Butcher and Booze

Where does your food really come from? Do you know how that pork chop actually made it to your plate? The fact that at one time it was a hog either raised in a CAFO or perhaps raised on a sustainable farm makes a huge difference. Hogs raised in a CAFO, which stands for Confinement Animal Feed Operation are usually housed in cages or smaller areas where they are left with little room to run or sometimes even turn around. Animals raised on a sustainable or even a traditional farm are kept in a run usually that is large enough for them to run about and most times even has a mud hole for them to make use of.

Being a chemical free grower I am exposed to a lot of sustainable events that most times do a really great job of promoting healthy eating habits as well as getting to know your food sources. If you really are concerned with what you eat you really should know where it was grown and with what methods. Over time I have became more and more conscious of what I eat and make better decisions most time on what really would be better choice for me. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of times that I can be found in a drive thru lane somewhere trying to get something quick to eat when I am busy. Most times I do pay attention and read labels in hopes of spending my money to support something I believe in strongly. Which is humanely raised livestock.

This past week I attended this great event in Illinois that was similar to an all day farm dinner. Now I have been to farm dinners where you show up on farm to tables laid out and a feast being prepared that features all kinds of goodness that the host farm has produced but this event was different. Different in that first off the guests were all producers. Primarily made up of farmers both produce and livestock, microbreweries and distilleries, a small bakery and the top chefs from Chicago and surrounding areas. It was a very enlightening experience.

Enlightening as in this event began in the early morning and offered all involved ample opportunity to tell of their efforts to promote the concept of “know your farmer, know your food.” Really what’s better than going and seeing that actual environment where your dinner grew up? Being a vegetable grower I must admit I am absolutely fine with the concept of planting seeds and then harvesting when the plant produces. The idea of seeing baby piglets that will one day become bacon I admit kind of worried me. So I may have went into this event with mixed emotions. I guess in my mind I thought if I made the connection that the adorable pig was going to be my dinner that there was a strong possibility that I may choose not to eat pork at that meal.

So the itinerary to this event was to include the butchering of some livestock that would later be incorporated into the dinner meal. That seemed a bit past my comfort zone as well. However I was feeling adventurous so I figured I would go into this with a completely open mind. I mean really, the meat I already eat has to come from somewhere. I could only hope that it comes from somewhere the animals are not factory farmed where they never see the light of day. During introductions we went around the circle of fifty or so guests and everyone stated their names and a little bit about themselves and their business. I of course was so distracted about the upcoming events of the day that I broke into some tangent on how I would probably end up closing my eyes during the actual slaughter. A few of the attendees looked at me like I was crazy and the day moved on.

Next up we met Sam the butcher. He has been working at slaughterhouses for what sounded like forever and seems to really know his stuff. Ahead of time our host selected a hog as well as another farmer present brought in a lamb and turkey to be processed. We all marched out to a spot out in the field that was set up with a hand washing stations and everything needed for on farm processing, including the hog. Now I was already near a panic attack at this point at the idea of seeing a live animal die. But then the thought occurred to me that this was not for pleasure this was for purpose. This animal had been raised with the intentions to live it’s life and then finish it by being able to feed a bunch of people. This has been happening for thousands of years, yet I was scared by the very idea of knowing that all this happened in order for that bacon to make it to my breakfast table.

Before Sam did anything he looked at the group that was gathered to watch and carefully explained everything he was going to do and what would happen and the whys of everything as well. I for instance had no idea how animals are actually killed when they go to slaughter. I had no idea. I guess the idea that they just naturally died just on cue seemed to be a workable idea in my mind. But Sam explained that some places will shoot a bolt into their heads, others will electrocute and then there are people like him. He shot a single bullet into a certain spot into this hogs head and down it went. It turns out the bolt to the head or the electrocution may not actually kill the animal and just leave them incapacitated. Whereas the bullet to this specific spot kills them without suffering and they die quick. It is basically the most humane way for a slaughter. And you might not believe this but I willed myself to keep my eyes open. I figured I was already there I might as well experience it as it is.

After the hog goes down it is quickly hoisted up so that it can be bled out. This seemed to be important no matter how an animal reaches it’s fate if you plan on eating it. I also learned that a lot of hog blood is actually sold to the medical industry for a multitude of uses. After this stage the hog was then brought back down and placed on a rack to be broken down into different cuts. Sam continued with this calm way about himself that kept everyone else calm as well. He showed us all sorts of things that made it so there was nearly no waste by the time this hog was finished processing.

‘We continued with a farm tour as well as the processing of a turkey. They lamb managed to make a break for it and is now living amongst the cattle at my friends farm as has been made into the events mascot. All in all the most amazing thing to me throughout the day was the amount of respect that went into to processing these animals. They didn’t just grab the hog with a rope and drag it to some strange place. They walked it right to the pen where it was placed. On both sides of the hog stood a farmer to minimize any thrashing that would occur and to keep the animal safe throughout.

At the end of the day after new friends had been met we all sat down to an amazing potluck. It’s not every day that you can go to a potluck that involves celebrity grade chefs. I am so thankful for this opportunity that I had to attend this event. Since coming back home I have been making more of an effort of being more conscious of the meat I do eat. I would prefer that confined animal farming would be done away with so that animals were treated as animals and not just a commodity. However I also realize that free range farming costs significantly more and that the already high cost of food would continue to raise if this were to happen. And with that I leave you with the idea to ponder. Everyone is able to make their own choices in life, I cannot tell you what to eat or how to eat it. I can however share with you my own experience and maybe share a little bit of information that may help you if you are interested. Take it how you will and realize that not everyone is always going to agree with you.

　

While I realize that some may read this and think it was a brutal event and truly not necessary I definitely would disagree. Because me, a somewhat country girl that has always considered herself of the utmost adaptability went into this scared to death of what I might see. When I left my entire mindset had changed. If only all our meat bearing livestock could be handled in such a way that they could live out their life being lovingly cared for and then thanked for their final sacrifice I think that even some vegetarians would be converted. It was the most amazing eye opening experience I have had in a long time.

What's up with my GARDEN?

It has occurred to me that it has been quite some time since we last played “what’s up with my vegetable?” Being as how it’s summer. A very hot summer at that and my garden is having plenty of issues of it’s own I think this would be an excellent time to showcase all the things that could go wrong with your vegetables. Lucky for you all I have plenty of specimens to use as examples from my own field.

First off are tomatoes. Everyone always wants to grow a beautiful, juicy tomato. Here is the typical story. You realize that any day now your tomatoes should be ripening. So you take a stroll out to the garden only to find (insert scary music here) something has made it to your tomatoes before you.

How dare they sample that garden goodness right as it happened to ripen? Well in order to fix the situation you are going to need to figure out exactly what has been doing the damage and figure out how to prevent it in the future. Let’s say your tomato has a sizable hole out of it, sizable as in the size of an animals mouth. I would venture to say that you have been visited not by the garden fairy but by a raccoon, squirrel or groundhog. All have been known to take just a big enough bite out of our tomatoes just too ruin them. While I am a fan of convincing animals to “relocate” you could deter them a number of ways. You can use a smelly concoction such as deer off, you could yell at them and use idle threats or you could do whatever sort of “trapping” it is that you feel comfortable with. Whatever you do, don’t just let the problem continue. Otherwise you will end up with zero tomatoes and the animals will be tickled pink that you planted Brandywines this year.

Next up, there is a weird tunneling look going on with my tomato. Well here is a shocker, something may indeed have tunneled into your tomato. Be it a cutworm, hornworm or grub no one likes a tomato that has a worm in it. Unless you are practicing for that fear factor show. Which if that’s the case stop by the farm and I will give you plenty of your very own hornworms… Fun times. The only preventative for this is to keep a more watchful eye on your plants. You could sprinkle the ground with diamatious earth which will cut the underside of any soft bodied insect. But remember this will not help if the insect you are fending off was produced from an egg that was laid on the plants leaves and at no time will that bug venture down to the soil below. No worries, it’s nothing that a sharp pair of pruners won’t fix.

Onwards to the “Oh goodness I picked a tomato and it looked great from the top only to find that the bottom was rotted out.” Yes this is a devastating one for sure. Most often this would be blossom end rot. Which is caused by a calcium deficiency in tomatoes. Hit the poultry section of the feed store and pick up some oyster shell and you can remedy this one quickly by mixing some into the soil tight around the base of your plant. Eggshells work well too.

My tomatoes keep splitting and I can’t quite figure out why…. Well this one has to usually do with fluctuations in moisture. If you mulch around your plants it lessens your chances of split tomatoes. Now of mulch isn’t your thing then be sure to march out to your tomatoes anytime you hear a measurable rain is coming and start picking anything with color. Otherwise that moisture hitting the ground is going to pump up the growth rate on ripening tomatoes and you guessed it SPLIT EM’. It’s ok, you can eat split tomatoes just try to get to them quick.

Gosh aren’t tomatoes fun? But not everyone is a tomato fanatic like me so I will move on to another vegetable you may have growing. How’s about those beans? Let me begin by preaching to you how you should NEVER go near your bean plants if the leaves are wet. If you call me and tell me your beans are dying and you don’t know why and you remember me telling you a gazillion times not to go near beans if the leaves are wet, I may be inclined to flip out on you. So please stay clear of wet leaved beans. Outside of that you may notice some spotting on your beans if they happen to be a little heavy on the plants and touching the ground. This is known as rust. It’s pretty gross and I myself do not eat the beans with rust. A good way to avoid rust is to spread a layer of straw down as ground covering around your beans and keep the beans from having contact with the ground.

Squash is another fun filled vegetable that drives me crazy. One day your plants are monsters and producing more zucchini than you could feed to an army and the next day the plants doubled over and all yellow and on the verge of death. By golly if I had to take a stab at it I would say you have just been attacked by squash borers. And when I say take a stab at it, you really should. Take a knife or sharp pruners and find the circled hole near the base. Slice that open and behold that somewhere in the near vicinity will be a squash borer. If you can’t kill it, be sure to find someone who can. They will over winter in the soil if you leave them be and plague you for years to come. When you plant your squash plants next year be sure to mound the soil up around the crown of the plant to leave less surface area of the plant for the moth to lay it’s eggs on.

Now that you have had a basic primer in day by day gardening with Sacha you can begin to diagnose what is going on in your own garden. If you are still at a loss, because believe me problems outside of the above mentioned do occur feel free to contact the extension office and make use of the Master Gardeners and the Hort Hotline. These folks can figure out any garden dilemma. Also on that note if you too would like to become a master gardener there are still a few openings for this years class. Beginners, in between and experts are all invited to come and learn how to help others grow. I took this class twelve years ago and it has formed a great base for me to expand on. Not to mention those gardeners sure know how to make some delectable dishes. The class is worth going to if just for the food alone. So if you are interested hit up the extension office located by the fairgrounds and sign up today.

You will never believe what I learned from some chickens

It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity that will kill you. Finally we received some rain this past week only for it to come a bit to late over at our farm. Earlier in the day this past Wednesday we lost 15 chickens. So it can now be said we are out of the egg business. Last fall when I decided to get chickens I spent hours upon hours researching which breeds do best for our weather conditions. Then I looked into the heritage breeds so that I could eventually decide on one breed to start my breed preservation project with. Being a bit undeceive like I am in all areas of my life I couldn’t decide on one breed.

So I ordered 15 chickens. Including twelve different breeds. There were chickens of all colors and patterns. Next thing was to have them shipped via mail to the post office. The girls and I were excited. The morning came that they arrived and we received a phone call a little after 5am. Who even knew the post office opened that early? I didn’t for sure. So I took the girls and we were off to pick up our peepers. We went and got them situated under their heat lamp in their fresh bedding. Then I whisked the girls quickly off to school for the day.

I then went back and followed the directions that were pretty similar on basic chicken care that I had read about in about fifty gazillion chicken books. What can I say I like to read. Anyhow I remember taking each chicken and picking them up nicely and dipping their little beaks into the water to introduce them to the concept of drinking. This is a very important step for any of you that may one day have chickens. From there I grew less anxious about caring for these little chicks and more and more in love with them.

I admit before having chickens they kind of freaked me out. Most of the ones I had seen before were always kind of high strung and would either attack you or just run erratically and make you nervous. Ours we decided were going to be completely different. They were going to be friendly chickens. The girls and I spent hours picking each individual chicken up each day while talking and petting them. We named each and everyone of them. And you may not believe me but they all developed quite their own personalities that even if they didn’t all look different you would have been able to tell them apart.

A couple months later a friend gave us more chickens. These were a bit trickier because they were mixed with silkie chickens which makes for a smaller chicken overall. They stay pretty small even when full grown. Of course we named them too. And eventually all the chickens were moved into the chicken coop to live together by the end of the fall.

We would let them loose to run around out at the farm and feed them as many grasshoppers and tomato worms as we could find. They would jump way up in the air and catch insects mid flight. My daughters spent practically every day on chicken patrol. Even in the winter when we would trudge out to the farm and have to spread straw outside of the coop just to convince the chickens it was safe to venture out. Some days only the Buckeye breed chicken “Brownie” would step out on her own.

Then this spring we discovered we had some crowers in the crowd. Yes that would be roosters. We had four of them to be exact. If you have ever had roosters you may know that they can be pretty brutal when it comes to mating. Brutal to the point that, I chicken lover decided enough was enough and happily adopted out our roosters to a friend’s farm in Kouts. After we had a long goodbye I gave the roosters a pep talk that they could crow the day away and that I still expected them to behave themselves.

Around this time our chickens began laying eggs. I admit I was pretty excited. A little shocked that my timing was off and that I had figured that there wouldn’t be eggs until Mayish when farmers markets were to begin. So I went out and made some nesting boxes and fed them oyster shells so that they would have enough calcium to produce their eggs without having to use the calcium from their own bodies. Which calcium deficient chickens sometimes will do.

Life with the chickens was a blast. We had one named Plop that was the friendliest chicken in the world. She always was making so much noise that she really must have had a lot to say. She was one of the more adventurous ones of the flock and would go out and stand in the sprinkler as well as run up to anyone that entered the area. It seems our chickens were conditioned to the idea that everyone who visited had a treat for them. Which most times was truly the case.

When the heat began this summer and all the grasses and plants started dying we began feeding more supplement feed and watering down as many areas as we could. The chickens would usually have a sprinker running in their area and would dig these elaborate holes to lie in and cool off in. Only to retreat to their coop when the sun began to set or they had an egg to lay. Otherwise they would be found somewhere outside enjoying the life of a spoiled chicken.

The past couple weeks we had been making sure that the chickens had extra water and that they had plenty of shade. Apparently that wasn’t enough with the high humidity and extended heat. My poor five year old made the discovery that all her chicken friends had perished the other day while I was still working my other job. I have to admit it was an emotional night burying what had become my feathered pals. And one by one I said goodbye. I also thanked them for being such fine chickens and for providing us as well as our customers with really amazing eggs.

My children have still not quite understood how all the chickens have died, perhaps I really don’t either considering there have been hotter days. However I believe and have told the girls that our chickens have moved onto chicken heaven where they can eat anything their heart desires and never be afraid of the hawks flying overhead. A place where everything they come across is a friend and never a foe. That I realized is how life should be. Where you don’t ever have to worry about anything harmful ever happening, it could be the safest place ever.

While it is difficult going out to the farm now and walking past the chicken yard and not being greeted by my ole buddy Plop, I realize life continues and awful things happen. And if nothing else I learned from these chickens the concept of being able to trust something that you would normally be scared of. I will continue to be tell stories and relive memories along with my girls about our chicken raising experiences like the time Mia and I took the chicken to the preschool, or the time the kids at an after school club were upset that I brought a live chicken when they were hungry for fried chicken. Oh and who could forget the time I had little Snowball running loose at Luhr Park in their nature center while I gave a gardening presentation. That’s right those chickens gave me enough happy moments that their memories will carry on. Rest in peace, Sunkissed Hens, we will forever love you.

SPRING HAPPENINGS

UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday April 28th 7:30 am @ Tryon Farm Institute "Coffee with a Farmer"
Free Coffee and Q&A with Sacha... RSVP to RSVP@TFInstitute.org

Thursday May 3rd @ Luhr Park 9am "Garden Tips & Tricks" Free Event
RSVP to Laura (219) 324-5855.

Saturday May 19th  @ Keepsake Farm at 1pm "Container Gardening"
For more information contact rosiesgarden@msn.com

FARMERS MARKETS BEGIN IN MAY
Spring Heirloom Vegetable Transplants are ready...

Watch out for Spring, it may just swallow you up

Spring has sprung and of course not a moment too soon. As seedlings continue to be seeded the older sprouts are already being transplanted. Farmers markets and festivals  are already scheduled for the entire growing season... Amazing how badly we cannot wait for spring and then how quickly it seems to swallow us up. We are already anticipating a spectacular season. And hoping for the weather (sunshine, rainfall, etc.) to cooperate. Cooperation in my book is unlimited sunshine, moderate humidity and rainfall primarily during sleeping hours. I mean if I was Mother Nature that's how I would roll.
However that woman likes to mix it up a bit and keep me watching the weather as if my entire life depended on it. Well maybe not my life, but in some cases my plants do depend on it. Gardening, farming, playing with plants call it what you may requires endless hours of anticipating disasters that may never truly come. But by preparing and having a plan you have a chance to thwart off nearly any issue.
So what is a spring at Sunkissed actually like..... Well let me tell you. First it begins with hours upon hours of research going into what varieties we will grow for the upcoming season. Then the hunt for finding the varieties of elusive heirloom seeds begins. Luckily we have sources nearly everywhere that can locate pretty much any seed that a seed obsessed farmchick would be interested in giving a whirl.
Once the seed is on farm the fun really begins. From the first bag of potting soil the scent of spring is officially in the air. I've been known a time or two to be quoted telling of my love of the smell of dirt. However it's true nothing puts me more in the mood then the fresh smell of ready to go soil... well in the planting mood that is.
While the seedlings are beginning their adventures for the year the field is being tilled and primed for planting. First in are the sugar snap peas. My entire love of gardening stems from picking sugar snaps in my grandpa's garden as a kid. He always had an amazing garden and still does these days. A few weeks later the potatoes are ready to be trenched in. Lettuces, cabbages and greens follow soon after, usually once the blueberry field is in full bloom.
By this time the seedlings are somewhere in the midst of transplanting for spring sales and markets and proper tagging and labeling are done sometimes into the wee hours of the night. In between all this madness all of the perennials overwintered in ground are being dug up and potted so that they can one day find their forever homes.
In between all that the compost needs spread, the mulch needs topdressed and for some reason that floor in the greenhouse needs weeded from all the extra sunshine. Well the sunshine and the fact that someone's mother thought they needed a gravel floor in the greenhouse. That would be my mother by the way.
So much work to be done in what never seems to nearly ever hold quite enough hours for it to be accomplished. Yet somehow it happens. Just like the coming of Spring. We want it to be here so badly and then before you know it, it just swallows us up.