Monday, February 17, 2014

Rendering Lard




WELCOME TO 
Learning to Live Sustainably

We can do it together

It's Time to Render Lard from Our Piggy's Fat!

If you have been along for our Piggy Adventure, you know that it is now time to render the Piggy's fat.  Fred isn't real sure about this whole lard thing, but being the wonderful husband that he is, he goes along with all my crazy adventures and usually ends up enjoying whatever shenanigans I have gotten him into.

The whole process went very smoothly and took just over 3 hours.       
9am and the fat is in the crockpot
12pm and we are still ladling
If you want to learn how to render lard when you get your piggy from Mahlon, check out the link below.  And when you are ready to get a side of beef, you can render beef tallow.  How fun will it be to mention in casual conversation to your non-foodie friends that you rendered beef tallow?
How to render lard. 
How to render beef tallow.

We ended up with just less that 2 pint jars of lard when we were finished. I think we did a good job.  The lard is pretty white and doesn't smell real 'piggy'.  We will store the lard in the fridge, where it will stay fresh for many weeks (but likely we will have used it up before then).  Seven additional bags of fat remain in  the  freezer for our next rendering adventure.    
    
Now, we just need to cook something with it.  Hmmm, what should we make?  Unfortunately, it won't be on tonight's menu.  Tonight we will be having ham and potato soup, using that fresh ham slice that we thawed earlier.


Here's the Ham and Potato Soup recipe from Chef John (FoodWishes.com) that we use.  Be sure to check out all of Chef John's recipes. 

One more step in our adventure to learn to live more sustainably and we are still having fun, learning a lot, and eating really good food.  Thanks for coming along for the ride.  Where shall we go next?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mel Farnsley & Mary Hutten, Owners
info@learningtolivesustainably.com
513-481-1914

Visit us Fridays 3-6pm at
Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market
3820 Westwood Northern Blvd.
Cincinnati, OH 45211

 
*Visit our Facebook page for our current product lineup & additional info.
 
   

Posted by at No comments:

Monday, February 10, 2014

Piggy Pick-up Day Arrives




WELCOME TO 
Learning to Live Sustainably

We can do it together

It's Finally Piggy Pick-up Day!

Well, it's 5:30am.  The alarm says it's time to get up, head out, pick up Mary, & be on our way to meet Mahlon (the farmer who raised our piggy).  We make it there with a few minutes to spare, so we spend the time talking about all the different dishes we are going to make with the meat Mahlon is bringing us.  (And by 'we' I mean Mary will cook for Mary and Fred will cook for me.)  Now, I'm seriously hungry.  Then, we spot a pick-up truck pulling a trailer and making it's way into the parking lot where we are waiting.  We are betting that is Mahlon and our piggy.  Yep, they are driving toward us and pull in next to us.  YAY, our piggy has finally arrived!    
 


After introductions and expressions of gratitude (because we really are grateful that Mahlon took the time and effort to raise our piggy well, feed our piggy well, and deliver our piggy to us so we can eat well), it was time to load our piggy into our coolers.  Once we got those coolers full, thanked Mahlon again and ordered our next piggy (which will be ready in the fall) and a steer (which will be ready about the same time), we headed back to Mary's house to unload her coolers.  The entire ride was spent talking about how much we liked Mahlon and were happy with our choice of farmer.  Mahlon genuinely cared about the well-being of our piggy and about the quality meat he was able to supply us with.  When you are ready to take this food adventure, we would be happy to get you in touch with Mahlon.  Just give Mary or me a shout anytime or visit us at the L2LS booth at LEWFM any Friday.  In fact, a great first step to eating local would be to attend the 'Whys and Hows of Eating Local' series presented by L2LS & LEWFM.  The first workshop will be held in March so keep an eye out for details on the L2LS & LEWFM websites.

 Once I got back home it was time to get our piggy tucked away in that new freezer.  I sorted the cuts and put each cut together, made a list of what we had and how many packages of each cut so we could keep track of what we have left.  
Thanks for filling our freezer with good local food, Mahlon!

Notice the cute giraffes holding the list in place.
Now that is pretty handy.
I even found a handy home for the pen so it would be close at hand whenever we need to mark off another package that's being used.


And, I made a mistake without realizing what I had done.  I put that huge bag of fat that we planned to divide into 1 gallon freezer bags so we could render lard in manageable batches into the freezer along with all the other meat and went about the rest of my day.  And, when Fred got home from work and wanted to lay out a ham steak for the next day's dinner, we weren't sure which cut was ham steak.  Time to call Mary and ask her to tell us one more time what each cut is used for.  Oh yeah, fresh ham slice is the one that we know as ham steak.  So, whenever you get discouraged because you don't know something or you get overwhelmed by how much you don't know about learning to live sustainably, remember that we can all do it together, one step at a time.  There is always someone who is willing to help you on your adventure.  Lucky for me, Mary is happy to share her knowledge so I'm feeling pretty good about this whole experience.
  
Now, back to that fat mistake.  I was supposed to put it in the fridge so we could divide it in the evening after we returned from date night.  Easy to fix - we called Mother and asked her to move it from the freezer to the fridge and hoped it wasn't too frozen (the fat is much easier to deal with when it is very cold/not quite frozen.  Also, working with a sharp knife is helpful).  I know what you are thinking: "What a fun way to end date night - rendering lard!"  Actually, it wasn't so bad.  It didn't take very long and we had a pretty good system.  Fred wielded the butcher knife, I put the pieces in the bags, and Mother was the official bag opener, holder, and closer.  We ended up with 8 one-gallon freezer bags of pork fat.  Tomorrow we will render the first batch into lard.
Let's hope it isn't too frozen.
OK, so it's pretty frozen, but totally workable.
We ended up with 8 bags of fat to render.
The one thing that we realized after looking at our freezer full of pork and our list of cuts is that we will likely not be able to make it last until the fall when our next piggy is ready.  That is all part of learning to live sustainably.  We need to fully understand how much of each item we need to feed our family and it's a learning process as we introduce a new item - like our piggy.  But, we've adventured enough for one day and tomorrow we have fat to render.  See you then.   

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mel Farnsley & Mary Hutten, Owners
info@learningtolivesustainably.com
513-481-1914

Visit us Fridays 3-6pm at
Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market
3820 Westwood Northern Blvd.
Cincinnati, OH 45211

 
*Visit our Facebook page for our current product lineup & additional info.
 
   

     
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, February 3, 2014

Piggy Pick-up Day is Almost Here




WELCOME TO 
Learning to Live Sustainably

We can do it together

It's Almost Piggy Pick-up Day!

So, we have been getting great reviews on the black raspberry jam and satsuma marmalade that we made in the fall.  I guess that means we are pretty darn good jam makers!  Last week we cracked open the first jar of green beans from our fall canning adventure.  Oh, how delicious they were!  And, our first compost bin is almost full.  We are living more sustainably one day and one step at a time and having fun doing it!  

So, what's next in our endeavor to live more sustainably???  We, along with Mary (the market's other co-manager and our sustainability mentor), contacted a farmer who we knew grew exceptional livestock.  After talking with the farmer and asking lots of questions, we decided to go together in buying a pig that would eventually provide us our sustainably raised pork.  We made this decision back in the summer but had to wait while our pig was growing big living the good life - lots of good, wholesome food, acorns, Non-GMO corn grown right there on the farm, and other delicious treats, a farm family to take excellent care of it, and lots of space to root around with the other pigs.  

A couple weeks ago, we got the call we had been anxiously awaiting - our pig was ready to go to the processor!  Now, we had decisions to make - what cuts did we want?  Mary was a big help and we got our order in.  At this point all we had to do was sit back and wait, right?  Not really.  We have been looking for a freezer since last summer when we made the decision to buy the pig and have had no luck finding what we wanted.  So, here we are with the pork scheduled to be picked up in 6 days and we have no place to put it. 

Yes, we were getting a bit nervous, but we knew we would find a freezer.  The internet has let us down.  Fred has been comparison shopping and checking almost daily for any deals or for someone getting rid of a freezer and came up empty handed every time.  We made several trips to various stores and quickly realized that it isn't so easy to find a manual defrost freezer in the store either.  And, even if we found one, where were we going to put it once we got it home?  Our heads were beginning to spin, but we have each other so we knew we would meet the challenge.  Six days to go and we need that freezer.  Time to hit the stores again.  

Great news - we found a good deal on an upright manual defrost freezer that's big enough for the pork, and beef (we'll talk about that later), and all the summer fruits and veggies we will get at Market this year.  Bad news - they don't have one in stock and it will take 14 days to get one.  We know the pork needs freezer space now, not 14 days from now.  Kinda good news - another store has one, but it's an hour away.  So, of course we jump in the truck and hit the road.  The best news - after taking lots of doors off, we finally got the freezer in and found it a new home! Phew, now we can relax.             

We even have our first recipe for cooking some of our delicious pork - Bacon Gremolata to add to Fred's various soups.  Here's the recipe in case you want to give it a try.  It makes an excellent addition to most creamy soups.



Bacon Gremolata



Ingredients


4 strips bacon, chopped

1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon lemon zest (Optional)
1 tablespoon finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley 

Directions
  1. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes.
  2. Transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
  3. Toss breadcrumbs in the remaining bacon grease in the skillet, and cook over low heat until toasted and crisp.
  4. Stir in cheese and continue to cook until melted.
  5. Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature.
  6. Stir in bacon, lemon zest (optional), and parsley. Toss to coat. (At this point, you may want to pulse a few times in a small food processor to get smaller pieces.)
  7. Serve as garnish for your favorite soup.

   

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mel Farnsley & Mary Hutten, Owners
info@learningtolivesustainably.com
513-481-1914

Visit us Fridays 3-6pm at
Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market
3820 Westwood Northern Blvd.
Cincinnati, OH 45211

 
*Visit our Facebook page for our current product lineup & additional info.
 
   

     
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Sustainable Stitches




WELCOME TO 
Learning to Live Sustainably

We can do it together

L2LS Announces A New Product Line!

L2LS is excited to announce the addition of Sustainable Stitches' hand-knitted items to our line-up of great products.  Sustainable Stitches is owned by Dena Giesseman.  You may have seen Dena at Market volunteering, selling you a loaf of bread, or knitting something pretty.   Dena is also the mother of Mel, one of the Market managers.  Stop by the L2LS booth and check out Dena's current selection of hand-knitted items designed to make living sustainably more stylish.  And if you have a special request, she will be happy to discuss options and make you something truly unique.




 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mel Farnsley & Mary Hutten, Owners
info@learningtolivesustainably.com
513-481-1914

Visit us Fridays 3-6pm at
Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market
3820 Westwood Northern Blvd.
Cincinnati, OH 45211

 
*Visit our Facebook page for our current product lineup & additional info.
 
   

     
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

9/10/13 Congratulations to LEWFM




WELCOME TO 
Learning to Live Sustainably

We can do it together

Congratulations Are In Order!

L2LS would like to offer a huge congratulations to Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market (LEWFM) on being named the #1 farmers' market in Ohio and the #4 farmers' market in the USA in the American Farmland Trust's I Love My Farmers' Market Celebration!  This is an amazing accomplishment and we are proud to be a part of this exciting event.

During the September 20th market, LEWFM will be celebrating with special guests, entertainment, lots of fun, and even a food truck.  Be sure to stop by and join in the festivities. Check out their website for the latest info on the celebration, as well as all other Market news. lewfm.org


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mel Farnsley & Mary Hutten, Owners
info@learningtolivesustainably.com
513-481-1914

Visit us Fridays 3-7pm at
Lettuce Eat Well Farmers' Market
3820 Westwood Northern Blvd.
Cincinnati, OH 45211

 
*Visit our Facebook page for our current product lineup & additional info.
 

   


     
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)