WINE SHOPPING.
With the overwhelming quantity of work ahead of us back in Bugtussle, it's hard not to be at the farm right now. But the reality is - we have our cabin money (CONTINUED THANK YOU'S!), just no real money to live on, thus our little sojourn to Nashville. We'll try and earn enough cash over the holidays so, come February or thereabouts, when we head back to the farm, we can stay put. For keeps. That's the goal, and so far so good!As Hannah mentioned a few days ago, I'm doing some shifts at a great local wine shop called Woodland Wine Merchant here in the city. I worked there almost two years ago over the winter and the owner, Will, offered me some holiday work which I couldn't pass up.Their selection is wonderful, on par with any big city wine shop and in many cases, better. Beyond their expansive selection of items like bitters and amaro, they carry much of what got me into farming in the first place: natural, organic, and biodynamic wines. It is deeply satisfying to turn people onto these wines, wines I believe in and stand behind, from farmers I wish to support. So although it's a bummer on nice days to not be on the farm at the moment, it's nice to feel good about the work I'm doing, and the shop I'm helping.So if you're in Nashville, stop by! We'll talk shop and I'll introduce you to some of my favorite people (the staff) and favorite health tonics (the wines).À votre santé, as they say in French––to your health.- Jesse.
(photo courtesy of Woodland Wine Merchant)
LARD LOVE.
Yesterday we headed over to the Porter Road Butcher in Nashville to see what we could find in the way of lard. Lard is quite possibly the most important food product in our diet––almost every meal begins with lard. Google "the health benefits of lard" and you will be fully supplied with enough enthusiastic and favorable sources to write a small dissertation on why everyone should hop back on the lard wagon. For me it's about flavor and cooking, but could just as easily be about health. High in monounsaturated fat, the kind which actually improves blood cholesterol levels, lard is not only tasty but a nutritious alternative to products like butter, and definitely to things like margarine.You don't want to get your lard from just any source though: it's buying meat and you should know the animal was raised humanely on a natural diet. The butchers didn't have any lard rendered at the time, but kindly offered to sell us some pork fat to render ourselves. I love rendering lard, admittedly because I enjoy eating the resulting pork cracklings––like fatty pork rinds––but also because we prefer to be involved in the process of everything we eat as much as possible.The process of rendering is essentially cutting the fat into small pieces and putting it in a large pot with some water and letting it cook on medium heat for around an hour until the cracklings are a nice brown. Then strain and let cool. Et voila!––lard! It keeps really well and we'll probably get roughly half a gallon of lard from 5 1/2 pounds of fat at $11. And, since you use less lard, that amount will last us longer––several weeks cooking three meals a day––than the equivalent in olive oil or butter. Plus, we'll save at least $10, not to mention all the fossil fuels, etc., involved with the olive oil process. Hopefully, next year we will have our own pigs....one step closer to sustainability!- Jesse.
A ROOF!
We have one!
Also, we are officially in Nashville for the winter (even though it was SEVENTY FIVE DEGREES yesterday....what.) Jesse is working at his old stomping ground Woodland Wine Merchant and I am on the lookout for some holiday work as well. We are going to be making some extra money, traveling back and forth to Bugtussle to insulate and finish the exterior of the cabin, and enjoying one last hoorah of living in the land of electricity and coffee shops. And showers....oh how I've missed you, showers.- Hannah.
ABRACADABRA...CABIN!
Like I said last week, things started to move quickly once we poured the concrete footers! Here is some of the week's progress:
Can you believe it!? THINGS ARE HAPPENING! Jesse and I are exhausted, but so excited. We have learned a LOT about construction from some really great guys - and on top of that, we have been splitting our time between working on the house and clearing trees from our future pasture. We are trying to get some firewood stockpiled AND the roof on the cabin before we leave for Nashville this weekend. I'll let you know if we make it!- Hannah.