No Pig in a Poke

Now everyone is aware I am fairly obsessed with good barbecue and the other day after another exhaustive farmers market (it takes much time and preparation to get ready AFTER making the cheese all of Friday-and then talk to approx 1000 people between 8am and 2), I decided to put on a pork shoulder to slow cook it on the Primo grill for pulled pork the next day. At the same time I put on a dry rubbed slab of pork ribs to eat later that night for dinner.



As cheese makers, we produce as a by-product, something called whey. It is a liquid serum that comes out of the curds and is rich in nutrients and some leftover calcium and proteins. And pigs love it, to boot! If you've never had whey-fed pork before, you are in for a treat. It has more flavor than supermarket bland ('brand'- tongue in cheek) pork and is very tender. Industry allows up to 10% added water and sodium, I believe, which is known as 'enhanced' meat. What this does is artificially tenderizes meat for the homeowner because when you add the sodium (salt) and water together, it holds moisture. This is not necessary with whey-fed and milk-fed pork products direct from your local farmer. The cuts are just plain juicier and moister!

So after 21 hours of slow cookin', the pork picnic shoulder was ready to take off.

And the 'pulled' pork was divine!
Had that nice pink smoke ring and was juicy and tender. Added to it, was Carolina style sauce, vinegar based so as not to blur the succulent flavor of the meat with a sticky sauce.


Why so much attention to pork, you ask? This is a dairy site, after all. Well after much anticipation awaiting a heritage breed order of piglets from a local pork producer, that never seemed to come to fruition (interestingly they are also brand new vendors at the farmers market I have attended for 16yrs), my good friends from the Boucher Farm saved the day. We make cheese every day thru the week and seriously need to utilize the whey or ship it off. It should not go down the drain. And we don't produce enough to ship off.........So a few days ago, they brought me some healthy piglets from their pork source. And it was no pig in a poke! These piglets are good size and very healthy and vigorous! They already, after just a few days, look at us askance if we come with other feedstuff and NOT whey. As if to say, "what are YOU doing here without our whey?"

Below is Dan from Boucher Farm holding a piglet when I yelled that I had camera in hand!



They are also vendors at our market and produce milk fed pork, veal, beef and cheese. They go out of their way to help others and are dear friends of ours -especially in a time of need-without the competitive paranoia that we are going to infringe upon their market. Farming like it used to be when everyone helped others......Thanks guys!

Back to pork. In the late fall we will be offering once again amazing whey-fed pork as found in parts of Italy and Spain. We had to take a hiatus as we were building our new barn and cheese plant and didn't have the infrastructure to accept pigs-or the labor. The famous Prosciutto di Parma is produced from the hams of whey-fed pigs from the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese making process (Parmesan). Likewise, ham in Spain is cured from whey fed pork from the cheese making process.
Notably, pigs are nature made to root up the soil and get nutrients from the grasses, tree nuts and wild herbs etc. Add to it the whey, and you will go hog wild! So please contact us for some whey-fed pork later this season, if you are local. Sadly we are not set up to ship our meats at this time....

Cheese. The Dirty Truth.......

Cheese makers. Nothing more than glorified dishwashers, I say! That's what we are. Most people think we lead glamorous lives, going to competitions and coming home with ribbons in hand. Or attending fancy food shows. The dirty truth is? All we do is clean! As farmstead cheese makers, by definition, the milk comes from the farm's own supply of milk from animals raised right on-site. As well by definition, this means dirt, mud and poop. Yes the evil poop word. As such the farmstead cheese maker must be a dirt vigilante and clean, clean, clean. When we arrive at the cheese room each morning, we begin by filling sinks. Lots of them. Sometimes, 5. With what? Chlorine detergent, acid rinses and then sanitizers.

Now what? Well, the forms that hold the curds must be washed, rinsed and sanitized. So must the tables that they drain on, and the floors too. All the while, simultaneously, keeping the curing rooms just as clean and the 'proper' molds growing in there. For in each curing room there are numerous molds that want to grow on every cheese in sight. And certain cheeses require particular surface molds, or bacteria for their proper development.

This week while awaiting milk to heat to its required temperature, we spent about 5 hours cleaning things before we even made the cheese! It's a very steamy, wet environment, a cheese making operation, so cleaning is top priority and arduous as well. And did I mention it must be done every day? Glorified dish washers we are, I say!

Grassfed Lamb Shares

It has become quite chic to elucidate on all things local, please forgive the digression, but the above photo is our grassfed lamb burgers with homemade tzatziki and River Berry Farm lettuce with our own winter-stored fabulous baking potatoes.

We like to call our lamb, Basque Style. Basque style lamb is similar to the lamb produced in the mountainous Basque region of Spain. They are raised on pasture and harvested smaller than American lamb (which is feedlot finished similar to beef). It is therefore more lean than standard American lamb. Grazing our diverse pastures contributes to lamb that is delicate, tender and full of varietal flavors.

Our lambs are completely pasture-raised. They are free ranging and are never confined. Moving to new pastures each day provides optimum nutrition and flavor. They forage for grasses, legumes and even wild herbs like thyme and dandelion!

They nurse their mothers’ own rich milk and are supplemented with whey (a bonus from our cheesemaking process) and natural minerals. The result? Tender, lean and delicate due to the diverse diet they eat. We do not use any antibiotics, hormones or genetically engineered products.

One has to ask, how long can the feedlot-raised meats paradigm last? Given the price of fuel and the cost of raising grains in the midwest, then shipping it to areas far away. Well, I won't go into a diatribe on animal welfare, carbon footprints and the untold LACK of health benefits of grain fed meats. I will leave that to better writers and more comprehensive science-based sites on the internet like Eatwild, NY Times writer Jo Robinson's site dedicated to grassfed meats and dairy products and their health benefits. What a wealth of knowledge on her site!

Back to our lamb. Called “Among the best spring lamb...” by Williams-Sonoma TASTE magazine (2000), it is truly of the land and reflects our own terroir in the foot hills of the Green Mountains of Vermont.
So please join us at farmers market to try some, or by special appointment here at the farm for purchase. We offer both meat cuts and whole lamb shares. Yes, it sounds contradictory. Perhaps gone are the days when folks referred to 'freezer lamb'..........now everything is called a share-blame that on CSA's. Ha! I'll take it.

Farmers markets heat wave

Wow! We are sure having the oddest season I can recall. First a mini-summer in April wherein everybody in the neighborhood opened their pools (which doesn't usually occur until June here in Northern Vermont), and then another heat wave in early June and now in late June days and days of rain-enough so, I shall build an ark. Wondering if farmers near here are suffering as there has been virtually no sun for too long. But I will say where there is failure, there is always success. After all, I am one who, like it or not, always sees the proverbial glass as half full, not half empty. If not I could never be in farming. Hope springs eternal and in Vermont spring is short, so you better be hopeful. Tongue in cheek. Anyway the most incredible and gorgeous tender greens are coming our way with veggies shares and by the looks of it, most other farmers are having the same bumper crop. What comes with lots of rain is greens and lettuces that absolutely love rain. So who cares if the peppers are drowning and the eggplants may never make their own eggs, we'll have sumptuous salads everlasting!

At farmers market though it is truly challenging to keep cheeses and sheep yogurt cool. The lamb we bring to market is frozen and is in large coolers stocked full of ice packs. Luckily I learned long ago that a frozen solid cut of meat tends to keep its brethren frozen too. Of course, that's if one doesn't open the cooler lid too often-like mom always said "stop opening the fridge so many times!" Well, this is one day I wish I had a fridge to open at the market. As for lamb, we do still have lamb shares available.

Pork. It's What's for Dinner.

To say that "pork fat rules" is an understatement by Emeril Lagasse. I love pork. I love it alone and combined with other meats. It has a succulent, slightly salty, wonderful mouthfeel, the fat, that is.
We raise lamb and when I make lamb meatballs for spaghetti in red sauce, I enjoy the pure lamb meat, meatballs, but I cherish the meatballs with a little ground pork added. Of course I add a tad of our own milk to the mix too!

Our lamb, similar to Basque style lamb, is a little leaner than standard American lamb, so adding a small amount of ground pork helps add moisture and tenderness to the meatballs. Anyway, back to pork. It's so darn hot here in Northern Vermont right now that I figured, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.".............hence, the desire in the HHH (Hazy Hot and Humid temps) to barbecue some pork in true Southern style and enjoy this lazy day of summer. Wait! What? Lazy day? No whey! We made sheep yogurt today, Sunday. So another 9 hours in heat.......... This means that on a 90 degree day in Vermont, we were relaxingly donned in our rubber gloves and rubber aprons in an 85 degree room at about 90 percent humidity. Steamy is more like it!

Back to pork. I adore barbeque. I also relish grilling. What's the difference? **See notes below........I started out with the proverbial Hibachi on the ground in college. Then graduated to a gas Weber grill. Then inherited a Weber bubble charcoal grill when my mother moved away. I started out of curiosity to cook foods on the charcoal Weber. I never went back. Relegated the old gas Weber to the back of the garage and it's never seen the light of day, since. I would post a picture, but it might be sacrilege for some, so I'll refrain.

Consequently after grilling on the charcoal Weber for 3 years I noticed an ad in Fine Cooking Magazine for a Big Green Egg. This is a ceramic 'cooker', so it's called. But don't let that fool you. It excels in grilling, smoking and roasting. There are other brands of this Kamado type cooker on the market. I ended up in my obsessive hunt for one buying a Primo brand ceramic cooker (grill/smoker). These cookers can do direct cooking, indirect cooking, and smoking-even high heat cooking for a grilled pizza. They use charcoal, like the Weber bubble, however, the hardwood kind. This is lump charcoal, and will give your food an indescribable flavor. I know no one who has made the switch that goes back to briquets or gas. Yikes! I sound like I am pitching. Back to pork.

I 'cook out' as they say almost 365 days a year, here, in Vermont. I make lamb, pork, beef, fish and pizzas on the Primo. When it's storming, like a N'oreaster(whipping winds, below zero temps etc), then I make something else inside the house.

Here is the St Louis Style ribs with the fell (that thin skin next to the bones, sort of blueish, that needs to be removed prior to barbecuing-just pull a small amount with a knife, and using a paper towel pull the whole thing off in one fell swoop)...........pulled off with a paper towel, and rubbed with Dizzy Pig dry rub.



I like to make homemade dry rubs for meats, however,
I really appreciate being able to order the Dizzy Pig dry rubs online if I need to, in a pinch. Another favorite bbq product of mine is the Billy Bar. This tool, is exceptional at cleaning any kind of grates on any grill/smoker. Be it gas or charcoal. It is as good as sliced bread! This tool, is a small rod-like shape on a handle. Here, the bar cleans the grates.



Notice the V-shape of the bar. It gets in the grates and around to clean the gunk and will work on any type of grill, gas or charcoal. It has a stay-cool handle and can be wiped off with a paper towel. It beats those brass brushes that never last.


Barbeque vs. grilling: Barbeque is anything that is slow cooked, low & slow at about 250-300F. Grilling, on the other hand, is high heat, or not, direct or indirect cooking on a grill. Barbeque, for me, is pork ribs, beef brisket, spatchcocked chicken, slow roasted lamb and/or game meats.

How To Eat Supper

Listening to The Splendid Table on National Public Radio yesterday on the drive home from our 2nd farmer's market (of the summer season anyway), it struck me that CSA's, otherwise known as Community Supported Agriculture, is the way to have fabulous suppers thru the year!

Traditionally, CSA's are a way for a farmer to make an early income and pay for employee payroll as well as the seeds necessary to plant all those vegetables. For those who might not know what one is, it's a situation wherein one joins a CSA, pays a modest fee to the farmer to receive weekly 'orders' of foods-be they veggies, meats, eggs, bread, flowers and the like. I say 'orders' because in most CSA arrangements the customer gets what is pre-chosen each week, mostly what's ready to be consumed. So in July, here in Vermont, what would one get? Green beans, basil for pesto, greenhouse tomatoes, new potatoes, lettuces and perhaps some berries (if the farmer is diversified in that way).

I have discovered a brilliant concept in a new form of CSA: River Berry Farm. Located in Fairfax, Vermont this is a very diversified farm offering greenhouse plants, strawberries, raspberries, mixed veggies and organic eggs. The concept is different in that one pays a flat rate and gets credit. So instead of a pre-chosen allotment of foods, the customer can utilize the credit to purchase anything they raise on the farm! So in light of full disclosure, for my share I can buy veg plants in their greenhouses at the start of the season for my garden and then graduate to luscious organic raspberries and glorious cottage garden flower bouquets later in the summer.

And what's more? As I was then on cheese deliveries in downtown Burlington, I noticed something interesting. The same size bag of spinach at a large chain supermarket was over $5.00, while at a local co-op it was a bit less (and local and organic). However the spinach that I received as part of my share (again full disclosure) was huge and less money, costing about $3.50. Not only less in dollars, but more in value for those bags are fresher, the spinach tastes sweeter and there is virtually no waste inside the bag. You know those little brown wilted leaves that always remain in a bag of California-shipped spinach. So to be succinct, like mom always said "Less is more."


This bag of spinach was taller than my coffee pot! Below is supper a few nights ago of slow bbq'd pulled pork, thyme infused white bean salad and River Berry Farms' fresh spinach with a lemon vinaigrette.



What's for supper tonight? Some more low-n-slow bbq and I'm thinking wilted River Berry Spinach with some fresh cream from the farm and a bit of melted La Fleurie cheese. Some roasted sweet potatoes on the side. Now that's how to eat supper!

Ah-butter

With all the calving going on, but yet not enough cows in the parlor for cheese making, I decided to get started stocking up on raw milk grass-fed butter. What is this? This is butter made when the cows are out on grass and not pasteurized. With the larger proportion of Jersey cows' milk now in our herd, their milk makes superior butter.

What makes superior butter, you ask? Larger fat globules which the Jersey cows have. The size of the globules makes the butter 'break' into butter and buttermilk more readily than milk with smaller fat globules. And oh, the color! Butter made from cows out on grass is like egg yolks from chickens out on grass-bright yellow. Since I don't own a butter churn I use the food processor method for making butter.



Basically pure chilled cream is put into a food processor and whirred around for a few minutes until it breaks into a sloshy yellow mess of butter and buttermilk. Then it is rinsed with cool water and washed and washed and worked by hand until the liquid is out of the now solid butter. Then all that's left to do is form or package up the butter into whatever vessel you like. I like packing butter to be consumed soon in little ramekins.

Butter for storage is wrapped in freezer paper and frozen to be eaten later in the year. Visit Eatwild to learn more about the benefits of raw milk butter and other dairy products.

Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my...

Lambing, calving and cheese making, oh my! Well spring has truly sprung in Vermont as the grass has just begun on our farm to green up. Granny Smith green at this point. Birthing time always brings with it a season of obstetrics. Little sleep and then all of a sudden lots of babies on the ground. We have a ball watching the lambs, especially, frolicking with each other and engaging in their daily races. Lambs, like clockwork, run races of sorts until they are so out of breath, they all come to a screetching halt at once. How do they know when to all stop at the same time? It's as if it's a choreographed dance. Or perhaps they are a secret society.




Our calves, on the other hand, do what we call, boinging. All of a sudden they discover their legs and boing straight up in the air with tails held skyward and zoom across the field in a short burst. And then they are done.



The above photo is Peony, a first time mom, with her new baby, Carmela. Peony is half Jersey, half Brown Swiss. Unlike most dairies, we leave the babies on the moms for a bit to nurse. There are several reasons for this. For first time moms, it is very beneficial for the bonding process, and what is known as 'let-down'. This is the process of any lactating mammal of letting down her milk. She needs to get used to the sensation of having something nurse on her udder and it is stress-less. On the other hand, training a new mom in the milk parlor having never been nursed before can be a small nightmare. She must learn not only to walk into a very clean man-made room, hear a loud vacuum pump (which runs the milking machines), then stand still while a milker puts teat cups on her udder and then, lastly, let down her milk. So by leaving their babies on for a bit, they learn in a most natural way to let down and also give the farmers a small break during a most challenging and busy time of lambing and calving. Another huge benefit is of health. The calves get the antibody rich colostrum direct from their mothers.

The other day another baby born, to Iris, another Jersey-Brown Swiss.


Altho the heifer introducing herself to him is Bramble, who was born inconveniently in the middle of a blackberry bramble patch a few years ago. The markings on this baby are from his Dutch Belted father, with his semi-belt around his middle. Bramble herself is a Jersey-Dutch Belt cross and she didn't get the white belt either. Her mother, Reo, short for Oreo, has a most beautiful thick white belt across her middle.

The 5 Seasons of Vermont

Well here we are again. The worst season in Vermont. It's called mud season. It is after winter and before spring. Some would argue that in Vermont there is no spring. Just winter and then mud season and quick summer. All the winter run-off causes roads, pastures, fields and driveways to turn to muck. Including ours.

Our small viewing room is still open but if you come to visit please be aware that the farm road to it is a bit messy. This should all end by the end of April-hopefully. It is never a sure thing, how long it will last. And also remember that our viewing room is self-serve as we don't have the extra hands to give formal tours. We are in the throes of calving and lambing now. Yikes!

Please stop by and visit us at the Montpelier Winter farmers market tomorrow, April 5th. It will be the last one until next winter. After this market ends, we will be attending the Burlington Farmers Market for our 15th season! It begins May 10 and runs thru Oct 25, 2008 (Saturdays 8:30-2, in City Hall Park). See you then!

Farm Fresh Raw Milk For Sale in Vermont

March 14th was a great day for Vermont! Currently in Vermont dairy farmers can sell up to 25 quarts of raw milk per day. They CANNOT advertise, sales must be via word of mouth and no signs can be hung at the dairy. For those who may not remember, there are 4 quarts in a gallon. So 25 quarts equals roughly a bit over 6 gallons. A newly freshened cow (one that has just given birth) gives that amount per day. So with current law in Vermont, a farmer is only allowed to sell, by word of mouth approximately one cow's worth of milk. Vermont is the only state in New England to limit raw milk sales to 25 quarts.

There has been significant discussion and debate regarding the health benefits versus risks of selling raw milk. Some states allow raw milk sales with advertising, some allow sales at the retail level in stores, and some even allow milk to be shipped via Fed Ex. In Vermont, what had been proposed with this new bill, the Farm Fresh Milk Bill, as it has been called, was a stringent third party certification and testing program, coupled with the allowance to advertise milk sales and give the informed consumer the choice to buy raw milk. I won't use this space to go into lengthy discourse pro or con raw milk but I will say the bill got a very favorable response from lawmakers.

Unfortunately as time ran out to fix a complicated issue of jurisdiction, they moved to strike all which means to completely change the bill as it is currently worded and instead worded it to increase the volume of milk a farmer can sell to 50 quarts a day as well as advertise! More info will be available as to its status as well as sound files on their website Rural Vermont. Hats off to all involved in moving Farm Fresh Milk forward in Vermont!