So yesterday we made a trip out to an organic farm about an hour away from where we live. It started off as a rainy day but when we were ready to hit the road mid afternoon it seemed to clear up. We arrived at the farm an hour and half after our departure thanks to bad directions and missed turns.
We were cheerfully welcomed, wet dirty paws on chest, by one very happy farm dog. Soon the farm owner was out and leading us to the organic beef stash. He had all sorts of cuts to choose from and that we did. We purchase several pounds of ground beef and steak shanks. We got to chit chatting with the owner who happened to be an ex-professor at a local state university following his passion for real food. He told us he sends off a cow to an organic processing plant, the only one in the state, to have it slaughtered and packaged.
The farm also sells flour, milled while you wait (check out the grinder below). We purchased spelt flour for our spelt pancakes, hard flour and regular whole wheat flour for making our own bread. We were advised to refrigerate the flour as it would go rancid pretty quick.
As if that wasn’t enough, they make their own Grade B maple syrup! Needless to say we bought that as well - no one wants to eat that store bought maple syrup loaded with high fructose corn syrup and lacking in rich flavours that the real stuff provides.
We stuck around for a while, enjoying good conversation and taking in as much of our surroundings as possible. It brought back so many good memories from my childhood days growing up on a farm - my husband kept laughing at my excitement over the sight of cows. On the way back we saw a couple of those horrible massive chicken farms but we also saw some really happy grass-fed cows.
When we got home we grilled some of the beef and enjoyed it with some quinoa and peas salad. The beef was a delight and tasted like meat did when i was growing up on the farm. If you have had Nyama choma, then you know what am talking about - if not you should give grass-fed beef a try.
We hope to return to the farm at least once a month for a supply of good healthy food - local farmers rock!
Nyama Choma, wow. Yeah, I get homesick when I think of the roasted goat ribs that my dad is very good at.
I have never eaten quinoa. I should give it a try. I hear it is loaded with health benefits.
@Mwari: Quinoa is a super grain and it’s very easy and quick to cook so it’s definitely worth a try.
@seinlife: I never knew that flour goes rancid over time. When I told my mother of this she told me that indeed even back in Kenya flour goes bitter if left out for a month….I guess you learn something new everyday.
@mwari - goat yum!am a huge fan of quinoa and love it. It tends to have a higher protein and iron content than most other grains. Good for cholesterol and high blood pressure.
I especially like to throw it in with any salad i make. Let us know what you think when you try it.
@mwangi- yup! it’s such a wonderful learning experience….apparently the fats break down in the flour and not only will the flour not be nutritious anymore but it could be toxic as well. If you don’t mill the grain then it could keep for a very long time.
Seems that grass-fed cows are a big deal. I wouldn’t tell the difference between beef. Reminds me of some singing game we engaged in when kids, “nyama nyama nyama, and u answer, nyama, ngamia, nyama, ng’ombe, nyama…..” To me, nyama ni nyama though.
[…] grass-fed ground beef. This was the first grass-fed ground beef we have had since our trip to the local organic farm and boy was it yummie! It seemed much greasier when it cooked but it cooked evenly and browned […]