Ahhhhhhh, Reasor's

Heirloom Tomatoes @ Reasor's

Living in the country is not ideal for someone who loves to shop.  We are very limited in my little slice of Eastern Oklahoma.  It is a 30 min drive to ANY grocery store other than our small local  store.  Don't get me wrong, I love our local store (oh and we do have a Dollar General too) but it is very limited on the products they carry.  My absolute favorite grocery store in our area is Reasor's.  Ahhhhh, Reasor's.  Just the thought of walking into Reasor's makes my heart flutter.  They have the best selection of fruits and veggies.  Even the kiddos go crazy in the produce section.  I let them help me pick out what they want and we always try to grab some things that are out of the norm for us.  Like our trip yesterday.  We picked out an artichoke (yes, only one cause they were $3 each) cause Squirrel wanted to try it since he likes spinach and artichoke dip and hummus.  I told him how you pull off the leaves and rake the meat off with your bottom teeth and he thought that was the coolest thing ever.  Can't wait to cook it to see if likes it or not.  He is my picky eater so I am happy to spend $3 on ONE artichoke to see if he likes it.  By the way . . . every week I do a "Reasor's Match-up" for the Money Saving Queen.  I match up all the coupons that are available for the products that are featured in their weekly ads.  I generally post the match-up for that week on Tues evenings and you can find them here (check the dates to make sure you are looking for your particular week).  

Here are just a couple of pics I took at the store.

Not sure what this is...some kind of melon

Bell Peppers

Sorry kiddos...Not enough room in the cart for JUNK FOOD
Too many fruits and veggies

Grass Fed Beef

We recently read that the price of beef at the grocery store is going up to $5.30 in an article on Yahoo!  Can you believe that?  We raise our own cattle for beef and have even done it for the purpose of selling to others and for our personal use.  The Money Saving Queen recently posted an article about How to Buy Local Grass-fed Beef by another blogger that was awesome and very informative if you have never bought beef like that before.  Kyle and I got to talking and we came up with some more information that we would add to Once A Month Mom's post.

You can also find our guest post on Money Saving Queen.

Grass Fed Beef: Other Things to Consider

Lately a lot of articles have been written about buying beef by the quarter, half or whole from local farmers.  We have personally raised Angus –cross steers for our own use and to sell beef to others. Here are a few other things we thought you should consider to help you have a good experience with your purchase.  

Breed of Cattle - First is the breed of cattle.  Unless you want mainly hamburger, you need to avoid dairy breeds (Holstein, Jersey, etc) as they are bred for milk production and not high quality steaks and roast.  In most meat departments you will likely see something like "Certified Angus", and even fast food chains have jumped on the bandwagon with Angus burgers.  Angus is a breed of beef cattle that has been marketed very well, but you don't need to have the mindset of Angus as a requirement for good meat.  All of the beef breeds will produce good meat, some may take longer to get into good condition.

Conditioned Well - You also want to try to look at the live animals to make sure that they are conditioned well.  If you have never looked at cattle before, there are a couple of things that you need to pay attention to.  To start, make sure that animal is conditioned well, you basically don't want the animal looking like a long, lanky teenager.  Another thing is to look down the top of the animal.   You don't want the back of animal to like a “V”.  A flatter back is a sign of better muscle, and thus bigger steaks.

Grass fed versus Grain fed - Another topic is grass fed versus grain fed.  Grass fed means that the animal has not been given any grain/feed.  Grass fed beef has more of a yellow color to the fat versus the white fat that you are used to seeing in meat market.  Typically we allow our steers to run on grass and hay until 60 days before processing.  Feeding the steers grain for 60 days allows for the meat to get marbling without excess fat.

Aging the Meat - One key to tender meat is aging to meat while hanging on the rail.  Aging is not as common anymore and you may have to request that the processor do this.  Typically a carcass can hang for a minimum of two weeks and can hang longer, but the processor must check the meat daily to make that it does not dry out.  If you will pay attention to the menus at higher end steak houses, you will likely see "Aged Meat" somewhere on the menu.

Typical Average Cost - The costs can vary somewhat.  A typical average cost to purchase the beef from the farmer is $2.75 per pound hanging weight, with average rail weights around 600lbs , making a full beef around $1,650 to buy the meat from the farmer.  Grass fed purchase costs normally are going to be higher because it typically takes longer to get the animal to processing.    Processing costs will depend on how you have it cut and how you have it packaged.  We like to have our roasts and steaks vacuum packed to reduce the risk of freezer burn on the meat.  Processing fees will run around $0.60 per pound hanging weight, or $360 for a typically 600lbs rail weight.  Other fees that you need to ask about and maybe charged are kill fees and possibly a skinning fee depending on the processor.  Grass fed cost is going to be higher because it typically takes longer to get the animal to processing. 

Where to Find Beef – There are several ways to find beef for sale.  Every spring and fall 4-H and FFA youth show steers and need to sell their current show animal to purchase another one to show the next year.  You can contact your local County Extension Agent or the Argriculture teacher at your local school to find animals that are available.  Farmers will also run ads in the local newspaper and on Craigslist.  You can even check with your state or local food cooperative.  Two sites that you can search on is Cooperative Grocer Network and Coop Directory Services Listing.  For the state of Oklahoma, you can search the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. 

Additional resources

Retail Cuts of Beef – chart showing the different cut of beef

Buying Beef for Home Freezers – article by the Oklahoma Cooperative Services

Chickens 101

A few weeks ago, the Money Saving Queen (Sarah Roe) asked me to write an article about raising chickens.  At first I laughed cause I AM A CITY GIRL (I have to keep reminding myself) and not a chicken expert.  I decided to take on the challenge and with help from Farmer Kyle, I did it.

{8 Things You Need to Know About Raising Chickens}

When to buy chicks? Check at your local farm/feed stores in March & April. They will usually have a variety of breeds. There may also be local hatcheries or farmers that you can buy chicks or even hens from.

What to buy? I highly suggest that you shop around and research breeds before you purchase your chicks/hens. Not all hens have a high yield of eggs. If you are only wanting to have laying hens, make sure you only purchase PULLETS and NOT STRAIGHT RUNS! Pullets are females only but straight runs can be male OR female.

How many should you have? Keep in mind the area in which you are going to keep them. They don't require a lot of space but do need plenty of room to stretch their legs. Laying hens generally also lay one egg per day so depending on how many eggs you want to get a day, that will help determine how many chicks/hens you want to get.

What are the basics that you need for chickens? To have chicks/chickens you will need a hen house/coop that has watering trough, feed trough, nesting boxes and roosting bars. We also have an old swing set frame in our chicken run because they like to roost outside at night in the warmer months. Depending on how you choose to keep them (in a run or free range) you will need a fully enclosed run area where the coop is located or a you can have a chicken tractor which is basically a portable chicken run with coop. You can do an online search of chicken tractors to get a better idea.

What do they eat? You can purchase chicken feed and chicken scratch at your local farm/feed stores. Chicken feed runs about $12-14 for a 40lb bag and chicken scratch is about $11-13 for a 50lb bag. In the winter months you need to feed them cracked corn cause it helps keep their body temperature up. They also need LOTS of water, grass, weeds, worms, bugs, grains, etc. I spoil my hens and give them night crawlers, grass clippings, hay and I have been known to warm up some oatmeal for them during the winter and Gatorade in their water in summer.

What about selling eggs? Fresh farm eggs are the only way to go in my opinion! We sell our eggs for $1.50/dz or $1.25/dz if you have an egg carton to give me. This way I am not trying to find cartons and I end up just recycling them with my customers. I have heard of people who sell their eggs for $2-$2.50/dz but we don't sell ours to make money on them just to help pay for feed.

How hard are they to take care of? My 6 yr old daughter is in charge of our chickens! She feeds them, gives them water, gathers the eggs, helps clean the eggs and puts them in the cartons. She LOVES her job! I take care of the “dirty” stuff but she is responsible for everything else!

What are great resources? Trust me, I am NOT an expert on raising chickens! Here are some great resources to help you get started and to maintain your chicken crew:

Backyard Chickens

Homesteading

My Pet Chicken

Chicken Breeds

Safely Preserving Chicken eggs

Buying Live Chickens

Chicken Coops