Farm News and Mary Ann's Blog
This last Tuesday night, August 5th, my husband, Shannon, came along with me to sell at the Ely Farmer's Market. What a fun night we had. It was so busy and festive. All the vendors are cheerful and friendly as are the customers. The customers are year-round locals, seasonal locals, and lots of people just up for a vacation! It's fun to explain what we do and why we do it to new folks and see returning customers and get their feedback. Nothing beats hearing a voice in the crowd say to someone, "Ooo! I tried her chicken (or pork) last week, and it was great!" I always leave the Ely Market fired-up about what we are doing here on the farm. It was Shannon's first time coming along, and he really enjoyed it.
Tuesday night, when we got home and looked at what was left in the freezer, we realized we had no pork left to sell at Market! I think that the next batch of chicken is all spoken for by folks who pre-ordered. The last batch of chickens we raise won't be ready for 10 weeks, and I imagine the Market may well be closed by then.
We just plain underestimated the interest in local meat. It was great seeing that right here on The Range there are lots of people who are behind what we do. And that they want and need a local farmer they can get good clean meat from. Of course, I'm disppappointed that I missed out on a least another month of sales. And I'm disappointed because I was just starting to get to know the vendors and customers as friends. I'm sure going to miss seeing the great folks I met in Ely and Virginia the last couple months - especially our Ely Market Manager, Marcia Mahoney. What a great lady with a great smile. She is a terrific promoter for our Market and Bear Creek Acres. I can't wait to work with her again. She and the Board Members took that Market to new heights.
We still are taking orders for October chicken. We will be offering pork by the whole and half a few times starting in November. That list is filling up - so call the farm (218-984-3235) if you are interested and to ask questions. You can also read more about that here.
We plan to have individual cuts of pork at the Farmer's Markets next year. Next time we'll have more of everything. We may expand our sausage offerings as well. We are considering bringing beef, too.
We are truly sorry if we have disappointed any of our customers by running out of meat. Please remember that it's always available at the Natural Harvest Food Coop in Virginia.
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.
Yesterday we got the call we’ve been anxiously awaiting! Don at Fraboni’s in Hibbing called to say that our sausage was ready for pick up. You may recall that Fraboni’s was making some sausage for us out of our meat, with their recipe and putting a Bear Creek Acres label on it for us to sell at Natural Harvest Food Co-op. After all the planning that went into it, we were so excited to pick up the finished product and hold it in our hands.
It looks so nicely packaged and inviting. We brought it right to The Co-op. I hope it sells well. I think it’s a wonderful alternative for folks who want to eat good, clean meat. Of course, since it was made with our meat – it is hormone free and antibiotic free. The animals were humanely raised on pasture. It’s truly a local product. Fraboni’s has been making sausage for Rangers for decades and they really know their stuff. Another consideration for some people (Ann at Natural Harvest clued me into this point) is that it’s nitrate free. Don explained that since it’s not a cured sausage there are no nitrates in it. There are a number of people for whom this is a concern.
I like the fact that I know, and trust, what’s in it.
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.
We started showing up at the Virginia Farmer’s Market on Friday, July 18th. What a beautiful day to be visiting with people under Kunnari’s big tent! In addition to Kunnari’s strawberries and vegetables, there was a sweet mother and daughter selling caramel corn and candied nuts, the Yoder family had their tasty baked goods, Cherry Greenhouse really perked up the place with a wonderful selection of plants, Louise had a lovely display of her baked goods and jams and such, a nice lady was selling crafts – dishtowels and the like, and then there was me - selling pork and chicken.
I had a successful day of sales. A few times, while I was talking to a new potential customer, a previous customer would chime in with a rave review of our meat. That helped seal a couple deals! There’s no advertising like a satisfied customer.
The Market is open from 11-6. I plan to attend every Friday (except for County Fair week – that week gets pretty busy so I may not make it). Stop by and say, “Hi!”
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!
Most Rangers are familiar with Fraboni’s Sausage. They’ve been an Iron Range tradition for more than 65 years. Our family has always especially enjoyed their Italian sausage. We got to wondering if maybe, just maybe, they’d be willing to make some sausage for us – using our meat, their recipe, and put our logo on it. I called over to their meat plant and talked to Don Johnson, the chief sausage maker. It turns out that they do a lot of custom meat work, and they’d be happy to do some work for us. I quickly called Ann at Natural Harvest Food Co-op in Virginia and asked her to take a chance on us and buy some. She graciously said, “Yes”.
Don’s been making sausage for many, many years, and he gave me a primer in the science behind sausage making. It seems that fat content is critical to sausage flavor. He normally deals with meat from the big packing houses where everything is very precise, and that this makes his sausage consistent from one batch to the next. He explained that the meat we’ll bring him from our processor in Cannon Falls will not be the exact same type of product he normally works with and that the consistency may vary a bit. I know that folks who eat locally grown, small farm raised meat expect slight variations. I seems to me that slight variations is how you know your meat came from a small farm rather than a cookie cutter factory farm.
A month ago we brought some hogs to Lorentz Meat in Cannon Falls, MN for processing. We got the call that our meat was ready, so off Shannon and I went to southern MN. Some of the meat was destined for Natural Harvest Food Co-op in Virginia - and it’s a good thing, too because they’ve been out of bacon for a while! Now they are all stocked up. Some was destined for our farm to be sold from here and at Farmer’s Markets – and it’s a good thing because we were out of chops and ribs! And now some went to Fraboni’s in Hibbing.
I can’t wait to taste the sausage. As soon as Don calls to say the sausage is ready we’ll bring it to Natural Harvest Food Co-op (did you know you don’t have to be a member to shop there?) I hope you’ll watch for it. They’ll be carrying both Italian and Breakfast sausage. If you buy some, please let us know what you think. Click Contact US at the top or bottom of the page and give us some feedback!
The last couple of months we had the pleasure of delivering our pork three times and beef once. We really enjoy meat delivery days. Our customers are such friendly people and seem genuinely excited when we show up. We have such nice little visits at each stop - sometimes it's at a customer's home or workplace, sometimes it's a central meeting place, sometimes it's right at our farm. We have lots of old customers who reorder, along with new customers who either saw our name somewhere or were referred to us by satisfied customers. Our customers range from the Grand Rapids area to Ely and the North Shore as well as everywhere in between ! What a diverse group of people! They come from all walks of life and all of them have different reasons for buying meat from a small farmer.
Most just like the taste of old fashion pork (and beef, and chicken) better, others are concerned about supporting the local economy and want to stick it to Big Agri-Business. Some try to avoid food that travels thousands of miles to reach us. Still others are practical folks who want to fill their freezer once when they have a few extra dollars. Lots are concerned about the safety of conventional food. Many believe in a combination of the above reasons. We are thankful for each of the folks who buy our meat. I try very hard to follow up each sale with a call to make sure that they are pleased with the meat and the processing . This also gives me a chance to answer any questions they may have been hesitant to call and ask.
The fun thing about having a diversified little farm is that you are never bored and everything changes from season to season. Custom Extempt pork and beef sales are done until fall -although we are collecting names for our order list so be sure to call 984-3235 if you are interested in meat for the fall.
And now...let Chicken Season begin!
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.