Thanksgiving Dinner – and a contract negotiation

24 Nov

Whoa! That’s not turkey!

No, that’s two sides of pork ribs, smoked over a tray of pineapple juice with a brown-sugar spice rub. Farm raised pork. As in, raised here pork – on farm, yes! Historic for us because this was our first taste of pinkguitarfarm pork, over a year in the making (we’ve been patient). Was it delicious? Well, I, the author and farmer, cannot tell you if this mouth watering picture translated into a savory, sticky, spicy – gnaw on the bone(s) food revelation. It got excellent reviews, though.

Why? Because while I was making Pecan Pie, 5 individuals (3 under the age of 12) DEMOLISHED this entire appetizer dish. Nay, I can’t even call it a dish, these ribs DID NOT MAKE IT TO THE KITCHEN FOR PLATING. No utensils, napkins or dinnerware were utilized in the deconstruction of my special first course: pork ribs a la pinkguitarfarm!

I suppose I was not too upset because the main course featured fresh roasted hams (same rub) served with a Champagne cranberry reduction, wilted Swiss chard with pinenuts, caramelized sweet potatoes and Caesar salad with homemade dressing and croutons. Needless to say, I did not go hungry and more importantly I am very thankful for the wonderful bounty our farm provided. As for the ribs….there will be more in the future.

So, what about the contract negotiation?

Earlier in the day I ran across our farm turkey, Brad. He engaged me in a conversation regarding his status on the farm – while hiding under the truck:

Me: “Brad, it’s Thanksgiving! No worries, dude! I went to bat for you; your status here is good. You are an icon, our mascot – sort of. You have style, presence, pizazz! If you weren’t here, the silence would be deafening! We think everyone should have a farm turkey, really!”

So then he handed me a list of demands:
1. Girlfriends – a whole gaggle of them.
2. My own food bowl. I’m done sharing with those stinkin’ chickens.
3. That blond kid, on a permanent time-out: in the house.
4. I ride shotgun in the truck, no more sitting in the bed.

I had to give the fowl a long somewhat respectful once-over. He’s got wattles, man!

Me: “Brad (with a patient voice) gaggles are for geese. You want turkey hens? Done. Your own food dish? Done. Now, I know you don’t like Jack, but I cannot keep him in the house, he helps with chores. Heyyy….are you two working together now, so he can get out of doing the chores? Okay, no on Jack. And no on the truck! Trust me, you don’t want to ride with me when I take the kids to school or run errands, that’s just weird. No, no, no! And stop trying to hide in the bed as we drive off to school in the morning, you’ve been making us tardy and the kids are blaming it on me.”

I must say, Brad caught me a bit off guard, but I was going to get him some turkey hens anyway. Next time, I’ll have my own demands ready so we can really negotiate, like: quit sleeping on my car, no harassing the children or the chickens and no gobbling while I’m outside on my cell phone, it freaks people out.

That Brad, he’s a tough nut…and people think turkeys are stupid?

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Meet T-Bone our bottle baby bull calf

10 Nov

If you drop your kids off at school in the morning as I do occasionally, when a.m. chores run long, unexpected conversations can and do take place. This one was with the kids’ gym teacher it went like this:

Him: “Hey, would you all be interested in a baby calf?”
Us: “sure!”

I didn’t even ask my husband…

So one week old “T-Bone” was carefully delivered to pinkguitarfarm on October 30, 2010, a beautiful Saturday morning.

He came with his own bottle and a lesson in bottle feeding. Although he was none to happy about being separated from his twin brother and mama…he reluctantly accepted the bottle and slowly warmed up to us.

T-Bone is now almost 3 weeks old now. He is drinking enthusiastically and follows us around in his pen, happily trotting behind us, always looking for an udder(!). He has quite the cute, albeit insistent “moo” when he hears us first thing in the morning and in the evening during our routine feeding chores, he gets his bottle last because it has to be warmed and mixed to perfection.

We think that T-Bone is ready for a bucket and maybe a little bit of grain, but it has to be added very slowly to his diet. He is also ready for some halter work and lead line training. Maybe he will make a good 4H calf? Time will tell. Moooo…

It’s elementary, my dear…

1 Nov

Our kids attend a small rural public school. There are 103 students in attendance, kindergarten through 5th grade. It is a cheerful place with shiny hardwood floors in the hallways, happy smiles on the teachers faces and the kids are all known by first name; as are parents and grandparents. Generations of local residents have attended this special 50+ year old elementary school and it acts as a hub for this unique community. Sound too good to be true?

Last month the School Board voted 10 to 1 to close this little school down for the 2010/2011 fiscal year as part of a rezone (of which ironically, the overall rezone has yet to be voted on). The stated issues were capacity and funding due to the small size of our school.

Our school was inequitable because our average classroom size was only 17:1. It was inequitable to our students because they were not offered classes in foreign language or extracurricular activities. Inequitable both ways. No alternative to closure was presented, discussed or even entertained.

Rural and urban schools are different. Rural and suburban schools are different. Cookie-cutter, one-size fits all approaches to our public education system are not working. Smaller schools and smaller districts are better for the overall community in rural areas.

Closing down this little school has been a blow to the community. Teachers wonder where they will work, how far they will have to commute. Students wonder if they will get lost in the system, lost in the higher student/teacher ratio’s, whether the new staff will even know their names. Generations of people see their connection to the area unraveling through a system that has lost its concern for the community, lost its accountability to the children and turned a deaf ear to parents’ plea’s to keep the school open.

Just about the only thing the system has accomplished is the appearance of an arrogant, willful, objective towards leaving these children behind. Sound like we got our words mixed up here? Are we missing something? Propaganda statements about education reform have created a wide divide between theory and practice.

All in the name of budgeting, streamlining and efficiency. Efficient bus routes, clean feeder patterns, capacity… I keep missing the humanity in this equation. So do our community members.

I think it is time for a smaller district, one that can effectively represent its constituents.

Local Honey

30 Oct

Contact: Ben & Emmaline Seaborn (931) 623-8112.

Ben and Emmaline also sell their amazing raw, all natural honey at the Fairview Farmers Market in Fairview, TN., at the Recreation Center parking lot on most Saturday mornings during the regular season.

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Mozzarella with farm-fresh cow’s milk…finally!

22 Oct

Since on-farm goat cheese/chevre is a hope and dream for another day, I have been thinking about finding a source for local milk, any milk frankly, (goat,cow,sheep) raised without antibiotics or growth hormones and not ultrapasteurized. Pasteurized versus raw milk is a topic I’m not going to discuss right now, however, when milk is superheated, i.e. ULTRApasteurized thus denaturing the proteins, cheese is very difficult if not impossible to make. Last weekend, I ran into a nice lady who makes her own butter. Conversations such as these remind me of how much I love dairy and how expensive it is, and also, how difficult it is to find a local natural source. Unless, of course it finds you…

After the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) meeting last night at our kids’ elementary school, I happened to talk to a parent about buying beef from his farm. I am interested in a half a cow for the freezer. He mentioned that they sell milk too. YIPPIE! I went over to his farm this morning and picked up some precious cargo.

2 gallons of fresh (milked within the last 12 hours, fresh) whole milk – located only about 3 miles away, I had to pinch myself. I told him that I planned on being a very good customer since my husband is an excellent cheese maker (well, the only one I know of, really) and I can’t wait to give the piglets some whey. Piglets fed whey eventually make very tasty pork, or so I’m told!

So out comes the “Home Cheese Making” book:

Which was a little dusty, and I spent this morning dreaming of “Mozzarella with farm-fresh cow’s milk”, Panir, an Indian cheese, Queso Blanco, “Whey Ricotta” (piglets are gonna have to share on this one) and Gouda. How about Caraway Swiss? Mascarpone? Lemon Cheese and Gorgonzola? I realize I’ll have to work up to Parmesan.

The other worlds that are opening up now to my culinary delight are buttermilk, sour cream, kefir, creme fraiche, yogurt, butter and ghee. It is all enough to make one giddy…

If you are interested in checking out the site where I purchased my cheese making book and got my initial “Cheesemaking kit”, click here. Check with your local farmers or ask around at your farmers market to locate a source for farm fresh milk – it’s worth it!

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LGD’S

10 Oct

We were losing chickens. By August, we had lost all of our spring roosters and we assume they died protecting their (our laying) hens. When the roosters were gone we started losing hens, almost daily. The day Sophie lost her prized Bantam hen “Peppermint” evidenced by a puff of tiny buff and white feathers, we decided that we must act and fast.

We felt we had two choices, fence the chickens in, or find LGD’s (Livestock Guard Dog’s) to protect them. We love having our chickens range and initially suffered few losses. But our farm was becoming an all you can eat buffet for all the usual (and possibly some unusual) suspects.

We want our chickens to eat bugs, weeds and whatever else a chicken/raptor chooses to eat even if it means hanging out with piglets. We feel that especially in the summer time, it cuts down on feed costs and aids health and immunity (as long as they are not being eaten by a predator!).

We also like the idea that our chickens get to go for an afternoon stroll (or scratch, rather) in the woods, take a dust bath in the pony pasture or simply work out their chicken politics in an open forum. We decided we did not want to fence them in, nor did we have the means to tractor them, so free range it was – meaning the search for LGD’s was on. As you can see below, the piglets enjoy a little free ranging too.

I started researching LGD’s about six months ago, but with so many projects, I wondered how I would have time to train one… or two. Nevertheless, I had talked to farmers, seen LGD’s in action and felt confident that they would work for us, we just wondered how to find one preferably already trained (training can take up to two years) that would also be able to transition to our farm.

While we were out picking up our RWH gilt, I mentioned to the farmers at Ecotonefarm that we were looking for LGD’s (they have two wonderful Great Pyrenees dogs). And as luck would have it, they knew of a farmer who was looking to place two 18 month old Great Pyrenees dogs, a male and a spayed female who were siblings. After several e-mails, phone calls and a visit to our farm by this very conscientious farmer, we went to pick up Jane and Burley on October 3rd.

This is Jane (to the left), not only does she patrol all night long between the chicken coop and the pig pens, she walks the kids to their bus stop (the entrance to our driveway) in the morning. Jane is a sweetheart.

This is Burley (above right); he wanted to hang out with me in the garden today while I harvested sweet potatoes. I put him in the shade by the barn since he is too large and furry for the meager shadows of a fallen amaranth flower stalk and a bell pepper plant. I sure appreciated the company though! He is a big sweet boy.

Poor Jane, she had no idea that when she came here, she would have the dubious honor of piglet babysitter. She is a good piglet herder too, especially when they are naughty and try to eat the chicken food up by the barn.

Burley is more reserved and mellow than Jane, and he has a very deep bark. There have been no more chicken losses in the past 10 days since they arrived here.

Everyone sleeps better at night now that Jane and Burley are here on the job, including our Narragansett tom turkey, Brad. In fact, he feels so secure now, he even gobbles at the moon. G’night Brad!

We are very grateful to have found Jane and Burley through the farmers at Ecotonefarm and to benefit from the wonderful training they received from their former owner. Jane and Burley are truly amazing, incredible dogs and are already a very important part of our farm. Many thanks to C.J. and Fletcher!

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Roselle the Red Wattle Gilt

12 Sep

We are convinced that the Red Wattle Hog is the right heritage breed hog for our family farm. Docile, gentle, hardy and disease resistant, they need little intervention to maintain a healthy herd with proper management. So, was it the time to add a gilt to the “herd”? We had 15 piglets, so we knew that our boar could do his job. However, there were concerns about how to find one. They are critically endangered according to the ALBC.

Our Yorkshire gilts were about to farrow, so we contacted the very helpful and knowledgeable farmers at Ecotonefarm, they had recently gone through a “farrowing” and were the only people we knew of with recent experience. I had contacted C.J. to find out if he had any advice prior to the birth of our piglets. He was generous with his time and provided excellent information. We also happened to find out that he had a gilt left from his first RWH litter and when we ran the inbreeding coefficient, we found that his gilt would be a good match with our boar

She is home with us now at PGF and doing very, very well. She is a playful, affectionate, talkative gilt with a lot of personality!

See C.J.’s post regarding the match.

Why the name “Roselle”?

We grew the plant “roselle” this year with excellent results. We feel that there is potential for the flower and the gilt to become a very important elements on our farm in the future!

The piglet project comes full circle

10 Sep

We did a lot of research prior to adding animals to our farm. We thought it would be nice if we could find animals that served several purposes and so when we researched pigs, we found that they will:

1. Root up brambles (we have lots of those!).
2. Till the soil
3. Amend the soil.
4 Eat poison ivy. !!!!!!!
5. Do well on pasture and in woodlot areas.
6. Forage.
7. Dig a shallow pond for you… uh, maybe.

8. Consume all of the extra fruits and vegetables we don’t use or sell.
9. Be very economical sources of meat if managed correctly.
10. Taste great!

We initially got 3 six week old Yorkshire cross piglets and raised them through the winter. They tilled the soil until it froze. We then decided that it might be a good idea to breed them – perhaps we were not quite ready to eat them? Eating what we raise has been an interesting journey…another post for another day.

Then we learned about the wonderful Red Wattle Hog through various sources, but most importantly, through Econtonefarm. We found these great folks when we got our Narragansett turkeys. They have a lot of good information about the Red Wattle Hog on their blog.

So, in early spring, we purchased a registered Red Wattle Hog boar to be our “herd” sire. He was 4 months old – we got him from Jan Black in Dover, TN.

He is a lazy, docile boar. We were not sure he would be of much assistance in the “piglet project” but by May, he developed, shall we say – more energy.

On Labor day, we got our first litter of 6 piglets. Two days later we welcomed 4 more. Two days after that, an additional 5 healthy piglets. 15 total!

We were told that it was important to separate the boar from the gilts and piglets for their safety. The above picture shows our boar with his first batch of piglets. Notice that we put up chicken wire to keep them OUT of his pen. We learned the answer to the question “where do little piglets go when their mother is not looking?” Answer: wherever they want!

What I did for summer vacation

26 Aug

What I did for summer vacation according to Jack, age 7:

Our first Farmers Market from the OTHER side of the table:

There is always something to plant at Pink Guitar Farm, always.

And so we planted, a lot.

But of course then you have to weed and control the bugs…by hand, since we don’t use chemicals.

And then every Saturday it was time to pick more produce and go back to the market. Thank goodness another farmer at the market sold homemade fudge – for a dollar. :0

Then we would come home and take care of chickens.

And walk the goats.

But the most work probably had to do with the pigs. They can’t sweat so we moved them into the woods so they could stay cool.

And the girls are miserable because they are pregnant, all three of them.

It’s his fault… Wally is a Red Wattle Hog. He is special because according to my mother he is listed here and here.

So, after a hard days work we would go to the creek, which is awesome!

Mom and Dad usually stopped working around that time too.

Then on Sunday, we’d go downtown to Layla’s Bluegrass Inn for some music. I love the song “Friends in Low Places” But I’m also working on “Mama Tried”.

Moving to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches…

25 Aug


What is it about the country life that evokes visions of peace, charm, freedom and solitude to some and isolation, hard work, boredom and inconvenience to others? Why are some people drawn to it and some people not?

I often think of my Grandfather who (according to him) was a real cowboy. I actually believe it more now than I did as a kid. I grew up in the Midwest in a college town and only knew of the “cowboy” through Hollywood depictions. Grandpa wore the right boots, shirts and denim to fit the stereotype but that’s where it ended. He was probably the only real cowboy I’ve ever met and yet he was one of the kindest, gentlest spirits I have ever known.

My grandfather moved from North Dakota to Los Angeles in his early 30’s when job growth was becoming the big deal out in CA. This must have been during the late 1930’s. Although he eventually owned several acres in the greater L.A. area in order to keep his horse, his heart just wasn’t there. I believe that he despised the noise, the dirty air, the concrete and the (too fast for him) pace of life. Grandpa couldn’t wait to get out of L.A. and move to Montana. He retired early and did just that.

Some people love the energy of a big city. They love the shopping, the restaurants, the social scene, the traffic, the noise. I guess I’m not one of those people. I want dark nights where I can see the stars, I want to hear only the bugs and the birds. I want to be in uninterrupted contact with nature and I don’t want to visit it, I want to exist in it. I am like my grandfather in that regard. But I had to come full circle (just like he did) to get there.

Now that I am really out “in the hills”, I have met country people and shockingly, they don’t seem to “fit” all the “stereotypes” either! The wisdom they have shared, the friendly help they have offered and the way they have welcomed my family into this community has been amazing. I also believe that some of the old-timers around here are truly a treasure.

First hand knowledge and experience is invaluable to anyone just starting out on a farming journey – there is so much to learn. I have asked for and received information about chickens, pigs, cows, goats, tomatoes, potatoes, okra, putting in a pond, butchering, cooking, making wine, moonshine, the history of this area, how to treat poison ivy (medicinally) and where to buy my hog panels. Oh, and how to grow a lot of peaches.

I know people that utilize Hollywood stereotypes to describe country folk, or anyone different than they are, actually. The comments based on these stereotypes can get pretty ugly. Since the saying goes: Arguing with a fool makes you a greater fool, why comment. However, I find it interesting that these put-downs are devoid of first-hand personal experiences. Where do these concepts about country people come from? Movies that portray “Hillbillies” as ignorant and in-bred or as scary deviant murderers? If you travel at all, you know that people are people, where ever you go. So why do some people feed into these stereotypes? Doesn’t this behavior act as a way to divide us rather than allow for a cultural appreciation of the different regions and communities that America has to offer? Clearly stereotypes are everywhere, including the South, but really, can’t we all just get along?

According to Tom Dorrance, “the long way is the short way” when training horses. I think my Grandfather subscribed to a similar philosophy. I think this applies to the small-holder as well. I’d like to add that “the old way is the new way” in sustainable farming, you just have to go back far enough. All the talk about re-localizing and organic/sustainable farming is great for our communities. However, the irony is that some of these old country folk or “Hillbillies” If you will, are living-history regarding certain farming practices that have almost been completely lost. And you can bet your peaches I’ll be covering this stuff.

As it is, I moved to the country and am eating a lot of peaches, but the best part about being here is the people. I could not effectively farm without their knowledge or help. Clearly people are either cut out for country life or not. I say, if you want to find happiness, ignore the stereotypes and do what you are passionate about. It may take a while, require sacrifice and even some huge lifestyle changes – but if it’s your path, take it.

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