The Snow Has Melted…

May 7, 2013 in mystery!

spring-blossoms

Well friends, the snow has finally melted. The days feel infinitely longer, and in the last two days the trees have magically exploded in greens and blossoms. And to be honest, the snow melted a really long time ago: April 15, 2013. I know you all are just so eager to know if someone actually won the Geeky Snow Melt Pool. And yes, someone did. The Magical KASH of Madison won the contest, by guessing the exact date of the melt. The exact date, can you believe it? KASH has requested a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, which will be baked with love and delivered next week! Don’t despair, we’ll have the same fun next year with another snow melt guessing game.

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Snow Melt. Update.

March 29, 2013 in mystery!

snow 2

Well, it officially actually feels like spring here. Hooray! And now it’s time for our weekly Snow Melt Pool check in. We have 17 participants, including only 3 Madisonians, one meteorologist, and many, many lovers of cookies. Next week two individuals have selected dates, we’ll see how it goes. And, just so you all know, it’s not too late to throw your hat in the ring. Click here to join the game or check your status. Just remember…not changing dates! And don’t forget, winner gets cookies. I’ll post another update next Friday.  

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Why Marraige Equality Is Important (again)

March 26, 2013 in politics

we are real people too

 Here’s to another completely food free posting. It’s a dose of positive energy toward the momentous occasion at the Supreme Court today and tomorrow. So here goes, round two. Much of this is excerpted from the previous post “Why Marriage Equality is not an “Issues Vote” which was inspired by the anticipation and antics of Election Day 2012. . . . In case we don’t know each other personally yet, I’m Vanessa and this is my partner Nikki (just in case you’ve been wondering who the N is in all these posts). Yes, we’re gay. And we’re probably just like you in may ways, except that we are crazy enough to want to start farming (but that’s another story). We love each other very much, and deal with most of the same issues that every other couple out there does, except we can’t really get married, in our state of Wisconsin or in a way that is recognized by our federal government. The debate about gay marriage may seem like back-and-forth between two parties, an attempt to decide what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ for the country, a moral argument of sorts. But don’t forget that there are tangible outcomes for [...]

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Vote. Win Cookies.

March 22, 2013 in mystery!

Week 12

Now that I have your attention… In my last entry I lamented the slow emergence of spring and the giant pile of snow in the driveway. Well, why just lament when one can create a pool, encourage people to vote and enjoy the process of a pile of snow slowly melting in the driveway? So friends, in the spirit of not being able to focus on a Friday afternoon cooped up in the office, I have created the first and absolute best “Very Geeky Snow Melt Pool”. Here is your chance to make a guess about the exact day in which our giant pile of driveway snow will melt. I know that alone is incredibly exciting, but the best news is that the winner gets a home baked batch of cookies delivered or mailed to your door. If that isn’t incentive enough to play, well, then…maybe it’s just not exciting enough for you. But really, what could be more fun than placing your bets in an ‘office pool’ type competition about melting snow? The link above takes you to a simple entry form, which include full instructions. But in case you need a run down: Basics: Guess when this giant pile of [...]

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Happy Spring.

March 21, 2013 in cooking, mystery!, wisconsin, writing

frost on window

Happy spring, sort of. We can be happy, for sure. But I’m not convinced of the springpart, even if yesterday was the equinox. The lake, although showing open water last week, is again frozen thick. Our highs have tiptoed into the 20s during the day when we’re lucky. And in the mornings, our cheerful neighborhood bunch huddles on the street corner in the 7 gracious degrees and sunshine we are granted, bundled up against the wind blowing off the lake (which stirs up dry, dry, sparkling snow) as we wait for the bus. From the kitchen table, or the warm bed, it all but sounds and senses like spring outside with the bright and early sun and the birds a-chirpin’. But one step outside to walk the dog or fetch the paper and between the icy breath and huge pile of snow remaining in our driveway (it is still bigger than the car, maybe we should start placing bets on when it will melt?) there’s no doubt that Punxsutawney Phil was wrong. Personally, I’m still maintaining a positive attitude about the cold weather, but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out. This time last year I already [...]

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Mold 600, Bactoferm & 18″ Beef Middles

March 6, 2013 in charcuterie, pigs, preservation

CURING_SALT_2_MED

DQ Curing Salt #2 Mold 600 Bactoferm 18″ Beef Middles Not your usual shopping list, but these are the ingredients I’m about to purchase from Butcher & Packer for my inaugural batch of home-cured salami using my birthday present curing chamber. I am so excited. So excited. I’ll report back when the process gets underway, but I’m feeling baseline confidence after the success of the bacon project. It’s an off list of ingredients, especially since none of it is actual food…but they are all important components of fermentation and curing, ie: deliciousness. And yes, back in the olden days, many of these products, or the outcomes these products bring about, occurred naturally. But since I don’t happen to live in an environment that is likely to have the right cultures and mold for these delicious cured delights, I’m not going to risk it this first time around. And as to the pink salt, aka sodium nitrite, I don’t plan on getting botulism any time soon. I’m sure a few things will go wrong with this first batch, and I don’t need to add fear of a deadly bacteria to that list. Here’s to delicious cured meat!

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Hello FSA!

March 3, 2013 in farm journal, new & young farmers, policy & regulation, wisconsin

212HeraldLennartApple

Somehow, we’re lucky enough to know the very neat Lisa Kivirist, an outspoken supporter of women in sustainable farming (just check out the In Her Boots series), author and co-owner of Inn Serendipity (a very cool B&B). A few months back she asked us if we would share with her our experience applying for a Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan as part of her research for an upcoming article for the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Services (MOSES) Organic Broadcaster. We were ecstatic to be asked, and more than happy to share our story. Even though our story didn’t end up with us buying the farm…we sure learned a lot through the process. The newest issue just came out, and Lisa’s article titled “New Farmers Find Loan Support From ‘Old’ Source” is a great resource. I’m so glad to see that someone is sharing the details of the FSA loan procedures…it would have helped us so much going in. Our secret hope (which is now no longer a secret) is that someone will read the article and have or know of the perfect parcel of land within an hour of Madison that they are looking to sell and/or creatively pass [...]

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Save the Post Office!

February 16, 2013 in chickens, writing

From the Smithsonian Collection

First off, I admit this has nothing to do with food, but it does have to do with writing, letter writing. Second to food, letter writing (and receiving) is one of my favorite hobbies. Mmm! There is nothing better than coming home and seeing a hand written letter with a real stamp just waiting for me in the mailbox. Good old-fashioned words, on paper, scribbled in ink or graphite, a different kind of sustenance. Not to mention the brilliance and meaning added with not just minutes or hours, but days or even a week between one person writing and another one reading. Sometimes I think our planet and our lives would be kinder if we all communicated by post, the thoughtfulness required to mindfully construct words and thoughts by hand, the patience to send and wait for a response creates a value of slowness, action tempered by time. I’m grateful to have a few great letter writing pals who constantly fill the mail box with joy, and I mean real joy – like handmade envelopes from Edible Magazines laden with pictures of chickens and eggs or stamps or stickers – you get the point. Postal correspondence got me through a bad case of strep [...]

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A love letter to celeriac

February 10, 2013 in farming, kitchen love, writing

hearts

Dearest Celeriac, Rarely do I write love letters to vegetables, but maybe more often I should. But, oh, celeriac, how you are my favorite of the fall harvest, the hearty root vegetables destined to store the sun rays and summer labor in a rough and tumble kerfuffle of flesh and root hairs and soil and mystery. I don’t know if you remember, but we first met only five years ago on the farm. I didn’t think too much of you at first while meditatively sliding your itty-bitty seeds into trays on the work table in the greenhouse with laser-like focus; chaperoned by Terry Gross, or some other reputable daytime radio host. You were a mystery, slow to unfurl: up to twenty-one days til germination and over three months until harvest. Playing coy. You take your sweet time to mature, but don’t we all need our own time to find ourselves in the sun? I nurtured your young self through the late winter, lolling in the heat of the greenhouse, almost indistinguishable from your celery cousin. Then your big move, hardening off on the wooden palettes under the shady tree, your first kisses of breeze and nighttime temperatures, then finally transplanted [...]

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Twenty Percent?

January 28, 2013 in reviews, writing

vintage server

It was fifth grade and our math class went on a field trip to the Salt Shaker, a local restaurant not too far from school. Our assignment? Learn about percentages by tipping the servers. At least that’s how I remember it. Well as I was researching this memory (aka, asking middle school friends on Facebook to recall this event) it turns out we were practicing the application of sales tax, not tips. Either way, the standard twenty percent was undoubtedly insufficient compensation for a restaurant full of 48 fifth graders ordering fried chicken and whooshing their eraser dust all over the tables. Yes, we toted pencils with us in order to do the math at the end of our meal. I’ve always taken the tip for granted, an act to thank a waiter who gets paid a very low wage and depends on gratuities to actually pay the bills each month. In my book, a tip is almost always required, barring the most egregious service, which I don’t think I have ever actually experienced. And when service is sub-par, I mostly just assume another customer or my own bad behavior is awful enough to merit a server’s bad day and poor service – why make it [...]

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