Curiousfarmer

Goodbye to 2023! It was a difficult year. Lost my dad in March.

2024 looks good! We will be continuing our meat drops this winter until the first outdoor market April 13. Let us know if you’d like something. Thank you.

I was one of the crazy people who played a New Year’s Day PDGA tournament in near zero windchill in Wisconsin.

I managed to putt well enough to win my division.  TD Aaron DeVries handed out a fancy gold medallion to division winners.  It said “1st” on one one side and “Champion of 2022” on the other.

Made me feel so special, I carefully hung it over my 2 sweatshirts, 2 flannel shirts, and 2 t-shirts, around my neck.

I went down the street to grab a take out lunch for me and my wife, who graciously stayed at home with our two year old son while I played disc golf.

The guy behind the counter said, “what’s this?”, pointing at my medallion.

Grow the sport, right?  I whipped out my phone and showed him a photo and told him about disc golf.  

“Frisbee”, he said, and made a throwing motion with his arm.  This guy gets it.

“You know what?”, he said.  “This is for you.”  He pulled out a punch card and started punching holes throughout the entire card.  “Next time, free lunch for you.”

Wow, I thought.  This guy knows how special I am.

It was only after I walked in the door at home, and my wife started laughing at me and my fancy medallion, I realized the guy at Teriyaki Express may have thought I was a different type of special.

It’s all good.  Sometimes we “Grow the Sport”,  sometimes we get a free lunch.

In all seriousness, though, disc golf does make one feel special.  No matter how your round is going, disc golf always gives us a moment or two to keep us coming back.

My cardmates all had their moments.  Jim Hendricks crushed several drives and putted great all day.  John Hunter nailed a 100 foot putt.  And Mike DeVries parked hole 1 with a delicate turnover shot.  

After the round, my cardmates went back out and helped me find a lost disc in the snow. The disc golf community is the best.

Cheers to 2022!

Matthew Walter #69516 

#PDGA

It’s that time of year. The turkeys are gone. The days are short. Why am I always surprised by how short the days get?

We are back to our winter email marketing and its going as smooth as ever, but we’re missing some of you. In the interest of saving time, I used an email service, and I suspect it ended up in many of your spam!

If you would like to check, December 11th is when you should have received an email from us. Below is some of the email you should have received if you’re on our list.

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Hello from Isabel, Romeo, and Matthew, Curiousfarmer!

Our winter season has started!  We are taking your orders for delivery to 3 locations in Madison, twice per month.

Weather permitting, our planned dates are Jan 8, 22, Feb 5, 19, Mar 5, 19, Apr 2.  If you don’t hear from us and would like something, email. 

If you need help remembering what we have, check out our “food for you” page at Curiousfarmer dot com.  I’ll try to update what’s “out” regularly to help with ordering.

Email, oakgrovelane@yahoo.com with questions, or if you know what you want.

—–

Enough business, time for some Gratitude!

Thank you to all who supported Curiousfarmer during the pandemic!  You help us continue to farm the way we do.

Some of you have been with us since the beginning of the pandemic as we figured this out together.  Thanks for keeping us going during the lean days.

Many of you are new in 2021.  It’s been great getting to know you!  Some of you even made it out to the farm for turkey day.  Thank you!

Thank you also, to all who took home quarters of beef and half hogs.  We don’t get to see you as often, but we’re glad you are enjoying Curiousfarmer meat.

A special thanks to those who picked up their quarters and halves at market or at Avon Locker.  That saved us a trip to Madison, valuable time we could spend on the farm.  Thank you!

Your Farmers,

Matthew, Isabel, and Romeo

I usually graze the sweet corn with the pigs after harvest, but this winter I let it stand.  Corn makes an excellent wind break and I wondered if it would help collect drifting snow and keep it off our lane.  

It did.  The snow was at least a foot deeper inside the corn than out.

I got the idea driving on highways in Iowa and Minnesota as its common to see 8 rows or so of corn left along the roads as a windbreak.  I’m not sure if the farmer is paid to do this by the county or state, but regardless, it works well, and the farmer will be able to harvest his corn in the spring with some loss.

Our extremely cold and snowy February gave way to a mild start to March and I started thinking and doing spring jobs.  

Winter has returned for a short stay, but I’m happy to have the sows knocking the corn down now.  Should make for easier tillage, soon I hope.

UPDATE: Taking orders for delivery every other Saturday to Madison. Next date March 27th.  Email Matthew with order and/or questions: oakgrovelane@yahoo.com. Thank you!

I’m sharing my compost this year, so I’ve been working more diligently on it and am happy how its turned out.

Its hard to believe that a cow we lost to lightning in the spring has almost completely turned into soil.

UPDATE: Taking orders for delivery every other Saturday to Madison. Next date November 14th.  Email Matthew with order and/or questions: oakgrovelane@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Our version of the BLT uses Canadian Bacon.  Look how nicely it fits on the toast.

And we also use onions instead of lettuce.  I don’t like all that bulky lettuce crowding my sandwich.

And lots of tomatoes.  Yum.

Right on schedule, we moved the broiler chicks out of the brooder house into their pasture pens on Good Friday, last week.  The first night was cold, so we put down some wood shavings for bedding, but its warmed up nicely.  They’ve been enjoying their daily moves to fresh pasture.  We should have freshly frozen chicken at market, Memorial Day weekend.

A new addition to market is our brown and blue eggs from our layer chickens.  Many have remarked about the quality, flavor, and orange yolks.  If you have any doubts about the benefits of pastured meat, eggs, or milk, the dramatic change in our eggs when the snow melts and the hens begin to forage for pasture and other critters would make you a believer!

We had been experiencing the warmest, driest, winter any of the old timers could remember.  But winter is back and reminding us who is in charge, with inches of snow and below zero F temperatures.

We have been enjoying the Late Winter Market at the Madison Senior Center.  Its a cozy space with enough room for all the vendors.  Plus room to sit if you partake in the breakfast.

Chef Laurel Burleson of the Ugly Apple Cafe sources from vendors and cooks up some wonderful breakfasts.  Next week Laurel is using our sausage links.  Its been good staying connected to many of our regular customers.  Hope to see more of you next week!

This is a guest post from longtime customer and friend, Jeremy.  Jeremy is a professional landscaper, and amateur chef.  I asked him to share his ham and bean soup recipe.  Thank you, Jeremy!

We will have plenty of ham available this Saturday at market.

Ham and White Bean Soup
Nothing says home cooking like a good ham and bean soup. Ham, as with bacon, elevates practically anything it’s with into tasty territory. It’s versatile and works in many different ways; with pasta, casseroles, stuffed in cordon bleu, baked with vegetables, as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And boy, ham is wonderful, especially from my farmer who raises happy, healthy, acorn fed hogs. I give him money and the occasional garden vegetables. I get his meat and eggs. I’m lucky to have him as a friend.

Ingredients:
2 Cups Dry White beans; Cannellini, Lima, or other
1.5-2 lbs Smoked Ham or Smoked Pork Hock, bone in preferable, fat trimmed and diced
2 small Onions, coarsely chopped
1 Celery stalk, coarsely chopped
2-3 small Carrots, coarsely chopped
2 cloves Garlic, peeled and smashed
Bouquet Garni: 1 Bay Leaf, 2-3 Thyme sprigs, and 2-3 Parsley sprigs, tied with kitchen string (or dried herb equivalent; about ½ teaspoon each with a dried bay leaf.)
½ Cup White Wine
2 Cups Stock, Pork or Chicken
2-3 Cups Water
White pepper, Salt to taste

Instructions: 

1. Sort and rinse beans. Soak overnight in cold water. Or if pressed for time, in a separate pot bring beans and water to a boil and then simmer for an hour or so while prepping above ingredients.

2. Trim excess fat off of ham, dice into small cubes and fry in soup pot. Stir and cook until fat is rendered and you are left with fried ham cracklings. Drain cracklings on paper towel and reserve.

3. Fry vegetables in rendered fat. Stir occasionally until onions and celery become translucent.

4. Add wine to vegetables to de-glaze pot. Boil off alcohol for a minute or two and add whole ham. Drain beans and add to pot with herb bouquet, pinch of pepper, salt, and stock. Add just enough water to submerge beans, vegetables and ham. Bring to a boil, cover and then simmer for 3-4 hours or until the beans are tender and the ham begins to fall apart.

5. Turn off heat, remove ham with bone, herb bouquet, and about half of the beans. Pull ham apart into pieces and strips reserving the beans and ham. Blend slightly cooled soup with immersion blender until creamy and smooth. Place reserved herbs, beans and ham bone back into pot and reheat, season with more salt and pepper if needed. The ham bone and herbs continue to add flavor as it reheats.

6. Serve soup, topped with pulled ham and cracklings