Utah's Finest Pork

Executive Chef Jim Light at the grill.

This past Saturday we hosted the wonderful folks from Viking Cooking School and Slow Food Utah. The event was headed up by Jim Light who is the executive chef at Viking Cooking School. They chartered a bus from SLC and came for a tour and lunch at our farm. We gave a quick summary of our farm and explained the three factors that contribute to the quality and yummy taste of our pigs. I have posted about these qualities before but they are:

Genetics
Diet (Feed)
Environment

Checking out the pigs.

Berkshire pork or Kurobuta pork as it is often referred to, is genetically superior on a few accounts. The genetics are responsible for the darker red color of the pork and the deeper, richer flavor. Berkshire pork has excellent marbling and a lower pH level than other breeds of pigs. This leads to more tender meat, higher water retention (without the need to brine), and greater moisture throughout the meat. This means it is also more forgiving if you tend to overcook your meat dishes. Also as we have mentioned before, these traits are primarily recessive which is why cross bred Berkshires really don't improve meat quality in commercial breeds. It is also the reason we raise 100% purebred Berkshires.

The pigs' diet consists of small cereal grains (all grown in Utah) like wheat, barley, triticale, and oats. During the warm weather, the pigs have access to grass pastures. During the cold weather, we mix grass/alfalfa hay into their feed to give them the beneficial nutrients that the greens offer the pigs. The small cereal grains produce a fat that is harder and whiter in color compared to the fat of corn fed pigs. Experienced cooks and chefs notice an immediate difference in the way the fat cooks. We also feel that the grain mix offers the pigs a wider variety of nutrients leading to better health. Our pigs get water from nipple drinkers which ensures clean fresh water at all times. Water quality is as equally important to the pigs health as the feed quality.

Berkshires enjoying some spring grasses.

Unlike large pig CAFOs (factories) we do not use antibiotics in the pigs feed to boost growth rates. Not only is this a dangerous practice (think super bugs) but it has been proven to be unhealthy to humans by means of reducing the effectiveness of antibiotics in sick patients. (I plan to post on this topic in greater detail soon.) Additionally, we never feed the pigs any animal by-products, old bread, slop, or anything of the like. We could certainly reduce our feed costs by using these things, but we would also lower the meat quality. Animal welfare and meat quality are two things we refuse to compromise on.

Environment. Our pigs free range on grass, are allowed to root around, and behave as pigs. In the summer time they make mud holes that they wallow in to stay cool. When it gets cold, we provide our pigs with deep straw bedding that they burrow in to stay warm. Visitors to the farm are surprised to see how fast pigs can run. Of course you need lots of space to allow a herd of pigs to run which our pigs have. There is actually a benefit to allowing the pigs lots of room to move about. It increases their muscle tone which produces a perfectly firm yet tender texture in the pork. When we need to sort or work with the animals, we gently herd them to keep stress levels to a minimum. We don't dock tails, clip teeth, or push our sows to produce more piglets than is healthy for them. We take pride in raising happy pigs that enjoy a humane life. In return, we get pork that is absolutely delicious!

Our farm visitors last Saturday were able to go out and see all of these techniques put to practice. After spending some time observing the pigs grazing, holding piglets, and dodging landmines, we went back inside to enjoy some grilled chops. Our crowd of 35+ people quickly grew silent as they enjoyed the food. Then we began to hear the compliments on the quality of the pork. Many times we heard it proclaimed that this was the best pork anybody had tasted and certainly the finest pork in Utah. We figured if anybody would know, it would be this group of chefs and foodies. We are honored to be considered the producers of Utah's finest pork. Of course, we can't take all the credit, we have had lots of good advice and help along the way. We continue to rely on our neighbors and good friends, Rich and Amanda Holden with Sheeprock Feed Company who do a fantastic job of producing our feed. They search high and low for high quality grains grown in Utah to feed our pigs with.

Me (Christian) showing off a two week old piglet.

We had a wonderful time with our visitors and hope they will visit again soon. We look forward to this weekend on May 7 from noon to 4pm when we will be hosting our Farm Day. The weather forecast looks perfect. We hope you will be able to come and see for yourselves what makes our pork taste so yummy.

Directions for Farm Day

We are looking forwarding to hosting our Farm Day on May 07, 2011 from noon to 4 pm. Please use the map below for directions. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us. The map will be easier to view if you click the blue "View larger map" text below.


View Larger Map

Farm Day and Slow Food Day!

We will be hosting two fantastic events in the next few weeks!

The first event on Saturday April 30th will be the Culinary Tour to Hog Heaven.  This event is being sponsored by Slow Food Utah and led by Jim Light the Executive Chef of Viking Cooking School.  Jim has chartered a bus to help transport people from SLC to our farm in Vernon.  Participants will meet in SLC for a light breakfast before heading out to our farm.  Once here, we will offer a tour of the farm, answer questions, and get to know each other.  Jim will then work his culinary magic on the grill with all you can eat pork.  You need not be a member of Slow Food to participate.  Knowing Jim, I am sure he will be sharing cooking tips as he prepares the food.  This will be a relaxing day in Vernon with beautiful views, fresh air, great food, and good company with fellow Foodies.  If you need a break from the city life, this is a great way to recharge your batteries.  Sign up at by clicking here.

Our second event is the following Saturday on May 7th from noon to 4pm.  This will be our first Farm Day at the new farm!  This will be a great time to bring the family to see where food comes from.  We are planning some activities for those wanting to learn more about our farm or simply experience the country life.  This will be an open house, meaning no set schedule.  Folks can come and stay the whole time or just poke their heads in to say hi and see what's going on.  We plan to have baby chicks for kids (and adults) to see and hold.  Of course there will be the pigs to watch playing out in the field.  We may bring one of our cows home that recently had a calf.  We will also cook up some samples of pork and beef that people can try.  Some of our turkeys have gone broody and we are hoping that they will hatch out some little ones around this weekend.  We are kicking around the idea of a lard rendering demonstration for those interested.  We will also have a seed planting station for kids who are interested in learning a little bit about gardening. 

For those who would like to make a full day of their trip to Vernon, we can recommend some beautiful canyons to hike.  There are lots of trails to bike on and good places to take four wheelers and dirt bikes.  We also have the Vernon Reservoir just ten minutes from our farm that usually has good fishing.  There are also several historical sites like the Pony Express Trail markers that are fun to see.  Our local cafe, the Silver Sage grills up some great burgers for those who get hungry.  They also stay stocked on plenty of drinks should it be a warm day.  Last year we had people bring picnics and eat while they watched the animals.  Hollie and I will also be available to talk and answer questions.

Like last year, we ask that those who have children come with the understanding that this is a working farm.  There is barbed wire, machinery, and live animals that can all cause harm to unattended children.  If it is rainy it may be muddy, if it is windy it may be dusty, if it is sunny there is sunburn, so please come prepared for the elements.  Our hope is that everybody has a safe and enjoyable time.  We felt last year was a huge success as everybody seemed to have a good time.  Feel free to invite coworkers, neighbors, and family along.  For those interested in purchasing meats from our farm, we will be taking orders.  However, please understand that there is absolutely no obligation.  We love what we do and find joy in sharing this with others.

I will post an update to this event with maps, directions, and more official list of activities.  Feel free to contact us with questions about either event.

We hope to have a good turnout so please mark your calenders and spread the word!!!

Farm T-Shirts

I often mention that we have such wonderful customers.  And that's the truth.  We have had several customers come up with some great suggestions.  Recently, it was suggested that we come up with some T-shirts with our farm name on them.  While I love the idea, I am not particularly fond of wearing "business T-shirts".  You know, the kind that are simply Hanes undershirts with a business logo on them.  You usually catch one at a parade and end up using it to paint or garden in.  The exception to this is if you visit a fun place like Hard Rock Cafe, Harley Davidson, or Disneyland.  The difference is that these T-shirts are somewhat stylish to wear.  When I received the suggestion I started trying to come up a design.  However, no matter what I tried, it ended up looking like a "free painting T-shirt".  I was explaining my dilemma to my friend Rich (same guy who mixes our pig feed for us).  He is much more creative than I am and suggested that I simplify the shirt and add some color.  I went back to the drawing board and things started to come together.  While I don't think I will ever cut it on a show like Project Runway, I do think we came up with something that I would feel comfortable wearing around in public.

What I would like to do is simply put out some feelers to see if there is any interest in these T-shirts.  After all, who would trust what a pig farmer thinks is cool?  Hollie and I ended up selecting shirts that are a little distressed.  Of course this added to the cost over simply using a "Hanes Beefy T".  Basically if enough people (20+) would like to buy a shirt, we can get the price down to $20/shirt.  That is our cost.  Our motivation for doing this is simply a little free advertising.  We would love to hear any feedback!

PS. For those who don't follow us on Facebook, we are planning our next farm day! This will be a great family outing with fun activities for all ages. Tentatively we are looking at the first Saturday in May. More details to follow!
 
Description of Men's T-shirt from the manufacturer: Olive shirt with harvest gold print
Sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL
Features: 3.8 oz. All colors are a poly/cotton blend. Features custom vintage wash and worn edges for a broken-in feel.
Comments: Runs Small. This shirt fits and feels like no other! This ultra-soft style feels like you've had this tee in your wardrobe forever.

Description of Women's T-shirt from the manufacturer: Dark Brown shirt with light pink print
Sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL
Features: 3.8 oz. All colors are a poly/cotton blend. Junior fit. Be sure to check sizing information. Features custom vintage wash and worn edges for a broken-in feel. Open neckline with capped sleeves and fitted body. This shirt is slightly sheer in the color white.
Comments: This ultra-soft style feels like you've had this tee in your wardrobe forever

Pork Milk?

We are a fairly modern farm in regards to our use of the internet and online presence.  So if somebody is searching for something online in terms of farming and Utah, we often come up in some of the top search results. This means when somebody has a wacky question such as, oh I don't know, something like, "Can I come and milk one of your pigs?", we would be the farm that they call to ask such a thing.  This really happened!  Turns out, there is a radio show in Pennsylvania called The Mediocre Show.  On their show, they have a segment called, "One meat to rule them all." where they have been posing the question, "If you could only eat one meat for the rest of your life, what would you choose?"  If a person were to choose beef, that means that they would also get milk, cheese, and other dairy products.  Choose poultry and you would get eggs etc... Obviously pigs don't lay eggs and we don't get milk from them...or do we, rather, could we?

While pork is delicious and offers all kinds of yummy products like bacon, pork chops, ham, sausage, salami etc... there isn't an extra byproduct like there is with beef and poultry placing pork at a seemingly disadvantage.  Eric Tomorrow, one of the shows hosts and avid pork fan has been trying to promote pork as "the meat to rule them all."  However as the leader of "Team Pork", Eric has struggled to convince others that pork is the way to go.  Time and time again, beef has beat out pork because of the dairy that is inherent to the beef choice.  So Eric posed the question, why can't/don't we have pork milk?  He decided that the only way to find out was to try some pork milk.

Apparently, The Mediocre Show has a strong following here in Utah.  Here, they found that there are several pig farms in Utah, our farm being one of them.  This past weekend they were in Utah for a special event for the Utahns that follow their show .  They decided that while here, they would try and milk a pig.  When they called me about it, I thought it sounded kind of funny and agreed to let them come to our farm.  They hired a camera man to film their adventure. On Sunday, they showed up ready to prove once and for all that pork milk was not only a possibility but a superior and delicious product good enough to convert Team Beef members to their cause.  Milking a pig proved more difficult than anticipated!  There were a lot of laughs and witty one liners.  Eric was determined however to try some pork milk.  After I repeatedly failed to draw milk from the pig, Eric nuzzled his way in between the nursing piglets and drank milk right from the pig!  He proclaimed that it was delicious with a hint of bacon.  Good as it may have tasted, we concluded that the reason we don't have pork milk is that logistically, it is too difficult to acquire.  We would like to thank our good friends and neighbors the Petersens for allowing us to try milking their Tamworth pigs since we didn't have any pigs that were lactating at the time. You can read more about their Tamworths here.

Eric, his lovely wife Hope (co-host), and the rest of their crew were a lot of fun.  We had a great time with them and hope they will stop by next time they are in Utah.  They will be posting a video of their adventures on their website.  I will post a link to it on this blog when it becomes available.  Meanwhile you can listen to an audio clip of their pork milk adventure that they shared the following morning on the X96 Radio From Hell morning show.  You can find their podcast from the 7am hour on 21 March 2011 by clicking here.  After a couple of minutes of talk about their burly beards, they talk about their visit to our farm and milking a pig.  It is quite comical as you can expect if you have ever listened to Kerry, Bill, and Gina on X96.  As owner of a family farm, I must warn that not all of the content is suitable for young listeners.  I do appreciate Bill Allred's complimentary plug for our farm.  (His family visited our farm last year.)

Every once in a while we get an unusual request, this one has topped them all...so far.  Who knew being a farmer could offer such fun?  If we ever figure out a way to milk those pigs, we just might offer pork milk cheese! : )

Modern Farmer

Modern technology has really changed the opportunities for farmers.  For example, prior to the mid 90's before most people had internet in their homes, our farm in Vernon, UT (remote location) would have struggled to find customers.  As we were getting started, we did lots of research and talked to many farms across the country.  In the past few years, we have have found and been able to get advice from farmers in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont.  Every one of these farms we found through online searches.  The information we were able to glean from our conversations with these farmers helped us get off to a good start.  Conversely, the vast majority of our customers have found us via the internet.  In addition, we have had many phone calls from other beginning farmers call and ask a slew of the same questions we had when we started.

We are grateful for organizations online like Utah's Own, CSA Utah, LocalHarvest.org, American Berkshire Association, and APPPA.  These have really helped us get our name out and be easily accessible to our customers. 

It is fun to think about some of the modern technology that allows small, rurally located businesses to operate.  Think of the looks you would have received if you had mentioned some of our common marketing tools to a person 20 year ago.  Tools such as blogs, Facebook, PayPal, iPhone, email and so forth.  The iPhone is one of my favorites, from it I can send and receive texts, emails, post pics and video to facebook, update this blog, accept PayPal payments, transfer funds from one bank account to another, use GPS to find an address in a rural area, call customers and suppliers and so forth.  It is a wonderful tool that helps increase our efficiency.  When we run our errands, Hollie will often utilize the time while I am driving to reply to emails or call and place orders with vendors.

Our blog and website feature tools that allow us to see which pages are accessed most often.  We can even see the key words somebody searched to find our website/blog.  The other day I was reviewing this data when my eye caught the search words, "christian christiansen pig".  I couldn't help but wonder if they thought I was a pig and were searching to see if anybody else thought the same and happened to have a website about it or if they were simply trying to find out about our delicious Berkshire pork.  : ) Hopefully the latter.

Although we are a local operation, buy all of our inputs locally, and sell all of our products locally, it is all possible through our modern technology.  Without it, we would not exist or at least it would have taken years to reach the point we are at.  So if you happen to drive by and see a farmer perched up on his tractor out in the field with this thumbs busily hammering out an email, know that you are witnessing the Modern Farmer.

No Power on the Farm

The storm knocked the power out. Fortunately, we have a back up generator. However, most of the power needs to be allocated to the well pump, freezers, and heat lamps for the animals. Since the stove uses too much power with all of these items going, dinner is cooked on the wood stove.  The beautiful Chef Hollie is serving fried potatoes with pork sausage.  It is an inconvenience we find very cozy.