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.

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.

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

What did you have for supper last night?

We had a family favorite….homemade crispy  fried wontons.  It’s so easy.  A little time consuming, but if the kids lend a hand, it goes quickly.  Tonight I had no help, but I have a TV in the kitchen so while I folded the wontons I watched a show.

I wish I could find my original recipe that I clipped from Better Home and Gardens magazine years and years ago.  Now, I just wing it.

Take out a package of wonton wrappers. You’ll find these in the produce aisle of your store right next to the eggroll wrappers.  It helps if you have these sit on the counter for an hour or so to come to room temperature before you start. It makes them easier to separate.  You’ll want a good clear spot on your counter or table to make your wontons. You can also line cookie sheets with wax paper if you like and lay the wontons on those to get them out of your way if necessary.

In a small cup or bowl, mix 2 Tablespoons of flour or cornstarch with enough water to make a runny paste. You will use this to glue your wontons shut.

Chop very  finely : one can of water chestnuts, a few fresh mushrooms and green onions. Dump all that into a bowl, add one pound of ground pork, a couple Tablespoons of cooking sherry ( I only had white wine and it works fine…and you can skip it altogether if you desire), a teaspoon of garlic  and a couple Tablespoons of your favorite soy sauce. Mix it all together – your hands will work best.

Place a clump of the raw mixture, about 2 teaspoons in the center of a wrapper.  With a pastry brush (or your finger), apply a line of flour water to 2 edges of the wrapper and fold it over to make a triangle.  Press shut.  Repeat.

The only thing that can go wrong here is for the wontons to stick together or to your counter.  The wrappers tear easily.  My problem is that since I no longer have the original recipe I often come up with either too much stuffing or too little. This time I was going to run out of stuffing. So about half way through the process, I shredded cabbage and mixed that in.  They were more like egg rolls. We all liked them, but I should have shredded the cabbage really, really finely instead of just kinda-finely.

Now, just fry them in hot grease. I used lard in a cast iron skillet, but Crisco in an electric deepfryer works just as well. Do it however you normally deep fry.

They don’t take long  to cook through. When it’s brown on one side turn it over. Cut one in half to see that the pork is not pink and away you go. If you have a small family, these freeze nicely. Just line a container with wax paper, place the wontons in a single layer – not touching each other – top with wax paper and lay more wontons… You can cook them directly from the freezer and they are yummy. When the kids were little, I could put some in the freezer. Last night they were all devoured. We like to dip ours in sweet and sour sauce. I either serve them with a stir fry  and rice, or like last night – with  fried rice.

Here at home, we made up an Italian Sausage recipe to season the one pound packages that we get we when get a whole (or half) a pig back from the processor. 

After playing around, I came up with a recipe that the whole family enjoyed.

I use it in lots of ways - in casseroles, for sandwiches, in meatballs and spaghetti sauce, on pizza or as patties for sausage  at breakfast.

Simply thaw out one pound of Bear Creek Acres ground pork and add:

      1 teaspoon salt                                  3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon black pepper            1/4  to 1/2 teaspoon ground redpepper

                                1/2 tsp of ground fennel

In fact, I was using it so often I made a batch that was about  X 12 size in my little food processor, mixed it well, and put it in a big jar. By my calculations, about 3 1/2 teaspoons of the mix should be about right for a pound of meat.  Caution, shake the jar before each use. The salt seems to settle to the bottom.

     Bear Creek Acres Sausage Sandwiches, of course! We had to try them right away.  So I bought some peppers and Kaiser buns and hurried home after delivering our sausage. All I did was fry them in a dab of butter over a medium heat, until they were cooked through. They are plenty lean, so don't overcook them!

     Today, I sliced them to fit the Kaiser buns I had, but they are great plopped into a hoagie bun.  I topped them with sauted peppers and onions. Mmm.

Okay, so it's not so secret, I tell anyone who asks - but it sounds fun doesn't it?

I used to just sprinkle the 3 ingredients on the meat one at a time:

Lowry's Seasoned Salt, Garlic Powder, and Black Pepper

But when I found myself messing with this multiple time a week, I decided to mix some up in a jar. As with most of my cooking, there isn't much measuring. 

I just take a clean jar and put in my ingredients just like this - give or take. Don't sweat measuring it....it'll be good no matter what.

Really it will.

Just give it a good shake to mix it up.

Apply liberally to pork, chicken or beef.

     What was for supper last night at the Wycoff's was BBQ Spare Ribs on the grill.  I made them differently than I normally do. Usually, I worry about them being super tender. So, I cook them low and slow in a covered roaster in the oven.  They are tender and falling-off-the-bone yummy. I never did them on the grill for fear they fall into the fire if I did them that way.  

 This time, I thawed them out and liberally applied Mary Ann's Secret Meat Rub ( click the link for more info....but it's Lawry's Season Salt, Garlic Powder and Black Pepper).   I let that sit while I got organized and the grill heated up. When the grill was really good and hot, I put the meat on and closed the top vents so the ribs would bake and get nice and smoky. After about an hour or so, I went back and applied our favorite BBQ sauce.  I went back in the house, made the pasta, and fifteen minutes later...the meat was ready.

Most of the family noted that the ribs weren't as tender. I actually preferred the flavor by a long shot.  I have decided that this is how I'll do ribs in the summer.  There is time enough during our long winter for low and slow cooking. Summer is time for spicy, smoky, drippy, lick-your-fingers goodness!

Oh! Accompanying the ribs we had vermicelli with garlic, butter, and parmesan along with spinach from the garden, and a nice lettuce salad (also from the garden) with a homemade vinegrette dressing and topped with a bit of leftover Bear Creek Acres bacon chunks.

It must have been good...because there were no leftovers to put away!

I was a little nervous when I first went into Natural Harvest Food Co-op in Virgina.  After all, I’m pretty mainstream. I mean, I eat meat…a lot of it. I hate tofu.  I enjoy Fritos…sometimes too many.  But I needed to buy rennet to make cheese and so gingerly I entered the store. I tried to be unobtrusive. I tried to look like the kind of person who would never eat a Dorito. But you know what? No one cared what I eat. All the folks there are very live and let live. What a jewel of a store.  So clean, brightly lit and welcoming. The workers are friendly and knowledgeable – and most importantly not judgmental. No one tried to evangelize or brainwash me into becoming a tofu-toting vegetarian.   The stock is not just organic stuff and granola. There is a wonderful supply of hard to find ethnic items and a full line of wine, pop and beer making supplies. There are potato chips and pop along with hard to find health food items.  There is local milk, different kinds of fun cheeses, and unusual frozen convenience foods. 

My favorite spot is on the back wall. There are shelves full of jars of bulk spices. At the Wycoffs, we eat out very seldom. I make big suppers nearly every night. Even my kids love to cook, and we use a lot of spices.  Natural Harvest sells a lot of items you can’t get at a super market – like ground fennel (which I use in my Italian sausage recipe) and dried red and green bell peppers.  All you do is choose the jar, grab a clean scoop from the clearly labeled “clean scoop” basket, take a plastic bag, fill with as little or as much as you want, place the dirty scoop in the clearly labeled “dirty scoop” basket, write the PLU number from the jar on your twistie tie and that’s it! You aren’t paying for a jar and you aren’t making garbage – except for the baggie. Best of all, you can buy just a couple tablespoons of something. I am slowing replacing all my old spices with items from there.  The curry powder they sell, along with the dried mixed vegetables, is yummy in rice.

My personal policy has become to buy something I’ve never tried before each time I go.  Maybe it’s a trail mix with carob in it (turns out it’s surprisingly good!), or quinoa –  a grain that I served cold with some chopped celery, tomatoes, green onions, and a simple vinaigrette dressing on top. It was good for us - and really, really tasty and easy to make. It went really well with hamburgers. The really great thing is you just hold something up to an employee and say, “what do I do with this?” and they are happy to help.

It’s not just diehard organic and natural foodies who shop there. Some people with food allergies can only find the items they need at that store, and there are soaps and shampoos for people with chemical allergies. But most of the customers I saw are just trying to eat a diet without so many chemicals and hormones and other scary stuff.  And maybe they want their diet to reflect some of their personal morals, and they want to feel good about what they eat. Sure there are a lot of people who do all their shopping at Natural Harvest – it is after all, a complete market. But a lot of customers are just like me – making changes in our diet here and there.

 Chunks of marinated pork skewered and grilled on the BBQ – that’s what was for dinner at the Wycoff’s tonight!  

Mmmm- mmm!!

It’s one of my family’s favorites.  You can make it with nearly any cut of pork. The fresh ham steak is the easiest because there is a bit of fat around the outside of the oval and one small round bone. The cut is really quick  to trim up, but I have trimmed up pork steaks and roasts to make it.  I use whatever is handy because when we get a hankering for this…there’s no stopping us!

The marinade is simple – a couple cups of white wine, a tablespoon or so of rosemary and a ¼ cup of  minced onion ( dry minced onion is just fine, too – just not quite so much), and a teaspoon or two of minced garlic (or garlic powder if that’s what you have).  Cut the meat into chunks and let marinate for a couple hours or all day…whatever works for you. Then either skewer it and BBQ ( the best!)  – or cook it under the broiler in your oven (not a bad second choice)  – or even fry it in a really hot skillet so it browns up really nice.

   It’s great served any way you like but if I have a chance to swing by the store beforehand, I like to serve it on warmed pita bread with tomatoes, shredded lettuce, thinly sliced onions and my best-guess version of a  Greek sauce made of yogurt and cucumber called tzatziki sauce.  Mild pickled peppers, or pepperoncini, on the side make it extra yummy!  I have made the sauce from scratch and it’s not bad…but an easier version is Kraft Creamy Cucumber Ranch dressing with a glug of lemon juice, a small spoonful of minced garlic (or some garlic powder) and a little sugar. That makes a yummy sauce…not as good for you…but really tasty and easy. If I really feel energetic and the garden is coming in in August, I like to serve a tomato,  cucumber, onion, black olive ( or pickled peppers) and feta cheese salad, too. Mmm. Am I making you hungry? Rice goes nicely with it,too. That’s what we had tonight.

Well, I heard back from the camera shop.  My wonderful camera is a lost cause. With a heavy heart,  I spent hours on the Internet shopping for cameras until I found one I think I'll be happy with. 

We try to shop locally as much as possible.  We think it's important to keep small businesses in business, so I  called the camera shop in Hibbing. He is out of stock of my wonderful new camera model, but he hopes to have one next week -  and  I plan on snapping it right up.

 When I do, I'll be able to post pictures of baby pigs and young calves and other fun stuff.

Last night, I made a marinated pork kebob that I barbequed.  It was served with pita bread, a tasty  sauce, chopped tomatoes, sweet pickled peppers, and shredded letttuce.  Some of my family likes to make it into a sandwich, and some eat it all separately. It's drippy and yummy. I served it with rice.  It was so pretty that I told Shannon I should photograph it and post it on our website with a recipe.  And I will the very next time I make it.  Which should be fairly soon, since we all just love it!

In fact, I think I'll do a weekly blog post called something like What's for Dinner? I'll include a photo and recipe using our different meats.  This sounds like fun, doesn't it? Stay tuned!