4th of July Burger Recipe: Barbecue Infused Burger

The 4th of July is just around the corner, and it will be a good day to work out and then fire up the barbecue for some delicious infused burgers!

Some of us will be running a Murph workout on the morning of the 4th with flags flying, as a remembrance of the sacrifice paid by the people willing to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to win the Liberty we hold dear and enjoy today.

And also because we love to get out and push ourselves and feel that rush of endorphins released by completing hard challenges with friends and brothers and working up an appetite for barbecue!

Then it’s time to cook, and laugh, and shoot off fireworks, and joke about how we like our coffee black and our tea in the harbor, and enjoy time with family and friends.

Long Live Liberty!

I wanted to experiment with a 4th of July burger, but was wondering what that would be. Just sticking an American flag on a toothpick to spear a regular burger would be alright, but seemed a little tacky. So I got thinking about ingredients, and barbecue sauce came to mind. Lots of cultures use sauces to baste grilled meats, but a nice smoky barbecue sauce seemed to me to have a uniquely American flavor to it.

Ingredients:

1 lb Saint John’s Organic Grass-fed ground beef (thawed)

1/3 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Overall: 30 minutes

I infused the barbecue sauce into the ground beef as I made up the patties, then we sprinkled the salt, pepper, and garlic powder on one side.

We cooked these on the smoker at 375* for about twenty minutes, flipping them at the 15 minute mark. But you could grill these, or cook in a cast iron skillet, or however you usually like to cook burgers. It might cook a little differently with the extra moisture from the sauce, but it wasn’t a noticeable difference to me.

I topped mine with mayonnaise, a touch more barbecue sauce, and avocado slices.

Bacon and/or some sharp cheese would have gone really well with it.

I hope you enjoy your Independence Day celebration, eat a burger, and wave a flag. God Bless America.

Aaron

Slow Food Movement: Good, Clean, and Fair Food

Saint John’s cows walking in the rapidly growing Spring pasture.

“We don’t want fast food, we want slow food!”

Thirty years ago, this was the chant of a group of Italians protesting the opening of a fast food restaurant at the base of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

The spirit of that event inspired an organization, Slow Food International, to work to preserve local food culture worldwide with a mission for “good, clean, and fair food for all.”

We believe the quality of our food and the attitude in which it is prepared, served, and consumed affects our physical, emotional, and spiritual states. Appreciating the variety of food that comes into season over the course of a year -- the tastes, textures, colors, and variety of preparation methods passed down through generations -- is made fully possible when saying “yes” to slow food.

Paleo Grass Fed Beef Hash Recipe

Slow food vs. Fast food

Slow food stands defiantly in opposition to fast food.

Slow food is thoughtful where fast food is an afterthought. Slow food costs something -- ingredients, labor, and presentation -- where fast food is cheap. Slow food is savored where fast food is merely eaten. Slow food is authentic where fast food is an imitation. Slow food is eaten thankfully with loved ones where fast food is consumed while completing tasks.

Slow food isn’t beautifully plated, expensive restaurant food. It’s food prepared from well-sourced, whole ingredients and consumed with an awareness of what the food is, where it’s from, and gratitude for the labor of workers and bounty of the Earth. This ultimately makes for the most enjoyable food and eating experience, especially when shared with a community.

Bulgogi Beef Bowls Recipe

We are too hurried.

There have been too many times in my adult life where I have garishly wolfed down a fast food burrito during rush hour in the interest of efficiency and saving time. In the long run, this short-sighted attitude around food contributes to overworking, sacrificing personal and environmental health, and a missed opportunity to support local farmers and artisans in exchange for a few moments of time.

Americans are working more than ever and now most families have two parents working -- often leaving less time to cook and enjoy meal times. Our posture toward food has changed in response to this burden.

We expected technology to ease many of our burdens; however, it seems that as technology automates many tasks for us, we are expected to do even more. Something has to give, and it’s usually the food.

Ultimately, our mindset and choices around food come down to what our priorities are. Saying “yes” to one thing means saying “no” to another.

High quality food nourishes us best, and growing and harvesting organic ingredients takes time and effort. The slow food mindset welcomes and appreciates the effort required to procure food as nature intended. Part of this appreciation is accepting the price difference in organic and conventional food.

Properly preparing and savoring food takes time. Cooking is an essential skill that fewer people feel the need to learn because of the widespread availability of cheap, processed food. Be encouraged to pick up a book or watch a YouTube video to learn how to prepare a few of your favorite dishes. If you have children, involve them in the cooking process. You’ll find that cooking whole foods at home saves you money, is healthier, and tastes better, too!

Time together at a Saint John’s Farm Tour.

Family mealtimes matter.

Our busy-ness means we sometimes have to settle for a “quick bite” -- that’s modern life -- but what if families decided to have a home-cooked family dinner most nights? How would that decision affect not only our families’ health but also the attitude and connection between family members?

Anne Fishel, executive director of the Harvard Family Meal Project, says:

“There have been more than 20 years of dozens of studies that document that family dinners are great for the body, the physical health, the brains and academic performance, and the spirit or the mental health, and in terms of nutrition; cardiovascular health is better in teens, there's lower fat and sugar and salt in home cooked meals even if you don't try that hard, there's more fruit, and fiber, and vegetables, and protein in home cooked meals, and lower calories. Kids who grow up having family dinners, when they're on their own tend to eat more healthily and to have lower rates of obesity.

Then the mental health benefits are just incredible. Regular family dinners are associated with lower rates of depression, and anxiety, and substance abuse, and eating disorders, and tobacco use, and early teenage pregnancy, and higher rates of resilience and higher self esteem.”

Family dinners are about more than food -- it’s about connection and taking time to listen and respond to each other. It’s shocking how many families have screens at the table. Try having screen-free meals and see how it affects your family dinner!

Conclusion

Join us in celebrating slow food -- three times a day when we tuck in to the table.

Resources

https://www.slowfood.com/

https://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/

Farm News June 2021

Summer is nearly here!

Spring for us was long, with very little rain and lots of temperature fluctuation, both of which slowed our pasture growth significantly. Fortunately we were able to buy a load of organic hay from Kings Crown Organics to hold over the cows until the irrigation started and the grass could grow and catch up. But now the pastures are looking really good. I love it when cows are belly deep in fresh pasture!

We had our fourth ever C-section in the history of our farm last week. Small mama cow, and a big baby boy. Claire was watching her through Saturday evening and brought in Mama and Jonathan to help assist with the birth, and then made the call at 11pm to bring in the vet. Dr Dan from the Animal Medical Center here in Emmett does a phenomenal job.  It was a long night with a lot of work! But both mama and baby are alive and well.

Dr Dan did the last C-section here four years ago on our cow Holly, and two weeks ago she delivered her third healthy calf since then.

We’re planning a book signing here on the farm for our friend Grace Olmsted who just wrote “Uprooted,” a book about farming in the Emmett Valley. Her grandparents and great grandparents farmed here, and this is their story along with the stories of many other farming families in our area. She met with us several times and our family and farm feature prominently in several chapters. I particularly enjoy her description of our farm “A group of Brown Swiss cattle stand together in a sprawling pasture, feasting on grass…..The sound of their satisfied munching and crunching fills the air, while swallows dance overhead in a dizzying profusion……these cattle are a symbol of full scale agricultural revolt.”

Come see us on Wednesday, June 16th at 6:30pm to get your copy signed! Here’s the facebook event page. Book Signing

Aaron’s book “Share the Gift” will also be available. It’s a collection of notes and stories from his adventures and training over the last 10 years, along with the philosophy of health and farming we hold here. He wrote and illustrated by hand.

We’ve been moving chicken and cow manure into a compost pile, it should be garden gold in short order. It’s amazing how quickly it heats up and starts breaking down the nutrients into a form that is usable to plants. We piled it up and mixed it together, while sprinkling water in to make sure the compost had enough moisture. By the next day it was too hot to put your hand into the pile. So we used the tractor to turn it and add some wood chips to increase the airflow.  It may be available by the five gallon bucket to spice up your garden, stay tuned…..

The raw milk coop idea continues to move forward. Please go to our survey page for more information and let us know if you are interested!

Aaron and Heather and Jonathan ran a Murph workout on Memorial Day with several of our friends, followed by a cold plunge in the Payette River and brunch together. Then as soon as the cows were fed for the day it was time for long naps. We hope you had a lovely time with family, and could take a minute to reflect on the sacrifices of those who went before us to protect and preserve the liberties we enjoy today.

Cheers,

Aaron

Grass Fed Beef Brisket Recipe: Beef Barbacoa Tacos

Beef barbacoa taco.

It’s never a bad time to make tacos. This beef barbacoa recipe is definitely Tex-Mex and full of earthy, pepper flavor. The lime juice pairs beautifully with the chiles in the barbacoa sauce. This preparation is flavorful and kid-friendly as it’s not very spicy. It’s easy to crank up the heat with the right toppings for those that prefer the spice!

This recipe makes use of a slow cooker, though it could be easily adapted for the Instant Pot or oven. Enjoy!

Inspired by Recipe Tin Eats. Our version is similar, but makes several deviations.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 dried whole chiles, soaked in 4 cups warm water for 30 minutes

• ¾ cup reserved chile water

• ½ cup apple cider vinegar

• 4 tbsp lime juice

• 6 garlic cloves

• 4 tsp  ground cumin

• 4 tsp oregano

• ½ tsp ground cloves

• 1 Saint John’s organic grass fed brisket

• Oil or fat suitable for high heat, avocado oil, tallow, or lard

• Salt and pepper

METHOD:

1. To make the barbacoa sauce, soak the dried whole chiles in warm water for 30 minutes. Reserve ¾ cup of the chile water. Chop off the tops of the chiles and add all ingredients through ground cloves to a blender. Blend until smooth.

Barbacoa sauce, after being blended.

2. Cut brisket into large chunks, about 12-15 total. Salt and pepper the meat.

3. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat and add oil or fat of choice. When very hot, add the brisket and sear all sides 1-2 minutes each side. It’s best to work in batches to not crowd the pan.

Brisket being seared in bottom of pan.

Brisket in slow cooker, drenched in barbacoa sauce.

4. Add meat to slow cooker. Cover and toss with barbacoa sauce. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Brisket in slow cooker, drenched in barbacoa sauce.

5. When meat is cooked well and fork tender, shred with two forks and serve!

Topped with a big scoop of sour cream -- can’t go wrong with that!

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

We enjoyed this as tacos, but you could do burritos, burrito bowls, as a salad meat, or on top of a buttered baked potato.

For tacos, we liked:

• Corn tortillas

• Sour cream

• Pickled jalapenos

• Salsa

• Cilantro 

• Lime juice

Kid friendly!

Enjoy this succulent beef barbacoa dish! If you try this recipe, let us know by tagging us on Instagram or Facebook.

Benefits Of Soy And Corn-Free Beef: The Unintended Health Effects

There are many benefits to consuming beef that is organic and 100% grass fed and grass finished. What may be surprising are the specific benefits of eating beef (and other meats and eggs) that are soy and corn free.

Soy and corn are commonly fed to animals in the United States and throughout the industrialized world. This is not because soy and corn are ideal foods for livestock but rather because soy and corn are cheap and easy to grow, subsidized by governments (U.S. included), and these foods cause the animal to reach market weight more quickly than grass fed livestock.

Unfortunately, the rampant use of soy and corn in animal feed has a cost to the environment and to our health.

Problems with Corn and Soy

Sweet, red clover in our pasture.

Most corn and soy is genetically modified and heavily sprayed with the toxic herbicide glyphosate (RoundUp). When an animal consumes glyphosate, glyphosate builds up in the connective tissues, muscles, and joints of the animal. The problem with the presence of glyphosate in meats we eat is that our bodies will accept glyphosate in our connective tissues and joints because it is chemically similar to the amino acid glycine.

Because supermarket foods are laden with glyphosate (non-organic wheat may be the biggest culprit), the average American’s constant exposure to glyphosate is connected to several adverse health outcomes, including mineral deficiencies, gut dysbiosis (“leaky gut”), reduced neurotransmitter production (contributes to mental health disease like depression and anxiety), and a disruption of detoxification pathways that can lead to metal toxicity or even cancer.

A 2019 study of 1000 corn samples from 5 continents determined that 92% were contaminated with mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are fungal poisons that can cause a myriad of health issues, including breathing problems, lung inflammation, fever, and more serious long term conditions like cancer, fibromyalgia, heart problems, and lupus. The key is to avoid corn feed for animals because what the animal eats will be present in the meat of the animal upon consumption.

Saint John’s moms and babies enjoying green pasture.

In the U.S., 99% of cows are raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). This is done with a disregard for meat quality, health of our nation, and care for our environment. CAFOs are used because it’s low cost production, and these cows are frequently fed soy, corn, and wheat, and lived in cramped and unnatural settings. Lack of adequate nutrition causes animals to be more prone to disease and routine antibiotics are administered for disease prevention. These antibiotics are present in the meat of the cow and are ultimately transferred to the consumer. Yet another reason to choose organic, grass fed and grass finished.

The cheap and subsidized soybean has become so commonly used for animal and human food that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid soy. Check your food labels at the supermarket and you will find soybean oil or other soy products in an abundance of packaged foods.

Soy contains phytoestrogens, estrogen-mimicking compounds that are present in the meat, milk, and eggs of animals that eat soy feed. When we consume phytoestrogens, our bodies can interpret this as the hormone estrogen. This may be a cause for low sperm counts in the developed world and the absolute nosedive testosterone levels have taken in the last 50 years.

“Since in America we tend to eat animal foods every day, the load of toxins from supermarket meat, eggs and dairy products can be very high and the effects profound, especially in growing children.
The solution? Purchase your meat, eggs and dairy products directly from a local farmer, one who practices pasture feeding and who uses non-medicated feed (preferably soy-free). In the process of protecting your family, you will also be supporting independent, conscientious farmers and a robust local economy.
”

— Sally Fallon, Why You Should Purchase Meat, Eggs, and Dairy Directly From a Farmer You Know, Nourishing Traditions blog

Dandelions are a nutrient-dense favorite for our cows.

Quality of Beef

Ultimately, feeding cattle soy and corn doesn’t serve human health, bovine health, or the health of the environment. It does line the pockets of a few corporations. Soy and corn feed the cow but it doesn’t compare to the nutrition provided by grass fed beef.

Compared to conventional grain fed (soy and corn fed) beef, organic grass fed beef is:

• 10X higher in vitamin A

• 3X higher in vitamin E

• Substantially higher in calcium, magnesium, potassium, & B vitamins

• Lower in cholesterol

• An abundant source of anti-cancer conjugated linoleic acid

• Free of GMOS

• Free of synthetic fertilizers

• Free of hormones and antibiotics

• Free of glyphosate and other pesticides or herbicides

From our perspective, prioritizing the quality of the beef and stewardship of the land means that we feed our cows organic grasses in well-tended pastures. We grow organic hay for the winter when grass growth stalls. As providers for people and as caretakers of the earth, we seek what is best for you and the world we inhabit, and will continue to offer a vision of sustainable agriculture for future generations.

Our organic, grass fed and grass finished beef is free of glyphosate, mycotoxins, and is good for the environment and your health. Choose organic and choose corn and soy free animal products everywhere you can. Healthy, strong families are the building blocks of our society and nation. Talk to your farmer, and know where your food comes from!

Resources

Of 1000 corn samples, 92% had mycotoxins

Why You Should Purchase Meat, Eggs, and Dairy Directly From a Farmer You Know

Soy and Phytoestrogens: Possible Side Effects

Soy food and isoflavone intake in relation to semen quality

Is Grass Fed Beef Tough? (Or Tender?)

Massive Saint John’s steaks cooking over hot coals.

A common misconception about grass fed beef is that it’s tough and difficult to cook. The truth is that it needs to be handled differently that conventionally raised, grain fed beef. It can become tough if overcooked (similar to most meats), and it is tender when cooked properly.

The quality and composition of grass and grain fed beef is starkly different, and this difference translates into different needs for cooking a delicious meal.

In regards to cooking grass fed beef, a favorite phrase of Aaron is “I spent 2 years growing this, you can ruin it in 2 minutes.” Overcooking grass fed beef by 2 minutes can surely render a tough and chewy steak. Here are tried and true cooking tips and guidelines from the Dill family, who’ve been cooking grass fed beef for decades.

Tip #1: Cook roasts low and slow

Slow cooker chuck roast from our recipes page.

The primary rule for avoiding tough cooked meat is to avoid overcooking, but some may not know that undercooking roasts can cause them to be as tough as an overcooked steak.

When cooking a roast low and slow, we recommend a slow cooker on the “Low” setting for at least 8-10 hours. At about 8 hours, check the roast to see if it flakes easily with a fork. If it flakes, it’s done! If not, keep cooking on “Low” and check again every 30-60 minutes.

Tip #2: Invest in tools

A digital meat thermometer is an affordable way to level up your cooking. By using a meat thermometer, you can quickly check the temperature of your meat to cook it to the level of doneness you prefer.

A heavy-bottomed skillet like a cast iron, copper, or stainless steel pan will hold and disperse heat well, ensuring an even cooking to your meat on all sides. As the weather warms up in Spring and Summer, having an outdoor grill with a full propane tank will be essential to prevent the house from overheating when cooking dinner.

Lastly, a slow cooker or Instant Pot can make cooking easier because you are able to “set it and forget it”. The slow cooker and Instant Pot are ideal for cooking roasts or stew meat, and, when you use the low and slow method, you’re guaranteed to get a delicious, tender plate of beef.

Tip #3: Reduce cook time for steaks

Steak kebabs on the grill.

The grill or hot skillet is the cooking method to watch cook time carefully and check the temperature of the meat often to avoid overcooking.

Put the meat on the grill or stove at a high heat for a brief time to seal in the juices, then turn the heat down.Take the meat off the grill or stove a little before you think it is ready, because the heat in the meat will keep it cooking.

Plan to cook steaks 1/2 or 2/3 the time of conventional grain fed beef, then check to see if it is done to your liking by checking the temperature. You can always cook it more.

Tip #4: Ground beef is bulletproof

When in doubt, or if you’re looking for something simple, easy, and “bulletproof”, we highly recommend our organic, grass fed ground beef. With ground beef, you get all the health benefits of grass fed beef with the ease of using your tried and true recipes without fear of having a tough outcome.

With grilling season soon upon us, I hope these tips ensure you maximize your enjoyment of our organic, grass fed beef. Tag us on Instagram to show us your grass fed beef dishes!

Grass Fed Beef & Inflammation: Steak Without A Bellyache

Saint John’s cows grazing on fresh Spring pasture.

The wise adage “you are what you eat” applies to human health as much as it does to cows. Cows fed a species appropriate, nutrient dense diet will similarly be a rich source of nutrition for our bodies.

There are significant differences in the quality of conventional, grain-fed beef and organic, 100% grass fed beef. Ultimately, these differences in quality amount to differences in our health and the health of our environment.

We’ve written previously about why organic matters, how grass fed beef is beneficial to human health, and how well managed grass fed beef farms can be net positive to the environment. This article focuses on how grass fed beef can lower inflammation and be a huge boon to our health.

Spring is in bloom!

Why Inflammation Matters

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to protect itself from being harmed. When one cuts one’s finger, the area often becomes warm, red, and slightly swollen or raised due to increased blood flow and white blood cells sent to the affected area. In an acute setting like an injury or brief illness, inflammation is good and healing, our body’s wise response.

Inflammation becomes a problem when it becomes chronic. When one’s body senses constant attack, the body will continuously pump out white blood cells and other chemical messengers that tax the immune system. The body thinks it’s constantly under attack, so it keeps fighting indefinitely. This hyperresponsive state causes healthy tissues and organs to be attacked by white blood cells, causing unnecessary damage for no benefit.

Environmental toxins from pollution and cigarette smoke, having excess body fat, eating inflammatory foods, and sedentary lifestyles are all contributors to chronic inflammation. Ample research has shown that chronic inflammation is linked to heart disease (especially atherosclerosis), cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and bowel diseases like Chron’s disease and IBS.

Saint John’s cows curiously looking at the photographer.

Grass Fed vs Grain Fed Beef: Inflammation

A 2012 study compared inflammatory markers and overall health for mice eating a range of foods, including a comparison of grass fed and grain fed beef. The scientists found that the mice eating grass fed meats had the lowest inflammation and overall best health while the mice fed grain fed beef had the highest inflammation. This is a notable find demonstrating the importance of high quality, grass fed beef!

A review of studies on grass-fed beef spanning three decades tabulates statistically significant differences in fatty acid and antioxidant content in comparison to grain fed beef. The findings of the study were numerous; here are some of the highlights.

Grass fed beef contains:

• Increased conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)

• Increased omega-3 fatty acids

• Higher proportion of cholesterol in neutral stearic acid form

• Less cholesterol-elevating compounds

• Increased precursors for vitamin A and vitamin E

• Increased glutathione (cancer-fighting and anti-inflammatory)

The increased CLA and omega-3 fatty acids is significant because these fatty acids are essential to the body’s anti-inflammatory response to inflammation.

The differences between grass and grain fed beef are stark when it comes to inflammation. Our bodies face more inflammatory toxic inputs than ever before, and grass fed beef is part of the solution to inflammation.

Low inflammation is one of many key markers of good health. If you’d like to lower or keep your inflammation low, make the switch to organic, 100% grass fed beef today!

Resources

• Harvard Health: What is Inflammation

• Inflammation in Mice

• Fatty Acid Content Comparison

• Anti-Inflammatory Effects of CLA

Grass Fed Ground Beef Recipe: Szechuan Beef

Szechuan beef served with steamed rice and asparagus.

This Szechuan beef preparation is a delightfully fragrant and spicy dish that comes together in 30 minutes or less! The garlic, ginger, and chili paste, along with the other ingredients, meld together to create a savory Asian sauce with a pepper-y kick.
The sauce for this recipe is from the blog Feasting At Home.

INGREDIENTS

• ½ tsp black peppercorns

• ¼ cup soy sauce

• 3 Tbsp honey

• 1 Tbsp sesame oil

• 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

• 1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine or mirin (optional)

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 tsp fresh ginger, minced (or ginger paste)

• 1 Tbsp garlic chili paste (sambal oelek) or substitute 1 tsp chili flakes

• ½ tsp Chinese Five Spice

• 3-5 tsp arrowroot powder

• 1 lb Saint John’s organic, grass fed beef

METHOD

Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Add peppercorns and toast for 2 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Crush with a mortar and pestle.

Crushing peppercorns in mortar and pestle.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until well combined, adding the arrowroot powder last. Start with 3 tsp of arrowroot powder and add an additional teaspoon if you prefer the sauce to be thicker.

Whisked Szechuan sauce.

Preheat skillet to medium heat. Add ground beef to pan and cook, breaking up pieces with a wooden spoon.

Once beef is cooked, add sauce and turn up heat to medium high, stirring frequently. The higher heat adds a slightly caramelized finish to the dish.

Cooking Szechuan sauce with beef, not quite caramelized yet.

Serve warm with some of the suggestions below!

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

• Steamed white or brown rice

• Steamed asparagus

• Steamed or stir-fried mixed vegetables

• Sesame seeds

• Thinly sliced green onions

• Garlic chili paste or sriracha

Did you give this recipe a try? Tag us on Instagram to let us know what you think!

Farm News Update April 2021

It’s been a busy month!!

March kicked off with Aaron getting married on the 7th! He and Heather have been dating for a couple years now, enjoying work outs, working on the farm, and adventuring in the mountains and boating on the reservoir.

The wedding was lovely, with bagpipes and Celtic music, dancing, and good food. Aaron and Heather used Aaron’s Scottish basket-hilted broadsword to cut their cake!

Aaron and Heather took off for a week in Moab, Utah for a short honeymoon hiking in Arches National Park. Then back to regular life and spring speeding up on the farm. Heather works as a CT tech at a hospital in Nampa but enjoys coming out to the farm to help with all and sundry projects, Aaron continues to work full time on the farm.

We started calving! We’re up to more than a dozen new babies so far, with plenty more on the way. It is a good calving season, largely due to Claire’s diligence in checking on mamas and babies and working with them before an issue can develop. Most of the time they are fine all by themselves and we (she), can just watch, but once in a while we step in to help guide a baby to where it needs to be to nurse, or to settle a new mama down if she’s unsure about things.

Last year we used a Brown Swiss bull that we raised ourselves to keep the Swiss genetics that we like so much, so these are really sweet friendly little calves. Aaron had one following him up the field last week when he was moving the cows to a new paddock. The mamas all took off for new food, and one little baby was by himself napping in the sunshine. As Aaron walked over to find him, he woke up and instead of panicking and running away, he just stood up and came over to see Aaron and follow him up the field to where his mama was waiting. Happy day. :)

Other new faces on the farm are about 600 baby chicks that arrived last week! We are raising meat birds for Josiah of J-Bar Farms, as some of the only Organic chicken raised in Idaho. He will be marketing these, we are only raising them.

Once the chickens are big enough (about 4 weeks old) they will be in mobile chicken coops in our pastures and moving every day to fresh grass just like our cows. We are really excited to see how adding this new species into our pasture rotation will increase the fertility of the ground and possibly even knock back our already small fly and mosquito population.

Other activities these last few weeks include the normal spring run of projects getting ready for a new season of growing: burning and weed-whacking ditches to prepare for irrigation water that comes in around April 15; harrowing fields to spread out the manure and hay from winter feeding and dethatch the last of the wintered grass; and feeding out the final few bales of hay so the barns and stack areas are all clean and ready for our hay harvest this summer.

We also keep moving beef along to our friends and customers! It hasn’t been the crazy rush we had a year ago, but demand has been steady. It’s so nice to have our inventory all stored here onsite in the new freezer! Call us up and come by to try out our beef or refill your freezer!

Cheers to you and yours! Hope your spring is full of sunshine and fresh air and flowers. It’s getting on toward barbecue weather…….

Instant Pot Beef Bone Broth: Fast and Easy Recipe

Do you want all the benefits of bone broth without warming up your house in the Spring and Summer months? Use your Instant Pot to make health-boosting bone broth without the added heat!

INGREDIENTS

• 3-5 lb Saint John’s beef bones

• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar

• 3-4 quarts filtered water

METHOD

1. Place the beef bones, water, and apple cider vinegar in the Instant Pot. Let sit for an hour. This step helps draw the minerals out of the bones.

Apple cider vinegar added to bones and water looks a bit murky.

2. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set valve to Sealing. Select “Meat/Stew” setting and increase to 300 minutes.

3. When the 300 minutes is up, remove the bones with tongs and strain the broth with a fine mesh strainer.

4. Pour the broth into heat-safe containers (I use glass mason jars for ease) and allow to cool before putting in the fridge.

Bone broth cooling, yellow fat rises to the top.

As the bone broth cools, the fat will rise to the top. The bone broth will keep longer in the fridge with the fat plug on top because it protects the broth from air. You can discard the fat plug or use it with your broth for additional nutrition. I always use the fat with the broth because organic, grass fed beef fat is delicious and full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Bone broth cooled.

I hope you enjoy this bone broth cooking method! If you make our beef bone broth, tag us on Instagram @saintjohnsorganicfarm.