Sunday, November 24, 2013

Farm Family Update



I'm sure that this news has filtered a great deal of the way through the grapevine already...

One of our greatest assets as a local family farm that direct-markets all of our products is you, our customers!  When we say you're a part of our farm family, we really mean family.

As a part of our farm family, I'm sure you all will be shaking your proverbial finger at us for not telling you sooner!  (And rest easy knowing that everyone and everything is now fine!

Last week, HannaMae was run over by one of our trucks carrying half a load of grain.  Nothing punctures squished or broken, just sore muscles and after a week of taking it pretty easy she is pretty much back to normal.  Here is we all give her guardian angel a pat on the back...

Here's the extended version.

HannaMae was escorted across the road and sent to inform Papa that it was lunch time.  After doing that task, she decided not to wait with Papa to go back to the house (since he was still finishing up his task at hand) but to walk back right then.  She walked back through the gardens and waiting at the road for Grandma to come out to escort her back across the road, as per The Rules.  After waiting for a bit she decided to lay down on the field road edge to wait.

About 45 minutes after having sent HannaMae off, Grandma began to get worried.  She hadn't seen HannaMae come back to cross the road and Papa hadn't come back yet.  So Grandma takes the small truck (still loaded with grain) out to check on Jason and look for HannaMae.  Jason and Grandma both get worried since it had been about half an hour wince Jason had seen HannaMae (Who had of course refused any coat heavier than a light sweater for her quick trip).  Jason and Grandma head out in different directions looking for her.

Grandma drives back to the house and turns onto the field road below the gardens by the hoophouses (where The Rules say children must wait to cross the road and where HM had laid down to wait) to look for HannaMae.  HannaMae was in her own world of thoughts and didn't see or hear the truck and with the field road as bumpy as it is, Grandma didn't feel anything unusual in driving on the field road.  Grandma got out of the truck to call for HannaMae and heard her screaming.  Upon finding HannaMae she carried her across the road to the front yard and met with Jason just getting back from his search on the tractor.

Jason carried HannaMae inside and checked her head to toe and found nothing appearing to be broken.  He did, however, find bruises around her hips and lower back.  He called Margaret at work and took HannaMae to the ER.

The nurses and Doctor at the hospital took wonderful care of her, brought her temperature back up since she was outside for about 45 minutes on a cold day with little more than a sweater on, and checked everything over twice.  The doctor used the ultrasound to check her organs and everything was perfect.  They called the radiologist to do x-rays on her legs and pelvis and nothing appeared to have even a hairline fracture of any sort.

We spent the afternoon and part of the evening in the ER.  HannaMae rested and when she showed that she could walk, with lots of help of course, she was allowed to go home.  We spent the next several days resting on the couch, using lots of help to walk around and stretch and by Monday afternoon, she was walking, slowly, without help from even the wall.

Tuesday HannaMae went back to school and by Thursday her muscles and joints were functioning enough to climb even big bus stairs and she rode the bus to and from school the rest of the week.

By now you can hardly even tell she had anything happen at all.  She even almost kept up with Margaret while putting away sheep yesterday.  More or less back to normal.

We have thanked her guardian angel profusely.  I'm sure they are exhausted after that ordeal.

We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and understanding.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Winter Market!



Hungry for more ham?

How about some grass-fed lamb?  Mmm... Garlic leg of lamb roast... YUM!

How about a delicious pie pumpkin for the first test run of dear Aunt Edna's famous pumpkin pie recipe?

You will be able to find us for any or all of the above three at Moscow's first Winter Market!

Saturday November 9th
10am to 3 pm
1912 Center in Moscow, ID


See you there!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Microwave Winter Squash Recipe



Everyone knows that winter squash should be baked.

This is true, but what if you want something home-made and fresh for lunch?  With a little preparation at time and a microwave at school or work, you're set!  You'll also have the rest of the building or lunchroom drooling!

You'll have to tailor this recipe to suit your tastes, as always, but I have the basics to begin upon here.

Microwave Winter Squash Lunch
Makes enough for 1 person.
Time: 15 minutes preparation, 8 minutes cooking.

Ingredients:

One small winter squash, softball size or appropriate to your appetite.

Filling:
Whatever strikes your fancy.  My favorite choices are below
1. Cranberry
       2 tbsp dried cranberries
       1 tbsp honey
       1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
       cloves
2. Sausage Rice (sweet with brown sugar or savory with seasonings)
       1/4 cup of your favorite breakfast sausage, cooked.
       1/2 cup cooked rice
       seasonings (salt, pepper, sage) (optional)
       brown sugar (optional)

Instructions:
@ Home
1. Gather your filling ingredients.  You can mix them all together in a sandwich bag (cranberry) or microwave-safe container (sausage) and store it in the refrigerator.
2. give your squash's skin a scrub.  (Generally a good policy no matter who you got it from!)
@ Work
3.  With a knife, stab the squash so that steam can escape.
4.  Microwave the whole squash for about 4 minutes, turn it over, microwave for 4 more minutes.
5.  CAUTION!  HOT!  Let the squash rest for a few minutes until you can cut it open without burning your hands on the steam.
6. with a spoon, scoop out the seeds and toss (or compost!) them.
7.  if you chose the sausage filling (or something similar), reheat it while your squash is cooling.
8.  Mix and Enjoy!  if you have extra room in your container for the sausage filling, scrape the squash from it's skin into your container.  If you just had your squash and your sandwich baggie of yummies, you'll have to scrape the squash filling loose and mix with your filling in the skin.

YUM!

Please share in the comments your favorite filling for squash, baked or microwave!