Little House on the Shiner Prairie

Nicole, a graduate of Texas A&M with a degree in equine science and studying for a teacher certification, is the second child and first daughter. Older brother Ross Jr., married with two small kids, is finishing a doctorate at Rice University; younger sister Abby is in her third year studying to be a veterinarian, also at Texas A&M. Youngest brother Aaron is finishing high school.

About eight years ago the Tiekens decided to raise hogs for market. They got Large Black hogs, a heritage breed that was almost extinct by the 1960s and is still considered vulnerable. Large Black hogs are a slow-growing breed and take at least 18 months to get to market weight, compared to the average six months for commercial hogs. It is worth it to Patricia.

“These are friendly, gentle animals that like to be outdoors,” she says. “They like to run and be in the sunshine. We don’t cut their tusks. They don’t bite us. I mean, our son’s broken his arm once but that was from running with a bucket of feed.”

The pigs are fed milo, a red grain sorghum grown for them by fellow farmer John Friesenhahn. He practices no-till farming (an agricultural technique aimed to naturally increase soil health) and doesn’t use any fertilizers or pesticides. Every two to three weeks the Tiekens drive to his farm to pick up 6,000 pounds of milo. Every day they grind 350 pounds of feed for the pigs. Double that if rain is expected the next day.

“We use an old grinding machine. It’s from the 1940s, and so is the tractor that powers it,” says Patricia. “It’s a dangerous machine to operate in the first place. And when it rains, the belt slips off.”

Some of her hogs are destined for Underbelly, where Chef Chris Shepherd utilizes the whole animal to make charcuterie. “All of our pork products in the curing room are from Shiner Pork,” says the chef. At the chef’s request, Patricia finishes Underbelly’s hogs on peanuts. “It yields a good, clean, white hard fat on the pigs,” says Chef Shepherd. Like the acorns famously fed to pigs in Spain, “it gives a sense of place.” Peanuts are grown in Texas, and Patricia sources hers from Wilco Peanut in Pleasanton, south of San Antonio.

When I visit the farm in early January, the fields are brown and dry and the cows feed on hay. Until spring turns the land a vibrant green with a carpet of wildflowers, the 18 head of cattle are free to roam much more widely than in other seasons, when paddocks are closed off so grasses can recover. Even on 90 acres of pasture, the cattle don’t wander off. Not in this herd. The bull is a Tajima breed, known for its herding skills: “They’ll grab a wandering cow and bring her back to the herd,” says Ross.

Once a month, Patricia takes a steer that has reached 1,000 pounds to a certified and inspected processor 15 minutes down the road, along with two hogs. The charge for processing averages $650 per steer and $350 per hog, which adds to the overall cost but the small-scale, individual handling ensures a most humane treatment.

“Eating meat comes at a price,” says Patricia, but she’s not talking about the monetary value. She cares for her animals. “We are feeling farmers,” she says. The steers raised for meat live where they were born, in a herd of 18 with ample pasture to roam.

For her, “grass fed” means more than healthy meat with unsaturated fat. “See this land?” She points to mark out the vast pastures. “We have 18 cows [bull and calves included] and they have all this to roam. If this was a feedlot, there would be hundreds of cattle just in this one paddock alone.”

“My ultimate goal is to make this farm sustain itself. We have a garden, fruit trees; we have eggs, turkeys that hatch their own eggs. We supply meat to the market but also to all of our children. They don’t buy pork or beef anywhere else: They come home with ice chests.”

Few would think of hard farm work, with its long hours and physical strain, as romantic. Yet Patricia Tieken just might. “One day I was out on the field mowing, and Ross was inside baking bread. ‘We’re a weird couple,’ I thought to myself,” she says. She wouldn’t want it any other way.

> Find Shiner Pork & Beef at Westchase Farmers Market (Th 3:30–6:30pm); Urban Harvest Eastside Farmers Market (Sa 8am–noon); and the last Tuesday of every month at Rice University Market (Tu 3:30–6:30pm)