This post has been a very long time in coming so I apologise to the small group of followers and the occasional web traveller who stumbles across this blog in search of answers only to find a ghost of an inspiring blog.

You see my husband, toddler daughter and I are having an adventure of our own and we have moved to Spain. It has taken a while to find our feet, start grappling with the language and feel settled. So obviously this has meant that my mission has been shelved.

I hope and know that the information is still useful to people.  If you have any information about farms, suppliers etc I am happy to include your information here for others with the disclaimer that people need to vett for themselves. Even if you are a farmer or a supplier and claim to satisfy my criteria I am happy to include you and people can ascertain for themselves if your product is what they are looking for.

So I have encountered a whole new set of issues trying to source humanely raised, free range healthy meat here in Spain. The language barrier is a huge obstacle obviously. However we have been happily eating lovely jamón from a pig that has been free range raised in a Unesco biosphere reserve who feasts on his favourite food of chesnuts until his demise. I know for a fact that these animals have a superb quality of life but I don't know about slaughter practices and transportation. I do however know that the distances are quite short so the problems of transport we have in Australia are unlikely.

Two jamon legs strapped into the child seat of our bicycle:-)

Other than that I have been lowering my meat consumption and trying to buy écologic' where possible but i am not completely sure of the standards of this certification. Wish me luck. Maybe I will start a European site someday.
 

Some of you have been a bit confused as to why I have included information on here about big chain supermarkets and suppliers. In my utopian ideal we would all buy either organic meat or CICO meat direct from farmers with meat that that satisfies my criteria however I am a realist and understand that not everyone is able to nor wants to go down these lines for various reasons. Rather than just give up  I would rather provide information that helps people buy slightly more humanely raised, healthy meat. Is this a cop out? No I don't think so. Many cannot afford órganic'meat, do not have the time or energy to source meat direct from farmers. If a large section of the market supports more affordable less cruel, more healthy meat by buying these products at the supermarket then it will affect change. In fact it already has and Coles and Safeway are making headway on offering these products. Their decision to eradicate caged eggs from their shelves will save hundreds of thousands of hens from the worst treatment imaginable. It has much more impact than the dozens of people I have influenced or maybe the hundreds that a small farmer supplies.So to Mc Ivor Farms (see their comment below this post here) I know that there is a considerable difference between your beautiful happy pigs and the outstanding product that you offer and the product that Otway Pork provide as you describe in your comment. Otway Pork are a 1 on the utopian ideal and you are a 10 but I firmly believe that change needs to come from a number of sources and the long list of cruelty that does not occur at Otway Pork is a very positive step in the right direction affecting a lot of pigs and consumers. See my blog post and comments on this here
.So I want to make it clear that my aim is to encourage everyone to buy from sources such as Mc Ivor Farms and Farmer Dan but I am not burying my head in the sand and pretending that it is realistic that everyone will embrace my goals. This doesn't mean that people don't care and can't help. I hope that anyone reading this can find ways in which to make positive changes for themselves, family and the animals.

Review of first meat order

Not enough time to read my full ramblings? Read my summary here.
I received my first order from the Farmer's Market. Two other couples and my husband and I shared a 20kg beef pack and an 18kg lamb pack. The ordering process was easy. The confirmation stated that the order would arrive in 2-5 business days and it arrived on the 5th day but they indicated to me that this would be the case.

Wow we are really impressed with the meat and the ease of the transaction. I received the meat and our friends came that night to do the quick divvy up. We deliberately chose items that would divide easily and one friend did a great spreadsheet that helped us allocate the meat via email. I might work on it for this blog for future reference to make it more universal so you can use it too.

So what exactly is the meat like? Well let me first explain as Farmer Dan did to me the difference between free range grass fed and feedlot grain fed. Free range grass fed cattle get exercise and eat less fattening more nutritious feed so they have a leaner more muscular physique this is why Farmer Dan makes this distinction clear by calling his business Gippsland Lean Beef. It doesn't mean that he takes all the fat off his produce which trust me is a good thing, more about that in a future post about fat. Grain fed feed lot animals have a floppier muscle tone, unnatural amounts of fat and a lighter flavour due to the more bland feed.

I was a little concerned about these facts because our tastes have come to expect a very tender and light on flavour meat and I worried that my friends might find that their nearly 15kgs of meat may not be to their liking.

However they were not disappointed and neither was I. The meat is not tough but rather firmer and more dense and still melt in the mouth. The additional flavour is great and needs less seasoning. In order to do the meat justice it is important not to overcook. I unfortunately did over cook the first porterhouse to medium, we like medium rare but testimony to the lovely quality it was still tender and easy to cut with a table knife and chew easily with no toughness at all. It was simply a bit dry in texture for our taste and in my opinion disrespectful to the meat.

I cooked the rump steak perfectly and it was the best rump steak that I have ever tasted.

Here is how I did it. I like the method below because it gives you time to get the vegetables on to the plate and then at the last minute reheat the steak so it is served hot.

Tips for cooking the perfect steak.

Prewarm oven to 110 C and leave a dinner plate inside to heat

Cook steak on high heat for a few seconds back off very high but leave flame on high for 2-4 minutes depending on thickness, basically until the blood rises to the top

Turn and repeat, cook on high heat for a few seconds back off very high but leave flame on high for 2-4 minutes

Place steak on dinner plate and cover with foil. Turn oven off and put steak plate in the oven but leave the door open. Leave for 3mins (or up to 10 mins if you need it to get your vegetables served)

Reheat pan to high heat and flash cook steak on each side for a few seconds only and serve immediately. I learnt this method from a chef at Crown Casino.

The challenge of purchasing this meat is what to do with all the various cuts of meat that I have to admit I previously did not buy because I, like most people did not think about the fact that it is unsustainable to only eat the choicest cuts of meat. For further information look at relevant post here. With the approach of winter it is not hard to find appropriate recipes for the season.

This is what else I have done or intend to do.

We received 10 kgs of Beef:

Osso Bucco - made Osso Bucco

Stewing Steak - made Beef and Vegetable Soup and Thai Beef Coconut Curry

Gravy beef - Guiness Irish Stew

Diced Beef - Italian Beef and Red Wine Ragu

Stir fry - Thai Beef lime and chilli noodles

Schnitzel - schnitzel

Scotch fillet - steak with bearnaise sauce and herb mash

Oyster blade - Madras curry

Porterhouse - steak with red wine jus and vegetables

Eye fillet - steak - haven't tried this yet, the steak is buried somewhere in the packed freezer but I am looking forward to it as I imagine that it will be much tastier than eye fillet I have experienced before.

Rump - made steak with garlic butter and vegetables

Sausages - made Bean Cassoulet, Pasta with chilli, sausage and roquette

Mince - made Spaghetti Bolognese, Mince and rice stuffed vegetables

Many of these dishes can be frozen or stored in the fridge for lunch the next day. So even though some of them are a bit time consuming when you divide the time over several meals it is far more time efficient.

6kgs Lamb

Unfortuntately these packs were not labelled so apart from recognising, cutlets, lamb legs, bbq chops, loin chops there are a few unidentified cuts that will become apparent once I defrost. So I 'll get back to you on the lamb options.

In summary I am delighted and relieved that I can wholeheartedly rave about the quality of the meat available at the Farmer's Market. Best of all I can guarantee that the animals had a great quality of life and were treated with the respect they deserve. See. All this for A$13-$15 kilo delivered to your door. Compare this to the equivalent certified organic meat A$28-$50+ per kilo.

Farmer Dan at Gippsland Lean Beef

The visit to Gippsland Lean Beef was a great success and huge learning curve for me.

Farmer Dan wholly fulfills my stated Cows in Clover objectives and I can thoroughly recommend his products. He genuinely cares about the life of his animals and I witnessed their idyllic lifestyle first hand.

Farmer Dan is a Horticulturist by trade and he incorporates this knowledge into his approach.

Gippsland is a beautiful area and here are some of my pictures of the visit.

PESTICIDES

Pesticides are not used on the farm at all. Rotating sheep and cattle fertilises the paddock and controls weeds. Dan explained that thistles are deep rooted and bring nutrients to the surface and cows eat them when they start to die off which keeps control of the situation.

ANIMAL WELFARE

A number of methods are used to ensure the best possible quality of life for the animals. A nearby abattoir is used to slaughter the animals which minimises the stress of long journeys. Only transporters that don't use cattle prods and who are gentle with the animals are engaged.

Dan uses a nifty system for stress free weaning of calves and lambs. In commercial farming, calves and lambs need to be weaned from their mothers earlier than in nature otherwise the mother will lose condition. In many farms babies are simply separated from their young which is very distressing for both the mother and baby. Mum's will moan and bellow sometimes for days at a time and kick fences trying to get to the baby she is pining for. It is a very sad scene that factory farmed animals continually relive throughout their lives.

Dan leaves weaning as late as possible and then applies a harmless ring to the young one's nose. The ring is plastic with spikes that dig and tickle the mother when the offspring try to suckle. She nudges the young away just as she does when she is ready to wean . This way the bond is subtly broken and the mother can continue to be healthy.

The cows roam in roomy pastures with dotted trees and plenty of drinking reserves and not that the cows care but picturesque scenery also. When we arrived at the paddock the cattle eagerly ran up to meet us and surround us. They are not tame, when you move towards them they shy away but they have a healthy curiosity and a hopefulness that food is on offer despite the abundance of lush green grass at the moment. They are social and frolic amongst themselves whilst keeping an eye out in case we decide to offer food. The sheep were off in the distance but looked similarly content.

FEED

All stock is free range and grass fed but in times of drought and winter they must have supplemental feeding. This is where I learnt the most. Have you ever seen the fancy labels that boast grain fed beef? Cows are ruminant animals this refers to their digestive system, four stomachs and a process that involves regurgitation for reprocessing, 'chewing cud"and fermentation. This process creates healthy bacteria that keeps the animal healthy by enabling it to absorb nutrients. Wheat cannot be processed in this way and gives the animal acidosis and enterotoxemia. Farmers who grain feed then have to medicate to combat this unhealthy reaction. Often when you deviate from a natural process it creates unhealthy consequences which then need to combated. This can be said about many things in life where we choose unnatural processes over natural.

Dan harvests his own organically grown hay. He also grows feed like sorghum which is like a lentil and is suitable for ruminant animals. Dan showed me the remnants of the sorghum paddock. After harvesting the sorghum Dan let the cows loose in the paddock where the stalks were over two metres high. The image he painted was like happy pigs in mud. The cows ate their way from the outside into a wall of delicious nutritious stalks. What a happy scene.

In addition Dan feeds lupins. Lupins are a high protein superior quality feed. It is more expensive than wheat but it is far more healthy for the animal and does not cause digestion problems.

CERTIFIED ORGANIC

Dan doesn't use antibiotics, he doesn't need to because he keeps his animals healthy naturally so their immune systems are strong. He refuses to use hormones. Female hormones are regularly used in factory beef production on steers (male cows) to fatten them for slaughter and calm them down so they can be kept in close confines. Dan uses no pesticides and employs sustainable and humane farming practices so why does he choose not to be Certified Organic? Dan explained that he doesn't agree with some loopholes in the certification process that allows for instance grain feeding but at the end of the day it is too expensive. There are numerous application fees, auditing fees then compliance costs, extra workload and then the certifiers want an ongoing percentage of his profit.

I feel very confident to recommend Dan's meat. He really cares about the animals and spends extra time, effort and money to give them a great quality of life and to ensure a natural healthy product. His meat is extremely good value particularly when you buy in bulk. I haven't tried his meat yet but I do have a couple of friends who have and they raved about the quality. Anyway I will be ordering some meat this week so I can tell you all about it then.

Please check out his website for more information http://www.gippslandleanbeef.com.au/

To purchase go to the online store to get his meat home delivered to the Melbourne Metro area only http://thefarmersmarket.com.au/shop/index.php?main_page

Get a group of friends together one of whom is home during the day to receive the delivery and buy in bulk to save.

Farm Visit Update

I spoke to the lovely Farmer Danny at Gippsland Lean Beef and he is more than happy to accomodate my visit. I really expected to have to sell myself but he was very positive about my project from the outset.

I plan to ask him the following questions;

• Why do you choose to raise and sell free range, grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free stock?
• Why are you not certified organic?
• Describe the life one of your animals? Do they have the opportunity to experience natural behaviours?
• Do you use pesticides? If yes, what types? If no, how do you control pests?
• I understand that you limit the live transport of your animals, how long do they travel and what is the process after they leave your farm?

I will also ask some questions about 'lean' meat but I will publish this information with a blog post dedicated to 'nose to tail' eating and the benefits of including fat in your diet. For now I won't confuse the issue. Currently I am seeking meat that satisfies my Cows in Clover objectives.

Off to Gippsland for my first site visit

After much Googling I was very impressed with these Farmers in Gippsland.

http://www.gippslandleanbeef.com.au/#

They claim to satisfy the criteria.

"So if you want meat that is free of hormones and antibiotics in addition to being raised with care and kindness - buy it direct from the farm."

They are not certified 'organic' and their prices are very reasonable. Good quality lamb packs for A$13.88 per kilo and beef packs for A$15 per kilo.

I have emailed them to let them know that I wish to visit and blog about it. I will follow up with a call to arrange a visit and see how they feel about the blogging.