Meet Meat

Or not if it isn't your thing. 

I believe it's important to know where your food comes from. 

That doesn't mean all parts of the raising of rabbits for meat is fun. Most is. The raising bit, of course.

Otherwise it's a serious undertaking. 

A process that must be carried out with intention, care and focus. 

This is no understatement. 

I'm sure it's an amateur butchering job, but there you have it. The whole rabbit pieced up: flanks top and bottom, to the left front legs, to the right back legs, and in the center is the loin. I split the loin into back loin (left) and saddle (right). 

And then you'll need a freezer, or in my case a bigger freezer, until you run out of ideas for a different dish every night. 

Try cooking small pieces in turmeric and chipotle and adding to a salad with avocado. Bread up the flank, or leave attached to the loin, stuff and roll up, baking in a moist heat. Bake legs the same way you'd prepare drumsticks, just remember the saucier and moister the better for any smaller pieces attached to the bone. And that saddle needs breaking in. Cowboy. Tenderize it, or else it's easy to pretend you're eating calamari. Oh so many options. See, you'll never run out of ideas! 

Not much will be wasted here. Top will be enjoyed fresh by he dog, bones will be roasted and made into broth, and the trimmings below will be stir fried.

An acquaintance of mine, who grew up in the Philippines raising various smaller farm animals for sustenance, made a very good point about keeping your own animals for meat: the lack of waste! If you've gone to all that effort, you'll take care never to waste what you have produced. Interesting isn't it to consider the lack of commodity value while the world is operating in extravagance?

Earl Grey by Day, Lemon Ginger by Night

Nettle, occasionally. 

Greetings from the Land of the Dutch! 

It was an odd transition to go from the teensy-weensiest bit of Spring at home, to the full on bushy green Spring here in Amsterdam. It's still rather cool, especially at night but it's not freezing. The air isn't damp but the humidity is sure higher here, too. I hadn't seen much until this evening, when I'd finally reassembled by bicycle and took a quick jaunt around the Spaarnwoude. That is the name of the area where I'm staying and completely to my liking I am surrounded by forest. Essentially we are about 15 minutes to Amsterdam or 10 minutes to Haarlem on the train. Eventually I'll check out both those cities, but for now I'll say I sure like this 'Savings Forest', which is the translation. 

I've not done much here so far but in my quest to sleep well at night, and therefore trying to drink less coffee in order to facilitate that, but having discovered I don't want to give up hot drinks, I've gotten on to tea. They had some nice teas in the store. Some are easier to read than others. Some words are pretty easy if you know German, though! Yes. Easy to read maybe, not easy to say, let alone pronounce! Earl Grey by day, Lemon Ginger by night. 

In the forest I found nettles and hawthorn for teas. Actually I found I knew many of the weeds. I even found comfrey Symphytum officinale in four or five colours. That I'd like to bring home. Horseradish was everywhere, but I suppose I have that in my yard already. The nettle tea has the scent of vegetation, or the water left over after steaming broccoli, but a better taste, which like most teas, in my opinion, is improved with a little honey. Only other teas can actually be quite tasty. Maybe it could use milk...

This is easily the nicest location I've lodged in so far in the history of deployment. These Dutch are super nice! And thankfully, speak a lot of English and solved some situations for me. The home away from home is bigger than last year, and so quiet at night...

Will flop back to farm updates as I attempt to conclude upon that early Spring period.

Getting to be more like my old Dad every day. (!) 

New Books

I meant to talk about each of these books when they arrived, in the mail, pre-ordered and coveted. So I'll do that now. 

Floret's book (which I did mention before) is written by the farmer-florist-founder herself, and as with all her creations, it's beautiful. The gorgeous photos are inspirational, as is her garden. Supposedly they only farm a few acres, but the flowers appear to go on for miles. Oh to roam that forest of flowers, that abundance of varieties, to have and to hold that length of season! Well, each to their own climate, we all can grow a bounty of flowers. It's worth the hard work and toil. Erin will show you how. She has wonderful descriptions and simple instructions for success. The pages are full of love and honest, tried-and-true methods that can likely be adapted to your own garden in some way. She also includes information and instructions for keeping cut flowers fresh and decorating with them - a little along the lines of the courses she offers, though I'm certain those are much more in depth! 

The book didn't come out early enough to use it for planning my garden this year, but there's still a lot of useful and applicable suggestions I'll be employing this season. (Yes, I've already read it through once.) I really wish I could purchase some of her flowers, especially corms and bulbs, but they don't ship to Canada... if you live in the US however, and you're thinking of purchasing seeds and more, she has a breathtaking collection. 

Jan Berry of the Nerdy Farm Wife, suggested this new book, Alchemy of Herbs, of which I previously knew nothing, and the more I looked into it the better I liked the ideals. Who wouldn't want to simply eat to their health? I'm a no supplement, eat your nutrition kind of person, and I guess I'm not the only one! Rosalee the author is too, and she's created an herbal cookbook incorporating genuine healthiness into delicious meals. It's difficult to get proportions right when using an ample amount of herbs or spices to get enough in a portion, while not sacrificing flavour. I have brought this one with me to enjoy while I'm away, so you may hear more about it soon. 

Okay time for bed. Must crush the jet lag to dust. 

Final Few Days At Home

My pets paused for a quick click between their endless battles. 

Always in a brawl, but in a loving sort of way... 

The carnation. An under appreciated gem of a blossom. This is a pretty flower, with staying power. It really lasts and lasts, not to mention it comes in an amazing array of colours and shades. Vibrant or pastel... I'm looking forward to growing mine this summer. They're seeds from Renee's Garden, imported from France. I think they'll be shades of pink, which is a great colour for flowers. 

Cake. I just happened to take a picture. One little quick snap. We actually have had two cakes somewhat recently, but alas, we did more eating than photo taking, and by that time the remainder wasn't so pretty! 

Oh and it snowed just before I left. Over a foot! In one morning. There it is in the window making the bathroom look cozy.

My ongoing project with Bee products. Possibly a rather dirty collection of bees, honey, pieces of comb, and wax, which may well be making the process of extracting the usable parts more difficult. But that's the way I managed to get my Bee refuse, for nothing, and I would need to learn these methods regardless. I just hope, with more pure substances, the process would not only be simpler, but may result in better substances. 

I was hoping mainly for wax, but so far I've only extracted useable honey successfully.

 The wax will take at least another round of heating, melting, and straining. 

But heck, honey is a good thing! Still I'm hoping for candles and cosmetics...

I did manage to get a photo of my gift basket donation, and here it is:

A small insight into the third round of products for my testers, mainly on the creams, day creams we will call them, because that's the most complicated part. Scent is clearly an overwhelming power, so perhaps they either should all have had the same scent, or none at all. And the smell of black liquorice is not a smell most people enjoy... News to me, but then again I like to eat it, too. 

Scent aside, the Lemon Anise and the Tahitian Lime have the most similar texture. Between those two, the Lemon Anise has the most coverage and is preferred in conjunction with a loose powder: skin stays moisturized and the powder shows no signs of drying. Due to this natural product process I've entered, I can now say there are days (days I don't need any under-eye correction/ days I'm not at work) when even I don't need any skin make-up (yay!), and the Tahitian Lime moisturizer is just right. Although it requires more effort to spread it, it is the right coverage for the whole day. 

The Oriental Orange cream is probably the most enjoyed scent, but it's difficult to compare as it has a remarkably different texture. So I think it's just a matter of textural preference. 

And there's still comparison to the original Lemon Meringue cream! It does have a lovely scent and I'm working on a consistent product. It's more of a night cream, with a thicker, more emollient feel. 

Sorry, I know I'm still seriously playing catch up on posts!

 Next one will have something to do with the Netherlands! 

I promise! 

Spring, are you here?

Somehow it's already the beginning of April, and time is being quickly count down. With only three weeks before I'm off to Europe again for work, time will pass increasingly quickly and checking the most important chores off the list will become more and more crucial. For now, Jordan is away on a dirt bike trip and race, something he's had on the calendar three years in a row, but was only able to attend (finally) this year, thanks to our kind sister/sister-in-law/brother-in-law who are babysitting the animals while I'm at work. 

(If I look tired, well I am... too many red eyes... not enough real sleep!)

Preparing for the garden has already taken hours of labour. We decided to plant seedlings indoors seriously this year (and keep Georgi away since he ate ALL the little sprouts last year!) using plastic trays and the soil blocking method. Some are small, others larger, and some trays are better as loose soil. It's been three full days of work to prepare these trays so far, and we've just finished the first set. One down, one to go. So I really hope we get good germination and healthy plants as well as have good luck transplanting! Oh my fingers are crossed!!!

I did receive my copy of Floret's book, which I love, but then, like many sources of information on the farm topics we are interested in learning more about, find them to be more inspiring than applicable to our climate. However it's a great source (best available as far as I have found) for growing cut flowers and as with everything else we can think outside the box, like with the rabbit boxes, and those have made all the difference! And inspiration is actually quite compelling. It's certainly helping drive me when I've already popped out 1012 mini soil blocks and I need to do it all over again next week, sigh. Once those little seedlings sprout though, I'll be so pleased! 

It seems soap and gardening have been eating up the time I've had to make things to eat up. When I manage to turn out a tasty treat, there's no time to take any photos before we've inhaled them. We've had a few batches of cookies, some brownies, and then a very quick cake, plus healthy foods, with some effort to include healthful spices and herbs. I wish I had more time to take care of my home! So much I want to do never happens, and even the things I consider the most important are getting thinned out... I'm just dreaming of the house being vacuumed, bathroom sparkling, kitchen floor just cleaned, and an array of fresh, seasonal, plus other interesting ingredients on the counter just waiting for some creative mouth watering arrangement. And no stress or exhaustion! 

I've realized having my frozen Swiss chard in a freezer outside of the house is harder to remind myself of than if it were in my kitchen, and now I am challenging myself to use it up before the spring/summer greens arrive. Maybe just don't tell Jordan. We've had some delicious spanakopita type pie, with bacon. Very tasty with sour cream. I need more ideas, though. So far I'm just hoping to make a type of dandelion pesto with it, hopefully to go on fresh pasta, but if I only make the sauce, I'll be quite happy.  

The snow is finally melting off our to-be orchard area... maybe Spring really is here! The dandelions are stretching and the grass is showing a little green when inspected closely. 

Due to some technical internet issues, a whole week has passed since I was hoping to post this, which means I've actually finished all the pre-planting! That's a total of 62 trays! And approximately 30 hours of toil. But all on schedule. I must ask myself if it's worth the time investment. Of course I ask myself many times, about everything on the farm, if I'd do what I'd done again, similarly, precisely the same, or dramatically different. Only time will tell in this case, as gardening doesn't provide immediate gratification. What would you call it instead? Longterm-earth-relationship-investment-gratification? In any case, I might just be trying plant cell trays next year. Despite the cost of the trays. Time is money! Or so I've heard it said...

More green coming soon!