The Roast 

After our first steer experience, Matt and I learned several things about our beef eating tendencies.  We go through ground beef and steaks pretty quickly, but tend to shy away from the roasts.  I hated making a huge roast for a small family and not feeling like we could eat it before I began to question it's edibility.  (Yes, I just made that word up, but you get the gist.) In my almost constant search to create meals for my family that are delicious, easy, and quick, I stumbled upon an idea that is so self explanatory that I don't know why I didn't think of it myself.  Instead of cooking a roast the traditional way (all day long with lots of veggies) and trying to eat this meal twice a day until it's gone, it was suggested that you cook the roast on it's own and freeze it in portions to use in other meals.  Light bulb!  So, I use this very easy roast recipe I'm including below.  So far, I've used the meat to make bbq for sandwiches or sliders, fajitas, and enchiladas.  As well as just eating it on it's own with some fresh spring veggies.  This recipe combined with a good Red Beard Farms roast (any roast cut you still have left) makes one delicious, tender piece of meat.  Combine it with the make ahead and freeze mentality and you have 3-4 meal starters for your family in one barely touched crock pot day.  I love it!  I'm glad to say that our roasts are no longer neglected.

Big Beef Roast (From Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross)

Ingredients:
1 Roast (the recipe suggests a 4-5 pound beef chuck roast, but I've used several different cuts and sizes with the same great results)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 can (14 ounces) fat-free beef broth (I prefer home made beef broth or at least low sodium organic if I have to buy it).
1 large onion (for about one cup sliced)

The recipe suggests to cut off and discard fat before cooking.  I think the fat adds to the flavor and prefer to take it out after cooking.  (That might just be me though.  It's probably more healthy to pre-trim the fat.)  Here's the hard part.  Put the roast in your crock pot, sprinkle with the seasonings, and give your roast a good massage.  Pour the broth around (NOT on top of) the roast.  Slice up your onion into thin rings and put in the crock pot on top of the roast.  Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours until it will easily separate with a fork.  Smile at your accomplishment.  You just started 3-4 meals for your family in about 10 minutes.  Once it's done, shred the beef using two forks, separate into meal portions for your family, and freeze.

How This All Got Started.....

My wife and I started what would become Red Beard Farms in 2008 when we found out April was pregnant with our daughter, Lilly. We decided that we were going to be more intentional about what we put into our bodies and our children's bodies. It started out with just one steer and an idea from my brother Josh about how to produce high quality beef without the use of hormones or antibiotics. We took Mr. Beefy to the butcher in December of 2008 for our own personal use. The quality of the meat we got was amazing! You could smell the difference when you cooked the ground beef. And in our humble opinion, we could not find steak to match anywhere else.  We shared our beef with friends and family by inviting them to cookouts. We received a lot of positive feedback. 

Got beef?  This was the beef from our first cow, Mr. Beefy. 

When we bought another steer to replenish our freezer some friends expressed interest in purchasing some beef. So this time we bought two steers, half for us and the rest went to friends and acquaintances. And so it began, our weekend farming is keeping us very busy, but the end product is well worth it.

Our process is very simple: grass, hay, water and some grain at the end to finish. Our steers are mostly grass fed.  They are kept on pasture and always have access to grass or hay. We supplement with grain the final two or three months to help "finish" and prepare for the butcher. For now, we purchase our steers from local sales and farmers, but very soon we should be raising our own calves which will be a huge step in the direction of totally organic farming. Our beef is never treated with hormones. The feed is antibiotic free. This is the only beef I want my family to eat! 

 Matt with our four current steers and our bull, Ferdinand.  This picture was taken back in October.  They've put on a lot of weight since then!  The warm winter has been good to them. 

Lilly petting our bull, Ferdinand.  We named him after one of Lilly's favorite books, The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf.  If you haven't read it, you should! 

 Beautiful!

Another October picture... Steer Number 7 will be ready at the end of March.  The others need another month.  They're set to go at the end of April.  We've let ourselves completely run out of beef, so we're excited to have more soon!

 Going backwards in the timeline a bit.... these are three of the heifers in late May.  Enjoying a green pasture! 

 Meet Pickle, our youngest heifer.  Pickle is Lilly's (our three year old daughter's) cow.  Lilly loves red, so she quickly claimed Pickle as her own. This picture was taken in September 2011, shortly after Pickle joined our herd.  Pickle was the smallest of our herd by a lot.  We kept her in a large pin for a few days to make sure the other heifers were going to play nice.  She's not so little anymore! 

 Three of our four heifers in late January 2012.  In this picture, Pickle is heading up to see if we brought her any treats. 

 Our son, Declan, helping Daddy feed the cows in late January 2012.

Hence the name, Red Beard Farms....