Give up?

 I was a speaker at Natural Harvest Food Coop. I spoke for nearly an hour about local meat.  The Co-op's Board has made it a mission to learn more about the local food economy this year. So following thier monthly meetings they are inviting speakers.  They were very attentive and very kind. I was awfully nervous!

There were even a couple people in attendance who weren't Board members and didn't even have to be there! (Thanks for coming, Janna, Gina, and the nice couple from the Cook end of Lake Vermilion who's names I can't remember!)

Do you know about the Co-op? It's a great store. We are so lucky to have such a well stocked treasure. Remember you don't have to be a member to shop there - like the sign say's : Open to the Public.

I brought a camera with me so I could take a picture of the store. But I left it on the back seat of my car. Sorry.

It was a fun night. Thanks for having me Natural Harvest.

These are the hogs we'll be butchering in March and April. Don't they look happy? They have lots of room to run and play. They love the spring sunshine.

You'll notice there are two pretty distinct sizes. They were born about 6 weeks apart, I think.

Once the first batch has been butchered and weighed, we'll be able to figure out when the second batch should be ready. Someday we'll have a scale so we can be more exact about our butcher weights, but for now it's all by eye.

We'll be butchering in March and April. I'll start calling by the folks who have  already told us that they wanted to get pork from our next butchering. If you are interested, please call 218-984-3235.

 Hogs are available by the half or whole. We have more information on our pork page on the website, but don't be afraid to call or email me for more information. We are always happy to answer questions - especially for people who are new to ordering meat directly from a farmer.   

After April, we won't  have pork by the whole or half until fall (2010) !!

 We'll try to make each Market each week, but sometimes for one reason or another we have to miss one.

If you call 218-984-3235 or email wycoff@frontier.com, we'll be able to tell you in advance if we'll be at a given market on any given day.

As a convenience for customers who may be pressed for time when they come to shop at Market, as well as to insure we don't sell out if you can't get to Market right away, we are going to try taking advance orders.

Email us (or phone...whatever you prefer) and tell us what you'd like us to set aside on Market Day. We'll bag it up and make out a bill ahead of time.

  No order is too big or too small. If you email your order, we'll email a confirmation so you know we'll be ready for you.

DURING THE SUMMER OF 2009,  WE PARTICIPATED IN BOTH THE ELY AND TOWER FARMERS MARKETS. WE PLAN TO ATTEND BOTH AGAIN THE SUMMER OF 2010. 

Market Days and Schedule

The Brand New Tower Farmers Market

Fridays 4 PM to 6 PM

In the Depot Parking lot next to the train

This was a new Market that opened June 26th, 2009. We had a great first year and look to get even bigger in 2010.

Ely Farmers Market

Tuesday Nights 5:30 PM - 7 PM

The Ely Farmer's Market is at Whiteside Park in Ely. It opened for 2009 on May 26th! If the weather is icky look for the vendors in the Log Pavillion in the park. Or...just follow the crowd. The Ely Market is well established and very well recieved. We have a loyal bunch who check out the Market every Tuesday.

There is also free live music outside of a few stores on Tuesday nights as well as music in the park.

It's a really fun way to spend an evening.

We raise our hogs on pasture rather than the confinement style hog barns  that the big operators use. The hogs are out in the fresh air and sunshine living like....well, like pigs! They wallow in mud, romp around, and root up the pasture.  They keep themselves happy and busy. This is all  good for the pigs and good for the people who eat them.

Pork is available in two ways - in bulk or by individual cuts.

To buy in bulk, you can buy a whole or half pig which we'll deliver to a meat processer.

This is called custom exempt meat processing. We take your order in advance for a whole or half  hog. When you place your order, we will take your cutting instructions. The questions we'll ask you are quite simple and involve how many chops you want packaged together..2? 3? How thick would you like them cut - the processor recommends that they be 3/4". And so on. Don't worry, we'll guide you through the questions step by step.

We normally bring our pigs to Great Scott Meats in Buhl for custom processing, but this is negotiable. Some people may want to process the pig themselves or have the pig processed elsewhere. Your meat is ready about a week after we deliver the pig along with your custom cutting instructions. If you live or work near other people who are getting our meat, we can usually work out delivery to you. If not, we may ask you to meet us somewhere.

The hanging weight of half of a hog is about 100 pounds.  The cuts you can expect are chops, steaks, roasts, ribs, side pork (or bacon), ground pork, a package of pork neck, and , if you wish, your unrendered lard. Your box of meat will measure  about 19"x15"x9". This doesn't include your smoked product which is about 25-30 pounds of additional meat.

Prices are based upon hanging weight and are subject to change. Please contact us to make sure these prices are current.

Pork by the whole or half for purchase in the fall of 2009  was 2.09 a pound. We hope to be able to hold that price into the spring.  Of that the processor will receive .45 a pound for slaughter, cutting, wrapping, and freezing. Bear Creek Acres receives the balance for the hog. You will write one check for the full amount to the farm because we will have paid your processing fees for you when we pick up the meat.

This does not include fees for smoking. When we talk on the phone, we can make those arrangements. We have a business that we are comfortable recommending for your custom smoking. They normally charge $1.00 a pound to smoke hams and bacon. We can drop off your meat for smoking when we bring in our own. Or perhaps you want to have someone else do the smoking for you. That's fine. When we take your cutting instructions, you'd tell us this -  and we would relay that information to the processor.

On the other hand, you don't have to have meat smoked. The ham on the pig makes wonderful fresh roasts and steaks. If you prefer to take your pork belly as fresh meat, it's called side pork.

Spare Ribs (1/4 rack) …………..........$5.00 /lb 

Country Style Ribs (avg 2 per pack).........$3.00/lb

Pork Roast (3 pound avg)……….... $4.00/lb

Fresh Ham Steak (unsmoked).….. $4.00/lb

Ground Pork (one pound bag).......$ 3.00

Bacon (one pound package)........$5.00

Smoked Ham Steak (1-1/2 pound avg) .........$5.00/lb 

Smoked Ham Roasts (3 lb avg) .........$5.00/lb

Bratwurst (19.2oz)...........$6.00

Wild Rice Brat  (19.2 oz).......$6.00

Italian Sausage  (19.2 oz)....$6.00

Breakfast Links (one pound pkg).......$5.00

Thank you for your interest in our beef.

We raise our beef on pasture. They are not stuffed into a feed lot with hundreds of other cows. They are on grass with plenty of fresh air and sunshine . They are also fed an all natural grain ration. This means that the feed is not organic, however the animals receive no anti-biotics, no hormones, and there is no animal by-products in their feed.

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Currently, we are only selling our beef by the whole, half, and quarter. The meat will be processed at Great Scott Meats in Buhl. The price we quote you includes the processor's fee of .40 a pound (based on hanging weight) for slaughter, cutting, wrapping and freezing your meat.

The beef we sold in June 2009 was  $2.99 pound - based on hanging weight. We can't commit to a price for beef in May of 2010 since the price of feed is so unstable.

So, let's say you think you might like a bunch of beef in your freezer.

Here's how it works:

First you call us and get on the list. We'll give you an aproximation of when we'll have beef again. Right now we are taking names for the Fall of 2009.

A couple months before we bring the cattle to Great Scott Meats, we'll call you and take your cutting instructions. This is easy. We'll ask you how you want your ground meat packaged...usually people want 1 pound packages. My family's made up of big eaters...so I get mine in 1-1/2 pound packs. Do you want 3-4 pound or 4-5 pound roasts? Do you want your prime rib whole...or would you rather have it cut into rib steaks? Don't worry. We'll guide you through it step-by-step. After we talk about your instructions, we'll let you know when we expect to deliver the meat. If you live or work in a fairly convenient location, we'll bring it to you. Or we may ask that you meet us somewhere. We will be able to give you an aproximate total for your meat, but since all animals weigh different amounts...it's something of a guess. You can expect a 1/4 of a beef to hang between 160 -175 pounds. All animals also have different amounts of waste, as well - but once the animal is processed you can expect aproximately 2 boxes, measuring about 19"x15"x9" each, for your freezer.

When we bring the animal to Buhl, we will also deliver your custom instructions to Jim. He'll cut and wrap your meat to order.

When we deliver your meat...a personal check is just fine.

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 Thanks for your interest in our chicken!

Our chickens are raised on pasture until it’s time to bring them to a small family business near Brainerd where they are processed in a professional facility under inspection by a Minnesota meat inspector.

The Nelson family does a lovely job. The birds are cleaned well and frozen neatly in sturdy bags.

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Normally the chickens are sold whole, but Nelson’s will cut up chicken for about  dollar a bird.

If we are aware of a customer’s desire in advance we can order them processed accordingly.

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We plan to have chickens available on a regular basis

July through October.

Chicken is available in any amount.Customers who want a large number of chickens can preorder by calling us at the farm, and we'll set them aside.

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Ordering in advance is encouraged and appreciated! It helps us plan how many chickens to raise since our freezer space is limited. 

As of January,2010, we are hoping to be able to hold last year's price of $2.50 a pound for whole chickens.  The price may change a bit during the summer, depending on the price of feed,  but we don't forsee a large price change.

The birds average 5 pounds each. We've found it's a nice size whether you want to cut up the chicken or roast it whole.

Our chickens from the summer of 2009 are all gone, and we have started a list of orders for the first batch of 2010 chickens which we expect to be for sale the first week of July.

Call (or email) if you'd like to get  on the list, too!

We had been anxiously awaiting our milk cow's calf and really, really hoping for a heifer (female) calf so that one day we can milk her, too. Our plan was for our youngest daughter, Maggie, to bottle feed it and halter train it so that she could be shown at the County Fair next year. She would be tame and trained to be easily handled for milking when she grew and gave us a calf of her own. Of course, if it was a boy dairy calf it would only be destined to be meat so we couldn't make a pet of him. We really really wanted a heifer.

I came around the corner in the barn Monday morning to see Roo, our milk cow, standing quietly over a still wet calf. She was attentitvely licking off the calf, and the calf was laying down with it's head upright and alert. All was well.

I went to get some clean straw to spread out to cover the messes, and as I spread it around I checked to see what Roo had given us. It was a girl!  I went in the house to wake Maggie so she could get started with her calf. 13 year old Maggie was so thrilled so see it take it's first steps and drink it's first bottle. She named her Rosie.

We are proud to welcome Rosie to Bear Creek Acres

I placed the order for our next batch of chicks last week, and they are due to arrive here on August 5th. Since it take 9 or 10 weeks for them to grow, and then we need to allow time for them to be processed I think we are looking at them being ready for pickup October 9 or October 16. We already have folks getting on the list, and we really don't want to run out. Well, I guess we do want to run out....we sure don't want to have too many. But we don't want too few. See our predicament? We're a pretty small potatoes operation. Chickens take up a lot of freezer space , and the last thing we want is to have 150 too many birds. So we try to really pace our production to what we are pretty darn sure we can sell in a reasonable period of time.

Anyway, I guess if we were to get a zillion preorders in the next couple weeks, we'd still have time to get another batch of chicks started. The weather window for pasture chicken raising in Embarrass, MN is pretty short. You may have heard how cold we get around here. Last year,we brought our last batch to the butcher November 2nd, and we are hoping to finish up chickens a little earlier this year.

I guess what I am trying to say is ....we welcome you to pre-order some chickens. After these fall birds go...there are no more until June/July of 2010. Wow....that just blows me away. It sounds soooo far away. That's the cool part of farming, though.  There is always more to learn and ways to improve.

And there's always next year to try again.

Next summer we'll have to raise more.