Hello everyone and welcome back to Wicked Quail and Pork Homestead- the blog. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! We are a small family farm operating on a 3rd generation property. Prior to us purchasing the property from my grandfather, it was a beef farm. However, with 4 other beef farms nearby, and my strong opinion on chasing cattle and fixing fences.. we have changed it around a bit.
We have been raising swine for 8 years, we mentor anyone looking to get into the pork and piggo industry. Recently we switched to registered Idaho Pasture Pigs. We also have poultry, turkeys, ducks, and quail. I think we may start leaning more towards the birds on the business end of things.
I am happy to say we have our meat rabbits back, that's one of my favorites due to sustainability and cost. We also recently brought in dairy sheep! Yum!
We are a small family with 2 kiddos, that love all things outdoors. We hope you enjoy all we have to offer, and we'd like to say.. Welcome, friend!
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It is wintertime here on the homestead, we are located in central Maine which means it is also cold. Lots of soups, pasta dishes, and casseroles going on in this kitchen as we begin to crave the fresh fruits and veggies to come.
In the cooler months, we are still outside in the frigid temps feeding livestock and working the farm, so we have to consume nutrient-dense foods that fuel our bodies and keep us warm and full of energy. One of my favorite ways to make sure we get what we need in the winter is through animal proteins. Raw milk cheeses, venison steak, rabbit stew, and the list goes on and on. At the top of my list is bone broth.
Have you ever heard the term "soup bone"? Maybe you passed it up when ordering half a cow, or you see it marked way down at a local farm. This cut of beef is extremely overlooked and it is so valuable to your kitchen as well as your budget! A low-income family can consume local beef by utilizing beef bones.
I hope after I walk you through my soup bone process, you'll give it a try.
To be sure you are buying the right thing, a beef soup bone from a local farm should be a small marrow bone surrounded by meat. Do not confuse them with "dog bones".
"But where do I find them?" Well, I would go straight to a local beef farmer that sells cuts of meat. You can usually find local farmers easily via Facebook, just look up your state and then something like "local farmers" or "livestock group". That's a good place to start looking for connections. You can also call a local butcher as well because often people who don't know how to use soup bones, won't want them when they pick up their custom-cut beef half. If you are located in Maine like me, there are tons of options and you can find some of them on my blog about local farms!
Ingredients-
~Beef soup bones
~Your favorite beef seasonings (salt, parsley, garlic, paprika, etc.) **DONT BE STINGY
~Water
~Extra veggies for flavor (I like to add a tomato, some carrots, onions, ginger root, and celery)
Instructions-
Roast your beef bones. Place your beef bones on a baking sheet, something with edges. Season them generously! Place in the oven on a low temp for a few hours. Let them caramelize and get nice and browned. This is a good time to be roasting garlic cloves or onions that you want in with the broth as well. (Tip: 1 or 2 halved tomatoes add EXCELLENT flavor to a broth)
Place bones and everything else in a crock pot. When I say everything else I mean scrape that baking sheet as good as you can to get all of those bits and pieces into your crock pot. They will add so much flavor!
Cover the bones and veggies with water. Cover the bones and vegetables with water about an inch or two above when the bones stop. Some of this water will cook down.
Set your crock pot on low and step away for 12 hours! Go about your life as usual and let the crock pot do the work!
Strip the meat off the bones. After 12 hours that meat should fall right off. You have a couple of options here...
PUT THE BONES AND VEGGIES BACK IN THE CROCK POT. Those bones are not out of life yet and this is how you get twice the product from your beef bones. Put them along with any veggie scraps you have or even other bones like a chicken carcass back in the crock pot for another 12-24 hours. Mixing types of bones and veggies makes the BEST broth.
Freeze or can that nice light bone broth and discard the scraps into the compost!
On a very small budget, you now have three products! The beef, the first broth, and the second broth. What's important to remember here is that it's not the size of the batch that matters. It's the fact that you are doing it at all.
3-4 small soup bones at a time will eventually add up, leaving you with a pantry or freezer filled with convenience meat and broth. Do this based on your budget and your equipment size and do it proudly!
I hope this made the process seem simple and not so intimidating. You don't have to be a full-blown homesteader to provide quality nutrients to your family's diet. It can be affordable and it can be easy.
Until next time, happy homesteading.
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