Sometimes, I think I take it too far though.*
You don't want to know what's on my shoe.
*In my defense, Henry said that the paths were fine, and we were planning on going out to dinner afterwards.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
What Not to Wear: The Farm Edition
I've always said that you don't have to dress badly just because you live on a farm. I've tried to avoid wearing mud (or worse) encrusted boots to the grocery store. If I go out for lunch with some friends and then have to do chores afterwards, I bring clothes to change into.
Sometimes, I think I take it too far though.*
You don't want to know what's on my shoe.
*In my defense, Henry said that the paths were fine, and we were planning on going out to dinner afterwards.
Sometimes, I think I take it too far though.*
You don't want to know what's on my shoe.
*In my defense, Henry said that the paths were fine, and we were planning on going out to dinner afterwards.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Guilty
Tonight I ate pizza sitting on my bathroom floor while Moses splashed in the bathtub.
In my defense, I've been trying to clean out the fridge before we leave in a couple of days, and since Moses is teething and up a lot at night, my brain was too tired to come up with a concoction using pineapple, refried beans, and yogurt. To my credit, I didn't feed any pizza to Moses, and I did add frozen green peppers from my garden to it before I cooked it.
Since he started on solids at about six months, I've been very conscience of how and what we eat. Particularly the "how." When I feed Moses, I try to not do anything else. No checking email, reading, etc. I want to set in motion good habits now. I must admit that as cute as he is, sometimes it's really hard not to do anything else. When Henry has night class, the conversation is somewhat lacking. Tonight, Moses was ready for bed at the same time as the pizza. Since he hasn't been sleeping very well, I wanted to get him in bed as soon as I could. I also didn't want to eat cold pizza. And so, I sat on the bathroom floor.
The "what" we eat is a bit better. (Granted, we were at a Slow Food Toronto event this weekend promoting our beef, and I probably would have been beaten over the head with an outdoor-oven baked baguette if they knew I ate frozen pizza). My freezer and my slow cooker are probably my two favorite appliances these days. I love that I have green peppers, tomatoes, and swiss chard from my garden stashed in the freezer. (I've eaten all the frozen strawberries). Now that I have a freezer full of beef, I am a lot more experimental in my cooking. I'll pull out a roast, look up recipe ideas on the internet, and try it out. It's much easier to decide on dinner when there is a lot of good food in the house, but sometimes a greasy pizza just hits the spot, even if it does come with a hefty dose of guilt and heartburn.
Now it's your turn; we just launched our freezer beef web site: www.fieldsparrowfarms.ca, and I want to post some good beef recipes on there for our customers. What is your favorite recipe? Post it here, and I'll try them out and post them (with credit to you) on our web site!
In my defense, I've been trying to clean out the fridge before we leave in a couple of days, and since Moses is teething and up a lot at night, my brain was too tired to come up with a concoction using pineapple, refried beans, and yogurt. To my credit, I didn't feed any pizza to Moses, and I did add frozen green peppers from my garden to it before I cooked it.
Since he started on solids at about six months, I've been very conscience of how and what we eat. Particularly the "how." When I feed Moses, I try to not do anything else. No checking email, reading, etc. I want to set in motion good habits now. I must admit that as cute as he is, sometimes it's really hard not to do anything else. When Henry has night class, the conversation is somewhat lacking. Tonight, Moses was ready for bed at the same time as the pizza. Since he hasn't been sleeping very well, I wanted to get him in bed as soon as I could. I also didn't want to eat cold pizza. And so, I sat on the bathroom floor.
The "what" we eat is a bit better. (Granted, we were at a Slow Food Toronto event this weekend promoting our beef, and I probably would have been beaten over the head with an outdoor-oven baked baguette if they knew I ate frozen pizza). My freezer and my slow cooker are probably my two favorite appliances these days. I love that I have green peppers, tomatoes, and swiss chard from my garden stashed in the freezer. (I've eaten all the frozen strawberries). Now that I have a freezer full of beef, I am a lot more experimental in my cooking. I'll pull out a roast, look up recipe ideas on the internet, and try it out. It's much easier to decide on dinner when there is a lot of good food in the house, but sometimes a greasy pizza just hits the spot, even if it does come with a hefty dose of guilt and heartburn.
Now it's your turn; we just launched our freezer beef web site: www.fieldsparrowfarms.ca, and I want to post some good beef recipes on there for our customers. What is your favorite recipe? Post it here, and I'll try them out and post them (with credit to you) on our web site!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Competent
As I was doing chores last night, I noticed that the bulls had gotten through a gate and into a paddock with some heifers and steers. Now for obvious reasons, we don't want the bulls with the heifers. I stood there debating what to do. Henry was 45 minutes away and in class. I could have left them until he got home and hoped for the best, and I was tempted to do this. BUT, I decided to try and use some grain to lure the bulls back to their paddock, and what do you know - it worked!
As I was telling Henry this, and I mentioned that I had to keep checking to see which ones were the bulls. His response - "They're the ones with the bigger heads." Umm... that's not where I was looking.
As I was telling Henry this, and I mentioned that I had to keep checking to see which ones were the bulls. His response - "They're the ones with the bigger heads." Umm... that's not where I was looking.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Justifying Violence Part 2 (*fixed*)
Henry received this today in an email newsletter from Cow Calf Weekly. (Read Henry's article).
Our Perspective: The Biggest Beef Recall Ever
There was a lot of media hype this week surrounding USDA's announced recall of 143 million lbs. of raw and frozen beef products produced from February 2006 to February 2008 by Westland/Hallmark Meat in Chino, CA. The video from an undercover Humane Society operative was extremely damaging.
The recall itself was based on the fact the plant wasn't handling downer animals properly; the media hype was about animal abuse and the federal school lunch program. The various industry organizations responded quickly by both assuring the public that essentially all animals are treated humanely, and by condemning the abuse that occurred.
The disturbing part of this incident isn't that it triggered the largest recall in history, or that it provided plenty of justifiable ammunition for the groups working to eliminate beef production. It isn't even the images and negative publicity that are likely to affect beef demand for some time.
The most disturbing part is that despite the fact that 99.99% of the people involved this industry do things right, our industry's credibility was harmed. The result is that when distorted or non-factual claims about our industry are made in the future, they will resonate more with the public than they otherwise would have.
As an industry we have to embrace the fact that we can't afford to have any more of these types of mistakes. One or two rogue employees can cause irreparable damage to this industry, and because we are a low-margin industry that in part depends upon low wage-earning employees, the responsibility to train and create the proper cultures for those employees is critical.
-- Troy Marshall
Our Perspective: The Biggest Beef Recall Ever
There was a lot of media hype this week surrounding USDA's announced recall of 143 million lbs. of raw and frozen beef products produced from February 2006 to February 2008 by Westland/Hallmark Meat in Chino, CA. The video from an undercover Humane Society operative was extremely damaging.
The recall itself was based on the fact the plant wasn't handling downer animals properly; the media hype was about animal abuse and the federal school lunch program. The various industry organizations responded quickly by both assuring the public that essentially all animals are treated humanely, and by condemning the abuse that occurred.
The disturbing part of this incident isn't that it triggered the largest recall in history, or that it provided plenty of justifiable ammunition for the groups working to eliminate beef production. It isn't even the images and negative publicity that are likely to affect beef demand for some time.
The most disturbing part is that despite the fact that 99.99% of the people involved this industry do things right, our industry's credibility was harmed. The result is that when distorted or non-factual claims about our industry are made in the future, they will resonate more with the public than they otherwise would have.
As an industry we have to embrace the fact that we can't afford to have any more of these types of mistakes. One or two rogue employees can cause irreparable damage to this industry, and because we are a low-margin industry that in part depends upon low wage-earning employees, the responsibility to train and create the proper cultures for those employees is critical.
-- Troy Marshall
A Winter's Tale (Tail?)
I'm no Pioneer Woman, but I think these shots turned out decently (despite my lack of Photoshop. Sigh).
The view from the hay loft.
Secret Agent 005 and her bodyguard.
Dreaming of spring.
The blue door of the barn.
The view from the hay loft.
Secret Agent 005 and her bodyguard.
Dreaming of spring.
The blue door of the barn.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Starting Up
I'm back (and so, thank heavens, is my computer. I've missed it. In fact, I was tempted to write an Ode to an Apple, but I thought I would spare you all).
I've been feeling overwhelmed the last couple of weeks as we start this new business venture. Our to-do-list doesn't seem to be getting any shorter.
So far we've:
We still need to do these:
I've been feeling overwhelmed the last couple of weeks as we start this new business venture. Our to-do-list doesn't seem to be getting any shorter.
So far we've:
- acquired business number
- picked up loan forms
- started a business plan
- drafted a budget
- met with feed co-op salesman*
- opened business bank account
We still need to do these:
- apply for a farm number
- finish customer database
- start tracking expenses (in an organized way)
- mail out brochures
- design/write web site content
- take a deep breath!!!
Eating Violence
My computer is out of commission for a few days, so I can't post as much as I want. I had to link to this essay Henry wrote for *catapult magazine. It's a good exploration of why we're starting this beef business.
Eating Violence
Eating Violence
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