More Farm Stuff

Little basils and oreganos are becoming toddler basils and oreganos...Parsley and lettuce are still germinating.
Right now we're in the process of our annual beef order. Every winter, Mr. Haber from around the corner sends information about ordering Angus beef from him. He grows these steers from calf stage, feeding them on grass and some grain, but no antibiotics or hormones. You do know your supermarket beef is giving you more than Nature intended, don't you?
So Will contacts me, and I contact a select group of friends to arrange an order. Right now we have 5 families vying for a cow. I'm trying to explain to them that we need two, or else we'll run out of beef before Memorial Day. We'll work it out in time, but the volume of phone calling and describing has kept me away from blogging! What up with that?
It may help, too, that Pine Ridge Farm (that would be our homestead, thank you for asking) may soon have a few hundred pounds of hamburger to sell. The sad fact of life on a farm is that animals that can't produce while alive get the chance to do so when they're not. And our Dexter cow, Bessie, has now had about a year to allow herself to become with calf, so to speak, and continues to avoid or refuse. This included a couple of artificial insemination attempts and almost 6 months with Bill the bull. I am sure that 6 months of honeymoon would have produced some form of infant with most females, but Bess is having none of it. She is not too old to breed, but too old to be used for more than hamburger. Next month Dr. Bill will come out and "preg check" her. Ladies, remember those last 4 visits to the OB/GYN? OK, then, you know how this will work. Only it's waaayyy messier when Dr. Bill does it. For reference, see here. Arncha glad I shared?
And, if after all of Dr. Bill's hard and messy work, the rabbit doesn't die, well, Bessie will go off to Sam the Butcherman, and we'll have hamburger.