COARSE COUNTRY ROAST PORK PATE

It’s not a secret that locally grown, sustainably and humanely raised meat costs more than conventional meat. (Though there is the argument that eating “well raised” meat is cheaper in the long run once you figure in the costs of health care and environmental degradation that follow in the wake of conventional meat consumption and production). As farmers, whose main product is meat, we field the question “how am I supposed to buy local meat when it costs more?” We recommend eating smaller portions of high quality meat less frequently, or cooking with less expensive cuts of high quality meat. I don’t like to proselytize about our meat, but urge consumers to look deeply into what they’re eating when it looks like they’re getting a good “deal.” If you are looking for an inexpensive, delicious, quick, prepare-ahead dish to serve for the holidays using local pork try my mother, Martha Montgomery’s, Coarse County Roast Pork Pate.

  COARSE COUNTRY ROAST PORK PATE or “RILLETTES DE PORC”

If you like roast pork flaking off the bone, you might enjoy this hearty appetizer. It can also be used in a sandwich or on picnics.

Active prep time about 15 minutes.
Recipe may be multiplied and preserved frozen.

Ingredients:
• ¾ pound unsalted pork fat (optional) or high quality fatty bacon (optional)
• 2 pounds boned blade steak of pork (or other inexpensive cut)
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ cup water
• ½ teaspoon dried sage or a large sprig of fresh sage, minced
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 275ºF or set up crock pot on low. Cut the pork fat or bacon in strips. Cut up the pork shoulder - fine dicing makes less work later but isn’t necessary. Peal and crush garlic. Cut up sage if using fresh, discarding stems. Put all ingredients in a heavy crock with tight lid, or crock pot and bake until the pork is tender – about 4-5 hours. Strain the meat mixture in a fine sieve over a bowl to reserve the liquid. Allow the fat to separate from juice in the bowl. Chill to remove. Pound the meat with a mallet or shred with two forks till the consistency of course pate. Press tightly into one large or several small ramekins. Return the non-fatty juice to the pork if desired. Melt the reserved fat and pour over the pate to serve as a preservative, if desired, or cover tightly with plastic wrap. Keep for up to one week in the refrigerator or freeze till serving time. Serve at room temperature with warm, crusty baguette.

Hungry Pigs

"Pumpkin Head"

As the days grow cold, our pigs grow hungrier. Fortunately, nature has a plan for that -the fall harvest.  We are lucky to have good farmer friends who share excess apples and pumpkins with our hungry creatures. Our pigs, sheep, and chickens all eat pumpkin and apples enthusiastically. 

Thank you Ioka Valley Farm! (http://iokavalleyfarm.com/)

Pigs "getting into" their breakfast cereal (local grain with whey).
We work with Berkshire Blue and Cricket Creek Farm to feed our pigs raw whey,
a byproduct of cheese making.
Check out our cheese making buddies at:
 http://www.berkshireblue.com/about-berkshire-blue.php
http://cricketcreekfarm.com/

All of our animals have jobs- the sheep mow, the cats hunt, the chickens fertilize the fields.
The pigs are just finishing turning our garden! (And theyre planting a pumpkin patch!)

Winter Market:Lebanon Valley Farmer's Market 2012

Come visit us at the New Lebanon Valley Farmer's Winter Markets!

Located on Route 20 and 22 New Lebanon, NY in the Midtown Mall

Sunday November 11th, 2012
Sunday December 9th, 2012



Use your SNAP/ EBT card at our lovely farmers market and receive a $2 for each $5 in tokens purchased. NO LIMIT!

For more info: http://lvfm.wordpress.com

Holiday Farmer's Market

COME VISIT US AT ALL FOUR MARKETS!

Farming With Love in our Hearts

 

 

Raising children on a farm has been done for several thousand years. We have been doing it for about five. We don't pretend to be experts. We constantly wonder whether we're doing it right.

Our son has always been rough, he runs fast, climbs high (he is the inspiration for our farm name, Climbing Tree Farm),  a game of tag for him is a contact sport. And, he has been coming to the slaughter house with us since he was a toddler. We hoped it wouldn't encourage him to be more rough or callous him to the idea of death. It terrified us when he was three and announced that he wanted to be a "killer"when he grew up. (Which turned out to be his name for a butcher, and made sense because he loved going to visit the butchers twelve children). Mostly he has seemed to understand that our animals have the job of making meat and that, while we treat them well, they are not pets.

When an animal is born here, or when we buy one in, we make it clear immediately to our son which animals will be staying on the farm indefinitely, and who will be used for meat. As a three year old he could tell you: "We keep the girl lambs, but not the boys. The red chickens will lay eggs and we can keep them for two years. The white chickens are for meat and we don't keep them." 

Pigs, while we love them, and scratch behind their ears,  are never kept as pets. 

 

Until last winter we never formally named a pig (though some have gotten names like Chubby, Big Mama, or Spot to differentiate in the field). That is, until our son met Funny Eyes. A fuzzy runt, named for her beautiful light turquoise eyes with long dark lashes, our son was immediately smitten. (Our pigs usually have deep brown eyes). He could pick his special pig friend out from fifty yards, and often visited with her, despite her shyness.

Because Funny Eyes was the smallest she stayed on the farm much longer than her litter mates. For the past eight months we've been  reminding our son that his pretty-eyed friend would not be able to stay forever. Last week Funny Eyes reached her optimal size and was loaded for slaughter. Our son was there when she was loaded in the trailer, but couldn't look her in her liquid blue eyes to say 

goodbye. All he could do was sob. 

Later, when Funny Eyes had gone, he cried some more, and then 

brightened. "Mama" he asked "can we get Funny Eye's heart back{from the butcher}?" I didn't know where he was going with this, but agreed and asked why."Because, mama, the heart is where all the love is. I want to eat her heart to keep her love." And, so, with this gruesome request, it has become clear: our son is a lover, not a "killer." While initially it creeped me out that our son wants to eat his beloved pig-friend's heart, it made me enormously proud that he thought of a way to transcend the death of his buddy and store up her love. (Not to mention his culinary adventurousness). It also reminds me of the adage "you are what you eat," and makes me thankful that we have the opportunity to feed our children and our community pigs who have been adored, scratched behind the ears, and who have love in their hearts. One question remains, what's the most delicious way to serve pork heart?

Young Funny Eyes....not sure why she's so dirty in this picture, she must have been having fun!

All You Need to Know to Eat Good, Grass-Fed Meat

Informative article:

All You Need to Know to Eat Good, Grass-Fed Meat :

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/grass-fed-meat-zm0z12jjzkon.aspx#ixzz24Z0gPJTa

Beauty and Danger in the Air

Above is a photo of a particularly beautiful, and particularly hungry neighbor of  ours. We recently sold our flock of laying hens and this pretty bird is one reason why. He/she was dining twice a day on chicken! While it was a bummer to lose our birds, the silver lining was getting to see this hawk up close, watching it swoop and dive at the"bird food" in the field. It moved with unbelievable speed and precision. 
Predation is a constant problem on our farm. Each predator has a different style; for example, weasels sneak in and slaughter the whole flock, raccoons love chicken breasts, and the hawk seems conscientious. It eats all of the meat off a chicken. We have not figured out how to deal with hawk predation (we move our birds at least weekly, so a covered run would be impractical). Because the hawk is the least wasteful and puts on the most beautiful show of the predators on our farm, I think I like and respect them more than our other chicken-hungry neighbors. Our short term solution to our hawk problem was selling off the layers for the winter. We will have layers again in the spring and are looking for a successful hawk deterrent, besides shooting them, which hardly seems fair to a neighbor who pre-dates us at the farm, and will only encourage another bird to take its place (and is illegal). If you know of a possible solution please pass it along, we'd love to give it a try! No idea too ridiculous.