James Harris with a Ravenel buck!

Putting in a garden?

If you're putting in a vegetable garden, like I am, Vaughan's Store in Ridgeville truly has everything you need. Mr. Vaughan helped me decide what kind of seeds I wanted and measured out the exact amount. Vaughan's also has all the gardening tools you could possibly need. Last year I bought tomato plants from all over, Lowes, Walmart, anywhere they looked good. The ones I bought from Scott at Vaughan's were WAY better than the rest. They were Marion plants. It produced earlier and longer than the other varieties. It's so nice to go to a place where they can tell you, "I planted this kind in my yard and they'll work for you."  Vaughan's is open 7 to 7 Monday through Saturday. It's right by the railroad tracks in Ridgeville. Check 'em out. I think it's true what they say, "If we don't have it, you don't need it!"

Ellen cooks Sirloin Steak!

Tonight's cut of meat was Sirloin Steak!  The first thing we noticed was how the Cordray Farms Sirloin cut we received was far bigger than the biggest steaks I've seen at the grocery store.  It was enormous!  =)  I was having difficulty deciding which recipe to use, until I had a thought.  I have been amazed at how different (better!) the Cordray beef tastes from what I was previously buying at the store.  It is also much more tender.  So, I thought it would be interesting to just do something simple.  I didn't want to cover up the taste of the meat with a lot of added ingredients, so the only ingredient we used was Worcestershire sauce.  I marinated the steak for an hour or so and then my husband put it on the grill until it was cooked medium well.  We did add a little garlic butter (minced garlic added to melted butter) to one of the steaks to try as we had heard it recommended.  The result was by far, the best tasting, and most tender steak we've ever eaten.  This was a steak that had been frozen, also!  I actually preferred the Sirloin without the butter because it was so good by itself.  There are so many ways to marinade and flavor a steak, but sometimes simpler is better! 

 Happy cooking,

Ellen

Robert Darby picked up his mounted big buck from Cordray's!

We're proud of Tristan! Check out the article in today's Post and Courier!

Many of you know Tristan, our oldest son, from his years of working at Cordray's. Check out the article in today's Post and Courier on his dental practice in St. Stephen.

Turkey Season Special!

Turkey Fan Mount

with beard, feet, & fan

Free engraved name plate

$95

It's our Birthday! The Cordray's Blog is ONE YEAR old!

Thank you! In this first year,  we've had over 70,000 visits!  We've published 1045 different posts  on everything from recipes to catching alligators.  We hope that you've enjoyed it as much as we have. The blog is a fun way to keep you informed about the beef farm, the taxidermy business, and the wild game processing all in one place. Until I get the time to write my book, entitled "This Cannot Be Normal!", the blog will have to do! I always appreciate comments and suggestions, so please let me know what you think we can do to make our blog more interesting and more informative. Right now, we get lots of comments, but they are all written in Chinese or they want me to post things that would embarrass  both you and me! I don't let them publish, but I'll be glad to publish yours :) Send 'em on!

How big is a Cordray Farms Beef Share?

People often ask how much freezer space a Beef Share takes. It's about 60 lbs. That doesn't mean much, though, if you are standing in front of your freezer, now does it? If you have us process your deer meat, you're familiar with the size of our boxes. A Share is 2 boxes.  It should fit in your top of the refrigerator freezer.

This photo shows  the individually vacuum sealed steaks, roasts, cuts and ground beef in a Beef Share. There's about 20 to 22 lbs. of lean ground beef in each share. Steaks are about 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick. Roasts are cut 3 to 4 lbs. each.Right now, we're still waiting for the first of the Spring harvest to be ready. Once they are, the carcasses will dry age for about 3 weeks, so it looks like we're still several weeks before you'll be able to pick up yours. If you'd like to reserve your Share, please send in your deposit soon. (We have about 10 Shares that are not spoken for in this first Spring batch.)

Chris Hulsey and Thomas Meredith visited Cordray's Taxidermy this week!

David Harrison bagged these two big bucks last season!

Jack Fields had Kenneth keep the dried velvet on this unique buck!

Click here to see this buck the day it was taken.

Last day to sign up for the spring Ambrose Farm CSA is Sunday!

Be sure to have plenty of farm fresh vegetables to go with your Cordray Farms Beef! Sign up by clicking on the link below. Pete's taking just a few more members.

 .  www.stonofarmmarket.com/Membership.html

Phillip Runyon picks up his mount from Cordray's Taxidermy!

And don't you dare move!

Goats and other grazing animals, like deer and cattle, will often tuck their babies in a secluded area and leave them while they go off to graze. These three little ones are hidden by the water trough to await mom's return.  The babies will stay there for hours without moving at all. The camera noise made one of these lift his head, but the rest stayed absolutely still. When the herd returns, they'll be hopping and running all over the place! I'm not sure what she tells them, but they sure do listen!

Message from Cordray Farms

Hello, Everyone!
I hope this email finds you enjoying the FINALLY warming weather! If you've been watching the Cordray's blog, you know that we've been struggling with all this cold wet weather! For weeks we've only been able to get into some fields on the tractor!  That's why I'm contacting you today. We'd promised to have beef ready about 2 weeks ago and they are not ready yet. This kind of weather slows up the growth of the new spring grass and the cattle just don't fatten up on hay! So it will be at least 3 to 4 weeks before we have steers ready for harvest.  When we do, we expect to have 2 steers or 16 shares ready that first time. I'm encouraging folks to go ahead and send in their deposit to reserve your shares now. Usually we do a round of shares, then a round of sides, but we can have sides ready this first time if you let us know early enough.
If you're an old friend, you can skip this next part. :) We've had a lot of new folks join and I want to be sure to give you all the information you'll need to decide what will work best for your family.
Right now in March, we don't keep regular hours, but are glad to meet you here to pick up your beef by appointment. We're also considering making deliveries if we have folks who order shares or sides and live in the same area. For instance, if several neighbors in Mt. P order shares, we could deliver them to your neighborhood.

Cordray Farms Beef Sides - This is a half cow. It is custom cut to your exact order. You can come in and oversee the cutting or just let Michael walk you through it on the phone. You'll get individually vacuum sealed steaks, the cuts of your choice, and burger in patties or bulk. If you're familiar with our venison boxes, it fills about 6 boxes, so you'll need a good sized freezer. There's obviously only 2 sides per steer, so be sure to send in your $200 check early to reserve a side.
Cordray Farms Beef Shares - These are our CSA shares. We take a steer and cut it into the standard cuts (steaks about 3/4 inch thick) and burger. Then we divide the whole animal into 8 equal - or pretty close - shares. You and 7 other families get to share the bounty from one animal! It's cow pooling! We ask that you send in a $100 check to  reserve your 1/8th share. It will fit in a regular refrigerator freezer if you don't have too many frozen pizzas!
Thank you for your patience. Lots of farmers can have beef ready earlier by loading them down with corn and hormones, but real old fashioned natural beef takes time! I promise it will be worth the wait!
Thanks,
Claudia Cordray


--
www.cordrays.com
Cordray Farms
Cordray's Venison Processing
6708 County Line Rd.
Ravenel, SC 29470
843.766.7922

And 2 more!

Seven baby fainting goats and counting....

GOOD Morning!

As anyone who knows me will tell you I'm NOT a morning person. But Sunday morning I took in a show that I highly recommend. When's the last time you saw the sunrise? Now it doesn't count if you regularly see it over the hood of your car or if its steady climb in the sky just means you're getting later and later for work or your list of to-dos! No, I mean really saw the whole sunrise, just for the heckuvit? I bundled up, coffee in hand to experience the sunrise on this early spring Sunday. It was a show with the soundtrack symphony of roosters competing with an owl for center stage. It had drama! It was dark. My hair was tucked under a camo duck hunting cap. I ambled around the corner of the house and our country burglar alarm came boiling out the doghouse and almost had me for breakfast! It had romance! This is a family blog where the story of the bluebirds I saw isn't appropriate. But from  those first rose kissed clouds to the sparkle of sunlight on dewdrops, it was a morning that filled me with a renewed reverence for all God's creation. A Sunday morning in God's house. It's a great place to start your day.

Three new fainting goat babies!

And yes, even the tiny babies will sometimes faint.  I'll leave them with their moms, but bottle feed these little guys some so that they'll be very tame and easy to handle.

Ellen cooks Cordray Farms Pot Roast!

When my six year old, Carson, began asking, "Mom, is it time for you to cook some more meat yet?", I figured we needed to try out our next recipe!

Tonight's dinner was the classic Pot Roast with Vegetables.  We did ours in the crock pot and it was fabulous!  You know how food tastes much better if you didn't cook it?  Well, the crock pot is kind of like that for me... get it started in the morning and then magically supper is ready at dinner time!  I also learned a couple things today:  1) I need a bigger crock pot.  It was definitely full to capacity with the generous 3.8 pound rump roast we had in it; and 2) Pot Roast has to be one of the best comfort foods around.  As I worked around the house today, the aroma from the kitchen kept tempting me to go take a peek.  Pot Roast reminds me of my great-grandmother, Hattie Mae, who always fixed the best roast dinner for Sunday lunch!  As we all sat down to the table tonight, there were many "ooohs" and "yums" being said before we even tasted the delicious beef and vegetables!  The meat was so tender and flavorful! My husband plans to use leftovers for sandwiches this week. 

One thing I wanted to mention was that I tend to substitute in recipes... a lot.  Sometimes it's because I don't have the exact ingredients I need (we live in a very small town with no quick way to run to the grocery store) and sometimes it's because I think something else might taste better!  So, feel free to add your own personal twist when using these recipes.  You know what your family likes.  Besides, you've already done the important part...started with a great cut of meat.  We're not gravy people, but feel free to use the juices left over in the crock pot to make the gravy for your roast.  Here's the recipe we used- enjoy!

Savory Pot Roast with Vegetables

INGREDIENTS

• Cordray's beef rump roast, +/- 3 pounds
• 6 potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups baby carrots
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 3 cubes beef bouillon
• 1/2 cup water
• minced garlic
• salt, ground pepper, additional spices to taste

Directions

1. Cut up potatoes, onions, and celery in to fairly large chunks and place in a slow cooker. Put roast on top of vegetables. Place 3 bouillon cubes on top of roast and cover with water.

2.      Replace lid and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or High for 4 to 5 hours (check your crock
         pot against these times, as it may cook faster or slower).

Heifer's first baby!

Definition time: A heifer is a cow that has never had a baby before. We always worry just a tad that she'll have the baby with no problems and naturally take care of her new little one. Over the years, we've kept cows that show good mothering instincts and have a calm disposition.  This mama did great!

When we drove up, he tried to quickly get to his feet, but that part was harder than he thought, I think!

You can see he was still wet, but Mama had licked him clean as a whistle! At first, he just kind of stood, a little wobbly and looked at us while his mom did that quiet cow lullaby they do. It's not exactly a moo, kind of a cross between a grunt and a moo! Ask Michael, he can do a passable cow lullaby if the occasion demands it!

At first, he was a little confused...

 but that lullaby thing must have directions!

BINGO! Now he'll nurse several times a day for about 4 to 6 months. We pretty much let the mamas wean them at their own pace, only interfering if a calf is still nursing by the time the mama is expecting again next year.  We once lived near a farm where the farmer separated the babies and the mamas according to his schedule, not theirs. It is a heartbreaking sound to hear them crying for each other. Our cows seem happier and more satisfied staying in these kinds of family units.  You even see moms and daughters kind of hanging together watching over the kids. They'll leave one cow with a group of babies and amble off for a kind of girls' day, but somebody's gotta watch those kids!