Feeding the calf, et al

Today was a magical day. By far the best I've had on the farm to date.

Usually I pick up our food on Fridays, but this week was different. This week I went to Tara Firma Farms on Saturday. And as luck would have it, I got there just as a tour was starting, which I joined immediately. These farm tours are awesome and it's never the same thing twice. Today we hung a right after the chicken brooder to see the 1 week old calf that had been abandoned by her mother after birth. In groups of 2-3, we came into her little pen and said hi.


I pet her and she tried to nurse my fingers! This animal was amazing to me. Only 7 or 8 days old and she was already the size of a great dane.

photo from http://www.seattleweekly.com/

Sometimes the brown love resembled a large deer, with her large ears and big brown eyes. Other times she very clearly looked like a mini cow. Either way, it was hard to believe that this huge animal, complete with teeth, was merely one week old.


The tour moved on to the piglets, who were now running and bunting with their mama elsewhere. These nearly 50 pound animals had been little jelly beans on our first trip to the farm back in April. Today we got in the pen with them and they approached us and smelled our hands. To recap: I've pet a calf and had it try to (gently) eat my hand, and now have pet the pigs. Awesome.


Next we walk by the gardens and back to the farm store, where I get my meat, veg, fruit and eggs. Just then, Tara says "we've got the feed the calf." Without thinking twice, Olivia (the 11 year old volunteer farmhand) and I volunteer for the job. "Great!" says Tara. "This is what you do..." Excellent! We grab a quart-sized bottle with a nipple the size of a hot dog, fill it with powered milk for calves and top it off with water. Next, Olivia and I set off for the calf. Tara showed us how to feed her and she drank the whole bottle, plus two more bottles full of water. After we finished feeding her, Olivia turned to me grabbed my hand and said quite matter-of-factly "Now we'll feed the pigs the cracked eggs." OK!

We each grabbed one dozen of the best eggs in the world and climbed into the pig pen with the largest of the young pigs. When we got there they were ALL sleeping. Then suddenly, Olivia made a sound and they ALL sprang to life! All 50 of them. All 50 of the 250lb pigs were awake and mighty interested in eating my shoes. And my ankle tattoo. They didn't do more than tickle, though. We threw the eggs on the ground and the pigs made quick work of the orange-yolked beauties. One pig walked between my legs, and then another followed suit. The second one, being ever so slightly larger than the first, nearly knocked me over into the pig pile! Olivia and I couldn't stop laughing!


After all of our eggs had been devoured in a mass of snorting and grunting, we went back to the farm store to wash up, tidy the veg and grab some wilted mustard greens for the chicks and goats. The chicks were very excited about the greens. The goats, who were out of their pen and had just been on a tour with Tara, were less thrilled with the wilted greens and far more enamored with the rose bushes and weeds and grass and trees. Try as we might to get the pet goats back into their pen with the mustard green "carrot" trick, these three gals wanted no part. They'd rather scale the trees for low branches and leaves. Finally, with the help of four children under 10 years and a very kind man and his dog's leash, Olivia was able to get all three back in their pen.


Needless to say, I went home smelling like a barnyard. The calf and the piglets and the calf again and then down and dirty with the pigs and the chicks and finally the goat herding left me with a smell unlike any other. My shower has never been as welcoming as it was today. What a truly magical day.

Eric's Smoked Beer Can Chicken

Let me please start off by saying that Eric's smoked beer can chicken was THE best chicken I've ever had. Hands down.

We got this amazing whole, pastured chicken from Tara Firma Farms in our CSA box. This chicken, like all local, pastured meat, is very special and deserves simple, amazing recipes to allow for the meat to take center stage and shine. The plan was to "smoke" the chicken and share the treat with some good friends. Eric did the cooking, so I'll have him share the recipe and some tips.

In Eric's words:
"I love BBQing. I can't think of much else I'd rather do on a nice and sunny, summer day. Cold beverage, pool, BBQ. My best advice to someone starting new with BBQing is 'be patient'. If you rush the process, you'll end up with a hockey puck for dinner. Not even Canadians want that. So plan ahead. Figure out roughly when you want your food to be served and work backwards from there. Plan for about 30 minutes for the coals to catch fire and the grill to be ready. I don't propane because I prefer to work with the fire and smoke, but you can cut probably 15-20 minutes off of the prep time with a gas grill. It goes quickly from done to overdone, so when it starts getting close, check on it often. Digital thermometers help a lot here. It might help to start hors d'oevres prior to pulling the chicken. First, it will not need to rest too long prior to cutting; and also, that bird is going to look gorgeous! Let *everyone* see it!! Finally, have some fun. It started as a nice day. End it as a nice day, too."


The final product was amazing. This bird was smokey perfection. The meat was cooked perfectly. And let me tell you about the skin! I love chicken skin, and usually it's not that good. So I typically don't eat it. This was the best skin I've ever had. Ever. It was better than bacon. IT WAS BETTER THAN BACON! (Just in case you didn't hear me correctly the first time). Eric deserves a ton of credit for why this meal was so superb. He put in a lot of hard work making it amazing. The chicken (and how she was raised) deserves the rest of the credit. This pastured bird didn't just taste better, but actually looked different than a frozen "brand" bird. The skin on our dinner was white before cooking, not yellow. The difference was immediately noticeable and even the leftovers were amazing. My mouth is watering, writing this now. Much like smelling those frozen chicken bones as they underwent their first stage of becoming veg and chicken stock! I am so excited for our next whole chicken from Tara Firma Farms. There is really nothing else like it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric's Smoked Beer Can Chicken Recipe adapted from "Weber's Way To Grill" weber.com/grillout/ (Eric's cooking notes appear in italics.)

• 1 whole pastured chicken, about 4 pounds, giblets and any excess fat set aside
  
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1 can (12 fluid ounces) beer, at room temperature
• 4 handfuls hickory wood chips, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes
• Rub
  • 2 teaspoons granulated onion (omitted; not for taste, I simply didn't have any)
    
  • 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
  • 1 teaspoon prepared chili powder (I used 2 tsp New Mexico Red Chili powder)
    
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • (1 tsp hickory sea salt)
    

1. Remove and the neck, giblets, and any excess fat from the chicken and put in your meat freezer bag for making stock. Save the fat separately (not good for stock) or discard. Sprinkle the salt over the entire surface and inside the cavity of the chicken, covering it all like a light blanket of snow. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

2. In a small bowl mix the rub ingredients.

3. Rinse the chicken inside and out with cold water. Gently pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season it all over with the rub. Fold the wing tips behind the chicken’s back. Let the chicken stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before grilling.

4. Prepare the grill for indirect cooking over medium heat (350° to 450°F). (Normally when I BBQ, I prepare a 'two-zone' fire for direct and indirect cooking -- all of the coals on one side only. This time, I made a 'ring of fire' with the coals so that it was mostly indirect cooking but with even temperature all the way around the bird. I hand-fashioned aluminum foil into a water-pan to put in the center of the ring and under the bird -- an aluminum pie tin would work also. This is to promote a little moisture in the air so that our treasure wouldn't dry out and also to catch most of the grease from the chicken to prolong the life of my grill. While the coals were coming to a good smoking temperature, I BBQ'd some beets in the center of the grill. Might as well not waste the heat!)

5. Open the beer can and pour out about half the beer. Using a can opener, make 2 more holes in the top of the can. Place the beer can on a solid surface. Plunk the chicken cavity over the beer can. ('Pour out' has many interpretations. I 'poured out' half of the beer prior to it adjusting to room temperature...)
   

6. Drain and add the wood chips directly onto burning coals or to the smoker box of a gas grill, following manufacturer’s instructions. When the wood chips begin to smoke, transfer the bird-on-a-can to the grill, balancing the bird on its two legs and the can, like a tripod. Grill over indirect medium heat, with the lid closed, until the juices run clear and the internal temperature registers 170ºF in the thickest part of the thigh (not touching the bone), 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours. (I added extra wood chips twice during the cooking to refresh the smoke. I also had to pour water into the drip-pan once or twice. The real key to this process is closing the lid. If you can't close the lid, there's not much use in adding wood chips. You NEED to trap the smoke. My bird barely fit without touching the lid, so it's something to look into before you get too far ahead of yourself. Also, our bird was only about 3+ lbs and needed MAYBE 45-50 minutes to cook completely.)
   

7. Carefully remove the chicken and can from the grill (do not spill contents of the beer can, as it will be very hot). Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before lifting it from the beer can and cutting into serving pieces. Serve warm. (I used tongs for the bird while sliding a spatula under the beer can until I could transfer the whole set to a baking sheet. The can might want to slip out and that would ruin your evening.)
   

8. Save the bones when finished and put them in your meat freezer bag for making stock.
   

Making Stock

The pot smells woody, earthy, fresh and alive. Vibrant red beet stalks with leaves of green and yellow, veined and speckled red. Tops, bottoms, outsides, and innards of vegetable misfits and castaways come together to make tonight's stock.

The frozen bag smells like beets, an amazing smell. In my freezer lives a gallon ziplock freezer bag, for the purpose of collecting veg scraps. Today it is brimming with chard stalks, beet greens, garlic and onion papers, beautiful stems of blue/green dino kale, pepper tops, innards, and seeds, onion ends, mint stems, and carrot corners. A delicious medley of vegetable goodness, frozen at the peek of their freshness. And tonight I'm topping off the pot with the contents of the bones bag from the freezer: a carcass of a whole Terra Firma chicken that Eric BBQ'd to beer can chicken perfection, and a few pork chop bones from the week before. Waste not, want not.

The contents of the stuffed veg bag and the bones bag joined the fresh veg clippings from dinner in our largest stock pot, and was topped of with water and sprinkled with (not enough) salt and pepper. I can't wait to see how this turns out! Since opening the bones bag, I've been mondo hungry. The smell of those BBQ'd chicken bones (even frozen) are mouth watering. That chicken, was quite honestly, the best chicken I've ever eaten. Seriously. Mmm...the house is gonna smell good tonight!

Before putting the top on the stock pot and letting the veg scraps, unwanted bones, water, and salt and pepper do their do, I took one final look at it. It was a cacophony of colors. Red beet stalks and pink water. The beets have an amazing ability to color everything around them. Green pepper tops from the pardons and the green-yellow-orange pepper tops of the bells. The aforementioned green and yellow beet leaves speckled and veined with red deliciousness. White and purple garlic papers. The chicken and pork bones, intertwined in a black and brown and white and pink and red tangle of perfectly prepared and picked apart meals of last that have no part gone to waste. And finally, dotting the party like confetti, the white and brown pepper seeds.

I love making stock. I freeze it in 2 and 3 cup portions as well as in ice cube trays. This allows for easy use of this liquid gold. The reasons to make your own stock are varied. I use it for nearly everything. Every time I make rice or quinoa or beans, I use stock in lieu of water. An amazingly delish boon. I have to get creative with the uses for it, so nothing goes to waste. Sometimes I make soup with it and freeze nothing!

The way I collect all the castaway goodies is typically in two 1-gal ziploc freezer bags. In one bag I keep organic veggie scraps, and in another I keep the cooked bones from the local, pastured meat we get. I make sure not to cross contaminate them, and I reuse the bags over and over and over and over and over again. The bags have a home in my freezer and I never cook without pulling my veg bag out. Once a bag is full, I dump it into an empty stock pot, cover with water, and salt and pepper to taste, and let simmer until the house smells amazing. I don't cook with a timer. In fact, there's no clock in our kitchen. I cook by smell. When it smells ready, it is.

Now comes the fun part. In my sink, I place my next largest pot with a sturdy strainer/colander and slowly pour the veggie and (or not) bones broth mixture, and separate out just the broth. If I'm making veggie stock, I dump all the leftover veg in the compost pile. Our compost doesn't get hot enough for the bones, although many do.

Next I freeze it in small, easy, serving sizes. Now any time a recipe calls for, or will benefit from, stock I have have a plethora of a homemade, more flavorful, FREE, waste cutting way to deliver.

Enjoy! Please experiment and see what works best for you. I hope you get as much pleasure making, using, and eating your homemade stock as I do.

Tips for making stock:

Good things to throw in stock: Peels of onion, garlic, pepper, celery, chard, collards, kale, root veggies tops and peels.

Don't use: Potatoes, fruit, lettuce.

Can use bones and veg or just veg. The more you add, the more flavors will meld together for a symphony of deliciousness. If your stock isn't flavorful enough for you, then boil it down to condense the flavor.

Ode to the Blackberry

Ode to the blackberry

so dark and so sweet

Longing and waiting

for you I shall eat.

But today it is June

still beautiful flowers you be

Much patience is needed

before you may nourish me.

From flowers you will grow

then green and then red

Begging to be picked

but still sour instead.

Your thorny green bushes

hold within them a prize

For all who dare

to see what is inside.

My youth was spent

summers in the blackberry rows

With cuts on my arms,

my legs, and my toes.

A harvest so grand

you never ceased to amaze

Blackberries, the epitome

of perfectly filled summer days.

White flowers today

I long, gazing upon

for those seconds, those minutes, those days, and those hours

That were spent amongst the bushes with their super sweet powers.

Vibrantly fading

white, green, red, then black

I knew in heart

there was no turning back.

With fingers stained purple

and brambles stuck to my hair

That delectable smell

still perfuming the air.

Berry, please hurry and ripen

as I may be transported back there.

Where does your food come from?

Do you know where your food comes from? McDonalds? Kraft? The Chinese restaurant around the corner? Vending machine? AM/PM? Walmart? Safeway? Whole Foods? Your local, independent grocery store? Farmers Markets and Farm Stands? CSA's? Your own garden?

Today Eric, Megan, and I got up close and down and dirty at Tara Firma Farms, our local CSA. We held chicks, fed and pet goats and pigs, and talked with cows.

Full disclosure: I frickin love this place. Tara Firma, to me, is heaven on Earth. It is a model for food production and needs to be both recognized and celebrated as an economically viable, sustainable, healthy and delicious choice.

The Tara Firma list of amazing never gets tired. These farmers love animals and food, and it shows. For me, it was love at first bite.

Today we took the 25-30 minute drive up 101 just past the Novato Narrows and barely into Southern Petaluma. Megan had been saying how she wanted to come up with us, so the three of us strapped on our trainers and prepared for a muddy Monday Farmday.

It's always an adventure when we go to the farm. The animals are rotated from paddock to paddock to mimic herd movement and maximize grass productivity. This tends to make for a wonderful game of "where are the chickens and cows today?"

We got close to the cows today. And they were very interested in us, too. This herd is all black with the exception of "White Face" and the few dark brown calves that I lovingly refer to as "Veal". Megan and I got our moo's going, and the cows responded in three part harmony.

After the cows, we walked the path past the farm store, biodynamic gardens, the massive compost pile, and all those ladybugs to see the PIGLETS! Three pens were set up with four litters of piglets, the cutest little animals you've ever seen.

The oldest litter was up and running, chasing each other around in circles and diving under their lean-to huts. Oh my god. They looked like spotted puppies with curly tails. Precious! The younger piglets were entangled in sleeping, twitching pig piles. Piglets might be some of the cutest animals EVER.

Next came more pigs. These older guys were hysterical. Eric had a great running commentary for them, very "Walk on the Wild Side." With the aide of his voice overs, the pigs enjoyed rooting and snorting and digging and instigating and eating potatoes from my hand and being the noisiest eaters ever (save one or two people I know) and scratching and scratching and scratching and scratching...

Seriously, we could have stayed here all day. But it was starting to rain, and we still needed to buy some bacon.

Our day at the farm was wonderful. There's something magical and very fulfilling about knowing where your food comes from. The food simply tastes better, too. But don't take my word for it. Please, come and find out for yourself.

Here I go!!

Why start a blog? Why not. People do it all the time. Why ME? Because everybody and their mother has mentioned to me to start a blog.

So here I go!!

From Farm to Table is a declaration of me. I believe that food is one of the most important things in our life, and needs to be recognized as such. My goal is to celebrate the celebration of life and food, from farm to table and everywhere in between.

My life is woven by a common thread of sustainability, my many shades of green. I shop at local farmers markets and a local farm for my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes. Of the food that my husband Eric and I eat, I strive to make the majority of it from scratch. I practice yoga for my mental and physical well being. I volunteer with Sustainable Fairfax, and I believe that sustainability and resourcefulness represent basic survival and safety themes.

I have yet to figure out what form this forum will take, and I'm very excited to explore and enjoy the ride. Hang on, because here I go!!