Droppings

The concept of raising our own food is more understandable than the motivation to do so since the reasons vary everywhere from taking a bite out of the food bill to preparing for the end of the world as we know it. In between the extremes we find overlapping concerns such as avoidance of exposure to GMO’s, salmonella contamination, plant-based and cell-cultured meats etc.

Janice and I decided to pursue a ‘farm to table’ agenda for entirely different reasons… me for the independence aspect, and she for the health benefits. From initial concept to the current variation, we learned how to preserve foods year round, market our surplus, and provide for our children and grandchildren with healthy nourishment and a hands-on education not unlike the Foxfire Series. We’ve met and learned so much from like minded people that the journey has truly been more rewarding than any perceived destination.

As for our dear friends experiment, she achieved a very satisfying outcome with a farm to table menu enduring for an entire month. They made it! We’d love to hear from others who have endeavored to achieve that goal.

• • • Unlike big agriculture, which picks their crop prior to it reaching maturity in order to accommodate distribution delay, local farmers pick their crops at peak freshness and deliver them to the market in that condition. Whatever produce isn’t sold that day at a farmers market becomes a liability to the farmer since it rapidly loses its freshness and appearance.
    • Four to five hours spent commuting and tending to the market incurs a cost.
    • There are many farmers who offer meats, fruits or vegetables that are certified “organic” or “grass fed”. This is a costly and often bureaucratic-heavy process but are pesticide, herbicide and GMO free, demanding a premium.

Buying food from local farmers supports your local community and you get to meet, learn from and connect a face to the provider of your food. Unfortunately many farmers, finding it difficult to recover these added costs within the market venue, turn instead to a CSA (community supported agriculture) model.

Through the CSA model, waste is minimized, farmers get to spend time marketing the food early in the year before their 16 hour days in the field begin. They receive payment early in the season, improving the farm’s cash flow and, sometimes several farmers will offer their products together, providing a wider variety to their share holders. There seems to be many advantages to the CSA model resulting in its growing (pun intended) popularity.

How do you feel about this?

Nothing left to do today but make the stuffing, put it in that cavernous frame and get the bird in the oven. Our preferred cooking method for roast turkey is to bake it with a small foil tent covering overnight at 250° for a total of about 15 to 16 hours. The end result is an extremely tender and moist bird with beautifully browned skin. The aroma of roast turkey permeating the house is a wonderful appetite builder for the arriving guests. So many memories of times long ago!

We used to grow our turkeys into the 40 to 50 pound range for a select group of customers. One of those proud clients would cook the monster outdoors in a smoker, garnish and serve it up in a wheelbarrow to the astonishment of his guests! It would be fun to hear your recipes and Thanksgiving adventures, please do share them.

Yesterday we sold our one year old buck, Braefell Lynden, to another local dairy goat farm. As he was the sire to three of our 2019 does, it didn’t seem wise to allow him to breed with his daughters despite having wonderful characteristics. Our mature girls have all been bred now and we peacefully await their freshening due the first of April 2020. Once that occurs there will be no peace.

It looks like tomorrow’s weather will be good for dispatching our turkeys. The hen appears to weigh in the mid twenties, and the tom in the mid thirties so we’ll probably cook up the tom for Thanksgiving. Fortunately all our guests know enough to bring Tupperware when invited to a turkey dinner on the farm… Janice and I can eat left over turkey only so long.

The new laying hens we purchased earlier this month will probably enjoy the increased range space and reduced competition for the food. They were worth every penny though, since they started laying within a week of delivery and have all been producing an egg every day since.

I wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving day with family and friends.