Over the weekend we made a quick trip to pick up our quarter of a cow. Sara’s cousins raise a couple of cows every year for butchering. They feed them, etc. until they are ready, and then they end up on the block. This year we got in on the action and purchased a quarter of one of the cows.

We weren’t exactly sure what we were doing. We really don’t eat that much meat and we are certainly no experts on what the different cuts of steak, types of preparation, etc. are. So luckily we had Lisa (Sara’s cousin) there to sort of help guide us a little bit. I’m sure it takes some time until you figure out exactly what you want, and how much you can eat.

If you’re wondering how much beef a quarter of a cow comes out to, ours had a “hanging weight” of 203 lbs. We got a whopping 77 lbs. of ground beef (although it turned into only 55 lbs. because we ordered it lean). When you see it all piled up together, it is quite an impressive sight. I get the meat sweats just thinking about it. Even after trying to clean out our chest freezer and throwing some stuff away, the meat just barely fits. It is absolutely full up to the top (well, to be fair, we do have some other stuff in there besides just beef).

I don’t think we’ll be able to finish all that in a year. I doubt there has ever been a year where I have eaten that much beef. 55 lbs. of hamburger alone seems pretty daunting. That’s more than a pound of hamburger a week! On the other hand, since we have it already, we will probably be eating a lot more beef than we would have otherwise. So if you come to stay at our house, expect to be eating some beef!

In other news, Evie and I have started a parent / child soccer class. So far Evie really loves it. For her age group, they don’t actually play soccer games or anything. It’s more like fun stuff in a soccer context, like kicking bubbles and warming up with races and games of red light / green light. It’s a 12 week class, so hopefully she won’t get bored before the end.

Completely by coincidence, Evie’s jersey is #4. Read into that what you will. I think it means she is destined for soccer greatness, and then ultimately to break my heart.