Today marks the last of our fresh bird processing for a couple of months. Like busy ants, we managed to stash enough pastured chickens to, according to “plan,” take a break. We will be starting new broilers soon, but won’t have overlapping groups. This time of year,that’s a good thing. Winter, in a seasonally sensitive world, is a time to rest, research, think, develop. The children work on bookwork more than hands-on work, though they are still an integral part of the farm workings. As they’ve gotten older they are becoming more and more a part of the “reasearch, think, develop” part of things.

A few of the things we’re working on:
–rocket stoves
–gassifiers that do “farm work” (heating water, etc.)
–raising heritage chickens and turkeys
–naturally brooding chickens (let the hen do it!)

“Rest” is always relative.  Winter is prime time for skiing (Fridays at Caberfae!), skating on the swimming pond, snowmobiling, and sledding–”snow surfing” at times.  And, of course, school.  It never slows down too much for too long here!

Jill

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Jill

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Almost the middle of  November already.  The fall has gone by as quickly as the summer did! 

Keith is looking forward to next week.  He’s been working on raising his turkeys since the beginning of July.  It’s quite a project for a 7/8 year old boy to invest in.  He’s managed to have a 100% survival rate–a first on the Baker farm.  Keith has a goal of raising a calf and a pig next year as well as turkeys so that he can eventually buy his own land and have his own farm.  One never knows….!  He does have a few more unspoken for.  We plan to process them just before Thanksgiving so that you can have a fresh Thanksgiving Day turkey.  Butterball can’t compete!

We had all the chickens off the field and celebrated the end of the season.  That celebration turned out to be a bit premature.  We had to make room in the clearspan building, so the guys set  up about 5 tractors and moved the biggest birds back out last week.  They were at the point of maturity where we didn’t need them to grow much.  They could handle the cold (heat is more deadly at maturity than cold), but don’t particularly grow because they just hunker down and eat enough to maintain.  Hopefully this week we can take care of quite a few of them, since maintainance isn’t very productive.

We got a friend for Rosie.  Actually, he’s more of a boyfriend.  We added a waygu bull to the farm recently.  Waygu is the Japanese breed of beef cow used to produce “kobe beef.”  Technically kobe beef is produced exclusively in Kobe, Japan.  However, certain techniques can be applied to waygu cattle anywhere to produce the exceptional flavor, tenderness, and marbelling in a beef.  This isn’t a grass-fed meat, typically.  We’ll see how it works out in a rotationally grazed system.  Waygu reportedly crosses well with Holstein, so that’s a bonus for us in black & white dairy country.  It’ll be a few years before we’ll have any conclusive results, but Kimifuku presents an interesting opportunity!

One of the things keeping us busy this month is driver’s education.  Joe wanted to do the fall class though he’s barely old enough, so he’s taking the class.  As is true of most farm boys, he’s been driving for several years now–tractors, the jeep, the big Ford pick-up.  He proposes a proficiency test rather than age requirement for a license.  The class is easy, but I think we’ll all be glad for the instruction.

That’s the latest!  Remember to let us know if you’d like a fresh turkey!

Jill

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As we wrap up our pastured season and head into our winter production, we want to take time to let you know all the places besides the farm where you can purchase or dine on the north’s best poultry.  Most of these establishments try to source local fare, so your support helps other small farmers as well.

Jill

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Yesterday we worked at emptying the garden.  The cold mornings that make the cookstove feel so good in the mornings have also meant the end of most of what was left in the garden.  We left some of the cold hardy plants: brussell sprouts, swiss chard, turnips, and broccoli.  The broccoli had gone to seed, for the most part, which means these lovely yellow flowers.  It was a fascinating diversion to watch the bees at work–both wasps and honeybees were busy harvesting and pollinating. 

Some of my harvests got put up a bit differently.  The turkeys stripped the broccoli and brussell sprouts and decimated the cabbage left in the field.  They are growing beautifully and will be a nice size for Thanksgiving.  Keith has most of them sold, but there are a few left if fresh, grass fed turkey is of interest to you.  Some of them have taken to roosting on the board fence at night.  Keith plans to clip their wings today as the mess they leave behind is becoming a problem.  They are fun to watch out in the field–their white color makes them easy to keep track of!

Whole animal butchery is, thankfully, becoming more common.  It seems a more respectful treatment of the animal’s gift to us to use all of it.  We’ve been working on some videos (see that page) showing how to cut a chicken so a person can buy a whole bird and know how to make use of the entire bird.  Hogs are getting more press, though, with two different charcuterie classes in the Traverse City area.  Knowing how to butcher an animal and render it into preserved parts is an art that is making a comeback in the professional chef world and the home cook world.  We’ve been making our own hams, bacons, and smoked  chicken for many years.  While we have decided we like our own recipes, there are many techniques to learn.  Education is a constant activity!

Jill

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Last week there was one rather chilly night.  I thought we’d been missed by Jack Frost, but over the weekend I was watering squash and picking raspberries and noticed signs of a light frost.  Ah, fall.

I’ve noticed that the green has dulled in the tree leaves.  The eager beavers among the trees are changing colors–some brilliantly so.  The corn stalks are drying and much of the summer produce is down to 1/2 meal status rather than harvest level production.  The mornings and evenings are cool, and the noons hot.  The kids have apple wars with the fallen apples. 

The end of the pastured poultry season is in sight.  The variable temp.s have caused a bit of a slow down as the birds adjust to it, but for the most part they seem to like dry fall weather.  The grass is changing as the nutrient stores head below ground for the winter.  Nature cures the grasses for winter as surely as the farmer does the hay–for much the same reasons.  The dried grasses provide winter forage and assure the plant’s survival for the next spring.  We found the birds are needing a bit extra time to mature as the grass isn’t as rich as it was.  This season also challenges their immune system more and we have to stay on top of their health issues.  This year we’re planning to have birds off pasture by the beginning of October as the weather  begins to be less enjoyable.  After a hard-running summer, it’s good to know a break is coming.

The hybrid broiler birds are much more susceptible to weather changes than the heritage layer birds.  The hens aren’t especially bothered by the weather as long as they can get out of the rain and their home isn’t too drafty.  How much they lay is affected by their care, but they certainly have stouter immune systems than broilers and will perform in a wider range of conditions.  This year my heritage rooster project seemed to run smoother; next year I plan to raise more and have a longer supply.  That’s the other thing we do in the fall: “next summer I’m gonna…”

We still have a lot to do this fall:  finish Keith’s turkeys (order soon if you want one!), finish fencing for next year’s pastured beef project,  make gallons of apple sauce and butter, bed the garden, plant my winter greens, and more.  Ah, fall!

Jill

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I finally read our summer copy of Edible Grand Traverse recently and found this great article about one of our customers.  Enjoy!

FARM TO TABLE

Martha and Susi’s Excellent Adventure By Patty Lanoue Stearns It’s a busy Friday afternoon in downtown Suttons Bay, and high season is almost here—boats are bobbing offshore in cerulean waters, tourists are wandering in and out of the shops, and the patio’s brand-new overhead sails are officially unfurled at Martha’s Leelanau Table. Let the summer begin. Almost from the day the doors of this formerly dilapidated house opened as a cafe in 2008, the buzz about Martha’s menu of fresh, seasonal, made-from-scratch cuisine has been building: glowing mentions in Esquire from chef/restaurateur and part-time Northport resident Mario Batali, raves in the Associated Press and Huffington Post, word of mouth from locals, and visitors’ comments on epicurean and travel websites. In this particularly brutal economy, a year-round restaurant in a village as seasonal as the menu has to be pretty spectacular to survive, let alone thrive. Pass through the curvaceous, ivy-wrapped gateway that frames Martha’s and sit on the patio near the newly planted herb garden, or step inside the siren-red farmhouse with the crisp white windows and relax in one of the cozy dining areas. Francophiles feel right at home here, where Provençal style rules—golden-mustardy walls with tapestry-upholstered banquettes, spice-colored linens with an olive motif, soft lighting, and roosters everywhere—collected from decades of excursions to France, Italy and Spain. The atmosphere is friendly and the luscious three-meal-a-day menu comes from a growing number of local farms, wineries, apiaries and breweries. With 50 seats inside and 30 outdoors, it’s the quintessential European café, nestled under a canopy of cedars in tiny Suttons Bay, MI, population 580. Converging Paths Clad in her signature beret and chef’s apron, Martha Ryan, the cafe’s namesake, joins a table of four friends who are just saying their goodbyes after a long ladies’ lunch. As they leave, Ryan flags down Susi McConnell, the restaurant’s pastry chef, who takes a break from tonight’s dessert-making duties to talk about how their long friendship and philosophy about food makes this restaurant tick. First off, they note, they’re both Virgos, and their personalities fit the bill for this astrological sign (born between August 23 and September 22)—detail-oriented perfectionists, superlative traits for culinarians, though also a curse, both agree.  ”I do like things my way,” Ryan says of her management style. McConnell laughs: “I’m very particular about how I cut things,” admitting she borders on the obsessive. “I measure with a ruler and can’t stand it when someone else makes biscuits and they’re not square.” On the plus side, they can look at each other when something needs doing in the kitchen or dining room, say one or two words and know instantly what to do. Ryan, who grew up in Rochester, MI, favors the savory side of cooking: the entrees, the protein, the soups and salads. McConnell, a native of Chesaning, near Saginaw, MI, is the chemist who makes magic with leavening and butter: pastries, breads, sweets and vegetarian fare. Both had traveled to Europe during their college years in the early 1970s and fell in love with the entire culinary aesthetic. McConnell cooked in Switzerland to finance one of her trips. The two met in 1976 while working at the now-defunct Sugar Loaf Resort near Cedar in Leelanau County. “I worked the front of the house and Susan worked the back,” Ryan recalls. By then, she and McConnell were married and mothers, and their love of travel and good food made for an instant bond. On their one day off during the winter holidays, McConnell hosted Christmas dinner, and it was Ryan’s job to haul over her boxes of Spode china for the perfect holiday table. As passionate yet practical home cooks, their principles about food still stand today: Never waste anything. Always use what you have on hand, and make everything from scratch. “We always made pizza and macaroni and cheese from scratch,” says Ryan. McConnell, who grows her own produce, makes everything she can herself: currant jam from her currant bushes, candied violets and lemon peel. Batches of almond paste are staples in her freezer. Over the decades, they’ve worked in all the top Leelanau County restaurants, all long gone: Windows, Hattie’s, Key to the County. Ryan spent 20 years as director of food services for Leland Public Schools, forging relationships with farmers along the way. When she retired, Ryan ran Stone House Café, the sit-down expansion of Stone House Bread in Leland, for six years, did catering on the side and led foodie tours to Europe, all the while dreaming of owning her own restaurant, patterned after her favorite haunts in Europe. It would not be a burgers-and-fries joint, so ubiquitous in the north. Hers would be smallish, stylish, cozy and cool, with fresh food as the focus. Ryan bid on a wreck of a foreclosed house after consulting with her mentor, former Hattie’s owner Jim Milliman, and architect Judy Balas, a good friend and catering client. Ryan won the bid, Balas and her husband Bruce executed her vision, and a restaurant was born. The core staff expands from five hardy souls through the winter to more than 20 currently—many of them college kids that Ryan knew as babies, and that includes her son, Matt Ryan, another Virgo, the day manager. He also cooks one night a week. “He’s real precise,” notes McConnell. Her husband Tom does the photographic work for the restaurant’s website and their son Dylan, who grew up with Matt, built and maintains the website. Seasonal Fare Despite all the accolades, it would not be like Ryan to rest on her laurels. “I set a very high bar for myself,” she says. She travels twice a year to France for inspiration. Like the cafés she visits there, her menu is simple but sublime, presented texturally and colorfully. “The focus is on simple food, prepared well. We use what we have in Michigan—not something off the truck just because you can buy it.”  Ryan’s beverage list includes high-end soft drinks, local craft beers, wines, hard cider—even tasty bottles of Acoustic Mead made in Lake Ann, plus a handpicked array of international wines. Today’s lunch, culled from the shoulder season prior to the explosion of fruits and vegetables that will come in a month or so, still sounds appealing: soup du jour and small plates like melted raclette from Leelanau Cheese over potatoes with bread and cornichons; salads like spinach and bacon with French lentils and blue cheese with McConnell’s poufy buttermilk biscuits; sandwiches—maybe a hot turkey, bacon, pesto and Swiss panini on seven-grain bread, or a crusty croque monsieur. Among the desserts, which change daily, today’s hit is a custardy rhubarb dream bar, which seems to be walking out the door with every smiling customer. The dinner menu features succulent starters such as blue lump crab cakes or prosciutto, Parmesan and savoy cabbage and enticing entrees like herb-roasted pork tenderloin with rhubarb cherry chutney or pan-seared salmon with basil aioli. McConnell’s ever-changing list of pastries by the piece or platter regularly includes a gluten-free offering like tonight’s triple-chocolate mousse torte. After years of working with wheat, McConnell has developed an allergy to gluten, the protein binder in flour, barley and rye. Because of this, she is retiring at the end of the year, if Ryan can finda replacement for her. Perhaps another Virgo? In any event, it’s pretty clear that Susi McConnell will always be around to shoot her friend that look and give her the word, just to make sure everything’s humming along as it should—perfectly. • Martha’s Leelanau Table, 413 N. Saint Joseph St., Suttons Bay, 231-271-2344, MarthasLeelanauTable.com. Breakfast and lunch daily, dinner Wednesdays–Sundays, call for hours and specials. • Martha’s Cook and Dine Summer Series runs July 11 through August 15. The $95 classes for up to ten people include a glass of local wine and a multi-course meal that participants prepare themselves. Patty LaNoue Stearns is the former restaurant critic for the Detroit Free Press and after moving north, the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Visit her website at PattyWrites.com.

Jill

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The last of the chicks for this season go out on the pasture today.  Sam’s glad to clean out the clearspan building and have a week’s respite before starting the monthly winter batches.  Pastured poultry is our mainstay, but pastured meats is our overall objective.  Raising chickens, cows, and pigs is so much easier in a barn or small feedlot, WHY PASTURE?

We have several reasons we choose to put the extra effort into our products:

1) Healthy eats: Green grass is higher in Omega 3 fatty acids while grain is very high in Omega 6 fatty acids.  Animals fed on pasture store a healthy balance of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids in their meat, as opposed to strictly grain fed animals who are imbalanced with Omega 6 fatty acids.  Because the animals are harvesting sunshine through fresh grass, they also are higher in vitamins E & C and beta-carotene.  They are lower in cholesterol, saturated fats, total fat, and cholesterol. 

2) Healthy animals: We’ve dealt with our share of health issues, but we’ve found that having the animals on pasture helps us deal with the illness that crop up with less intervention.  We do not need to maintain antibiotics at a “subtherapeutic” dose to prevent illness and allow the “bad guys” to adapt to them.  We do not use any kind of appetite stimulant (used in chickens) or growth hormones (note that growth hormones are prohibited in chickens, though they are used in beef and pork).  Animals raised in the environment they were designed for lead lower stress lives, with the expected improvements in their immune system and overall health.  

3) Healthy ecosystem:  The environment was designed to operate in cycles, such that one thing feeds the next which feeds the next and so on.  One of the big issues in feedlot/barn raising animals is waste management.  This is a non-issue in a pasture system.  The animals eat the grass, which nourishes them, they leave their waste behind, which feeds a host of small and microscopic creatures.  Those creatures turn the manure in available nutrients for the plants, which in their turn grow strong and rich and make more fodder for the next grazing session.  Since each consumer is also adding to the cycle,  it becomes a stronger, more resilient system.  We’ve incorporated, this season, biochar to include the carbon cycle in the system.  The biochar utilizes natural materials that would otherwise become released carbon to encourage microbial systems in the soil.  We apply it with compost and through the birds themselves.  The more interlocking cycles we can bring together, the stronger the whole environment becomes.

4) Healthy us:  Because we have a low tech, low chemical system, our children can work with us.  We don’t have a locked “chemical room” on our farm.  This makes us unique  in our neighborhood.

5) QUALITY:  The taste and texture of pastured meats is likely the most motivating reason.  The other reasons are rewarding, but when we sit down around the campfire on a balmy August evening and sink our teeth into a juicy chicken thigh, the flavor and firm yet juicy texture are what we comment on.  The flavor of our chicken is what our chefs come back for week after week.  Fresh forageis one of the ingredients in the best Mangalitsa pork.  Green grass makes all the difference in the flavor of a beef steak.  Have you seen the deep orange color of an egg yolk from a pasture fed hen? 

Nutrient dense foods, whether plant or protein, consistently have better taste, feel, smell, and appearance.  Nutrient density only comes from using natural cycles to build a strong ecosystem.  Everything works together to make good tasting food that is good for us and the environment.

A good place for more information about pasture raised meats is Eat Wild.

Jill

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From The Ark by Margot Benary-Isbert:

“It was quiet and warm in the stall, and the air filled with the strong animal smell. The newborn creatures bleated with tinny little voices until the mother got up to let them suck. The first-born was already standing, although none too steadily. Now the second struggled to his feet also. Margret guided them to their mother, and with eager little bleats they butted their comical little heads against the swollen udder. There was a surprising vitality in the little creatures. In a moment they realized what had to be done to get at the warm, sweet milk. They began sucking greedily and swiftly, their stubby tails gaily dancing up and down.
“‘They’re better at milking than you are,’ Mrs. Almut said.
“‘Now I know why you have to knead and pat the udder when you milk; the young do the same. Listen to the way they smack their lips. Oh, Mrs. Almut, isn’t it marvelous?’
“‘It is!’ Mrs. Almut said. ‘People who don’t feel the marvel ought to let animals alone. Nothing does well if you don’t put your heart into it. Even the soil feels whether you like it or not.’”

Jill

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“To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to harvest….”

I noticed this week that there is a bit of fog in the mornings.  And that the nights are cool.  And that my garden is exploding with produce.  And the stands for sweet corn and rivalling the stands for sweet cherries.  Starting this week our summer help begins to head back to college.  Seasons.  Change. 

A time for everything.  I’ve had a couple of conversations lately about food and farms and seasons.  As a society we’ve become disconnected from seasons as they pertain to our essence.  Sure, we enjoy fresh tomatoes and sweet corn in summer–but those can be had at Meijers in January, too.  We exchange t-shirts for sweaters sometime in October.  We put the air conditioner away and turn on the thermostat in the fall and reverse in the spring.  But our very existence is not connected to the seasons and that’s a very different thing. 

For example, did you know that hens in a natural system slack off egg production in August and lay eggs out of their ears in April/May?  Did you know that the mineral composition of soil changes from spring to fall?  Did you know that chicken is a cooling meat that serves us well in summer’s heat while beef, pork, and lamb serve us better in the cooler seasons?  Did you know that animals raised as they were intended should be harvested as their feed dictates, ie: in late fall and early winter when the dried grasses are exhausted but winter’s cold hasn’t depleted summer’s wealth stored in the animal’s body.  This includes pastured beef, pork, lamb/sheep, and goats.  Don’t look for local corn on the fourth of July.  “Canning” is a season. 

As a society, we’ve gotten used to giving a nod to, but not being dictated to by the seasons.  We can eat almost any food we want to any time of the year.  We can live  and work in temperate environments year round.  An increasingly small proportion of our citizenry live so “close to the earth” that it really matters in their lives.  It’s always makes me melancholy when I’ve felt that disconnect in my circumstances and it makes me sad to see it for others.  Somehow the seasons connect us to something inherantly vital and timeless. 

One of our family friends spent a summer in Europe recently.  She described how, even yet, most of Europe’s people eat very seasonally.  They have small refridgerators and little or no separate freezers.  They don’t can produce like we do.  When tomatoes are in season, they eat a lot of them.  When beans are ripe, they eat a lot of them.  I know there are big farms that ship food and that much work has been done on season extensions there, but in Danielle’s experience and conversations with her hosts, the seasons have a say in the food supply. 

Our Manglitsa pigs are another prime example of a seasonal food.  These are heritage animals.  They are not programmed, when raised naturally, to be harvested in April.  They are meant for butchering in November and December.  They are the hogs GreatGrandpa and Grandma had the neighbors over to butcher, producing the winter’s supply of cured hams and shoulders, sausage (including blood sausage), head cheese, and soup bones.  They knew the art of seam butchery because that was the only way to do it.  Folks knew back then that they hadto maximize the sun’s free gift to them and harvest happened when the forage was gone and the nuts and roots converted to protein.  We had the privilage of sharing our Mangalitsa with a Hungarian gentleman who remembered how his rural family raised 3 hogs every year, saving the Mangalitsa for last when all the forages were trully gone and the animal was prime.  That hog provided their lard (a considerable pantry staple) and meat (cured) through the summer. They lived by a very seasonal cycle, making the most of nature’s rhythms. 

Enjoy this season’s riches.  Eat what’s fresh and local.  Store what you can.  Make the most of time and appreciate the purpose of the early harvest season.

Jill

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