Back in early February, just a few short days after one of our record snowfalls, a reporter and a photographer from St. Louis Magazine made the journey out to One Prairie Outpost to interview me about my farm-healthy lifestyle. The story appears in the April 2011 print edition of the magazine, available at select St. Louis area newsstands through the end of the month. The story posted online yesterday, which I’m happy to share with you here. It is also the featured story on STLmag.com’s Health page this week.
19 April 2011
Winter Doldrums BLT
Most of us would agree that the proper months in Missouri to enjoy a traditional bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich are July and August, when tomatoes from the garden are at their prime. But, I found inspiration to recreate that summer bliss last Friday night while watching an episode of Food Networks Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Guy Fieri spotlighted a restaurant that featured a unique take on the BLT. (Regretfully I didn’t catch the name, so can’t give the establishment or its proprietor proper credit, and Triple D’s website wasn’t helpful in locating it.) In this interpretation of the BLT, the T came from tomatoes canned at their peak ripeness, then pared with apple jelly and cooked into chutney. The accompanying mayonnaise included freshly chopped basil to add another dimension of summer-fresh flavor. Saturday night for dinner, Ben and I enjoyed my own rif on this classic sandwich. I started with a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, simmering them until it was reduced by half – this accomplished two goals: eliminating any liquid that would turn the toast into a sponge and concentrating the tomato flavor. With no apple jelly on hand, I opted not to add an alternative sweetener. Considering this is April and basil isn’t at its peak in the kitchen garden, I took out of the freezer one of the small containers of pesto I put up last summer, defrosted it and blended it into Hellman’s Best mayonnaise. The bacon came from our local meat market, Poppy J’s. The lettuce was Romaine. I then assembled the sandwiches on oven-toasted slices of Companion Bread’s organic wheat. The verdict: Disappointment…that I didn’t see that episode of Triple D until April. We sure could have used this inspiration back in December, January or February as we waited out one of the many snowfalls with which Mother Nature blessed us. Granted, I still maintain there are few things as sublime as a BLT enjoyed at the peak of summer. But, this simple but tasty meal is sure to be one way I’ll get through next winter’s doldrums.
09 April 2011
Restoring Our Connection to a Simpler Past, So Easily Lost in This Connected Present
The introduction to the 8 April 2011 issue of Adam Puchta Winery's newsletter is worth sharing:
Reflecting on the legacy of Adam Puchta
Through the aforementioned sessions I had the opportunity to mentally ride with my great-great grandfather Adam on his oxen ride to Hermann, on a wagon filled with wine barrels for shipping, over a single lane dirt road that took most of one day just to go a little over 2 miles...then spend another day shopping for everything needed to live on for the next month... then return home over that same muddy dirt road!
How many times do we drive to the store in a single day... a week....a month.... just to get one item, much less and entire month's supply of groceries, clothing, hardware or whatever!? Do any of us even think that far ahead anymore?
I walked over a quarter mile back into the woods with the photographer to an old deserted Norton vineyard site, that dates back prior to prohibition and that still has a few Norton vines in an old terrace row, grown over now with trees. The vines have recently been trashed by high winds and ice storms that have chewed up the woods, but it is still so cool to see something alive that was planted over a hundred years ago and is still growing and producing fruit!
To stand in the same cellar where Adam made wine, to remember as a kid turning the milk separator to produce cream for butter and milk for drinking, then churning that cream into butter...or to talk about the hams and bacon hanging in the smokehouse and the every day ritual my grandfather had in stealing a nibble of cured ham so that my grandmother wouldn't find out.... (she knew!), making apple butter, digging potatoes and canning everything edible for the winter months.
Most of these things are lost in our modern society, but still a very large part of other cultures around the world as everyday tasks and life. We really don't stop and reflect on how fortunate we are in this society and how easy our lives are these days!
So what are my rambling's about? Just the thoughts of someone who is really beginning to understand and appreciate what my ancestors had to go through in every day life and to realize just how difficult that their lives were, but in some respects a whole lot simpler, less hectic and maybe even a bit more enjoyable!
Take some time, have some wine and enjoy your life..... if you don't, nobody can do it for you!
I'd like to dedicate this newsletter to my good friend and classmate Clay Johnson, who recently passed away from cancer.... Way to young to be gone, but so richly blessed to have known him and to have been able to call him my friend! Rest in peace brother!
Cheers!
Tim
Tim, Spencer, and Parker Puchta
6th & 7th Generation
02 April 2011
The Tale of Little Blue Apron and the Tiniest and Largest Chicken Eggs We’ve Ever Encountered
A recent text message I received from my dear husband starts this tale:
Ben: Aprons arrived. So did a super small egg. You won’t believe it.
First, about the aprons – These are not the kitchen variety, but rather the chicken variety. Since I’ve become a hobby chicken farmer, I have learned so many things about chickens that I never before considered. For example, the havoc rowdy roosters can wreak on the hens as they turn the corner from winter into spring and the roosters’ desires to be, well, roosters becomes ever stronger. Let’s just say the boys aren’t very sauve. In fact, they can be downright rough with the ladies. Dozens of times throughout the day. Recently, the hens began to resemble tattered and torn Eliza Doolittles, rather than the Fair Ladies they once were. Bald patches emerged on some of the hens. This led other hens to further feather pick, increasing the size of the patches. Initially I was quite beside myself, worried some unknown plague was hitting Chicken Universe. But a comforting phone call to Ben (who was away on business), a glass of wine and some online research later, and I began to feel a little better about how to address the situation. Once we ruled out any pestilent cause, we tried some natural remedies to deter further feather picking, and we adjusted their food rations to increase the protein level, since winter protein deficiency can be a factor in feather picking. But, ultimately to help the ladies restore their plumage, we resorted to hen aprons. We chose the Hen Saver sold by Crazy K Farm, and are very happy we did so. We’d like to think the ladies are, too. Although they weren’t trilled with us putting these strange capes on them, once the aprons were in place, the hens didn’t even seem to notice. We’re happy to report that new feather growth is starting to come in.
Here is the Buff Orpington Ben now affectionately calls Little Blue Apron, sporting her new duds.
Now about that small egg. While our ladies never went into a full molt in the winter, we have noticed that they are going through a system reboot of sorts as they come out of the cold, low-light season. Some of their eggs have become smaller again, as they were in the first few months when they started laying. While we’ve certainly experienced our share of dainty pullet eggs, the egg Ben reported on has to be the smallest chicken egg we’ve ever seen. It was only slightly larger than a robin egg. What’s more, within two days one of the other ladies delivered for us what has to be one of the largest chicken eggs we’ve ever encountered.
Here these remarkable eggs are pictured with what would be classified as a standard large egg.
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