I haven’t posted about the local food challenge since June. So for September, we will allow you to have up to 3 comments/entries. They can be about your choice of locally grown chicken or vegetables. The food can be from my farm, from a farmers market, from your garden or from your neighbor’s garden. It just needs to be locally grown (to you). What have you made this summer? Any salads, grilled veggies, chicken soup? Comment below OR email and let me know.
What Gaia Saw
Gaia is our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog. Her job on the farm is to protect our livestock, and in particular, our meat chickens. On a recent morning, the young crew went out to do their chicken chores, and Gaia was at the end of her chain jumping and excitedly barking. They let her go and she sped off to investigate a broken two-wheeled cart that is stored close by.
An older son was in the area and came to investigate. As Gaia ran around the cart, our son pushed down on the back so that she could snoop around under the front.
Something flashed out from under the cart…
The Tall and Short of It
A few years back, The Farmer was able to pick some multicolored maize (translation: “Indian corn”) from the field of fellow farmer Robert Perry. The Farmer had been meaning to plant it for himself and finally had space and time this year.
On Saturday, May 26, The Farmer planted the corn in hasty rows just to get it done. On July 6, we took a picture, because your corn should be “knee high by the fourth of July.”
Unloading Hay is Much More Than You Think
Pictured above is a young man emptying a hay wagon. But there’s more:
Continue reading “Unloading Hay is Much More Than You Think”
Stray Livestock
From Jewish literature – If a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed bare and lets his animal loose so that it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard. (Exodus 22:5 NASB)
Every so often we raise what we term a “naughty” cow. And our naughty cow recently went on a field trip to our neighbor’s house.
A naughty cow often develops when the calf is out with Mom, and she is in a non-electrified fence. The curious calf naturally wanders to and then through the fence. The calf never learns that fences exist as boundary markers. Most of our calves eventually learn what a fence is, but need one hot wire to remind them. Naughty cows only respect fences with multiple strands of electrified wire.
Generally speaking though, cows are quite content to lounge in the area they are given. Sure, the grass is always greener elsewhere, but as long as they are not super-hungry, they will not cross a fence line to get it.
We currently have a naughty cow, and it changes the pasturing dynamic.
Generational Agriculture
When The Farmer’s father was growing up, their family house burned down while they were out of town. Eventually the family landed on a 100+ acre former farm. The Farmer’s grandfather raised beef and had a garden to help feed his seven children. This was the property that The Farmer knew as “Grandma & Grandpa’s house.”
Of those seven children, several stayed involved in agricultural pursuits.
Child 1 (The Farmer’s father) ended up on his own small farm doing part-time agricultural stuff. His first career was teaching agricultural mechanics, and his last career was performing testing at farms as part of the New York State Mastitis Control Program. He now helps us with various projects on our farm.
Child 3 ended up with part of the “old homestead” and built his own small farm (the one pictured here, at an annual Memorial Day Picnic) where his part-time pursuits include raising beef, hay, and eggs, and working in his retirement at a nearby farm.
Child 5 married a man who was the owner/operator of a milk trucking company.
Child 6 married and ended up on a small farm of her own raising beef part-time and having a family milk cow.
Child 7 bought the remainder of the “old homestead” and while he does not farm per se, he does breed and raise Newfoundlands as a part-time venture.
The Farmer does not expect 70% of his offspring to maintain an intimate connection with agriculture, but it has been nice to give them that exposure as they are growing up.
Farm Technology?
When The Farmer graduated from the Cortland Enlarged School District, back last century, his parents bought him a Vic-20 computer. That was back in the days when you hooked your computing device up to your TV as a monitor.
The Farmer spent the summer between high school and college teaching himself the BASIC programming language.
He has dabbled with computer technology ever since.
Pork Dishes – Flavor is in the Fat
This is what pork is all about. The flavor! Whether it is smoked or spiced or roasted, the flavor is what you remember from a good piece of pork. And what makes the flavor? The fat. As Julia Child has been attributed to say, “Fat gives things flavor.”
The fat is what is left in the pan after you cook your bacon and what gets drained into a container to be later used to flavor veggies or rice or potatoes. It is what mixes with the barbecue sauce of Sloppy Joes made with sausage or with the sauce of the pulled pork and what you sop up with the bread or boiled potatoes at the end of the meal. The fat of a smoked ham slice or pork chops melts and flavors the potatoes or rice it is cooked on top of.
We cook pork either by itself or on top of something: such as, bacon cooked first and then eggs cooked in the grease; smoked ham slices, pork steaks or chops cooked over rice or potatoes; pork roast, first pan seared and then roasted in the oven. In the last scenario, the fat is saved for a later use OR the bones and fat are boiled to make a broth for rice or for soup. (This makes an excellent bean soup broth!)
Sausage is used to flavor things. It is added to soups; it is the spice of sloppy joes – 1 part sausage, 3 parts hamburger, spaghetti or barbecue sauce for the sauce; it can be added to a stir fry or to an egg dish.
How have you used pork recently? Let me know by email or in the comments of this post.
March on the Farm
March can have so many different faces. Last week we were looking at 12 inches of snow with paths cleared, but a good snow cover on everything else. With the freeze-thaw pattern – below 32F at night and above during the day – we will see the snow compact and will see some water leave the property, but much will get soaked into the ground.
If we didn’t have the snow cover, then we would be in mud season.
If it gets warm enough, then we will think about working in the garden and would probably hang the laundry out to dry.
With these different faces, what is one to do in March? Well, we keep doing what needs to be done – feed and water the animals, pitch manure when it is above freezing, cut firewood for the summer and next year. 
Then we plan for the summer growing season – what seeds and tubers should be purchased, what chicks or poults will we want, what equipment needs to be repaired. Next we purchase those things and repair broken things. Finally, we learn, read, and take classes related to farming, so that we are better prepared when it is time to do our summer growing.
May you enjoy your March as we enjoy ours!
2 Liver Pâtés
Here are 2 liver pâté recipes that we have used over the years. The EAS Liver Pâté with variations is blended liver, milk, eggs and spices. Lunchon Pork Pâté is blended liver and sausage. Both taste good and are not hard to make. Both can be eaten warm with crackers or bread, or can be used the day after for sandwiches. My children prefer the one with sausage, which is not surprising, as many things taste better with sausage!