Jeff fell... Just a Little Spill on the Ice.

It was more embarrassing than anything else. The snow is gone. There is a strip of clear ice on the cement that I’ve passed for five days. Pajamas, farm jacket, LL Bean boots, and an Elkhound on a leash. I was thinking about checking the barn freezers for something to smoke.

It felt like gravity doubled. And I was down and looking like the day after Thanksgiving wishbone.

The answer to your question is…. I think I’ll smoke the last Pork Belly!!!

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Without taking inventory, I remember a few interesting cuts in two freezers.

Pork: Sirloin Chops, Ribs, Ground Pork, Ground Mild Breakfast Sausage.

Beef: Round Roasts, Sirloin Roasts, Short Rib & Ground Beef.

There are some good YouTube recipes for the large, flavorful Sirloin Chops. If you like smashing a burger, mix a bowl of ground beef and mild breakfast sausage, your favorite condiments, with grated cheese. Round roasts are lean, so they are best for stewing. Maybe pack the roast cubes in a dry rub or Miso overnight in the fridge.

Relaxing Transport Familial Tastings

Our good friend Kyle visited today. Before I started writing, I asked him for a couple words to describe today. A good feeling can be difficult to adequately describe. He said, “relaxing” and “like we’ve been a lot of places and brought it back” and “we’ve been tasting.” Thus the title. He and Grant were bottling and waiting for NCAA conference basketball games, but mostly talking. We tasted the fermented fruit rinds, Kyle’s meade, Grant’s Meade, Grant’s and a home brewed double fermented dark lager, and then one of the best scotches I’ve ever had. We don’t want to share the name, because there were several types by the same distillers, and now we’re having trouble finding the favorites. And the prices are really getting up there.

We froze Friday night at 36 degrees while cutting off water for the animals and then waking up to 20 degrees. Today is sun and a perfect day for the fire pit. I have cured hickory, but, they want to go collect limbs and logs. I know that means walking, talking and creating a more interesting fire. After the snow that we had, they won’t find much dry. I offered to chainsaw some logs. They told me to just relax today. I enjoy the challenge of trying to get some wood from a giant white oak felled by a tornado a couple of years ago. It is so huge that my attempts to cut through the trunk looks like someone was playing Tetris. Eventually I will make it through. It is very heavy, deeper than my blade, and balanced up off of the ground so I have to be careful.

Thankfully, the grass peeks out every time the sun does.