August 2015

Chokecherries!

We picked chokecherries this weekend.  Because they are small and usually located on hard-to-reach branches, we don’t make them a centerpiece of our diet.  They provide a welcome accent. Cooling on the sideboard today:  a thick, rich crabapple-chokecherry jelly.  We use Pomona’s pectin, so we can get by with very little sugar or honey (still a …

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Labor of Love

Last night I stayed up to 2:30 making crabapple cider.  We haven’t been able to find someone willing to custom press apples, so until we can buy or build a grinder and press, we make do with a 1960’s era Acme Juicer.  It does a great job of extracting juice, leaving a very dry pomace, but …

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Placentophagy

No, I’ve never eaten a placenta, human or otherwise.  No, I don’t haven an opinion on whether postpartum humans should consume their recently expelled afterbirth, raw, cooked, pelletized, or otherwise.  I’d definitely try it if Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall prepared it with shallots and garlic on foccacia.  His River Cottage Meat Book has a place of reverence in our gastronomic …

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Red Tractor Blues

I kinda miss my 45-year old Case 530 backhoe.  It was always either broken down or on the verge of breaking, but the business ends of the machine (the implement attachments) were built much tougher than anything on our new tractor. The new Case 65A has a 25% horsepower advantage, far more traction and stability, and a lot of …

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