Farm News and Mary Ann's Blog

Bear Creek Acres had the honor of hosting a special group of visitors today. It was the Mesabi East Head Start class.  Teacher  Laura, Teacher Patty, Teacher Becca , and a  mommy and a daddy wrangled a delightful group of kids. 

We looked at the baby meat chickens, Roo our dairy cow, the beef cow mamas and babies, the beef steers, the horses, and the laying hens.

Wandering barn cats always steal the show from the farmer.

 This year we are between batches of pigs and sadly, had no swine to show off.

There was also time for tractor admiration.....we must allow time for sitting on tractors.

We are pleased to announce that we were finally able to replenish the shelves at  Natural Harvest Food Co-op (you don't have to be a member to shop there!) in Virgina!

  We brought bacon, sausages, pork chops, roasts, ribs (both country style and spare ribs), and pork cutlets.

I hesitate to brag....but I just have to! The sausages are even better than last year. Super moist and juicy. McDonalds Meat did a wonderful job taking our pork and making regular brats, wild rice brats (our top seller), Italian links, and little breakfast links. You won't believe how yummy they are.

New this year are pork cutlets. We hadn't had those made before. So we held back 3 packages before we delivered The Coop's meat so we could play with them here at home. Think of it as a pork minute steak. It's a small piece of meat that was run through the tenderizer. There is no waste and it cooks up super fast. Here are some photos.

You'll notice there are no images of the cooked meat. That's because the family gathered around and gobbled them up. Sorry.

Frankly, I lost my head, too.

All I did to prepare them was put a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan (I use cast iron...but you can use whatever you like). Fry on medium (or a smidge higher) heat 'til you see the blood rising to the top of the meat, flip over and brown nicely. You  only want to cook them  til there's no pink in the middle. They cook up super fast -And boy, were they ever juicy. Two of them I cooked plain, two I just salted and peppered, and two I sprinkled with garlic, salt, pepper and ground fennel. All were just great.

The bummer? We only had those made for the Coop, so our family has none for our freezer and none to sell at the Farmer's Market.

They are only available in Virigina, and I think that once people try them, they are going to sell fast.

I'm sorry I haven't been updating for a couple weeks. Thanks for keeping an eye on our blog. Spring has been sooooo busy! But it's been good busy...you know what I mean?

Here's what's been happening. I plan to blog about all of it in the days and weeks to come.

First, I'd like to thank everyone for the great feedback on the profile in Hometown Focus as well as the mozzeralla cheese article I wrote. It's been fun hearing from you! If you missed it, you can find it here. Lots of people have tried and succeeded! I acutally havent' heard from a failure yet.

We have just finished selling about 50 half hogs. They are all (but one) safely tucked away in their owner's freezers ( and tummies!).

Calving has started! Here's a photo....blogs are boring without at least one photo.

We took a bunch of hogs to McDonald's Meats in Clear Lake MN for USDA processing. That meat can (and will) be sold at Natural Harvest in Virginia, MN, Tower and Ely Farmers Markets, and right here off the farm!

 The first batch of baby chicks is in the brooder!

A winter's worth of manure needs to be scooped up and spread on the fields.

The fields need to be disced and planted.

We picked up the USDA meat in Clear Lake, delivered to Natural Harvest, and filled our freezers here at the farm!

On a personal note, we have our oldest graduating this year and are racing to finish an addition on our house.

We have a couple Head Start groups coming to visit again. This year, I swear I'll get photos!

Shannon still has to squeeze in a little firewood making....our wood shed in running low a bit too quick.

And we are still milking twice a day and dealing with all that milk.

Keep checking in...I'll fill you in on all the stuff I mentioned.

Recently Janna Goerdt, the farmer behind Fat Chicken Farm, and reporter from the Virigina, MN weekly newspaper Hometown Focus interviewed me for an article she was writing about 3 women farmers. The article was in preparation for the second annual Iron Range Earth Fest.   Jean Cole from Hometown Focus kindly gave me permission to reprint the portion of the story about us here at Bear Creek Acres. Thanks Janna and Jean for the lovely profile!

• • • Shannon and Mary Ann Wycoff had always been “do it yourself” type people, according to Mary Ann.

When they wanted fresh vegetables, they learned to garden. When they wanted to till that garden soil, they bought a brokendown tiller and made it run again. When they wanted humanely-raised meat, well, you can guess what happened.

After moving to an old Embarrass farmstead with a picture-perfect red barn, the family wanted to raise food and meat for their own use. Shannon, who works at Northshore Mining in Babbitt, was supposed to order two piglets from a co-worker. Instead, he ordered four.

Here’s what he told Mary Ann: “Everyone says not to worry, you’ll have no trouble selling [the extra two].”

It turned out that Shannon was right. The night before the Wycoffs planned to take the pigs to the processor, someone called to order the last available meat. In the meantime, Shannon had ordered more feeder pigs.

And so it began – soon enough the Wycoffs were raising eight pigs at a time, then 12, then 25, Mary Ann said. They added beef cattle and “chicken tractors” that the Wycoffs move around their fields so the plump chickens can peck at bugs and fresh grass.

And the more animals they added, the more they sold. They sell the meat from Bear Creek Acres directly to customers, to the Natural Harvest Co-op in Virginia, and at area farmers markets.

“We never looked at each other and said, ‘Wanna be a farmer?’” Mary Ann Wycoff said. “It just happened by itself, it was entirely unexpected and unplanned. We still haven’t said, ‘Wanna be farmers?’”

They have tapped into a market that wants their products for a variety of reasons, Wycoff said. Some customers want to know the animals were raised humanely, others want to support sustainable and local agriculture, she said. Some customers believe they are getting a more healthful product, and others “like to get to know their farmer,” she said.

Shannon Wycoff still works in Babbitt, and, though it’s a hard way to try and earn a living – “there are lots of ways of losing money doing this,” she said -- Mary Ann has found that the rhythm of farming at Bear Creek Acres suits her.

“I don’t do monotony easily, so I like the constant challenges of farming,” she said. And she looks to others to help her and her family meet those challenges – whether they are neighbors, fellow farmers, retired farmers, or anyone else willing to talk about their own experiences.

“Every day, I’m reading something, learning something,” she said. “I could do this for 100 years, and never know anywhere near enough.”

We are really lucky to have Roo, our family's milk cow. Right now she gives about 4 gallons of milk a day. So, I make mozzerlla cheese, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream and butter.  I thought you might like seeing how easy it is.

This gallon of milk is from last night's milking. By morning, the cream has risen to the top of the jar. See the color change in the top 1/5 of the jar or so? That's cream. I use a ladle to skim off the cream and put it in a blender.

The remaining milk is what we pour into bottles for the table.

After blending the cream on high for anywhere from 3-7 minutes butter separates from the milk. After you strain the milk away, this is what I have to work with. 

I take this over to the sink and wash away the extra milk under cold water...working the milk out of butter clump by pressing and mushing it and folding it over itself. When no milky colored water squeezes out, it's ready to be salted and put in a bowl.

One gallon of our creamy Jersey milk yields 1/4 pound of butter.

I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever start calving. But here it is! The first calf of 2010. We are excited with the new look of our cattle. Isn't that white face adorable? I don't even know if it's a bull or a heifer. I do know it's active and chasing it's momma. Yeah spring!

Recently I was interviewd by Janna Goerdt who is a small farmer in Embarrass as well as a writer for the Hometown Focus, a small energetic newspaper in Virginia, MN. Among other things, the paper is featuring local food in anticipation of the Iron Range Earthfest that's coming up. The article about our farm will appear in a few weeks, I guess.  appeared in the April 2nd edition.

Janna asked me to write a little  how-to article to accompany the interview. She suggested it be my mozzerella cheese recipe - which really isn't mine...it's just the one I make.  I added lots of coaching notes to it though. I don't know how much of the recipe and instructions will appear in the paper.

 I was kinda long winded. People who know me will not be surprised by this!

I have added  a few pictures.

Making Mozzarella Cheese in the Microwave in 30 minutes?

Yes , you can!  Really you can! Well, okay the first time might take 45 minutes while you fumble around a little bit...but the next time it'll be zippy quick! You also don't have to use the microwave. It's just a bit quicker and easier.

It takes just a few ingredients that are easily purchased at Natural Harvest Food Coop in Virginia ( you don't have to be a member to shop there!) or online from http://www.cheesemaking.com/.  My recipe is from that website. The owner of the company is Ricki Carroll who is known as the Cheese Queen. She is mentioned in lots of magazines and books, including Animal, Vegetable , Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

I am lucky and have my own milk cow and use her milk for my cheese, but you can use raw milk or plain old grocery store whole  milk for this recipe.  It's important to note that it cannot be Ultra Pasteurized Milk which is a process some organic milk producers use to increase the distance they can ship their products.  The citric acid costs about $5 at the co-op is is enough for many batches of cheese. The Co-op is great about selling rennet and lets you buy just one tablet at a time for about 75 cents....this is enough for 4 batches of cheese.

Put one gallon of milk in a big pot on the stove,  add 1 1/2t of citric acid  and stir for just a bit to mix it in. This is going to sour your milk...don't be alarmed by the little clumpy things that form.

Place a 1/4 of a rennet tablet into a 1/4 cup of cool water and dissolve it. When you cut the tablet...it probably won't cut very neatly. Don't worry about using a 1/2 tablet instead. I do it all the time. Keep the rennet solution handy. Heat the milk slowly to 90 degrees. Remove the pot from the heat, slowly stir in the rennet solution in an up and down fashion for about 30 seconds. Cover and let it sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes check out your milk. It should have sort of gelled into one firm unit like a big white jello. Take a finger and press into it. In a perfect world you'll have a clean break and the cheese breaks apart without crumbling. You'll see the liquid (whey) has separated from the jello-y stuff (curd).

In a perfect world, the whey will be clear liquid with a bit of green tinge to it. If your curd hasn't set really nice, you can try giving it just a bit more heat and let it sit another 5 minutes.  Then -  no matter what it looks like - we move on.  If your curd ended up looking like a swirly globby mess on top of that greenish water, do not fear! The cheese will turn out great anyway. It happens to me every now and again. Don't stop now!

Take a long straight knife and cut down into the curd in a checkerboard fashion making little cubes.  Then do it again holding your knife at an angle to make those long deep cubes into smaller chunks.

We are  breaking up the curd to release more whey. No need for perfection we are just gently breaking up the curd.  If you have the swirly messy looking curd, you can skip the curd cutting.  Hang it there, swirly curd people. It really will be okay.

Put the pot back on the stove and heat it to 105 degrees stirring gently.  It's okay that the whey is  turning white...it's supposed to.

Now you need to work quickly. You want to pull your curds out of the whey. You can dump the whey down the sink, feed it to your pigs and chickens, or use it for special recipes. But your goal is to save the curds.  I tip my pot to gently pour out the whey and then use a big slotted spoon to work the whey out. You'll get the hang of it.  Dump your curds and what's left of the whey into a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for one minute on high power. 

Dump your curd into a  colander and work out some more whey in sort of a kneading fashion.  Don't worry. You can't do it wrong. It's going to look sort of smooth and shiny. As it cools you'll see it becomes harder to work. Pop the curd back into the bowl, and microwave another 35 seconds.  Work out some more whey....it's getting pretty hot now isn't it? 

 I keep cold water running in my sink and cool my hands as I work the cheese. Add some salt, start with a 1/2 tsp and see what you think. I use more.  When it comes out after the 2nd 35 seconds it might be hot enough to stretch..this is fun. Grab your curd and pull it apart, it should stretch without breaking.  Work it this way until it cools too much to work. If it won't stretch, zap in for another 35 seconds. After you've stretched it, microwave one more time to make it pliable again. Taste to check the salt level adding more if needed. Shape into a nice disc. Put it in a bowl or on a plate.

Let it cool a bit and enjoy. Or cover with plastic wrap and keep in fridge...but it's really the best when it's warm and fresh.

After you have done this a few times, you'll note that the more you work it and the more times you heat it the firmer a cheese you'll get. That is the kind my husband likes  - while my son prefers is a little softer. Don't worry. It's all good. Make it and let me know how it came out by emailing me at wycoff@frontier.com

Guess where I was last night! 

 Give up?

 I was a speaker at Natural Harvest Food Coop. I spoke for nearly an hour about local meat.  The Co-op's Board has made it a mission to learn more about the local food economy this year. So following thier monthly meetings they are inviting speakers.  They were very attentive and very kind. I was awfully nervous!

There were even a couple people in attendance who weren't Board members and didn't even have to be there! (Thanks for coming, Janna, Gina, and the nice couple from the Cook end of Lake Vermilion who's names I can't remember!)

Do you know about the Co-op? It's a great store. We are so lucky to have such a well stocked treasure. Remember you don't have to be a member to shop there - like the sign say's : Open to the Public.

I brought a camera with me so I could take a picture of the store. But I left it on the back seat of my car. Sorry.

It was a fun night. Thanks for having me Natural Harvest.

These are the hogs we'll be butchering in March and April. Don't they look happy? They have lots of room to run and play. They love the spring sunshine.

You'll notice there are two pretty distinct sizes. They were born about 6 weeks apart, I think.

Once the first batch has been butchered and weighed, we'll be able to figure out when the second batch should be ready. Someday we'll have a scale so we can be more exact about our butcher weights, but for now it's all by eye.

It's that time of year!

We'll be butchering in March and April. I'll start calling by the folks who have  already told us that they wanted to get pork from our next butchering. If you are interested, please call 218-984-3235.

 Hogs are available by the half or whole. We have more information on our pork page on the website, but don't be afraid to call or email me for more information. We are always happy to answer questions - especially for people who are new to ordering meat directly from a farmer.   

After April, we won't  have pork by the whole or half until fall (2010) !!