Hock Talk

As we all hoped (and most secretly knew), things have indeed taken a turn for the better here. Thanks everyone for your words of consolation and encouragement alike. We DID in fact take that elusive weekend off to spend in Burlington visiting friends, seeing Wilco, and "sleeping in" for two unprecedented mornings in a row!!! We are way less stressed I think mainly because we don't have to worry about what will happen when we take a weekend off. All the animals were fine. Our dear friends Blake and Brittany were able to take lots of naps in our tent but also hold down the fort for us, which was a huge sigh of relief.

The pig processing is all done. As I was unloading the 600 pounds of meat into the freezer today, I thought about the past week of slaughter and butchering and how I developed an intense fascination watching the guy with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth skin and break down each pig, one by one. It was a solemn experience to watch our pigs go. I have so much respect for them and the whole process and the gravity of eating animals, and I hope to learn more about the process in the future. Joe (our man on the job) did an extremely professional job, was happy to share what he was doing as he went step by step and gave us options regarding how we wanted them broken down. We shaved 50+ pounds of back fat and leaf fat (the most desirable to render into lard, which Sam has done already) right then and there and while he didn't save us *every* part of the animal, he wasted very little. I hope to learn more about the whole process in the near future. On principle I have always wanted to "use every part of the animal" like elementary school teachers taught us that the Native Americans did, but obviously this is impossible in practice unless you yourself are slaughtering and butchering the animal with skill and knowledge. This feeling has intensified having developed a relationship with the pigs. Between all the animals we have raised this season, I now feel like the meat I or my friends raise is an entirely different food/product than one that comes in the supermarket. ENTIRELY. I don't know how to explain it exactly but between the economics, the environmental impact, animal welfare, and human nutrition, I don't know if I'll be able to look at store bought meat ever again. Having been a vegetarian for a few years I don't think I would have understood this entirely back then. When I lived in Burlington I would often bike past an SUV parked on North Winooski with a bumper sticker that read "meat eating environmentalist is an oxymoron." Irony aside, I highly recommend you examine this further if you might align closer to that statement. Not to say vegetarianism isn't a great option for embodying environmental stewardship in one way. but animals and plant live symbiotically and can similarly be raised and eaten by humans symbiotically and in harmony with nature.

everything* on this plate is from our backyard! grilled zucchini & onions; salad greens & cucumbers; pasture raised chicken seasoned with garlic, onions, & parsley. *[if only olive oil was local. oh, and if only we mined salt. and grew lots of pepper for black peppercorns.] so simple and yet so delicious: we don't need [or want] high fructose corn syrup-based marinades or dressings because every ingredient is packed with fresh flavor.

This week as the circle of life continues we received a shipment of more chickens and another of more turkeys, both happily chirping away in their respective brooders.

Vegetably speaking, however, we have been on the more negligent side of things. Let's not even talk about the weeds, but let's just say "we're getting to them eventually," and every farmer ever is and always was in the same place as us except for those crazy awesome people who have completely weeded out their weed seed bank in their fields and never have to weed ever but they are the only exception. Some transplants have been suffering in their trays due to too-high temps and our inability to have a nice nutrient rich and weed free spot for them in our fields. Yet due to the amazing resilience of plants we are getting good yields, even lots of cucumbers from plants almost completely destroyed by cucumber beetles. With a surplus of veggies comes PICKLING. I've always loved to eat 'em, and now I love to can 'em. Today we made bread & butter chips and dilly beans. We also started lactofermenting whole cucumbers to become sour pickles just like the ones I grew up eating at Rein's deli in Vernon, CT. Nothing better than that sourpuss face you have to make after biting into one.

So that's about it for now, I asked Sam what else I should write in this and he said to tell people to come to the St. Albans farmers' market. I couldn't agree with him more!!! Y'all should definitely come check out our awesome stand and do some shopping for the week: raw/vegan flax crackers, grass fed beef, puerto rican food, local wine, and more potholders than you can shake a stick at are all part of our little community there in Taylor Park.

Leaf lardily yours,
FRF