Special delivery

This morning we got a call from the Highgate Post Office.  Our chicks had arrived from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  

I should have put this on video so you could hear the peeping, but since we live less than 3 miles from the post office there really wasn't much time to prepare. I was expecting them later on in the week.

There are 75 chicks in the box, and all were live on arrival - which is always a remarkable feat and a testament to how well the postal service treats live animals.  If they get cold at all there will be dead chicks in the box.

Dan removes them from the cardboard "pens" and dips their beaks into the water dish at the left so that they will remember where the water is at.

It's a peep convention!  They run everywhere, even away from the warmth of the heat lamps to peck, scratch, and pull at whatever bits of string or natural daylight they see.

Our chicks were indeed handled with care - thank you Posties!

Weekend cook: Turkey breast

It's a perfect day for a barbecue! The porch was covered in slush Sunday morning.

I put a 16-pound turkey breast on the Big Green Egg smoker for four hours at 275-300f, until the thermometer registered 161f. Then, I covered it in foil and several very heavy towels and let it rest for two hours on the countertop in the kitchen. The foil package contains carrots being steamed - they were put on during the last hour to cook. By the time lunch came around, the snow had nearly all melted away.

Wheatless: Nearly there GF pizza

Mamma Stefano's makes nearly perfect gluten-free pizza.  Each package makes one 14-inch round crust.

Following the instructions, I added an egg and water to make a very slack dough. 

Smoothed out to the edges of an EVOO coated pizza pan.

I pre-baked it for 10-12 minutes at 300f, and it puffed profusely. (The directions said 500f, but the last time I did that, I smoked up the house - so I baked it at a lower temperature).

In the meantime, I sauteed mushrooms, onions and diced peppers.

And cut up the other ingredients.

Topped with pepperoni, leftover shredded beef, red sauce, sauteed veggies, mozzarella, and baked again until the toppings were browned, about 14 more minutes.

The crust texture is a bit grainy from the rice flour, but not offensively so - it reminded me of a cornmeal dusted wheat crust. Very yummy. I might even serve this to a guest.

The hot box

After cheesemaking I went to take a photo of the newborn baby calves - one is sleeping in the area with bad lighting on the left, I don't have enough flash power for early morning - the other is in the glowing "hot box" where calves can be warm and dry.

Cheesemaking: Curds 'n whey

Another day, another blue cheese to make.  Today it was a 300 pound batch of Boucher Blue, the largest we have ever made.

That translates as 2900 lbs. of raw milk, about 365 gallons. As you can see, there is a bit of room left in the tank for more, but not a lot.  In this photo, the set curd is being cut into smaller squares.  I know it doesn't look like much is going on, but cheesemaking on our scale is largely about completing a step and then waiting around.

The smaller curds shrink and sink below the whey, and then the whey is drained off - as in the photo at the top.  In another hour, the curds will be in moulds; in 24 hours they will be seventy cheeses ready for 60-days of aging.

Piggety Scarcity

We're on the road again, this time to pick up six piglets for two of our farmer friends who (like us) had trouble finding piggies this spring.  We dropped off two at Lakesend Cheese in Alburg, and I took some photos of the critters they have there.

Giant spotted pig (she's asleep).

Dairy kids.

Yes, that's a peacock!  It was hatched at the farm in the nest of a broody chicken.

The remainder of the piglets are now in the barn with our own, waiting for a ride to their new home.

They are the same size as our own wee piggies, the only difference being that they are a little dirty - that's one of them behind the glowing piglet, and another in the background (note the black 'stockings').

Wheatless: Kinnikinnick makes pancakes for real

Kinnikinnick: the name I can't spell, even with a checker.

There are no "ifs", "ands" or "buts" about it: these are wonderfully fluffy, syrup absorbent, the right color, and the correct taste. If you have these on your plate you can stop questing for another brand and be deliriously happy for many gluten-free breakfasts to come.

These are exactly like pancakes made with wheat flour - they made me think I'd made some horrible mistake and bought the wrong pancake mix. That's not totally out of the realm of possibility; our local Hannaford puts "organic" and "whole wheat" products right next to the "gluten-free" items without a clear delineation.