No, the stork doesn’t bring baby chicks to farms, and they aren’t found under cabbage leaves.  The United State Postal Service gets them to us safe and sound. These chicks came all the way from Iowa in just one day in these big boxes.  There are 300 chicks snuggled in here all toasty warm and safe. I think it’s a heck of a deal that these little darlings can get mailed all that way to us for just under $20.

When Maisie sees and hears -they make a heckuva racket peep, peep, peeping away! - the new chicks come, she gets so very excited. For some reason, she just loves them. She checks them out very carefully and will sleep by their brooder house, too.  She never shows any aggression towards them. 

We put them in our little brooder house and give them each a drink as they go into their new home. They are kept out of drafts, and under hear lamps while they are still so tender. 

 They will get full feed for the first few days, after which we must make sure to remove their feed at night.  If we don’t they will grow too fast and  have heart attacks. 

After they have grown their feathers, and if the weather is accommodating, we’ll put them into the chicken tractors so they can be out in the fresh air and green grass. But for now they need a lot of coddling. "What's a chicken tractor?" you ask?  I hope to do a blog entry on them soon.

            In 8 or 9 weeks they will look like plain old big, white  chickens, not nearly so cute, and will be ready to butcher. But for now....they are fuzzy and cute, aren’t they?

 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.

                            

                      The  Ely Farmer’s Market   

 I have had the pleasure now of selling pork twice at the Ely Farmer’s Market in Whiteside Park. The first Tuesday night, May 27^th, was just picture perfect – sunny with no wind.  There were a bunch of vendors with everything from home canned tomatoes, jams and jellies, fresh lettuce to pork! I didn’t even get to visit all the booths. There were oodles of home-baked treats, dog biscuits, a woman showing her biodegradable disposable dinnerware and the Dorothy Molter folks were peddling bottles of root beer kept cold in a metal pail full of ice! Paul’s hydroponic heads of lettuce were so eye-catching.  I bought two - and they were wonderful.  There were lots of customers, and the atmosphere was so festive!  It was fun. The time flew by. It’s only open from 5:30 until 7:00.  We are on our word of honor not to sell any items until the bell signals our official opening. Customers are welcome to browse and get in line at a booth but no early sales are allowed.  Of course, I’ll probably never sell out of pork, but my fresh eggs went within 10 minutes.

The second night was cold and windy. Although it threatened, the rain never came. There were fewer vendors, but I actually sold a bit more meat. I was pleased to see returning customers as well as someone who bought pork chops on one of last week’s customer’s recommendation!   I am becoming a little more comfortable at salesmanship – a bit more outgoing.   I am still uneasy asking for people’s attention – but I find that if I am a little more forward, I do sell more.  I just don’t want to be obnoxious, you know?  Our problem is that until we buy a fancy display freezer for Market days, it’s difficult to display meat.  So I have to invite people to peek in the cooler I have set up so that they can see the great stuff I have.  Then I climb up into the box of the pickup and take cuts of meat out of the chest freezer we have.

We plan to take part in the Ely Farmers Market on a regular basis. I hope to see you there!  Did I mention that my new camera should be in soon ? The Chicago warehouse was out…so now it’s coming to Hibbing by way of San Francisco!  I hope to have pictures from the Market next week! Cross your fingers.    The Camera arrived! Here I am at the 4th Market night.  My youngest came along with me and snapped a photo.  

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!

I had the pleasure of meeting some really neat people recently. It was an organizational gathering of the Ely Farmer’s Market which is getting ready to open Tuesday, May 27^th, 2008 at Whiteside Park at 5:30.  This will be its second year. Last year they had a half dozen vendors. This year there are over two dozen folks involved.

  I had hemmed and hawed about joining. It is a lot of work for us to load a freezer into the truck and then load that freezer full of meat. The drive of 40 minutes, each way, and the cost of gas all for just 90 minutes of sales, made us think twice.  After reading the conversations on email that the organizers were having amongst themselves and seeing their enthusiasm for getting this thing off the ground, we decided to give it a try.  Sunday, the 18^th, I went to my first meeting and met some of the people involved. I found a bunch of excited, welcoming faces. We had a lively discussion and yummy potluck. I hope the Market will be well received. The organizers have worked awfully hard and the vendors have their hopes up!

In addition to our meat there will be jams, veggies, sprouts (which I need to read up on) and lots of fresh homemade baked goods. Of course, not everything is available each Tuesday night – but that’s half the fun. Shoppers show up and take advantage of what’s there each time...it's like a treasure hunt!

If you come on the 27^th, stop by my truck and say, “Hi!” 

The first rule of blogging and website maintenance is keep your site fresh with frequent updates and changes. This is what I read again and again when I first started out with all this.  I swore to myself that I would do just that, because I check other favorite sites frequently looking for updates. I am disappointed if there are no new blog entries.

Well, it’s been more than a month since I updated.  I could try to blame it on lots of things, but instead I’ll just promise to try to do better in the future

The last month has been unseasonably cold and wet and grey.  This was hard on our new baby chicks. Sadly, we lost a bunch of them the first week or so.  Now that they are bigger and tougher, along with the improved weather, we expect things to proceed much better.  My camera is still in the shop – don’t ask, it just makes me furious to talk about it – so I still have no pictures to show you.  One batch of chickens is still sheltered in the little brooder that Shannon custom built for us. The other batch is in the chicken tractor which gets opened up each morning and closed up each evening.  “What’s a chicken tractor?”, you ask.  Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you all about it one day soon.  I’ll include pictures, too – hopefully (Grrr.)

I was dressed and waiting for the phone to ring this morning at 7AM.  Today is  Baby Chick Day.  This is a red letter day for us.  Weeks ago we ordered a batch of baby ckicks from Welp’s in Iowa.  They tell us what day the chicks will be hatched and shipped. The first thing in the morning the day after they are shipped, they get to our post office in Embarrass. Our postmaster calls as soon as the mail arrives, and then I hop in the van to go get them. It still amazes me that they are able to mail baby chickens – but it works great. They all arrived safe and sound without a single loss. I thought it interesting that they are able to overnight 150 baby chicks for $14.00 in shipping.  That seems like a bargain when you think about it. I sure wish I hadn’t dropped the camera 2 weeks ago because these little creatures would make a dandy photo. 

Baby chick day is a sure sign of Spring for us.  I was more than a little concerned about the weather this year since less than 2 weeks ago we had a major snow storm with over 2 feet of snow. To add insult to injury we got many more inches just a few days later.  But - hooray!- the weather took a turn for the better, and the snow is leaving almost as suddenly as it came. The robins are back, the pussy willows are blooming, the creek is rising (oooo...that's a whole 'nother story),  and Baby Chick Day is here!

The day before the chicks are expected the brooder needs to be prepared. Normally, this is my job, but I am still out of commission with a broken arm so Shannon took over. The waters and feeders need to be brought out of the barn for a thorough scrubbing. They get awfully dirty over the winter. They need to be filled as well, of course.  Straw is laid in the bottom of the little building with flip up roof sides that we use for a brooder.  Bulbs are checked in the heat lamps, the lamps are lowered as far down as possible this time of year, and electrical cords are strung out.  Those baby chicks need to be kept very warm until they feather out.  April in Northern Minnesota is a challenging time for the little buggers. Yesterday morning it was in the mid 40s when the kids got on the bus, but today is was in the mid 20s. We have to watch them carefully to make sure they stay warm and dry. When it warms up, we need to crack the roof so they don’t overheat…but there is no danger of that today. 

I’ll post pictures when my camera is back from the repair shop.

It is with tentative steps that with I am wading into the Internet.  I spend a great deal of time reading the blogs and web site of other farmers, but I just don't know how many people will want to read about us. This does seem like a good place to keep our customers up-to-date on where their food comes from when we aren't able to chat face to face with them. It also seems like a great way to introduce a potential customer, one  who might be too shy to call us on the phone, to the ins and outs of local meat.  Perhaps after they read a bit about it and "meet" us on the Internet, they'll call and really get to know us. Shannon and I have three great kids and the  five of us live on an old farm in Embarrass, Minnesota.  Here we raise pork, chickens, and beef which we sell off our farm, at the  Farmer's Market, and at Natural Harvest Food Co-op in Virginia, MN.  It's a great life.