Last year, a friend of ours decided to buy a quarter of a cow and split it amongst friends. We were lucky enough to be a part of the 7+ people in that group, and after trying the all natural grass-fed beef from Stemple Creek Ranch, we were sold.
This year, Ryan and I are going in for an entire quarter. A quarter of a cow is approximately 100 pounds of beef. We plan on selling some of it to friends and family, but we basically decided that if we’re going to be eating any beef at all, it’d better be natural and grass-fed. Not just grass-fed at the earlier stages of life, but grass-finished as well. We wanted it to be good for us too, with the higher omega-3 fats and Vitamin E.
Another important factor for us – buying local. In this case, within two hours local. Ryan and I drove up to Stemple Creek Ranch last weekend for a ranch tour. We wanted to know where our meat came from. We wanted to meet our cow.
It could be any one of these guys!
I didn’t bring the zoom lens, so we were really walking up to the cows!
Most importantly, we met with Loren and Lisa Poncia, the folks running Stemple Creek Ranch. We learned about the history of the ranch as we stood next to the house in which Loren grew up. We learned of how they switched from sending their grass-fed cows to feed lots to keeping them at the ranch to taking the time to raise them all the way through and selling locally. It took two years of not selling any cows at all.
From there, we walked out onto the pastures and learned about the ranch’s practices. We could see firsthand how they work with nature to keep the land abundant and the animals healthy and happy. By protecting creeks, planting native species on creek banks, and monitoring grazing, the areas of the ranch remain productive and protected from overuse. Animals are rotated from one plot of grass to another, allowing time for the earth to renew itself.
And after some time out on the pastures, the group was brought back to the house for some sampling by the grill. We found out that one guy from the tour group was Martin of I Love Blue Sea, an online sustainable seafood market based in San Francisco. Local businesses supporting other local businesses – love it!
Some people might find it difficult to meet their meat, but I think we’ve become more excited about our cow after visiting the ranch.
Would you want to see where all of your food came from?
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