Christmas Firsts!

This Christmas started a new chapter for our family in regards to how we celebrated the day.  One major difference was that we were actually home (New England) instead of with one of our families.  This was exciting but also alittle sad for me :(  it felt wrong without any extended family..... BUT.... it gave us the opportunity to start our own traditions and festivities.  Jazz hands excitement!

One tradition I wanted to implement was to share our celebration with someone who needed a family to celebrate with.  Since we celebrate Christmas for the coming of Jesus, the ultimate giver of good things, I thought this would be a good way to show that.  WELL..... this ended up being our only guest-

A friend's elderly and special needs dog.  I was happy to help to allow them to travel and see their family.  She did delay festivities for a little bit-

Yes, thats me shampooing the carpet.  The accident happened minutes of her coming in and before we could even wrangle her into the downstairs bathroom (reinforced my not-so-fondness of indoor pets at the moment.... my Parson Russell terrier currently living with my parents is proof of that).  It made the first gift presentation to the kids a little tricky also since that gift was this-

An outdoor/barn cat that we adopted (free from craigslist).  For mousing and rodent reduction.  Teensie is his name at the moment and he is house broken, if needed, and very friendly.  We actually got two cats but we like Teensie the best at the moment.  The other is solid black too and has long hair.

It ended up being a fun, low key day with just the husband and kids.  We had a delicious meal-
Brined Pork Rib Roast (oh my stars!!, I love my pigs) and roasted beets with herb cream and feta gratin.

and just played with our new things-

To end I wanted to share another first from this Christmas.  Last week we traveled to Upstate New York to have a brief Christmas with family.

Ambitious west coast Sister T declared this Christmas we could only give homemade gifts.  The awesomeness of these gifts has to be shared, it was fun.

Here is what my husband made the guys-
Useable fishing lures... he whittled, painted, detailed and balanced them himself

He used mesh fabric to paint the scales detail and tied the tail himself-

Here is what I made, not as impressive-
For the ladies... knitted dish clothes, nylon mesh knitted dish scrubbies and hand painted necklaces (how to linked for necklace, but I made the beads smaller and changed the colors).

Work apron for Dad T (for his awesome woodworking, you will see later)-

Door draft stopper for Brother T-

Dad T made baby girl a Xylophone (yeah, he made that beautiful toy)-

And each family a cribbage board that has a slide pocket on the back for the pegs-

AND if that wasn't enough, Adirondack chairs too!!

Little man got a truck pillow case from Mom T (he LOVES trucks! and sleep most nights)

She also made us these beautiful table runners (very, very pretty... its on our table now)-

And homemade strawberry and rhubarb jam (death to store bought jam)-

Brother T gave us a garlic braid from their garden (you cant buy garlic this good in the store so we were excited) and some shallots too-

West coast Sister T took a metal working class and made all the girls copper formed necklaces, very pretty and kid friendly (yay, I can wear a piece of jewelry now that the kids cant yank off and break).  I LOVE one of a kind jewelry.

And herb drying racks (pictures don't do them justice, nice frames with screens as the rack)-

NY sister T made homemade vanilla extract (yes, seriously) and salted caramel hot cocoa mix (AWESOME! said with vibrato)  homemade food items are in a different world from store bought.

Last, my mom sent another cleaver DIY food Christmas gift.  Homemade 'canned' carrot cake (jar is sealed so its preserved).  Yum, we like getting food in the mail-

I hope I didn't forget anything, there was sooo much good stuff.  High standards set for our first homemade gift Christmas.

Exciting HOUSE UPDATE news.  Our BAY WINDOW is scheduled to be replaced/rebuilt this week. Will post pictures as soon as able!!!!

Zero Hens-A-Laying

Sorry no house updates, priorities have been diverted to Christmas activities these days.
Speaking of Christmas (related music) I wish I had 6 geese-a-laying.... with all the cooking going on lately I could use some EGGS!! (I am silently yelling at my chickens outside).  I had to buy a dozen from the store yesterday, the first time since spring.  It felt weird.  Like buying something that you think you should get free.... like a can of air, or a gallon of water, or a bag of ice.  Am I asking too much here?  Apparently ALL 3 OF THEM are molting (that was another silent yell).  See all the feathers-

Molting is when they shed their feathers to grow new one (like in Make Way for Ducklings) and typically stop laying eggs during the process.  More info on molting here if interested.  It occurs yearly and can be triggered by the lack of sunlight and/or change of seasons (I think).  Since they are not even a year old this was not supposed to happen until next year.  Ginger, the Rhode Island Red mix, in the middle (who WAS my favorite)-

was NOT molting until this past week.  She had been giving us an egg a day all fall and winter.  I thought the two Ameraucanas (Penny and Rooster), who have been molting for a few months now, had persuaded her to join them.... peer pressure.

Since hormones are involved I truly thought they could have induced it (women know what I am talking about).

But after reading I learned that I might have induced it.  Over a week ago I insulated the upper portion of their coop by filling in some holes with straw and rolled up feed bags (leaving ventilation only at the top).

Since the two Ameraucanas had been staying mostly in the coop (I assumed from being cold due loosing their feathers) Ginger was staying with them.  I then blocked out most of the sunlight into to coop most likely inducing her molt.  Oops, sorry ladies.... now I know.  I am considering adding some milk whey to their food since I read adding more protein can help in re-growing their feathers.

Lack of food can also induce molting and they have had some food thieves during the night.

We have to put their food in a metal trash can each night otherwise the mice and rats gobble it all up.

On a more lovely note, there is still some fresh herbs growing in our garden.  Surviving a couple snows and frosts.  Parsley-

Cilantro that re-seeded itself from my spring plants.

Oregano already spreading even after we re-located it late summer.

Gardening is not just a one season thing!
As I am typing its thundering and lightening outside, strange New England weather this winter.....

How Much Pork In A Pig?

Pigs are pretty efficient.  They aerate and fertilize your pasture, eat up food scraps and quickly grow to a weight that gives you a wide variety of meat products (born in the spring, reached 250+ lbs by the fall, more on that here).  From holiday meal hams, tenderloins and roasts... to ribs and pulled pork... to breakfast bacon and sausage... to soup seasoning meat, there's alot of meal choices there.  We went with the basics cuts, no chorizo or prosciutto this time.  I also heard of another local pork raiser who had some of the meat made into hot dogs.  No preservatives and you can control what exactly goes into them.  I think we might consider those next year.
So I wanted to show a visual break down of what we got.  A few things are missing because we have sold some already to friends and have already eaten two hams for Thanksgiving.  So prepare your eyes for a meat picture overload.

What we got from our two pigs-

14 lbs of Ribs (2 baby backs ribs, 4 spare ribs)

39 lbs of Boneless Hams (Smoked)

34 lbs Thick Cut Pork Chops (can you say delicious pork steaks, nothing like the thin store bought)

20 lbs of Fat Back.  And before you point a cholesterol prejudice finger... know that I believe fat has a place in a healthy diet, ESPECIALLY developing kid's diets.  Its not hydrogenated or processed.  With that said recipes, uses anyone?  All I know is split pea and other legume soup seasoning or is that just salt pork?

On a similar but more prestigious note, Leaf Lard.  Amazing cooking uses, small piece of info here.  Goodbye can of Crisco.

3.4 lbs Pork Tenderloins (smaller since we had pork chops pulled too and they share the same loin area)

26 lbs of Pork Butt (aka Boston Butt which is the upper shoulder).  For pulled pork.

 28 lbs of Bacon (natural and nitrate smoked).  Yes please, on the side along with our fresh eggs.

19 lbs Breakfast Sausage Patties.  Get them Biscuits ready.

19 lbs Italian Sausage

16 lbs Loin Roasts
12 lbs Rib Roasts (no pictures, sorry)
6 lbs Pork Shoulder (also no picture and not motivated to get my hands cold again to take one)

And finally....

37 lbs of feet, tail, hocks and neck bones.

Now don't you feel enlightened from looking at all the pork... or hungry.... or sick..... or appreciative of pigs?  I personally am more appreciative of pigs.... and a bit hungry. :)

The Rewards of Work (Pig Meat in the Freezer)

Kudos to my husband for his hard work this past year.  Because of such, we've harvested some great things we are VERY THANKFUL for.

Because he built a chicken coop...

We've had fresh eggs all summer.

Because he chopped wood...

We can stay toasty warm for alot less money.

Because he worked hard this spring and built a fence....

We have close to 300 pounds of pasture raised pork in our freezer!  Woohoo!  Fills up our 14 cu ft. freezer pretty well.  Mainly because they gave us all the fat back (in the left basket), feet, lard, shanks, hocks and neck bones along with the meat.

More about that pork.... picking it up was like Christmas day.  I was soooo excited.  Our farm raised meat and less trips to the grocery store.

This is how a pork chop is supposed to look, like a steak!

Those interested in costs and if there is a cost savings for raising your own, heres a quick price break down-

The details are a little more complex than the chart above reflects but this shows a decent summary and average.
So far we have eaten some sweet italian sausage and pork chops and the taste is noticeably better than your our typical store bought pork.  The quality of how it was cut does contribute to this along with the freshness and animals diet.  Needless to say we are happy for our harvest.

Hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving!

Other pig related posts:
Farewell pigs (talks about how we fed them)
The Big Pig Post (details of their progress and raising them)