Home Grown Nevada - Grass finished beef and our first venture into local food

The other day I was sitting here, wondering what great northern Nevada food thing I could write about next. Now that I might be called a "blogger" I was feeling the pressure to write about some newly discovered source. I've been really busy with other things (weddings, Artown, eating) and haven't had time to personally pursue and vouch for new (to me) local food leads. And then it occurred to me that I hadn't written a thing about our first foray into eating locally...grass-finished beef.

Last year, in reaction to what Mark and I had recently learned about how mass food production really happens, we went looking for a better way to buy our food. It was winter 2006 so we knew veggies were out of the question so we turned to the Internet to research other alternatives. We found Tina and Jim Smith of Home Grown Nevada. Though I was pretty proud of myself for "thinking" of buying beef locally they had already had a client base, a delivery system, and a website. Many of my friends, with and without children, are concerned about the way beef is produced on CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations). So when it was time to find families interested in trying grass-finished beef many were ready to sign on. So many, in fact, that we purchased an entire beef the first time out. Buying locally has changed the way we think about eating all meat and how I cook it.

When I was little we often ate cuts other than New York, Tri-tip, and Filet Mignon, but as I started cooking for myself and fell in love with the Bon Appetit style of cooking, I was drawn away from the cuts that were actually tastier but required longer cooking times, or cooking methods that were more complex than simply "start up the coals". As it turns out my family used to eat grass-finished beef all the time. Though it was no longer available in the supermarket, our rancher/farmer uncles kept our family supplied, so going back to GF beef held for me the unexpected pleasure of a lost family connection. GF beef does taste and look a bit different than corn-fed/finished beef and some of us were concerned we might not think it tasted like beef. Just one taste and we set those fears aside: it had the beefy taste and satisfying mouth feel we all love, and another quality that can only be attained when cattle are raised eating their natural diet, grass. For lack of a better description, terroir, the flavor imparted to food as a result of the regional environment.

It's been a few months since our first purchase and we are still excited about purchasing beef locally. We've eaten everything from hamburgers to filets and it's all been delicious. In September all the families will gather together to share a meal and an afternoon while we cook up the two Tri-tips (one on the grill, the other in the oven for hours at 200 degrees). We'll talk, share, laugh, and enjoy our time together. And talk about our next community-based beef purchase and which of our other friends and acquaintances might want to come along in 2008.