...their bounty, that is.
Cattle farmers are kind of hot. What with their ropin' and hat tippin' and skin patina'd by the open sky...ahem....where was I?
There is a certain romanticism to the idea of a cowboy on the range raising honest food the old fashioned way. It is no wonder that meeting the people who produce my food also happens to make my food taste better because I know where it has come from and can ask questions about how it was raised and the conditions by which it was slaughtered.
I want to meet and know the people who produce what I eat. I want to know the hands that sow, harvest, and husband the food. Food is precious and so are the people who produce it.
It does not hurt, of course, that when we can look the person who produce our food in the eye, it also means that our food is fresher and travelled a shorter distance to reach our table
Coquitlam has a thriving little farmer's market that hops with fresh baked goods, organic greens, farm fresh eggs and a rugged cowboy.
Glenn and I picked up a 1/4 of a cow today from the market from Redl's Home-Grown Beef. Their commitment is to raise their "cattle in an environment that is respectful of the land and of the animal." The Redl family's business continues to run cattle "the old fashioned way: a cowboy, his horse and his dog." Their beef is free from growth promotants, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibioics, animal by-products and feed additives, and spend their time grazing on grasses.
Oh, and did I mention that it is deliciously beefy? It tastes...wait for it...like beef. The flavour is full-bodied and robust. We grilled our sirloin steaks naked and topped it with some salt and pepper when it came off the grill and that's it...beef heaven. The meat was sweeter because we know the animal had had a decent life and did not suffer needlessly to feed the industrial beef model.
Oh, and did I mention that it is deliciously beefy? It tastes...wait for it...like beef. The flavour is full-bodied and robust. We grilled our sirloin steaks naked and topped it with some salt and pepper when it came off the grill and that's it...beef heaven. The meat was sweeter because we know the animal had had a decent life and did not suffer needlessly to feed the industrial beef model.
As our girls dug into their meat, they thanked the animal more than once. Thanks to the animal and the people who help bring it to our table.
Our market fresh menu today:
Fresh fava beans (yum!), marinated sweet peppers and farm veg over our own harvest of rocket (a rocking, nutty, big flavoured green)
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