Snow

I don't like snow all that much; yeah it's pretty, okay, but it's inconvenient, cold and wet. Sunday we got a lot, and today it was snowing off and on all day. Going out to milk the goat today was so hard to do, it's such a struggle to make myself leave the warm dry house. Especially when the wind's from the north so it blows into the carport where I'm milking, and the snow and mud and puddles on the way to the goat area is sticky and chicken-poop smelly (thank goodness for muck boots!) At least Lily seems happy and willing - in spite of the snow, she comes right out and finds her way to the carport in spite of snow and drainpipes and stuff in the way, and eagerly if awkwardly hops up on the stanchion for her lunch. It's not quite so bad a chore if someone is enjoying it! And the milk is tasting good, the feta and chevre had a good sweet flavor. I've run out of rennet for cheesemaking; one more thing to remember to order.

Sophie loves the snow and bounds around happily, it does add some cheer to the bleak outside world. I wish for warmth and sunshine and vegetables, I'm really missing greens, the ones in the garden all look so ratty (and now of course they are covered by snow). I'm not really a meat and potatoes person.

I've started on a rag rug, a small practice rug for Sophie's kennel. It's a bit raggedly looking, which isn't surprising. Not sure this type of weaving is my cup of tea, but she needs a new rug and there's lots of fabric around - these are some old poly cotton sheets from Jim's stuff.

Of pigs and winter

For the first time, we ordered a half a pig from a local farm, Will-o-witt ranch, up in the hills outside town. Pork is so much tastier than other meat... and boy have I been eager to eat, and make, sausages... lamb and poultry just don't make sausages with that zing. Also my old recipe for vietnamese chao gio... ummm. Alas, we managed to miss butchering day, so much of the useful bits ended up who-knows-where. The butchers are great at letting you have livers and hearts and whatever you like, but you have to be there, they don't bother to save these things otherwise. One part we missed is the feet, and I see lots of recipes for pig's feet, which make me curious. Although chicken feet are supposed to be good for chicken soup and frankly all I have to do is look at a chicken foot and I give up. But it seems a terrible waste to not use the entire pig, that gave it's life for us to eat.

Already we've have had sausage patties, (with fried potatoes and baked squash), and pork chile verde (in burittos with saute'd vegetables and peach salsa). Both came out great... after years of ignoring any recipe that used pork, I've got a new thing to figure out how to use.

We had a whole lot of snow today, the weather is terrible, so I'm staying inside. Jay and Sophie had fun playing outside... I finished the first sock in cascade fixation, which was so fun to knit; it fits very well, which it'd better after knitting one ankle three times, but it's a little rough on the sole. There's just a bit to go on the other sock, so I need to order more yarn; I really liked knitting with this stuff. I can't figure out what is going on with the dark green sweater that got stuck sometime in fall; I need to redo some math and take more notes and maybe do a little reknitting. It also looks like it's going to be huge, I guess that's better than being too small.

The plaid came off the loom on Friday evening. That last towel had more tension problems, the tie-on to the back wasn't very good, so finishing was a real struggle. The results look okay, overall, but I enjoyed earlier projects more than this. Now I'm not sure if I should warp on more towels or start on a rag rug or what. Towels are so much fun to weave, but how many kitchen towels can anyone use?

Winter solstice

The Winter Solstice - the shortest day, the longest night - is celebrated pretty much everywhere by everyone, currently (by us) as Christmas. For those of us to try to be more in touch with the seasons, it seems significant to observe this change in direction of the day length, separately from all the Christmas holiday stuff. But as I've been reading about traditional, pre-Christian observations of the winter solistice, boy it all sounds just like what we are doing anyway for the Christmas; feasting, candles, fires, gifts, singing, evergreens and holly, hospitality and sharing.

An interesting thing I did learn was about "cross quarters" and how the old celts counted the seasons. Besides the summer and winter solistices and spring and fall equinoxes, half way between each of these was another holiday. February 1 was Imbolc (now Ground Hog Day), May 1 was Beltane (now May day), August 1 was Ludgnasa (now just echoed in State and County fairs), November 1 was Samhain (Halloween), and these days were the actual divisions between the seasons. So summer began on May 1, and ended on August 1, leaving the summer solstice in the middle of summer. Which is how it came to be called midsummer night's eve, and makes more sense in many ways since it gets pretty summery so long before the June 21.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful, somewhat locavore Thanksgiving, that we got to share with family and friends. Lindsey, her mother and grandmother came, and our friend Cynthia and her daughter.

The turkey was a 20# Broad Breasted White, one we raised ourselves, and butchered ourselves - the processor who used to do them closed down, so we were stuck. Since it was only 20 pounds, we cooked it half the time upside down, then turned him right side up to finish. We did need to cover with foil to keep from getting too brown (we have a stash of pieces of used foil - I'm not sure where it all comes from, but we didn't have to use any new foil).

The stuffing used organic bread stuffing mix (I've tried to make stuffing with stale bread and it hasn't been very good), onions and lots of red peppers, turkey stock (from a previous turkey), and Bell's seasoning. Usually I put sun dried tomatoes in the stuffing, but it was too hard to find them in the black hole that is our freezer, but - maybe since they were so many sweet, delicious red peppers - the stuffing was outstanding.

The gravy - pan drippings, more stock from previous turkeys, and ground giblets, thickened with cornstarch. Better than usual.

Then mashed potatoes - the late ones we grew, with goat milk, but no butter. They weren't as good as usual, not sure if it was the variety of potato or lack of butter. Carrots fresh from the garden, and green beans from the freezer. And parsnips - or rather, about half of one parsnip. Just about killed me to get it out of the ground; those parnips have long roots and hold tight (last year I bent my spading fork trying to dig parnsips...) It wasn't that sweet, this early in the year, so rather than just cooking, I sliced it thinly and sauted in butter. It was a big hit - it always surpises me how much people like parnsips.

Ruth brought rolls and pumpkin bread, Cynthia and her daughter brought cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, ice cream and whip cream. We all ate heavily and sat around in a stupor...

Final garden peppers

Last night it got very cold - upper 20s; and it's stayed very chilly today. Milk a little down, just 1 1/2 quarts.

Yesterday picked the last of the peppers outside in the garden; there were a whole lot of "king of the north" on the one plant under the tarps, about 15, probably 10 of them red, and a good many "nardello". Also picked the persimmon crop (about 5). Tarped the winter veggies, the fall broccoli has heads peeking out. It's getting dark very early now.