I am a 58 year old professional and former "type A" personality who had a health crisis several years ago. Seems I flat-lined for a while but happily (and obviously) lived to tell about it! As a result, I scuttled much of the stress in my life (most, if not all of which was self induced) and taught myself to kick back and relax a bit more.
Given that my wife and I live on and operate a ranch we are fortunate to have a ready supply of home grown corn fed beef and an abundance hardwood. It took little time to realize the obvious form of low-keyed relaxation and personal satisfaction was bbq and smoking which I took up in large part as pure therapy.
I taught myself by simple trial and error, producing some very good results as well as some which weren't so good and even caused our 3 Border Collies some hesitation! I have tried my hand at many of the usual things such as ribs, chicken, brisket, turkey, and prime rib. I have ventured off the beaten path as well and tried lamb, goat, duck, venison, and various fruits and vegetables.
Last summer after some scrounging around on my part and with the help of a talented welder/fabricator we designed and built and an upright wood-fired smoker with capacity of about 150#. I pretty well have the bugs worked out now and can use the smoker with a reasonable degree of predictability.
Whether experimenting with new things or tweaking the good old standbys, I asked myself why I was reinventing the wheel with each and every smoke and wouldn't it be easier to get ideas from those who have actual experiences? So, I finally set aside my bullheaded pride and semi irrational sense of self-sufficiency .............and lo and behold found myself here.
Please excuse the length of this intro, but if you can't already tell, I like to talk! I look forward to participating and being a part of the community!
Buckeyerancher
Given that my wife and I live on and operate a ranch we are fortunate to have a ready supply of home grown corn fed beef and an abundance hardwood. It took little time to realize the obvious form of low-keyed relaxation and personal satisfaction was bbq and smoking which I took up in large part as pure therapy.
I taught myself by simple trial and error, producing some very good results as well as some which weren't so good and even caused our 3 Border Collies some hesitation! I have tried my hand at many of the usual things such as ribs, chicken, brisket, turkey, and prime rib. I have ventured off the beaten path as well and tried lamb, goat, duck, venison, and various fruits and vegetables.
Last summer after some scrounging around on my part and with the help of a talented welder/fabricator we designed and built and an upright wood-fired smoker with capacity of about 150#. I pretty well have the bugs worked out now and can use the smoker with a reasonable degree of predictability.
Whether experimenting with new things or tweaking the good old standbys, I asked myself why I was reinventing the wheel with each and every smoke and wouldn't it be easier to get ideas from those who have actual experiences? So, I finally set aside my bullheaded pride and semi irrational sense of self-sufficiency .............and lo and behold found myself here.
Please excuse the length of this intro, but if you can't already tell, I like to talk! I look forward to participating and being a part of the community!
Buckeyerancher
