So goes the line from Arlo Guthrie’s iconic song, Alice’s Restaurant. If you wonder how folks who grow their own food and sell the best proteins in NC eat, here you go. In our case, Thanksgiving 2016 was such a dinner as Arlo spoke of, minus the going to court, and the implements of destruction.
After escaping the country last year for Thanksgiving, we ended up hosting at our house this year for SWMBO’s side of the family. That meant my father-in-law and his wife and my brother-in-law and his wife. Plus the gaggle of cousins.
The star of our meal, our Brittany Ridge Farms fresh turkey
Since we were hosting, Grandpa and my brother-in-law ended up doing the cooking (and Barb, who actually did most if it). Our Brittany Ridge Farms turkey showed up fresh, never frozen, and a whopping 24 pounds! It barely fit in the oven.
Is it done yet?
There was some consternation over the turkey cooking slower than they thought it would. I guess 24+ pounds cooks slower than a typical 16 pound turkey. Since SWMBO and I were not part of the cooking team, we sat back and heckled mainly. I’m sure it helped.
Brittany Ridge Farms Thanksgiving turkey
In the end, it came out beautifully. Since I was playing a Thanksgiving drinking game, this was cause for a drink. “Dinner is at least 30 minutes late. Take one drink.” We’d also passed several milestones by this point.
Now on to the carving.
The two boys, carving and sampling
This was our first Thanksgiving in our recently self remodeled kitchen. Having two islands was awesome. Dave and I were able to hop over to this island and work on the bird with plenty of room to spare. Note I’m representing our honey farmer, Buck Naked Farm with the apron. It’s my favorite one.
Help yourself!
This countertop was part of the original house, which was taken from another house when our house was built (40 years ago). It was an antique (100+ years) when it came to our house which means the wood of this counter is at least 140 years old. Then you consider the tree itself was probably 75 years old before it was cut. That means the seed for this tree went into the soil in the late 1700 to early 1800s. There is a lot of history in this wood. I spent 6 months restoring this countertop that is holding the food you see above. It was worth it.
The kids table. Why don’t we seat them at this table at every meal?Ahh, dinner at last.
The key to a successful dinner? Put the kids at the kids table.
Home made pies for Thanksgiving
Sweet potato, pecan, apple, and in deference to our Caribbean trip last year, key lime pie. All home made, and all topped with Simply Natural Creamery whipped cream and ice cream.
Wildflower, showing us how it’s done.
Everything is better with sprinkles.
I gained the requisite 3 pounds after this meal. And was fairly useless. I think I went to bed at 6:30.
I hope your Thanksgiving meal was as good as ours. Remember, next year we’ll be taking orders for turkeys again. By November 1st, we are already sold out. Get your orders in early.
Ok, that’s not exactly what the report said. But it’s close enough. The headline from the article says, “A new study suggests people who consume full-fat dairy weigh less and are less likely to develop diabetes than those who eat low-fat dairy products.” This was a 15 year study of thousands of people. It’s significant.
I’ve written before about how my diet has changed from a normal American diet to a low carb diet. I’ve told you that I lost about 60 pounds, and kept it off. I also have lowered my blood pressure and am generally more healthy.
A few people have adopted my lifestyle based off of my results, some have tried it and abandoned it, but most have looked on and assumed I’m crazy. Eventually I’m going to keel over from a heart attack. “Everybody knows” that fat is bad and eventually I’ll pay the price. This is despite all the media coming out that debunks the commonly held belief that fat is bad. Everyone still thinks I’m crazy. Such is the power of our commonly held beliefs.
However this week, I found that the idea that fat is bad must finally be going main stream because I found a link to a 15 year study of high fat vs low-fat milk on, of all places, Clark Howard’s website, Clark.com. Clark is a bit of a health guy, but first and foremost he is a consumer affairs person and he looks out for the individual first. If he’s reporting that fat might be ok, then maybe this thing is getting some traction.
If you are still buying 1% milk, or heaven forbid, skim milk, take a look at the study. Vitamin D whole milk is the minimum we drink in our house. Usually it’s what you see pictured above, full cream, unadulterated raw milk. And surprise surprise, we’re pretty skinny. Well, except for after Thanksgiving. Ugh, I had to be rolled away from the table.
Round one of Thanksgiving dinner. I should have stopped there.
Whether you are rich or poor, stuffed or starving, we all have something to be thankful for. Even our worst days in this country are better than most people’s average on this planet.
For us here at Ninja Cow Farm, we are thankful for our health, our family, our lives and our friends both new and old, distant and close. We get so busy in our work and our lives, that it’s so easy to focus on the troubles ahead and forget the blessings we’ve blindly walked past. I know I’ve tripped over, and cursed, something that I’m amazingly lucky to have. Like Legos on the floor, in the dark, left by the kids.
We’ve all been there
Rather than curse the Lego, or the kids who left them. How about the fact that I have wonderful and loving kids with money and time to play with Legos.
Whether you are at Angie’s restaurant today participating in her annual free Thanksgiving dinner (Hi Angie, you are a rock star!), stressing over an overly dry stuffing with in-laws pouring in, or even where we were last year for Thanksgiving (yeah, we didn’t suffer a bit last year), remember that the time you spend worrying is wasted. The time spent giving thanks for your many blessings adds to your life.
The kids in paradise
At Ninja Cow Farm, we are thankful for all of you. Our customers, our friends, and our family. We’ve had a great time in 2016 and we have even more in store for 2017.
Now if I can just get through Christmas and New Years without murdering somebody…. (Oh yeah, be thankful) It’s hard to take your own advice sometimes.
And just to put all this in perspective. I’d like to share something just sent to me from someone in the Civil Air Patrol. It’s from General George Washington, our first President.
Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. Many of you may wonder; did it start with the pilgrims and we adopted a day or was it something special? The first official day of Thanksgiving dates back to Thursday, November 26th 1789. At the request of Congress, President George Washington issued a proclamation on behalf of The United States. It was continued from time to time by other presidents but was set into practice as the 4th Thursday in November by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War (that’s the War of Northern Aggression to you folks down South, Editor), and then made into Law by Congress in 1941. I share the original proclamation, unedited, by President George Washington and ask that we reflect on the many blessings this nation has had since its founding.
From my family to yours, I wish you all a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving Day.
Ch Maness
Thanksgiving Proclamation
Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other trangressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Eye of Round every one loves it but they aren’t quite sure how to cook it. It is simple however it is all about technique. Eye of round is great when feeding a large crowd or hosting a holiday party. It is served medium to medium rare with its juices poured over it.
Our sizes of Eye of round range in small a little over 2 lbs or large getting close to 5 lbs. A 2 lb roast will easy feed 5-6 adults, a 5 lb roast will feed 15-20 adults or more especially if it is served as an hor’s devour. Add a tiny roll and some horseradish or fine grain mustard and 5 lb roast will feed a very large crowd. At $10 lb it is less expensive than a steak yet has a tender texture and fabulous beef flavor. There is very little fat and no bone involved to worry about either.
Eye of Round Roast Beef
No measurements are involved on spices, sprinkle them on evenly
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Cayenne (just a very small amount)
2 carrots
1/2 lb-1 lb mushrooms
1 Spanish Onion
2 heads of garlic cut in 1/2
Remove Eye of round and bring up to room temp 2 hours prior to cooking
Preheat oven to 500 degrees
Season roast with spices
On a jelly roll sheet lined with parchment paper or foil place roast in center then arrange veggies around it
Place in oven, drop temp to 475 degrees
Roast at 475 for 7 min a lb, a 3 lb roast would roast for 21 min
DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR, turn off oven and let sit for 2 1/2 hours
Remove from oven remove veggies, slice very thin and pour juices over slices
For those of you who haven’t picked up your turkeys yet, we’ll be open 2-6 today. They turkeys showed up yesterday afternoon via special delivery from our poultry farmer. The turkeys are GORGEOUS this year!
2016 turkeys, fresh and ready for the oven
Hats off to Brittany Ridge Farms for delivering such beautiful birds this year. They are also HUGE! They were supposed to be between 15-20 pounds. I think our order averaged about 21 pounds. No worries, I love turkey sandwiches. I just have to figure out how to have them without bread since I’m still on the Atkins diet. Sigh.
So we’ll be here just like normal this week. Just closed on Thursday, which we’re normally closed for anyway. We’re well stocked for your last minute needs for Thanksgiving should it be dairy, pork, beef, lamb, or whatnot. We’ve got it all. Forget all the Black Friday craziness and come get something wholesome instead.
Understanding how an animal breaks down is confusing, even for farmers. Live weight vs hot hanging weight vs cut weight. We buy a pound of pork chops, but we sell a whole hog by the hanging weight, but we deliver a live animal to the processor. One animal, three different weights and three different prices.
And not everyone wants a cut price. Some people want half of an animal, but they want to buy it at the live weight price and receive the cut weight, not understanding the differences between them. How to explain it?
We rarely graze the back pasture. It doesn’t fit our rotation easily. The stand is pretty bad overall. And the pasture is prone to flooding, both from the lake and from overflow of the pond located uphill.
Instead we mow the pasture once or twice a year and that has to be the equivalent of grazing. For 2016, we again did not graze the pasture.
For 2016-2017 we are trying out not mowing a part of the pasture so that we can compare mowed to unmowed and see which area fares better.
This past week, it seems I’ve been at school more than on the farm. It all started when I attended the CFSA 2016 sustainable ag conference in Durham. As usual, I signed up for this event thinking I’d have time to go. Of course when it was time to go, I had WAY too much stuff to do and had no idea what fool had signed me up for this. So I missed Friday’s portion of the conference, and skipped all the opening and closing events and after parties and whatnot. But I was there for the meat of the thing on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday morning started off with a bang as I attended “Why Farms Fail” presented by Scott Marlow, who is with RAFI. Scott spent 12 years working the farmer crisis hotline. This means he routinely received calls like, “The bank is coming Friday to repossess the farm. What do I do?!” I spent 20 years in corporate America. I’ve dealt with failing businesses, repossessions, collections, etc. I felt like I knew why farms failed, but I wanted to hear what Scott had to say. Well 10 minutes into the class I was like a Baptist yelling “Amen!” from the back pew.
Scott gave an awesome talk and frankly it should be required to spend an hour in a room with Scott if you are planning on going into farming. Sadly, he didn’t have any recordings of his presentation (I asked) but I emailed him a reminder that he needs one. If he ever does record one, you’ll see a link here. And I’ll make sure it’s required of the people who routinely come to me and want to get into farming.
After a great start, I ended up bouncing from class to class all day. You can always learn something at any conference, but frankly I had more experience than many of the people presenting. I don’t ever want to be too old to attend something like this, but I think this was more geared towards beginner farmers. What was striking was that more than half of the audience was women. And not just women, young women. If you wonder why that’s a big deal, go to the sale barn one evening and watch cattle be sold. Then look at the audience.
Average age, 67.
99.9% white
100% male (unless wife is with hubby)
That’s the traditional face of farming. This group was average age of 28, more female than male, and probably 70% white. Different group. Different demographic. Different type of farming.
So I left with some new contacts but no real actionable items. I’m glad I went but I think I’ll skip it the next time they have one.
But on Friday I was a speaker at NC State for FoodCon 2016, which is a different kettle of fish. This was a conference of people in the industry. More academics, students, government people. That kind of thing. Again, I had no idea who’d signed me up as I needed to be visiting a potential vendor that morning rather than sitting at a conference. It couldn’t have been me who said yes. Luckily I was able to play hooky that morning and go visit a new food vendor for us, Cultures for Health. There will be more about that in a future post.
After my visit, I made my way back to NC State, parked in the wrong area. Then parked in the right area (Don’t you love parking on campus!) Then finally I made my way inside and was able to attend a few sessions before my session on recycling. I found that our session had some excellent panelists and I was honored to be up there with them. I also was able to visit with some movers and shakers in our industry who were attending as well, and make a few more connections with fellow farmers so it was a good event.
The next few weeks will be spent catching back up at the farm, trying to get turkeys in and delivered to our customers, and actually having Thanksgiving ourselves. Then it’s December and time to worry about Christmas! Where did the year go?
Win. Lose. Draw. At this point, I don’t even care. At least it’s OVER.
Whether your guy won, or your gal lost, there is one thing that will make it better and that’s meat that is on sale. In celebration of no more campaign ads, robo-dialers, broken political promises, and the general BS that is a campaign year, we are putting all of our beef and pork on sale from now till Saturday. Save 10% on all cuts. Just ask for it at checkout. We are open today 2-6, Friday 2-6, and Saturday 8-5. Come see us.
This sale is not to be combined with any other offers.
Our back pasture, located at the bottom of our property, isn’t something we graze very often. Maybe once per year, on the off year we do graze it. For 2016 it was not grazed at all.
The back pasture is prone to flooding. It also has a poor stand of grass. It would benefit from more grazing than it gets, and I think it would improve the stand, but because of the location on the farm we simply don’t graze it very often. What we do instead is mow it once or twice a year and that has to do.
Grass in back pasture, with grazing stake
Here you can see the grazing stake as well as the mowed areas behind the area with the stake. We left the area with the stake unmowed as an experiment for 2016-2017 to see if it does better or worse.
