You know what gets my Goat?

     It has been awhile since I posted anything, but I had a pretty awesome opportunity on this past Monday.  I took the serene and beautiful journey into the heart of Cumberland Valley in Bedford County.  I traveled up the infamous Chicken Hill Lane to the Whitfield Farm on a quest to fill up our freezer with delicious Goat meat!
     It had been awhile since I had butchered deer and was feeling a little unsure of myself, but after a few minutes I was right back in the game.  We killed, skinned, and butchered two goats.  We even were able to save the liver, heart, and tongue. (are you feeling grossed out or nauseous yet?) 
     My wife and I have a chest freezer in our basement for all of our winter-over goodies, but a circa 28 pound, 3-year old turkey was taking up all the space we needed for the newly procured goat meat.  My wife thawed out the the turkey and took the monstrous task of cutting up and cooking the turkey.  We figured we would just can it, since there was no way that turkey could be good for just eating!  As it turns out though, the turkey was just fine and we have been enjoying it ever since.
     Yesterday, my wife traveled out to her grandparents to help cut up the meat and package it for placement in our freezer.  My taste buds tingle at the tought of eating all that scrumptious goat this winter!  Thanks for reading and I will try to update you more on our simple, local, and organic endeavors.

Long Time No Post!

No posts recently due to the flurry of harvest and processing activity.  I have been spending more time at my grandparents farm helping them get the harvest in and processed.  I also have been buying up in bulk to freeze or can for winter.  We are looking pretty good with many fruits and veggies put away, but we aren't finished yet and we are slowly running outta places to store things!  Just yesterday we drew up plans for a potato/winter squash bin only to find we couldn't afford the wood!  If only we still operated on the trading system, I have plenty of compost to trade!  Speaking of compost, I am gonna have to say "Au revoir!" to one of my worm bins!  They have done their "doody"(quite literally) and now I must release them into the garden!  My first bin is teeming with life and they take after their mum in their strong love for all things squash (tear).  Once I have dumped the worm bin I will then split up the other so that they have more room to spread out and of course more room to poop.

Don was such a dear yesterday.  He went to the intense trouble of borrowing a beast of a tiller and then he extended my garden plot.  It feels so good to know we are finally doing things properly instead of last minute and haphazard-like.
This year with all the tomatoes I decided to make spaghetti sauce to can.  My first batch turned out pretty nice and I got 5 quarts.  I have some more tomatoes thawing and hope to make another 5 quarts tonight.  Right now I am attempting pumpkin butter and finding that when it boils it looks like the Bog of Eternal Stench and it can spatter up to 4 feet in diameter-OUCH!  And yes, I have been burned countless times now.

And now for the recipe portion that should be in all blog posts:  follow this link for some tasty and healthy cookies!  On one of my late returns from the farm I found Don baking up a storm in the kitchen.  He had a craving for cookies and so went for Honey Oatmeal, only he added some Choc/Peanut butter swirl chips to his batch.  I hope you try them and don't forget to try dipping them in milk-mmmmm!
I pray we all take the time to enjoy God's beautiful symphony of colors during this Fall season!

Healthcare Reform

     The United States spends $8.3 BILLION per year on about 2.2 BILLION pounds of pesticides.  Over 900,000 US farms use pesticides, in fact, they use 75% of the over 20,000 pesticides registered for use in the United States.  This is according to the Pesticide Action Network.  While these numbers are staggering, the real shock comes with the EPA's evaluation of these pesticides.  The FDA states that 90% of all fungicides, 60% of all herbicides, and 30% of all insecticides are considered carcinogenic!  Hmmm, I am no doctorate holding intellectual mastermind, but perhaps this could be detrimental to the people who eat this stuff.
     This is just one facet of the food supply here in the United States that should cause us all concern, but a very important one.   This leads me to a novel idea.  We are in the midst of a great battle over the future of healthcare.  I submit, that perhaps the greatest effect we could have on the health of this nation is the purification of it's food supply.  There is an old adage that says "you are what you eat", so if we eat carcinogens what happens to our bodies?  That is, of course, a rhetorical question. If we could reduce the number of preventable diseases (cancer, diabetes, etc.), we could ultimately save a ton of money on healthcare and really reduce the cost of healthcare to the consumer.  This seems so basic, but will probably come across as a radical idea to many.
     In conclusion, my healthcare reform is simple:  Supply our country with nutritious whole foods that are free of harmful pesticides, and watch what happens to the cost of healthcare.  "Are you listening Washington?"

Weekend's Wear me OUT!

I am just now posting about my weekend because this one wore me "SLAP" out (as my mama would say)!  On my trip to my grandparents' farm I stopped by the local Mennonite Country store and found cantelopes and watermelons for a buck a piece!  Woo Hooo!  I then headed to the farm where we proceeded to harvest cabbage to make sourkraut.  Last year when we made kraut I remember picking these huge, but light, heads and this year we had the opposite.  Its so funny to see heads of cabbage "bleed" water like someone just sliced their throat (technically we kinda did).  Kraut making was stinky but fun and my gram confided in me how to make sure your kraut comes out good-you make sure you have a cranky old woman around when making it!

            

Next I headed out to West Va. to visit my lovely friend Nicole.  We watched goofy movies and went to Harper's Ferry.  It made for a great girl time!  I didn't cook or clean all weekend, it almost felt sinful! 

 So, to make up for it we decided to try out the sourdough starter-FAIL!  It wouldn't rise, but we baked it anyway-TWICE!  The first time it looked done but Don cut into it and the middle looked raw.  I then proceeded to slice it into pieces and baked it again kinda like biscotti.  The flavor is nice, but its a bit tough.

We also managed to squeeze a trip to Hinish Farm Market and ended up getting the best peaches EVER!  We also got some Honey Crisp apples that are enormous(note the picture of one sitting on top of a 12oz butter bowl) and taste like you are biting into an apple pie.  And after getting all this healthy fruit we headed over to the local dairy and grabbed a cone of pumpkin pie ice cream.  And now my days are haunted with wanting more and more and more of that tasty treat!  ARGH! 

I LOVE CARBS!

My oven has been non-stop all morning!  Knowing I had to freeze all that beautiful pumpkin pulp, I decided to use a cup and a half to make yummy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread!  I have a hard time defrosting or popping the seal on anything I have just recently put back for the winter and so the bread had to be made!  It also helps that I am leaving for the weekend and won't be tempted to eat it (and nothing else) for 3 meals a day.

While I was at it with the oven all stoked up I decided to finally try my hand at bagels.  They look tasty, but it only made 5 small ones.  I haven't tried them because instead I ate a slice of the pumpkin bread.  Sugar always wins! 
I am going to my gram's and a friend's place for a couple of days, neither of which eat organic. So, to prepare myself I made some zucchini patties!  This was a thrown together idea and it turned out great!  They are really tasty and filling!  Although I don't think Don will go near them, so finally in the oven I have a meaty, cheesy lasagna. 

zucchini patties

1 medium zucchini shredded ( add salt to taste and let drain in colander, press to push out water) 
Egg replacer for 2 eggs 
1 tsp Onion salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Pepper 
( I tasted as I went and added more of the spices I like)
Mix together and add flour a little at a time til the mixture holds together

Make small palm sized patties and place on a well greased baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes

Let cool for about 7-10 minutes on pan before trying to remove.

I smell BEER!

Sunday we mixed up our Sourdough Starter!  Daring as Don is, we went with the "no added store bought yeast" approach.  I was definintely skeptical, but things are going well.  After 24 hours it looked bubbly like a ready to flip pancake and after 48 hours it has a dreamy beer smell to it.  I have been proven wrong.  Thats right I am publishing that Don was right! (heh, there's a first time for everything!)   One more day of feeding and we can start baking!  Unfortunately I-the baker- will be going away for a few days, so the baking will take place Sunday.  We will be sure to post pics (even if its horrendous).  Our efforts were guided along by this website.  Hope all you out there will try this, especially with fall approaching!  How yummy to have fresh baked bread on a cool day! 
And lastly, I was not so pleasantly surprised to hear real live people will be coming to gaze upon our home TOMORROW!  This meant I should get rid of the scraggly thing I called a garden, and guess what I found?  The bunnies have become sick of Collards and left them alone long enough for me to get one last cutting!  God provides!  I was totally wondering what green thing (other than those long boats that have haunted my dreams for the past two months!  For those still in the dark, I am talking about zucchinis) to prepare for dinner and VOILA!  Thanks God!

Harvest ON!

Open up and say....AAAAAAH!

   Once upon a time, there was the Manhattan Project.  This project was very secretive and not much was known about it until recently when the documents were made public.  You see, during this project, the people invovled needed to obtain and use massive amounts of flouride in the making of an A-Bomb.  The only set back was that Flouride was known to be a toxin to animals, plants, and people.  Of course in the name of national defense, under extreme scrutiny, a group of scientist conducted studies to prove that flouride was not on the bad list, but is an intregal part to our health! (drip, drip, drip of sarcasm).  Over the years we have been introducing flouride into our drinking water, toothpaste, dental visits, and the such.  Flouride is also present in alot of meat and plants, due to the use of flouride in the production of fertilizer. (this reminds me of some other agricultural item....no...that's just corny!)
     Unfortunately, flouride is indeed a toxin.  Flouride has been shown to cause the following:

-Flourosis of the mouth (discoloration and weakening of the teeth)
-Bone density loss and overall weakening of our bone structure
-Neurotoxicity (direct link to lower IQ's and lower brain activity)

I would like to use this article to point out, that it is our responsibility to educate ourselves on matters that effect our well being.  The idea that the government or corporations will always do what is in our best interest, is flat out false.  I am NOT saying the government or corporations are evil, just that they need to be held accountable for their actions, and nothing does that like educating ourselves.  We can make informed decisions, and those decisions will ultimately effect what the government does, and what types of products companies offer us.  There is plenty of information out there on flouride, check it out for yourselves.  Stay informed!