Nuts.

So much for my dream of reckless radish planting so early in the year. This is what we woke up to Wednesday.

Nuts. Drat. Dang. Curse you, White Death!

The dogs loved it. Kai did not want to come in at all and Zander thinks snow is the best thing that's ever happened to him in his whole life.  He looked at me adoringly, like I made it snow just for him.

Me and the cats hung out by the fire. There was a lot of sloth and not many goals were achieved. Accept.. you know.. sloth. The cats think the wood stove is the best thing that has every happened to them.  They look at me adoringly like I made the fire just for them.

As for me..... the weird winter/non-winter of 2012 drags on...this winter of my discontent... just as gray and bleak as my mood. (How's that for arty?)

I have high hopes for a happy Thursday and the melting of this White Doom Which Falls Just To Annoy Me. Come on spring.....

Anybody else spend yesterday by the fire? Looks like we'll get one day of reprieve then another arctic cold spell will be upon us. At least the cats will be happy.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Whatcha cookin'?

I'm almost too full to type this...wow! Do you remember the braised pork hock they made in this spectacular "how to cut up a side of pork" video? I made that Tuesday nite and it was stunning. Honestly I don't think I can move from the couch. And superDUPER thanks to whoever gave me the link to that site - but I can't remember who did! Lemme know if it was you and I'll give credit where its due.

Anyway, my extra yummy dinner almost entirely came from the yard. Easy, cheap, good, and good for you. You could probably even make it in the crock pot if you were gonna be gone all day. What could be better? It reminded me of a funny conversation I had with someone recently.

This person was telling us that we should never, ever trust Big Food Company X. Ever. Then they turned around and said they were on Weight Watchers and were doing great on it.

Us: * blink blink *  "Um.. so you know that Big Food Company X probably manufactures most of what's in them snacks and shakes and frozen boxes of whatnot you're eatin, right?"

And I think you know my feelings on what WW's is pushing lately.

Then the conversation turned an ever more troubling corner when they went on to tell us that sure, now that they were retired they could put a little more effort into controlling their high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and weight...but you know... its so much easier to just take the pills for it and continue their life as it has been, didn't we agree?

Us. *blink blink*  "But..um... are you sure about that?"

When we have visited them we've always been shocked at the amount of prepacked, factory made "food like substances" they have in their house. Almost nothing they eat is home made. I mean nothing. Not even cookies. They buy cookies. From Costco. In a huge tub. There's only two of them.

I find this very odd.

I have to wonder why would anyone live like that... especially after watching the news and hearing them squawk on and on about how we're all getting too much salt.  And this is hot on the heels of the report where some fool wants to treat sugar like a controlled substance. In both cases it was reported that much of the sugar and salt comes from commercially produced "food."

It might surprise you that I'm not actually against Big Food. Someone has to feed all these people. And I think one of the highest security priorities for this country is to keep food production (literally) in and on our soil. So Big Food has a place. I just think they are making the wrong thing. Mostly because people buy it.

Lets face it. The SAD (Standard American Diet) is sad. Filled with soda (diet or regular), food groups that don't exist in nature (like the "itos" food group), and sticky sweet who-knows-what's-in-that-food-like-substance. But it tastes good and its easy, right?  Not only is it sad, we think its kind of silly.

I admit it. We like to make fun of the "food" in the grocery store. Some of the more hilarious items we've found are pre-packaged spices for making one meal. You get an over-packaged plastic thingy with 4 or 5 separate, common spices that are pre-portioned so there is none of that tiresome measuring. White sandwich bread scares us both pretty badly. And don't get me started on packaged, pre-cooked bacon. Now that is a crime. Who wouldn't want to cook their own bacon?!?

We feel like we are lucky because we grow most of our own food. But even if you don't, or can't, the least you can do is eliminate the sugar and salt by starting with raw ingredients and making it yourself. And be careful about what you buy in a can. You might wanna check out the frozen aisle for bags of veggies that don't have any extra stuff in them. And not the frozen, tossed together 'meal's - just get the veggies. Mass produced pasta sauce? Stop it. Read the label - see all that salt and extra sugar? Move down the aisle 10 feet and get no or low sodium crushed tomatoes and make it yourself.

Heading over to the meat section? If the guy behind the counter is crying its because we were just there screaming with laughter over their meat selection or asking each other "Hey! do we need ham?" We think we are hilarious. But seriously, check the packaged meat carefully. If there is a label that says something like "Moist and Meaty" then be careful that it hasn't been injected with who knows what.

What if you can't cook?

Friend, here's where it gets hard. Everyone over 12 should know how to cook. I know a 10 year old with exceptional knife skills. You don't need to be a four star chef, but everyone should know how to take care of themselves. At the end of the day you are responsible for what you eat. You either make an effort to do it yourself or shove off the responsibility to someone else but either way its your choice. I love Ruhlman's rant on cooking. He also doesn't really believe America is too stupid to cook.  Neither do I.

If you won't cook, then shame on you. I know people who "won't" cook. To me that's like saying to your family that its 'good enough' to live under a tarp in the front yard. Technically that is shelter. But that's not really living, is it? Technically those packages of stuff you put in the microwave are food. Technically those bags of stuff you get at the second window after yelling your order into a clown is food. But that's not really living is it? If you won't cook, then go ahead and stand on principal while your family's health suffers. I'm sure you're making a point to someone.

If you don't know how to cook then let me introduce you to my friend Rachael. She is fun and has easy-to-make meals. If you are organized you can make these meals in about half an hour. If you are just getting started it might take longer. Set your DVR or Tivo or what not and record her shows. Watch them.  She starts making supper about 20 minutes before the show ends. Go ahead and fast forward to that point.  Then do what she is doing. And you can run right out and get her books - this one here and this one also. I don't have this one but it looks good also. See? Easy peasy. You can cook.

Once you get your confidence up then you can move on to other things. But you get extra points for making food starting with raw materials and that does not include the instructions "remove container from the plastic wrapping."

Back to my dinner and the folks we know who'd rather take the pills. My supper took less than 5 minutes to put together. It took me longer to unload the dishwasher than it did to put everything in a pot and shove in the oven. I went away for a while and came back and the house smelled like heaven. So I find myself unable to agree with them that its just easier, or better, to just take the pills. I'd rather have real food that I cooked myself.

Now what are you cooking today? What's for dinner? Snow is in the forecast so I have my mind on a complicated bolognese sauce made entirely from ingredients that came from my yard. It will take a while but it will be worth it.

Have a great Wednesday everyone, now get out there and make your supper. Don't believe the lie that its easier just to take the pills!

Bad Moon on the Rise

Anybody else feeling the full moon? Wow!  If you're not just go and talk to Nibbles. She'll tell you all about it.

I do not believe in astrology but I do believe that natural events - weather changes, season changes, the rising or falling barometer, the amount of daylight, and the moon's tug on the earth impacts us all.

Right now Nibbles is getting the full effect of the full moon. I'm afraid if she sneezes too hard them babies are gonna go flying right out of her. The Good Neighbors came and checked her out. Even tho Nibbles isn't due for several more weeks, the consensus is that she may not make it that long.

So we are on high alert. And by high alert I don't mean that I'll be sleeping out in the goat house... I just mean that we'll be checking on her frequently. During daylight hours. And maybe a little before daylight because that's when the dogs get up. But I ain't snuggling with Nibbles in a sleeping bag out in the goat house for sure.

While the jury is still out on Debbie, The Good Neighbors think that Nibbles has about 47 babies in there.. well... actually they said "probably three", and that Dahlia probably has at least one. We all decided to just wait and see how Debbie progresses. The worst thing that will happen is that Debbie didn't get knocked up by Too Short and I'll get a cow this summer. I don't consider myself to be on the loosing end of that decision at all.

In between bouts of standing there fretting over silly goats, being outside has been fabulous. I talked to the feedstore guy and he said that as long as the ground can be tilled that I could get to planting. He said that the ground was probably close to 50* (best for starting seeds like oats and other grains) because we just haven't gotten that many really cold days in a row.

Our bad soil is still a little wet for tilling but the dogs and I spent the day in the upper garden. Kai has been busy ridding the world of rats. The Bubby had a hard growing day so he mostly tripped over his huge feet. And I hoed up some dry ground to plant some radish seeds. I'm also working on resurrecting my hillbilly hoop house which blew all to pieces in one of the big storms.

Overall Monday was a great day - full moon and all. Anybody else feeling that crazy moon?

Happy Tuesday everyone!

No wonder I need more dog food....

Would you just look at these two? Kai on the left and Zander on the right. Remember when he was so little?

And check out Zander's paws... they are already bigger than Titans.  He isn't as tall as Kai yet but he's catching up. At five months. Um...

...we are gonna need a lot more dog food for sure.

Happy Monday everyone! Its sunny and its gonna be 50* so look to my direction for the huge cloud of smoke. I'm gonna make a burn pile the likes of which has never been seen before. And if I end up burning down the woods, will someone come and bail me out?  Or just show up later with marshmallows and we'll all have s'mores!

Meat March

Yesterday was so beautiful and the weather so mild that I let the meats out to see The Whole Wide World....

...they were a little timid at first. But then they waddled and meat-ed all around.

This has been a weird batch. We finally figured out that some of yellow and some have white legs. We have no idea if this has to do with their weirdness. Mostly we've noticed they are mean. Nothing worse than mean meat for sure.

Some of the roo's have been particularly aggressive - which we really haven't seen before. Sure one or two of each batch have emerged as Lead Meat, but this is a kind of mean meat madness that defies all explanation.

Our winter meat project has gone really well. We've been keeping this batch in one side of the turkey house. When we had colder weather - and these meat chickens were younger - we kept a heat lamp on them. But now they are big enough to generate enough meat heat to keep themselves warm. As long as it isn't too muddy we'll let them out to free range. They thought the grass was something else.

Because of some schedule changes we haven't been able to have a big meat harvest like we've wanted to do this the last couple weeks. But that's OK. The meats are just creepin' along. Getting bigger and meatier as they grow.

I checked with the guy at Tractor Supply - around here they are gonna get their chicks in the end of February! Anyone gonna take the plunge and get some creepy meats for the first time? Now is your chance!  Last spring we really thought our "one batch, two batch" project worked really well. We got one batch of about 10 or 15 meats, then several weeks later got another similar sized batch. This way we could stagger the meat harvest and not use up all the freezer space.

Happy Saturday everyone! Its raining ice here - is everyone staying dry? Snow? Anyone out it Colorado still digging out?

Mad about pancetta

I'm currently mad about pancetta. I'm not mad AT pancetta - I'm just crazy for it.

Isn't it lovely?

Remember when I did all that bacon making? Part of what I cured was their weird curly, round belly piece (as the pigz were so fat!). Usually you take a thin piece of pork belly and roll it up. But I just used the round piece. It was cured in a savory mix of salt and herbs for about 10 days or more. Then I wrapped it in cheese cloth and hung it in the basement. For about a week I eyed it suspiciously... then I took it down and carefully unwrapped it. I was expecting it to be maggot ridden and moldy. It wasn't. It was glorious.

So I immediately sent an email, shrieking my glee, to my pal The Gastronomic Gardener letting him know it worked. He loves bacon like I do - especially making it at home.

Its just beautiful.

Pancetta is usually not smoked but is dry cured. That's right not refrigerated, just hung up to dry. Isn't that weird? But it works. And as Ruhlman says, its not meant to be eaten raw but rather cooked, so provided its done correctly - its a safe process. Everyone ran right out and get his book, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing right?

Pancetta can be used as a base seasoning for traditional, Italian meat sauces but I admit to just loving it fried up in a pan. For several morning this week I sliced it thick, fried it up in a pan, and had a "PLT" instead of a BLT for breakfast. And I think it will be stunning on the grill or even seared. I love it so much that I have another piece hanging in the basement. And I also have a couple belly pieces in the freezer that are destined for panetta glory.

The next time you are in the deli section look around for the pancetta. See how expensive it is? Sheesh - you can make that at home friends, yes you can.

Happy Friday everyone! Did you see the smoke from my epic burn pile yesterday? Whoot!

Has everyone been outside!?

WOW! What a "non-winter" we've been having these last couple days!  Today was the second day I was outside and in shorts! Pretty good for last day in "Jun-uary" and a fantastic first day of "Feb-uly."

 Ok it wasn't EXACTLY like June... there weren't any of these terrific sunflowers. But it was close.

We worked outside on The Big Bramble pile until it was almost too dark to see the The Bubby (Zander is mostly black and hard to see at night).  Of course the dogs have been loving being outside. Kai caught 2 rats in the woods while we were working yesterday. She was very proud of herself and I was totally creeped out. (ICK!).  She'll have the woods cleared of varmints in no time.

And its not just the dogs - the ducks and clucks and geese and everyone has been out roaming around. I know for sure my sweet little Pigpen aka Bianca aka Lady Gaga is laying so I'm also keeping and eye out for other duck's eggs. I can't wait to make a custard. Unfortunately for my little white duck...one of the ganders has taken a liking to her. They had her pinned down pretty good before I could run out and kick him off. She's safely in an enclosed yard now. Spring does funny things to the critters and as we know love is no respecter of species.

As for the goats, Nibbles has taken to standing in the yard and wailing. She's as big as a house and has started to make an udder. I think she has at least 2 babies - I don't think there are 3 but you never know. Dahlia is tried of me chasing her around feeling her up. I can't tell if she has a baby bump or not. But there seems to be a little something going on with her.

Debbie is the big question mark. Sometimes I look at her and think "yep she's got a baby in there" and other times I think this is gonna be her longer summer ever. I keep telling her "hay is for milkers" and she'll have to free range with the losers if she doesn't have any kids.  She hates me. If she doesn't have any babies then she might just find herself replaced by a cow. A sweet little Jersey girl who milks at least 3 gallons a day. And who won't give me any lip like these goats.

That's the doin's here. The rest of the week promises to be in the 50*'s and above freezing at nite. At this rate I'll have radishes sooner than later!

Is everyone outside enjoying the non-winter?  Happy Thursday!