Meatcutting Weeks 11 & 12: Sun, Fun & The Man

Over the last 2 weeks, our business has been incredibly slow. I have become concerned, but I am not scared yet. I have kept busy working with Jeff on building our new walk-in freezer. We are now ready to install our FRP board as the final touch to the freezer walls/ceiling. We spent a couple of days last week actually building a new wall. It was cool to see how this was done. The ridiculous thing was we built the entire wall with scrap wood found at the "old building" on our property. The old building is where Jeff originally had his shop when he purchased it. It still houses some random items along with all the waste from Dale's mobile slaughter (don't spend too much time thinking about this).

Our winter has gone from Siberia-esque to actually bareable over the last several weeks. The weekend of the 22nd I went to play disc golf at a small 9-hole course located on the Eastern Oregon U. campus. I was surprised to find so many people playing, but it was the first sunny, over-40-degree day we have had since October. I played the course twice and actually worried that I would get a sunburn. No luck. I threw pretty well. The course is smaller with a majority of the baskets within 250 ft. It is very cool playing on a campus that has hills, buildings and lots of trees. http://www.discgolfscene.com/courses/Eastern_Oregon_University

Oh, yeah...I also had this grand idea of offering beef, pork or lambs from our local ranchers to my friends/family. I had done some research, and the price was right for the quality of the product we have at our disposal. Unfortunately, the meat has to be purchased as halves or wholes and shipping frozen food makes the price a little overwhelming (dry ice and 2 day air shipping is not cheap). It is still cheaper than buying the same cuts via retail meat counter, but not competitive with meats that can be sourced locally. After shipping and my fee for handling/etc., the cost for pork that has been custom cut, wrapped and frozen would be approximately $5.00/lb hanging weight (usually about 100 lbs per half hog). I calculated this to be about $7.98/lb net price per pound of frozen meat. The meat is great quality, and there are some great cuts worth much more than the $7.98/lb in a retail counter, but it doesn't make sense for people to pay this when they can get quality beef/hogs/lamb locally for much cheaper in large quantities.

I had a small run-in with the LaGrande police this past Saturday. It sounds a lot more dramatic than it went down. I was rifling through all my records Saturday night pretty late and completely lost track of time and the level of volume I was playing the Immortal Technique record I had not listened to in a long time. I heard a knock at my door, and immediately knew what was happening. I turned off the music and answered the door. The exchange was quite cordial, and we parted ways within 20 seconds. Me apologizing, and him saying thanks, have a good night. I felt like a tool keeping people up at night, but sometimes after living in an apartment for a while, you need to listen to music above an acceptable level. Sorry to my neighbors. This probably won't happen again for some time.

I got my fix.

Meatcutting Week 9: New tasks

As promised, along with less beef to produce at this time of the year, Jeff had me working on several new items this week. I was excited, but also very anxious (see last post). I want to be proficient at all aspects of our shop as fast as possible, but now that I am completely comfortable with breaking down hind quarters, I found myself wanting to cling to that task. It is what I know and it has officially become my comfort zone.

Here are the things I started to learn this week:

*Prepping the front quarter for the saw. The front quarter contains the chuck, ribs (my favorite steak resides here), brisket, skirt, neck, etc. This is much easier than breaking down the hind quarter, but it will take a week or two to become comfortable with it.

*Using the saw. We had several "hamburger cows" to break down on Thursday. Hamburger cows are beefs that are being processed into ground beef only. They are usually older animals that have tougher muscle tissue. They can be old females or old bulls. The older females are usually very fatty, while the bulls are very lean. The better cuts of meat on these animals would not be tender, therefore, the best way to utilize them is to grind everything. However, we are able to salvage the tenderloin in some animals.

That said, these hamburger cows present a perfect opportunity for me to practice some saw work. We went ahead and broke the beefs down like usual, and I was able to use the saw to cut some steaks and roasts, and break down each quarter further. If I made mistakes, it did not matter, because in the end, all was going to be fed into the grinder. It made perfect sense, and I appreciated the opportunity to try the saw.

*Hogs! On Wednesday, we processed 9 hogs. I had tried a few of them weeks ago, but sort of forgot how to do it. Unfortunately, we do not do hogs very often, so it will be hard to get into a routine, but I think I will learn it eventually. They are much easier than beefs. Basically, each half of the hog is cut into 3 parts: the shoulder, the ribs/loin/belly and the ham. There is more to it, but those are the basics. It is a little tougher to trim the fat from hogs. It is a softer and more flexible material. Knife skills are tested with this task.

*Installing insulation. Friday we had no meatcutting work to do, so we went to phase 2 of our walk-in freezer project. I also had to conquer a small portion of my fear of heights. Only 1/4 of the ceiling has planks installed for storage and to walk on above the room. the rest of the ceiling is just beams right now. We plan to install a "floor" to walk on above the room, but now we just have the one side to walk on. I had to measure, cut and install foam insulation to fit between the beams across the entire ceiling. I was frozen while trying to prepare to do the work, but after verifying that the small portion of floor would hold my weight, I got semi-comfortable. The fear kept me working very slowly and safely, but we got all but 4 open areas insulated by the end of the day. Phase 3 will have us installing plywood over the insulation, creating the "walls" and ceiling of the freezer. After the plywood is installed, it will be covered with FRP panels.

I am hearing rumors that I will be working with Dale, our mobile slaughter guru, sometime over the next several weeks. I am excited.

Inspired

I was always rightfully taught that our fears were at the apex when we had to speak publicly. I have, through experience, been conditioned to disagree.

I really think our fear is at it's greatest when we attempt to learn a new task. Think about it....a trembling fear comes across our neck when we are accosted by change. There is something beautiful about our "comfort zone". Here we are, "experts" at what we do. Now, we have chosen or are forced to remove ourselves from this! "I hate this", "the new boss is making us do this!" "Muther fucker has no idea what change is good". I have been there many times, as many of you have been.

I am confronting this ultimate fear as I write this. I am inspired by my Brother. After he had graduated from Indiana University with a Philosophy degree, he decided to go to Nursing school. Half-way through, he called me saying he had this horrible, bitch-of-a-professor. She was going to inspire him to quit his dream. I remember the call...I remember trying my hardest to inspire him to get through this one class. I said, "you are the one person in our family that is working toward a skill". "There are a lot of classes you will excel in after this". "Please don't hold up your whole dream on this one professor". He actually listened to me and grinded it out. Now he is a successfull LPN with a job that he is passionate about. He would not admit this, but his anectdotes prove that he is passionate.

I guess what I am trying to say is: the most intense fear in the human experience is learning something new. It sounds ridiculous, but think about it....when you have to learn something new at work or in life, to become inspired, you have to pin your ears back and attack without any ego. It is very hard. The crazy thing is, when you become a baby again while learning this new task, you feel embarrasment, but after you succeed, you have the highest sense of self. That is what makes us feel alive.

Obviously, in the small amount of time I have been in this humbling position of hind-quarter breaker at Stafford's Custom Meats in La Grande, OR, I have had this epiphany many times. I felt that it was worth writing about. After seeing what my Brother went through, and his friend Alison who quit her job as a Social advocate to follow her dream as a stylist, it became easier to follow my dreams. This post is written with all dreams in tact. Here's to you Todd Brown:
Please check out the Teddy Rossevelt quote at this link:http://artofmanliness.com/2009/02/28/manvotional-the-man-in-the-arena-by-theodore-roosevelt/

Meatcutting Week 8: Back to work

After a couple of weeks in Indiana, I was ready to get back to work. Unfortunately, we had not yet caught up with the rush we made before our break. We had enough beef to get us through Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday would find Jeff and I working on a different project.

When Jeff moved his business into our current building, he installed a meat locker system for his customers. Customers could pay a monthly rent on a locker to hold the meat that was cut at our shop. It really helped people that did not have the freezer space to keep the large volume of meat they had ordered. Unfortunately, the idea fizzled. Most people now have freezers specifically for their meat orders. The lockers have sat empty in a large space at the front of our building for over 10 years.

Thursday and Friday, we worked on removing the locker doors and the framing they were installed on. I was hesitant to do the work because I am not the handiest dude, but I put on my overalls and came to work with a positive attitude about changing the look of the shop. Thursday, I spent the whole day using a grinder to cut the steel framing. It was actually fun, but I forgot to wear a mask, so I inhaled my fair share of metal dust. My snot was black for days.

Friday, we removed the locker doors and moved them to a cattle trailer on the property. They are great antique freezer doors circa 1930. We actually found a penciled inventory count of turkeys from Thanksgiving, 1955 on one of the doors. Very cool. We then removed the metal frames and cleaned up the area.

We are going to convert the space into another walk-in freezer with an overhead door entrance. This will allow us to handle larger orders that need to be moved on pallets. That is my segue to the news I got when I returned:

*Jeff is starting to research a shift of our business to a USDA inspected shop. This would allow meat that is slaughtered (we currently have the capability to slaughter, but we would have to be inspected to make it worth our time to do) and butchered at our shop to be sold in a retail setting. There is currently no USDA inspected shop in the area, and ranchers that choose to sell their beef, hogs, etc. through retail outlets must ship their cattle to Boise, ID (3 hrs. away) to be processed.

*If we do make the transistion to a USDA inspected facility, we may have an opportunity to cut meat that will end up in local schools. There is a push in Oregon for locally raised livestock to be available for local school lunches. I am excited about this.

* Since we have entered a slower time of the year for production, I will have the time to start learning the other stations of our operation. This includes preparing the front quarters and using the saw to make final cuts for our orders.

Onward.

BOI-IND

Although I did buy chains for my tires in preparation for my trip to the Boise airport, the weather was agreeable, and the 3 mountain passes on I-84 from La Grande to Boise were easily navigated. In Oregon, along with other states, there are zones of highway that require chains to be installed on tires to pass. If there are lights flashing as you enter these areas, it is actually required by law to install chains. These areas have extreme change in elevation and are very remote.

I left for Boise on Monday, although my flight didn't leave until Tuesday. I wanted to give myself time to beat any inclement weather and maybe check out Boise for a bit. On Monday night, I headed downtown to check out a record store. The Record Exchange is the main spot in Boise to pick up the latest releases on vinyl, cd or cassette (largest cassette selection I have seen in probably 15 years). http://therecordexchange.com/mainsite. I picked up a couple CDs (no room for vinyl on the plane). Newest releases by Deer Tick, Matt Pond PA and Frightened Rabbit. Loved Deer Tick's last album and got to see them live on their home turf, Providence, RI, in '09. Still giving all 3 albums a chance.

My arrival to the Boise airport was matched with lots of Boise St. fans heading out to LAS to check out their team take on Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. Here is a picture of a woman with an orange fur coat on with blue sweat pants (Boise St. colors for you non-sports-fans). Classy:

I arranged for my friend Ted to pick me up at IND. It was his birthday. Hated to keep him sober enough to pick me up at 11 p.m., but we anticipated a late night. I finished a bottle of Romana Sambuca that I brought to his house about 3 years ago. He drank bourbon. We listened to music on his heated sun-porch until about 5 a.m. A little mix of tracks from his itunes ranging from Bo Diddley and the original Fleetwood Mac to George Clinton and Midlake. It was a good night.

The next day, I stayed with my friend Adam on the Southside. We have been religiously watching and betting on college football together for over 4 years. We followed our normal Saturday routine of binging on vodka bombs, chain-smoking cigarettes and rooting for the team we foolishly wagered on. This day, it was the previously mentioned Boise St. We won our bet. I got to visit with Adam's neighbor, Larry, also. Great dude. He actually got me a Christmas gift. We both like Ford trucks, and he works at a Ford dealership. The gift was a T-shirt that read: "Ford...Built without your tax dollars". It was classic Larry.

My plan for Thursday was to meet friends at my old home-bar, The Ale Emporium http://ale-emporium.com/. It was a success. All my "Ale" friends came out to say hi, and lots of other friends showed up. Shout out to Todd Brown, Noel, Dan, Fisher, Jeff & Kim (thanks for giving Jeff a chance to come out and play), Mike, Brittany, Kristen, Matt, Ian, Mike Jusko, Jim, Kent and anyone I'm missing. Amazing night...too bad it ended with Mike Jusko and I heading to Joe's at 82nd St. for last call while Jeff and Matt ended up at Joe's at 96th St. Still not sure why we didn't go to Kip's.

After 40 minutes of trying to get me to wake up with calls to my cell phone, my Dad and Brother convinced the associate at the hotel I was staying at to call my room. I finally woke to the hotel phone. It was just after 8:00 a.m., and my Dad was on his way back to Huntington from picking up my brother in Bloomington. I made it.

Spent the next 5 days and 4 nights with my parents in Huntington. We had a great Christmas. My Grandma was there most days, and I got to hang out with my Sister and her family too. I got what I wanted for Christmas:

*Overalls for work

*Z-Place Pizza

I left Huntington Tuesday night (12/28). My Dad dropped me off at April's place so I could spend some time with her and our cats, Nyla and The Pocket Pig.I am sort of obsessed with our cats, and luckily, I get pictures sent to me from April on approximately a daily basis. They got me a picture frame with a picture of each cat laying in the sun. It wouldn't fit in my bag, so April is shipping it to me.

Overall, my time in Indiana was fantastic. It was an odd feeling not knowing when I will be back.

IND-BOI.

Meatcutting Week 7: Hustle to the Holidays

The week leading up to our Holiday shutdown was intense. We all wanted to get out of town ASAP. Jeff, my boss, was heading to Park City, UT to celebrate Christmas with his extended family. I was leaving on the 21st out of Boise back to Indy and Huntington to spend the holidays with friends and family. We made a plan to work the weekend, so we could all leave on Monday, the 20th. Problem was, we needed to have over 30 beefs cut and in the freezer before we left, or they would be hanging too long.

Luckily, my hands were in much better shape, and I was getting faster at breaking down hind-quarters. We had our focus on speed and production, so I really didn't learn much this week. However, there were some cool highlights:

*We were able to cut and freeze 34 whole beefs working Monday-Saturday.

*On Thursday Jeff, Jen, Joanne and I cut, wrapped and froze 9 whole beefs in about 10 hours. Unbelievably, Jeff claimed this was a record.

*On Saturday we sliced, wrapped and froze 9 slabs of bacon and as many hams along with the 3 beefs we needed to finish before we closed the shop.

*I got some really good feedback about my work from Jeff as we shared a Terminal Gravity IPA after we finished work on Saturday.http://terminalgravitybrewing.com/

*I was given a basket of meat, local beers and other food items for Christmas. It included rib steaks, cottage bacon, chirizo, italian sausage, ham, pepperoni sticks and hunter sausage from Jeff's personal stash.

I was very anxious to get home.