers. We will have bison available opening night so, put it on your calendar! That's all the time I have for today...gotta get back to stoking the fire and dreaming about spring! :)
In spite of the cold the farming must go on and we are gearing up for our busiest year yet! We have over a hundred little chicks in the barn waiting for the weather to break so they can go out into the chicken tractors and start gobbling up that green grass that we know is hiding under this (hopefully) last blast of winter. In an effort to be more safety and energy conscious we purchased a new brooding system. Rather than the scary, energy-sucking heat lamps we purchased heat plates for the chicks. We have dubbed them the "Big Black Hens" because they emulate a mother hen. The chicks run underneath and touch the plates and warm themselves that way, just like they would with a hen. So far so good... the chicks seem content with their surrogate moms and we aren't worried about a bulb exploding and burning our barn down. Win-win!
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| You'd never guess there are 125 chicks hiding under the Big Black Hens! |
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Out With the Old
It's hard to believe another new year is upon us. It seems to come faster every year. This year on New Year's Day, besides eating the requisite pork and cabbage, we took down the christmas tree. In usual fashion when we were done with the tree we threw it out for the herd to play with.
At this point we had to call for reinforcements. I do not remember how but we ended up with a posse of cowboys and girls on quads and in trucks blocking openings and herding them towards the gate. The sight of our big bull Charlie running neck and neck with those quads, his mane flowing in the wind as he ran with that look of freedom in his eyes, was breathtaking. Well, when we finally had the last bison in the pasture and stopped shaking and swearing our undying gratitude to the bison roundup crew, we were able to take stock of any damage. There in the front yard, where trees from christmases past were lovingly planted, remained stumps! It seems as though Charlie felt they were giant bison play toys or he needed some cologne? We knew it was Charlie because he had pine boughs stuck throughout his mane for months! Thank goodness that was all the damage they did, besides shortening our lives by 10 years from the stress. Turns out he did us a favor, we needed those trees moved anyway for building the front pasture. ;) Needless to say we don't leave gates open anymore and are quite obsessive about checking two or ten times to make sure all gates are closed before moving the herd. It's much less stressful to bring the trees to them...
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| Taking in that pine fresh scent |
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| Freedom, drunk on piney goodness, wears the tree on his horns...always the life of the party! |
As we watched them play I remembered how we first came to find out that bison enjoyed playing with Christmas trees... Rewind back to 2007 when we were newbie bison ranchers and still made dumb mistakes. We had hosted a lively slumber party for our dear daughter the night before so we may have had a little exhaustion working for us. At the time we only had a couple of pastures and the pasture the herd was in was "land locked" if you will, in order to throw hay over the fence you had to be in the pasture to the left or right it instead of from the outside. So, we turned off the electric fence and headed through the gate with our wheelbarrow loaded down with hay. Since we took the wheelbarrow in we would have to bring it back out so we didn't close the gate behind us. Makes sense right? Well, bison are magical, one of the things we enjoyed then (and now) is watching them play. They were feeling extra frisky that day for some reason, maybe they knew what was about to happen, so we walked along the fence towards the back of the pasture and watched them running and bucking and kicking. That's when we got the great idea to let the herd over into the pasture we were in. Bison just LOVE to run through gates. So we opened the gate and ducked out of the pasture at the far end of the field and watched them play and frolic...WHEE! Right about the time we saw the open gate...so did they! We watched every single bison run through the gate into the great wide open! As soon as we recovered from the temporary heart attack we headed for the house. We opened all the gates and each one of us hopped in a vehicle. At that time we fed a little grain to the herd just to get them to like us, grain is like crack to a buffalo, so we threw a bag of grain in the back of the truck and tried luring them in with that...ha ha they had acres of uncharted field to explore, our bag of buffalo crack meant nothing to them.
At this point we had to call for reinforcements. I do not remember how but we ended up with a posse of cowboys and girls on quads and in trucks blocking openings and herding them towards the gate. The sight of our big bull Charlie running neck and neck with those quads, his mane flowing in the wind as he ran with that look of freedom in his eyes, was breathtaking. Well, when we finally had the last bison in the pasture and stopped shaking and swearing our undying gratitude to the bison roundup crew, we were able to take stock of any damage. There in the front yard, where trees from christmases past were lovingly planted, remained stumps! It seems as though Charlie felt they were giant bison play toys or he needed some cologne? We knew it was Charlie because he had pine boughs stuck throughout his mane for months! Thank goodness that was all the damage they did, besides shortening our lives by 10 years from the stress. Turns out he did us a favor, we needed those trees moved anyway for building the front pasture. ;) Needless to say we don't leave gates open anymore and are quite obsessive about checking two or ten times to make sure all gates are closed before moving the herd. It's much less stressful to bring the trees to them...
Happy New Year from the Ranchers!
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| Charlie...the ultimate BULL-dozer |