March 2011

March is coming to a close and I feel like a Johnny Cash song - "I've Been Everywhere." While that may be a stretch, we have seen several parts of Kansas. Early in the month we (and half of Comanche County) headed to Emporia to watch our girls' team compete in the State 1A Basketball Tournament. It was great fun and we're so proud of the girls who came home with a 3rd place trophy.

Since we were that far east, the girls and I went ahead and stayed several nights with my mom. (There's 2 towns.)

Last weekend, we headed to Kiowa so Allison could compete in Regional 4-H days. She read a selection from Roald Dahl and did very well. If you've never taken a drive through the Gyp Hills on Highway 160, you need to. Very different landscape than the I-70 drive through the flatter plains of NW Kansas. (1 more town.)

Sunday, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with a dear friend in Lindsborg. We got to visit about everything and nothing and had very few interruptions. On Monday, we spent time in Salina running errands and playing. We ate lunch at the Wood Fashion Cafe in downtown Salina. They use local meats, cheeses and vegetables when possible. Very good and reasonably priced. Next, we headed to On the Pot to paint our own pieces of pottery - I'm so excited to bring mine home. Tuesday, it was back to work. I had about 700 pounds of beef and pork to pick up in McPherson. (3 more towns).

This morning, Kurt, Anna and I were off to Dodge for a doctor's appointment and a little ATV shopping. (1 more town.)

Added to this deliveries in Pratt, Wichita and Coldwater. (3 more) Oh, and forensics in Bucklin and Spearville bring my total up to an even dozen!

I love my home state and rarely have the desire to live anywhere else - except when the wind gusts to over 50 mph. After driving home yesterday in a fully loaded suburban with Kansas crosswinds, I was wiped out.

You're always welcome to stop by the farm and see what's going on. We recommend you call or email ahead of time to make sure someone is around. If you come out in the next 4-6 weeks, there will be all kinds of exciting things going on. Our chicks are scheduled to start arriving in a couple weeks. We have a puppy on the way - a former student had a litter of puppies. No, no, no . . .her dog had the litter and she's finding homes for the lab/shepherd/??? mixes. We think Yeller would like some company. 4-H goats are also slated to come in April and this year our herd is doubling. Allison is planning on raising goats as a 4-H project again and Natalie asked if she could take care of a goat too. She's not in 4-H yet but we're tickled she has an interest in caring for an animal. If Allison and Natalie each have goats, you can almost bet that Anna will want to be in on the fun!

We'll have calves on the ground in the next few weeks as well - I love to "drive pasture" with Kurt and see all the new babies running around. Kurt also prefers calving this time of year as opposed to in the dead of winter. Never once during the bitter cold days did I hear him wish we were calving. We've talked and the cows seem to have an easier time and the calves seem less stressed when we calve in the spring. The final addition to our barnyard family will be two sows. Last year, we bought young feeder pigs and raised them. This year, we're going to start with two bred sows and see what happens . . .

We were thankful to get almost an inch and a quarter of rain on Saturday. Grass (or weeds in the case of our yard) was starting to green up but after this rain, everything is starting to explode - we're almost verdant - or as verdant as our desert ever gets.

The warmer weather and rain have us thinking about our garden. There are probably several things that should be in the ground already but the next two weeks may delay that a bit. We're scaling back just a bit this year - hoping to do a smaller garden and do it well. Kurt thought I was getting carried away as I'm apt to do - I'm planning a separate pumpkin patch. With this extra space, Kurt was sure we would have more square footage than last year. It's not - it's smaller - only 63% the size of last year. Yep, that BSE in mathematics still comes in handy. I won't bore you with the calculation details but you can only imagine the look I got when I tried to explain to Kurt how nicely the numbers worked out - I was without a calculator and the calculations were elegant . . . if you peek in a mirror, that glassy-eyed look you see is the same one Kurt had - sorry, I digress. New in the garden this year, turnips for the pigs and peanuts for the Dales.

Today (Wednesday)is Bill, my father-in-law's, birthday. Except for four years at K-State and a stint in the Marines, he has lived his entire life (81 years worth!) on the farm and probably knows this particular piece of ground better than anyone. In a world where people move often, I find this fascinating and refreshing and I swear again to Kurt that I'm never moving again.

While at my Mom's house, I made my first batch of soap. I wanted another adult around for two reasons: 1) to watch the girls and keep them away from the soapmaking and 2) to lend a hand if I ran into problems. Turned out I needed Mom for both. I managed to work at nap time which helped but this first batch was anything but textbook. The recipe said stir for 10-20 minutes until the soap traces (I'll let you look that term up because I'm not quite sure I know what it is yet). I stirred for one hour and thirty-five minutes! There were some other issues - not limited to my goggles fogging up - but I'm proud to report that my soap hardened, lathers and doesn't burn my skin off. All pluses for a first time in my book. I've tried a second batch but still have lots more to learn! Hope to have some bars available this summer at the farmers' market using some by-products of the farm.

I mentioned earlier that I brought home about 700 pounds of meat this week. We're pleased to have ground beef, hamburger patties, jerky, roasts and bacon back in stock. We have a handful of fillets but will have to wait until June for steaks. I'm most excited about the new products I brought home. We now have beef snack sticks. There are 4, 1 oz. sticks per pack ($5/pack). We also brought home sliced roast beef and ham ready for a great sandwich ($7.75/pound package). We had some pork made into zesty breakfast sausage ($3.50/pound) - we still have the sweet sausage, spicy sausage and ground pork. Finally, we had some pork beer brats made with beer from Tallgrass Brewery, located in Kansas. We don't hardly know where to begin sampling!

I know it seems early but it's time to start thinking about reserving your chickens for the 2011 season. We'll have chickens available on June 2, 16 and 30, July 14, September 22 and October 4. We do have some chickens left in the freezer - a few whole ones and several cut up chickens as well as some parts - if you find yourself running short or want to sample some before the new season starts.

We've got just a few quarters left for this spring - if you're interested, please let me know ASAP. We're also taking reservations for quarters (or wholes and halves) for the fall. If you reserve yours by April 15th (with a $100/quarter deposit), you will lock in the current $1.10/pound liveweight price. If you wait until fall, our price will go to $1.20/pound. Please email me if you have questions about how our quarters are priced.

I am the subject of ridicule in my house (I mean, more than usual). I left Sunday afternoon and told Allison to keep my NCAA bracket up-to-date. By early evening, I get a text "Your bracket is toast." What Kurt and Allison failed to mention is that their brackets are in pretty sorry shape too. Every year, I try to pick teams, get involved in the games, bet with Kurt and LOSE. Someday, I'll learn - I have learned NOT to pick the #16 seeds.

I think I'll close with the story of two cooks - I'll let you decide who is Cook 1 and Cook 2. Cook 1 wanted to make doughnuts for the family, found a recipe in a really cool cookbook (The Lost Art of Real Cooking), let other family members participate in making the dough the night before, and then fried 50 doughnuts (in lard), one at a time. Cook 1 was lauded all day for these wonderfully light and tasty doughnuts. Praises were heaped upon Cook 1, even the most gracious of comments, "these are as good as Don's (the local cafe owner)," hoping that this culinary feat would be repeated.

Cook 2 needed to make sure the family was fed and chose to prepare a meal everyone would enjoy - pancakes. However, Cook 2 was lacking in one key ingredient - baking powder. So under the advisement of others, Cook 2 tried a substitution of baking soda. On-line, it was suggested to use 3 times as much soda as powder (a side note: Cook 1 was pretty sure that it was a mixture of soda and cream of tartar but was not in the kitchen and chose not to interfere). Unfortunately, Cook 2 chose to use the adjustable measuring spoon that goes from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon and apparently it unknowingly shifted once or twice. The resulting pancakes were a disappointment. To quote our eldest daughter, "The first batch (off the griddle) looked like pancakes but were full of batter. Batch two looked like pancakes all the way through but tasted awful! Like baking soda!" Our faithful dog and eater of all scraps wouldn't even eat them until they were dressed up with a little bacon grease. Dinner turned out to be a few leftovers and lots of bacon. To Cook 2's credit, the recipe was attempted and mastered again the next morning and everyone left the breakfast table with happy tummies.

I'll leave you to ponder the identities of these two cooks - I will add that Cook 2 was laughing to the point of tears during the retelling of the pancake disaster.

Enjoying the spring,

Andi