Mahboubeh, Persian Tulips, and Lamb and Rhubarb Stew

I am re-posting this story here today. It was originally published on May 14, 2011. It is rhubarb season here at the farm and at this time of year, I try to make this recipe for Persian Lamb and Rhubarb Stew. The recipe comes with a pre-amble which it seems I used to have more time to do. 

The rhubarb in my garden is at its peak right now and I am going to make this for dinner this weekend. 

Originally published May 14, 2011

When I was in high school, my family hosted an exchange student for a year from Iran named Mahboubeh M-M. It was 1976 when Iran still was ruled by The Shah and before the Iranian Revolution and Hostage Crisis and the start of ABC's Nightline. It was one of those life-changing experiences for both Mahboubeh and my entire family. She couldn't speak a word of English, was a practicing Muslim, and she had never looked a man in the eyes. I can only imagine how scary it was for her to arrive in the U.S. We shared a room where she immediately figured out which wall was the East side of the room. She put on her hijab, lay down on her prayer mat and prayed what my 17 year old brain thought was all day long. The year with Mahboubeh was an awakening for me. Although I can easily admit that I wasn't always happy with my "new sister" reigning in on my senior year in high school, I now look back on it as to the year my life began to grow past my small town upbringing. The world is a large place full of different religions, morals, foods, and cultures and although we don't always get along with everyone, it is vital to remember that people all over the world are basically the same. They love their families and friends, are proud and fierce over the safety, health and love of their children, and have hometown pride.

The year with Mahboubeh awakened my family to Persian food. I grew up eating pretty bland typical 1970's fare. Food was always important to us even if it wasn't "gourmet." One of us was always baking some kind of sweet thing. German food was about as exotic as we got due to my German Grandmother Frieda's influence. Food was the way Mahboubeh was able to bond with us and become part of the family. She had never cooked before but had obviously watched her mom. She missed the spices and meals she had always eaten and my mom gave her the opportunity to learn to cook and share her country's food with our family. In town there was a Doctor Minoui who was Iranian. His wife took Mahboubeh under her wing, sharing Persian recipes. Soon Mahboubeh was cooking stews, sweets and our very favorite Persian dish - a potato-crusted rice called Tadik. Mom began buying saffron and the exotic spices wafted through our house every weekend. Mahboubeh's cooking adventures were the secret to her learning English and becoming part of our family. By Christmas, she could speak English quite well and we all settled into a typical family routine. Dad was in love with her cooking but I don't think she was ever brave enough to look him in the eye.

Mahboubeh returned to Iran after her year in Dover but not for long. She returned to the States, went to university in Houston, married a fellow Iranian, and had three children. She is a pharmacist and still comes to visit us for family rites of passage. Her daughter Shandiz has come to New England for extended vacations and is great friends with my older nieces and nephews. 

1976, The Year of the Mahboubeh, had an everlasting effect on all of us. It was the year I became more aware of foreign lands, foods and exotic motifs and textiles. My mom has passed on many of the gifts Mahboubeh's family sent to us including woolen shawls and metal serving trays. I treasure all of them and frequently use them as props in my photos.  

As I travel through my life, I frequently think back on that important year when my life opened up to all things Persian. In my gardening life, I discovered a love of tulips only to later find out that they grow as wildflowers in Iran. Although I can't grow them here at the farm like Jane can (the deer and sheep think they are lollipops), I do have a few little bulbs that somehow persevere every year despite complete neglect. They are called Flaming Parrot Tulips and this year I beat the critters, plucked them from the garden and have been enjoying them in a vase all week long. My kind of show - frilly, colorful, and over the top!

And now onto the recipe of the week. Always looking for interesting ways to cook lamb, I stumbled upon an odd recipe in a small paperback book called Persian Lamb and Rhubarb Stew. This week with the arrival of the yearly rhubarb harvest, I decided to give it a go. I ended up changing it up completely. With the help of my friend Kay, I turned it into the recipe below. Although it seems a mighty odd combination, upon googling "lamb rhubarb" you will find that it is a classic combination. 

My advice is to let the stew sit for a couple of days because it sure does improve with age. And make sure you use golden raisins - otherwise the stew will look like there are lamb pellets in it! (Most likely only a sheep farmer would think of this!) Enjoy!

Persian Lamb and Rhubarb Stew

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 to 2 pounds lamb shoulder – bone-in
    (lamb stew meat can be used although the bones will add more flavor)
1 Tbsp tomato paste or a small can (14 oz.) Italian tomatoes
1 pound rhubarb – cut into 1 inch pieces with stringy bits removed if the skins are very thick
1/2 cup raisins (preferably golden)
2 Tbsp sugar
¼ cup minced mint or parsley or a mix of the two – whatever is easier – for garnish

In a dutch oven, brown the onion and garlic until onions are translucent in 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add the coriander, cumin, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and cook until spices begin to smell lovely. If it begins to stick, add a little bit of water to create a bit of a sauce. Set aside onion mixture.

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to pan. Brown the lamb on all sides. Remove lamb from pan. Clean excess fat out of pan. Return the onions, spice mixture and lamb to the dutch oven. Add the tomato paste (or tomatoes), salt and pepper and add water (or lamb stock) to the pot so that it is half the way up the lamb shoulder.

Bring to a boil on top of stove. Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in a 250 degree oven and cook for 3 hours, turning the shoulder roast half way through. Alternately, cook in a slow cooker for 5 hours on low.

At the end of the three hours, remove the meat from the pot and pull the bones out of it. If the meat is not falling off the bones, return to the oven for another hour. (Save the bones for lamb stock. Store them in the freezer if you don’t have time to make the stock just yet.) With your hands, shred the meat which should be falling apart into chunks. Add the sliced rhubarb, the chunks of cooked meat, the golden raisins and the sugar back to the pot. Bring to a boil on the top of the stove and immediately return to the oven and cook another hour.

Remove from oven and taste for spices. Add more if you want a more intense flavor. If the flavor is too sour, add a touch more sugar. If the stew is too saucy, simmer with the lid off to reduce the stock. 

This stew really does improve if it sits in the fridge for a couple of days. Serve over basmati rice, couscous, or rice pilaf garnished with the parsley and mint. A green salad would be nice with it.

 

Farm To Table Meal in Conway

Last Friday evening, my family and I attended a lovely Farm To Table meal at a gorgeous farm at the end of a dirt road in Conway, Massachusetts. 

The meal was a fund raiser for CISA - the local non-profit encouraging support of local agriculture. 

I have read about these kinds of events and always wondered what it would be like to attend. When you live on a farmer's and author/artist's income, there really isn't anything in the budget for fancy fundraisers, much less nice dinners out. (Yes, I sometimes do miss the days of travel and nice dinners out on a company expense account - not often, but once in a while.) We were invited at a reduced cost because we grew the lamb for the meal. It is good politics to include some real farmers when you are trying to raise money from people who have the means to support such an organization. 

The event was thrown and organized by a young couple named Shawn and Grace and held at Grace's family's farm. They had invited Chris Fischer, a chef from Martha's Vineyard and author of the new cookbook The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook to cook the meal. Here and here are some articles about Chris. 

Here are some photos from the meal. Chris set up a "kitchen" in the field on some tables. 

He cooked over a wood fire on grates and in large woks. 

He used the entire animal.

Including the head.

There were lots of veggies - most of which were raised at the farm we ate at. 

When we got home and flipped through the new Saveur, there was an article on Chris Fischer, the chef who cooked our lamb. His Tomato Salad is featured on the cover of the most recent Saveur. 

It was a fun experience and maybe we will be lucky enough to supply another one of our Leyden Glen Farm lambs for a similar meal another time. Thanks so much for inviting Mark, Julia and me to the dinner Shawn and Grace. We will remember it for sure. Such a beautiful evening. 

Old Friends + An Old Recipe

This summer, I've had a chance to reconnect with some very old friends. I'm not much for keeping in touch. I never have been. The Farmer and I are always so busy keeping up with what we have going on and we never make the time. It's not one of my better traits but it is who I am. 

A couple weeks ago, Julia and I headed off to New Jersey for a family reunion of sorts. My sisters and I threw a party for our Mom who is having a big birthday soon. I had the chance to see so many friends from my childhood and it was quite fun to hear what everyone is up to and to see the parents of my childhood friends that are still in my Mom's fantastic circle of friendship and family. 

Life throws you many curveballs and life has not turned out the way my teenage friends and I ever thought it would. We all have our independent and family challenges and I think about them often as things happen in their lives (even if I never write, never call - ooohhh Kristin!). I think back to the innocent days of our teenage life and how we used to dream about everything that was before us. The beauty of youth - all the possibilities and none of the cares of adulthood - it is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I see my newly 16 year old Julia going through this now with everything possible. It is fun to watch her travel this journey, listen to her dreams, and wonder how it will all end up. 

When my sisters and my friends were growing up, we were in a 4-H Club called The Tasty Basters. Mom was the intrepid leader. So much of my teenage life revolved around making things for 4-H to enter in the County 4-H Fair and then later at the State level. All summer, I would sew, quilt, and embroider to get things ready for entry (I did not knit back then). Now when I think back on it, it was a lovely way to spend a summer. I used to set my sewing machine up outside and sew in the shade of the dogwood tree so that I wouldn't waste my time and be productive while still enjoying the outdoors. Sounds a bit nutty now for a teenager to be doing that but I still love to sit outside and stitch or knit. 

Food and baked goods always seemed to be part of our teenage good times equation. (We were the Tasty Basters - clever huh? - basting fabrics, basting threads, tasting everything.) I was talking with my friend Laura at the party and we were reminiscing about recipes we used to bake (there wasn't much cooking - it was mostly baking sweet treats). She said that most of the recipes her Mom and Grandmom used to cook and bake have disappeared sadly. 

Because food is such a legacy to family life (at least ours and possibly to yours), I came home and dug out my old handwritten recipe loose leaf book to see if I could find some of those old favorites and maybe recover some of Laura's family's lost recipes. 

This book has traveled with me through teen years, to college, and then to every home I have lived in. I look through it and see the phases of my life - places I have lived, people who I've met. It is a rather remarkable slice of my life. Thank goodness I still have it, even it is falling apart and has a burned cover.

Laura's Mom used to make Hermit Bars which were legendary. I can still remember the taste of these things - the softness of the bar with the spices and raisins and nuts adding to the baked goodness. The aroma when you walked into their home as a batch was coming out of the oven. This morning, I dug around and found a hand-written card with the recipe that Laura sent to me when I was living in Colorado going to grad school. It is the recipe which I am sharing here with you today. 

Mrs. T's Spicy Hermit Bars

2 cups raisins
1/2 cup butter (we used margarine in the old days)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cover raisins with water and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and let cool. 

Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Sift dry ingredients including spices together. Add to the creamed butter mixture. Add cooled raisins and chopped nuts. Fold in thoroughly. Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13" pan. 

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool in pan. Cut into squares. See how long they last. YUM.

Roads Leading Where?

Spring is really springing here at the farm. I have been taking a few photos to document the change in the colors on the road and posting them on Instagram. You can follow me on Instagram here. It really is amazing how fast the leaves pop out. Here is Day 1.

Here is Day 2.

Here is yesterday - Day 3. The leaves are still bright green - that amazing shade of youthful leaves. The greens at this time of year suggest such possibility. It is truly gorgeous and hopeful.

In February, we were contacted by a Richie Davis, a reporter for our local paper The Greenfield Recorder about doing a story about our farm. That's why I love our local paper - there is usually some kind of local agriculture feature - photo or article - at least once a week. The Farmer likes to stay under the radar and shuns any kind of publicity or attention drawn to him. I guess that is how we stay married - he is in the background and I'm out there. 

Richie proposed an article called Two Farms about our sheep farm and Mark's brother David's dairy farm - Sunbrite Farm. It sounded like an interesting concept for a local farming story - cow vs. sheep. I said yes before asking! The article took a long time for Richie to put together - he had to interview both families and then craft a story. Photos were taken of both farms and farmers. The result was a in-depth, 2 page article about the realities of farming in the year 2014 on land that has been in the Duprey family since the 1920's. 

You can read it via a PDF I put on our lamb website here.  The article has generated a lot of interest in both the farms. These two farmers - my husband Mark and my brother-in-law David work so hard with their animals and their land. They are the silent heroes of local agriculture, along with their sheep and cows.

A couple weeks ago, I got a call from TInky Weisblatt, the Food Writer for The Recorder and cookbook author. She had heard about my lamb recipes via Richie and wanted to feature them in the Wednesday food pages. Today, I have some recipes featured in the paper and a short interview about how I have learned to cook lamb too. The really fun thing for me is to see my photos featured in the local paper. Cool. Here is a live link to the article that you should be able to read. I don't think the photos are on-line though.

Busy here. All this spring stuff and trying to keep the energy up to keep creating. Hope you are having a good week.

Happy Easter to You

I hope everyone who is celebrating Easter is having a good day - enjoying a nice meal with family and friends and continuing with their family traditions. 

A blog I read - by the Food Writer Julia della Croce - featured a beautiful springtime illustration by the illustrator Winslow Pinney Pels. Check it out here. Julia writes for ZesterDaily and has some great recipes. I really enjoy how she links history with food in her articles both on her blog and on Zester.

Lambs are still being born - here is a sweet photo of some of the new ones born this week. 

Happy Spring everyone - it has finally arrived here at the farm. The daffodils are beginning to bloom. Hurrah!

This and That..... And 264!

I must apologize for not being able to devote many hours to this space lately. I've been incredibly busy with a whole bunch of great things that I'll share with you all soon. It's good to be busy but sometimes my head spins when I think of what needs to get done.

The lambs have been growing and growing and everyone is looking towards spring. The lamb count is 264 babies so far.

Some of the lambs have figured out how to escape the fencing and have begun grazing the brown leftover grass from last fall. I wish they wouldn't because the coyotes aren't far away. Worry, worry but not a lot I can do about the rambunctious babies.

Mud season has come and then gone away when the ground freezes up. It seems to be an every other day occurrence. There is a big storm coming on the east coast but it sounds like we will escape more snow. Fingers crossed. 

 

It is amazing to me to see that the grass is growing in other parts of the country and we are still under snow here. The deer are starting to come out of the woods in large numbers. Every evening, they pick at the ground in our sheep pastures. I have to take care when driving at dusk because there are so many deer herds crossing the roads. 

Today I finally got a chance to take some photos of the lambs to share here. Aren't they getting big? It is so cold (again) and the mud is frozen - thank goodness.

 We are almost at the end of the Winter Farmers Market Season (one Saturday market left) and then there is a couple weeks off before the two outdoor markets (Tuesday Northampton and Saturday Amherst) begin again. I'm pushing leg of lambs for Easter and Passover!

Here's what one of the hills looks like close to our farmhouse. Still a lot of snow depending on how the sun hits the fields.

 

I thought I would share some interesting things I have seen around the internet lately. Here you go.....
1. If you are looking to get rid of some of your stash, you may find this post over at Design Sponge inspirational. For me though they remind me too much of the weaving I did back in the early 80's. I guess the trend is back again. Everything circles around, doesn't it?
2. Look at how these beautiful Wool Felt Ball Rugs are made here. I saw one of these in a swanky design store last year and loved it. I guess you could make one yourself. Seems like a perfect rug for a mod house. I'd like to step on one in the morning when I climb out of bed.
3. Look at these pillows with a print of Knit Garter Stitch on them. More mod looking graphics. There are several styles and colors.
4. Susan B. Anderson has a great post up about spring including photos of her latest toy - a sweet little bunny pattern called Bunny Love. Check it out here.  
5. My food-writer friend Fran Brennan (who also happens to be a knitter) has just begun a great new website - Cookbooks365.com. Check it out and get a new recipe every day via the email feed. Fran and her partner in food Shelly Peppel used to write "Food News Journal" - it was a favorite food blog of mine. 

Have a great week everyone.

Crisp Season

  
Fall is my most favorite time of year and it feels like it is now here. It was in the mid-30's this morning and they are saying it may frost tonight. I have my fingers and toes crossed that it doesn't because I have planned the sunflower bloom for next week's photoshoot. I guess I will be out there with the sheets covering up everything this evening and hoping for the best. We cannot control Mother Nature. 

I love a good apple or "anything crisp" and I am continually trying new versions of a classic autumn treat to find the one I like best. They are such a non-fussy, quick to make treat - no rolling out dough, barely a dirty bowl..... my kind of baking. 

I was leery when I found a crisp topping on David Lebovitz's blog using polenta instead of traditional rolled oats. I gave it a go this weekend with the end of the local peaches and blueberries. Oh boy - it was divine. The topping was crispy and the peaches and blueberries were fab. I used slivered almonds and they turned all golden brown. The polenta added the perfect crunch which actually held up for 2 days. Give it a try. 

Blueberry/Peach Polenta/Almond Crisp

Fruit Layer
7 peaches, peeled and sliced
2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour

Crisp Topping
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup polenta - I used Bob's Red Mill
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
grating of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces) melted

Peel and slice peaches and place in casserole. I used a 10 x 7 inch casserole dish. Add blueberries. Sprinkle with sugar and flour and mix to distribute.

In a bowl, mix all topping ingredients. Pour over fruit topping spreading out evenly.

Bake at 400 for approximately 35 to 40 minutes or until fruit is bubbling and soft.

Recipes from the Knitting Retreat - Part One

Each Knitting Retreat I try to cook some new dishes for my students. And sometimes I rely on old favorites that I have made for years. For the past two years, I have made a  Butternut Squash, Apple and Curry Soup and it was a huge hit. It is really easy to make, freezes well, and says FALL FOOD right out loud. Since I promised the recipe to all my students last year (and never delivered) and now have promised the second batch of students this year, I'm coming clean on my promise and posting it here. 

The recipe comes from The Silver Palate Cookbook written over 25 years ago by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. Talk about a cookbook that changed the way America ate. I am actually on my second copy of TSPC (picking up the second one used at a yard sale) since my original copy's spine imploded and it was a massive, unmanageable pile of paper. 

I think this soup would be great for Thanksgiving. Or at a tail gate party in paper cups if you do that kind of thing - you can actually drink it because it is smooth. Julia loves it so that leads me to believe lots of kids will too (although you may want to cut down on the curry powder).

What are your favorite recipes from The Silver Palate Cookbook? Would love to hear your thoughts on it. My brother-in-law (a chef) can't stand TSPC. Personally, I love it but I do pick and choose from the recipes. What do you think? 

Here's a good interview with both of the authors. 

Butternut Squash, Apple and Curry Soup

4 Tablespoons butter

2 cups finely chopped onions (I use a food processor)

5 teaspoons curry powder (or more if you dare)

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1" chunks

2 large apples - peeled and cut into chunks

3 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)

salt and pepper

Melt the butter in the pan. Add onions and curry powder and cook until the onions are transluscent.

2. Peel squash with veggie peeler. Cut in half and remove the seeds. Cut into chunks about 1". 

3. When the onions are done, add the stock, squash, and apples. Cook until the squash and apples are tender and falling apart.

4. Puree using an immersion blender. If you don't own one, use a standard blender. **

5. Return to pot and add water, cider or apple juice if it is too thick. 

6. Serve warmed through. Freezes great. Makes a really nice quick lunch. Good with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt but totally not necessary.

**My sister Laurie gave me an immersion blender a few years and I thought I wouldn't use it. Boy, was I wrong. It is one of my favorite tools in my kitchen now. Thanks Laurie.

This and That

Things are busy here getting ready for my first "Getting Stitched on the Farm" retreat this weekend. The to-do list grows but it will not all get finished. Thanks everyone who signed up for the August 4th class. It is full now too! Yippee!

On Friday, Melanie Falick was here with a video crew from Open Road Media. They spent the day filming me and Melanie separately and together, talking about working on our book Knitting for Baby. 

It was fun if a wee bit grueling and not exactly the best timing considering my book deadline and upcoming retreats. Phoebe would not leave the set and we had to wake her up a few times when she started snoring and it started to be heard on the audio. My sweet Phoebe.

 

You can check out the other STC knitting books here on the Open Road Media site and see some short videos of other authors.

Julia with Delilah and Spike

We celebrated Julia's birthday with a big party on Saturday night. She is fourteen now! Sweet as ever but becoming more of a teenager. 

Still looking for a home for the two black kitties if anyone is interested. They are medium length hair and super sweet. We think one is a boy, one is a girl but it is hard to tell. Email me if you are interested.

Some good links for you all:

•I made this yellow squash and potato dish for the party and everyone loved it. 

•My friend Mary told me about her cousin's beautiful quilted lampshades.

•This is a great summer salad - one of my favorites in summer rotations - Italian Rice Salad from the Frog Commissary Cookbook.

Good week everyone!

Buff Eggs and Chicken Tales

Buff Orpington Hens scratching in the dirt

Are you new to keeping chickens? It seems like more and more households are catching hen fever. It's a fun farm-y type activity that can be done in many suburban neighborhoods. I've kept chickens since we bought our first house in Pepperell back in 1988. I remember the thrill of paging through the Murray-MacMurray catalog and choosing the different breeds and colors of birds I would keep. I was so excited when the post office called me very early one morning to tell me I should come and pick up the peeping box of chicks.

Every year since 1988, I have purchased new chicks to replace the layers that had gotten old and unproductive or who had been lost to predators. One year we had a very hungry possum who really did a number on my brood until the night we caught him and The Farmer whacked him on the head with a shovel. That was the end of him. We've lost chickens to hawks, raccoons, foxes, skunks, even our Border Collies. Life and death happen on a farm and I am used to it. I used to be squeamish about dead things. Now I just grab a pair of gloves, pick it up and find a place to bury it or move it to the woods for something else wild to eat.

Keeping chickens isn't hard at all. There are tons of good books out now that are available if you are interested. I try to keep it very simple. I start my chicks off in a cardboard box with some newspaper, shavings, water and chick starter and a clip light to keep them warm. When they start to fly, I move them to a taller wooden box and add an old screen to the top. Once they have feathers, I turn the light off.

Every day they need fresh water and some grain. I add fresh shavings and clean out the newspaper and bottom of box when it starts to get smelly. That's pretty much it. I move them outside to the chicken coop when they are big enough to not get through the wire. Our coop was here when we moved in. It is barely holding together and one day I hope to replace it. I have a chicken run which is about 16 feet by 16 feet and it is totally covered with chicken wire, including the top of it. I've tried to let my hens go "free range" but it doesn't work around here. All I end up doing is feeding the wildlife. 

A couple hints that I have learned over the years:

•When you are ready to move your chicks out into a coop with an older flock of birds, do it at night when it is dark. Chickens cannot see well at night and they will not even know that more birds have been added. 

•Don't overspend on an expensive coop. Chickens are chickens, not rock stars. Keep it simple in case you don't like the birds and want to get rid of them.

•The term pecking order is true. Sometimes hens will start picking on another hen and peck it to death. Watch out for that because if there is blood on a hen, the other ones will not stop and pretty soon, the one that is being picked on will no longer be alive. It's a cruel world in the chicken coop.

•You don't need a rooster. That said, I always have one or two because I love to listen to the crow every morning at around 4 a.m. 

•If said rooster attacks you, get rid of it. It will not become nicer and you really don't need to be fearful when you are collecting eggs.

•Chickens are great composting machines. I feed my chickens everything - from table scraps to garden weeds and fall leaves. The more greens they eat, the orange-r the yolks will be. Some people say not to feed chickens meat but I do. I think that is because they worry about rats and other wildlife. Fact of the matter is, the meat scraps are in the chickens' tummies in about 30 seconds so what is the harm? I also skim all the fats off my soups and stocks and feed them and bacon drippings to the chickens. I'm not sure what it is but the next day, I have a bumper crop of eggs to collect.

•Watch where you put your chicks if you decide to move them outside for some fresh air during the day. One time The Farmer did this and didn't think about the sun moving around in the sky. When he put the out late in the morning, they were in the shade. We came home from work, the sun had rotated and all the chicks were dead from heat stroke. Not a good day.

•If you have livestock, you will have dead stock. Get over it. Stuff happens and you cannot save everything. I heard an amazing story about a woman who took her chicken to the vet because it wasn't feeling well. She spent $1400 on vet bills and the chicken died anyway. A new chicken will cost you about $3. Consider dealing with farm animals that die as your family's chance to learn about life, death, and the cycle of life. It is an important lesson to teach your children and to learn yourself.

•A family of three doesn't need more than 4 chickens. I have 10 hens that are laying right now and I am overwhelmed with eggs. Learn how to cook with eggs and get your family used to eggs for dinner. They are very cheap protein and quick to make and very tasty.

•If you want to be diligent and cull your hens every two years when they become less productive, purchase a different breed (or color) of chicken every year. Last year, I purchased gold Buff Orpingtons. This year I purchased greyish brown Aracaunas. I plan to get rid of all the gold hens after next summer as they will be two years old and not as productive. I don't want to feed them over the winter when laying decreases (unless you trick the hens with fake longer days using lights).

Anyone else have some good chicken keeping hints? Leave them in the comments to share with everyone. If anyone has a favorite chicken-keeping website, post the link in the comments. Have a great day everyone.

 

Winter Days Ahead and Current Thoughts

Only a few more days until the Winter Solstice. Can't wait for it so the days will begin to get longer. It is frosty and freezy today - 7 degrees last night. 

The Farmer has been getting the lambing barn ready. It won't be long until there will be new babies. This cold weather is great for lambing because the ground is frozen (he calls it poor man's cement) and the lambs do better when there isn't much moisture in the ground. Snow is much better than rain. I'll keep you all posted.

We've been selling lots of our pasture raised lamb. It's nice to think that local folks will be enjoying the products of our farm as the centerpiece of their holiday meal. If you are local-ish, I've got two different "meat-ups" scheduled -

In Greenfield on Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 6:00.

In Northampton on Thursday evening in the Webs Parking Lot from 5:30 to 7:00. 

You must call or email to place an order. Cash, check or credit card payments accepted. See this post for more information. I will be bringing recipes or you can look at them on my lamb recipe blog.

There have been many interesting comments over on the Webs FaceBook Page about the "meat-up." I thank Kathy and Steve for helping me out with this and supporting local agriculture. They didn't have to. Kathy's comment to me was this - "We are all in this together and if I can help out your farm and family, then I am happy to." 

We are sheep farmers here and no matter what many knitters may want to believe, the major product of the majority of sheep farms is lamb meat, not wool. I went into this sheep farming thing as a knitter and fiber lover 31 years ago. For me, sheep were those cute litttle fluffy animals that grazed green pastures. I knit with their wool and spun their fiber. I understand where some of these people are coming from. I had those same rose colored glasses.

My partner in this farming life - The Farmer - grew up on a working dairy farm. His eyes were open to what living on a farm was all about because he grew up with life and death all around him as a small child. He learned to slaughter a chicken as a small boy. On a dairy farm, cows come and go and it is just part of it all. When we bought our first four sheep, he talked to me about what would happen with the ram lambs. I chose not to listen.

Kristin + Mark - early 1980's

I was in for a rude awakening - not a bad one, just a different kind of one. I grew up not really thinking about where my food came from. My parents were passionate gardeners but we did not live where livestock was common, nor even allowed. My dad was first generation German and he always purchased the meat we ate from "The German Butcher." As a kid, liverwurst, beet salad, herring salad, sauerkraurt, rolaten, sauerbraten - all traditional German foods were part of our family heritage and I loved it all. Daddy used to talk about the farm his grandparents had in Rockaway, NJ, where the current Morris Hills High School is now. He spent summers on the farm and had memories of the pigs his grandparents raised and ate. He used to tell about the day the traveling butcher would come to the farm and the pig would be slaughtered. Then his grandparents would smoke and preserve the meat for the winter ahead. I was not oblivious to the whole process of farm to table. But I was uneducated, as most kids were in the 1960's. 

We have 3 rams who service our 250 breeding ewes. That's it - THREE. This January and February, we will probably have 400 plus lambs born. Most likely half of them will be boys. We don't need them because 

a. We only need our 3 big boys.

b. They are genetically related to the ewes and lambs that are on the farm. Inbreeding is not something you strive for on a farm. It happens sometimes but it isn't good most of the time. There's a reason you shouldn't marry your cousin.

The January boys will become our lamb crop of 2012 which we sell as meat to our meat-eating customers (many call themselves "recovering vegetarians"). And sometimes we also harvest the females, depending on their size.

Here's the thing now where I have a bone to pick with some of the "fiber farms" who are marketing and selling their wool to knitters who have dreams of Utopia. On those farms, babies are born and most likely, half of those babies are girls and half are boys. Unless these farmers want to castrate all of those boys and keep feeding them all their lives just to keep their wool, those boys will all go away and become part of the food chain. It is not financially feasible to keep every boy born on a sheep farm just for fun. I know Paul and Linda McCartney did but we aren't all rock stars. Most fiber farms do not talk about this, most likely so they will not offend their knitting and fiber customers. Talk about continuing the rose colored glasses phenomenom. I know many knitters do not want to think about this. They want to think of sheep as cute fluffy creatures living out their lives in some kind of Utopian Eden (just like I used to). But it just is not that way. Animals live and die - some of natural causes but most at slaughterhouses. 

I think it is time that knitters look at sheep for the animals they are - producers of meat and wool but also producers of bones, lanolin, sheepskins, leather, intestinal casings for violin strings, collagen (plastic surgery, anyone), gelatin, buttons from bones, pet food, and darn good manure machines for fertilizing fields and gardens. Sheep are amazingly useful and beautiful creatures who can turn an overgrown hillside into a lush green piece of pasture in a year's time with continual rotation. There is a reason that nomadic cultures still wander the world with their bands of sheep and that they still have a sacrificial lamb for celebrations. Did you know that lamb is the second most popular meat in the world, behind goat meat? 

As sheep farmers, we treat our animals as good as possible while they live on our farm. When they are grown and ready to go, we take them to a slaughterhouse where they are treated humanely until the end. I know this because I help load the truck and go with The Farmer when I have time. I have been on the killing floor and I know what happens. I know how the animal lives and how it dies. I needed to know this so that I can honestly sell our lamb to our customers.

I think there is such a disconnect with most people about the source of the meat they buy at the grocery store on a piece of styrofoam wrapped in plastic. Most Americans want to eat meat. In fact, I bet many American families have meat almost every evening at dinner and many probably eat meat for lunch too. I have no problem with people who chose to not eat meat. It is everyone's choice. I too was a vegetarian for a few years. That is perfectly fine. But please meat-eating people and knitters..... think about how the animal you are eating was raised and how it died so that you could consume their flesh before you say ewwww to the farm family who is doing things right. 

Things are getting better - books like Omnivore's Dilemma, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Righteous Porkchop, Compassionate Carnivore, Food Matters, Folks, This Ain't Normal, The Grass Fed Gourmet, The River Cottage Meat Book, are being published by major publishing houses. There is a major trend going on with people making their own charcuterie and cooking offal. The interesting thing is that the people who are cooking odd bits and into butchering and charcuterie are very similar people to those who are passionate knitters. They have chosen a different passion though - cooking meat and knowing all about it. I am sure there is a bit of cross-over (see friend Janice's blog, a former yarn shop owner). Food for thought for this day before the big holiday.