The Food of a Younger Land by Mark Kurlansky

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

This book is about an I qoute ” A protrait of Amercican Food-before the national highway system, before chain restaurants and before frozen food, when the nations food was seasonal, regional and traditional from the lost WPA files”

This book is an amazing read, even if you are not as crazy about food and recipes as I am, if you have any interest in history of how peaple feed themselves when it was truly regional and seasonal, this book is choke full of amazing information.

The base of it is the WPA files, and this was called the Works Progress Administration or for short the WPA. It was charged with finding work for millions of unemployed Americans in the late 1930’s. It sought work in every imaginable field. For unemployed writers, it created the federal writers project, which was charged with concieving books, and assigning them to different writers, editors and publishing houses.

They came up with the idea of a book about the varied food and eating traditions throughtout America, an examination of what and how Americans ate. She wanted the book to cover local food disagreements on how to make this the “proper” way, to capture now nearly forgotten food traditions.. Kellock called the project America Eats.

The book itself is a collection of the turning ins of dozens of these hired writers from across the country, covering a vast area of local food knowledge and recipes from each of the different states and area’s.

This book gets a five stars and I would highly recommend it, but be aware that you will most likely finding yourself reading it again and again.. as there is so much information that I don’t believe it likely that anyone could grasp it all in the first or third sitting!

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August Lamb Challange Recipe -Apple Mint Shoulder Chops

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Most folks in the stores are used to seeing the little leg chops that are used for grilling etc, but when you buy a whole lamb, you are going to get a fair number of packages of Shoulder Chops as well, they are bigger, have a bit more bone to it, and can be a little tougher then the leg chops.

Anyone who has been following along this spring knows that I love my apple mint and that I grow a huge! amount of it, for fresh use, for making jelly with, for drying for winter use and in different recipes, here is another wonderful use for it.. Ideally this should be Apple Mint but if you don’t have it, any fresh mint will work in a pinch.

2 to 4 pds of Shoulder Chops, (I tend to go light on meat when it comes to lamb, as I find that a little goes a long way but if you want the typical portions N.A. like it eat, you will need to cook more of these then I would per person)

  • 1 cup of fresh apple mint leaves
  • 1 cup of boiling water
  • 1 pint of strong apple Juice or 1 can of apple juice concentrate, thawed out.
  • a heaping tablespoon of raw local honey.

combine your water and fresh leaves and let steep for 15 to 20 min, Drain out the mint leaves, combine the apple juice with the honey and stir together, pour this over your meat in a flat bowl that is then covered or in a plastic bag and allow to marinade in the fridge for at least 4 hours up to 24 hours.

Now you have a couple choices, put the chops and the juice into a crock pot on high for a hour and then low for another 3 or 4 hours till fall apart tender. Serve it over rice.

You can put it into a oven proof pan and bake it for about 30 to 40 min and serve it with sides of roasted veggies mix, (I recommend potato, turnip, onion and carrot)

You can put them on the grill and serve with baked potato and corn on the cob.. any way you want to try it, it will take a shoulder chop to a new heights in yum!

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The pay off to pasture improvement!

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

So when we bought our little farm, 3 acres had just been seeded the year before into hay for cows, it was cut and baled for three years, and then without extra’s being added it began a reduced amountĀ of reward and the ” local weeds and grass’s” were starting to get a foothold in the pastures themselves.

We tackled these issues in different ways, including but not limited to, hand cutting of things we didn’t want in the pastures, Frost seeding of the pastures in the spring with a tailor made sheep pasture seed mixture, using the sheep/goats to not just graze the feilds but also to keep them in certain area’s till it was taken right down in the fall, then seeding out again after light rakings done. We also added hand done applications of barn compost to improve the pastures, we have also used the pig to dig certain spots up and then level/rake off and reseed to pasture, we have run the chickens/ducks at certain points to apply their manure to area’s.. each year we do a few more little somethings..

And the pasture has area’s that still need a good amount of work done to them but this year we saw our best pay out yet in the lambs and in the crazy amount of milk being produced by my milkers.

The lambs having been raised by mom and having been grass finished, came in this year on average ten pds heavier then when we started with them.. that means that our pasture improvements showing in the amount of meat we are getting back, and lowering feed costs because I didn’t need to grain finish to get that extra weight, nor did I need extra time to do so.. That’s just moneyĀ  in the bank, or should that be meat in the freezer! Awesome..

Just as awesome is the improvement and increase in the amount of milk my girls are giving me, this year I got a 15% percent increase in my milk production, and I believe its directly related to the milking girls having their own improved pasture to graze on during the day, my milking girls do get milking rations, some bought, some homegrown as well as all the fresh pasture they can stuff in their faces..

I have pulled the sheep flockĀ out of one pasture and have it locked off and am letting it grow, as I want to use it as my “flushing” pasture in sept/oct for breeding season, that combined with what I have grown in the critter garden should ideally give me a nice strong crop of twins come spring!

So are you working on improving your pasture? What methods are you using? What is the postive results you have gotten, what are the negatives you have seen and how did you fix them? Do you flush your flock in the fall? and if so, what do you use to increase their calorie intake to do so?

This is a Homestead Barn Hop PostĀ  Want to read more about different homesteading thoughts and ideas, click on the above link and check out the many different homesteads linked there, its hosted by fourĀ lovely galsĀ each monday!

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August Lamb Challange Recipe-Apricot Stuffed Shoulder of Lamb

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Ah, the lamb shoulder, its a odd roast, it tastes fine but its not a very appealing cut to bring to the table as is, with bone in, you can use this cut for extra hamburger or minced meat and then use the bone for making broth with.. or you can try this lovely stuffed shoulderĀ that will be so nice to serve to family or company..

4 to 6 pd shoulder of lamb deboned. keep track of the weight, as it will effect the cooking time.

  • 1 cup of dried apricots
  • 2 cups of strong hot tea
  • 2 cups of bread crumbs (ideally heavy bread works great here, but my favorite is to use a oatmeal bread.)
  • handfull of fresh chopped parsley(or in my case, replace with either horseradish greens or stinging nettle greens)
  • Half a cup of chopped walnuts
  • 1 large egg
  • Zest of either lime or a lemon
  • 1 tsp of salt and pepper

Cut up your apircots into small pieces and then soak in the hot tea for half an hour, Drain them, but keep back the tea for later use. Mix the softened fruit with all the rest of the ingredents, add just enough of the tea until damp but not soggy, Spread out your meat on a sheet of clean baking paper or a very clean tea towel, spread your dressing over the meat and then roll it back up, and tie the meat with cotton cord, secure the ends with either steel or wooden picks.

Into the oven at 350 for about 30 min covered, then cook uncovered for another 20 min per pds of the roast, if the meat starts to dry on the top blast with the leftover tea.. Allow to rest at least five min, remove the picks from the end and allow to cool a just a bit more till you can take off the string and cut the meat into slices for serving.. if you cut this before its had time to rest, it will fall apart a bit.Ā Ā  While tweeked a bit the recipe was started out by R Kennedy

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August Lamb Challange Recipe- BBQ Lamb Rib

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Sometimes you just want to put something on and then forget about it while it does its own thing.. well slow roasted dippy messy, not alot of meat on them ribs fit the bill.

  • 3 to 4 pds worth of Lamb Riblits-take out the night before and allowed to thaw in the fridge
  • 3 Tbsp of oil or so to brown the ribs in, a frying pan on med heat.

Then move ribs and all drippings from the frying pan to the roaster or to a crock pot.

At that time, you can add

  • 1 clove of garlic-minced
  • 1/2 cup of vinager (any kind will work but apple or white wine are very nice)
  • 1 cup of tomato paste
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 tbsp of worcesterhire sauce
  • 1/4 cup of brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 small onion minced
  • half a tsp of salt/pepper

Put all the rest back into your frying pan and simmer for 15 min then pour over the ribs and bake in the over at 350 for about 2 hours or into a crock pot on low for four to six hours till the meat is falling off the bone.

A thank you out to Will for letting me know that for whatever reason the first posting didn’t work properly, thankfully I had a draft version still saved so didn’t have to write it out again.. very sorry folks that it came out the first time incomplete.

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Healing foods for your lungs..

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

This reaction, then infection that has hit me is centered on my throat and lungs, which means that it is very important to eat to provide your body what it needs to give a helping hand..

So all orange colored fruit and veggies are on the menu, carrots, sweet potato, canteloupe, aprocots

Food with lots of water content in them is good, melons are high on that list, honeydew, Watermelon, and again Canteloupe, cooling foods are better at this point then hot at the moment, the idea of hot soup ah, but icy cold watermelon, may not taste like it should be went right down..

Strangely Banana’s are on the list of do not eat if you lungs are giving you issues, as is yeast based breads, better to go to Baking Powder bisquits or flapjacks or soda crackers etc.

Keeping everything as clean as possable is important, which means cleaning out the air cleaners and having a fan on to help move the air around, using natural oils to help open up airways, sitting over hot bowls of water with mint tea bags in it, cool cloths wipe downs and hot cloth compress’s in plastic with the heating mat on top all help in their own ways.

While no one can pound out my back in the same way as my momma, dear hubby is getting good at it, and when you have coughed till you throw up and then can’t get your air back, being able to focus on the hand that rubs up and down in the dark of 3 am means alot.

Funny for the day,

Me, Can you make me a cup of herb tea?

DH, Were is the Herb Tea?

Me, Its in the tea cupboard!

DH,Ā  Bang, crash, clank, I can’t find it?

Me, What do you mean, anyone will do?! (mutter, Mutter, just want a cup of tea..whimper)

DH, Well I can’t find it, pick something else?

Me, stumble into kitchen, wave at the whole pile of herbal tea in cupboard..Ā  say, see right there..

DH, Glares at cupboard and snarls, as lifting a tin.. Where does it say, HERBAL tea..

Me -Finally clueing in.. sigh.. All tea that is not made from tea leaves is Herbal tea!

DH, Oh, well why didn’t you say so.. want mint?

Me, I’m going back to bed!

怀

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August Lamb Challange Recipe-Lamb Loaf Recipe

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

On of the things you would get with your whole lamb would be ground lamb, this is a sweeter meat to me that beef, and has a good deal less fat in it, when cooking it as a crumble, you often need to add a little bit of oil to it, but when making it into meatballs, or fake cubes or meatloaf, it means that you get a nice tight loaf that does not typically fall apart as much as other meats can.

This loaf is good hot but even better cold, do try it with homemade hot mustard on rye bread with a good amount of fresh greens..Ā  Recipe by Kathryn MacDonald from Harrowsmith, I sometimes change up the spices, or sometimes I add garlic to the recipe by one clove, or I have even been known to replace the tomato/bacon with a spicy BBQ sauce out of my homemade supply.

  • 1 pd of Ground lamb
  • 1 small onion-diced
  • 1 tomato diced -or one large tomato crushed from canned
  • 2 slices of bacon-browned and diced
  • 1/2 cup of oatmeal
  • 1/4 of a green pepper diced
  • Spices*, pinch of Celery Seed, Cloves, savory, Cinnamon, Pepper and salt
  • combine all the ingredients, mix it well and bake at 350 for 45 to one hour.

* a Pinch of spice typically means that amount able to be picked up between your index finger and your thumb or about 1/8th of a tsp or so.

 

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Lamb Liver Pate Recipe

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I have intended to start the month of recipes out with a wonderful dish of stuff heart but it will have to wait till tomorrow, as today we are making Lamb Liver Pate.

  • 1 pds of fresh lamb liver
  • half a large onion diced
  • One large portabella mushroom or four regular button mushrooms, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves -Peeled and Diced
  • 2 slices of thick cut smoked bacon (homemade in my case)
  • Bacon Lard/olive oil
  • Crown Royal Whiskey
  • Herbs-including salt, pepper, dried red pepper, basil

Do up your liver and onions, mushrooms, garlic, and bacon with a bit of bacon lard in a steel or cast iron frying pan, cook the onions and garlic till soft but not browned, then add the rest and cook till liver is cooked though but still soft and moist. Put into your blender, deglaze your pan with a good splash of your Crown Royal, and pour that into your blender, turn on low and if to thick, drizzle in just a touch of your best olive oil, can be blender till course, fine or almost mouse like. Take out and put into a low long dish so that it will cool off evenly and cover or it will form a skin.

Can be served anyway you like to serve pate, I personally love it on rye toast

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Being Sick…Lesson’s learned

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Just another day on the farm
  1. Ask for help
  2. Go to bed
  3. Let go of how things should be done and just let your mate do them
  4. Try and keep your sense of humor, getting cranky does no one any good!
  5. Some food will taste good and others bad, but remember to say thankful for any food sent your way that you didn’t have to make
  6. If something hits so hard and fast as to knock you down and out.. as much as herbs and food and rest are wonderful, know when to get thy on antibodics!
  7. Drink lots of water
  8. Watch your fever.. and yes it will always be worse at night then in the day… why is that!
  9. Even if you love normally making everything by hand, or doing it the “old fashioned way” I have decided that having tissue when sick is a must, I know, I know, I like my hankies but I don’t like using ones that are dripping slimy wet, so either a) alot more hankies needed or box’s of tissue for sick purposes only.
  10. Homemade herb candy are wonderful
  11. Homemade herb drinks are awesome
  12. Local raw Honey and lemon are my friend!
  13. Summer heat when sick makes you feel like nature has a perverse sense of humor.
  14. The garden does not stop producing just because you don’t feel well
  15. When you feel like you could fall over, Don’t can! Don’t ask your man to can on top of doing all regular chores, just have the products put in the fridge and thank god, that you have extra fridges to do so!
  16. Always have extra bread in the freezer, just in case..
  17. Whatever you loved as a child, will still be what you want when truly sick(even if its not good for you), I want campbell’s cream of mushroom with salt topped crackers..hmmm
  18. When dizzy, going up and down stairs is a issue, ask for help, falling is not a good idea
  19. Call your momma and a few select friends, they will make you feel better just by caring and giving advice on how to get better, it does not matter if you knew it, what matters is that they care enough to share it with you.
  20. Say thank-you to those who are helping you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Keeping food cool using water..

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well, this was a interesting test, my grandparents used to sink a waterproof container in the big horse trough to help keep thingsĀ like milk and butter cold in the heat summer. Most folks if they had access would use a cold house with a spring in it, and would put the jars or buckets etc into the spring house. Others yet would use a combo of a well or a root cellar to help keep things cool, and of course in a number of places, they would in fact cut and haul ice that was stored for summer cooling.

Well, I don’t have a spring, or dug into the side of a hill root cellar, I do have a well and cystern that I could try and see how they would work in pinch but wanted to start with something that more folks have, I started with a 55 gallon water drum as this is the typical size you will for a rain barrel in most folks yards.

Now I found it alot! harder to sink the plastic bucket then I felt it should have been, even with a few heavy rocks in it to be “food” and the temp gage in plastic to read when it came up, I finally had to sink it from both inside and outside, I tied a string to it so I had something to help pull on because suddenly that barrel was deep to get to the bottom off.

I didn’t think to take a photo of the outside temp (don’t know why but please trust me it was 31CĀ at the time outside)

Not bad, close to ten degree’s cooler then the outside air but not better then my cellar in the house itself, which typically runs 15 to 18 degree’s cooler then outside.. Will try this again in the cystern as it goes even deeper into the ground then the cellar does and see what its reading will be.. Its cooler then outside but not good enough by any means.

Now if my back drilled well was pumped into a single trough, it would make a huge difference to the overall temp, I think because the water that comes up twice day is ice cold, raither then the barrel which just sits in the shade.

If you were without power(in all ways) what are you planning on doing to keep your food on short term base in the heat of summer, I figure you either cool it, or simmer it..cool it takes alot less effort if you can figure out how to make it happen in your neck of the woods, this would be one of those times that living very close by a lake or creek would be a great asset indeed.

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