I spy with my little eye...

....Something green in February~ONIONS~

Nice to see seedlings sprouting upon the window sills!

Last night was the first meal I cooked since my procedure.
I am not 100% but definitely better then I was pre-procedure.
Today was the first time in a while I did not have to lay down and did not take ANY meds.
Wooo hooo!
Nice to be back in the kitchen!
Many (not all) of the meals we cook come from the farm.
When we first started raising our own food each homegrown meal created a stir of excitement.
Now we often take it for granted.

We had pork chops from H1 who went to the butcher shop last week.
MM has processed some of our pigs in the past but with everything going on as of recently it was best to pay someone else to do it.

I also cooked up some mashed potatoes from the root cellar, we have enough left to bring us into summer I think.

For a vegetable I cooked up some Butternut squash. That stored nicely in cool storage...(Country Boy's closet) He was real impressed with me :/
Buttercup is my favorite but it was the worst for storage. Had I paid better attention and in the future I will Always eat those up first. Acorn squash & Spaghetti squash stored quite well but the Hubbard & Butternut by far stored the BEST! I am certain we will have enough until next years crop.

Moose Hunt

CB has been fortunate this fall having more hunting experiences as a first year hunter then most do in many years of hunting.

He has been hunting birds for the past month, even shot a rabbit. He also had the chance to go on a moose hunt with his father and his grandfather (my dad). Which is a unique experience, MM has been in the drawing for 20+ years and he has only been drawn once to go on a moose hunt. Next is Youth Deer day which is this coming Saturday.

Let me just tell you that I LOVE that this boy is SO passionate about hunting. NEVER thought I'd say that! The initial thought of him carrying a gun in the woods made me feel ill. But after watching MM prep him I have faith that with the continued guidance from his dad he will be safe. I think this is an important life skill and find comfort that he will someday be able to provide healthy food for his family just as his Daddy has throughout the years.

Chicks

I think this is our third year of raising broilers. We buy them as day olds and raise them to 6-8 weeks old. They arrived the same day these RI Reds were hatching in County Boy's incubator.

Note the size difference. There is a reason why people do not raise layers for eating.


Now that their feathers are almost in they will go out to pasture within a few days.

We still had some chicken in the freezer from last fall so we only kept 22 and we sold the extras. We will raise another batch come fall. Traditionally we freeze them whole as roasters but this batch I plan to part out. Nothing like boneless chicken breast on the grill!

Thankful for the chicken plucker MM built that makes butchering much easier and cost effective.

2009 Tally

This past year I tried desperately to keep a tally of all the food we produced here on the farm and gathered from mother nature. Well I tell you, I failed miserably! I was able to keep track of most of the meat we put up but there was no way that I could track all the fruits & vegetables.

In addition to grocery shopping in the garden nightly this summer we picked lots of wild raspberries, domestic raspberries, and a few strawberries & blueberries. Next summer's fruit harvest should be more plentiful. The kids and I also went strawberry picking a couple times and froze all we could. For the second year in a row I bought 20lbs of Maine blueberries from a local. You can't beat the price or the taste!

I froze what I could from the garden including beets, cabbage, beet greens, swish chard, green beans, peas, pumpkin, and rhubarb. I canned dill pickles, zucchini pickles & relish, an beets. In cold storage we put up onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, yukon golds, hubbard and buttercup squash. The eggs tally lasted until mid July and the count left off at 3373 eggs. We eat lots, give plenty away and sell to a few locals.

Here is our meat tally. Keep in mind all of the chicken & turkey we put up are on the bone.

Rabbits - 10lbs (still have 7 full grown meat rabbits to put up or sell)

Ducks - 13 lbs (we have 8 Muscovies that we intended to eat but have become attached to and 3 Khaki Campbells) They will reside in the greenhouse this winter. I will be posting about that as soon as it is complete.

Fish - 6lbs (this is inaccurate, it is the only # I had written down, I did not do a good job tracking this....oops)

Pork - 270lbs

Turkey-82 lbs

Venison- 88lbs (thanks to Maine Man. I did get a shot at one for a first this year but I missed :(.... couple weeks left in the season.

Chicken - 423lbs (we have 15 Cornish Rocks roosters left in the barn that probably weigh at least 8lbs dressed) Seeing how we have no more freezer space or the need for any more meat MM will do the deed this week and we will give to family. Early Merry Christmas ;)

Partridge/ Woodcock - I forgot to track....

Total Tally - 892 lbs (after MM takes care of the broilers and the rabbits we should be up over 1000lbs. I will update the tally when all is complete)

We gave some meat to family& friends. Some we bartered for homemade wine & cider. The rest will nourish our family right through a good portion of 2010.

Not only did we raise all these animals but Maine Man processed 100% of the meat. He really lives up to his name!

Interestingly, we tried to sell the last of the rabbits and cornish rocks and nobody was interested.(I didn't even mention prices) I also offerred one of our grown pigs to a family member for free and they declined. The basic reason is because nobody wants to do the deed. I can't say I blame them because I am have never been interested in that either. Give me the meat, I'll package but I'm quite all set with the rest. Although the more I get into this lifestyle the more I think... well maybe. Funny how you acclimate to your surroundings. A couple years back I would not even considered it. Heck, I go hunting. Not sure how I'd feel if I shot one but hopefully someday I'll find out. It is kind of sad how much we have distanced ourselves from killing animals for food. Some can barely even recognize meat as living animals that were killed for their consumption. :(

P.S. We also put up 4 quarts and 1 pint of maple syrup. Can't wait to tap more trees next year!
Not sure if I'll keep a running tally next year but I am glad I (somewhat) I did this year.

Making Cider

I was recently invited to a friends to make some apple cider. Don't think I'd pass up that offer, do you?

I was a great experience! Can you guess what I've added to my "I want list"?
Maine Man says he can make me one. Do any of you have a homemade press?

BEST APPLE CIDER!

The kids joined us after school.

Left to Right

Kim (me) , Diane, Kim, Kim, & Gail

GRAND TOTAL= 22 gallons

We figured it cost approximately $1.00 a gallon to make.

Skinning A Pig by Maine Man - processing part 1

Some say you can't skin a pig you must scrape it. Around here we reserve the C word for special occasions. I have found by letting the carcass cool for a few hours the loose greasy fat hardens and the hide takes on a leathery quality. Today's 40 degree temps were just perfect for cooling your hog. After skinning the animal down just past the tail I placed a small rock about 1/2 the size a baseball under the hide and wrapped it tightly with a slip loop. I then let off the clutch on the tractor in super low range. One could do the same thing by hanging the animal from a large branch and pulling with a truck. One word of caution this process requires a great deal of pressure and if your knot slips or the branch breaks there's 200lb of meat coming your way at 100 mph (pigs can fly). I used double slip loops on each hind leg, one set carried the load. The second set carried little to no pressure and acted as a safety lanyard in case the first rope slips or brakes. A high quality 5/16 rope will snug up tighter than 1/2 inch and is far less likely to slip. Guide the intestines out of the way with your knuckles this method will open them like a zipper and more importantly it'll keep the poop off the bacon.

Happiness comes from a large stack of meat ( you betcha). Here's a ham, 2 sides of bacon, and the fat back (or back fat which ever your prefer). We have a book called Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game that is written by a DR of Veterinary Medicine, John Mettler. It's a good reference for all you weekend warriors and backyard butchers like ourselves and has some great recipes as well.

Pork chop!!! ( the other white meat) although it kinda pink isn't it.

Oh yes, lovely bacon. Here I am slapping on a mixture of salt, brown sugar, and maple syrup. This is our first time making bacon, we'll let your know how it comes out. It needs to set for 7 days in fridge with this solution and then a few hours of smoking to be complete. As of now we have no brilliant plan for the smoking but, necessity is the mother of invention.

Some fine fat indeed the kidneys are encased in this pure snow white fat which is the consistency of Crisco.



Ok, back to me. It was nice to have Maine Man do a post, don't you think? Since he does not regularly follow my blog (he says he lives it) I told him about the responses I received on to post or not to post the pictures and he said "they are not gory pictures and it is for educational purposes." I hate to admit but he is RIGHT. Hope I do not have to say those words again anytime soon. ;)

Back to the fat. Some of was packaged up and put into the freezer for future soap making. I plan to combine it with cow fat. I previously read over at Throwback at Trapper Creek

this method is the way to go because if you used only pig lard it would be to soft or exclusively cow to hard. I look forward to making this recipe!

Some of the lard will be made into salt pork for my dad. The lard in the above kettle can be used like you would use Crisco. I cut it up into chunks, placed it in my cast iron kettle with approx 3/4 cup of water and cooked it in the oven for 2 hours at 225 degrees. I used a strainer and a piece of cheesecloth to strain it when it was done and below is the end result. The water was drained after it hardened. It is said to be healthier than the traditional fats we buy at the grocery store. I found this post this morning but I cannot find the site I used as a reference that night. :(
Meat total: 38lbs bacon

10lbs sausage

36lbs boneless chops & roasts

14lbs ground pork

gave away a front shoulder (approx 15 lbs of pork)

= 113 lbs of meat

Gratitude

I tossed and turned throughout the night knowing that at 5 am Maine Man would awaken and prepare to take the life of one of the pigs. A few minutes ago at 6 am I laid in bed wide awake as I heard the fatal shot. My heart started to beat faster and a few tears came down my face. I am saddened that the pig has lost it's life in order to sustain ours. I also have an extreme sense of guilt knowing that MM is out there doing this dreaded deed by himself. Would I have felt that way had a went to the market to buy some pork chops? No way, and chances are our farm raised pig had a much better life. Sometimes people ask, "how do you do it?" Well, even though I am not the trigger man, it is not easy. I am thankful that we have MM who is able to do the task and is skilled at butchering .

On a lighter note we will be getting a greenhouse. It is the one in the previous post second picture down. It is 92' long. It will extend our growing season on both sides, provide a good place to start seedlings, and a great hen house in the winter. Off to wake the children for school.

Good day all!

It's a piggy tail!

Heee, Heee..... that was fun! I need to do that again sometime.

To answer the question about weight watchers. It is not the pre-packaged items, I think that is Nutra-system or Jenny Craig. I could and would not do this because I am slowly trying to get away from the world of processed foods. WW basically counts calories but they convert them to points. For example I can eat 23 points a day and I have thirty something extra points a week. I can use them daily or for a splurge. Last week I saved them for chicken pad Thai and a blueberry dish I made and didn't use all my extras up. This week I will splurge by eating our McCain sausage (that stuff is lots of points!) and I'll bake something sweet. WW is sensible eating. Vegetables are basically no points, fruits are low points, lean meats, healthy snacking, high fiber. I really do not feel neglected. I can even eat Leah's homemade egg bread that she has been obsessively cooking lately. One slice is 2 points. I learned quickly after the first day when I only had 4 points left for dinner to be smart about my points during the day so come supper I do not feel limited. We like to sit down and have a big meal together at night.
Throughout the day I log what I eat along with my activity, water consumption, etc.
By eating healthier I have learned to savor the flavor of the vegetables without being smothered in ranch dressing or butter. Enough about WW, it has not what I planned to ramble about tonight.

We set up a little baking cabinet for Leah this weekend. It is all stocked up with flour, sugar, salt, her little recipe basket and a few utensils. She was delighted by this.

No more posts until the weekend. MM and I are going to a local agricultural show tomorrow and then I am working for the rest of the week. In the morning I plan to attend a session about local co-ops and/or cheese making. We went last year and this is how we got involved in putting our lot into farm land for tax and preservation purposes. It cut our taxes in half and we set aside enough land for the kids to build on if they stick around.