interesting...

farm products

From time to time, I'll be posting about Tulip Tree Hill farm products that are available direct from me (the farmer) to you. This time it's lamb. The next time it might be machine-washable lambskins, wool roving for hand spinning, yarn, eggs (chicken or goose), live animals, or an assortment of fresh produce. For now it will need to be picked up here at the farm. Once I'm at market, we can make arrangements for pick-up there (except for live animals, never them there, if you know what I mean).

At any rate, I now have grass-fed lamb available for your freezer or dinner plate. Raised naturally on mother's milk, pasture, hay, free-choice sheep minerals, water, and sunshine. Weaned in their own time. That's it, no extra feed additives, hormones, grains, etc. If you buy an entire lamb (as burger, chops, and foreshanks), the cost is $8.66 per pound. If you'd like to buy individual cuts, the ground lamb burger is $8.00/pound and chops (shoulder, loin, and leg) are $12.00/pound. Processing was done at a USDA certified butcher shop and all meat is shrink-wrapped and quick-frozen for maximum freshness.

Now, I must say, here is something I wasn't anticipating...

That's right.

Eeewww.

I was told they're a delicacy.

Seriously.

I think I'll pass, thank you very much.

Now you just let me know if you'd like some nice grass-fed southern Lancaster County, PA lamb.

You can even have the boy bits if that would make you happy.

canning continues

Peaches.

We put up 100 quarts.

Three bushels, when I specifically asked to do just (?) two.

At least there were four of us this time. My sister and her husband helped and we did it at their house.

Still took all day.

Now there's talk of applesauce.

God help us all.

a battalion of soup

Do you know how much soup three bushels of tomatoes makes? Ninety two quarts. Yup, 92. Nearly a hundred. I know this from recent, first-hand experience. And it will take me a long time to recover mentally, emotionally, and physically. If I ever do, that is. 

How did this happen, you ask? I'm still wondering the same thing. Just the week before, a friend and I bought, prepared, and froze twenty dozen ears of sweet corn. You'd think I'd learn from that, but apparently that's not the case. So when he calls and says he knows where we can get all the roma tomatoes we want, free for the picking, and do I want to help make tomato soup, my good sense deserted me and I said yes. The field of tomatoes at the bottom of my road was being mechanically harvested and so mister gregarious that he is, he stops and asks if they'd mind us picking up what the harvester left behind. They happily agreed, and so in less than an hour, we collected our three bushels. That, my friends was the easy part. We then spent the better part of two days making and canning his mother's tomato soup recipe. By the end of the second day, I was alternating between whining, being snippy, and begging to please just throw the rest away. So then when he went out at eight o'clock at night to get "just a few more" canning lids, I officially quit. Cracked open a beer and a bag of tortilla chips and sat down with a book to read. That's how he found me when he got back and that's where I stayed until he was done. It was either that, or hurt him. Bad.

Oh yes, the soup is good. Outstanding, in fact. And everyone we know is getting tomato soup for Christmas. Just saying.

Now somehow, against my strenuous protests, I find myself going along with plans to can peaches tomorrow. I seem to have lost my capacity to say no and mean it. 

'tis the season

For my all-time favorite sandwich in the whole world...

The BLT.

The combination of flavors and textures adds up to something that I look forward to from the time that vine-ripened tomatoes are over in the fall until they return again the next summer. Now, let me just say for the record - I do not and will not eat BLTs made from grocery store tomatoes. Period. Amen. They may look similar, but they have none of the complex flavor or juicy goodness of a tomato with the good fortune to fully ripen on a vine whose roots have sunk themselves deep into the earth. And that's all I have to say about that.

Back to the most delicious of all sandwiches ever...

Start with your favorite bread, preferably toasted, and spread a liberal amount of mayonnaise all over it. Please don't be stingy. And don't worry whether this will be messy - it will be. Go with it.

At this point you'd normally add the lettuce part of the BLT. I'm using sunflower shoots instead. Because I can. But more importantly, because they're tasty. They have the green crunchiness of lettuce, but with an added nuttiness to the flavor. You should seriously try them.

Okay, so now add slices of those luscious orbs,

And top it with bacon.

My goodness I love this sandwich.

Heaven on a plate.

With a side of home-brewed mint iced tea.

food for profit

On October 28, I'll be attending Food for Profit, a state-wide entrepreneurship training program which is being offered by the Penn State cooperative extension. It's a one day overview of how to best go about starting and running a food-based business. Best of all, it includes a tour of the Lancaster Edibles Venture Kitchen - a local certified commercial kitchen which is available to food entrepreneurs and producers.

I'm mentioning this now in case anyone else is interested in attending. There's still time to sign up. You never know what you might learn!

buy fresh, buy local

The Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture is promoting seasonal, locally-grown produce and products through their campaign "Buy Fresh, Buy Local". On their web site it states: "Our goal is to make it easier for you to find, choose, and appreciate great local foods while supporting the farmers and lands that produce them."

In Lancaster County, we live in one of the most fertile and productive regions in the country, and our growing season is long enough for us to enjoy a full range of seasonal produce. From early spring greens, peas, and radishes through summer's full bounty with an almost endless selection, and on to autumn squash, cabbage, and apples. Let's enjoy it!