Missing Willow Farm

On Monday, chef Anthony Lamas treated us to an incredibly special breakfast of posole.  It’s a pre-Colombian stew with hominy, tomatillos, chorizo, merguez sausage and a bunch of other yummy things.  He served it with tortillas warmed on the grill and a bunch of toppings, including salsa, cabbage and lime.  You may remember chef Anthony from the Wild Wedding episode of Extreme Chef.  He was given $99 to cater a wedding from the 99 Cent store.  He won.  Our daughter Claire had the privilege of assisting him in the preparation a little bit.  I love that volunteering at this event gives our children memorable experiences.

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This past weekend we helped our good friend and shepherd Craig manage his annual Lambstock event.  It ended this morning.  I’m exhausted but it’s a good exhausted.  Our daughters came in for the weekend to be on the volunteer staff so it was like a family reunion at a rock concert with the best food ever.  The guests both camped out and filled local hotels.   Thankfully, we just live 10 minutes from his farm.  What do you get when you throw a pot luck 3 meal a day outdoor festival where the guests include James Beard nominees, Iron Chef America and Top Chef Masters contestants?  You get AWESOME!  Here are just a few of the ingredients and side dishes, including my chevre.  I’m tired.  More later.

When we bought this place, we thought wouldn’t it be nice to feed ourselves?  We’re there.  For dinner last night, we had home grown pea sprout and tomato salad, roasted potatoes and garlic, deviled eggs, grilled chicken and edamame.  We spend very little on groceries, we’ve got meat, vegetables and dairy taken care of.   As an aside, I’ll be scarce this weekend as I’m managing a food event at a friend’s farm.  Both of our girls will be rolling in to help, so we’ll have a nice family visit as well.  I’ll be back early next week with photos.

It’s FiFi’s turn to shed massive amounts.  How’d you like to have her hanging out on your couch?

I sew… kind of a lot.  When I was accepted as a Bernina Master Craftster, they asked me to submit a photo of myself with the machine I received on loan.  I decided to take it out to the pasture to see if anyone was curious about it.  As it turns out, everyone was.  Here’s the photo I submitted.  They not only accepted it, but it’s the one featured at the top of the page!  Here’s the original.  Too bad Jessica and Hermione were edited out.  🙂  Summer thought it would be impolite not to give it a sniff.   Here’s the link to Bernina’s website: http://weallsew.com/2012/08/13/master-craftsters-meet-bernina/

She looks like she’s in a stockade but it’s just our milking stand.  She loves the milking stand because there’s a bucket of food up there.  I’ve been milking for months now and make chevre every Wednesday. We’ve got boatloads in the freezer and a huge busy weekend coming up so I’m stopping this week  (yay).

This is Jack’s wubba face.  He’s a happy dog.

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We grow lots of different varieties of hot peppers, including ghost peppers.  I pickle some, freeze a few and make hot pepper jelly, but my favorite use for them is homemade pepper flakes.  My Montgomery Ward food dehydrator bit the dust a few months ago (it was a workhorse!) so I ended up with a basic one from WalMart.  They are processed on racks until they are crisp dry.  It takes a day or two.  I’m still picking and drying so will hold off on the last step.  I take my electric mini food chopper outside and give them a whirl.  We like spicy in our house, there’s nothing like some serious heat on pizza, in pasta sauce, tacos, vegetables… you get the idea.

It’s a large Cinderella’s coach looking pumpkin that’s hiding among the vines.  I have high hopes for this one!

Jack enjoys his personal swimming pool out by the barn.  When we turn on the water, he gets a little jacuzzi action.