Where's the Beef...34º--38º

On Tuesday afternoon Herb and I went to a small ranch, just outside of Wallowa...We were going there to glean hearts, tails and tongues from a mobile slaughter truck that comes here from Union County...Now some people might not want to read this and that is up to you...but if you eat even an occasional hamburger, you should know where your meat comes from...For any of us to eat meat something has to die...That's just the way it is...I suggest you read "Omnivores Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, to get a better idea of the meat that you eat in a "Big Mac" or buy at the grocery store. http://michaelpollan.com/books/the-omnivores-dilemma/

Growing up on a farm this was a natural process, we raised animals for food just like we raised a garden for food...Our animals were loved and well taken care of and when the time came they were killed as quickly and humanly as possible...This was not always easy, I have cried over more than one animal that was slated for the dinner table...But I happen to love meat so I got over it!

A trend has started to eat local meat including beef, lamb, goat and pig...I won't go into the options of grass fed, grain finished etc....This is mostly about Dale Baker, and his mobil slaughter wagon...I've watched this process several times over the past twenty years, sometimes in our own back yard...Every time it amazes me more and is fascinating to watch...On this particular day Dale had seven steers to kill for several people, we had ordered one...Our family's Christmas present...With a cold wind blowing, he was already gutting and skinning the second one when Herb and I arrived with our 5 gallon buckets, motioning us where to set the buckets.  He said, "We'll fill 'em up, you want tongues, tails, and hearts"...I shook my head yes...His knife never stopped its motion of slash, slash, slash...hone, hone, hone...His young assistant was at his side with a spray of water when needed and they worked together like a surgical team in an operating room, hardly a word was spoken...Each had their own jobs...Dale doing the skinning and his assistant the clean up...Soon the carcass was hanging on hooks on a sliding extension, where the assistant sprayed and washed until every trace of foreign matter was cleared away, with a mighty push it went into the back of the truck to await the trip to the butcher and another steer was now almost skinned and ready to be hung...I managed to tell Dale that he was like "Poetry in Motion and how much I enjoyed watching him", he gave a half grin and said, "Years of experience".

After about an hour of watching mesmerized, we departed...Herb picked up our now full buckets and we headed for the car, me opening gates to exit the corrals...Talked briefly with Pam, the owner of the steers, catching up on family news and making sure we knew about the billing, cutting and wrapping process...Beef should be packaged and ready in 14 to 18 days.

Last night the aroma of simmering tongue, garlic, onion, celery and spices filled our kitchen and set out mouths to watering...OWAV:)