Monthly Archives: April 2022

Meat CSA – March 2022

In your share 

  • Chicken 
  • Short ribs (Kenton & Woodstock) OR Cross cut rib roast (Corbett) 
  • Ground beef 
  • French garlic sausage 
  • Bacon 

On the farm 

Springtime at Terra Farma always means lots of new life, and this year is definitely no exception. The last of our expectant sheep had her lambs early this month, making 18 lambs in total this year. This is far more than we’ve raised in past years, and we are looking forward to being able to include lamb in the CSA shares more often in 2023. The same day that last lamb was born, the first of our dairy goats had a single kid, and the next day another had triplets! A couple more moms are due any day now, then next month the meat goats should follow up with kids of their own.  

This is also the time of year that our poultry operations really start cranking up for the year. The first week of the month heralded the arrival of 100 new chicks to be future egg layers, then the next week 200 more chicks destined for the table arrive, with about that same number coming every five weeks through August. In a few weeks, we’ll start collecting eggs from our turkey flock to put in our incubator for hatching in May. Our heritage breed turkeys grow much slower than the ultra-fast growing (but far less tasty) commercial varieties, as we will hatch them in May but not process them until the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. We will open for pre-orders once we see how the hatch goes.  

But our largest new arrivals were also the least expected – we got both a new cow and a new dog! One of our current dairy cows ended up not getting bred as expected and our milk supply was looking increasingly ill-equipped to meet demand, so we found a very sweet cow at a small farm in Washougal, and we brought her home at the end of February. She was in rough shape, as she had two calves nursing off her, even though they were almost as big as she was, and she was being fed low quality hay. She’s doing so much better now, fitting in well with our other girls, putting on some needed weight, while doubling the amount of milk she’s producing just in the 2+ weeks she’s been here.  

Our new dog, Jolee, is another Great Pyrenees that came from the same farm just up the road where our recent herd of meat goats came from. The owners of that farm realize that, without the goats there, Jolee was bored, and they offered her to us at no cost! She’s very sweet, but also a natural at being a livestock guardian dog. She’s also young, at 2.5 years old, and unspayed, so it’s very possible we could be back in the puppy business much sooner than anticipated.  

Recipe – Chicken Pot Pie 

As promised, in honor of pi day (3/14), here’s a great chicken pot pie recipe. This one is from the awesome book “Salt Fat Acid Heat” by Samin Nosrat (check out her limited run podcast, “Home Cooking” – it’s a true delight for the ears) and we adapt the veggies to whatever we have on hand, it’s a forgiving recipe. If you have the book, this recipe is on page 322. 

Ingredients 

  • 4-pound chicken 
  • Salt 
  • Olive oil 
  • 3 tablespoons butter 
  • 2 medium yellow onions, ½” dice 
  • 2 large carrots, ½” dice 
  • 2 celery stalks, ½” dice 
  • ½ pound fresh cremini, button, or chanterelle mushrooms, trimmed and quartered 
  • 2 bay leaves 
  • 4 sprigs thyme 
  • Black pepper 
  • ¾ cup dry white wine or dry sherry 
  • ½ cup cream 
  • 3 cups chicken stock 
  • ½ cup flour 
  • 1 cup peas, fresh or frozen 
  • ¼ cup finely chopped parsley 

For the crust – pie dough, your favorite biscuit recipe, or 1 package store-bought puff pastry + 1 whisked large egg.  

Prep the chicken by quartering it, which ends up being 8 pieces: two each of legs and thighs, and then each breast piece is cut in half. Season generously with salt. Coat a hot Dutch oven with olive oil, when simmering, add half the chicken pieces, skin side down and brown evenly on all sides, about 4 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining pieces.  

Remove any excess fat from the pot, then melt the butter and add the veggies (not the peas or parsley, they’ll go in later) and herbs, with a light addition of salt and pepper. Stir occasionally until the veggies start to soften, about 12 minutes, then add the wine and deglaze with a wooden spoon.  

Nestle the browned chicken into the vegetables, add the cream and stock and increase the heat to high; cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Remove the breasts after 10 minutes of simmering but leave the dark meat for a total of 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the chicken to a plate, and allow the sauce to cool. Discard the bay leaves and thyme. After a few minutes use a spoon to skim the fat off into a bowl. Combine ½ cup of the fat with the flour into a thick paste. Add this back to the pot and bring the entire mixture to a boil for about 5 minutes. 

Heat oven to 400 degrees, shred the chicken meat, chop the skin finely, then add to the pot with the peas and parsley. Pour it all into a 9×13” baking dish and top with the dough or biscuits, cutting a few steam holes if using dough. Brush the dough with the egg wash. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Enjoy!