SoCal cow/lamb/goat pooling. All grass fed and ridiculously cheap. You in? page 3

[Derpamix]

let me know how that lamb tastes

[Paleobird]

let me know how that lamb tastes

Lamb is my all time favorite kind of meat.

I really like the idea that the meat from this Eden Tropics place is grown right there where I can check it out, see how the animals are treated, how the processing is done.

My previous meat CSA was just a distributor for someone in St Louis. Their website said they were all green and eco friendly and all that but I had to just kind of take that on faith.

It's nice to be able to "meet my meat".

[Derpamix]

Lamb is my all time favorite kind of meat.

I really like the idea that the meat from this Eden Tropics place is grown right there where I can check it out, see how the animals are treated, how the processing is done.

My previous meat CSA was just a distributor for someone in St Louis. Their website said they were all green and eco friendly and all that but I had to just kind of take that on faith.

It's nice to be able to "meet my meat".

gotta say, lamb is by far my favorite too. I also really like beef, but those two besides some other gamey stuff, are really the only meat I think tastes good. Poultry is way too bland to me, and fish just grosses me out(don't dig the fishy after taste or smell...) and I react horribly to pork.

[springnr]

It's nice to be able to "meet my meat".

Also might be good to taste some before purchasing a freezer full.

My local Washington rancher is raising Chiangus.
Gourmet quality Chianina/Angus is a tasty deal at right under $5 lb in the freezer.

You might prefer another breed, hard to know without sampling.

[Paleobird]

gotta say, lamb is by far my favorite too. I also really like beef, but those two besides some other gamey stuff, are really the only meat I think tastes good. Poultry is way too bland to me, and fish just grosses me out(don't dig the fishy after taste or smell...) and I react horribly to pork.

I generally stick with the ruminants and seafood. Pork and poultry just don't taste *interesting* to me unless heavily sauced/spiced/buttered. I have a great little market here that sells interesting game meat like gator, elk, and moose. I also like some of the gamier fowl such as duck, goose, ostrich, and emu. And kangaroo is awesome.

[Paleobird]

Also might be good to taste some before purchasing a freezer full.
My local Washington rancher is raising Chiangus.
Gourmet quality Chianina/Angus is a tasty deal at right under $5 lb in the freezer.
You might prefer another breed, hard to know without sampling.

True, it would be nice but I can't exactly invite myself over for dinner at the rancher's house. So, I'm willing to take the financial risk and do the sampling for all of SoCal. At least with this Combo deal you get to try their whole product line.

[Paleobird]

OK. First shipment picked up today so here is the review so far.

The farmer changed the pick up date on us at the last minute so we ended up picking up frozen meat instead of fresh from the butcher the way he usually does it. This made things a bit difficult to divide up as there were things frozen solid in big lumps like all the fat, trimmings and bones in one bag. Also there were "family pack" sized trays of steaks and such. That's cool if you have a family but for me, well maybe I need to throw some more dinner parties. Also we specifically asked for the bones to be cut up for roasting and they weren't. That was disappointing.

Otherwise Eden Tropics was a lovely place and the owner is really nice. He let us roam around and pick all the fruit we wanted for free, The place's primary business is in growing and selling fruit. They only started keeping animals to help eat the tree trimmings and keep the fire hazard ground brush down plus eat the spoiled fruit and provide free organic fertilizer for the trees. So they don't really care if they turn a profit on the meat. The animals save them a lot of money on fertilizer and get them a break on their fire insurance rate so they pay for their keep. Selling the meat has just become a little sideline for them.

The meat looks very nice but it is mostly in big roasts. This is not optimal for single folks.
I think the divvying things up issues could be solved if we were there on the day when the meat is not frozen and perhaps brought along some ziplock freezer bags for things like the steaks plus perhaps a knife and cutting board to cut the organs in half. As it was, the other folks took the heart and I got the liver which works for me.

I will report back when I have sampled some of the product . Still eating up the last of what was left in my freezer atm.

[imgliniel]

Hey Paleobird!

Let me know how everything tastes! I have been kinda waiting to order from them till you got to try yours and see if you had a decent experience haha. I live in San Diego (east county) and my parents live in Wildomar, which is like 5 miles north of the temecula Valley. I grew up in that area and I am hoping to order from them after I get to visit in person and talk about getting all the organs and extra parts etc. (I raw feed a large dog and two cats so I want the odd bits like the spleen and lungs, the hooves, etc, EVERYTHING CAN BE USED. I don't want anything but the head and spine (BSE regulations mandate this) to go in the garbage.)

[Paleobird]

Hey Paleobird!

Let me know how everything tastes! I have been kinda waiting to order from them till you got to try yours and see if you had a decent experience haha. I live in San Diego (east county) and my parents live in Wildomar, which is like 5 miles north of the temecula Valley. I grew up in that area and I am hoping to order from them after I get to visit in person and talk about getting all the organs and extra parts etc. (I raw feed a large dog and two cats so I want the odd bits like the spleen and lungs, the hooves, etc, EVERYTHING CAN BE USED. I don't want anything but the head and spine (BSE regulations mandate this) to go in the garbage.)

Hi There <waves to the east>
When I got the big frozen lump of the "odd bits" defrosted enough overnight to pull apart this morning, I was disappointed that there was no fat. NONE. I'm making some wonderful smelling broth with the trimmings and such and put the marrow bones away for special treats.

The farmer in this case doesn't do his own butchering, he sends it out to a halal processor. They may not realize that some people actively like the odd bits. They probably sell the fat off to US Wellness meats who then sells it back to me on the net.

I think this confusion could be cleared up on future orders by making clear instructions in advance.

Oh, and we did get the heads.

[imgliniel]

Oh, and we did get the heads.

From the cows? Or from the lamb and goat? From what I understand they are supposed to throw away the spinal cord and brain of the beef because of the BSE (mad cow) laws. The lambs and goats have no such restriction.

hmm... I wonder if I could simply pay for the animal and have my own processor do it.... Do they do the kill/euth on site then take the carcass to the proccessor? Or trailer the animal live to the processor (I can just ask them I guess lol, just easy if you know lol)