Filling Our Freezer...

Every once in a while, we have a cow that won't settle (get pregnant), so we breed her artificially to an Angus bull instead of a Holstein.  If we're lucky, we get a bouncing baby bull calf from her about ten months later.

If we're lucky, after the vet pays him a visit to make him into a steer, he continues to stay healthy and grow until he's about eighteen months old. The healthy part can get a little tricky in the winter when the heifer pens (where he lives) are crowded and the temperatures fluctuate up and down. Just like in elementary school, germs get passed around from animal to animal. Several times over the years we've intended to raise a steer, only to send him to market early because of over crowding and respiratory viruses.

Luckily, this year we successfully filled our freezer with half a steer.  The rest went to some family and friends...

Over 150 lbs of ground beef, another 50+ lbs of roasts, chipped beef, dried beef and jerky...

It's actually bittersweet.  We are not hard and calloused and uncaring about having one of our animals butchered!  But...we need to eat, and knowing that the meat we are eating is from an animal that was healthy and well cared for helps.  After a while you learn that you have to distance yourself. The first time we did this, three of us were in tears, and the other wasn't hungry at lunch time!

On Forming a Food Co-op...

In case you haven't noticed, it's winter time and there's not a whole lot of excitement on the farm, so I'm going to focus on something that's always exciting.  Food!

A couple of Four ?? years ago, I posted about the food co-op that I'm part of, and I'm sharing that post with you again today.  If you need a little boost to your meal planning, and a little inspiration in the middle of winter, find a couple of friends and give it a try.

Originally posted on January 22, 2013...

Are you in a rut with your cooking...can't think of new recipes?  Do you get tired of making the same things, week after week?  Do you simply just want a break sometimes?  I was...I did...and I do!

Last fall I got an email from a friend, asking if I wanted to be part of a food co-op with her and another friend.  I have been part of this group for the past four months, and it has been wonderful!  Did I mention that I love it?

Here's how it works for us:

Three of us take turns cooking the main dish for all three of our families, once a week.  I take Tuesdays, the other two take Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

We get together and plan ahead several months at a time.  We bring a list of recipes and fill in our calendars, alternating with a "chicken", "other" and "beef" recipe each week.  Here's a sample...

We prepare the main dish and deliver it on our assigned day, either hot and ready to eat at mealtime, or more often, we put it in the fridge with basic baking instructions.  Sometimes we send along a side...for example if we make soup, we might send along some crusty bread.  We have keys to each other's houses, and if no one is home, we can drop it off at our convenience.

Today was my day to cook...

I made spaghetti pie, tripled the recipe and had an assembly line on my kitchen table.  Then I covered it with foil, added the critical info, and viola, I was done!

There are some things to consider when forming a group like this...

*It's convenient if you live close to each other
*If you have picky eaters, or food allergies, it might be tough to make it work
*It's helpful if your families are similar in size, or at least eat similar amounts of food  :)
*You've got to be honest with each other.  If there was a recipe your family really didn't like, just say so.

So...if you want something new to try that just might make your life simpler and mealtime more exciting, I encourage you to give it a try!  My kids ask frequently..."Who's cooking today?"  or "What are we getting for supper tonight?"  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cooking, but this has been so much fun!

It's 11:00 am, I'm off to deliver my meals and I'm finished cooking until Friday.  Then it's back home to break ice on water buckets.

Woohoo! 

A few things have changed over the years...we no longer plan our menus ahead of time, but we decide each week what we're making, and send around some emails.  Our families have "shrunk" with kids off to college, so meal portions have adjusted too, but one thing has remained the same...

I thoroughly enjoy the days that I'm not planning supper!  :)

January Happenings...

Goodness, it's been a while since I've posted! The hubbub of the holidays has passed, visiting family has returned home,a new year has begun and life goes on.

January hasn't been a very "eventful" month around here so far other than a few things I'll mention in a bit. Just the usual...feeding, milking, chores...feeding, milking, chores...every day.  We've had no major snow storms, no horridly long stretches of bitter cold, in fact a pretty mild winter so far.  Today is dreary.  Strong east winds and rain make for a good day to stay inside as much as possible.

As for those those few "fun" things that happened...

Jenna and I, along with a friend, flew out to Hesston KS for a college visit. We changed our flights due to the ice storm in the midwest, but we enjoyed the abbreviated time that we had there!  Numerous family and friends have attended the college, and it was fun to see it for ourselves...

The girls got a taste of college life by staying in the dorm with a friend, visiting classes, meeting with advisers and taking a late night run to a nearby town for donuts.  (I took advantage of a comfy bed in the guest house, and slept like a baby all night long...except for when I woke up on PA time just in time to head for the barn.  I will admit it was very nice to be able to fall back to sleep!)

On Tuesday, we were treated to beautiful blue skies!  And yes...this part of Kansas is flat as a stamp, just like it looks in this picture of the campus.  So different from home!

It was nice to break up the month with something different, but once again it's back to the routine.  It was nice to get away, but there's no place quite like home!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

So...on this brisk wintry morning, I went to the chicken pen to check for eggs.

I found this...

Perhaps she's a bit confused as to her true identity?  Or maybe she was trying to trick the birds that steal chicken feed into thinking she was a chicken?  I had just asked her this morning if she had caught any birds or mice lately, but she didn't answer.  Maybe I planted a thought in her little kitty brain...

Better luck next time, Jolyn!