Ground Chuck to Up Chuck: A Success Story

Up Chuck, up, stand up...up Chuck, up, stand up... This became Kalena's chant every time we went out to do "bovine therapy" on Chuck, the calf.

Chuck injured a nerve in his shoulders or spine about 12 days ago, and was not able to stand up. We brought Chuck up to our yard last Saturday (11 days ago) and began discussing our course of action. We decided that Chuck needed some special calf food, fresh hay and water and lots of TLC to be restored to health. He could not put any weight on his front legs and it seemed had no feeling in them either. We may have a sick sense of humor, but we named him Chuck as in Ground Chuck...get it? Groan!

Grandpa, Kalena, Elli and I (Jen) spent time with Chuck several times a day moving his legs and massaging his joints. We joked that we could sell him as Kobe beef when this was all said and done.

Chucks progress was slow, and at times we were not very hopeful that he would regain feeling and strength in his legs. However, this Saturday one week after Chuck took up residence in my lawn he stood with help from us. Let me tell you lifting a 300 lb calf is no easy task! Within an hour he stood by himself and wandered a few steps to the shrubs for some fresh leaves and grass. Late Saturday evening our dog Oliver was barking like crazy, when I looked out to see what the fuss was I saw Chuck wandering around the yard munching on anything he could find. Good grief! By morning he was nose to nose across the gate with the other steers about 100 yards from where he began. No one would ever know he had any problems with his legs at all.

Caring for Chuck has been such a great lesson in animal husbandry for both myself and the girls. I have to say we have become a little attached to Chuck. He is the most exciting addition to what we call the Riemer Family Petting Zoo which consists of: 11 Kittens, 3 cats, 1 city dog, 1 farm dog, 1 old pony and now a perfectly healthy, friendly calf named Chuck.

The Next Great Adventure: Homeschooling!

Over the last several months there have been many changes in the life of the Riemer Family. Not only have we moved to the farm and taken on the daily activities that go along with that, but Jen has also taken on a new role as very part time librarian at Albertson Memorial Library in Albany WI. The most dramatic life change, however, is our decision to home school the girls.

After much research and conversation, as well as many conversations with friends and other home schooling families we have decided that the best education for our children will be right here at the farm. Oh, I know many of you are asking: What about socialization? How will you know what they have learned? Do you really think you can do it all day? These are the top questions that have been posed to us about our decision and from what I can tell from our reading are very common questions. These are concerns that I initially had as well and want to briefly address the ever popular "socialization" question.

Socialization: What does this word mean anyway? Most people are really asking "Wont the girls be too isolated and how will they learn to get along with others"? Well, they are extremely well adjusted so far and they have essentially been home schooled from birth. I have come to agree with most home school families and believe that homeschooling is a big advantage when it comes to socialization and here's why.

• The girls will have many opportunities to interact with other children. On the agenda for this fall: swim lessons, piano lessons from grandma (Elli), Gymnastics (Kalena), Sunday School and countless activities with the strong home school groups in our area. Soon to come 4H...Bryce is going to have to take the lead on this one. The great thing is we can take part in these activities without having the huge after school rush, eating in the car and exasperation that they are taking over our schedule. They are just part of the rhythm of home schooling and we can go deeper with each activity like coming home and doing a reading lesson on Olympic swimmers for example.
  
• They are not limited to spending time with children their own age. They learn to get along with others older and younger and of different backgrounds than themselves. It is hard to find role models in a room full of 6 year old children, but when spending time with older children they can learn how to act, create and explore with confidence. We have the opportunity to expose them to cultural events in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon if we so choose.
  
• They can take part in real life opportunities around the house and community. Home schoolers have a better sense of "real life" than other children. They understand better what it takes to take care of a home, balance a checkbook, work with a plumber, shop for groceries, problem solve and fix things when they break. They can learn to deal with real life situations in a safe and supportive environment surrounded by extended family.
• Although we are a long way off, colleges and employers are increasingly impressed by home schooled kids who have proven to be strong people who can take responsibility, cooperate with others, take initiative and lead and participate in team projects.

I certainly do not have all the answers about homeschooling, I'm quite clueless actually. However, after many conversations with home schooled children and their families and resources like the Wisconsin Parents Association I am assured that positive socialization for the girls is a moot point. Now I can move on to other issues like what course of action to take in teaching Elli about all the things she is interested in like: Cuba City, Pachyderms, writing and how country's and states get their names. Here we go!

Sunny side up with a side of Salmonilla

The recall of over a half-billion eggs in over two dozen states, including Wisconsin, has dominated the news headlines over the last several days. The most staggering fact in this issue is that all these contaminated eggs came from only two operations. I can not bring myself to even call these egg producing giants farms because they function more like a factory than a farm. I just finished listening to the Joy Cardin show on Wisconsin Public Radio on this issue and how we can feed our families in a better and safe way. The basic conclusion: eat locally, eat organically, lobby your legislatures for regulation that favors small farms and KNOW YOUR FARMER. Listen to the half hour discussion here and click on audio archives. The program aired on Aug. 25 th, 2010 with guest Mark Kastle of the Cornucopia institute.

Where do you get your eggs, pork, produce....? As natural beef producers we get questions from many folks as to where we find the rest of our food. We do our best to buy local and organic foods and if our food is not certified organic we know the farmer and the natural methods they use. I will run down the list and give props to the farmers we purchase from, but to find farmers in your own area visit local harvest, or eat wild on the web.

Eggs, Organic bulk dry goods, spices and honey: Kaufmann's country store in south Beloit WI.
Eggs, produce: Walkup family farm in Crystal Lake IL
Produce: Monroe Farmers Market, Monroe WI or the largest farmers market in the Nation on the Madison WI capital square on Saturday Mornings. There is also a great CSA from Scotch Hill Farm in Brodhead, WI
Pork: R Family Farm in Poplar Grove IL
Chicken: We partnered with our good friends in Potosi and butchered our own.
Cheese: Decatur Dairy just one mile from our farm...National Champion Cheese just a bike ride away, I love Green county!

We are not perfect and sometimes yes we do by food at the supermarket. Healthy clean food is a priority for us, so we make it a budget priority as well. If we can not shake the hand of the farmer that grew it we choose organic as is the case in the milk we buy.

In the future we will move beyond beef into hogs, eggs and chicken, but until that time, we will continue to support other farmers with goals very close to our own.

Beef Tips: The Perfect Steak!

Fall is fast approaching, but grilling season is far from over! I want to share with you some great tips to preparing a fantastic steak!

• Any steak is great for grilling! If grilling round steak, skirt or flank steak marinade at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours to ensure tenderness.
• Leave a thin layer of fat on steaks when cooking. This helps preserve juiciness. Trim any excess fat after cooking.
• Keep the grill temperature moderate. Cooking beef steaks at too high a temp. can cause the outside of the steak to char before the inside reaches the proper temperature.
• Speaking of doneness: The picture to the left show steak that is Medium Rare ~ internal temp 145 degrees F, Medium ~ 160 degrees and Well Done ~ 170 degrees. I strongly recommend using an instant read thermometer inserted horizontally into the steak. It is not recommended to consume steak that is under 145 degrees internal temp.
• Turn steaks with tongs instead of a fork. A fork pierces the beef and allows the yummy juices to escape.
• Add salt or seasonings containing salt to each side after browning. Moisture is drawn out and inhibits browning if the salt is added before cooking.
• ENJOY!
  

Brodhead - Covered Bridge Days

I (Jen) grew up in Sterling, IL. A nice place to grow up, but very different from the communities of WI that I knew little about as a child. When I went off to college at UW-Platteville (go Pioneers!) I began to realize that things really were quite different just north of the border. I was horrified when all the boys took the week before Thanksgiving off to go shoot poor helpless deer and was amazed when I learned that there was so much more to cheese than American, Cheddar and Swiss. One thing I appreciated most about Wisconsin though was the state pride and small town festivals!

This weekend we took part in the Brodhead - Covered Bridge Days festivities. The annual gathering of people from town and the country to celebrate...well...there is a covered bridge on the Sugar River Trail...but I think it's more of an excuse to just have a festival. Check out the website here. The highlight of the festival is the old tractors. Just off the main drag is a big field with: flea market, food vendors, old tractors on display and the kids toy tractor pull. I thought the tractor pull would be a great way for the girls to get more acclimated to country living in WI. They were divided up by weight and competed against 15-20 other kids in their class. I figured they would line up the 5 toy tractors and race (silly me). The goal in any tractor pull, toy or otherwise, is to pull weight from the starting line to the finish. In this case 40 feet was the distance. If a child could pull the weight the entire way they would move on to the next round and have more wight added to their load with the winner being the child who could pull the most weight the farthest. I was amazed at how competitive it was. There were 4 year old boys with looks of determination I have seen on Olympic athletes and slews of parents cheering and taking pictures (which I was guilty of as you can see). Some children travel around the state to various festivals and events in order to compete in toy tractor pulls! It's their sport!

Well, I have to say Kalena did pretty well, she was one of two little girls in her class that made it to round two, but then she was eliminated by all the little bruisers who must do this for a living :) She had fun and felt like a true winner. My dear sweet Elli on the other hand did not have that much success. Her load was quite a bit heavier than Kalena's and few children from her class made it to round two. She is very competitive, determined and a little too smart to believe me when I told her pulling the weight 8 feet was really great! It was just not satisfying to her to hear that we were so proud of her for trying something new! She was grumpy for an hour and deep down quite disappointed that her baby sister did better than she did. Ugh, the difficulty of parenting.

Take home lesson...encourage the girls to take part in different sports or activities from now on!

PRE-ORDER YOUR RIEMER BEEF AND GET A DISCOUNT

We are planning for the fall and should have beef available for purchase every month between September and April. Reserve your order of a side, quarter or box by September 15 and receive 5% off your order. Contact us through this blog, phone, email or facebook. We appreciate those of you who support us and local & sustainable farmers.

Re-Connected!

Last night I was partying like it was 1995 at my class reunion and tonight I spent the evening digging a trench with a grub hoe through my gravel driveway. I'm beginning to learn that nothing comes easy on a farm, even internet access. We had to purchase satellite internet since DSL does not exist for those of us who reside in the middle of nowhere and dial-up is not an option if we want to run our beef business successfully! So, thanks to Paul the super interesting Satellite guy we are connected! BUT... we had to bury a 10 foot pole to mount the dish on since our south facing front yard is full of trees, and bury the cable across the yard and under the driveway.

I really felt like a true homesteader swinging the grub hoe (similar to a pick axe) although the early pioneer women were not digging trenches to bury their satellite internet cables! The hoe was actually creating sparks when the iron head struck a rock with great force. This is the same grub hoe we used to gut the old plaster out of the farmhouse. Bryce took a picture but of course the cord that connects the camera to the computer is MIA...I guess that's the way it goes when you've been living out of box's for a couple months.

So stay tuned for pictures of the house and our life as farmers.