NSTL FAQ Page

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I buy your beef?

You can come to the petting farm anytime the farm is open (Tuesday to Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM). Park in the petting farm parking lot, enter the Castle store building, pick your beef from the freezer, and make your purchase. It's that easy.

Also, once the Clark's Produce Stand is open July 1 to September 6, we will be able to make the beef available to you by accessing the beef at the petting farm whenever you need it (the Produce stand has longer hours---Its open seven days a week from 10 AM to 6 PM).

In what form is the beef available?

You can purchase small quantities of our beef. We know that these days most people don't have big freezers, so we want to make our beef available to our customers in a form that works for them. The steaks are individually wrapped, ground beef is in 1 pound packages, roasts are usually 3-4 pounds each. The beef is dry aged at the processor for three weeks (to enhance flavor and tenderness), then flash frozen and vacuum wrapped in plastic so you can see the cuts in our freezer. The beef is frozen at the processor and stored frozen at our store.

Are there tips for cooking grass-fed beef?

1. Put away your timer, get a good meat thermometer, and be prepared to use it. Grass-fed meats are significantly lower in fat than the meats you’re likely to find on grocery shelves. Since the fat works as an insulator, it changes the way your meat cooks. Lean roasts will cook in the oven faster than roasts that are higher in fat. Also, there is likely to be much more variation in size and thickness of the cuts of grass-fed meats than you may be accustomed to. Most recipes will give you times, you are more likely to have a good result if you use a high-quality meat thermometer instead.

2. Turn down the heat. If the heat is too high when grass-fed meat is cooked, the moisture and the fat will exit quickly, which will toughen the protein. Until you‘re thoroughly familiar with cooking grass-fed meats, it is best to set the flame a little lower when you’re grilling or frying and to set the oven temperature lower than is customary.

3. Learn when to use dry-heat cooking methods and when to use moist-heat methods. Dry-heat method is the process whereby the fats and water are pulled from the meat, firming it up until it reaches the desired doneness. This includes pan-frying, broiling, roasting, barbecuing, grilling, stir-frying, and sautéing. Dry-heat cooking methods are appropriate for tender cuts of meat---such as loin cuts. For less tender cuts, use moist-heat methods, such as brasing, stewing, crock-pot cooking and boiling. Beef chuck roast, top rounds and eye of rounds can be put in a 170 degree oven and allowed to roast for several hours. The resulting meat is extremely flavorful and juicy, because the juice does not escape at such a low temperature.

4. You don't need so much seasonings and sauces for grass-fed beef. Because we are used to the flavor and texture of conventionally raised, factory-farmed meats, we assume we need to give the meat flavor through the use of seasonings and sauces. This may be true for the meats sold in grocery stores, but animals raised on pasture produce meats that have a distinctive flavor. Grass-fed meats should be seasoned delicately so as not to mask or compromise their true flavor. These tips are excerpted from “The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook” by Shannon Hayes (It's a great cookbook available for sale at our farm.)

Why should I buy grass-fed beef instead of conventionally-raised, grain-fed beef that is mostly what is available in grocery stores?

A brief review of the excellent value of grass-fed naturally-raised beef includes the following:

Our grass-fed beef is not fed any grain or given any synthetic hormones, steroids, unnecessary antibiotics or animal byproducts.
Our grass-fed beef is raised in an environmentally friendly manner with humane care and sustainable farming practices.
Our cattle have select genetic bloodlines to thrive on a grass-fed diet.
Grass-fed beef is high in Omega-3, CLA, favorable fatty acids, and antioxidants, such as Vitamin E
Grass-fed beef has a favorable unsaturated to saturated fat ratio and is lower in total fat and cholesterol.
Our grass-fed beef is dry-aged for three weeks to enhance tenderness and flavor.
Our grass-fed beef is raised on our farm in your community. It is raised by a farmer you know. You are supporting local agriculture and encouraging your farmer to keep farming in your community. Buying locally-raised beef greatly reduces transportation costs
Safe and wholesome. The ground beef you are buying is from one cow, who can be identified, not a mixture of ground beef from hundreds of cows as is the general practice today.

LOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION on our web page: Facts about Grass-Fed Beef