The Joy of Seasonal Eating

Alright, I will admit it…at one time in my life, I bought strawberries out of season, and Chilean grapes in the dead of winter. We even drove to C’ville in hopes that a salad with a tomato in February (or March) would actually taste like those items should. Wrong!

The out of season food purchases of long ago only served to make us more committed to learning about seasonal eating, to put up what we could, and be much more creative with our food choices.

Here in the Valley of the Shenandoah, we just can’t have some food items year ‘round. For that matter, there are some food items that we just cannot produce. This is not a problem unless you are completely committed to “LOCAL”. If that’s the case, you are going to have serious eating issues! Personally, I have some “issues” with this “issue”, so you can be certain I will revisit “LOCAL” at some point in time.

The rhythm of the seasons is marked by the availability of different crops. The anticipation of these crops grow as the crops mature. It is always exciting to see the first tiny vegetables forming on the plants. Once the craving for this crop is satisfied, it is time for the next in the cycle. Early asparagus gives way to broccoli which in turn gives way to green beans, and then dark leafy greens before broccoli makes a return appearance in the fall.

While we put up a good deal of our own food for winter eating, and now offer it for sale to our “winter sales group”, nothing matches the taste sensation of the first meal of any one vegetable crop. The same can be said for fruits, although their goodness is more sporadic through the year.


The first strawberry, stolen from the patch while mowing, (yes, I did see that, TOM!)

is so tantalizingly sweet and tart…it calls us back for another and another. By then end of the short berry season, we have eaten our fill, put up loads for winter, and are actually glad to see the end of the ruby red berries.














Presently, we are just beginning to harvest the squash.
We have an annual debate as to what is better, yellow squash, green beans, or sliced tomatoes. We have never been able to declare one vegetable as the clear winner. Each one has its distinct appeal.

While a lot of folks find that the zucchini overtake the garden, the refrigerator, and possibly their lives, we just love it!

We can’t supply enough for our Market customers at times. The golden zucchini is particularly popular.

A sidenote: if a zucchini can be hollowed out to use for a canoe…it is TOO large for human consumption! As with most vegetables, it is best on the small side. Then it can be sautéed, boiled, fried, put in sauce, salad, soup, breads, muffins, cookies, pancakes. There is SO much you can do with it. I really hate to see it go in the fall.

It will still be a while before the tomatoes are ready for harvest.

There is no way to re-create biting into a juicy tomato fresh off the vine on a hot summer day. Tomatoes that make it to the grocery store must travel incredibly long distances, and they are bred for durability, not taste. You are better off to wait until summer, even though the time from tomato harvest to tomato harvest does seem interminable in the midst of the winter.

I guess what I am trying to say here is…enjoy what is in season at the moment, make the most of it, and savor it! The anticipation of the upcoming crop is part of what adds to the enjoyment of it. …and there is ALWAYS something delicious to look forward to!

Did I hear someone mention GREEN BEANS?

Totally UN-Cool

This morning, I went to the freezer to grab a chicken for supper…when I realized… “something is NOT right here!” The stuff at the top of the freezer was NOT cold…the freezer was not cold…the ice that builds up around the edges was sliding down the sides. HELP! I alerted Tom to the situation and we began frantically transferring everything to another freezer. (I was frantic….Tom was calm and cool)



Thankfully, we have a whole bank of freezers…six, to be exact. Before you start thinking this is excessive for TWO people, please let me explain. We need a freezer for chickens, one for lamb, one for beef, two for veggies and fruits (these are for winter sales)…and one for the odd and random thing that my "inner hoarder" cannot bear to waste. In reality, we could probably get by with five, but…

This week we will be processing broilers and that will take up the majority of one freezer. Thankfully, since they are selling so amazingly well, that freezer was empty and we just dumped everything in there. We didn’t lose much…some cookies and some bread had thawed; the chickens will enjoy those.

We are also supposed to pick up the first processed lambs of the season. Since these guys were big…really big…they will need their own freezer. Currently, it is full of strawberries for winter sales. Looks like freezer re-organization is at the top of my list this week!

Since the freezers are somewhat geriatric, Tom’s first assumption was that the compressor was burnt out. To replace the compressor is just as costly as buying a new freezer, and nowhere near as easy, so we debated on the way to town what we should do. Get a new freezer? Repair the freezer? Such a dilemma!


By the time we finished our errands, the overheated freezer had cooled down. He plugged it in. IT STARTED! YAY! After about 2 seconds…it quit. BOO! The decision was made. New freezer!

After some sticker shock at Lowes, and a lengthy discussion concerning freezer type, we decided to stick with the same old thing. Lo and behold, it was on sale! Things were looking up.

Long story short….bought freezer, loaded freezer, unloaded freezer, plugged it in, it’s good to go. YAY! We’re gonna need it this week with all those chickens and all that lamb. …did I mention that the green bean crop is ready, too?

Closer examination revealed it was not the compressor, but a burned out controller. The part can be had on-line for under $50. Hmmm….. Tom ordered the part, and if it corrects the problem, we will then have an “emergency back-up” freezer. (Tom feels much safer with an “emergency back-up” whatever….”always prepared”…ya know…once a boy scout always a boy scout, I guess)


After a completely UN-cool start to the day....now, we're chillin'!

Black Snakes ALWAYS Make Me Scream

This morning when Tom moved the broiler pen, he uncovered a black snake that had slithered in under the pen, looking for an overnight shelter. As Tom was concentrating on the broilers, he didn’t see the snake..

The broilers are quite close to the ram paddock at present, and the hose used for watering is available to both species.

When I went to grab the black HOSE, I realized it was a black SNAKE! "AAAAAAAAH!"

“What?” He still hadn’t seen the snake. I pointed…he laughed.







I am not afraid of snakes; it is the unexpectedness of their appearance that makes me scream. We have seen one dangling from the tree in the backyard, several slithering through the barn, and another scooting through the hay. Every time I have screamed…and every time he has laughed at me. Thankfully, the girls never shared my reaction. Yep, that's B....circa 1997.

Black snakes are just a fact of life around the farm. They are good at keeping the population of small rodents under control. Although the larger ones have been known to eat a few eggs, for the most part they don’t do anything bad around the place. They are not poisonous like rattlers or copperheads. They won’t strangle or squeeze like boas or anacondas. Most of the time, we don’t even know they are around.


But,the sudden awareness of their existence gets me every time. "AAAAAAAH!"

It's all in a Name

Tom and I took lambs to the processor's yesterday. Processor is another word for butcher…one that is slightly less disturbing to the customers. Depending on which one of our customers you talked to…you would either get a “oh, poor lambies!” or a “oh goodie, goodie! Can’t wait for lambchops!”

That made me think about the term “lamb”. The word lamb makes one think of little Bo-Peep and Mary had a little lamb. Cute, woolly, lovable lambs.
Like George…

Don’t worry, George didn’t grace anyone’s dinner table. George died of natural causes. In some ways, this was far worse. But, that is a story for another time.

When the lambs go off to the processor, they are not cute and cuddly. They are well over 100 pounds of muscle and wool. They have long since passed the “cute” stage. They are big, cantankerous, eating machines. They are not interested in being friendly;


their attitude says “ just give me the food and get out of the way, woman!”

For the record, sheep aren’t even nice to pet. Their wool is like greasy steel wool, and the lanolin in it sticks with you for a long time after handling them. No, they wouldn’t make good pets. It is their place, their destiny, if you will, to end up on a dinner plate somewhere.

It occurred to me that we don’t refer to a lot of our other meat choices by the animal name. For instance, you don’t go get a cow burger…it’s ground beef. Baby cow or calf never makes it to a menu…it’s veal. Goat sounds exotic when it’s called chevon. Pig meat is pork.

It seems there should be another word to use for this type of meat. Don’t try to use the term “mutton”…that means OLD sheep meat, and believe me, it’s not comparable to our lamb products…not by a longshot! If you’re wondering, mutton tastes like tough, soapy beef with hard bits of lanolin-tasting fat in it. Blech!

I just read an article about a farmer trying to find another name for "horsemeat” as the term is alienating customers when they consider eating the noble beast. It bothers some folks to think that anyone would eat a HORSE,despite the fact that it is perfectly acceptable in many areas of the world. That seems to be the problem on occasion with lamb. The mental image is a definite obstacle. Guess it really is a matter of semantics. There must be a better word choice, there just must be! This may need some serious consideration.

In the meantime, our more carnivorous customers will enjoy lamb in its many forms. Chops, roasts, sausage, ground, and shanks all made my list for the butcher. If everything goes according to plan, we should be fully stocked with lamb for the Market by July 1st.


Oh, now I can’t wait for those **chops! We'll just concentrate on enjoying them...maybe a new name for marketing purposes will occur to us after a meal.

Rain is a GOOD Thing!

When Luke Bryan released his song “Rain is a Good Thing”, J told B, “hey, there’s a song about your dad!” B listened to the lyrics…My daddy spent his life lookin' up at the sky. He'd cuss, kick the dust, sayin' son it's way too dry! She laughed and said….”NOPE….That’s my MOM!” (EVERYONE knows Tom is the steady one.) The weather definitely affects my outlook on life. Having gone through a drought where we didn’t receive ANY precipitation for well over 12 weeks, I am always edgy when hot, dry weather becomes the norm. (even when it's a relatively short period of time)

Last night we had over an inch-and-a-half of rain! Thank the Lord!


We had not had measurable rainfall in quite some time. Up until now, June had been dry, very dry. We were trying not to covet the rain that neighboring communities reported. We were trying not to take part in the ongoing talk concerning the lack of rain and the dire state of affairs if we didn’t get some SOON. We were trying not to mention the lack of precipitation to one another. We were trying NOT to worry. For despite Tom's outward calm, hot weather and the possibility of the "d" word (drought) gets to him, too.

You know it’s dry when the zucchini plants just sit there…no overnight growth, they were just surviving. The sheep were panting, the chickens were holding their wings out…hoping to get cooler. The lack of rain was almost unbearable when coupled with a string of ninety degree days. It was great haymaking weather, and we are glad for that. There’s a load of hay in the barn, and another we need to go and pick up.

Rain is completely out of our control and we accept that. Although, sometimes, it’s a little hard not to freak out when it’s either to wet or too dry. When it’s wet, we just have to wait it out. But, there are always other things to do. When it’s dry, we can irrigate. That helps, but there is nothing like rain from heaven above to make things grow. The rain makes US feel better too! It's as if we can finally breathe again...free from that worry over the crops that is always in the back of our minds.

Today the grass looked greener, the corn seemed measurably taller, and the sheep were WHITE again. It was a beautiful, damp morning. It felt good to do chores and see that things were growing once again.



“Yeah, where I come from, rain is a good thing!”

The Hair of the Dog

This is Jed when we first got him in 2007. AWWWW!



This is Jed last month. EWWWWWW!

Jed is a Great Pyrenees. When we got him, the breeder told us that he had French genetics that made him double coated and that was a desirable thing to have in a Pyr. Genetics didn’t really matter, he was cute and fuzzy and we hoped he would grow up to protect the sheep from harm.

Despite the fact that our neighbor thinks Jed is a “magnificent animal”, he does live outside, his double coat gets matted and dirty, and he generally looks a sight. He is supposed to be a “working dog”, so grooming is not a top priority. The first summer we tried to keep up with the brushing. We brushed and brushed and brushed. Huge piles of white, woolly fur looked like clouds in the yard. Hair was everywhere. That was not a good solution!

We gave him a haircut the next summer. He absolutely hated it, and looked awful afterward. But, he was cool and eventually his fur grew out and he looked somewhat acceptable again.

Last summer, being what last summer was, Jed didn’t get combed, brushed, or clipped. He and Ellie Mae got fed, and that’s about it. When I took him to the vet for some routine visit in the winter, I was made to feel like a “bad dog mother” because he had mats in his fur with burdock seeds in them. An aside here, did you know that the inventor of Velcro got the idea from burdock seeds stuck in his dog’s fur?

As the summer gets hotter, Jed seems more miserable with his furry coat. He also needs his rabies booster, and I’m reluctant to take him to the vet looking like he does.

So….today is the day! The sheep shears are going to do DOG duty!

We (read, I) approached the job with some trepidation. Jed is a complete chicken, or scaredy-cat…can a dog be either one of those? Loud noises terrify him. He has been known to squeeze his entire 100 pound frame into the house through a narrowly opened door to escape the sound of thunder. He doesn’t like to have his tail touched, and forget about getting anywhere near his feet!

Tom thought that by putting Jed on the sheep shearing stand, things might go a little smoother than when we tried to clip him on the ground.
He fought and growled and tried to bite us. He was not at all cooperative that time.

Up on the sheep stand, Jed had to stand still while Tom ran the shears. The noise frightened Jed, so Tom eventually resorted to scissors. While he turned out just a little lumpy, he seems much more comfortable…and not quite as embarrassed as last time.



We got almost as much fur off him as we get wool from a sheep. While I know there are some folks who spin Great Pyrenees fiber, I think we’ll skip that project.





Job well done, Tom!




Jed seems to think his new "hairless" look is MAH-velous!

Hen-pecked

Last week, we took a trip to H’burg to pick up some “ready-to-lay” pullets. This was the final attempt to correct a long-standing egg production problem.

The old hens haven’t been laying well since winter. This is not because we haven’t tried to improve the situation. We changed housing location and feed. We tried every natural remedy we could. We threatened their lives repeatedly. The last resort was to replace the whole bunch with new birds and begin again.

The new pullets came from a hatchery in H’burg. Generally, we raise our own, but we didn’t want to wait the 18 to 22 weeks it takes for a chick to grow to the point where she can lay eggs. The new girls were supposed to be 17 ½ weeks when we picked them up. That means egg production should begin in the very near future.

The trip to pick them up was uneventful. The picking up/purchase of them was uneventful…once the proprietor remembered who we were. (that was a little unsettling) The ride home and settling in the barn was uneventful.

We waited until nightfall to put them in with the other young hens. By working with poultry in the dark, you deal with them when they are somewhat sleepy and much calmer. We clipped a wing on each bird (that keeps them from flying) and put them in the mobile henhouse. Okay, girls….grow up and lay some eggs!

The next morning, the adjustment began. You have heard the term pecking order, no doubt. That refers to how those of higher status pick on those of lower status in order to maintain their own standing. The way this plays out in the chicken yard is like this….pullet eats hen’s food…PECK! Pullet looks at hen….PECK! Pullet walks past hen….PECK! Pullet just exists…PECK! PECK! PECK! Well, you get the idea. Each time a pullet is pecked a loud shriek follows. (that’s the pullet complaining)


The amount of pecking and shrieking that went on was unbelievable. By nightfall, things had calmed down somewhat. The pullets found safety and comfort far away from the hens. They chose to bed down for the night UNDER the henhouse!

Now, it was rather expected that some of them would do this. But, we didn’t count on the fact that the hens were going to be so territorial and the pullets were going to be so….well, chicken!

Out into the dark we went. Tom got his big net, and I worked on grabbing chickens. After some hassling around, they were all secured for the night. The henhouse moved to a location where the pullets could not get under it.

The following day, the pecking began again. It did not have the same intensity as before. But, the pullets were still not “allowed” to eat along with the hens. PECK! Occasionally, a pullet would be minding her own business and some cranky hen would just walk up and PECK! I suppose this was to keep the new girls in line.


We’re finally a week into this project. The pecking order has been established. An un-easy truce has been established. Now, we just have to wait for the eggs to start coming. If we could only hen-peck them into compliance on that one!