Hey there, NOCO Crew!

It’s the time of year where we all have to take stock in what needs to be done around the house before the cold sets in. It’s not exciting; but, you gotta do what you gotta do.

What is exciting is that we live in a state that has an amazing herd of buffalo that are helping to ensure that the legacy of this amazing animal doesn’t disappear as it almost did over a century ago.

And, the irony isn’t lost on us; but, we will also be looking into the Colorado Custom Meat Company’s actual cut sheet to explain the choices a customer makes placing an order.

Grab a coffee, and let’s dig in!

– David

Tuesday around Fort Collins: Mostly cloudy and unusually warm for October, with a high near 88°F and only a slight chance of rain. Check the forecast before a mountain trip, since conditions at the trailheads can be very different from town.

Sunrise is about 7:02 a.m., sunset about 6:34 p.m., and we have about 11 hours, 31 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning crescent.

Local sunrise and sunset
Current National Weather Service forecast

Don't Let Old Man Winter Bust Your Pipes

Here in Northern Colorado, fall loves to play tricks on us. One day you're grilling in shorts, and the next you're scraping frost off the windshield. That's exactly why now is the time to get your sprinklers and outdoor faucets ready for winter, before Mother Nature makes the decision for you.

Here's the deal

Water expands when it freezes, and your pipes don't. Leave a little water in your sprinkler lines or spigots, add one chilly night, and you've got cracked valves, split pipes, or a busted faucet hiding in your wall. The worst part? You usually won't find out until spring, when you flip the system on and your yard turns into a water park (and not the fun kind).

Sprinklers: get that blowout on the calendar

Sprinkler companies around here get swamped in October, so call early. They'll hook up an air compressor and blast the leftover water out of every zone. Prefer to DIY? Just make sure your compressor can handle the job, keep the pressure reasonable, and go easy on the backflow preventer. It's the priciest part to replace, and it's the one that cracks most often.

Spigots: a 10-minute job

Bottom line

Spending an hour on this now beats a big repair bill in April. Knock it out while the weather's still nice, then go enjoy the fall-ish weather. You've earned it.

Just north of Fort Collins, at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, there's a herd of bison with a seriously impressive résumé. Now, we can't promise you'll see them if you make the drive up (more on that later); but, the story of why they're there is worth knowing.

A Little History

Bison once numbered in the millions across the Great Plains, but overhunting nearly wiped them out. In the Laramie Foothills, they disappeared for well over a century. That changed on November 1, 2015, when ten plains bison were reintroduced to the shortgrass prairie at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Red Mountain Open Space. The project is a team effort between the City of Fort Collins, Colorado State University, and the Larimer County Department of Natural Resources. Here is a link to a TON of info about the ecology here.

Why These Bison Are Special

These aren't just any bison. They descend from the Yellowstone National Park herd, which is known for its valuable and unique genetics. The catch is that Yellowstone bison can carry brucellosis, a disease that has long made it hard to move them anywhere else. So CSU scientists got creative.

A team led by Jennifer Barfield used assisted reproductive technologies, including methods for treating sperm and embryos to eliminate the bacteria that cause brucellosis, which can trigger miscarriages in bison. In some cases, surrogate bison mothers carried the calves. The result is Yellowstone genetics without the disease. Pretty cool for something that started in a lab.

Bison On The Job

The herd is more than a pretty view. Bison play a critical role in maintaining the large, nearly pristine shortgrass prairie there. Today the herd roams thousands of acres and helps keep the prairie healthy.

You might notice cattle out there, too. That's on purpose: cattle help mimic natural grazing patterns and give managers flexibility, and they're kept separate from the bison with a special fence.

The Herd That Keeps Giving

The herd grew faster than anyone expected. By 2019, Barfield joked that they almost had too many animals. That was the plan all along, since the goal was for animals from the herd to help establish herds elsewhere. The herd's biggest impact has been with Tribal Nations:

For many tribes, this is about much more than numbers. As Troy Heinert of the InterTribal Buffalo Council (Sicangu Lakota) put it, "The number one goal of Tribal buffalo restoration is cultural and spiritual preservation."

Barfield has described the transfers as coming full circle on the project's mission, which always included cultural reinvigoration for tribes. Even better, the bison are provided free of charge, and the herd is supported by private fundraising. (Here’s a great article about the bison.)

Want To Look For Them?

Head to Soapstone Prairie, which is open from March to November, so you've got a few weeks left this season. You might spot bison from the Cheyenne Rim Trail or the Bison Overlook, but they roam a big pasture, so sightings aren't guaranteed. Please stay on the trail. Pack binoculars and keep your distance. And if the bison don't show? The prairie views alone are worth the drive.

Get Involved:

Out in Weld County, cattle are everywhere. But for a lot of us, beef still shows up as a shrink-wrapped package at the grocery store. If you've ever thought about buying a quarter or half of a beef straight from a local rancher, there's one piece of paperwork that can stop first-timers cold: the cut sheet.

Good news: it's not as scary as it looks. Let's walk through one, using a real cut sheet from a local processor.

First: Who's Who?

There are usually three players: the rancher who raised the animal, you (the buyer), and the processor who turns the animal into freezer-ready packages. For our example, we're using Colorado Custom Meat Company in Kersey. It handles custom processing of beef, hogs, lambs, and goats, and every cut is done by hand and vacuum packed to the customer's specs. The shop opened in April 2022 after buying the long-standing Steving Meats in Kersey. Its owners say they started it to help ease the processing backlog that was squeezing local producers.

The Cut Sheet, Decoded

A cut sheet is just your order form. It tells the butcher how you want your share of the animal broken down. Colorado Custom Meat Company posts separate sheets for beef, hogs, and lamb/goat, each with a fillable PDF. Let's walk through the beef sheet as if you were ordering a half.

Step 1: Hang time. Before cutting, the carcass hangs to age, effecting tenderness and flavor. The standard is 14 days, and you can call if you want it to hang longer.

Step 2: Steaks. The standard thickness is 3/4 inch, with at least two steaks per package. And, here is where you face some decisions:

Step 3: Roasts. The standard roast size is 3 pounds. You'll pick from options like chuck, arm, sirloin tip, and rump. Several cuts, including brisket, tri-tip, flank, and skirt, are optional and can go into the grinder instead. That's the big theme of a cut sheet: anything you don't choose as a specific cut usually becomes ground beef.

Step 4: Ground beef and the extras. Ground beef comes in 1, 1½, or 2 pound packages. You can also get it made into ¼ or ⅓ pound patties for an extra charge. Then there are the bonus items: stew meat, short ribs, soup bones, and even heart and liver if you're feeling adventurous.

One important catch for quarter buyers: If you're splitting a half with someone and each taking a quarter, your cutting instructions have to match. If they don't, the butcher will fall back on their standard cuts. So talk to your beef-buddy before you fill anything out!

What About Pork?

The hog sheet works the same way, but with a few fun extra choices. Hams and the fresh side (pork belly) can stay fresh or be smoked and cured. That's how the fresh side becomes bacon. Leftover ground pork can be turned into breakfast, German, or Italian sausage, or bratwurst.

A Few Practical Things To Know:

Bottom Line

A cut sheet is really just a menu for a whole animal. Once you understand the trade-offs, like T-bone vs. strip or ribeye vs. prime rib, it's a pretty fun way to get to know where your food comes from. And it keeps your dollars working right here in Weld County agriculture.

Learn More:

Some old houses are simply… just old. Others feel like a time capsule you can walk into. This one, sitting on a roomy corner lot of almost half an acre in Downtown Greeley, is the latter.

Built To Last

Step through the front door and you can tell right away this house comes from a time when builders went all out. You'll find original hardwood floors, high ceilings, and woodwork everywhere you look. The real showstopper is the staircase. It has intricate carved millwork and a decorative newel post (that's the big post at the bottom of the railing) that was clearly made by someone who took serious pride in their work.

Details like that are hard to find these days. Back then, craftsmen carved, fitted, and finished this kind of trim by hand, and it was meant to show off their skill. More than a century of remodels and ‘modernizing’ has wiped out a lot of it around town, which makes the surviving original details here even more special.

Old Bones, New Chapter

The house has had some modern updates over the years, but the historic character is still front and center. Here's an interesting twist: the property is zoned C-H, or Commercial High Intensity. That's a good reminder of how much downtown Greeley has grown and changed around homes like this one. A house that may once have sat on a quiet residential street now stands in the middle of a busy commercial core.

Why It Matters

Places like this are part of what gives downtown Greeley its personality. Every carved banister and original floorboard is a little piece of the city's story, and it's worth slowing down to appreciate them. The next time you're walking downtown, take a closer look at the older homes along the way. You never know what kinds of original craftsmanship is still lingering on.

Check it out: 1203 9th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631

Riding up the canyon. Standing at a workbench. Walking the dog. Pain can keep us from enjoying the little things in life that make life, well… life.

Sam Fischer and the team at Choice City Physical Therapy offer one-on-one care in Fort Collins.

40-minute appointments with a licensed physical therapist. Treatment built around you, and the activities you want to get back to enjoying in life.

3938 John F. Kennedy Parkway, Unit 11E · Fort Collins
970-460-8544

Meet the team and book an assessment →

Every contribution keeps us out in the field, digging into local history, and showing up for the towns we cover. We're grateful for every bit of support. Thanks for being part of this.

— Megan & David

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