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Chicken and Garlic Scapes are here!
5/26/2010 11:02am by Heather Redden
Greetings Everyone!
Welcome to the new members of our little newsletter list. I've been meaning to write one for weeks but busy doesn't even come close to describing our life right now. In between rainy episodes Brandon is working in the garden and building chicken shelters. I am trying to shear sheep and build bee equipment. We are always working on projects, fence building being at the top of the list. There is more going on than I can mention in one letter.
I had a lovely work day yesterday. I spent time outside under the trees installing wax foundation into frames for more bee supers. The supers are the boxes that go on top of the hives for the bees to put the extra honey in. After working on the bee equipment for awhile, I switched to shearing sheep. I shear using hand shears (like in the movie, Babe) not electric. Doing these tasks gives a person a lot of time to reflect which is one of the things I love about farming. I felt an almost palpable connection to all the farmers that have come before me. Bee equipment has not changed since the invention of the Langstroth hive in the mid 1800's. Sheep were sheared with hand shears long before electric shears were invented. I'm sure some would ask why I don't use electric clippers since it would be faster. I have many reasons ranging from I'm a lot less likely to cut the sheep with the hand shears than clippers to the sound of the clippers being more stressful to the sheep. I think one of the biggest reasons for me though is not missing the experience of quiet time outside with a living, breathing animal and the quiet swik, swik sound of shears cutting through soft, beautiful wool.
As some of you have already seen, Brandon and I made the first processing trip of the year with our chickens and will have it for sale for the rest of the year. We are raising Freedom Ranger chickens this year out on pasture. They have more breast meat than the types of chickens we have raised in the past and the flavor is outstanding. We have whole and cut up chicken and packages of livers, gizzards, necks, and feet. One of the questions I'm asked most often is how to cook a whole chicken. Whole chickens are easier than anything else to cook, I think. Just take a whole chicken, rub it with olive oil, put it in a pan, add some seasonings if you want (salt, rosemary, and garlic are all good choices), cover with a lid or foil. Put it in the oven at 375 o F for about 2 hrs for a 3.5-4 lb chicken and leave it alone. It will be moist, tender and delicious.
Brandon is busy harvesting garlic scapes right this minute. Garlic scapes are the flower stalk of hardneck garlic plants. They are only in season for about two weeks and have wonderful garlic flavor. They are great for omelets and stir fry. They also make a wonderful garlic scape pesto. Here is a link to an article on scapes and a great pesto recipe. http://www.doriegreenspan.com/2009/06/i-seem-to-be-on.html
I'm looking forward to seeing you today at Earth Mother Market and on Saturday at Simon Kenton Farmers' Market.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
Welcome to the new members of our little newsletter list. I've been meaning to write one for weeks but busy doesn't even come close to describing our life right now. In between rainy episodes Brandon is working in the garden and building chicken shelters. I am trying to shear sheep and build bee equipment. We are always working on projects, fence building being at the top of the list. There is more going on than I can mention in one letter.
I had a lovely work day yesterday. I spent time outside under the trees installing wax foundation into frames for more bee supers. The supers are the boxes that go on top of the hives for the bees to put the extra honey in. After working on the bee equipment for awhile, I switched to shearing sheep. I shear using hand shears (like in the movie, Babe) not electric. Doing these tasks gives a person a lot of time to reflect which is one of the things I love about farming. I felt an almost palpable connection to all the farmers that have come before me. Bee equipment has not changed since the invention of the Langstroth hive in the mid 1800's. Sheep were sheared with hand shears long before electric shears were invented. I'm sure some would ask why I don't use electric clippers since it would be faster. I have many reasons ranging from I'm a lot less likely to cut the sheep with the hand shears than clippers to the sound of the clippers being more stressful to the sheep. I think one of the biggest reasons for me though is not missing the experience of quiet time outside with a living, breathing animal and the quiet swik, swik sound of shears cutting through soft, beautiful wool.
As some of you have already seen, Brandon and I made the first processing trip of the year with our chickens and will have it for sale for the rest of the year. We are raising Freedom Ranger chickens this year out on pasture. They have more breast meat than the types of chickens we have raised in the past and the flavor is outstanding. We have whole and cut up chicken and packages of livers, gizzards, necks, and feet. One of the questions I'm asked most often is how to cook a whole chicken. Whole chickens are easier than anything else to cook, I think. Just take a whole chicken, rub it with olive oil, put it in a pan, add some seasonings if you want (salt, rosemary, and garlic are all good choices), cover with a lid or foil. Put it in the oven at 375 o F for about 2 hrs for a 3.5-4 lb chicken and leave it alone. It will be moist, tender and delicious.
Brandon is busy harvesting garlic scapes right this minute. Garlic scapes are the flower stalk of hardneck garlic plants. They are only in season for about two weeks and have wonderful garlic flavor. They are great for omelets and stir fry. They also make a wonderful garlic scape pesto. Here is a link to an article on scapes and a great pesto recipe. http://www.doriegreenspan.com/2009/06/i-seem-to-be-on.html
I'm looking forward to seeing you today at Earth Mother Market and on Saturday at Simon Kenton Farmers' Market.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com
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