Farmer as Vet

Back to another Farmer as posting.

Mike is playing doctor these days and I guess I was the nurse this weekend.

The saga of Eddie continues. See post from a few weeks ago about Eddie. Well, Eddie was visited by our vet and she made sure he won't reproduce. We had to watch him and make sure he was doing ok and by day 3 he wasn't looking too good. Evidently he healed too quickly and the blood wasn't draining properly.

So the vet came back and fixed Eddie up - Mike is not squeamish but even he wiggled a bit while telling me the story.

Eddie is fine but he is getting penicillin, pain relief and vitamin B shots twice a day. I hold Eddie while Mike does the 3 shots. The penicillin is the hardest as it's a lot. It's kind of funny to see him getting the shots ready twice a day. Eddie is now happy and he still follows us around almost like a dog. I think it was a good call to keep him.

Fall on the Farm

The farm is in full color this week.

We had our first frost last night so all the sensitive plants died. Basil, squash, tomato leaves and other summer herbs.

I'm finally in the mood for winter squash, pumpkin pie and baking and stews and making cheese......

The CSA is over and daylight is over. The only time I see what's left of the garden is on the weekend. Next up-- purge and clean the house......

Our First CSA BABY!!!

No, this is not MY baby but she is just so darn cute I immediately asked for permission from her father to post this picture. I did get to hold her and walk her around the garden on Sunday while her CSA parents picked some raspberries. Her mother did eat our CSA veggies and our meat while she was getting big enough to join us on the outside so I did my part in helping her grow.

Now if she turns out to be a genius- then it will be because of the high Omega 3 content of our food and nothing to do with her parents genetics (she has very smart parents...).

She is surrounded by week 19 or 20 squash/pumpkin selection in case you were wondering how much squash our folks got each week these last weeks.

With this post, our 2010 CSA season is complete. What a wonderful way to end!

River Cottage: Healthy Chicken?

Eddie the ram lamb

Eddie was born to a mother with mastitis and who was going to die. Momma held on for 3 weeks and barely ate a thing all three weeks. All 3 baby lambs had to be bottle fed. 2 girl lambs and 1 boy ram who we named Eddie. Bad call in giving him a name. Our son bottle fed him and Eddie became a pet. Momma and all 3 babies lived. Picture above is son with Eddie.

Fast forward to last Sunday. Eddie was in the round up to go to the butcher. We considered keeping him as a castrated lamb but that would mean having a vet come over and pay $150 to castrate the guy because we didn't do it when he was young (Alina -- you are not allowed to ask questions-- I'll explain when I likely see you in November). So I said "mike are you sure you can 'process' Eddie'. Mike says ' he looks great- of course'.

So the rams are rounded up Sunday night and Mike is ready to load then into the trailer early Monday AM- 6;45am ish. Our son sees the rams through our bedroom window and sees Mike ready to put them in the trailer. He says- Mommy - isn't that Eddie? Is Eddie going to the butcher? gulp- ahhhhh. Yes son, Eddie is out there and ready to go to the butcher.

Visualize son instantly tearing up and starting to cry. "Can't we keep Eddie?". Oh son, Eddie is just a ram lamb. More tears from son- but Eddie needs to live with us forever- we can't eat Eddie.

Oh gosh son-- if you feel bad you better go tell your father- and quickly.

Son gets himself composed (8 years old) and puts shoes on and goes out to Mike and says "daddy- can we please keep Eddie?"

At this point I'll call it the Pat Conroy father moment. If Mike says no way- Eddie is going to the butcher, our son will grow up and write a book about Mike and how he made Mike kill the ram he bottle fed. I am watching this dialogue take place from my bedroom window. I'm cheering for son and father. Father Mike says-- "no son, he needs to go". Son tears up again against his will. Father Mike says-- son, are you upset? Son gulps and in as loud as a voice as he can musters "yes daddy- I want to keep him, we can't send Eddie to the butcher". Father Mike pauses and the Pat Conroy moment flashes. Ok son, Eddie will stay with us.

Father realized it's the best $150 he'll spend in his life- son is happy because in his own words " oh mommy- I just couldn't know I was eating Eddie. Now that mean rooster Joe I could eat- but Eddie, no way".

Still no vegetarians in our family --- but who knows-- some day.

Squash!!!

Again, another lame picture post. I am so proud of all my squash and pumpkins growing that I had to share it. It's blurry because its already dark when I get home so I didn't stand still enough for the shot. CSA members should have squash to last them till at least December if they took all that was offered the last few weeks. I could not have done it without the help of CSA members. They helped mulch the areas and weed and that's why it was such a success. 4 people working for 3 hours instead of 1 person really makes a difference!

Those big round green things are gourds. If pumpkins fail- gourds always grow so they are a great backup- so now I've got gourds! I grew bottleneck gourds and 'bowl gourds'. Evidently I can let it dry out and make a bowl! Hubby again thinks I'm crazy....but what else is new?

Next post.... Eddie's stay of execution... a heart wrenching story- get your kleenex ready.

Last Minute Meal

I'm a good baker and a good canner-- not always the best at combining flavors for a meal though and so for that I try to stick to a recipe. However when I have an idea-- I just go for it (imagine husband cringing).

Beets were a bust for me in the garden this year. I didn't weed them well enough and they got lost- several times over. However the other day I was walking through overgrown lettuce and what did I see? 4 beets! Not enough to put in the CSA but enough for an impromptu dinner.

Now I was at a cool restaurant and they served beets with goat cheese on top. So I figured how hard can that be to make?

he-he... well beets take a while to boil but once they are done the skins slip off and they slice nicely.

At the restaurant I think the goat cheese was covered in bread crumbs or something and then fried lightly. No problem I thought. However we had no bread-- ok we had old pita bread but that wasn't going to work so I saw these mustard flavored pretzel bits and thought- that will work! So I chopped them in the mini cuisinart and then fried them up in some oil. Now the pretzels didn't stick so well to the cheese so the crumbs started frying off the cheese. I said oh well and put the cheese on top of the slices of beets and enjoyed my meal.

I offered some to hubby when he got home 15 minutes later but he declined which was fine with me! I guess the only one who likes my impromptu meals is me...

The October Update

I love these bronze turkeys. If you have not ordered one- do so now as they will run out- I can't tell you how many calls we get the week before T-day. They will be gone by Nov 1. Whenever I go out to see they turkeys, they try to impress me with their strutting around. I gobble-- and they gobble back (for a few more weeks that is....)

The pumpkin patch. It did ok and I fought away enough of the powdery mildew to get a semi decent crop.

Ring of fire peppers! Lots and lots of peppers this year.

Flowers and Squash

My Dahlia's are in bloom!!! Those who know my dahlia stories will understand. I've been trying to grow these flowers for 2 years.

The squash is also in season. Though I'm not eating any yet---just storing it.

We have some whole hog sausage and pork chops left- but not too many- so get your order in now. We also still have beef for sale. We made a roast yesterday and we all declared this round of beef the best ever. OMG as my kids would text.

Last but not least we have turkeys for sale now and again in 2 weeks. We have 25 left to sell- that's it. First come first serve. They will need to be frozen as they'll be too big at T-day time, unless you really want a 40lb turkey. If you want to know about the whole fresh vs frozen turkey deal-- read posting from a few weeks ago. Fresh or frozen-- pastured turkeys are fabulous. I'm keeping 10 turkeys for myself- if that's any indication about how good they are. We sold too many last year and didn't keep enough for us- bad move on my part. I am correcting myself this year. And the price is $75 flat price per turkey. I wouldn't have gone as low as $75/turkey but Mike made the sales call and I've got to live with it now- so get them now before I take that posting down and raise the price!