Snow Day

I was on kid duty Friday so Danielle could go to a farming conference. It happened to work out well since we received a couple inches of snow Thursday, not enough to cause Danielle any problems getting to the conference, but enough for the kids and I to have some fun.

Emily and Julia bundled up to help me with the morning chores.

And here is what the barn yard looked like when we walked out.

The girls were checking out some bunny tracks in the upper corner of the field, but the Turkeys thought they were playing with them.

Here is Sisyphus and his sister trying to roll his snow boulder up to the barn.

Goat Curry

Since winter has set in I decided to spice things up by trying some new recipes. As I blogged about here I butchered our Nigerian Dwarf Goat wether earlier this fall. At the time we grilled up some of the tenderloin and enjoyed it, but since then the goat meat has just been sitting in the deep freeze. Not just wanting to do beef recipes with goat I went to the largest cookbook in existence, the web. Typing goat stew into Google brought me to a Caribbean Goat Stew recipe that sounded interesting. I followed the recipe fairly faithfully except for omitting the tomatoes since we obviously do not have any fresh ones. I could have pulled some frozen ones out of the freezer but I was being lazy. The resulting stew was great (if I do say so myself) but what was even better was that everyone ate it. Now my kids are very adventurous eaters, but I would not have been surprised if they had passed on this meal. The curry gave it a nice kick, but did not make it too spicy for the kids. The funny thing is that everyone liked the meat, it was the potatoes and carrots that were not as well received. They came out as I would have expected and as I have had in other Indian Curries, but Danielle thought it would be better with vegetables cooked separately with a different flavoring. Truth be told she is not much for stew, or mushy vegetables. I knew that she really did like the goat though when she mentioned making the curried meat but with a different side dish later this week.

I find I get great enjoyment out of my kids eating food that I raised and prepared myself. My dad used to tell me something similar when I was a kid but I did not appreciate it until I had kids of my own. I guess that is always the case.

Julia's Birthday

My lovely daughter Julia turns 9 today. To celebrate here are some pictures of her over the last year.

Driving the tractor on a warm winter day (January 07).

Tilling up the garden (March).

Helping me construct the mobile chicken coop (April).

Swinging in the crab apple tree (April).

Riding on the water wagon (May).

Hanging out with her cousin (June).

Fishing (July).

Hiking the C&O Canal (August).

Collecting eggs (September).

Kyoshi Warrior (October).

High atop a load of straw (November).

Farm chores on a cold winter morning (December).

For anyone with a slow internet connection I am sorry for all the pictures, but Julia does a lot in a year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Julia!!!
Love Papa

Holiday Feast

A couple days after Christmas my mother, father, sister and nephew drove down from New Jersey to celebrate the holidays. I took the opportunity to try out, so to speak, one of my new presents. Danielle got me The River Cottage Meat Book for Christmas this year.

This book is a wonderful combination of political/social commentary on food production, cooking theory, recipes as well as gorgeous pictures and humorous anecdotes. It is truly a coffee table book with a message, and being a new farmer/foodie I am all ears. I was already planning to make prime rib since we had some in the deep freeze from last years side of beef, and figured this would be a great occassion to try out my first recipe from the book. I cooked up two prime rib roasts since neither seemed big enough for the 5 adults and 4 children who would be eating dinner.

Fairly simple recipe for the beef, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper, cook for 30 minutes under high heat to brown the outside then slow cook until done. Hugh, the author of the book, stresses that all roasted meat needs to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes for best results. Actually, the way he talks about it, you are committing a mortal sin if you don't let the meat rest. So while the meat was resting we took some of the drippings and made some Yorkshire Pudding (also from a recipe in the book).

I had never had Yorkshire Pudding so was not really sure as what to expect. There really is not much in Yorkshire Pudding, the recipe called for just flour, milk, water, salt and eggs. It did call for 4 eggs plus 2 more egg yolks which makes it quite decedent. The pudding puffed up nicely as you can see above, and the meat was thankful for the rest.

We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, and a green salad from our garden to round out the meal. Below is some of the dinner party.


My daughters were dressed up as fairies, and my son was too hot from playing with his cousin to wear a shirt, we have a very relaxed dress code at Chez Kushmerick. My nephew and sister are also in the picture, arguably much more appropriately dressed. Long story short the dinner and company was excellent and too many bottles of wine were consumed, exactly how I like to spend the holidays. The Yorkshire Pudding was a huge success, and based on the way it disappeared I foresee making it again soon.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday full of good food and friends.