Farmer Man is back in the saddle, I'm feeling better and life is returning to normal! I'm certainly eating better then I have been for most of February.
When we took our Berkshire Pigs into the butcher, Farmer Man did not have too many requests or directions. When we picked up our meat, lo and behold we had a number of butt steaks, something we weren't familiar with. A few days ago, Farmer Man took one, sliced it thinly and made an Asian inspired stir fry. We weren't wildly impressed: the meat was a bit tough, rather like any old inexpensive cut of beef we might have tried in a stir fry. Well, he took a couple out and slow roasted them in BBQ sauce for tonight's dinner and WOW!! A texture more like young lamb, literally falling off the bone, and awesome flavour! Served with our own Sangria potatoes, scalloped and the last of our carrots and broccoli from far, far away! Check out more of the great recipes from lots of people everywhere who are trying to eat local this winter at the blog The Urban Hennery.
Very appetizing. We are still using our own potatoes and are down to the last 5 or 6 pounds. Best we have done for years.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great to be eating your own food in March? Especially with a new round of food recalls! We had a great potato harvest this year and we're fortunate that Farmer Man's father built a proper root cellar. How do you store potatoes, Clayton?
ReplyDeleteHi Norah.
ReplyDeleteWell we seem to have had a little good luck with our potatoes this year and we are not sure why. We use the 64l Rubbermaid tubs in our cold room and mostly keep the lids on tight. When We dig in the fall, we sometimes wash off the soil which has clung to the potatoes but I try to just brush it off with my gloves. We then store them in our garage in pails covered with black plastic bags for three day to a week as long as the temperatures are not too far into the minus at night. From there we just pack them into the tubs and put them in the cold room (not as cold as we would like but about 10 to 12 C).
Dark at all times is important I think as well as good and dry skins. Pick out the damaged or broken and use them first as they present a site for disease. And a little luck.
I think having them well dried is half of the battle! We don't even wash ours - but we do leave them at least five days in heavy mesh crates in the garage or barn to dry. Larger quantities then go into bins but some of our specialty varieties are stored in the 'airy' crates all winter.
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