Memorial Day Week End

It was a perfect weekend to celebrate family and friends, young and old and everything in between.

Here is to remembering the gift of service and freedom.

In between parades and planting the garden there was time to gather together for a BBQ on the farm.

But first a word from our sponsors!! Hey, look at these friendly pigs. They are now weighing about 250 pounds. They have a definite routine throughout the day and enjoy the company of the other farm animals.

Here the pigs feed and there are usually a hen or two ready to help clean up after the pigs eat.

Back to the BBQ! We used the fire pit with madrone wood for seasoned smoke flavor.

Jolene and Peter had plenty of supervision while the grilled up bison-elk burgers! YUM!!

Ryan helped set the tables and made sure the food was properly placed!

After a prayer of thanks, 13 grateful hearts sat down to share a meal prepared by many hands.

The first BBQ of the season was wonderful!

The kids filled to their hearts' content and then it was time for play.

Some fun in the sun and sprinklers.

Some needed more encouragement than others!!

Then the victory run through the sprinklers all together.

Strawberry Blueberry Shortcake covered in whipped cream made a patriotic dessert!

Of course there was plenty to go around.

Red-White-Blue!

Darrell and Jane, thank you for a career of service with the US Marine Corps!

Happy in the water!

Anna on the tire swing. There is always time for a ride.

And a gathering on the front porch as the sun was getting low in the sky.

It was a day to remember so many blessings.

Happy Memorial Day, 2014

Leg of Lamb

How to roast a leg of lamb...Start with farm fresh, pasture raised lamb in your area. You are in for a real treat! Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

This is about a 7 pound leg of lamb, defrosted and pulled from the refrigerator about an hour before putting into the oven. This allows meat fibers to relax, which makes the meat even more tender!

Rinse with cool water, pat dry and place into an oven proof pan fatty side up.

Season all over with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and then make little one inch slices into the meat and push a clove of garlic into the hole. Do this 10 more times so that there are 11 or 12 cloves of garlic embedded into the roast.

Close up of the clove of garlic. Then season a little more over the top of the garlic with Italian seasoning blend. Place 2 sprigs of rosemary next to the roast and peel the rest of the head of garlic and scatter around the roast. Put into hot oven and set timer for 20 minutes. When timer sounds, reduce heat to 340 degrees and slow roast the leg of lamb for another 2-2 1/2 hours.

Use a reliable meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. If you like your meat rare, remove as soon as thermometer reaches 145 degrees. We removed this leg of lamb at 165 degrees and let it rest as the finishing touches were put on the rest of the meal. There was plenty of pink in the roast and it was so tender and juicy.

Served here with mashed potatoes and sauteed leeks, roasted carrots and parsnips, coleslaw with peas, deviled eggs and a family favorite for generations, Yorkshire Pudding. Enjoy with family and friends! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2014!

Welcome! We are Shamrockin' the Farm!

Couldn't resist adding the seed catalog to the festivities!

Tower of treats from the farm and the Grower's Market. Red potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and Dead On Savoy Cabbage are all perfect crops for wintering over. 

Such pretty cabbage and the super sweet and delicate flavor is perfect for a quick dunk in the corned beef broth or sauteing...butter only!

Irish Chocolate Potato Cake, recipe here.

And, gluten free Chocolate Irish Potato Cupcakes!! Using the same recipe as above only substitute Namaste Gluten Free Flour.

Getting close to dinner time!

Irish Soda Bread:  

3 1/2 Cups flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 t. sugar

1 Cup Golden Raisins

2 Cups Buttermilk or Milk with lemon juice

Combine all dry ingredients and raisins.

Add milk and stir.

Place soft not quite sticky dough on floured counter top.

Knead about 15 times.

Shape into round loaf.

Flatten out.

Using a sharp knife cut a cross in the dough.

Bake at 430' for 20 minutes.

Reduce heat to 400', bake additional 20 minutes.

Remove from oven when thumping the bread sounds hollow.

Let bread rest for 30 minutes before slicing. 

Enjoy! 

Generations of Irish Girls! xo

Dinner is ready. Corned Beef was made following this recipe:

This is a bison brisket. The Irish call this particular cut of beef, the Silverside.

The Great Irishman ready for St. Paddy's Day meal:

Corned Beef

Cabbage

Kale

Boiled potatoes

Carrots

Deviled eggs

Irish Soda Bread

Butter

Apple Butter and

a blessing of thanks.

Feeling lucky to be on the farm with local food on the table.

Purple Velvet Shamrock plant!

Cead Mile Failte!

Brunswick Stew

It all started with a farmhouse dinner with the girls at home. We prepared a meal from the farm that had been raised on the farm and picked and prepared with our own hands. The centerpiece for dinner that night was a 14 pound roasted turkey.

We celebrated being together with our Alaskans and time spent together over the meal of turkey, oven roasted potatoes, green beans and corn casserole, spiced sweet pickles and later apple pie.

Karyn's visit from Alaska with her two darling girls was coming to an end and we wanted to roast one of our pasture raised turkeys during her stay. If you haven't tried a farm raised turkey, it is well worth the investment. The meat is so tender, flavorful and delicious. Sharing it with family is precious. At the end of the meal, it looked like we hadn't begun to eat the turkey! So, we enjoyed leftovers in the following days.  Including a soup broth made with giblets, root vegetables, and homemade noodles.

After turkey sandwiches and various other leftovers had been enjoyed, the turkey carcass and plenty of good meat was stewed in a large pot for about one and half hours.  Added to the stock was garlic, a sprig of rosemary, salt and pepper. Once the meat was falling from the bones, it was removed from the pot.

You can see there is still a large amount of meat remaining and it was perfect for the recipe my mom had sent along with a charming article on the history or the mystery of Brunswick Stew. Just in time for the stewed leftover turkey. Traditional Brunswick Stew uses chicken, but the turkey is a great stand in! The meat was very moist and tender and shredded easily off of the bones.

A quart of garden potatoes was added and mashed, a quart of crushed tomatoes with basil was added, a pint of sweet corn added and even some green peas. True Brunswick Stew also has butter beans or baby lima beans, but we were out of them at dinner time, so we just made it all work without the beans.  There was also a whole onion sauteed in butter with more garlic added to the stew.  Then the seasoning of salt, pepper, and your favorite spices which may include some cayenne pepper or a dash of chili powder topped off the rich, thick soup.

Brunswick soup is a full meal in a bowl. Part of this large pot of soup will be frozen and the rest will be eaten through the week. It is wonderful all by itself and fun to eat with cheese toast or french bread and butter. Remember, the kind of meat you add is up to you because in the distant and beginning history of Brunswick Stew, squirrel meat was rumored to have started it in Brunswick County, Georgia or was it Brunswick County, Virginia?! The tradition continues with Brunswick Stew in the farmhouse! ~ Enjoy ~

PS Thanks, Mom xo!

Stone Soup and Candy Cane Ice Cream Sandwiches

Gathering together is the best part of Christmas or anytime of year! After our Alaska Family made it to Southern Oregon, cousins and sisters and Aunties and Uncle gathered for an evening meal.

There was plenty of activity in every corner of the old farmhouse! Anna was showing her skills of jump roping with her handmade jump rope. She made it in her first grade class. Brother Tyler is trying to master and I.Q. peg game and Cousin Ada is busy with a book.

In the kitchen, Evelyn and Cousin Ryan were getting reacquainted with the help of beautiful Mama/Auntie Karyn. Evelyn Rose LOVES her cousins and delights with squeals of joy when she sees them.

A little one on one pal time! Only ten years apart and what fun to watch the cousins mingle.

Finally dinner is ready. We decided to eat in shifts as it would be easier on this night. Stone Soup, by request of Aiden was made for dinner.

Ada was very surprised to find a stone in her soup...she actually found an agate, even better! The soup is made with all of the garden goodies and any left overs that were found in the fridge. There was homegrown applesauce and some quinoa, corn, and vegie chip scoopers for fun.

Aiden loves the soup and always returns the stone so that we can make it again!

Evelyn enjoying dried pears in her Daddy's arms. Those dried pears are great teething rings! Her hair stands up at attention most of the time right now and it is so darling.

Cousins gathered together at the table for a simple meal.

And then the dessert!  Candy cane ice cream sandwiches! Homemade oatmeal cookies from Jojo's recipe filled with pink candy cane ice cream. Creamy, sweet fun!

Sweet Anna loves it all!

Then the grown ups got to eat and Nana and Papa played with the littlest one of all! So many special times gathering together on the farm ~