Smile (Mostly) During the Holiday Rush

It's been crazy around here in advance of Christmas. I hope everyone else is keeping their head on. It's snowing here-- 8 to 10 inches expected -- and my husband is flying back from a week in California today. Right now I think he's sitting on a runway in Houston. Yippee.

Anyway, here is an out-take from our Christmas card photos. This almost made the card, but we decided to go with something a little more traditional.

formatting courtesy of Despair.com

Thanksgiving 2008: A Somewhat Local Feast

I didn't realize I was so on the cutting edge, but this Thanksgiving I decided to try a heritage breed turkey for Thanksgiving, and when visiting the City Seed Farmer's Market in New Haven in October, I jumped at the chance to order a local turkey from Northfordy Farm in Northford, CT. Peter the farmer said his turkeys were Narragansett. Perfect!

Then, City Seed's weekly email highlighted a recent article in the New York Times about Connecticut eaters flocking to local food sources, especially for Thanksgiving turkeys. I'm glad I got my order in early! Read the article here. (It even lists a farm stand on Daniels Farm Road, the road where my grandfather grew up in Trumbull, CT. The road is all housing developments now, but apparently there's still some farmland. I'll have to check it out soon.)

Last year I ordered a turkey from Gozzi's in Guilford, and their birds are the standard white breed. I didn't notice much difference in taste from a supermarket turkey, but I did take comfort in knowing where my food came from.

Last year's recipe involved brining the bird for a day ahead of time. It was very good, but very involved. First, a turkey wing poked a hole in the brining bag, so I had salty spiced iced water dripping into the cooler I had decided to put the large bird in. Fortunately I had the foresight to figure that a bag with a turkey and a few gallons of salty water would not fit on the bottom shelf of the fridge. But I worried about keeping the turkey cold enough in the cooler in the garage when the outside temperature wasn't very cold. That was last year.

This year, I went with a simpler recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. We picked the 17 pound turkey up on Wednesday, so brining was out of the question. The mustard and brown sugar glazed turkey was moist and delicious!

The heritage breed tasted "turkier" than supermarket turkey--the white meat wasn't as white and the dark meat was pretty dark, but not gamey.

Not everything was local, but we tried:

Pleasant Cow Cheese, Sankow's Beaver Brook Farm, Lyme, CT

Goat Cheese, Northfordy Farm, Northford, CT
Heritage Breed Turkey, Northfordy Farm, Northford, CT

Potatoes, Maine

Apples for homemade apple pie, Lyman Orchards

Rhubarb for homemade rhubarb pie, Olde Gate Farm, Wallingford, CT

We didn't have a big group this year, just my husband's parents and brother, but it was a lovely and relaxing day.

I think a good meal was had by all, from oldest to youngest.

And by 6pm, the guests had left, the dishes were mostly done, and the beginnings of turkey soup were simmering on the stove.

And by the way, the turkey enchiladas we had tonight (with another batch in the freezer for another dinner) were a good way to sneak the leftovers upon those who protest, "Oh yuck! Not turkey AGAIN!!"

How was your Thanksgiving?

And Then There Were 4

A hawk got another chicken this morning. I saw it alight on a maple tree branch at about 10 am (and its legs had a pinkish hue), looked at the chicken coop and there were lots of feathers outside the enclosed coop area. There were feathers inside the coop, too, so I think the hawk went in the coop, dragged out the chicken and had a snack. A hawk leaves most of the body alone, preferring the neck.

We've gone 18 months with 6 chickens, but now our neighborhood raptor has learned where and how to snack on them. Our 4 remaining chickens will spend their days in the covered coop for a while. I'm researching baffles and other types of hawk protection. Bummer

And Then There Were 5

Sad news to report--on Thursday morning when Charlotte went to open the chickens, she found one dead under the house part of the coop. This was "Baldy" so named because she was at the bottom of the pecking order and had a bald head from being picked on.

We're not sure what happened. Maybe it was a hawk, or maybe her friends ganged up on her, or maybe she was sick. I was filling their feed hopper on Wednesday afternoon at about 3pm and didn't notice anything unusual, so I was as surprised as Charlotte to see one dead Thursday morning.

Sad, but as our wise blogging friends over at Sugar Creek Farm remind us, "If you're going to have livestock, you're also going to have dead stock."

It's a Lot of Work to be a Baby

"Spike" hasn't had much blog facetime in his seven months. That could be due to the fact that when he's asleep I find it is easier to run and grab the camera when I'm doing something with the other two kids and might have an extra hand to snap a picture.

Or it could be because when he's awake he's waaay to cute and fun to put down so that I can grab the camera and capture the memory.

But I wish we could bottle this babyness.

Oh, but his look is high maintenance. Look at those lashes--do you know how hard it is to get an eyelash curler on a baby?

And what's the secret to baby-soft skin? I find a regular application of yogurt keeps it soft and supple.

Happy Halloween!

A Friday night Halloween works well, don't you think?

When my two brothers and I were growing up, apparently Halloween was not my mother's favorite holiday, although I was shocked when I learned this in my early twenties. When I think back, this explains the trusty paper bag costumes that Mom pulled out of the closet for my brother and me (I don't think the bags lasted to my younger brother) and dutifully taped up each year after a night of Halloweening.

[In my family, somehow Halloween became a verb--you go Halloweening and the people at your door are Halloweeners. How did this happen?]

I remember having the choice of an orange lion with a yellow mane or a green alligator. They were clever paper bags that would cover a child from head to knees with a hole for your face and holes for your arms. And large enough to wear a warm coat underneath. But no kick pleat, therefore the obligatory taping.

Fast forward to now--three kids age 8, 3 and 7 months. Dinnertime, darkness, excitement. Funny clothes, cold weather and flashlights.

Decorating involving scooping the guts and seeds from a large vegetable and cutting with sharp knives. I am beginning to know where my mother was coming from.

This is a tricky holiday with kids.

This holiday is a treat for kids.

You get to cut up a humongous vegetable and your mother doesn't even want you to eat it!

You get to collect and eat LOTS of candy that is normally not allowed:

You get to wear outfits are out of the ordinary and you might even get to draw on your face. What's not to love?

We hope all you Halloweeners had an excellent time Halloweening!

Frosty

Stick a fork in the growing season--it's done. We had a frost Sunday night and it was cold again last night. I hope we'll still have Swiss chard for a while since it doesn't mind the cold too much and I've covered it the past few nights.

I love the hoar frost on the plants in the morning. Have to be quick though--it doesn't linger in the early morning sun.