I think we managed to pick out our best tree ever. It's a beautiful spruce from a tree farm in Spalding, Mich., which is practically Canada. Not exactly local. Oh well.
We hauled it in from the sleet this afternoon, let it dry out a bit, then decorated it this evening. It's the first time we've been able to really enjoy trimming the tree with the kids, using the good ornaments and trusting them to hang them on their own.
What great fun.
My favorite part is talking about our ornaments as we unpack them. We often choose ornaments as souvenirs when we travel. And we have loads of ornaments from loved ones. So each one is wrapped in its own set of stories to share. This is the first year that the stories resonated with both kids.
My Christmas village is also up...I just know I'm going to be one of those old ladies with a house in which every horizontal surface is covered in faux snow, ceramic buildings and strings of lights.
Unfortunately, unless I annex another flat surface, I'm limited to what I can fit on my piano.
This is the first year I've ever purchased a piece. All the other buildings in my village were gifts or passed down. But, I couldn't resist snagging the Daily Gazette today. After all, it just wouldn't be a village without a daily newspaper. What else would hold the community together?
I don't like turkey. I'll eat it, but I don't particularly care for it.
I've even made it before and am getting better at seasoning the bird. I mainly endure it during the holidays when it's served, then dream up as many ways of doing leftovers that I can think of to drown out the taste: enchiladas; grilled Cuban sandwiches; turkey pot pies and, this year, turkey chilaquiles.
All that turkey bashing aside...I do have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the deep fried turkey experience on Thanksgiving Day.
I love how the 4H Champ decided to step outside of the oven turkey box and deep fry the bird. The skin was fantastic.
And I was particularly happy with the pumpkin pie surprise made in the cast iron skillet.
We had a lovely time at all three of our Thanksgiving feasts. Next year though...we may scale back a bit. We were exhausted by day three and more than eager to get home sweet home.
I certainly agree with this statement in the piece: "Reinvigorating local economies is central to maintaining prosperity in our communities."
But I don't agree with this: "Indeed, the recent explosion of popularity for public markets and farmers markets is a sure sign of people’s understanding that security depends on regaining control of their lives, communities and local economies."
I think the trend is just that at this point, a trend. Sure, there's been a farmers market boom and more and more people are buying local and signing up for CSAs. But it's still just the beginning. There's not yet been a tipping point in which a large segment of the public really understands that their security hinges on reinvigorating a local food supply.
As much as I'd like that to be true, we're just not there yet.
And the best part? There is no way I'm going to bust up this pie dish.
After breaking at least three glass and ceramic pie plates and either losing or damaging my supposedly sturdy metal ones over the last five years, I hesitated to drop any more cash.
So I started rummaging around for a substitute. There it was, hanging right on my wall...a cast iron skillet.
I just pressed the dough in the bottom of the pan, added the filling and baked as normal.
Turned out pretty good. The crust was excellent, except for the middle...which was a little mushy. I'll have to figure out how to get that part cooked through when I do the pumpkin pie surprise for Thursday.
Finally have my feet up after two days of running around, grocery shopping and menu planning. It's really not so much menu planning as it is food transport since we'll be at three pitch-in Thanksgiving meals in as many days.
I pretty much have it all scheduled out, ingredients purchased and travel dishes at the ready. But I came to one startling realization in the process.
I don't have a pie plate. Can you believe it? Not one freaking pie dish in this whole house. I've managed to break ALL of them over the years, often on the way home from a gathering.
I'm not going to be satisfied with a tin pan I saved for craft projects...so that means one more trip to the store before pie-making commences on Wednesday.
So do these Habelman Bros. berries go the distance? Absolutely. Indeed, they're likely the same berries you see under the Ocean Spray label.
Yum. Good news too, because I just picked up two more bags at Ultra...which, BTW, is just loaded with locally-produced products: including candies from Albanese in St. John. I picked those up for travel treats. Double yum.
My earlier attempt at making Esther's yeast rolls has failed miserably. Doesn't help that there is no way the recipe proportions I have are correct. Oh well. I'll have to compare recipe notes with cousins before I try that again.
The kids and the iFarmer had better kitchen success while I was shopping. They whipped up a delicious batch of peanut butter balls.
Amazingly, I can still see the countertops. Helps to clean as you go.
Mine haven't. But it's really only a matter of time.
I've mapped out a place in the backyard for a chicken house and a run. But I'm not in any big hurry.
My neighbors may beat me to it. Seems like backyard birds are all the rage.
Thanks to a good friend, a New Haven backyard chicken enthusiast, I learned about this story on LoHud.com about how New York suburbia has embraced the backyard bird craze.
Check out this video...which includes a sweet take on 13-year-old Future Farmgirl Clara Zander, who's been raising and breeding chickens and other poultry since she was 8.
Her parents let her start with 6...now she has more than 50. Wow. At least I don't have to worry about that in our backyard. Not quite enough room for a full flock.
A colleague sent me this video made by a woman about her mother, a Chicago-area farmer and food activist: Debbie Hillman.
It's a sweet little documentary and mommy tribute. Only takes about five minutes to watch. And if you like it, you can vote for it and help the filmmaker Saya and her mom win 10 grand.
Checked out this story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about a hog farmer who is spreading the gospel of "natural farming."
What does he mean by that?
Well, with a growing demand for humanely raised and slaughtered animals, Russ Kremer has come up with a model via Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative and Heritage Acres. The PD notes: Over the last decade, Kremer has become an evangelist for raising animals outdoors, with fresh air, room to root and run, and without antibiotics. In the process, he has persuaded other farmers to go the same route, helping to create — and feed — a growing appetite for meat raised humanely and largely without drugs.
Good for Kremer and for those who have the benefit of his farm's bounty.
I love how Kremer got into this whole back-to-nature, sustainability business when a wound of his wouldn't heal and he learned about antibiotic resistance. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade.
I've been looking for a good UFO post since I noticed a dramatic uptick in traffic on VFG (for me anyway).
The draw? A while back, I posted a note about a UFO seen over Kokomo, Ind. Apparently there was a program on HBO recently, UFO Hunters, and I'm getting a bunch of Google referrals because of the interest in the show.
Anywho...while looking for a related farming post, I found this video piece from the New Jersey Star-Ledger about how "crop circles" are no mystery for some farmers. Apparently, during the fall, bears will plow down corn stocks in a circle and feed upon the corn, fattening up for the winter.
Cool. Spoiler Alert. Don't watch the video if you're squeamish about hunting.
Thanks to Glenn Puit for giving me the crop circles idea and the Porno For Pyros version of "Pets" which has an excellent crop circle reference.
So exciting. The schedule is just crammed with great events, including a screening of King Corn on Friday evening. If you haven't seen it, check it out.
I could go any day and get plenty out of the day, so I think we'll just drop by when we can get the kids out the door, though that'll cost more.
If we go later in the day on Saturday, we may (off chance) try to work in some Michigan Ave. Lights Festival activities too.
I received my Carolee's Herb Garden newsletter today and was reminded that as I plan my holiday menus, I also have to decide quick whether to plant bulbs so that I can have some bright surprises when winter has worn on me enough to have me thinking of heading south.
Carolee did have some good tips for keeping the squirrels out of your bulbs. She suggests sprinkling red pepper flakes around the bulb to deter the pesky rodents. She also had a brilliant idea of planing daffodils around the more succulent bulbs as a diversion. Apparently squirrels don't much care for daffodils.
Anyhow, I guess I need to buy this weekend if I'm going to plant. Thanks to Urban Dweller, I have a bulb planter so it'll be easy to turn the soil.
Bob Trzeciak, a 51-year-old who has 9 hens and a rooster in a backyard chicken house he built as a child.
No surprise, he got a complaint, even though as Kadner points out, you can hardly hear the chickens over the roar of semi trucks. And there was no odor the day Kadner investigated.
I only speculate that the biggest troublemaker for Trzeciak is his crowing rooster. Most towns, if they allow chickens as pets (and for eggs), draw the line at roosters.
Probably the most disturbing part of Kadner's piece is the claim by Trzeciak that the mayor told him that "if we let you keep chickens, all the Mexicans in the village will want to keep chickens."
Scary.
Ironically, right across the street from Trzeciak, in That Toddlin Tolerant Town of Chicago, chickens (no roosters) are legal.
Will Summit learn some backyard manners from its neighbor?
Scouting around for a farm-related post that would honor our country's veterans, I stumbled across this organization: Farmer-Veteran Coalition.
I love the mission:
...to mobilize our food and farming community to create healthy and viable futures for America’s veterans by enlisting their help in building our green economy, rebuilding our rural communities, and securing a safe and healthy food supply for all.
That's definitely a mission I can support.
The site is actually jammed with resources and links to really good rural life sites. And, of course, there are a bunch of links and resources aimed at veterans looking to re-enter the workforce.
Much of the information isn't geospecific, though the organization's training and direct job links appear to be mostly in California.
I did learn from the site, however, about a very cool project underway in New Hampshire: Veteran Victory Farm. It's a program for homeless vets that is centered around an 80-acre vegetable farm.
Wow. It's amazing what can be achieved with open arms and warm hearts.
I think it must be the turn in the weather, the sight of flurries that has me in a nesting "let's get organized" mood. I've been that way in the office and I'm clearly that way at home too.
I've decided to tackle the basement and the boxes and boxes of inherited memories and mystery containers that have stickers from two house moves ago.
So far I've only managed to transfer what's been hidden downstairs up to the tiny guest room, which is now impassable.
But, in all this shifting, I found a little treasure. Pictured is a honey-colored honeycomb dish.
I would probably never own such a thing, though I've seen them recently in markets catering to the back-to-nature, whole foods set.
This one was given to me by my grandmother. It was actually a gift to my parents, who ran off to Mexico to get married when they were 19. When they found out that not even the Mexican government would allow such a thing, they got hitched in New Mexico, then had a family reception back in Indiana.
I may have the details off...I'll check and correct if need be. Anyway, they were not a couple that, to my grandmother, seemed like they were going to stay put and settle down. So right she was.
This wise woman decided that a breakable wedding gift was probably not a good idea. So she held onto this honey dish and eventually gave it to me. I wasn't even married at the time. Maybe she thought this would nudge me in the right direction.
The film begins with a close encounter with the iconic 50s TV dinner. And it follows the rise of big agriculture and the decline of flavorful (and more nutritious) food, all the while documenting the buy local, return-to-farm fresh movement.
It’s an especially good primer for anyone who hasn’t been closely following these trends and it's a good explanation of why we're seeing seeing labels changing (0g Trans Fats) plus commercials from the high fructose corn syrup industry touting moderation.
I’ll be sure to chain my family and interested friends to their seats and get them to watch it. I'm eager to hear their reactions. I don't think it's easy to see how eating bleached flour, high-fructose infused colas and sugared cereals can be all that bad...even in moderation.
The trouble is, when these overly processed products are everywhere in all of our three squares a day plus snacks, moderation is impossible.
But back to the documentary. It's full of characters. Don't believe me? Talk to me after the carrot segment.
My favorite part is the introduction of Jeremiah Tower and the groundbreaking menu in 1976 when he and Waters showed the foodie trendsetters that the finest foods don’t need to be imported from France.
I like how the film pinpoints these key moments in the development of the buy local movement.
And it's clear to see film creator Taylor has no love for big agriculture hero, "fencepost to fencepost" advocate, Earl Butz (my grandfather’s Purdue classmate).
The film – through Philpott, makes the point that Butz and his policies succeeded in that they drove food costs down. But cheap food has come at a price: poor health and higher healthcare costs.
I thought King Corn played the Butz influence a little straighter, with more context in terms of where the country was financially/nutritionally at the time. Plus, big agriculture isn't the only one to blame for obesity and skyrocketing problems with heart disease and diabetes. What about our sedentary way of life and addiction to television?
It'll be interesting to see if Philpott gets any flack for saying that the politicians that have taken over the committees in the U.S. House and the Senate are “on the payroll” of the large farming interests in their states.
I could have done with less emphasis on the Californians, so I was especially happy to see the segue to Will Allen's Milwaukee and Chicago Growing Power operations. I would have loved to see more on the Cabrini Green Community Garden project, which was spearheaded by Allen’s group and evangelized (and attracted funding) by the late Rev. Dana Ferguson. I would count this garden among her legacies…even though the film fails to make the tie to 4th Church (which started it all as mission work and owns the land) at all.
Taylor wraps up the documentary with a surprisingly moderate viewpoint from Pollan, who says we get three votes a day with our forks.
If just one of those meals is assembled with an eye toward the land, toward supporting sustainable farming, we'll be doing something.
I'm down with that. He's got my vote. Food Fight had its first screening Saturday afternoon at Mann Chinese 6 on Hollywood Blvd. Check back on the Food Fight page or become a fan of the film on Facebook to find out about listings/future show times in your area. I'm pulling for a Chicago/Milwaukee screening since there's a strong tie to the film in this region too.
It's an interesting emergency food storage resource site. It's chock full of ideas for literally shelving and keeping the food you need at the ready.
Plus the site is super cute, with a clean design (no surprise one of the mommy bloggers at FSME is a web designer).
I've been through the site and I'm still not sure I find food storage -- canning and root cellars -- particularly easy. But I like that others are out there doing some of the leg work for me.
Anyone who doesn't live in California or Florida who has become addicted to local, fresh food from farmers markets, dreads November and the bitter cold, barren months ahead.
In the Midwest, if you don't have a plan for saving food through the winter or have a CSA that will deliver root veggies until Spring, you're SOL and beholden to shipped produce and fresh foods from the coasts and other foreign destinations.
Smart urban farmgirls learn how to can their veggies and fruits. And even smarter ones have figured out how to turn a part of their houses into root cellars. Remember those?
My grandparents' basement at The Farm was no fun during a tornado. But it was perfect for storing veggies. My grandmother's basement shelves were stocked full of canned tomatoes, green beans and apples.
So how do you replicate a perfect 55-degree environment in the city? Turns out, some cellars are better than others.
Check out this story today in the New York Times featuring a Harlem couple who are stocking their brownstone's basement with CSA provisions for themselves and neighbors.
Closer to home Vital Information has information about storing food in an urban Chicago neighborhood. See VI's storage label.
As for VFG...no dice on using our basement as a root cellar. Our boiler is in the basement. The water pipes and radiators keep the basement nice, dry and toasty during the cooler months.
I have thought about digging out a spot in an unheated storage part under our dining room. Maybe if the economy continues to tank. Flickr image of a root cellar from 4countrykids' photostream. Thanks to Urban Dweller for the NYT tip!
I got this note from Hoosier Outsider. It's been circulating among the sustainable farming enthusiasts.
I can totally relate to all of this and I think it essentially applies to life in general...except I don't have an extension agent to help me with issues in my neighborhood.
The note to new farmers is from Tracy Mumma, a National Center for Appropriate Technology program specialist.
Here's Tracy's advice:
1. Make friends with your neighbors, and admit you know nothing. Neighbors can teach you everything from how to run your irrigation equipment to how to load a reluctant cow in a trailer. If you have friendly Amish neighbors, they may be willing to teach you a lot more.
2. Take all the advice you get from your friendly neighbors, and refine it with the advice offered by books, Extension, and experts.
3. Keep all that advice in the back of your mind as you do the best you can on a daily basis, which often means doing things late, not according to plan, and in totally unorthodox fashion.
Tracy, husband David Sturman and their two kids farm in Montana with the help of their Amish neighbors.
The attached photo is a hoop greenhouse at Victory Acres. We haven't built one of these yet on The Farm. But I have no doubt that our neighbors down the road could help us figure it out.
Update: I had almost no line at my polling place. If I had asked for a paper ballot, instead of an electronic one I would have been in and out in less than 15. Still, I wasn't there, line and voting more than 20 minutes.
Considering that the iFarmer reported that at 6:15 a.m., after he voted, the line at our polling place was all the way to the park, I'm going prepared with provisions.
We haven't decided whether to go to Grant Park tonight with the kids. If we go, it'll probably be early to just hang around while some of the polls in the east close. Otherwise, we'll just throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and turn on the teevee.
I love it when other people do all the work and all I have to do is upload the pictures.
Here's a shot of the kitchen window at The Farm. Look carefully and you'll see the pioneer-era hand drawn logs (8x12 black walnut) that frame the window. Yes, that's the original log cabin beneath that Western red cedar siding. Older siding on the house is white oak.
When I was a kid and my dad fixed the siding on the external kitchen wall. The insulation? Old newspapers that dated pre-World War I. This house is full of hidden treasures like that.
No one knows exactly how old this place is, though we are learning more and more, like that the house sits a top a hill that overlooks an old riverside wagon trail.
When the fields are tilled, arrowheads are easy picking.
Thanks to Hoosier Outsider for sending the pic, chronicling the upgrades and helping me with structural details.
Thanks to Matt, who's doing PR for Chevron Delo's FFA Tractor Restoration Competition, I now have before and after pix from the kids who competed this year.
Amazing...check these out.
Before: After, the 2008 individual winner, Matthew Dehlinger: Before: After, the winners from the Eufaula H.S. FFA:
Future Farmboy woke up this morning reminding us that this weekend has been set aside by our brothers south of the border as a time to remember loved ones and as a time to face our own mortality. [The powers that be aligned the holiday on Nov. 1 & 2 with All Saints Day and All Souls Day.]
Having just faced our fears on Halloween, Future Farmboy decided he wanted to remember his Omi today by eating her favorite foods and sitting down at supper, holding hands and praying like she did.
I love that boy. It was a great idea. But after more than 10 years knowing Omi before she died last year, I wasn't sure I knew what her favorite food was. I could think of tons of favorites that she served me and my family over the years.
In fact, she was my number one recipe adviser. I could call her about just about anything I was cooking and she would talk me through her recipes or advise me if I was about to go off the beaten path with substitutions and uncommon flavor combinations.
However, the first thing that came to the iFarmer's mind was oyster stew. Seems like an odd tradition for a Midwest family. But sure enough, Omi's relatives have been serving oyster stew for decades...as soon as the last farmer in the family completed the harvest.
The harvest was a competition. And it was never good to be last. No punishment, except the shame of delaying the harvest meal celebration.
Omi also loved to serve us chili. I learned today that was partly because her Aunt Margaret couldn't stomach the oyster stew, so chili was served alongside.
Knowing we wouldn't be able to get the kids to eat oysters, we opted to serve them some of Omi's comfort foods: the best mac-n-cheese I've ever had and the iFarmer's spin on her salmon patties.
For dessert, a huge tray of pumpkin cream capped with real whipped topping.
Thanks to Farmer Wil for the family history lessons today.
If you have any harvest family traditions to share, please share in the comments or shoot me an email.
[Recipe notes: Farmer Wil confirmed that the basic oyster stew recipe we found was pretty accurate. There wasn't apparently a single recipe, nor a single cook responsible. For this version, I read through the comments and added potato. I also used my hand mixer after sauteing the veggies so that the soup would be creamier.]
I pulled together a happy hour this evening for new and old friends and whipped up some appetizers with a so-so Michigan cherry wine from Chateau de Leelanau.
As part of the offerings, I served up my ham rolls, one of my favorites. But I didn't realize until tonight that the iFarmer has long had a name for these particular hors d'oeuvres: Hoosier Sushi.
Still makes me laugh out loud. So I thought I'd share this delightfully simple starter: Hoosier Sushi
Thinly sliced ham, cut into 4x4 squares for rolling
Cream cheese
Dill pickles (or pickled asparagus), sliced into strips
Roll cream cheese and pickles in the ham. Pierce with toothpick if ham is too thick to stay closed on its own.
My favorite part is talking about our ornaments as we unpack them. We often choose ornaments as souvenirs when we travel. And we have loads of ornaments from loved ones. So each one is wrapped in its own set of stories to share. This is the first year that the stories resonated with both kids.
