Just "Kidding" Around

The first of this spring’s kids finally arrived last week! Shelli gave birth to triplets – Beatrice, Baxter, and Bartholomew…can you tell that we have a “B” theme this year? Despite the first kid coming out in the wrong position, the birth went well and the kids are growing like weeds. Unlike some other baby animals (I'm thinking puppies), goat kids are incredibly cute the instant they are born. They were all wagging their tails and investigating their surroundings in a matter of minutes. Here are some photos!

Shearing Day

Tuesday was shearing day for the sheep at Sand Holler. This was my first experience with sheep shearing and I was surprised to learn how difficult it can be to find an experienced shearer. The shearer that we found doesn’t live in Texas, but travels through a few times a year going from farm to farm. I also learned that the quality of the fleece you get depends, in part, on the skills of the shearer. A good shearer doesn’t make “second cuts” – that is, they clip the whole length of the fiber off in one go and don’t have to clip the same spot twice. When the fiber is processed, the shorter pieces are often discarded because they are not suitable for spinning. Now that we have all this nice fiber the question is…what’s next? With any luck, we’ll be able to post a photo of a Sand Holler wool rug before the next shearing. Marissa - Do you still have that drop spindle?

Linden was ready for his haircut! Being a sheep in central Texas gets hot.

Two minutes later..."Whoa, what happened?!"

Who knew Morus looked like a Dalmation under all that fleece?

Desi, our ram, doesn't look nearly as intimidating without his wooly coat.

Bags of fleece ready for processing!

Greens and goat cheese ravioli

This week we ventured yet again to the delightful neighborhood cheese shop in Hyde Park - Antonelli's.  It was mainly to get their wonderful parmesan but we can't really get away from trying a few cheeses anytime you pop in.  Their latest newsletter had informed me of two new arrivals that I wanted to try - Ewephoria (a sheep milk cheese of course!) and a Wensleydale.  The Ewephoria is a gouda-style cheese from Holland...and it is delicious.  Still nutty like many sheep cheeses, this one has more sweetness and less of the typical untamed gaminess of other sheep cheeses I've tried.  So of course, that came home with us too!  The Wensleydale wasn't too Chad's liking - I think mostly because we tried it after the Ewephoria.  But before we can sneak out of the shop with just one extra thing than we had intended, John pulled out a flavored soft cheese that wowed us both.  Now, everyone in the shop knows Chad doesn't like goat cheese - and that's preciously why John didn't tell us what it was before we tried it.  It's the first batch of Pure Luck Dairy 'June's Gold'.  A simple chevre mixed with honey, thyme, and cracked pepper.  Marvelous!  So I convinced him to give it a go at home and make something with it.  This is what we ended up with:

Greens and Goat Cheese Ravioli serves 4

Filling:

14 ounces greens - spinach or chard for a mild taste, we added in about 1/3 broccoli leaves (can use kale too!)

1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan
3/4 cup goat cheese
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp cracked pepper
drizzle of honey

Pasta:

You can use any recipe you like - I've been working with this one lately:  "Homemades"

You can make the filling while letting the pasta rest.

1.  Rinse greens and cook over medium heat with just the water clinging to the leaves.  For spinach cook for about 5 minutes, for other thicker greens, cook for 10 minutes.  You want them well done.  Let the greens cool and squeeze out any excess water.  Chop finely.

2.  In a bowl, mix the greens with the rest of the filling ingredients.

3.  Fill the ravioli (for instance, using this technique) and spread on a floured surface for 30 minutes, turning over once or twice to let them dry.

4.  Boil salted water and cook for 5 minutes.

5.  Dot with butter and chopped sage.  YUM!

GMO Alfalfa

Genetically Engineered Alfalfa On the Way

Our goats eat a lot of alfalfa - it's what makes their milk so sweet.  We have yet to find a source of local/organic/sustainable alfalfa (it isn't grown in this part of the country commercially).  We just buy what's at the feedstore and don't know much about its origin.  And now we have something else to worry about...here's a message from Scott:

Ever heard of Percy Schmeiser?

http://www.percyschmeiser.com/

Some of Monsanto's GMO canola seeds blew onto his family farm in Canada and sprouted.  When Monsanto found out about it, they sued him for patent infringement, even though he was completely innocent.  The case went all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court and cost Schmeiser his life savings.  The final decision was a draw.  Schmeiser didn't have to pay Monsanto but they retained their patent…and thus the ability to treat the next guy exactly the same way.

The new GMO alfalfa approval seems like a horrible magnification of exactly the same problem.  Apparently alfafa pollen is carried by bees and other insects over a distance of several miles.  This means every alfalfa field will be contaminated with the stuff before long and Monsanto….bless their black little corporate heart….will be able to sue hundreds of folks for patent infringement.   It would easily drive an honest hard-working farmer out of business.

Since Secretary Vilsack has already given the approval for GMO alfalfa, it seems like the only recourse is to appeal to the President.  I have already written him

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

and encourage yall to do the same.

Sigh.

Eating Animals

Many of us at Sand Holler Farm are vegetarian. We all have a different story on how we came to this dietary state. I just recently finished a book by Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Everything is Illuminated) about his journey to committing to this diet after waffling back and forth for much of his life. It was an interesting and entertaining read - if not somewhat gruesome at times. Eating Animals does not provide any earth shattering revelations or even much information that is not currently available to anyone who cares to do a bit of research about their food. But I still think it's an important book for people to read - people of all dietary persuasions.

The book's main focus is the horrendous treatment of animals in factory farmed situations - I feel that this fact cannot be repeated too often. Consumers should be demanding a product that does not force animals into this kind of situation. It is hard for me to imagine that people are willing to continue to support this industry...ah, but I forget! The Almighty Dollar rules our lives. But it rules the lives of corporations too. Vote with your dollars - send them to sustainably raised meat!

Foer, on the other hand, advocates a vegetarian diet as the answer. He does not even believe that being an "ethical carnivore" is even a possibility. I disagree however. When raising food animals, there will always be compromises to be made (causing pain by disbudding in order to prevent future injuries, or castrating to prevent unwanted breeding) but I think that there are plenty of small farms that are doing the best possible. With more support for them, that industry can grow and hopefully again replace the factory farms that are currently dominating meat production.

His views, and the views of some he portrays in the book, can be a bit extreme for my tastes, but it's worth hearing their opinion. Go ahead, check it out!

Hello Again from Sand Holler!

While there has been a long absence of blog posts, there has certainly been no shortage of news at Sand Holler Farm! Between baby Willa, a full-time job, the holidays, and the constant demands of the farm, Marissa was in need of some reinforcements to keep the blog updated. That’s where I come in! My name is Jessica and my husband, Alex, and I moved out to the farm this past October. We were brought in to relieve Dale of the animal chores on the weekends (I guess he deserves SOME time off) and to make CSA deliveries. We’re excited to be a part of Sand Holler and I’m happy to be taking on some new responsibilities, including this blog!

Here is a brief update of farm happenings from the past few months:

We got one new four-legged addition this fall. Kitten, a lamb, was born on Alex and I’s first night here. Talk about a good omen! You can hardly call her a lamb anymore, although she is still very attached to Cat, her mama.

Harvest House and "Pre-Freeze" Garden

The biggest change on the farm has to be the completion of the “Harvest House”, the charming new focal point of the garden. This multi-purpose building has a generous area to wash and sort produce, storage for garden tools, and a small apartment for interns and WWOOF volunteers. With the winter providing limited produce, however, the work space has largely been used for sewing row covers to protect our crops during freezes. Our latest WWOOF volunteers, August and Marion, have proved themselves to be masters of the sewing machine and all of our rows are now sporting new, easily-deployed covers. The design is a vast improvement from last year’s and we are all very grateful to be able to “button up” the garden in a matter of minutes!

The garden is all tucked in and ready to brave another cold night!

Envelopes of seeds have been steadily arriving in the mail, bringing with them excitement for spring planting. While the garden has an abundance of kale, collards, and mustard, I think we are all ready for something besides greens! The garden is looking great thanks to the many helping hands we’ve had over the past few months, including Evan, Nicole, Austin, Keely, (another) Jessica, and, as always, Dale. Talk about Community Supported Agriculture! Cold hardy crops, such as beets, carrots, and lettuces have already been planted and should be ready for harvest soon.

Two of the goats have found new homes. Dandelion and Miranda have both been sold to families that have started home dairies. Five of the six remaining does have been bred and will start kidding in April. Here’s hoping for a less eventful kidding than last year!

Egg Recall

While sitting down to my eggful breakfast this morning, my ears perked up when I heard something about the wonderful food on the radio. They were talking about making sure your yolks are cooked COMPLETELY through and even about pasteurizing eggs. Pffft. I took a bit of my ooey gooey fried egg on toast (ciabatta from Texas French Bread!). But then the story went on and I realized this wasn't just a 'food safety expert' scaring everyone. There's an egg recall!!! (yes, I do typically live under a rock...remember I have a 4 month old!)

While some experts say that small-producer, free range eggs aren't any safer from salmonella contamination, I have to wonder. Perhaps statistically, the eggs from a small farmer are just as likely to be contaminated, but the fact is, there simply can't be a HUGE outbreak because of their size. Our centralized food system is what causes these devastating outbreaks that has people all over the country (or at least in 16 states this time), dumping food for fear it's going to make them sick!

The two farms that are indicated in the outbreak aren't selling their recently laid eggs in the carton. Instead, they are being shipped to a "breaking plant" where the eggs will be pasteurized and sold as liquid eggs. That's great that not all that food will go to waste, but it seems more like a band-aid than a true fix to the problem. How do we stop massive outbreaks in the first place?