At 4:45 in the morning I awoke to duelling alarm clocks buzzing away. After the jet fuel wasmade, we zoomed down the road for a 8 am meeting in Toppenish Washington. This was the big day for the buffalo pick up we had been planning for the last month. The freezer was bought, and Blaze had been fed the night before, 75 dollars worth of gas. The 120 mile drive was along the Columbia River and then north thru Goldendale to the Yakima Reservation Headquarters. The change from Cascades to desert is always stunning.
There was nothing stunning about Toppenish, except the hot, fresh sugar coated donut at the Mexican bakery next to the quick mart.
We met at the Yakima tribal headquarters and were guided over to the Yakima buffalo ranch. It is 125 acres nestled in Satus wildlife area, 30,000 acres of wetlands. The buffalo was already there. We watched and chatted while George and Dave skinned the hide. They had been working here for 30 years collectively. They had fixed many miles of fences over 30 years.
After the buffalo was skinned we bee-lined it for Parkdale, Oregon . I had dropped off turkeys this summer at a poultry processor, but Mountain Valley Meat is an amazing family run butchering facility. Everything was old, including the board and batten and pot bellied stove in the office. The bathroom was truly ancient and bizarre.
Unwrapping the meat for drop off at the butcher.
Winching the buffalo out of the back of blaze.
Now we wait til the 30th of November for the meat to be done. We are taking 100 pounds and we have 75 pounds for friends and family to buy. It is costing about 4.40 a pound. We can't wait to try it, but it is going to be great to not have to buy beef from the store this winter. At Christmas we can have buffalo tenderloins, yum.
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