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We invite you to discover more about the nutrition principles behind our natural grass-fed meats. Below is a list of articles and resources that help explain the values of pastured and organic farming.

Why grass-fed?

Health Benefits of grass-fed beef from EatWild website.
Greener pastures- An article compiled by the Union of Concerned Scientists about the value of pastured meats and milk.
San Francisco Chronicle article on families who buy natural meats farmer-direct.
Steak taste-test compares grass-fed to grain fed beef.

Internet resources:

Eugene Local Foods.
Local Harvest has information on buying locally and a list of local producers.
Self-Sustainable Technically Assisted Family Farming (SSTAFF Fund) researches ways to make family farming more diversified and local food available all year round.
Heritage Breeds Conservancy has information and a producer list for heritage breeds in the United States.
Food Alliance is a non-profit third party certification program that promotes sustainable agriculture.
Standard beef cuts from the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board
Woody Lane's Links offers a range of links on forage management.

Books

The Farmer and the Grill Cookbook, by Shannon Hayes
Pastured Poultry, by Joel Salatin
Salad Bar Beef, by Joel Salatin
The Four-fold Path to Healing, by Thomas Cowan

Periodicals

The Stockman Grassfarmer
Small Farmers Journal
Acres USA- A voice for eco-agriculture

Recipes

Grassfed Cooking with Shannon Hayes
AmericanGrassFedBeef.com
Tips for Cooking Grass Fed Beef

Simple Heritage Roast Turkey (from the NY Times)
Time: 2 to 3 1/2 hours, depending on size of turkey

  • 1 12-to 18-pound heritage turkey such as a Bronze or Bourbon Red, thawed, with giblets and neck removed
  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons butter, cut into four pieces
  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 2 stalks celery, cut in two or three pieces each
  • 1 medium apple, halved
  • 8 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 cups turkey broth, water or a mixture of half water and half apple juice.

    1. At least four hours before roasting, rub turkey inside and out with salt and pepper; refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator 45 minutes before roasting. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

    2. Set turkey in roasting pan fitted with a V-shaped rack. Slip your fingers under skin to loosen it. Rub butter over breasts. Stuff vegetables, apple and thyme into cavity. Tuck wingtips under bird.

    3. Pour broth or water into pan, around bird. Put turkey in oven and roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 325, baste turkey with pan juices, cover with a foil tent and return to oven. Cook for another 30 minutes. Remove foil, baste again and place foil back on turkey. Cook for 30 more minutes. Remove foil.

    4. When turkey has roasted for a total of two hours, insert a meat thermometer straight down into fleshiest part of thigh, where it meets drumstick. Check a second spot, then remove thermometer. (Do not let thermometer touch bone.) Thigh meat should reach no more than 165 degrees. Juices should run clear. (If bird is larger than 14 pounds, keep foil on longer and begin checking meat temperature at two and half hours.) To assure perfectly cooked white and dark meat, you may remove bird when meat thermometer shows thigh temperature at 155, then remove legs and roast them separately for another 15 to 30 minutes, depending on size of bird.

    5. When bird has reached desired temperature, remove from oven and let rest for at least 30 minutes, covered in foil and with a damp towel on top of foil, to retain heat and allow juices to return to meat. Remove foil and towel and serve.

    Yield: 8 to 12 servings.

    Solar oat and omega 3 meatloaf (Submitted by Michael Dangermond):


    1.25 lb Deck Family ground beef
    1 egg
    1/2 cup? rolled oats. Enough to soak up moisture well from all ingredients.
    1 small can tomato paste
    1 tsp steak sauce
    1 Tbsp worcestershire
    1 Tbsp soy sauce
    1 Tbsp ketchup
    1 onion, chopped
    1 carrot, grated. Or whatever you may have in the way of sweet corn? leftover vegetables? etc.

    combine ingredients and mix well. Press into both pans of an SOS sport solar oven. Bake 3 hours or so. We put the covered pans in the oven and faced the oven to the south. The meatloaf baked in 250F preheated oven from 1:30 PM (a sunny day in may) until I got home from work around 5:30 or so.

  • info@deckfamilyfarm.com
    phone: (541) 998-4697
    25362 High Pass Rd., Junction City, OR 97448 (directions)