Ninja Cow Farm LLC

Say hello to our newest employee. Makayla started with us a few days ago and we’ve already taken advantage of her unique talents. Was it her horsemanship abilities? Nope. Her experience running the register making us more efficient? Nope. We tapped into the thing that makes her extra unique on our farm. She’s a girl. First, we had a pig who was having serious trouble with a delivery. Somebody needed to go put on the big glove and reach in and try to free the stuck baby.

I tried, but my hand was too big. It just wasn’t going to happen. Who do we have with small hands? Spork!

Spork tried, and did a great job. In fact, he didn’t squirm, protest, or even blink. I said “Son, I need you to do this to try to save this pig.” “Yes sir” is all I heard from him. However at 11, he wasn’t exactly familiar with what he was feeling for so even though he was successful, he wasn’t able to tell me what was going on. Makayla showed up and she did the job just perfect. Not only did she not blink, she was excited to work on animals instead of produce.

Immediately after finishing with the pig (more on her in another post) I needed Makayla’s other unique talent. I’d noted on her employment paperwork that she had pretty, girl handwriting. The kind the girls always had when I was in school getting D minuses in handwriting. Straight from the field, I put her to work on our new chalkboards on the freezers.

Now when you walk into the store, all the pricing and availability is right there in front of you. The store is really starting to come together. A bit more stuff from Buck Naked, labels on the inside of the freezers, and maybe a few new items in the fridge and we should be in good shape.

Yesterday I picked up beef at the processor and the freezers, they are stuffed! We have ALL the cuts back in the store, steaks, ribs, osso bucco, you name it. Everything you need for beef, pork, and chicken is in stock. I don’t think we’ve ever had the selection this complete before so come on out and stock up on goodies.

Also, we’ve had another big change in our store. We have new massive freezers to hold all the goodies and make better use of our space. These freezers are so big that we had to take them apart to get them in the door.  The great part about them is they can swallow an entire tote which means I can load a full basket of meat and just slide it into the freezer. As I get them more organized it will get easier and easier to move meat in and out while also making it easy for customers to find what they are looking for. Plus they are shiny and have buttons, which is pretty much kryptonite to me.

You’ll note that there are black stripes on the freezers. This is chalkboard contact paper that was recommended to me by our friend and neighbor Jennifer with Buck Naked Farm. It took a few hours to get everything put on like I wanted it (I’m fussy) but now we have chalk boards on our freezers which means I can now write the prices on the door so you don’t have to ask before you shop. When our newest employee, Makayla, gets here today with her pretty girl handwriting (as opposed to my illegible, Doctor with Parkinson’s handwriting), I’ll have her list all the prices for each cut.

So even if you don’t need to stock up, come by and see our new setup. The cows are here, the pigs are here, and it’s not raining!

Everyone is talking about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest statement that processed meat causes cancer. To look at the headlines, it sure sounds scary. Up to this point, I honestly haven’t even looked at the report or any news about it. My immediate response to the whole thing has been. “Meh”

I’ve written before about my experience with groups saying things are bad for us. It took many years, but eventually another study comes out saying that the previous study was wrong, or clarifying the study with new information that makes the previous conclusion completely wrong.

What finally prompted me to write something about the new WHO press release was that my mentor, Walter Jeffries, had the following little blurb on his latest post.

Daily Spark: If you are concerned about processed meats containing nitrates and nitrites then best to avoid spinach and celery as they contain far higher levels of the exact same chemicals. Most of all, don’t be a lab rat.

Ok, so it’s nitrates and nitrites that are the issue. That isn’t uncommon for my customers to be concerned about as we get this question often. The only thing we sell that would have nitrites or nitrates is our bacon. Fortunately we’ve worked with our processor to get USDA approval for a non-cured bacon so the bacon I eat out of our sales freezer for breakfast every day isn’t an issue. If you are concerned, then your safe with what you’ve been buying from me.

But the WHO also said that meat might cause cancer all by itself. Oh good Lord! What kind of meat? Raised how? With what added? I can only assume we are talking conventionally raised animals on a corn based diet. If naturally raised meat causes cancer I’d be absolutely floored. Folks, we as a species have lived for a REALLY LONG time eating meat. Well beyond recorded history. If meat causes cancer, it’s because we did something to the meat, not because meat is bad. However groups like the WHO don’t make those distinctions. Just like they don’t make a lot of important distinctions in their research and press releases. For a good counterpoint to this latest WHO/media scare of what is going to kill you, read this article here.

I hopped on the Gator the other day and as I cranked it I looked down and noticed the hour meter. 1111.1 hours.

I rarely use this Gator since we have a four seat Gator that I usually use with kids or on tours. Usually Miguel uses this Gator exclusively however it wasn’t that long ago I used it and saw this.

Weird.

I get calls all the time from restaurants wanting to buy our products. I tell them all the same thing, “We don’t produce enough product to keep you supplied and I usually have customers waiting on what we do have. Sorry, no.”

However a few things have come together and the stars have aligned, at least temporarily.

One. We have cows finally available. According to our forecasts, we have one cow finishing per month for the next couple of years. That has been the plan all along, but it’s taken us a long time to get to this point.

Two. We needed to clear out some freezer space to make room for the cow that we just dropped off.

Three. Mike from Big Mike’s BBQ has been relentless trying to get me to sell him some product.

You remember Mike, he’s the man behind the awesome BBQ at our BBQ and beer dinner we had back in 2014. Well now Mike has more than a catering business and a food truck business. Mike has opened Brew N Que in Cary and we’ve just delivered 100 pounds of hamburger to him for a hamburger special he’s going to run. I don’t know if this is a one day special or something he’ll have for a few days but I do know his food is awesome and so is his restaurant (4 1/2 stars on Yelp). If you are over that way (Maynard Road in Cary), stop in and give him a try, and ask for some Ninja Cow hamburgers while you’re there.

Hopefully, you’ll be seeing our pigs on the menu at Mike’s restaurants soon as well. We’re still working through the logistics on that one. A little bit of supply for Mike is a huge order for us.