Things are starting to wind down on the farmy in some ways.
And wind up in others. The bulk of the apples and tomatoes and vegetables are in jars and in the cellar. The pears and apples are next in the crusher, not quite yet though. I have a lot of picking to do yet.
Seeds are being collected and dried.
Last night we had Lamb rissoles. I mixed ground up left over roasted lamb, mashed potato, an egg, an onion and whatever green herbs are hanging about. Grandma always added parsley. Here is the recipe exactly as she wrote it in a blog post I wrote two years ago about Daisy getting lost in the field. We had corn that year too.
I always make a few extra jars of apple crumble for John’s and the old Codger’s lunches. These ones have plenty of room for the Old Codger to add his favourite vanilla ice cream.
The meat side of my farm is winding Up. We are on an ominivores diet and so I raise grass fed meat to go with our vegetables. The Bobby and Charlotte went to the locker early last week. Both animals loaded easily and took their early morning trips to the abbatoir without fuss. It was sad to see Charlotte go but she left a trail of destruction in her wake. Not the least of it being: breaking the fence between her and the ram – letting him in with Minty and Meadow and completely demolishing the chooks run over and over again. Feeding her was a very chancy operation. Poor old thing could only have lived in an indestructible concrete stall and that is not how I keep my animals. But I am going to name my new line of soap after her so she is not forgotton. Although she was a nervous bad tempered mother she did help me learn an awful lot and for that I am thankful.
I am lucky that the man down the road, an ex Vietnam War Vet on a pension, does all my truck driving for me. He is a gentle man and he and his wife are paid in meat for helping me which pleases them greatly as the army pension is not very much to live on.
I spoke to the man at the abattoir and he has some lard I can have to start making soap. It is a small family run outfit and when I go to pick up the lard on Saturday I will show you. It is absolutely nothing like the big terrifying slaughter houses. This wee country abattoir only does a few animals a day, it is quiet, efficient and personal. They know my animals are grass fed for maximum nutrition and gently grown and like all their charges they move them swiftly through their last moments with gentleness and dignity. It is one of those tiny businesses that help keep a tiny town open and I am comfortable sending my animals there and being part of this old fashioned country cycle.
This weekend I am going to try and make soap for the first time. If any of you have made soap I would be grateful for any tips. I want to make lavender soap.
The Black Mariah is parked up again for a while though. The broiler chickens (who go in two weeks) will be taken to their special organic meat bird abbatoir in a covered truck bed. And the piglets who are no longer piglets have a few more months on the farm yet.
Good morning. Today I am making a pound cake for John to take to Georgia tomorrow. He is going to visit his son who is still in basic training down there. I promised The Tall Teenager I would send him a cake. But we are not allowed to send food to the camp now. So he can eat it when they leave the base. I am going to put a fork in the tin with the cake. Otherwise he might pick the whole cake up and take a bite right there outside the gates.
I hope you all have a lovely day. It is 6.30 am and still dark. Starting to work at sunrise is not as early as it was.
You all have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
85 responses to “The Omnivore’s Farm”
Love the sound of the lamb rissoles.
I love the taste of them too. They make a lovely light meal. c
Suzanne McMinn at the Chickens in the Road blog has a great post on making soap from lard. Also a post about rendereing your own lard too, if you are so inclined. You might find them helpful. Good luck to you!
I really enjoy my daily visits, although I’ve never commented.
well thank you so much for commenting this time, i shall pop over and see this blog, thank you! c
I admire you being able to raise your animals and truly understand how to live a life where you raise your own food…I don’t believe I would be very good at it…I can raise the vegetables, but the animals would be something I would find difficult…but I realize it is the way is should be, to provide them with a good home where they can roam….and grass fed..we do purchase our meat when we can from local farmers to support them in our area:-)
There is a lot to raising animals, you cannot give them a good water then go away for a few days!! But supporting local farmers is a wonderful thing to do. And is a direct hit against factory farming.. c
I just made soap in August – using lye and assorted butters but not lard. I was told to let it sit 4 weeks.
Here are a couple of sites that may help you
http://www.soapcalc.net/
http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/06/cold-process-soap/
thank you vesta! I shall zoom over and glean all i can. How did your soap turn out?.. c
Really good — using it now
Also made hand lotion bars just 2 weeks ago — nice and portable
good luck with the soap making. I look forward to learning about the process.
So do I grannymar.. c
I wish we had a cellar for storing fruit and veg, it would make dealing with the gluts so much easier, we are having to buy a 2nd freezer (you know the smaller ones) to deal with the goodies, but even so I’d still like a cool dark store. I guess I’d have to move to make that happen.
As ever always interesting to read about your life on the farm, the way the animals are dealt with, and all in your small community. It’s a positive.
The first picture is wonderful and fitting of the season.
Have you looked to see if the Williamsburg or Jamestown websites offer any direction about soap? Perhaps if you emailed someone there could head you in a productive direction.Smallfarm seems to have the process down.
You’ve picked the perfect name for your soap.
I think it’s nice they way you barter with your neighbors. Years ago, we had an older neighbor who owned a small grocery store – his end of the barter was always some of his farm raised meat! So appreciated by a young couple.
Hope the day goes well
The main thing is that they’ve all had lovely lives and been treated with respect 🙂
Yes.
For sure…when you have livestock or any animal and farm and ranch it is not a 9-5 job. It is lots of work, takes most of your time, and is a labor of love. Dairy farmers have it the worst I think. But calving is hard work too! I pulled one calf in the middle of the night in the cold and mud. Not fun. Even though it was the cutest little thing in the world…in the end…I was covered in mud and freezing cold!!!!!! Yikes! LOL
My hubby told me that I had to think in terms of how much “you know what” I was willing to deal with “DAILY”! 😉 I still want those goats! 🙂 Cattle, sheep, dairy cows? No no no! LOL
Maybe you can try a hot process soap sometime. I plan to as it doesn’t have to sit and “cure” when you cook it. It just has to harden but you can pretty much use it right away.
This is what my research is telling me. I might make both one after the other, the cold process is faster, and then see what the difference is, other than curing time.. But you are right, waiting 4 – 6 weeks is an awfully long time, However you could use a bar early while the others are properly curing!.. c
You’re doing your little camera proud, c. Your photos today are magnificent. Made more applesauce today – had to go out and buy more jars and containers for freezing. Bumper crop this year. Oddly I can’t even give away apples to the neighbours. One of them actually said she didn’t eat fruit because of the acid and its effect on her teeth. I nearly snorted with laughter. Nearly. Happy Tuesday. No, wait, it’s Wednesday, right? Flipping builders are here again, knocked a hole through the ceiling, and gave me a fright. Thought the ‘boys’ were going straight through the ceiling toward the kitchen. I just pointed upwards, and said “You’re gonna fix that, right?”
Oh merciful heaven, you poor darling..will it ever END! apples are madly growing here also, how can that be!?.. c
Plasterers arrive tomorrow morning, whereby holes should be plugged and skimmed over. Painter on Tuesday and Wednesday. Plumber and electrician return mid-week. But there’s still, according to Andy, a few weeks left of “disruption”. And then we’re done. Oh, except that Peder thinks he’d like to make bookcases for my office. I won’t belly-ache about that too much. 😉
Bookcases are always good! We are getting close to the book case stage too.c
Congrats on completing the september challenge, sounds like you learnt a lot and ate some good food along the way. Your animals couldn’t be treated better, they have a fantastic life and a respectful death, so many of us only want to eat meat that is raised this way and you and other small farmers are giving us this option. I look forward to reading about your experiences with curing and smoking. I would love to make salami but there is no where cool enough to hang it here. The folks from River Cottage have an amazing DVD called “Pig in a Day” that teaches home butchering and how to make cured products.
They say (in my reading) that you can air condition a room for the salami, but that sounds a little too far for me, over the winter I am hoping to hang them in the cellar.. SO much to do!! c
I’m finishing my preserving with just one more batch to go, once Zia or I find the recipe. It’s great not having bags of fruit on the counter or sacks of vegetables in the fridge and I cannot wait to put away that canning kettle. On the other hand, I haven’t needed to turn on the heat yet since there always seems to be a big kettle of boiling water heating up the kitchen. I’m interested in seeing how your soap making efforts go. I’ve considered rendering pork fat to make my own lard but soap-making is something else completely and I know very little about it.
Have a great night!
I know what you mean! My canner is a fixture in my kitchen!!!! LOL Will be nice to put it up! Pressure cooker too!
John, rendering pork fat sounds like a massive job, luckily they do that at the abattoir. I don’t know much about soap making either but i WANT THAT SOAP! I will learn.. c
Oh Misky! I am so jealous! This was our off year for apples…sigh…good thing we have friends who share! Will work for cider! Our good friends have a press and it is a fantastic piece of equipment! The hubby has a apple cruncher too! He built them both!!! Engineering background… 🙂
So we will be helping them. Wish we had a good crop this year!!! I have applesauce canned and some in the freezer still. One of our trees died from old age…we planted two to replace it two years ago. Think I will put in a couple of Zestars. Enjoy! 🙂 Apples are good for your teeth!
I am so glad to read about your bartering systems: not just the exchanges but the warm friendships those generate. I believe we all relish being able to walk along and learn! And more than one family will be grateful for the extra meat in the winter freezer, even if some was not preplanned! Wonder whether they do the cutting up and packaging at the abattoir also or does the neighbouring butcher take over or does it become your task? Great about your soap venture: have never nade but have been given handmade cakes and, uniformly, they have been lovely to use . . . Handsome ‘piggy photo’ ~ that is one of the young brood methinks? Hate to tell you the light is bright by just after five here . . . .when yours truly still tries to be in the land of Nod . . .
The very nice men at the local abattoir do all the cutting and packaging but sadly they are not butchers, (John calls them meat cutters) but year by year we discuss something new and they do their best. Mostly I am training them NOT to cut the fat off! This is taking a bit of training as they are not used to grass fed animals where every oz of fat is hard won they are used to corn fed where the fat is just too much. But thats ok. All part and parcel of working in a small community and learning new things.. c