In your share

• Chicken
• Pork or Beef Roast
• Ground Beef
• Brats
• Bacon

On the Farm

Now that the worst of the winter weather is behind us (hopefully), our focus is now oriented towards gearing up for spring and summer. This month, that means getting all of our poultry chicks ordered for the entire year (about 1,500 baby birds in total), interviewing our potential farm help and getting their schedules aligned with our calendar, making repairs to all of our mobile chicken shelters, and literally watching the grass grow to determine when we can start our grazing season.

The off-season is also when most farm conferences are held, and this month I’ll be attending the Oregon Small Farms Conference in Corvallis and presenting a workshop on integrating poultry and ruminants at the California Small Farms Conference (it’s an online session, so I don’t have to travel to CA). Then I’m gearing up to teach a rotational grazing workshop for the East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District in April or May, and finally, in June I’m considering attending a highly regarded week-long course in Billings, Montana called Ranching for Profit. That one is more about running the business end of a livestock operation, which is information that is mostly left our of most farm curricula. But, it’s $3,000, not including food or lodging, so we are looking for any creative sources of funding to help offset those costs. I’m sure the information gained will pay for itself, but the five grand it’s likely to cost is a big chunk for a small business like ours.

Recipe

Fried Chicken from the Terra Farma kitchen

Here’s another one of our go-to meals. You will need to cut up the chicken into parts, which is intimidating for some, but it’s not that difficult. There is a great YouTube video from the Everyday Food channel called, “How to Cut a Chicken Into 8 Pieces in Under a Minute” that we’d recommend checking out.

Ingredients

• One whole chicken, cut up
• 2 cups milk or buttermilk, roughly
• 1-2 teaspoons of your favorite spice blend
• 2 cups flour
• 2 quarts oil for frying – we use lard, but any oil that can handle high heat is fine

Directions

1. Mix the flour and spices in a large bowl
2. Dip the chicken pieces in the milk and then dredge them in the flour mixture until coated
3. Place the coated chicken on a cookie sheet or tray, and cover it with a clean dish towel or waxed paper. LET SIT UNTIL THE FLOUR IS OF A PASTE-LIKE CONSISTENCY. THIS IS CRUCIAL!
4. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large cast iron skillet until very hot
5. Add the chicken to the pot, and when they are browned on both sides, lower the heat, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes.
6. Remove the cover, raise the heat again, and fry until crispy.
7. Let drain on a rack over paper towels
8. Enjoy!

In your share

• Chicken
• Lamb stew meat
• Ground beef
• Ground pork
• Pork chops
• Chuck eye steak

On the Farm

Now that we are at the time of year where the day lengths are getting ever so slightly longer as the calendar ticks by, the farm is also seeing its first inklings of spring. Our first pair of lambs was born on January 6^th, and this of course follows the litter of puppies that arrived the day before Thanksgiving. In between those, we helped put another farm that was forced to make some changes by agreeing to purchase their boar, sow, and 11 piglets. Even with all that, though, things are still a bit more of a leisurely pace this time of year, that is until the snow and ice storms arrive. I’m writing this before the big storm that is predicted to hit in a few days, so we’ll see if we have to make up for that decrease in workload soon.

Recipe

Cider Braised Pork Chops from our kitchen

This is our favorite way to eat pork chops and this was adapted and modified from a recipe that used scallops instead of pork chops. Amounts of ingredients resented here are kind of vague because we usually just wing it, but this dish is very forgiving.

Ingredients

• 1 package Terra Farma pork chops
• 1 pint apple cider (the juice kind, not the hard cider – but we’ve never tried that, so who knows?)
• ¼ cup butter
• Fresh sage, to taste
• Julienned apple

Directions

1. Heat the cider in a small saucepan over medium heat until it is reduced by about half, set aside.
2. Pan fry the chops in an oiled skillet on med-high heat until they are almost done, then remove from skillet and set aside.
3. Add the butter to the hot skillet and simmer it until it browns, stirring as needed to keep from burning
4. Once you have brown butter, add the reduced cider and sage to the butter, then add the chops to simmer in the sauce until they are done.
5. Add the julienned apples right at the end, so that they can warm and soften a bit, but still maintain their shape.

In your share

• Chicken
• Guanciale (jowl bacon)
• Breakfast Sausage
• Pork Chops
• Ground Goat
• Steak

Reminder – This is the last month for both the seasonal and yearly subscriptions, so make sure you head to our online store to renew for next year, if you haven’t already done so.

On the Farm

In most years December is the time when things slow down a bit and we can get some much-needed rest, but not so much this year. We’ve been moving our small beef herd to various properties around Corbett to maximize our grazing season and minimize the amount of hay we need to purchase, and we finally moved them back to their normal home at Ello Farm (@ello.farm on Instagram) just before the heavy rain at the beginning of the month. Then, we moved the sheep herd to Ello Farm as well, since that’s where most of our hay is stored, and in between all that, I made some treks with the truck and trailer to Tygh Valley to load up on said hay.

But the real distraction is the arrival of 8 brand new Great Pyrenees puppies! Their due date was on turkey pick-up day, but if you were at the farm that day, you know that didn’t happen. JoLee waited until the day before Thanksgiving for her delivery date, and everyone was healthy and doing well…until two days later. We noticed JoLee started having contractions again and when we checked her temperature, she did have a fever, causing us to fear that there might be a dead puppy still inside. So, off to the emergency vet in the middle of the night, where thankfully the x-ray did not show anything but a likely uterine infection. I was even more thankful when the vet told me that if that had to do an emergency spay, it would have cost $9-11,000! So, after only (!) $1,000 we went home with a round of antibiotics and everyone is now doing great. If you know of anyone in the market for a large, lovable dog, send them our way!

Recipe

French Toast Cassrole modified from “lilluna.com”

This is a departure from our normal recipe suggestion, in that is more of a sweet, rather than savory, dish. But we are including it now because we think it would be a great addition to a Christmas morning breakfast or brunch. Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes we have it for dinner.

Ingredients

French Toast

• 1 loaf sourdough bread or brioche, challah or French bread
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 lb Terra Farma Breakfast Sausage
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

Topping

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cold unsalted butter cut into pieces

Directions

1. Crumble sausage and cook over medium-high heat in a skillet until cooked through
2. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and scatter evenly in a greased 9-x-13-inch baking dish.
3. Mix cooked sausage and blueberries into the bread cubes until evenly distributed.
4. In a medium bowl, mix eggs, milk, heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar together, then pour evenly over the bread.
5. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
6. To make the topping, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut butter into this mixture until crumbly. Place the topping in a small resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight as well.
7. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F.
8. Unwrap the baking dish and sprinkle the topping evenly over the bread.
9. Bake, uncovered, for 45–60 minutes, depending on how soft you like it.

In your share

• Rabbit
• Chuck roast
• Ground beef
• Bacon
• French garlic sausage
• Ground lamb

Membership update

Next month marks the end of the fall season, and for those of you who signed up a year ago for the entire 2023 calendar year, it’s also time for you to renew. We are offering the full-year option again, which will save you $85 over renewing each season, plus you will be protected from any potential price increases throughout the year. Here’s the link to our store: https://terra-farma.square.site/

On the Farm

November is always a time of transition as we move towards the slower months with far fewer animals on the farm than in the busy days of summer. The last of our broiler chickens was processed in late October, our hogs went in for processing on Halloween, and as of this writing, the turkeys will only be here for a few more days. For all our grazing animals – cattle, goats, and sheep – by this time of year we normally have them in their winter paddock, which we call a sacrifice area since the grass goes dormant in the winter and their diet mostly consists of purchased hay. But this is where our dedication to regenerative agriculture for the past 20 years is paying off, as our dedication to improving soil health through the carefully managed movement of livestock across the landscape is creating conditions where our pastures are still actively growing, and we are still giving the animals new forage to graze on each day. This not only helps us save precious financial resources by reducing the amount of hay we need to buy, but whenever grasslands are in their growth phase they are photosynthesizing, pulling carbon dioxide out of the air and storing a significant portion of it in the soil. You may have seen recent news reports about a carbon capture plant that is about to come online, one that aims to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it in powdered limestone. Not only is this process potentially energy-intensive, but it is also expensive, requiring taxpayer dollars to operate, and produces no real usable product. On the other hand, systems like ours that work in harmony with natural systems achieve the same result but also provide nutrient-rich food with little in the way of energy inputs. Imagine the potential if we restored all the corn and soy monocrops throughout the Midwest with native prairie and grazing animals!

If you want to read more about how we graze for soil health, check out this article I wrote for the Oregon Pasture Network: https://oregonpasturenetwork.org/2023/07/10/a-tale-of-four-pastures/

Recipe

Quick Lamb Ragu from “NYT Cooking” by Alison Roman

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Pinch of red-pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 anchovy fillets (optional)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 12 ounces cooked pasta, noodles or tubes, for serving
• A good hunk of Parmesan or pecorino, for serving
• A small handful of marjoram, oregano, or thyme, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have become translucent and have totally softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Add a pinch of red-pepper flakes and anchovies, if using, and cook for a minute or two, just to toast the spices and melt the anchovies.
2. Add tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring occasionally so it has a chance to stick to the bottom of the pot and caramelize a bit, 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Add lamb and season with salt and pepper. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, stir lamb until the fat starts to soften and the meat begins to break down. Continue to cook, stirring rather frequently until the lamb begins to brown and sizzle in its own fat, 5 to 8 minutes.
4. Add crushed tomatoes, stirring to scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pot. Fill the tomato can halfway with water and swirl around to get all the remaining tomato, then add to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook until sauce is thickened and insanely flavorful, 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Serve sauce mixed into and over pasta with plenty of cheese for grating over the top, scattered with a small handful of marjoram, oregano or thyme leaves if you like.

Bonus recipe

I’m just giving you a link for this one, since I’m out of space, but since we don’t include rabbit very often, we wanted to include a preparation idea: https://www.krumpli.co.uk/rabbit-stew/

In your share

• Chicken
• Italian Sausage
• Hamburger
• Pork Chops
• Shoulder Bacon
• Lamb hind or fore shank

Recipe

Slow Roasted Lamb Shanks from “bakeitwithlove.com”

Ingredients

• 2 lamb shanks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½  teaspoon each of salt & pepper
• ½  teaspoon herbes de provence
• ½  cup chicken broth
• 3  cloves garlic peeled and crushed
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 sprig oregano

Direction

1. Place the lamb shanks into a 8×8 baking dish, or any oven-safe dish that can fit them snugly. Rub or brush them with olive oil on all sides, then season generously with a blend of salt, pepper, and herbes de provence. 
2. Place the baking dish in the oven while it heats to 450°F (232°C). Roast at high heat for 15 minutes, then remove the lamb from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (163°C).
3. Add the chicken broth, cloves of garlic, and fresh herbs to the baking dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Overlap the foil so it seals securely and the steam is kept in the dish.
4. Return the lamb shanks to the oven and roast for 2 hours. Remove the lamb from the oven when done and serve right away. Spoon the pan juices over the lamb shanks when serving.

In your share

• Chicken
• Lamb shoulder steak
• Ground beef
• Breakfast sausage
• Beef roast

On the Farm

The slow transition to autumn weather is always a refreshing time at Terra Farma, as the seemingly endless days of hot temperatures tend to suck the energy out of us, and the animals, too. The nearly one inch of rain we had at the beginning of the month was helpful enough to get some grass growing again, and the early indications of rain later in the month will help to ensure a fall grazing season before the winter rains arrive in earnest.

The property where we have our beef cows did run out of forage, but we are fortunate that the site down the road from that, where we have our sheep, still had many acres of ungrazed grass, so we moved all 12 of the cattle to that property where they’ve been very happy with belly-high grass. On our home property, we are also running low on forage, so we are letting most of the pasture rest for a few weeks while we supplement with hay, in the hopes that we will be able to get them on some fresh grass in October.

Off the farm, we were honored to be asked to present a workshop on regenerative agriculture at the Love, Oregon festival that was held at the beautiful Camp Colton on Labor Day weekend. This intimate festival (about 220 people were attending) is a celebration of what makes Oregon special, namely its food, music, and natural beauty, and was highlighted by some outstanding musicians along with some delicious meals. Dinner service is included in the ticket price, and the big dinner on Saturday night featured our chicken prepared by our friend and amazing chef, Kieth Bidwell. Our workshop was a lively small group discussion where we pushed back against the common narrative that livestock is a leading cause of climate change. That narrative may be true for grain-fed, feedlot beef; but, as you know, grazing animals raised with care in a manner that mimics natural movement across a landscape can be carbon-negative and is perhaps one of the best tools we have to permanently draw carbon out of the atmosphere and put back into the soil, where it belongs. We hope to be invited back again next year, as the entire event was lots of fun; and I would encourage you to look up their website and/or follow on social media to keep abreast of their events.

Recipe

Lamb shoulder chops from “momsdish.com”

This is a quick and easy dish that can be done on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the grill. We recommend using a cast iron skillet for both the stovetop and the oven methods; for the latter, do a quick sear to brown the outsides of the chops, then finish in a 350-degree oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 130-140 for medium rare or 160 for medium. For a 450-degree grill, 5-7 minutes on each side is all you need. Or, if you have a sous vide, you can seal the chips up in the vacuum bag with the marinade ingredients below and set your machine at 136-140 for 3 hours. Then discard the marinade ingredients and do a quick one-minute sear in a hot skillet on both sides to brown it up. That’s how we cook ours, and it’s delicious!

Ingredients

• 2-4 lamb shoulder chops
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1/2 oz fresh rosemary
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Directions

1. Chop garlic and break down the fresh rosemary; combine with oil, salt and pepper in a large ziplock bag.
2. Add lamb shoulder chops into the seasoning and leave it to marinate for at least an hour.
3. Preheat the skillet on high heat. Remove all seasoning from the lamb shoulder chops and add them to the skillet. Cook for about 6 minutes on each side.
4. Let lamb shoulder chops rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

  In your share

• Chicken
• Hamburger
• Pork chops
• Lamb chops
• Italian sausage
• Short ribs
• Beef liver

On the Farm

Our thoughts this month have been dominated by the unexpected death of our beloved goat, Scooter. If you’ve ever had a tour of our farm, you have certainly met her and remember her fondly, as she was a goat like no other. She was born in the summer of 2015, and her first week was uneventful and no different than any other baby goat on our farm. But, on day 7 of her life she decided to test out the electric fence and got herself tangled in it, but only for about 20 seconds, as I was nearby and heard her cry for help. After turning the fence off and untangling her, I could see that she wasn’t moving her back legs, so I took her to the house, thinking she would be fine in an hour or so. She never recovered the use of her back legs, and after four months as a house goat, we realized that we needed to learn how to be parents of a special needs goat. She adapted amazingly well and developed a personality that was more like a dog than a goat, winning over the hearts of nearly every person who visited. It was like losing a family member when Linda found her dead last week. We take solace in the fact that she defied the odds and had a much longer life than any of us ever anticipated and that she packed many lifetimes’ worth of experiences in her 8 years, but the barn sure feels empty without her cute vocalizations and demands for animal crackers.

It’s almost hard to write about anything else after that, but I do want to let you know about a fun event that is happening on Labor Day weekend. It is called Love, Oregon https://loveoregonproject.com/ and is a celebration of what makes Oregon special, particularly the junction of food, music, and our amazing outdoor spaces. We will even be presenting a workshop there where we’ll talk about farming in the way we can help combat climate change. Brunches and dinners are included In the ticket price, and those alone are worth the price of admission; but you’ll also get to experience some intimate performances by some up-and-coming musicians, attend some unique workshops, and make new friends in the beautiful woods of Camp Colton. If you don’t yet have plans for that weekend, check out the website and join us there!

Finally, this is the last month of the summer season, so if you are not on the annual plan and haven’t yet renewed for the fall season, make sure to visit our online store to renew.

Recipe

This is the first time we’ve ever included organ meat in the share, but we’ve had a surprising number of requests recently, so we are giving it a try. We know it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but liver is often called the most nutrient-dense food, so figuring out ways to include it in your diet can have positive health benefits. Pate is a common method of preparation to make it more palatable, and you can look up lots of recipes online for that, but we wanted to try something different.

“Beef Liver Fries” from https://www.saintjohnsorganicfarm.com/

Ingredients

• 1 lb grass-fed beef liver
• 2 – 2 1/2 c flour
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• roughly 2  c buttermilk, milk, or whey
• roughly 1 c beef tallow, enough to be at least 1/2 inch deep in frying dish – Avocado, coconut, or another high temperature oil can also be used

Directions

1. Slice liver into 1/4 – 1/2 inch wide strips. Place into food storage container and cover with buttermilk, milk, or whey. I used about 1 cup. Place in refrigerator and allow to soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight and continue the preparation the following day.
2. Drain liver and pat dry.
3. Mix together flour, paprika, salt, and black pepper in a shallow bowl. Pour remaining 1 cup buttermilk, milk, or whey into another small bowl.
4. To batter the liver, roll one slice in seasoned flour, dip in milk, and roll in flour again. Place slice on cooling rack. Repeat until all liver slices are battered.
5. In a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (I used cast iron), melt tallow on medium heat. When tallow is about 350 degrees, it’s ready to use. If you don’t have a thermometer, sprinkle a pinch of flour on the tallow. If it sizzles and swirls, it’s ready.
6. Place 2-3 paper towels on baking sheet with  unused cooling rack on top. This will be where the fried liver will rest after cooking. The paper towels will help absorb any extra fat.
7. Using tongs, slowly add 3-5 battered liver slices to the hot tallow. The tallow should sizzle and bubble around the liver. Be careful not to crowd the pan, as that will cause the tallow to cool and prevent it from cooking properly. 3-5 slices worked well for my pan.
8. The liver will cook quickly. Using tongs, slowly flip each liver slice after 1.5 – 2 minutes. Cook another 1-2 minutes and transfer to cooling rack. Repeat until all liver is fried.

Dip in garlic aioli or any other of your favorite dipping sauces

         

In your share

• Chicken
• Ribs or Pork Roast
• Bacon
• Ground Lamb
• Ground Beef
• Ground Pork

On the Farm

I want to first share a semi-farm-related success story that is more closely tied to my elected role on the Board of Directors at the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. Those board positions are a little tricky to run for, because of this arcane and, one could argue, racist, requirement that to qualify as a candidate, one must own or manage at least 10 or more acres of land. For the entirety of my time on the board (11 years and counting) I’ve been advocating for a change to the state law to repeal that land requirement, but the statewide organization of conservation districts has not been supportive, as many of the rural districts don’t see a problem with the status quo. But besides the obvious discrimination against people of color who were not allowed to own land for a big chunk of Oregon’s history and don’t have that generational equity that many white farmers have, there is also the issue that heavily urbanized districts like ours have only a tiny pool of people that can meet that 10 acre requirement.

But we were fortunate in this year’s session that our Executive Director, Nancy Hamilton, caught the ear of Senator Lew Frederick, who she knows from her time when she worked for Gov. Kulongoski, and he was the chief sponsor for Senate Bill 775 which would do away with the land requirement in districts above a population of 250,000. Ideally, that population stipulation wouldn’t be there and it would apply statewide, but it was clear that without that in the language, there would be too much opposition and the bill would go nowhere. We had a quick win in that the bill got a hearing early in the session, but when the walkout by 11 senators happened, which brought just about everything in Salem to a halt for several weeks, we realized that this bill probably wouldn’t rise to the level of importance to move forward in the few remaining days after the senate was re-convened.

But, to my astonishment, it did, and ultimately passed to a successful floor vote in the senate and then the same in the house. It is currently awaiting the governor’s signature and will soon become the new law of the land. My seat is not up for re-election until 2026, but we will have 3 of our 5 positions on the ballot in 2024 and with our new, wide open playing field, I would love to chat with anyone who cares about soil, water, equity, climate change, and rewarding public service who might be interested in running for office.

Outside of that, the farm is now fully in its summertime routine, and the next big burst of activity will be getting our hay fields cut and baled, then gathering all those bales out of the fields and stacked in the barn. If anyone wants to get a good workout in, we would gladly take any help (and could reward you with some additional farm products).

It’s grilling season, and with three different types of ground meat, you can have a burger bonanza this month! You could keep them all separate, or you could combine some of the meats for some new taste sensations (beef/pork burgers are fantastic!). But here’s a super delicious recipe for lamb burgers.

Recipe

Best Lamb Burger from “tastingtable.com”

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground lamb
• 2 red onions, 1 grated and 1 cut into rings
• 5 garlic cloves, finely crushed, divided
• 5 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped, divided
• 3 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 8 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 pinch paprika
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil
• 4 burger buns
• ¼ cup salad leaves

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix together the ground lamb with the grated onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 4 tablespoons of chopped mint, ground coriander, and Dijon mustard.
2. Form the mixture into 4 burger patties and then chill them in the fridge until they are ready to cook.
3. In a clean bowl, mix together the mayonnaise with the lemon juice, the two remaining minced garlic cloves, a pinch of paprika, the remaining tablespoon of chopped mint, parsley, and dill. Refrigerate this sauce until ready to use.
4. Preheat the grill on high, lightly oil the lamb patties, and then cook for about 4 minutes each side.
5. Place the halved burger buns under the grill for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until they are lightly toasted.
6. Spread a little of the mayonnaise sauce on the burger bun, top with a burger patty, a few slices of red onion, some more of the mayonnaise sauce, and some salad leaves.
7. Serve and enjoy.

Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/743937/best-lamb-burger-recipe/

In your share

• Chicken
• Ground beef
• Brats
• Pot Roast
• Ground Pork
• Lamb Chop

On the Farm

At the beginning of the month, we hosted our first-ever CSA member potluck and farm tour, and even though we picked a weekend where almost everyone was out of town, we did have lots of fun with those who did show up. We all ate some great food, everyone made new friends, people got to pet pigs and cows for the first time in their lives, and the customized Terra Farma bingo cards were a hit! We plan on having another gathering in the early fall, but we’ll survey you all in advance to help choose a suitable date.

While most farm activities are settling into their normal summertime routines, a couple of new things on our plates this year are providing some variety. Late last year I was nominated for an open seat on the Oregon Pasture Network Advisory Committee, and as part of that role, committee members help vet prospective members of the network by performing pasture walks and making recommendations to the advisory committee. It’s always instructive to tour other farms and so far I’ve visited three farms around the metro area that want to join OPN. Those visits are divided up around the state to whichever committee member is closest, but since we don’t have any current members in SW Oregon, I’m making a trip to Grants Pass and Medford to do three farm visits in one day! The next day, after camping somewhere near the CA/OR border, I visited a sheep farm in Bandon as part of my role as a farm mentor through OPN. That one is a farm that is going through a family transition as the dad is retiring and the daughter is taking over and hoping to implement some more regenerative grazing methods.

Then, in July, I’m flying to North Carolina to visit another farmer I am mentoring through the Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT). She’s producing goat milk caramels and selling eggs and is hoping to increase the productivity of her land. We’ve been working through marketing and website ideas through Zoom calls, but her property is kind of funky shaped and it’s been a challenge to figure out a rotational grazing system without eyes directly on the ground. I’m excited to visit a state where I’ve never set foot, she’s right near the Tennessee border, within spitting distance of the Appalachian Trail, and very near Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It should be beautiful, I’m just hoping I don’t melt in the southern heat and humidity!

Recipe

We were turned on to this recipe by our friend Claudia Lucero of Urban Cheesecraft, which we can’t recommend enough if you are looking for cheesemaking kits or books.

Wonton Meatballs from nomnompaleo.com

Ingredients

• ¼ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water for at least 30 minutes
• ½ pound shrimp peeled and deveined
• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 scallions finely chopped
• ¼ cup cilantro minced
• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
• ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon fish sauce
• ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
• ¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• Ghee or cooking fat of choice
• 1 scallion sliced on the bias (optional garnish)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400°F, and squeeze the water out of the shiitake mushrooms. Cut off the hard stems, and finely mince them.
• Finely chop the shrimp until you’ve got a chunky paste.
• Place the shrimp in a large bowl and add the pork, mushrooms, scallions, cilantro, coconut aminos, salt, fish sauce, white pepper, and sesame oil.
• Use your hands to squeeze and mix the meatball mixture until a sticky and tacky mass is formed.
• Heat up a small frying pan over medium heat and add a little cooking fat. When the pan is hot, form a little patty and cook it in the pan. Taste it and see if the seasoning is right. Adjust with additional salt if needed. (Not cooking yet? You can store the meatball mixture in the fridge for up to 12 hours.)
• Form the mixture into 1½-inch balls. I like to scoop the balls out with a #20 disher, which holds 3 tablespoons. Roll the mixture into round balls and arrange on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. You should end up with about a dozen balls.
• Bake the meatballs in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Wanna cook them in an air fryer? Airfry at 375°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until cooked through.
• If you wanna make a bunch Wonton Sliders instead, smush the balls into ½-inch patties and fry in a greased pan over medium heat, about 2 minutes on each side. Serve immediately with a squeeze of sriracha!

In your share

• Guinea Fowl or Chicken
• Korean-style Short Ribs
• Ground Beef
• Breakfast Sausage
• Pork Chops
• Bacon

Farm tour and potluck

As mentioned in our recent email, we are so excited to invite you to the farm for a tour and potluck meal on Saturday June 3^rd. We are going to wait a bit to settle on a time, we’ll determine it about a week in advance once we get an idea of the weather forecast for the day. If it is going to be a hot one, we’ll do it in the late afternoon/early evening to take advantage of the rapid cooling we get out here. But if it will be a normal spring day, we’ll aim for mid-day/early afternoon. This is just for members and their families (we are also starting a separate non-member farm tour program as well for the general public), and once we settle on a time, we will send out a sign-up form, so we know how many people to expect.

On the Farm

I almost don’t even know where to begin, but I’ll start with the new animal additions: 12 piglets, 6 baby goats, 4 lambs, 200 broiler chicks, 80 layer chicks, 20 baby rabbits, and 12 ducklings (so far, they are still hatching in the incubator). Soon to arrive will be the turkeys, and more of them than we’ve ever raised in the past. Normally we do about 60-70 turkeys per year, which is never enough to meet demand, so this year we have decided to up that to 100 Thanksgiving birds.

On the ground, our two-decade long path of revitalizing our soil is paying off in the quantity and quality of the forage we have available for our animals. As a grass farmer, when I drive around the countryside, I am always looking at how other people’s fields look and how those fields are managed. This spring, the contrast between our fields and almost every other piece of pasture I’ve seen this year has never been so stark. We have so much grass here our animals can’t graze it fast enough before the plants want to set seed, while most other cattle, goat, and sheep fields are so overgrazed that all the forage is stunted and the farmers are having to spend money buying hay, when all they had to do was invest just 30 minutes a day to bunch their animals together and move them frequently to give them all the grass they would need. When you come out for the farm tour, you will see our system in action.

Now that we have shown how well this system can work, other people are noticing and we are now working with four other farms to help them improve their pastures: one in Washougal, two through the mentorship program of the Oregon Pasture Network (in Sandy and Bandon), and one in Hot Springs, North Carolina through the nationwide mentorship program of the Food Animal Concerns Trust. I am so excited that others are seeing the potential of management intensive rotational grazing, and I hope we can really grow this movement. If you want to see an inspiring video, look up the Ted Talk from Allan Savory.

Recipe

Galbi – Korean-Style Short Ribs adapted from The New York Times

Ingredients

• 2-3 pounds short ribs, cut in ½-inch slices across the bones
• ⅓ cup soy sauce
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ⅓ cup rice wine
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne or gochujang
• 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered; or an equivalent amount of scallions or leeks
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 1-inch chunk of ginger, peeled
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• Lettuce leaves
• Sliced red or green hot pepper, optional
• Ssamjang (spicy Korean soybean paste), for dipping, optional
• Steamed rice, optional

PREPARATION

1. Step 1

Rinse short ribs in cold water, pat dry and place in a wide shallow bowl. In another bowl, mix together soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine, sesame oil, black pepper and cayenne.

2. Step 2

Put onion, garlic, and ginger in the work bowl of a food processor. Grind ingredients to a smooth purée, then add to soy sauce mixture. Add sesame seeds. Thin with ¼ cup water. Pour marinade over short ribs and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Bring to room temperature, drain and discard marinade.

3. Step 3

Cook short ribs on a hot grill or under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until nicely browned but juicy. Pile grilled meat on a platter and serve immediately with lettuce leaves on the side. Accompany with sliced hot peppers, ssamjang and steamed rice, if desired.