Vacation?

I looked at the calender this afternoon and realized it is Thursday.  Though I have been far from relaxing; several hundred seeds have been planted in small pots, grow lamps are in place and farmer's market paperwork is in process,
untahsfarm.blogspot.com is taking a vacation this week.

Thanks for understanding,
Untah

Hog Heaven

I remember going with my mother to the butcher shop or the butcher shop area in our family owned grocery store and hearing her ask for different cuts of meat and discussing the qualities of each piece.  I wonder if mine is the first generation where we really don’t understand cuts of meat and if we accept what ever quality is in the refrigerator or freezer at our big chain store.  We are not involved with our food.

I our home we have strived to eat fresh and local when ever possible. When it comes to meat, other then venison or chicken, I purchased what ever Wal-Mart had in the cooler.  I never thought about where it came from how it was raised.  Then I watched FOOD INC. and was horrified.  But instead of choosing different routes of obtaining meat I just cut back.

This past Sunday evening I had a conversation with one of the high school teachers about a topic I have never had before.  It went something like this.

“So, Lisa, how would you like it cut and packaged?” Mr. Von

“Uhhh, I don’t know.  I guess I have to trust your judgment,” me.

“Well, you’ll get half a hog. What we usually do is….” Mr. Von proceeds to describe in great detail, with great pride how the students will process the hog into different cuts, what goes back to the butcher for smoking and what I can pick up Monday afternoon.

“Sounds good, I think 2-4 pork chops per bag and 5- 1 lb packages of bacon and 2 smaller hams rather then one big one.  It’ll just be the three of us for Easter this year,” me. 

My husband, Rick, came into the room just as I was finishing the conversation with a very quizzical look on his face. “We just bought half a hog!”  Our school offers a number of agriculture classes and a large portion of our students are Future Farmer’s of America.  Ande is taking Food Sciences this semester.  This Monday’s class was about processing a hog.  The hog was butchered (killed and prepared for processing) at a local butcher shop.  Mr. Von picked it up and the students processed (prepared into the different cuts of meat) it in class.  I witnessed the student’s cutting spare ribs and using a band saw to cut pork chops.   The kids were wearing white lab coats, working in teams and carried all of the meat out to my car.  I received 26 pork chops, 7 pork steaks; couples of roasts and still to come are the hams, picnic ham, several pounds of bacon and bratwurst.

Of course we had a pork roast for dinner Monday night.  It was processed at 2:30 and being eaten at 6. It can not get any fresher then that. I grilled the meat with just a little garlic and onion powder. The pork was so juicy and tender.  I can not imagine buying meat at the grocery store ever again.

Family

Most people would say that family is the most important thing to them. Family is the one and only thing I miss since I moved away.  My younger daughter has often said, “If we could just move our (extended) family to Wisconsin, it would be perfect.”   The day before we moved, my mom and I spoke at length about missing each other. She comforted me by acknowledging that though we may see each other less often, the time we would spend together would be more special and not taken for granted.

In the next few weeks we are going to have different sets of family members staying with us. I am so excited and can’t wait. My sister Cathy and her husband Scott will stay for the weekend and leave their girls for their traditional spring break at Untah’s Farm.  If memory serves me right this will be the first week they spend without their parents or grandmother. I love when Ellie and Maddie come to the farm.  They are so full of life and excitement.  They bring fun into doing chores and remind me of the innocence of working the land and caring for animals. When we go for walks they ask such interesting questions and observe the smallest details of nature.



Maddie, Ellie and Caroline in the garden last fall.



Last summer, Ellie and I took an    ATV ride to the top of the ridge and looked around.  Ellie shares my joy and awe of the landscape. We could see farms and trees and fields for miles. She told me this is where she was going to build her house. When I asked where my permanent house was going to go, she informed me that either I can stay in the mobile home or I could live with her. 

Maddie, Ellie’s younger sister always asks questions.  I was at a loss for words when we were tending to the chickens and she asked why the rooster liked to sit on top of the hens.  After a minute or two of stammering I suggested we involve her mother in this conversation.   On one of our treks down to the pond we stopped for a few minutes and just listened. I asked Maddie what she noticed. I expected her to comment on the cow mooing in the distance or the birds call to one another, but she noticed the bees humming as they made their way from wild flower to wild flower. We sat and had the most wonderful conversation about bees.  I was able to share my newly acquired knowledge of bees, and honey and pollination.  Maddie was most curious about why they sting and what she was going to share with her friends back home about the importance of bees in our world.  We were in the field for at least a half hour surrounded by dozens and dozens of bees and I am happy to report we never got stung!

My "baby"  Maggie is so grown up!

After Ellie and Maddie return home I’ll have just enough time to launder the linens and tidy up for my oldest daughter, Maggie’s visit.  I miss Maggie very much.  I respect she has her own life and did not grow up on the farm, so it would be difficult for her to pick up and move to the country, but I do wish it could happen.  Maggie is busy going to nursing school and working full time. When she comes to the farm I feel more joy then one can imagine.  For this trip, Maggie has asked me to show her how to cook and sew.  My baby is moving to her own place this summer. We are going to work on a shower curtain for her new bathroom and decorative pillows for her living room. I hope we will have time to make my famous Untah’s Farm Apple Bread.  My heart aches for days after Maggie leaves.

Then, the day after Maggie returns to Illinois, my Mom (Granny), sister in law (Lisa)  and her two youngest will come for a visit and celebrate Leander’s Sweet 16.  Caroline has been to the farm several times and enjoys the chickens.  She has mastered the call of the hens perfectly; “Oh laaadies” and the hens come running.  Caroline would collect eggs all day if she could.  Her younger brother, Richie has not been to the farm since he was a baby. Though he is only 3 I am looking forward to showing him the barn, woods and ATV.   I pray the weather is nice and he can run through the yard and fields.  

Of course there will be much celebrating and feasting; laughing and hugging.  Everyone loves the freshly laid eggs and comments on the deep yellow/orange yolks.  I have homemade raspberry jam for Lisa’s bagels. Canned apple sauce and green beans from last fall’s crop will accompany locally raised, grass fed beef for dinner. Perhaps a bottle or two of local wine will be consumed with the artesian goat cheese made just a few miles away.



The most wonderful women I know.
Next to me is my Aunt Patsy,Cathy, Granny, and Lisa



When all the entertaining is done and the house is cleaned up I will begin planning for the next time my family can come to Untah’s Farm.

March Madness

For the last few weeks I have been praying for an early spring.  I am tired of feeling cold.  I am tired of freezing rain and snow.  I am tired of layers of warm clothes and I am tired of having the house closed up.  I have a vivid memory of being at my grandmother’s house, all the cousins were there and it was early spring.  I can hear her telling all of us, “Go on now. Go outside and blow the stink off you.”  I remember the kitchen window being open and the damp, cool earthy smell making its way into the stuffy house.  Grandma was right.  I need to open the house, send everyone outside and blow the stink off.

I have been spending a bit of time each day looking out to the garden, planning, dreaming and picturing how it will look in a few months. Right now the snow is bare in some areas, with brown peeking through.   The dead green bean vines on the trellis are no longer as quaint as they appeared last October. The leafless trees are grey and brown.  The melting snow has given rise to piles of dog poop…and I don’t have small dogs.  Currently, I see boring brown, drab grey and lots of back aching work.

Strawberries from last years crop.

There is hope.  The seed catalogs have been arriving in the mail for the last four weeks.  The Seed Saver Catalog is my favorite.  The pictures are so colorful, so promising of things to come. I have looked back at my pictures and notes from last year.  The chickens are wandering out from their pen further and further as the ice has secured the main gate open. I wondered what they could be pecking at.  Sure enough, they found a few small patches of grass with the tiniest of green blades.

I know I am skilled in two things: talking and gardening.  I have gotten myself in trouble with both.  I have never gotten myself into a predicament with both, at the same time, until this week.

This year I am planning to apply for a spot at the Gays Mills farmers market.  It is a smaller market but the date and time work great with my schedule and I figured starting small was better.   I e-mailed the coordinator and received a call back. She was very helpful and answered all of my questions.  At the end of the conversation she asked what I would be selling.  I told her about the interesting dolls my sister makes and my cloth napkins from reclaimed fabric.

Sage is very hardy plant.  This is a plant
 propagated from another 2 years ago.

 Then, out of nowhere, I state that I am going to sell herbs. Why did I say that? I have grown herbs for my own use. I have had a great deal of success growing parsley, chives, borage, St John’s Wort, lemon balm, echinacea, dill and sage, but on a very small scale. Perhaps just a few plants at a time, and it did not matter when or even if they where ready to harvest. 

Now, I am committed to selling herbs on a much larger scale.  I am reading everything I can on growing herbs in my area. My husband is contributing light fixtures so I can convert my work shop to a mini indoor nursery. I will need to get grow lights, seeds; soil and everything else a person needs to start plants indoor and early… the seeds should be in the soil and under the grow lights…in the next two weeks!

It is always something at Untah’s Farm.  I am not worried though.  This is how some of my best adventures begin.