Monster Shitake

Year three and the shitake logs are going strong.  I pulled a 10" mushroom still fresh off one of our hickory logs.  Commercial shitakes are grown on oak, which wind up with the strong tannic taste characteristic in Oriental recipes.  The hickory produces a mild nutty taste, perfect for the venison pot pie they found themselves in.

After yesterday's haul, the next batch should be ready in a couple days.

Understanding Mushrooms

Thank you everyone for attending the presentation on mushrooms last night.  It was great to see all of the interest and there were a lot of fantastic questions.  I had a lot of fun pulling the material together and presenting it.

Here's the slide deck that I went through.  I have this saved as a PowerPoint 2010 show, which supports the animations with the pictures.  For those that don't use PowerPoint, the second link is for a PDF, but there are some pictures missing from this version.

PowerPoint
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwHk9FK0lKJ3dmt3RDFaN0JnWDg

PDF:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwHk9FK0lKJ3blBublhwY1BDdE0

Truffled Chicken Mousse

One of the by-products of raising our own meat chickens is a rather large volume of livers.  While the occasional liver dish can be quite good, I find I usually turn my eye to other items in the freezer and the livers get backlogged.  This dish is an inexpensive pleasure that will likely use up my liver supply well in advance of our next batch of chickens.

This recipe is for a rich and aromatic mousse that has a subtle rather than overpowering liver flavor. The generous portion of butter creates an experience similar to foie gras while the addition of fresh egg yolks enhances the richness and creaminess of the dish. Truffles send the spread to a new level. Caution should be applied with this dish because it is truly addictive and is far from low-fat.There are plenty of very good liver mousse recipes on the shelf and on the net, and while this is my own take on it I have to give credit to the dozens of recipes I've perused for technique and proportion.

1.5 pounds Free range chicken livers
2 cups Milk
3 Sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup Diced shallots
1 tablespoon Dried french tarragon (or twice as much fresh)
1 teaspoon White pepper
1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup Madeira
3 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/4 cup Light cream
3 Farm fresh egg yolks
1 black truffle


Rinse livers in cold water and soak in milk over night in the fridge.

The next day, set the butter out and bring to room temperature. Pour the livers into a colander and let strain. Stir the livers with your hand to loosen any pockets of milk, but do not rinse. Discard the milk.

Melt 3 Tbs of butter in a medium pan, add the shallots and saute on low heat. Do not let them brown. Add the tarragon, white pepper & black pepper. Lightly saute until the shallots are soft and just starting to stick to the pan. Deglaze with 1/4 cup Madeira and scrape the pan of any bits. Reduce the liquid by 2/3 to 3/4, stirring occasionally. Scrape the mixture into a food processor equipped with the metal blade.

Return the pan to the flame, add 3 Tbs of butter and increase to medium heat. Saute the chicken livers in small batches, turning over after 2-3 minutes. Do not crowd the livers. The liver should be lightly browned, but still slightly pink on the interior. Transfer each batch to the food processor when cooked. After the last batch of livers is complete, deglaze the pan with the remaining 1/4 cup Madeira and reduce by 2/3. Stir frequently to incorporate any bits of liver and add to the food processor.

Add the cream and salt to the liver mix. Dice the truffle and add to the mix. Cover the food processor and begin chopping. While mixing, add one stick of butter in 2 Tbs chunks, then the egg yolks and remaining butter in 2 Tbs chunks and continue processing until the pate is smooth and uniform. It should have the texture of a semi-thick sauce. Only use fresh local eggs for this step (we used some from our chickens), otherwise simply skip them.

Pour the pate into a medium strainer and push through with a spatula. Transfer to serving dishes, cover and place in the fridge overnight. Serve with your favorite crackers, bread or crostini. This is a fairly large batch of pate and ready to serve dishes can be frozen for later use.

Shitake Pumpkin Ravioli

Here's a fun recipe using some creative home-cooking techniques.  The result is a wonderful layering of flavors that is both earthy and savory, with just a touch of sweet.  Using mushroom powder in pasta dough is a technique that's worth trying regardless of any stuffing or sauce you might add.

Shitake Pumpkin Ravioli

Shitake Powder

 The Dough
2 c unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c shitake powder
3 large eggs
3 tsp olive oil

For the Shitake powder, place dried shitake mushrooms (or another mushroom variety) in a food processor with the metal blade and chop to a fine powder.  Mix dry ingredients together and form a well in the center.  Add the olive oil and eggs, fold into the dry ingredients and then knead until well mixed.  Add a few drops of water if the dough won't hold a ball shape, but the mix should not be wet.  Wrap in plastic and set in the fridge for at least an hour.

 The Filling
2 c roasted pumpkin (see below)

2 Tbs Olive oil

1 c Parmesan
1 clove garlic
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp white pepper
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Saute the garlic in olive oil and add the thyme until fragrant.  Add the roasted pumpkin, pepper and salt and stir over low-medium heat until well mixed and the pumpkin is no longer releasing liquid.  Turn off heat and fold in the Parmesan.  Set the mix in the fridge and cool to at least room temperature.

Roll out the pasta dough into long sheets with a pasta maker or hand roller.  Spoon a row of filling onto the sheet and fold over.  Firmly press one inch pockets in the pasta and cut with a ravioli blade or knife.

Voila... awesome Ravioli.

Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, so once it goes into the boiling water, it should be out within three minutes at the most.  For the sauce, I used a simple cream sauce and added dried tomatoes from the garden:

Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
1/4 cup Dried tomato (i.e. sun dried)
1/2 cup boiling water
4 Tbs Butter
2 Tbs Shallots
1 Cup light cream
Touch of Balsamic vinegar

Soak tomatoes in boiling water for 20-30 minutes.  Lightly heat butter in medium size frying pan and add shallots.  Saute until translucent and add tomato and water from soaking.  Saute until water has mostly evaporated.  Add cream & Balsamic vinegar and heat until sauce has lightly thickened.  Coat the pasta and serve immediately.



Roasted Pumpkin
1 baking pumpkin
Thyme
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

The pumpkin I used for this recipe came from an 18 pound monster I cooked up in the fall.  Basically, you simply cut it into chunks, remove the seeds, slather the pieces with olive oil and lightly sprinkle with Thyme, a little salt and a touch of pepper.  You then bake at 350 until tender, remove the skins and mash up the pumpkin.  This produced enough pumpkin for several pies and several cups of filling for freezing.




As a side note, we dropped the skins & seeds into some water and simmered the mix for a couple of hours. After straining, a little brown sugar and chipotle powder were added and the liquid was reduced and carmelized to a thick pumpkin barbecue sauce.  Unique and delicious.

Homemade Mayonnaise

This is truly a revelation.  It's like ice cream that you can put on a steak.

Mayonnaise from farm fresh eggs and a touch of Limoncello, both of which were made on the farm.

New Piglets

Our Berkshire piglets have arrived!  About a month ago we bought a pregnant Berk sow (Dolly) to pair up with our boar Sirius Black.  The plan is to mate the gilts from this litter with Sirius once they get old enough.  This litter produced two healthy girls and four boars.

Dolly's Piglets

In another month or so we'll introduce Dolly to the rest of Sirius' herd.

Watchful Mom

Smoked and ready to cure

Landjagger and Venison Truffle Salami.

First Sweet Potato

2 1/4 pounds!

Goose Mousse with Cherry

This recipe is a fantastic meld of flavors, perfect for a fall appetizer.  The delicate flavor of the goose liver is complemented by hints of cherry and the coarsely chopped goose meat, which is a very rich poultry.  We raised our geese outside with none of the force feeding techniques required for a true fois gras. As a result the fat content on the liver is a bit lower, but they are still delicate, mild and delicious. The goose tenderloins were removed from breasts used for Goose Proscuitto and are the loose thin strips that separate easily from the main breast meat.  This is the most tender cut from a bird.

The recipe should take about 30-45 minutes to prepare and is best made a day in advance of serving so the flavors can meld and develop and the mousse can solidify.  The recipe calls for lard for sauteing, which can easily be substituted with butter.  Our lard comes from our Ossabaw Island Pigs and is a bit healthier than butter due to the higher percentage of unsaturated fats, not to mention it is more stable at high temperatures as there are no milk solids to burn.  I can't speak for lard from the supermarket as I've never tried it, but from the Ossabaw Island Pig it's delicious.

12 oz. Goose Liver or Fois Gras

4 Goose Tenderloins or 2 oz Goose Meat

8 Oz. Butter (One Stick, Room Temperature)

4 Tbs Lard or Butter

2 Shallots

1/4 Cup Dried Cherries

1/2 Cup Sherry

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

1 tsp. Salt

Pepper to taste

1. Soak the cherries in sherry for a minimum of 2 hours.  Drain the cherries and reserve the sherry in a small bowl. Squeeze the cherries to remove as much liquid as possible.
2. Dice shallots and saute in medium heat in 1 tsp lard until translucent.  Scoop out cooked shallots and transfer to food processor. 
3. Add 1 tsp lard to the pan and saute goose tenderloins until lightly browned and cooked through, but still moist – about 3 to 5 minutes.  Set the tenderloins aside to cool. 
4. Add the remaining lard and saute the goose liver for 5 minutes, turning half way through.  Remove the livers and set aside to cool to room temperature or place in fridge. 
5. Pour the reserved sherry into the pan and scrape up the drippings.   Reduce slightly, but don’t burn off all of the alcohol and pour back into the bowl.  You can also deglaze the pan in ½ the sherry and reserve the remaining amount at full strength.
6. Add the livers and butter to shallots in the food processor and pulse, adding the reserve sherry mix and cream until light and fluffy.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Make sure all of the ingredients are room temperature, otherwise the butter may melt and separate later.  
7. Coarsely chop the cherries and the tenderloin and add to the food processor.  Pulse for 1-2 seconds to work in to the mousse, but no longer.  Ideally, you should have small bits of cherry and meat that add a hint of texture to the spread.
8. Transfer the mousse to ramekins or small bowls and refrigerate.  Extra ramekins can be frozen for later use.
9. Serve chilled with crackers.

Up in Smoke - Charcutapalooza Challenge 4

The Smoke Challenge for Charcutapalooza ended up being a ton of fun and produced some fantastic flavors. In the brining challenge last month, I did a taste comparison of pork and beef using both a corning preparation and a goose fat confit technique.  My conclusion is that the confit produced a far superior experience and although the corned beef was very tasty, the confit disappeared immediately.  

Confit of Pork Shoulder and Beef Brisket

When the smoke challenge came out, that was the kick to take the experience to a new level.  The corned beef and pork went on the smoker for about 7 hours at 180 degrees, transforming them to pastrami and what turned out to be the best pulled pork of my life.

Smoking the Brined Meat (before spices)

After smoking, the meat rested for a day and was simmered in an inch of water for 4-5 hours, flipping once.

Hot Smoked Pork (left) and Beef Brisket (right)

It's pretty amazing how the color transformed during the final cooking step.  The leftover juices were used as a base for baked beans and added a great depth to the dish.

Pastrami (Brisket, Corned, Spiced & Smoked)

 The Brisket ended up being the superstar of the competition.  A thinly sliced bite was an explosion of complex flavors, unraveling the sweet, spice, salt and smoke flavors from the super tender meat.  The pork was as good as it gets in the barbecue world and the pulled pork sandwiches were contenders for any roadside or old school joint.

As a side benefit, I smoked the home cured brown sugar bacon at the same time.

Home Cured Smoked Bacon

Potatoes and Peas are in

The garden section planting began yesterday.  This is the area we recently cleared and the pigs grazed on last year.  They did a good job cleaning up invasive plants.  Tilling was very smooth and the bedding and manure from the animals left a rich soil behind. Potatoes, Peas and early crops are going in this spot.

Last week we finished burning the brush from the two large pine trees that were overhanging this spot and the Russian olives that had overtaken the area.  The coals and ash were spread out before tilling, which should be a beneficial additive to for the potatoes.

The Potatoes were the first priority to get in the ground.  They've been greening up for about three weeks to break dormancy and stimulate the growth of sprouts before they go in the ground.  The varieties we're planting this year are:

• Kennebec
• Yukon Gold
• Irish Cobbler
• Adirondack Red
• Adirondack Blue
• Red Pontiac

Two 50' rows of Wando Peas  went in to the right of the potatoes.  It's very tempting to companion plant in between the potato rows, but last year the dense planting strategy ended up being very difficult to maintain and we're going to keep things spread out and mulched this year.

38 Pounds of Seed Potatoesaa

We're starting this next stretch under row cover with six foot metal hoops for frost and pest protection.  The furrower attachment on the tiller was used to clear the trench for the hoops and spread out the dirt for laying on the fabric to secure it.  A variety of early vegetables will go in this spot.

Spring Chicks

The weather has been beautiful the last few days - perfect for the arrival of our spring broilers.  We got a batch of 100 Cornish Cross chickens from Purely Poultry, whom I've found to be very reliable and one of the best deals on broilers on a small scale.  We also get a discount because we're repeat customers.

Cute fuzz balls on arrival

Chickens and other poultry can be shipped when they are a day old because right before they hatch, they suck up the extra fluids in the egg and have enough protein, fat and water to last three days before they need replenishment.  This provides enough of a window to priority ship the birds to the farm.  The hatchery usually adds a couple extra birds because there are generally a couple birds that die during shipment.  Surprisingly, all 104 chicks survived the trip and were particularly perky, so we're off to a strong start with this batch.

Jayla loading chicks in the brooder

They spend two to three weeks in the brooder, then they're off to pasture where they supplement their diet with grass & bugs.  That should be just in time for the arrival of our Guineas and Muscovy Ducks, which will go through a similar process.

Seed Starting

The seed flats are starting to really spread out.  Last count we're up to 21 trays that we've reasonably timed for placing outside, not including the six varieties of Potatoes we're greening up before planting next week.  This is the most prepared we've ever been for the garden and I'm hoping we can produce a larger yield to share with friends and family with less routine maintenance.  We're also using Quick Hoops for the first time, which will really give us a boost with an early start from frost protection and later on significant pest control.  Last year we lost 75% of the squash and melon plants due to squash beetles, which the row covers should help with.

The peppers we started in late December didn't germinate well, so I have a fresh batch I'm trying before I break down and buy plants from the store.  The quick hoop bender and row cover arrived this week as well, so the planting is about to begin.  Last year was a bit of an anomaly with the last frost on May 15, but I'm planning on May 1 as the safe frost free date.

Seed flats with southwest exposure

Years ago I read about soil blocking in Eliot Coleman's "The New Organic Grower" and I purchased a micro and a medium blocker this year.  I'm really enjoying this process over using plastic pots.  It's much more flexible and there's far less plastic waste.

Soil Blockers

The micro blocker is really neat because it sets 20 3/4" blocks in a group, fitting 300 blocks in a single tray.  That's a lot of seeds on small real estate and I'm testing several varieties inside that I would ordinarily sow outside, which should help out a ton with weed control.  Last year I tilled in the entire parsnip crop because the weeds took over so badly.  Giving the crop a head start makes a huge difference.

300 spots for Lettuce, Tomatoes, Broccoli and Cauliflower

I was a little hesitant with the micro blocks because you simply drop the seed on top of the tiny little piece of dirt and I wasn't sure how germination would go.  So far I'm very encouraged and the only issue I've run into is the cat walking through the seed flats and making a general mess.  The turnips are sprouting after only three or four days and I'm delighted that I can get them in the ground properly spaced and mulched all in one shot.

Exploring Brining - Charcutepalooza Challenge 3

The third Charcutepalooza challenge was focused on brining.  I had never brined anything before, so this challenge was some new territory.  My perspective on brining was that it was something the meat industry did to mask inferior tasting meats and add weight to get a better price for Thanksgiving Turkeys. After getting excited about a couple recipes however, I was ready to dive in and explore the technique.

Chicken with Garlic Pepper Rub

The first dabble at it was barbecued baby back ribs and chicken.  The challenge I've had with homemade ribs is that they often end up tough, dry or charred when just grilling them.  The alternative has been to tent them in foil and slow cook them in the oven before putting them on the grill.  This steaming softens them up, but it's usually too much and the ribs don't hold together enough and can end up bland.  Brining them for an hour not only struck the perfect balance in texture, but introduced a depth of flavor that was stunning.

The brine was very basic:

• 1 Gallon Water
• 1/2 cup Kosher Salt
• 2/3 cup Brown Sugar

The ribs and chicken cold soaked for an hour and were set out for another hour before grilling.  I made a rub out of several spices, which I have a feel for rather than a specific recipe.  Generally, I add

• Healthy handful of Garlic Powder
• Kosher Salt
• White Pepper
• Black Pepper
• Dried Onion Flakes
• Paprika
• Chipotle Powder
• Other stuff to suit the mood




Brined Chicken & Ribs

The barbecue sauce is homemade from the garden.  I discovered a neat trick with making barbecue sauce last year by drying some tomatoes before adding them to the sauce, which gives it a deep tomato taste and makes it nice and thick without overcooking.

Second Experiment 

The next brining exploration was an herb brined & roasted chicken.  

Store Bought "Chicken"

Honestly, the jury is still out on this one.  We raise our own chickens and they are delectable and moist right out of the oven.  The brining ended up imparting a pleasant herb flavor into the meat, but it was also very salty. I may play around with the concentration and time, but it's really hard to compete with our fresh chickens.  Here's the recipe for the herb brined chicken:

The Brine:

Brine mixture

• 1 Quart Water
• 1 Cup Kosher Salt
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tbs Tarragon
• 2 Tbs Oregano
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 2 tsp Lemon Rind
• 6 Juniper Berries
• 1 Onion
• 1 Head of Garlic, Cloves Split
• 3 Quarts Water & Ice

Simmer the Brine ingredients in 1 Quart Water for 15 minutes.  There's no need to peel the garlic or onion.  Fill one quart measuring cup with ice, fill with water and repeat 2 more times to bring liquid to one gallon.  If cool to touch, place chicken in the brine and refrigerate overnight, otherwise chill the brine first.  Remove chicken 3-4 hours in advance of cooking, rinse, pat dry and refrigerate until cooking time.  Place in 375 degree oven until done.

The real test for me with a roasted bird is the quality of the gravy.  Again, the gravy was better than I've had in any restaurant, but a bit too salty.

Herb Brined Chicken with Candied Carrots

Final Brining Experiment

The final experiment is a taste off between Beef and Pork, cooked two different ways, for a four dish meal - foodies salivate.  Since the Charcutepalooza challenge is to make a corned beef, why not also try the technique on a hunk of pork along with a beef brisket?  I've also become a big fan of confit and happen to have a significant amount of goose fat waiting for a job, so why not try out a beef confit along the pork confit I've been planning and see how the techniques differ?

Pork shoulder for Salt Pork, Pork Prosciutto, and "Corned Pork"

Once the pork shoulder and the beef brisket were split up, both went into respective cures together.  The Brine and Pickling spice recipe for the Corned Beef (and Pork) came right out of Charcuterie, except I added juniper berries to the pickling spice.

Pork Shoulder and Beef Brisket curing for confit

The dry cure for the confit came straight out of the Pork Confit recipe in Charcuterie.  I need to schedule a tasting event for the final products, but can't wait to see how the techniques and character of the different meats play out.  Almost forgot, the extra hunk of pork shoulder is curing in the fridge to make a sweet salt pork.

Pigatiller

A couple weeks ago I set some of the Ossabaw Island Pigs loose on the garden. Pigs are natural rooters and we've been using them to help prep the garden for spring for the last two years. They turn over the first couple inches looking for roots, grubs and other foods - natural rototillers; or Pigatillers.  The leftover plant material from the previous year and the early spring weeds get turned over while I'm inside keeping warm.  They also leave wonderful fertilizer in their wake, which is much easier than spreading it yourself.

In this picture you can see the early weeds sprouting to the right and the fresh look under the pigs.  Since all but the top couple inches are turned over in this process, it is very good approach for maintaining the subsoil structure that is so helpful in long term soil health.  Tilling down six inches is pretty damaging to the worms and other beneficial creatures in the earth.

The final benefit is the pigs dig to the last inch in the garden.  Running a heavy duty tiller along a fence line is nerve racking and I've had more than a couple rough moments when the tines get caught in the wire on a tight turn.  The pigs are much more thorough and I don't need to worry about fence repair or untangling the tiller tines.

The main issue with using the pigs in the garden is keeping them in too long.  Once they've turned over the soil, their running around compacts the earth and you need to go back in to till it up for planting, which offsets some of the benefits.  This year, we're planning to keep them on a short leash and move them out while the soil is still fluffy.

Cured Salmon - Charcutepalooza Challenge 2

The second challenge in the Charcutepalooza competition was a further exploration of the salt cure.  I had my heart set on a pancetta and guanciale from the Ossabaw Island Hog that I have ready to go.  Fortunately for Sauage (the Pig) and unfortunately for Mrs. Wheelbarrow, the hog was given a stay of execution due to extensive business travel on my part.

Freddy & Daphne (That's right - Scooby Doo)

Of course this isn't a picture of Sausage, rather Daphne, who is one of our breeders for the Ossabaws.  (Sausage didn't care for a photo in January).  So after a long day at work I stopped and purchased a package of Steelhead Salmon for dinner and reserved a fillet for curing (OMG - Farmer John actually bought animal protein- no no no).  This leads us to the Salmon masterpiece for the Charcutepalooza challenge.  

Salmon & cure mixture

One of the tips I picked up from Charcuterie was adjusting the proportion of salt and sugar.  I've made Gravalox several times in the past where I've used a 50/50 mix of salt and sugar, but Michael & Brian have a much higher sugar content in their salmon cure.  The result is that more of the salmon flavor comes out in the final product.  I'm also terribly allergic to brandy, which is traditionally used and a light whiskey is a reasonable substitute.  Here's the final recipe that I used:

6 oz Kosher Salt

7 oz Table Sugar (Sucrose)

6 oz Brown Sugar

2 TBS Coarsely Ground Black Pepper

1 TBS Fennel Seed

1 TBS Dill Weed 

1/2 cup Canadian Club Whiskey

2 to 4 pound Salmon Filet

Salmon with Curing Mix

Rinse the Salmon with water and pat dry.  Mix the other ingredients in bowl with fork until pasty.  Slather all surfaces of Salmon with cure mix & cover with Saran Wrap.  Add weight on top of salmon and refrigerate for five to seven days, turning salmon every one to two days.  After curing, rinse with water, pat dry and slice thin for serving.  Can be stored in refrigerator for several weeks.

Weight on Salmon

After weighting, the salmon will release liquid into the cure mix, which is part of the osmosis process involved in curing and the compression from the added weight.  The net result is that liquid is added to the pan, which can spill over.  That's why the whole contraption is placed on a cookie sheet.

After curing, the salmon can be cut into thin slices and served with crackers, bagels, and of course displayed in mouth watering shots like the one below.

Mouth watering display of cured salmon and goose prosciutto

Did I mention that the salmon is mouth watering - and yummy to boot?

Brewing Update

The first keg has been tapped from our monster brewing session over the holidays.  This is the "Light" beer we created from the second portion of the Parti Gyle run.  It tastes like a combination of a pub style English Bitter and a light stout.  A touch of Chocolate malt is what gives it the black color without overpowering.  The bittering hops are pretty strong and it has just a touch of hop aroma.  I'm really pleased to see the head development on this one - a nice silky foam that you usually find in an authentic pub drawn beer.  I think I'll call this one Black & Bitter.

Getting the Garden in Gear

The first peppers are sprouting!  This is my (new) early warning system to get moving on the rest of the garden plans.  Peppers are one of the most frustrating plants to start from seed.  The garden shops make it seem easy when you pick up a six pack of young plants (like they just jump out of the potting soil), but there are few things as dull as waiting the six to eight weeks to watch a pepper plant sprout.  I usually wait a little too long in the season to get the seed flats started and then get overexcited and plant a whole bunch of vegetables at once, and of course everything takes off except the peppers.  By the time they are ready to harden outside the sun scorches them to nothing.

Early Jalapeños

This year I got the jump and started them on New Year's weekend.  I figured it would be mid to late March by the time they were nice and leafy.  The row covers (and maybe hoop-house) should provide the freeze protection for the plants at that stage.  Now I just need to get the orders in for the covers and the rest of the seeds, start the rest of the early plants, rotate the pigs to till the garden, etc......

72 Pepper Plants?

Now what would I need with 72 pepper plants and 12 varieties?  What not is the better question.  They make you smile, drool, wince, cry, burn, sweat, and scream.  The hot ones are also good for bug control aside from awesome Salsa (check out my natural bug spray recipe).  They're going to be beautiful with the 72 tomato plants that I'll be starting in the next couple weeks.

Take note of my new labeling system.  It's from plastic pipe hanger.  I had a 100' roll lying around that cost a couple bucks - a whole lot cheaper than the arrow planter labels that cost a couple buck / dozen and always seem to disappear.  So far the sharpie ink is holding up well and I haven't noticed any fading.  Now I need an inexpensive outside labeling system that can hold up to sun bleaching.  Ideas appreciated.

First Piglets

Our first piglets born on the farm were delivered this week.  Our adult Ossabaw Island Sow (Daphne) had four healthy piglets on Wednesday and they are all doing fantastic.  There are two color variations with the Ossabaws - Black and varied color.  We got three black and one multicolored piglet this time.

Four is a pretty small litter for pigs, but the Ossabaws throw pretty small numbers compared to the refined breeds that can easily produce over ten piglets in a litter.  This is due to the fact that the Ossabaw Island breed has been genetically isolated for 500 years and adapted to some pretty harsh conditions on the island.  I'm hoping to get slightly better numbers in warmer weather, however.

The Ossabaws are very hearty and don't need a lot of extra shelter.  The shed in the background was crushed in the blizzard last year, but the pigs aren't very picky on aesthetics.  Some dry hay and a little tarp covering and they are good to go.