THE DARK DAYS CHALLENGE

My friend and fellow farmer/blogger Susan from Squash Blossom Farm - just down the road from us - turned me on to this "Dark Days Challenge"  which involves: Cook one meal each week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients,  and write about it on your blog.


Well - i can do that!  Seeing as I do that most days of the week anyway. I mean our Farmer's Market here goes year round so I can always find at least some nice greens and root veggies (if I didn't have any left from my stores) Right?  Well kinda, until I found out last night cooking the meal what really i am doing is using locally grown ingredients, but most other products are not SOLE products - so yes!  I have been challenged!  And if you know me, I looong for a good challenge; keeps my creative juices flowing. : )


So last night's recipe was:
BISON SHORT RIBS w/PAN ROASTED FINGERLING & BABY BLUE POTATOES
 w/ SPINACH & CARROT SAUTE


2 lb Bison Short Ribs (from Shepherd Buffalo Farm - about 15 minutes away from me)
1/2 cup beef broth *
1/4 dry red wine*
1/2 Tbs crushed Marjoram (I had some fresh Thyme laying around so I threw that in too)
1 Tbs garlic*
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce*


For the Gravy:
1/2 cup (I use my own goat's) milk
2 Tbs flour*


(*  so here was my problem: these were not SOLE ingredients.  Although bought locally at an organic store - they might not have been organic, sustainable or ethical, but maybe, IDK)

Mixing the first set of ingredients together and pour over short ribs in a baking dish.

Cover and place in a 225 degree oven and roast for 4 hours.  

The key with Bison is slow and low.  Bison being the only red meat we like to eat now because of it's amazing lower fat and cholesterol content then chicken, yes chicken!  Because of this lower fat content it has to be cooked at lower temps or it gets tough.














Next:
PAN ROASTED FINGERLING & BABY BLUE POTATOES


2 Cups of Fingerling and baby blue potatoes (grown in my garden)
3 Tbs of butter flavored Olive Oil*

pan roast until tender.

Next:

SPINACH SAUTE & JULIENNE CUT CARROTS (bought from Thorson Farms at the Farmer's Market)

Cut carrots into Julienne shaped pieces and saute in some (homemade from goat's milk) butter.

Add some spinach once carrots are tender and saute til wilted.

Next:
I thought I's make use of the leftover bread I made the other day and make some garlic bread to go with it.
I took 6 pieces of bread, lightly buttered them and sprinkled some garlic powder* and garlic salt* on top.  Then topped with a little shredded homemade (from my goat's milk) mozzarella cheese.

It looked this good!  

and it was super easy!  Again, I wonder why most people don't cook like this.  It's just too nummy not to!

MY FAVORITE AUTHOR IS AT IT AGAIN

And this is our good friend Mari on the cover!

Well a couple months ago, Maddie's column in the Rochester's Exposed Magazine turned into an advice column.  The first one wen well.  Here's the second:

Maddie's Vice Column

and yes, she is that old souled. : )

HELP-PORTRAIT!

I was asked to join up for this amazing event here in town this Saturday, and I am honored to be helping out! This video pretty much explains it all:

TOP FIVE REGRETS

 I don't believe in regrets: they are the past crippling the future, but sometimes I think that we all need to hear these things about ourselves. I know I'm not that old, yet, but I think constantly on how I can live a better life, be a better person and love more and all the time see with nothing but heart.  So this moved me and I thought I would share:

 

Top Five Regrets of The Dying

December 1, 2011 By T Kelly

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Source:
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/top-5-regrets-of-dying.html

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE....

I knew it was coming.  Ya know why?  Because Noon came inside.  Noon only comes inside when it becomes winter outside.  She came in the other day and I knew the snow was coming.  Animals are like that, they know things humans only wish they could possibly know.  Noon knew, so she came inside.

We had a slight dusting of snow last night, but it will start to accumulate and soon it will look like this:

and then i will cry....

But then get caught up with the blog because the long, hard winter will have set in and the only thing to do around here is nothing. Or blog, or play with Afro (the wig).

WE'RE ALL DOOMED!

Yes,it's been too long and although most falls and winters are slow around here, so far this one has not been so I have been niglecting many things especially this blog.  And with a prediction of 4-6 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow, I got my butt in gear to do a little bit outside which I've had to put off because of other pressing matters.  It's amazing what the weather can force one to do.

I wrestled with the hammock to get it rolled up (sad - no more lounging in it for 6 months), I brought in the hose from the chickens' coop, gave the ducks one last splash in the pool, covered up all the saddles in the tack room,


 turned on the heaters in the water founts, and plugged in the pipe heating tapes for all the outside water thingies, and then went to the garden to pick the last of the garden veggies; lettuce and radishes.

 




















It was sad to see the garden so wrecked and neglected.

Goats in the background, Winky in the foreground. : )

 I was hoping to get the beds layered with cardboard, mulch and more dirt, but alas, time ran out. Snow.... oh such a sad day today....

It's so depressing that winter is almost here, but honestly, part of me really likes the break and now i'll be able to sit down at the computer and get reorganized with this blog plus I can get caught up on some things that I've really wanted to do for a long time but have been put on the back burner.  Which is what happens a lot around here when one has to prioritize on a daily basis jsut to make it through the day. Farm livin'.  LOVE IT!

TAKIN' A BREAK FROM IT ALL

Yes, I took off  for a few days to get outta here and take a break from it all.  Now one may ask, "WHY would you want to leave some place that most would want to escape to?"  and really, that's the point (and one of my favorite sayings): one must be gone to be missed. 

I left for the Boundary waters and a few days of camping on Sunday morning with my friend Laura.  It was the perfect amount of time to be gone and the perfect time for solitude and reflection.  Sometimes this farm can get the best of me, with all the responsibilities and things that need to be done everyday, twice a day, and things that have to be done, every day, twice a day, and things that should be done, every spring, summer and fall.  So to get away and not have to worry about those things, to sit in silence and reflect on my blessings, it's something that I should be doing every month!

I got 60 beautiful, blessed hours: some hiking time, some quiet time, some fun time, some friendship time, some much needed sleep time and some very needed, utterly quiet, peacefully silent, alone time. 

I sat along the shore of Lake Sawbill and felt the complete silence of the water, the slight stir of the wind in the trees, listened to the call of the loon, the scurrying of the red squirrels, smelled the rich piquant scent of the pine needles, and with all the tranquility of the place, gained several moments of clarity, peace and serenity:

As much as I have, as much as I give, I still forget to be grateful sometimes. I forget the good things in life that I have, and I wonder, why?  Why and how can one walk through life on a daily basis and forget all the things that she is blessed with?  How can one live in a life and not see the beauty in it?  How can one just "go through the paces" and forget that she has so much???  SO many friends, such wonderful kids, such a perfect husband?  I own a perfect, beautiful farm, with perfect, beautiful animals and perfect, beautiful land with perfect beautiful ...... well anyway, I do. I forget.  I forget so often that I have to run away from reality in order to remember.

So I came home with a whole new attitude, and a whole new love for this silly little, burden ridden farm (and 800 emails) and now today I spent the whole morning out there thinking of all the things I could do! All the things that I longed for before but got burdened down by all the things that had to be done first.

For example, I am gonna make some hard cider with all the apples we collected (as soon as I find a juicer - I decided on a juicer instead of a cider press, less mess, cheaper), and I am gonna revamp my entire philosophy about Farmer's Market: I am gonna make Liquid Goat Milk Soap to sell and I am gonna grow some lavender in the garden,  I'm gonna not think of the market as a pain in the ass anymore. Things like that.

Oh, and in my vision quest out there in the big woods, I asked for clarity to life's most fleeting question, "What is my purpose in life?"  I got an answer from the almighty, but it's not repeatable.  It can only be shown.  It can only be seen, experienced and shared.

I know: I'm vague and mysterious, It's just who I am - deal with it.

Let's hope my re-new found love for this crazy place stays in place for a little while.  Maybe I should just keep going up north on a monthly basis. 

Although it's colder then bat shit up there in the winter, yes, colder then it is here.

Well, maybe then just during the warmer months.