24

Twenty-four chickens were spared from the chopping block when we processed stewing hens last weekend. I chose them based on the size and deep red color of their combs; hens that have stopped laying (forever) have shrunken and ashen combs.

Some of these are molting which negatively affects their egg production, but we are still getting a few eggs each day.

They should start improving after being in the lighted barn (the winter coop) for a few weeks, and again after their plumage comes back in.

Besides providing eggs for our family this winter, they are the "seniors" who will teach the new laying hens how to go back in to the summer coop at night next year.

Weekend Cook: Simply Steaks

I seared these 2-inch beef steaks direct on the charcoal grill for ten minutes a side, then removed them to a cookie sheet, covered them in foil, and put them in a 350f oven for 20 minutes to finish cooking. The plan was to use the gas grill for the baking step, but it was too cold for the propane to work, and the fire kept huffing out on me.

For the first time, I had steaks at "rare", "medium-rare", "medium-well", and "well-done". This was due to variances in heat intensity on the grill during the sear.

Farmer's Market #24: Dewey Day

It was 49f. There are no eggs for sale, which means...

stewing hens will be available next week (which is now, this week).

Getting your face on a U.S. postage stamp wasn't enough of a tribute, so today was John Dewey Day, celebrating the Burlington-born philosopher by...

dressing up in weird paper masks and circling the drained-for-the-season City Hall Park fountain to sing. However, the 150th anniversary of his birth was not until the following Tuesday, so I'm guessing all the celebrants had full-time employment and couldn't get out of work on the actual day.

If he knows who John Dewey was, I'll eat that hat!

Lots of doggies sniffing around today.



But this one had the coolest sweater! Two more markets to go before regrouping and preparing for our winter delivery schedule.

Turkey Update: an apple a day

Every year, our turkeys eat drops and culls from a local orchard.

I have no idea what variety these are, but they all look great to me.

In exchange for the fruit, the owner receives an apple-fed holiday bird.

Everybody's happy, including the turkeys.


At the center of the photo, you can see the apples on the ground that they are trampling over in their excitement to get closer to me.

Life on the farm 10/20/09: We're dying out here

(Three thousand pounds of milk wait to become three hundred pounds of cheese)

It’s financially grim here on the farm. Really, really grim. Still no MILC (Milk Income Loss Contract) check for us, and Vermont farmers are being paid the same for milk that we were twenty years ago. For longer than we can afford to sustain. Again. And someone somewhere should be duly embarrassed about that.

The dairy industry is starting to collapse; if we can’t afford to pay our bills, our support system and vendors go out of business, too.

The way I see it, no panels, boards, investigations, legislation, loans or stimulus payments are going to be significant enough to recover what we’ve lost or to put it right.

Talking gets us nowhere; it does little but assuage those who feel their voices are not being heard, but here I am, doing it again.

Maybe it’s time to get over ourselves and stop being so Vermontery – you know, all laid-back and polite? When your family business is hundreds of thousands in the hole through no fault of your own, at what point do you have nothing left to lose, and maybe something to gain – at least, it might make you feel a little better - by being a bit naughty?

It’s rough to be in agriculture, even overseas. In France, farmers are dumping milk at tourist destinations and slowing traffic with tractors; they are burning bales on the Champs-Elysees; all to protest the low prices being paid for milk and corn, and the government’s inability or unwillingness to do anything about it quickly.

Oh, those crazy Frenchies! They do know how to do a protest up right. Forget about dumping milk in a field, or carrying a placard, it’s mischief in front of a bunch of foreigners and horn-honking commuters that gets a rise out of the powers that be.

That seems radical to us. But how else are Vermont farmers to get our point across, when the majority can’t see or hear us as we part from our livelihoods.

Will it go as far as willful disruptions, seeking national attention, and making a freaking nuisance of ourselves in front of the cash-carrying vacationers in order to embarrass the state into doing something?

You’ve heard me talk too much about protecting the cow-centric tourism industry and open land for hunting, and the “homeland security” of having a widely disbursed food system, but what about the health concerns emerging over the long-term effects of eating too much processed, chemically altered “food products”?

Here’s a thought gleaned from AllergyUK.org. In the United Kingdom, food allergies have seen a tenfold increase in the last 25 years, which Allergy U.K. estimates affects forty-five percent of the population. The theory is that all the unnatural processed foods people have consumed over their lifetimes are creating hypersensitive immune systems so that they become intolerant of foods like nuts, wheat, corn, or milk. Diets high in processed food ultimately result in obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other ailments. *

There might be more at stake in the value of preserving a local food system (and farms) than we think. Put down that Red Bull and have a glass of milk, for heaven’s sake! We’re dying out here.

*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6336493/Food-intolerance-could-afflict-half-of-UK.html

Turkey stock, gravy starter

(Smoked turkey leg from a previous cook, peppers, leek tops, tomatoes)

I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving already, preparing the stock that will be made into gravy.

I'll strain and freeze this, then add a neck after the turkeys are processed to give it even more flavor.

Monday Menu: Veal Meatball Stroganoff

Steamed vegetables and savory, tender veal meatballs.

One pound of ground veal, an egg, 2 TB breadcrumbs, 5 ounces of grated hard cheese (Tomme Collins); one medium onion, grated; 3 large cloves of garlic, grated; 1/2 bag of spinach, blanched and chopped.

Mix together, fry up a test piece and adjust for salt. Let set in the refrigerator for an hour.

This made 17 just-larger-than-golfball-sized meatballs. I place them in a lightly oiled skillet and put them in a preheated 400f oven for 18 minutes.

They are not fully cooked through, the point of baking was to get them to hold their shape. I removed them from the pan.

A bunch of spring onions and a 4-ounce package of shitaake mushrooms are sliced and sauteed. To that, a cup of mushroom stock is added to deglaze the pan. The stock is reduced by about half in ten minutes.

Eight ounces of sour cream are added, along with the meatballs.

They simmer together for 10 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.

This plate is meant for Dan, that's real grilled bread from Panadero Bakery, not the faux bread that I can eat. I also steamed the remaining spinach in the bag (from Arethusa Collective) and some yellow beans (from Half Pint Farm) as accompaniments.