Bill’s Blog

I recently read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan.  He had spoken at the Web 2.0 conference I attended last November and it was a compelling talk.  After reading the book and hearing about Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms I decided to sample some Grass Fed Beef.

Having taken this objective, my first task was to find out where I could buy grass fed beef.  I looked online and found a few local farms that would sell me a whole or half cow.  That was more than I needed.  A friend told me that New Season’s Market carried it.  I packed the family in the car and took a trip out to the store.  They carried one cut, a New York Steak.  I bought it.

To prepare the meat, I marinaded it in a Yoshida’s marinade overnight.  I then cooked the steaks on the BBQ, carefully using tongs rather than a fork (no holes).  You can see the finished product below.

Now it was time to sample the meat.  Typically I am not a fan of steak.  I’ll eat it in a pinch and think it tastes ok.  This steak was fantastic!  It was tender and moist and full of flavor.  I’d say it was the best steak I’ve ever had (including the Kobe Beef I ate in Japan).  I’ll definitely be back for more.

In case you’re looking for local sources of Grass Fed Beef and other meats, here are a few places I’ve found (mostly through my friend Holly).  Let me know of other places in Oregon.  I’d love to try them out.

Kookoolan Farms – Heirloom Breed Chickens

Abundant Life Farm

Mossback Farm

North Valley Farm – Lamb

Once I got the solar powered webcam working, I started thinking about how to make it more power efficient.  Looking at the specs of the inverter, I found it consumers 3W all the time.  That’s a lot of power wasted.  To make things more power efficient, I replaced the inverter with a circuit I built.  It is a highly efficient 12v to 5v switcher.  The picture below shows the near finished product.  It all fit in a box slightly smaller than the inverter.  Now that it is installed, the battery lasts about twice as long.