Meat – Koofie's Natural Living

February 28, 2020February 28, 2020

Eggs and bacon… what a wonderful combination!

One of my favorite breakfasts is easy to make, and it’s very, very local. I love scrambled eggs and bacon. It’s not an everyday breakfast around here but it’s great for special occasions or on those mornings when I ‘m in the mood for something hearty!

My first step is to make the bacon. Lately I’ve been using the oven to cook the bacon; it cooks up crispier and I can easily fit all my bacon on the tray, leaving extra bacon in the fridge for other recipes. After it’s baked, I drain the bacon and put about a tablespoon or two of bacon grease in a skillet and add scrambled eggs (eggs, herbs, salt, milk, and a bit of parmesan or romano cheese). While they’re cooking I often make a bowl of mixed veggies. They add to the yummy flavors and a serving of veggies is perfect with such a heavy breakfast! By the time the eggs are cooked, the bacon is cool and the whole meal is plated up. I pour the mostly-cooled bacon grease into a glass jar (jelly jars are best) and I keep it to use with various recipes (Alfredo sauce is great with a roux made of flour and bacon grease). Hammi is always happy with a spot of bacon grease on his food too! I love that in about 20 minutes, I get a lovely breakfast as well as bacon grease and cooked bacon to use in many other meals!

But I digress. What I really mean to say is that you have an opportunity to have your own tasty bacon to add to the eggs you already buy! We often have custom pork and lamb available for you!

Buying in bulk is a great way to save money while getting the best quality meat possible. Bulk means not only is the price per pound less than retail cuts, it also means you can make choices you can’t make buying retail. You can pick your favorite sausage flavors, buy thicker or thinner cuts of meat; whatever your preference, have your sausages made into patties because that’s the only way your four-year-old will eat it, and you can ask for the bones and leaf lard if you’re inclined!

To purchase in bulk, just follow the instructions above
Email me or visit our online store to place a deposit (choose local pick-up for your shipping method). I will contact you with further details.

February 28, 2020February 28, 2020

Custom processing means you get the meat cut and processed the way YOU want!

Pork, Lamb, and Eggs… Oh My!

Do you love good quality meat but get frustrated when cuts aren’t available or aren’t cut the way you prefer? Custom ordering is a wonderful way to get the meat you want at a lower price than the stores AND have it cut to your specifications!

Our pork and lamb is the best you can buy. Our pork is raised in the forest. The hogs have access to up to 30 acres of land to forage and they’re also given a ration of GMO- and soy-free grain that’s been soaked for at least 12 hours, as well as minerals, kelp and fishmeal for protein. The pigs are fed and checked on twice a day and love the head scratchings and pats they get.

Our lambs live out in the fields and only come in for shelter, minerals, and when we call them to get checked out. They are completely grass-fed and spend their time happily munching grass and greens as part of a large flock, including their mamas.

We have both pork and lamb ready for pre-order. Pork is $4.75/lb hanging weight* and lamb is $5.95/lb hanging weight*. If you’ve not bought meat in bulk before, here is how the process runs:

place a non-refundable* deposit of for the animal(s) you want – $50 for lamb, $100 for a half hog, and $150 for a whole hog
shortly before their harvesting date, we will put you in contact with the processor to choose your cuts
soon after delivery to the processor, we will receive the hanging weight * of the animal and send you an invoice for the balance
the processor will contact you with a pickup date. It’s generally about 2-4 weeks after harvesting. You pick up your meat from the processor (Mt. Airy) and pay them for their services

*What is hanging weight? It is the weight of the animal after the processor has started processing your meat but before the final cuts. It’s typically about 40% of the live weight, but it varies by species. Our hogs typically run about 125-200 lbs hanging weight and our lamb runs about 40-65 lbs hanging weight.

February 28, 2020February 28, 2020

Fermented and soaked grains are as beneficial to animals as they are to humans

I’m guessing you have already heard great things about soaked and fermented food for humans, but did you know they can help our our animal friends too?

Our chickens, ducks, and pigs are all fed soaked or fermented grains every day. It makes a huge difference in their health and the quality of the food they produce! Think about it; for a seed to become a plant someday, it needs to be able to pass through an animal’s stomach whole to be replanted and grow. By soaking and fermenting, we making it easier for those seeds to be digested, rather than planted!

To start, the grains are soaked in water for at least 12 hours. This causes the seed coat to swell and the “good stuff” inside the seed is easier for the animals to access and process. Because they’re better able to break down the seed and access the nutrition inside the seed, less seeds are passed through the digestive system without being utilized, so more nutrition is gained.

At this point in the process, I sometimes feed the grain to the animals. Space and time constraints mean I can generally only have once bucket of grain soaking at a time, so while some of the grain continues on to the fermentation process, some of it needs to be consumed after 12 hours.

What’s left goes on to ferment. This process takes about 2-3 days though I’ve seen it happen in less time. Unlike cattle and other ruminates who ferment what they eat on their own, pigs, chickens and ducks do not ferment their own food and thus miss out on the added benefit of fermentation.

Fermentation encourages the natural yeasts to modify the anti-nutrients. Anti-nutrients are substances that actually inhibit the absorption of minerals (gluten, lectins, phytates) and removing them or changing them increases the absorption of nutrients.

When fermentation occurs, you can tell because you can see gas bubbles rising from the grain!