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Archive for January, 2010

Dark Days, Week 11

Posted in Eat Local Challenge on January 29, 2010 | 9 Comments »

Bean carnage
Let’s just say our meal this week is terribly…beany.
Gosh, I think I have even posted about beans, what, twice before for this challenge?  Three times, maybe?  We do love our beans, it is true; probably one dinner a week is Beans.  That leaves six other meals per week that I could choose from that [...]

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On the hidden costs of cheesemaking

Posted in food, soapbox, sweat on January 27, 2010 | 25 Comments »

Last week’s (top) and this week’s yogurt made from our milk share
Over the years my husband and I have had a bit of a tussle over finances.  This of course is the typical marital story.  Defining our particular story is my yen to DIY, and almost every little project I undertake, financially, has a big [...]

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Goat coat!

Posted in dairy goats on January 26, 2010 | 10 Comments »

Farmyard fashion.  Caprine couture.  Goat glam.  Dairy duds.  Ruminators’ raiment.  You get it.

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On getting one’s (pregnant) goat

Posted in dairy goats on January 25, 2010 | 19 Comments »

Forever, it seems, I have wanted to own a couple of goats.  I have always considered them singular creatures, intelligent and goofy at the same time, regal and clown-ish.  Dairy goats figure in quite well with small farms like ours, too.  Their needs are few yet their byproducts are many (bedding for the compost, milk [...]

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On January gardening

Posted in greenhouses, seeds on January 22, 2010 | 10 Comments »

It was another sunny day yesterday, which prompted me to spend my lunch hour in the greenhouses.
Normally, the greenhouses require zero active gardening attention between December and February.  This is a time of harvests only; it’s rather freeing, I must say.  But December through February, in this hemisphere, are when a gardener misses gardening most!  [...]

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Dark days, Week 10

Posted in Eat Local Challenge on January 20, 2010 | 15 Comments »

I’m cheating this week by showing you something I made for dinner last week.
Oxtails:  The majority of Americans just have never eaten them, despite their high overall beef consumption. As a newly-returned carnivore, I was shocked by how much meat cost, even the “cheap” cuts of meat!  Sixteen years of not having a “meat tax” [...]

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On winter squash…in winter

Posted in food, school garden, seeds on January 18, 2010 | 13 Comments »

Congratulations!  8lb, 1oz and 18 1/2″ long…pink banana squash!
One astute commenter noted that my family’s probably not hurting for Vitamin A in our diets, what with the monster winter squash harvest this year.  And it’s true, we’re awash in the things.  It’s okay, really it is, especially since the school garden’s squash patch was a [...]

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On the other reason to get a greenhouse

Posted in dairy goats, greenhouses on January 15, 2010 | 15 Comments »

World events can rock you pretty hard, but surprisingly so can little things like crummy weather.  I’m telling you:  weeks of snow and no sunshine can mess with even stalwart seasonal affective disorder naysayers like me.  All that bright snow outdoors, which otherwise perks up the darkest day, can wear you down!
Enter, sunshine.  Time to [...]

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Dark days, week 9

Posted in Eat Local Challenge on January 13, 2010 | 19 Comments »

Throughout this Dark Days challenge, I never go into each week thinking:  Tonight’s dinner is IT!  Time to post! Nope; it’s more like, what’s photogenic? I have, quite honestly, tried very hard not to show off for this challenge.  No real food pyrotechnics or frankly anything terribly difficult for someone with less-than-average kitchen skillz; what’s [...]

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On sprouts

Posted in food, seeds on January 11, 2010 | 11 Comments »

Alfalfa sprouts
I’m making edible sprouts again:  it must be snowy outside.
Everything we eat here has a season.  With the exception of frozen meat* and the seemingly unending jars of tomatoes, every other food item has an on and an off period…everything has its season.  Lettuce cannot be found from mid-July to the beginning of September.  [...]

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Dark days, Week 8

Posted in Eat Local Challenge on January 9, 2010 | 10 Comments »

Today we put our muscles into our dinner!  This dinner illustrates three things:  one, how to feed a family of 3 on one little chicken breast; two, how delicious a non-rice pilaf can be, and three, how sometimes it’s too cold to go outside to fetch a salad.  Thus, the pantry/freezer meal.
She’s wondering if she [...]

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On the egg onslaught

Posted in chickens, etc. on January 7, 2010 | 17 Comments »

“She’s set it down, but it’s not food!” Disappointing Blanche, Nice Rose and Emilie just for a photo
So we passed something of a farm record last Friday:  one dozen eggs in one day.
Then, the next day, we got 13.  The next, 15.  Holy frittati!
This surprises me, though the numbers shouldn’t.  It’s one of those math [...]

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On the weather

Posted in greenhouses, weather on January 5, 2010 | 23 Comments »

They’re 9 1/2 feet tall in the center if you’re wondering about how deep it all is.
When we lived in Minneapolis, weather WAS the common point of conversation.  I am not quite sure why this was:  if it had one cause, say, or many.  Was it because winter weather could KILL you in Minnesota, and [...]

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Dark Days, Week 7

Posted in Eat Local Challenge on January 3, 2010 | 16 Comments »

One thing you need to realize about dinner in this house, ANY dinner, is that it’s a bit of a process.

First, there’s the harvest, then the impromptu semaphore dance with the leeks.

Then, there’s the lengthy discussion about meat or no meat in this dish:  we went with meat.
Then, unseen, the kitchen fairies made pate brisee.  [...]

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On the new year

Posted in seeds on January 1, 2010 | 18 Comments »

New Year, blue moon, new decade (well, okay, technically a new decade begins a year from today)…I am trying to square the idea that “it’s all new.”  Have you ever awakened from a nap and have had no clue what year it is, much less the time of day?  I swear I have these Rip [...]

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