Brahman cattle on the Nekawa ridge with the Pacific Ocean visible in the distance

Zaragoza · Costa Rica · Invite Only

Beef raised the way your great-grandmother remembers.

A 300-acre organic farm and growing wellness center in the mountains of Costa Rica. On an 80-acre parcel inside it, a small herd of cattle roams free — grazing on pesticide-free grass and drinking from spring-fed streams. When we butcher one, the meat is shared with a tight circle of neighbors.

Reserve a Box How it Works ↓

~28 daysbetween butcher

~25 familiesfed per cow

1 truck, 1 marketTuesdays · Guiones

Our Land

Nekawa, in the cloud forest above Zaragoza.

Nekawa is a 300-acre organic farm and growing wellness center in the mountains of Zaragoza, Costa Rica. On an 80-acre parcel within it, our cattle roam free — grazing on pesticide-free grass and drinking from streams fed by springs on the property. Our land manager Nallo grazes a small herd here under a simple agreement: the land stays clean, the cattle roam free, and once in a while we butcher one for the people we know.

No pesticides. No herbicides. No commercial feed. No antibiotics or hormones. Just grass, sunshine, mountain water, and time. The animals grow slower, the meat is leaner and deeper-flavored than anything you'll find in a store, and the whole rhythm of it feels closer to the way humans actually used to eat.

This is small on purpose. We butcher one cow at a time — roughly once a month — and the meat goes to a private list of friends and neighbors. If you're reading this, you're on the list.

Misty morning view of the Nekawa pasture in the Costa Rican mountains

Cloud-forest morning over the upper pasture — Zaragoza, Puntarenas.

100% Pasture

Wild native grasses only. No grain finishing, no silage, no shortcuts.

Zero Chemicals

No pesticides on the land — ever. No hormones, antibiotics, or vaccines beyond what the law requires.

Whole Animal

One cow. Twenty-five families. Every cut finds a home, from filet to oxtail.

Cash & Carry

You order online. You pay cash at pickup. No middlemen, no markup.

The Boxes

Four ways to fill your freezer.

Each box is built from one specific cow we butcher that month. Sizes are designed to feed a family of four for roughly four weeks of beef-forward meals. Reserve below — we hold your box, prep it the morning before market, and meet you in Guiones with it on ice.

Prices are suggested community contributions in Costa Rican colones (CRC) — a fair-market grass-fed rate with a 10–20% friends-of-the-ranch discount built in. Pay cash at pickup. If you can stretch higher, it helps cover the families who stretch lower.

The Math

One cow, twenty-five families, one month.

A finished steer from our pasture lives at about 1,000 lbs. Once butchered, that yields roughly 280 lbs of packaged take-home cuts plus 50 lbs of organs and bones — the rest is hide, bone, fat trim, and water.

For a family of two adults and two small kids eating beef as their main protein, ~10 lbs covers about a month of dinners. Spread across our four box tiers averaging 10 lbs apiece, one cow comfortably feeds ~25 families for a month. We start with a single test run, then settle into a monthly cadence if there's appetite for it.

Approximate cut breakdown · 1,000 lb steer
Premium steaks (ribeye, NY strip, tenderloin)	~30 lb
Sirloin & tri-tip	~18 lb
Chuck cuts & roasts	~50 lb
Round cuts & roasts	~55 lb
Brisket, short ribs, flank, skirt	~32 lb
Stew meat	~25 lb
Ground beef	~70 lb
Liver, heart, tongue, kidneys, oxtail	~22 lb
Marrow & soup bones	~25 lb
Total available to share	~327 lb

High-end coolers with butcher-paper-wrapped beef on ice at the Playa Guiones farmers market

Pickup

Tuesdays in Playa Guiones.

1

Reserve online

Add a box to your cart and submit. You'll get a confirmation email with an order number — usually within a few minutes.
2

Show up Tuesday

Find me at the Tuesday farmers market in Playa Guiones, Nosara. Bring your order number (a screenshot of the email is fine).
3

Pay cash, take it home

Your meat is in a high-end cooler on ice or frozen, depending on the cut. Hand me cash (CRC or USD), and you're set for the month.

Common Questions

Before you reserve.

How often will you butcher?

We're starting with one trial run to see how it goes. If demand is steady and the families are happy, we'll move to a monthly cadence — likely the last Tuesday of every month. We may settle at every other month if a slower rhythm fits the group better.

What if my box is sold out?

Each tier is capped because each cow only produces so many premium steaks, so many roasts, etc. If your first choice is full, the page will let you join a waitlist or pick a different tier.

Can I customize a box?

Not for the first run — keeping it simple lets us actually pull this off. Once we have a rhythm, custom add-ons (extra ground, extra organs, marrow bones) become possible.

Frozen or fresh?

The animal is dry-aged briefly, then most cuts are vacuum-sealed and frozen for safety in the tropical climate. Steaks for that week's box can be delivered fresh on ice if requested. Either way it travels in high-end coolers.

Is this legal?

This is a private community arrangement among neighbors — not a retail business. Nothing on this site is offered to the general public. The page is invite-only and unindexed.

What if I can't make it Tuesday?

Reply to your confirmation email and we'll work something out — usually a delegate pickup or a porch drop in Nosara that same evening.