Life on the farm 11/02/09: Last Market of 2009

(Arethusa Collective sets up in 25-mile-an-hour winds)

After three inclement Saturdays in a row, I was ready for the farmer’s market season to be over. Most customers thought it had ended weeks ago, after the sun started refusing to appear during the day.

Once the anticipation over the next fruit or veggie to come into season has waned, and it’s no longer temperate enough to relax and eat lunch on a blanket in the park - it pretty much sucks to be vending in the cold for six hours straight. Thank you, October 2009.

In spite of that, we had a bit of luck because on the last market day it was warm and the drenching rain held off until market hours ended. But the wind!

We had to stake down our ground cover during set-up so it wouldn’t blow away in the 25-mile- an-hour wind (and even stronger gusts). We bungeed our tent to a tree and put the sides down; even so, I was barely able to get a tablecloth anchored down.

My husband Dan attached a windbreak to the food-vendor’s tent on our left to help keep their propane stove from going out. I was worried that our clipboards and flyers would become airborne, and packed them securely away.

The final market day fell on Halloween.

(Flapper Girl and Military Man face off in a leaf-throwing battle)

It’s a colossal costume party in the city, all day long.

Half the fun was trying to guess who the revelers were supposed to be, but the biggest surprise was how many Pugs and Papillons also came in costume. Who wouldn’t crack a smile at a doggy bumblebee, red lobster, or Krypto The Superdog sniffing at the communal pee-tree?

We decorated our booth with masks, witchy accessories, and had a basket of candy bar minis to hand out. My favorite visitors were the ones who couldn’t quite reach the tabletop, especially a Cowardly Lion...

...and a fluffy white Abominable Snowman - you know, the character from “Rudolph”, with the blue hands?

Napkins and paper plates from food vendors’ stands took flight and tote lids tumbled across the green; signs blew down, and an un-anchored canopy rose six feet off the ground and headed to Church Street.

(Our specials sign swung dangerously during tear-down, when the tempest resumed)

At least there were no serious injuries or property damage. It’s days like these that are the reason for the mandatory liability insurance that all vendors have to carry.

The sun shone brightly, and the wind died down for an hour or so.

(Danielle from Arethusa gets a costume adjustment)

More interesting people ventured out.

Then it started all over, again.

In the past ten years we’ve ended the market season in rain, snow, and hail, but never in gale. The tent just about tore itself down.

(Cadets? Or awesome costumes?)

On our way out of town we saw someone on the street dressed as a Hasidic Jew. I was reminded that our friend Lieutenant Morrison of the Burlington Police Department was at our booth in uniform, and had been asked if her “costume” was authentic.

Best not to similarly embarrass ourselves by giving a hearty thumbs up to the serious-looking guy wearing ringlets, just in case.

Monday Menu: St. Louis Ribs and Sweet Delicatas

Pork ribs and squash cooked the slow way on the Big Green Egg smoker, but this recipe will work in an ordinary oven just as well.

I used my own rub of smokey paprika, turbinado sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder; the slab rested for an hour while the smoker came up to a stable temperature at 250f.

I put two whole Delicata squash on with the ribs. They cooked together for 3 hours.

At the three hour mark, the squash are done.

The ribs were coated in 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce thinned with 1/4 cup of beer, and sealed in a foil pouch for two hours at 250f.

After 5 hours total in the smoker, the meat is falling off the bones.


I deplore mixing sweet and savory as a rule, so the squash alongside white rice just didn't work for me. Maybe I should have dropped a big ol' pat of butter on it like Dan did.

Chicken Kitten Update

The Chicken Kitten has finally decided to stay in the barn and parlor area. As you can see, she has put on some size and has her winter coat.

"Veal Meatballs" recipe

Another recipe from the farm printed in the Green Mountain section of the Burlington Free Press.

Weekend Cook: T-bone (and salmon)

A surf and turf done inside the house instead of outside on the grill, due to the darkness of the late hour. Those are beets from Arethusa Collective, our own beef, a salmon fillet from the Hannaford (trying to slide in a healthy fish whenever I can), and sticky sushi rice. Of course for the fish to be truly healthy for you, I think you are supposed to eat it instead of beef, not alongside it.

I don't like to make steak indoors because of the grease spitting all over...

and because I can't get the dark color I want on the meat. I seared it on both sides (8-10 minutes each), then put the pan in a 300f oven for 20 minutes. I also put two center cut salmon filets in to bake.

My plate: the salmon was coated in Tasty Licks Salmon, a lemon-pepper rub. Very good, but I didn't find out until the following morning that it contained "modified food starch" which could have cause the slight digestive upset I experienced. I should know better by now not to use anything without proper labeling - the rub was a free sample that came with an order from the company.

Both the salmon and beef were done at the same time.

This was Dan's plate: rare meat as usual, and he agreed that the salmon was a real winner. I will certainly put more Montreal Seasoning on the steak next time.

Happy Halloween

This is as much decorating as we will do for Halloween, however, it's spooky on the farm all the time. Check out the semi-feral barncats:

There's a made-for-the-Sci-Fi Channel movie in there, somewhere.

And down at the local Quickie-Mart I saw:

Trick or Treaters singing Halloween "carols" at the gun shop across the road, but it wasn't all just for fun - they were performing for donations from local businesses to support Camp Ta-Kum-Ta

Here they are at the Quickie-Mart singing the theme to "The Addams Family" Love that Wolf-man!

And this little guy had a Charlie Brown moment with an eye-hole wardrobe malfunction. Happy Halloween!

Farmers' Market #25: Next to Last

It's the rainy day set-up again - one small table with no room for sampling out cheese. It was so windy we had to put a back panel on our booth, and loaned a panel to each booth on either side of our stand.

There were over thirty cyclists in the park, cheering - I never found out why. Was it a low-tech "Ride-in"?

It was very rainy and unpleasant.

That's a Canadian flag the person to the right is holding. The group is singing "Oh, Canada". No lie, I know "Oh, Canada" when I hear it. My best guess is that they are QuadFest latecomer hostel-stayers (note all their belongings in the bags). Visitors to our booth were asking "Who are those Frenchies?"

Another raincoat I wish came in the big girl sizes.

The Tamale Girl (Monica Mead) has left for New Zealand, Martha Enzler (The Tile-Lady) is gone, I think Panadero Bakery is for sale - and it looks like we will be absorbing the Farmhouse Artist's Market to give them more room and exposure next season. I can't believe I'm already thinking out how "Market 2010" will look.

One more market to go in 2009, snow or rain, we'll be there!

Cheesemaking: Curd sizes

(The whey drains from the vat)

I've seen cheesemakers create curds as small as 1/4-inch and as large as 3-inch. Curds are cut to allow whey to drain from cultured milk that has been "set" into a firm mass using rennet. Think "Jell-o".


We make one size of curds for all our cheeses, about one inch, but never square, and never perfect. Every step in cheesemaking affects how the end product will turn out. Once the whey is gone from the curds, what you are left with becomes cheese!

Wheatless: Betty's Yellow Cupcakes

Big hug for Betty!

These were easy to prepare, moist, light and spongy - a winner. Happy Birthday to me!

That's a double-threat of Nutella and Cabot brand whipped cream topping - it helped soothe the bitterness over the previous batch of cupcakes.

These were really, truly gluten free, not simply meeting the Federal Government's definition of gluten-free at 200 parts per million.

I can detect as little as 3 parts per million - and thanks to the frilly skirts of the government guidelines I often get "burned" by companies eager to exploit the term "gluten free", when they actually make people like me sick.

This is one company that truly cares about their customers.

Meatball Toasties

What to do with those leftover meatballs? I cut them into 3rds, placed them on the top of grilled bread (not gluten-free, only Dan can eat these) and topped them with cheese. They went into a 400f oven for 15 - 18 minutes. Very fragrant and garlicky!

Monday Menu: Veal Meatballs with Red Sauce

Mmmm. Meatballs and fettucini.

(Tomme Collins cheese, eggs, and veal are from our farm. The cipollini onions are from Half Pint Farm. The garlic is from Arethusa Collective. Sunflower oil is from Rainville Farms, just down the road.)

The ingredients: one pound ground veal; 4 cloves garlic and two onions, grated; 5 ounces of Tomme Collins, grated; 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 2 TB gluten-free breadcrumbs; one egg; and 4 ounces of spinach...

(Arethusa Collective spinach)

washed, stemmed, blanched, drained, cooled, and...

chopped.
Mix all together and let rest in the refrigerator for one hour.

Form into golfball-sized meatballs (about 16-19), and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.

Bake at 375f for 18 minutes. They will not be fully cooked through.

Bring 2 or 3 cups of red sauce to the simmer in a pan, add meatballs and simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until they are cooked through.

There are 2 tricks to making tender (and dare I say "fluffy") meatballs. One is to perform a baking step - this sets the shape of the meatball. The second is to finish cooking in a sauce. Mmmmm.