Around the Homestead this Week

At this time of year our lives revolve around the outdoors and preparing for winter.

Enjoying time outside as much as possible.

Preparing for the winter ahead includes farm fresh meats. All of the meat we eat at home comes from local farms. We buy a whole a pig and half a cow every year. The pork is ready in the fall and the beef typically in January. I order two turkeys, and buy chicken on an as needed basis from local farms.

Here is a video of No-View Farm when I went to pick up our pork. Thanksgiving turkeys are checking me out.

I picked up the pork and want to share what that looks like. It is all frozen and packed in bags.

Then I unpack the bags and put into a laundry basket and carry (or drag) inside to put in the freezer. The whole pig came down to three laundry baskets of meat and organs. This will last a year.

Other pig / pork customers at the farm do not want the back fat or the organs. So I take all of it. I render the back fat into lard for cooking and cracklings for the dogs. I feed the organs to the dogs: hearts, liver, and tongue. I don't enjoy cutting them up, especially the tongue, but the dogs love these. Dogs eat them raw (they eat a mainly raw meat diet).

I went for pork chops for the first dinner. Served with butternut squash and sautéed cabbage. I cook the chops in cast iron for about two - three minutes on each side.

Chicken from Moose Mountain Farm in Brookfield.

When the freezer runs low I stop at Top of the Hill Farm in Wolfeboro and stock up on a variety of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken. The lamb chops are amazing.

Okay, enough about meat....here's a view of the rain storm from our screened porch.

Some other shots from around the homestead:

Putting the wine and bourbon corks in denatured alcohol to be used as fire starters.

Cocktails and snacks on the screened porch during a rain storm. Whenever there is food, there is JJ the bulldog.

The firewood pile is ready to be stacked. Stacking happens the end of October. The firewood this year is all from our property. Hardwood trees were cut last fall; Whiskey then split it all.

A calm evening sitting out on the backside of the barn (which is scraped of paint at that point).

We ended the week with a finger-food dinner at the home of the W.T.F. boat owners. They have a cool log cabin. (see the W.T.F. here)

Good friends, good food, good dogs, and good health. Life is good.

We know that life has sadness and grief. This week, a friend's father passed away, and Whiskey's sister had to say good bye to her beautiful three year old Golden Retriever due to cancer. Life is full of heartbreak; but there is also love and goodness. Sending you love and blessings.