RAVEN & BOAR

Saturday, April 30, 2011

APRIL 2011

APRIL 2011

CHARCUTERIE WEEKEND WITH MICHAEL LANDSMAN

Michael is a friend, my brother in law, a chef and our lawyer. We got together with 1/2 of one of our pigs to work on some recipe's together. We have about 24 hours to make Pate, prepare a bacon and ham for curing,a fermented sausage and a boudin noir.

www.hohlaw.com

Two Pate de Campagne were prepared. One is lined with Caul fat, the other with back fat.

Sather and Michael stayed up late preparing the ground meat.

While the Pate's poach in the oven, they start to prepare the fermented sausages.

The Pate's are out of the oven and cooling.

They came out beautiful!

BOUDIN NOIR - BLOOD SAUSAGE

The final blood sausage

Michael and Kes check the sausages

The boudin noir is cooked up for dinner with homemade sauerkraut and a fried duck egg.

Belly = Bacon

taking a break

two hams in salt with weights. this will be in the fridge for the next moth or so.

EAST FIELD UPDATE

We rotate the East Field Pigs into the next area. The mangels have really shot up now, and are providing some pretty good foraging.

They have a new hutch and are pretty comfortable.

The Tamworths are rotated out of the garden and into the forest. They have a path that they stroll down to get from their hutch, through a section of field before they get to the woods.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM at Madison Square Garden!!!

My college friend Pat Mahoney is the drummer ( as seen in the upper right hand corner of the picture on the large monitor! ). He got us ( Raven, Orion, Bega, Stella me and Louie ) all VIP tickets to the final show which was amazing.

www.lcdsoundsystem.com

Freia is happy to have me back.

Kes's cousin Parker came for the weekend. We make plans for the summer and go pick up a bunch of new ducks. 9 new Cayuga's and 4 new Khaki's. The girls help with chores and building the new duck house.

Hiro is getting pretty big!

-the girls have some fun at Price Chopper-

Passover dinner

Hope made Matzo, chopped liver ( chicken livers with duck fat, eggs etc.) and chicken soup with matzo balls.

Kes gets some chicks for Easter

Freia relaxes on Grandma's porch in a big girl chair.

A new litter of pigs!

The weather is great and we are out in the garden

We take a walk looking for ramps. The kids put their toes in the creek.

We did not find ramps, but we did find a garter snake!

Kes, Rio and Ze pose with a new friend.

'Bingo' relaxes on the porch with Kes.

' Bingo ' gets some more attention.

Chef Jeff Gimmel of Swoon hosts a Ramp Fest in Hudson NY

www.rampfesthudson.com

www.swoonkitchenbar.com

Bingo unexpectedly dies! Kestrel handles it very well and prepares a grave and ceremony for her.

Freia eats a stick.

The rest of the chickens have come to say their blessings.

Chef Mike Toscano prepares RAVEN & BOAR AT MANZO Restaurant / EATALY

for EARTH DAY

the menu

These are pictures Chef Toscano sent us of his menu and what he prepared with his Raven & Boar half hog.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

MARCH 2011

Sugaring at Darrow School Maple Fest

www.darrowschool.org

We are fortunate to have two sugar shacks right in our area. The closest one is just up the road from us at Hand Hollow Farm.

www.handhollowfarm.wordpress.com

I head up to see Ben Shaw from Garden of Spices farm to pic out our Maremma puppy. There are three boys to pick from and two gals that my girlfriend Bettina has to pick from. It is very hard, as they are all adorable. The smaller puppies in the litter are definitely more playful, butwe both decide to go for the larger pups, as they are outdoor dogs, and we figure bigger is better. Kes has no idea that I am bringing home a puppy.

Hiro!

Our new puppy is getting settled. He seems pretty smart, and is ready to please. The Maremma training manual is pretty daunting, but we will do our best.

MOUNTAIN LION!?

These are some crazy big tracks I found in the snow on the north side of the field. The span between each paw print was over 30". I did some research, and it looks like it would have to be quite a big animal to make these tracks. There has been a rumor that there is a mountain lion in the area for years, so now I am a little freaked out! Unfortunately I can not make out if it is a canine or feline print. Fortunately I have other things to think about, like K's birthday party and the 40 friends coming over this weekend.

BIRTHDAY PREPARATIONS

Sather prepares a Muscovy for the party. he has it hanging in the studio for a few hours before he plans to debone it and stuff it with pork.

The stuffed duck wrapped in a caul fat with some home cured bacon slices

It turned out amazing!

The cake was just a K requested. Chocolate cake with berries inside, chocolate icing and more berries on top and three special berries on top.

An ice storm hits us pretty hard and fortunately we do not lose power.

When the weather clears up, Sather and I have to move the older pigs to a new location. The have been in the north field and forest all winter, and are heading into my garden for a bit. We have taken down the hutch, and are just about ready to herd these guys over. They seem to be enjoying the view and some warm sun.

Hiro caught in my bird fencing! Too hilarious.

Sather has a moment to ponder.

The new hutch is almost all assembled. We still have to get the roof on, and it's getting late.

The Wattles are in my garden and having a blast. They are working every inch of it, as we left a lot for them to forage. Kohlrabi, Kale, Beets, Brussels, you name it.

The Tamworths move into the other half of my garden and their new hutch.

Every day Kes hops up into the chicken coop to collect her eggs. She counts them all, and is getting really good at counting!

Freia! I am sure you will be up in that chicken coop in no time at all!

Most of our whey comes fresh from the Old Chatham Sheep Herding Co.

www.blacksheepcheese.com

These Red Wattles areenjoying some fresh whey from Berkshire Blue this morning.

www.berkshireblue.com

We also started getting whey from Pampered Cow.

www.pamperedcow.com

The whey is a byproduct of the cheese making process. It's wonderful that their waste can be our benefit! The pigs love the whey, and we are glad to make them happy and tasty!

I get a chance to have lunch at Pies 'n Thighs in Bklyn!

Here are the lovely ladies Erika, Sarah and Caroline.

Congrats on your first year back in business!

www.piesnthighs.com

If the Helleborus is blooming, then spring is REALLY here!

EAST FIELD

The East Field pigs have been trained on the electric fence and are let out today to forage on Mangels and field peas. They seem VERY happy.

Sather and Freia have a moment. It's a beautiful sunny day. The snow is all melted, and we are happy to be out enjoying it.

Freia checking out the piggies.

" Tulip"is growing fast! We know it's her, because of her oversize floppy ears.

Monday, February 28, 2011

FEBRUARY 2011

FEBRUARY 2011

another blizzard

everyone is sick of this weather

K makes a beautiful sculpture. Ha!

happy valentines day!

NEW PIGS

Sather set up a new area in the East field for the new pigs. Last fall we had to brush hog, plow and seed this field to prepare for these pigs arrival this spring.

We seeded Mangels ( an old fashioned beet ), Oats, Vetch and Peas. Nothing took very well in the Fall, as we seeded pretty late, but only time will tell what will come up when the snow melts.

Sather had to shovel out a 32' x 48' area which had a solid 2' of snow as well as a 60' path from the road. To get the pigs from the truck to their new house, I had to pass two pigs out at a time and Sather shuttled them to the pen.

With some whey and grain, they are getting settled in pretty quickly.