Summer Grilling

The PERFECT Father's Day gift! Summer time means outdoor grilling. We are pleased to announce our new Grilling Package. This package includes ten 1 lb. packages of our popular preservative free bratwursts and ten 1 lb. packages of our dry aged hamburger patties.

Bratwursts:

Our bratwursts are made from our gourmet heritage breed pork. We use our own custom recipes that have no nitrates, BHT, BHA, or MSG. The pork is double ground before being stuffed into natural cased 1/4 lb links. No fillers, no "variety meats", not even pork trimmings are used. We use whole pork cuts like shoulder, loin, leg, etc... to make our bratwursts. To protect the freshness, we vacuum package the bratwursts, 4 links per package.

You choose 10 packages in any combination from the following flavors:

German Bratwurst

Jalapeno w/Monterrey Jack Cheese (about as spicy as medium salsa)
Sun-Dried Tomato w/Basil

Hamburger Patties:

Our hamburger patties are also a real treat. We start with dedicating an entire grass fed steer to ground beef. This means the whole beef gets ground and not just the trimmings. Before grinding the meat, the beef is dry aged for 2-3 weeks for optimal flavor. We then form the ground beef into four 1/4 lb. patties and vacuum package for freshness.

To specify your bratwursts flavors, simply enter the quantity of each flavor during the check out process in the box titled, "Instructions to Seller".

Grilling Package is available for our next delivery on 02 June 2012.  Order Here!

Farm Day this Saturday

We would like to invite everybody to our annual Farm Day.  Come see our pigs roaming in the field, cattle grazing in the distance, chickens out scratching, goats climbing around, and turkeys showing off.  We will be grilling up our new line of preservative free bratwursts for lunch. 

 

When: Saturday April 14th from noon to 4pm.

Where: Christiansen's Family Farm (click link for directions)

              175 E. Sharp Rd

              Vernon, UT 84080

What:  Come get a tour of the farm, ask us questions, watch the animals, get a bite to eat, and enjoy the fresh air.

 

Who: Anybody who would like to come is welcome.  Feel free to share this invite with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

Lunch: We will be grilling up our new line of preservative free Bratwursts for $2 each.  Add a bag of chips and a bottled water or can of soda for $1.  Our new bratwurst flavors include: Jalapeno w/Monterrey Jack Cheese, Sundried Tomato w/Basil, and German Bratwurst.

You are also welcome to bring a lunch.   

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 will also cook up some samples of pork and beef that people can try.  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. 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.

 

 

Come enjoy a break in the country.

Sincerely,

The Christiansen Family

Sausage Done Right

Since we started our farm, we have always tried to give our customers as many choices as possible.  For example, cured bacon or fresh side/belly?  Cured ham or fresh leg roast? And then the question we didn't like to ask... Ground pork or breakfast sausage?  The reason we didn't like to ask it was because the sausage seasoning the butcher was using had preservatives like MSG, BHA, and BHT in it.  Despite our numerous requests for an alternative recipe, our butcher did not feel there was enough demand to justify the change.  We felt that the preservatives were unnecessary and didn't reflect the values of our farm.  One of our goals has always been to provide delicious food that is clean, simple, and healthy.

As we announced previously, we switched butchers a couple of months ago.  Our new butcher, Springville Meat Co. offers better services like vacuum packaging and custom labeling.  Additionally, they are a little bit more flexible to work with.  After we switched, we started talking about their sausage recipes only to find that they too used MSG, BHA, and BHT.  While this was frustrating, they were open to explore other recipes.  Finally, I went to Colosimo's and together we came up with some delicious sausage seasonings free of MSG, BHA, and BHT.  We then took these seasonings back to Sprinville Meat Co who is now making our own custom line of sausages using our delicious pork and our customized Colosimo's seasoning.

We are now pleased to offer our gourmet line of Bratwurst style sausages.  These sausages are stuffed in natural casings in 1/4 lb links.  We have packaged 6 links per pack making each package 1.5 lbs.  We are currently offering the following flavors: Jalapeno w/Monterrey Jack Cheese, Sundried Tomato w/Basil, and German Bratwurst.  These sausages are delicious!!!  The casings are very easy to bite into, the sausage is not overly salty, and you can actually tasted the pork as well as the seasoning flavors.  We are very pleased with the results and are proud to put our name on it.  These are so good that my brother has offered to come work a couple days on our farm in return for all he can eat bratwursts.

We are also just finalizing on our new Breakfast Sausage that pending USDA approval we will be calling Maple Kissed Sage.  Again we are teaming up with Colisimo's for a customized breakfast sausage recipe that is free of MSG, BHA, and BHT.  We are then using Coombs Family Farms in Vermont who will be providing us with pure, organic, Vermont grown Maple Sugar.  This sausage will be add just enough sweetness to your morning meal.

Anxious to try our new sausage line? Stop by one of our delivery points on March 24th or call and arrange to stop by our farm.

Pasture Raised Chickens for 2012

Our chickens on pasture after a snowstorm.

For those who have been buying from our farm the last few years you may recall that we used to offer chickens.  You may also recall that we were forced to cease our chickens sales by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF).  It is a long story that can be somewhat summarized here.  In a nutshell, we received permission to process poultry at our farm under a small farm exemption.  We did this for most of the year only to have the UDAF come back and inform us that they had "reinterpreted" the regulations and that we could no longer process chickens on our farm unless we built a full blown inspected processing facility.  While we had the USDA's blessing we did not have the the UDAF's blessing.  In fact we were threatened with a Class C misdemeanor if we continued.  Last year, we missed out on a significant source of farm revenue that we had banked on when we expanded and built our new farm the year before.  This year however, we have made arrangements to lease a small poultry processing facility that was recently built by another farm.

We are pleased to announce that we will once again be offering our mouth watering pasture raised chicken!  We anticipate having our first chicken harvest ready around the end of April.  You can read more about our chickens and place your chicken order here.  As always please feel free to contact us with any questions.

New for 2012

Vacuum Packaging and preservative free sausages!  Read below.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  It is hard to believe that we are already starting a new year.  The last few months have been crazy as we have tried to keep up with getting everyone their orders for the holidays.  Our little farm continues to grow.  We are grateful for the support we continue to receive both from our customers and the media.  This past year we stayed busy building our new, larger farm.

The last two months were challenging as we incurred new difficulties with our butcher.  The butcher went through a USDA inspection audit that left them scrambling to jump through some ridiculous hoops.  The audit found no issues with sanitation or anything of the like.  The issues were related to paper work, record keeping, and marking weights on each package of meat.  Because they didn't have weights marked on the packages of meat, the butcher was forced to temporarily forego the USDA inspection and instead operate under Custom Exempt status.  So some of our customers may have noticed that the USDA stamps were crossed out with marker and that the labels were stamped "Not for Sale".  This simply means that the meat cannot be sold to somebody who is going to retail the meat.  Sales direct from the farm are still legal.  Our butcher shop is owned by an older couple who doesn't accept change very easily.  Rather than jump through the hoops the USDA was requiring, they informed me that they would no longer be USDA inspected.    Additionally, that let us know that they were increasing their prices by 20%.  This was unacceptable to us as an ever increasing portion of our pork is sold to retailers.  Instead, we went to another USDA butcher shop and made arrangements with them.  This shop is actually the shop that does all the curing of hams and bacon for our now former butcher.  They do a fantastic job and are very easy to work with.  The reasons we haven't used them in the past is that they don't have a kill floor and they have typically been more expensive.  However with the other butcher raising their prices, they are now slightly cheaper with better services.

The bottom line is that we are still incurring a significant increase in our butchering costs.  We are simply passing this cost on without any additional markup.  Our whole pig price is now $3.75/lb on the hanging weight and half pig price is now $3.95/lb on the hanging weight.  The good news is that we will be able to offer our customers an overall better product.  The new price will include vacuum packaging which will allow the meats to stay fresher much longer than with the paper wrapping of the past.  We will also be able to offer a wider variety of sausages some of which will include preservative free recipes.  Sausage flavors include: Breakfast, Italian, Monterrey Jack, Monterrey Jack with Jalapeno, Bratwurst and possibly a few others.  We are waiting to hear which ones will be available without preservatives.  We hope eventually to offer all sausages without preservatives.

The butchering industry in Utah still leaves much to be desired, but given our options, we believe that this will offer the best that is available.

For those who aren't aware, our pork is now available by the cut at Caputo's Deli (downtown location) as well as Liberty Heights Fresh.

We wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to supplying you with the best pork and beef Utah has to offer!

We Now Ship Farm Fresh Lard

Due to a surprising number of emails asking us to ship our Farm Fresh Lard, we have now set up to ship our lard anywhere in the country!  In the past we have simply encouraged these people to find a local source.  However, the majority have responded that it simply isn't available.  We are sure this will change as more and more people discover the health benefits of cooking with pasture raised, non-hydrogenated, preservative free lard.  In the meantime, we have decided to offer our Farm Fresh Lard to anybody interested.  Details regarding shipping can be found on our website here.

A great article was recently published in Slate about the benefits of cooking with lard.  You can view it here.

We use our Farm Fresh Lard in much of our cooking.  In recipes of baked goods calling for shortening or butter, we have simply replaced those items with lard.  The textures and cooking properties are amazing!  Our cookies stay chewy and pie crusts and biscuits are delightfully flaky.  Give it a try!

Barn Raising Event

For those who are familiar with Jacob's Cove in Orem, you already know about their amazing produce especially their heirloom tomatoes.  You may also recall last winter when a snow storm collapsed one of their greenhouses.  For a small farm, tragedies like this can sink a family run farm.  But not the Allreds!  They have cleaned up the mess and are now rebuilding.  On Monday, October 17th everybody is invited out to help the Allred's in their barn (greenhouse) raising event.  There will be food, live music, and projects to help out with.  Pizzeria 712 will once again be out showing their support for local family operated farms by cooking up their delicious pizzas.  Bring the family and come lend a hand, donate what you can, eat delicious food, and have a great evening supporting this amazing family and their farm.

Click on the logo below to link to their website.