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A Peaceful Night in the PastureA few nights ago, we headed out to the pasture to have a small bonfire surrounded by the cattle, sheep, goats and chickens. A few grunts emerged from the pig's pasture next door. My husband suggested this activity as we all gathered around the fire to keep warm. He asked us to imagine what it must have been like for the shepherds in the field tending their flocks at night when an angel of the Lord came upon them to make the greatest, most holy, most miraculous birth announcement this world has ever heard, that our King was born...!!! Scripture tells us they were sore afraid.We sat in the dark, imagining, in wonder and awe. Then, we could think of no other response than to sing parts of Handel's Messiah, the parts that referred to Jesus' birth. Our Lord and King came to the earth in simplicity...He lived His Holy life in simplicity...it never ceases to amaze and humble me. Bowing down to the King of kings, The Farmer's Wife 07:20 - 2007-Jan-2 - comments {4} - post commentBig Sale at The Old Schoolhouse!!Check out The Old Schoolhouse Sale here http://the oldschoolhousestore.com/afterchristmas/After Christmas Sale.htmlEvery day until January 1st, the 1st ten shoppers who purchase 4 or more products will receive some free goodies (over $300 in value). For starters, they will receive, the current 19 promo gifts they offer to their magazine subscribers http://theoldschoolhousestore.com/5-1-06_Prom.html Plus, they will receive THREE audio CD's from The Old Schoolhouse (Secrets of Successful Homeschooling, Homeschooling the High-schooler, and The Well-Integrated Homeschool). PLUS, they will receive a free one year subscription to The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Plus, a Draw Write Now book! Plus, the largest order of each day will receive these gifts as well. Hmmm. Sounds like a good deal to me. The Old Schoolhouse Store has graciously been carrying the first fruits of our products. It's a wonderful company run by wonderful folks. Be sure to check them out! Blessings, The Farmer's Wife 11:36 - 2006-Dec-28 - comments {1} - post commentRendering LardHave been busy rendering lard these past few days and will have more to go! Wow, is it delicious. If you haven't had freshly rendered lard, you're missing out. I plan on using it for all of our cooking and look forward to it. Popcorn popped in lard just cant' be beat. And the cracklin's left over from rendering lard - well, I must say, they are a real treat! They taste much like the crispy fat of bacon. Mmmm-mmmm!Lard has had a bad reputation. In my spare time, I plan on tracing and investigating why this is so. I have a very strong suspicion that someone stood to gain a lot of money by destroying lard's reputation... It actually is very high in Vitamin D for one. There is a growing evidence of research which is showing that fat from healthy animals raised the way God intended them to be raised, eating what God intended them to eat, is actually very good for us. Rendering lard is quite simple. The girls and I took the shavings which John cut from the pig and froze them. Later, we put them through a hand cranked meat grinder. You could also cut them up into pieces. We then placed them in a crock pot on high with the lid off. The purpose of rendering lard is to slowly boil off any water left in the fat. It has to be done low and slow. I stirred the lard occasionally. It took around 8 hours for the lard to be finished. SInce the crock pot would not heat the fat higher than 220 degrees, I dipped off as much lard as I could, then transferred the rest with the leftover pieces of un-rendered fat into a saucepan and slowly simmered it for about 45 minutes until the little fat pieces fried into these delicious crunchy delights! I drained off the rest of the lard and saved it. The finished lard must be refridgerated or frozen and can be used for just about any recipe that calls for oil. The cracklin's can be eaten as is, or they can be added to the tops of salads or mixed into biscuits or whatever you can think of. We have given ours away as gifts and we are saving some for a hearty breakfast, mixing them with our homemade biscuits using a traditional Hungarian recipe. My father told me that when he was a boy they had no such thing as corn oil or safflower oil or canola oil. They had lard. Period. And it was good!! I have had some requests to post pictures of our hog butchering. Since we have dial-up internet in our neck of the woods, I can't seem to post pictures without the internet disconnecting...every time, no matter how many times I try or what time of day...so I've given up. Instead we are working on something else to be able to make it available which I think folks will appreciate more.... stay tuned!!! Blessings! The Farmer's Wife 02:55 - 2006-Dec-19 - comments {3} - post commentA Peaceful Night in the PastureA few nights ago, we headed out to the pasture to have a small bonfire surrounded by the cattle, sheep, goats and chickens. A few grunts emerged from the pig's pasture next door. My husband suggested this activity as we all gathered around the fire to keep warm. He asked us to imagine what it must have been like for the shepherds in the field tending their flocks at night when an angel of the Lord came upon them to make the greatest, most holy, most miraculous birth announcement this world has ever heard, that our King was born...!!! Scripture tells us they were sore afraid.We sat in the dark, imagining, in wonder and awe. Then, we could think of no other response than to sing parts of Handel's Messiah, the parts that referred to Jesus' birth. Our Lord and King came to the earth in simplicity...He lived His Holy life in simplicity...it never ceases to amaze and humble me. Bowing down to the King of kings, The Farmer's Wife 07:20 - 2007-Jan-2 - post comment
Big Sale at The Old Schoolhouse!!Check out The Old Schoolhouse Sale here http://the oldschoolhousestore.com/afterchristmas/After Christmas Sale.htmlEvery day until January 1st, the 1st ten shoppers who purchase 4 or more products will receive some free goodies (over $300 in value). For starters, they will receive, the current 19 promo gifts they offer to their magazine subscribers http://theoldschoolhousestore.com/5-1-06_Prom.html Plus, they will receive THREE audio CD's from The Old Schoolhouse (Secrets of Successful Homeschooling, Homeschooling the High-schooler, and The Well-Integrated Homeschool). PLUS, they will receive a free one year subscription to The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Plus, a Draw Write Now book! Plus, the largest order of each day will receive these gifts as well. Hmmm. Sounds like a good deal to me. The Old Schoolhouse Store has graciously been carrying the first fruits of our products. It's a wonderful company run by wonderful folks. Be sure to check them out! Blessings, The Farmer's Wife 11:36 - 2006-Dec-28 - post comment
Rendering LardHave been busy rendering lard these past few days and will have more to go! Wow, is it delicious. If you haven't had freshly rendered lard, you're missing out. I plan on using it for all of our cooking and look forward to it. Popcorn popped in lard just cant' be beat. And the cracklin's left over from rendering lard - well, I must say, they are a real treat! They taste much like the crispy fat of bacon. Mmmm-mmmm!Lard has had a bad reputation. In my spare time, I plan on tracing and investigating why this is so. I have a very strong suspicion that someone stood to gain a lot of money by destroying lard's reputation... It actually is very high in Vitamin D for one. There is a growing evidence of research which is showing that fat from healthy animals raised the way God intended them to be raised, eating what God intended them to eat, is actually very good for us. Rendering lard is quite simple. The girls and I took the shavings which John cut from the pig and froze them. Later, we put them through a hand cranked meat grinder. You could also cut them up into pieces. We then placed them in a crock pot on high with the lid off. The purpose of rendering lard is to slowly boil off any water left in the fat. It has to be done low and slow. I stirred the lard occasionally. It took around 8 hours for the lard to be finished. SInce the crock pot would not heat the fat higher than 220 degrees, I dipped off as much lard as I could, then transferred the rest with the leftover pieces of un-rendered fat into a saucepan and slowly simmered it for about 45 minutes until the little fat pieces fried into these delicious crunchy delights! I drained off the rest of the lard and saved it. The finished lard must be refridgerated or frozen and can be used for just about any recipe that calls for oil. The cracklin's can be eaten as is, or they can be added to the tops of salads or mixed into biscuits or whatever you can think of. We have given ours away as gifts and we are saving some for a hearty breakfast, mixing them with our homemade biscuits using a traditional Hungarian recipe. My father told me that when he was a boy they had no such thing as corn oil or safflower oil or canola oil. They had lard. Period. And it was good!! I have had some requests to post pictures of our hog butchering. Since we have dial-up internet in our neck of the woods, I can't seem to post pictures without the internet disconnecting...every time, no matter how many times I try or what time of day...so I've given up. Instead we are working on something else to be able to make it available which I think folks will appreciate more.... stay tuned!!! Blessings! The Farmer's Wife 02:55 - 2006-Dec-19 - post comment
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Description Sharing our thoughts, events, ups and downs, as we restore a once profitable farm to its former greatness as a Christian agrarian family. Home User Profile Archives Friends Lighthouse Farm Our DVD's for homesteader's Homestead Series e-books Lighthouse Farm Podcasts No NAIS Recent Entries - Pig-headed or chicken-hearted???? - Health care - the way it used to be - The Egg Hog - Back in blogdom after chasing sheep - Ode to Winter 2007 - Chicken and Hog DVD's are now finished!! - Video clip of the birth of a piglet - News about Haitian friends!!!!! - Authentic AgricultureTM - Welcome! - A Peaceful Night in the Pasture - Big Sale at The Old Schoolhouse!! - Rendering Lard - Hog Butchering Time - John Ray - Founder of Biology - A Breath-taking Field Trip - Fat and Sassy - Real Men Eat Quiche - Green Tomato Recipes - Harvest - Two Cents Worth on Pinching Pennies... - Cockle burrs and stinging nettle a blessing? - Gourmet Meals At The Farm Table - Seeds Worth Saving - Sweet cartoon - Commercial rice supply has been contaminated - Spermicidal Corn - Agricultural Science Fiction Horror Flick or Truth? - SImple Entertainment - "Gardening is like a treasure hunt!" - Pigs don't stink - Diggin' For Gold!! - Rain - a Blessing or a Curse? - My Sheep Know My Voice - er - Chain Saw... - The Old Farm Dog - An Alarming Nightime Visitor - Farming Magazine - A Pig's Nest - Meager chicken harvest - Bacon + Garlic = Piglets? - A Rare July 4th Tribute to Farmers - Fencing in more pasture - Three months on our new place.... - Blood suckers in Minnesota :( - Miss Bacon and Rocky Mountain Oysters - Sheep without a shepherd - Haying with my man! - Mink solutions, anyone? - Goat meets pig... - I Smell a Skunk... - URGENT!! Please forward!!!! - Did Adam Smell Like That? - Minnesota!!!!! - Problem solved - God is good - The Rat Trap and One Happy Girl - New Podcast - Farm Restoration - The Beginning - An Honorable Gentleman Has Died - Why teach our children about agriculture? - Cheap, Safe Food??? - New NAIS links worth reading - Old Tractors Never Die - A Lawyer comments on Constitutional Rights and NAIS - Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks - Big Bellies and Big Bags - Hosting Haitians on the Homestead - Minnesota, Here We Come (after we sell our house) and "the Chip" - And God saw that it was good - Greetings |