Beefing Up! An Ascension Day Project

Today I learned that 1/4 of a steer equals a lot of meat!

A few weeks ago, we heard a neighboring farmer was selling his grass-fed steers to anyone who wanted one. (Like everywhere else, our local farmers are hurting from the supply chain disruptions.) All you had to do was arrange for transporting and butchering. So some of my family decided to go together and purchase a whole steer and then divide the meat.

My sister made the arrangements with a butcher shop and the steer was scheduled to go there this week. Last week I walked to the farm and took pictures of the steers.

On Wednesday, my sister called the butcher shop and asked if her order was ready for pickup. “Yes”, they said. “Come anytime.”

So at 8:30 in the morning, Mom and Brenda went to go get the meat.

“I’m Brenda Weaver, and I’m here to pick up my meat,” my sister told the employee behind the counter.

The employee looked at her paper. “Yes, your pork is ready.”

“Pork?! We sent a steer!”

“Well, we have a pork order for Glenda Weaver.”

“I’m actually Brenda Weaver.”

The butcher apologized for the mix-up and promised Mom and Brenda that they could come back and pick up the beef in the afternoon.

We hope Glenda Weaver was successful at getting her pork.

Our household got 106 pounds of beef, including about 35 pounds of roasts and steaks, and the rest was ground beef. Our fridge was loaded with huge bags of ground beef inside big bowls.

Side note: In my travels I’ve learned there’s different names for “ground meat from a cow.” Some people call it “hamburger”, others call it “mince”. But “ground beef” is the term I’m most familiar with. I even know a joke about it: What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef!

Since the butcher charged extra to wrap the meat for the freezer, we decided to do that step ourselves. Last evening, Mom wrapped the steaks and roasts in freezer paper.

This morning, Mom and I made meatballs, hamburgers, and meatloaf with the ground beef and packaged the remaining ground beef in 1-pound bags for the freezer.

I really enjoyed the chance to help with processing the meat. There’s something very satisfying about preparing huge quantities of food, especially when you usually spend your day doing computer work. It was so fun to squeeze the air out of the ziploc bags and pat them flat so they’ll thaw more quickly when we get them out of the freezer.

The last time I helped with a beef butchering was years ago on a farm in New York state, in an unheated shed during the dead of winter. I mostly remember being very, very cold and sawing meat by hand off the bone. Compared to that experience, making meatballs and hamburger patties in a warm kitchen in May was pure bliss.

“I’m really glad you’re helping me,” said Mom. Normally, I’d be at work on a Thursday. However, the timing of the beef was fortunate because today is Ascension Day, which is observed as a holiday by some local Anabaptists. For me, it means a day off work since my employer gives everyone a paid holiday today.

Ascension Day commemorates the day Jesus ascended into Heaven. In past years, many people refrained from doing any unnecessary work, like a Sunday.

“I remember Mrs. Harsh saying she’ll do anything on Ascension Day except sew,” Mom told me.

When my mother was a teenager, she worked for an elderly Methodist woman named Mrs. Harsh. Mrs. Harsh, along with many others, had heard the story of a woman who was caught outside in a thunderstorm. Terrified by the storm, she suddenly remembered she was wearing an apron she had sewn on Ascension Day. She quickly removed the apron and threw it on the ground, and lightening struck the apron— or so the story goes.

We chuckled about the old tale, which was probably an urban legend, a predecessor to fake news. But it does illustrate how important Ascension Day was to the local community.

Today, some Amish and Mennonite churches have services, other people simply enjoy a family day. When I was with the youth group, we would often go on a day trip together. Last year, our family went to the ocean.

But sometimes we just work, which is great too. We now have a freezer full of ground beef— a whole 1/4 steer, in fact!

Happy Ascension Day!