This morning as I am typing this, snow is falling. Mike is working on buttoning up the farm a bit—he put away the hay equipment this morning, and is changing the combine head over from grain to corn. The corn is still too wet to harvest, but it’ll get there. I’ll bet you’re busy buttoning…
The Summer Refresher Salad is a light and nutritious dish featuring spelt berries, Lina Cisco’s Bird Egg beans, pears, and dried cranberries or raisins. Tossed with a simple balsamic vinaigrette, it’s a refreshing cold salad perfect for warm weather. Summer Refresher Salad Salad: 1/2 cup uncooked spelt berries 1 cup uncooked Lina Cisco's Bird Egg…
One of the things we’ve learned from people at the farmers market is how few people actually cook anymore. It might be a dying skill. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Let me guess—you don’t have 60 minutes each day to spend in the kitchen? Neither do I. Let’s try one or two…
Article by Rich C. Lakeberg, Ottawa County Department of Strategic Impact (posted with permission) The West Michigan growing season may not have started yet, but the Ottawa County Agriculture Preservation Board is celebrating a bumper crop after officially protecting its sixth property, Shady Side Farm, with the Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program. This agreement guarantees…
I know you’ve been looking at seed catalogues lately. It’s still plenty cold outside, but now is the time to dream. And as you plan, I’d like to encourage you to consider incorporating wool in your garden. Why you should use wool: Conserves water. Wool holds 20-30x its own weight in water and releases it…
We definitely eat differently in the winter. More oven, less grill. More low and slow, less eat and run. And in my humble opinion, lamb shanks are best saved for fall/winter eating. Although they are an easily overlooked cut, you will be surprised and delighted once you try them. This recipe is a little work…
Years ago I had an online conversation with someone about sheep shearing that made me realize that there are a lot of misconceptions. It was a startling conversation, and no matter what I said, I couldn’t help the other person to understand that what she believed about the process didn’t match reality. At all. It…
I just made this delicious heirloom bean and lamb stew. It’s turned cold again, and this hearty meal is a great option for a cold winter evening. The Farmer reports that it was tasty, hot and filling. (He usually doesn’t use any more words than necessary.) Our daughter was visiting at the time, and made the…
This is the time of year that we are in planning mode. I just finished setting up all the harvest dates for the year for our lamb and beef, and that feels good. I thought you might like a little glimpse into what we have in store this year with our grass-fed meats so that you…