That’s the message you receive if you happen to call my
brother and he doesn’t answer the phone. It’s been the same message for
the last 10 years. Since you haven’t heard from us for the last several
weeks it’s safe to assume that we’ve been “Right out straight.” Or for
you non-New Englanders, “busy as hell”.
I had intended to write after the Spring snowstorm. Even took
a picture. Was going to write after the April Fool’s Storm. Took a
picture then too. Then we’ve been getting ready for our two pregnant pigs
to give birth. This necessitated building what are called farrowing huts,
which basically are a fairly narrow structure for the pig to give birth in and
raise their piglets. Female pigs are referred to as gilts until they have
given birth, then they are called sows. These “huts” took time since
yours truly is not a carpenter and decided to use rough sawn hemlock and
whatever wood we had lying around. As a result neither house is square or
plumb. But they work. Of course, it would have helped if I had
bothered to measure Bungie, our large Tamworth gilt first. Once we moved her
into house #1 we discovered that when she stretched out she was longer than the
house. This necessitated building house #2 about 2 feet longer.
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House #1 with Bungi |
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House # 2 Enroute Zubenelgenubi |
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H
ouse #2 was finished on Monday and we moved our other Red Wattle gilt,
Zubenelgenubi into it as we expected Bungie to farrow first and didn’t want to
risk moving her. We were wrong. Sometime around 6:00 on Tuesday
Zubenel gave birth to 4 piglets. Unfortunately we weren’t there to
monitor the birth and as a result she lay on and crushed three of the
four. We were able to rescue the fourth but to further complicate matters
she refused to allow it to nurse. So now we (Christine) are
bottle-feeding Uno, as we call her, in the living room. She’s doing well
and Tqa (the dog) helps in keeping her clean by licking her after she
eats. She sounds like a Mogwai from the
1984 movie Gremlins when she wakes up. Which is every 2-4 hours.
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Uno Day 1 2.26 lbs. (Notice the small wattle) |
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Uno Day 3 Approx. 3 lbs. |
After the negative birth experience with Zubenel I began
monitoring Bungie around the clock. At least every 2 hours I have been
going out to check on her to make sure that she hasn’t gone into labor.
After 3 days she still hasn’t. A pig will make a nest prior to giving
birth and she will also start producing milk to feed the little ones.
While Bungie is as big as a house, she hasn’t done either yet. So we
decided to move her out of her house and into the larger one after evicting
Zubenel and sending her back to our larger fenced in area. We’ll see what
happens. Hopefully it hasn’t stressed her out too much. She does
appear to like her new home as she has decorated it with fir branches.
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Zubenel Sleeping in front of House #2 |
Soooo, now we wait for Bungie to farrow and cross our
fingers. It’s a new experience for both her and us, and everyone you talk
to or every book you read says something different. At times I feel that
we should just let her figure it out on her own and not interfere. After
all, pigs were having piglets for quite some time before we humans decided to
get involved. Anywho, we’ll keep you posted.
What's happening with the Spice business you ask? Well,
we’re wrapping up the Winter Market at Fort Andross tomorrow and would like to
thank all of you for another great season. Starting May 7th we
will once again be at the Crystal Spring Farmers Market on Pleasant Hill Road
in Brunswick. This is a great outdoor market with over 40 vendors, many
of whom you'll be familiar with. Beginning May 12th we will be
at the Boothbay
Farmers Market from 09:00 – 12:00 every Thursday. This year we are
participating in a number of shows the following of which are confirmed:
As we receive confirmation of other shows we’ll be sure to let
you know.
You can also find our products in a couple of new
stores. Browne Trading Market in Portland and Sawyer’s Market in
Southwest Harbor are two new accounts that we’ve recently added. If you
have a chance please stop by and check them out. Browne’s has fantastic
fish and an excellent wine selection and Sawyer’s has been in business since
1946 and has an outstanding selection of specialty food items and many
excellent Maine made products.
If you’ve made it this far then you deserve a recipe. While
I think he’s arrogant and I do get tired of all his “lovely” descriptors, Jamie
Oliver does occasionally come up with something that sparks my interest.
So here’s a recipe that I kyped (stole) from him with a few minor
changes. This really is an outstanding dish and should be served with
couscous and maybe some pita or other similar bread.
Beef Tagine with Ras el Hanout
For the spice rub
1 Tbsp. Ras el Hanout
1 Tbsp. Ground cumin
1 Tbsp. Cassia cinnamon
1 Tbsp. Ground ginger
1 Tbsp. Paprika
1 Tsp. Sea Salt
1 Tsp. Freshly ground Black pepper
1 1/2 lbs. Stewing Beef
Olive oil
1 Large Onion, peeled and finely chopped
A small bunch of fresh cilantro, leaves picked and stalks
reserved
1 14 oz. Can Chickpeas, drained
1 14 oz. Can Diced Tomatoes
4 Cups Stock, Beef, Chicken, or Vegetable
1 1/2 lbs. Winter Squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into
1-inch chunks
4 oz. prunes, roughly torn
2 Tbsp. Sliced Almonds, toasted
To
make the spice rub:
Mix
the Ras el Hanout, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, paprika, salt, and black pepper
together in a small bowl.
Put
the beef into a large bowl, massage it with the spice rub, then cover and place
into the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and preferably overnight.
When
you're ready to cook, heat a several tablespoons of olive oil in a tagine or
Dutch oven and fry the meat over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the chopped
onion and coriander (cilantro) stalks and fry for another 5 minutes.
Add the
chickpeas and tomatoes, and 2 cups of the stock and stir. Bring to a boil, then
put the lid on the pan or cover with foil and reduce to a simmer for 1 1/2
hours.
At
this point add your squash, the prunes and the remainder of the stock. Give
everything a stir, place the lid back on the pan and continue cooking for
another 1 1/2 hours. Keep an eye on it and add a bit of water if it looks too
dry.
Once
the time has passed, take the lid off and check the consistency. If it seems a
bit too runny, simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more with the lid off. The beef
should be really tender and flaking apart now, so have a taste and season with
salt if necessary.
Scatter the cilantro leaves over the tagine along with the
toasted almonds and serve.
Okay.
Sorry it took so long to get back in touch. I didn’t even mention the 122
chickens that are currently living in our garage…