Stocking freezers is on many minds as we approach winter and I've been answering a lot of questions about the shelf life of frozen meats. With grocery stores full of foods with sundry shelf-lives, it's no wonder we find ourselves confused when it comes to knowing how long something can keep.
That made me decide to share tips I've learned about storing farm-fresh meats over the years. Some of the info is specific to our farm but most of it can be applied to meat from any local farm so feel free to share with friends and family if you feel it could help them too.
I hope this finds you well! Today is full of sunshine and Adam and Silas are out planting one last batch of grass seed into a hay field. I will move on to plant more garlic once I've finished here. All the best to you and feel free to get in touch if you ever have questions about any of our foods.
~ Kelly
FROZEN FACTS:
Fortunately, when buying meats directly from a farm, you are probably getting food much fresher than that in a grocery store. That tends to give you ample time to use it up. Here's why--
Typically, meat in a grocery store has been butchered, packaged, and then shipped under refrigeration to the store where it may sit on a shelf for a few weeks to a few months (depending on the product). Once grocery store meat goes home with you, it may be nearing the end of its shelf life.
Should you choose to then freeze your refrigerated grocery store meat, the display packaging from the store will not protect the meat well for long-term storage. It is probably wise to use up such products rather quickly, i.e. within a few months.
Whereas our beef, lamb, and pork is frozen immediately after being processed and packaged. It never has time to sit on a shelf, aging in a refrigerated package. This alone keeps it fresher.
We also use packaging intended for long-term frozen storage. You may have noticed the lack of air space in frozen meat purchased from a farm. By vacuum sealing the package (the food-nerd term is cryo-vac if you want to sound all fancy), the meat is better protected from temperature fluctuations and freezer burn.
When kept in a stable freezer environment, meat cuts packaged this way have a long storage life -- up to a few years.
On our farm we've always made sure to sell our frozen meat cuts within one year of having them packaged. It's worth pointing out that we are currently selling most of our meat within a month or two of having it processed and packaged - about as fresh as a small farm can get.
I think the most important thing to know is that well-packaged farm meats kept well and consistently frozen can remain good for years. So if you're inclined to stock up, you needn't worry if you can't eat through it all within a few weeks or months. YOU HAVE TIME.
I once found a steak which had been set aside for us farmers to eat for SIX YEARS before I thawed and cooked it... It was just fine. :)
FROZEN TIPS:
A clean freezer prevents off-flavors. Clean any spills and defrost as necessary or recommended to prevent any funky freezer build-up.
Keep your freezer as cold as possible when storing meats. Remember that cold air sinks and so the coldest part of your freezer will be the bottom - keeping meats on or near the bottom can help ensure they remain at a stable temperature.
Handle your meat packages with care - tossing them about can break the vacuum seal and create a loose package that won't keep as well long term. Over time, loose packages allow freezer burn and potentially for the meat to take on a "freezer flavor".
There are some products where a tight vacuum seal are not really possible - bones are a good example. Or you may purchase or create a package with a loose seal. For these products we advise using them within 6 months for best quality.
You may want to invest some time into organizing your freezer. This will help you find what you need quickly, which keeps the cold in.
Once thawed, farm fresh meats should be used as quickly as possible - we aim for within 24 hours and are sure to keep thawed meat refrigerated during that window.
THE NOSE KNOWS:
Our sense of smell is what nature used to keep us safe long before there were thermometers and food safety agencies with their temperature recommendations. If raw food ever smells gross and it's not surströmming or limburger, you might not want to eat it... then go check your freezer/fridge temps!
But again, if kept consistently frozen, the odds your meat will become bad in storage are slim to none and can be kept for a long time. In the end, buying directly from a local farm, coupled with careful storage and timely cooking will help ensure you can purchase and store nutritious meats with confidence and use them at your own pace.
Are you having a snow day like we are? We went from pouring rain to near white-out conditions in the matter of few hours, and now a layer of heavy snow blankets the farm. I head out for evening chores soon and I know all that white stuff will add extra hours to the task. Still, I know the animals prefer the snow to sopping cold rain and there is a part of me that appreciates how snow storms force us all to slow down.
I thought I'd use a few spare moments before chores to give a quick hello and a few farm updates. I also wanted to share the recipe for the delicious slow food Silas and I been preparing over the course of this slow-down snowy day.
Thank you for being here! I hope you have a warm and safe weekend!
~Kelly
Utica Farmers Market is TOMORROW!
The Oneida County Public Market' is open on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. We'll be there tomorrow from 9am to 1pm so head over once you dig out.
We have lots of ground beef and lamb, sausage, roasts, fresh eggs and more!
If you live in or around Utica, New Hartford, Clinton, Waterville, or Sherburne and can't make it out tomorrow, I'd be happy to deliver something to you on my way home from market. Give me a call or send a text if I can help you. :) 607-423-6098
. Don't forget the Poolville Winter Farmers Market will only be held once a month from now through April. There is NO market there for the rest of February and the next Poolville Market will be Saturday, March 7 from 10am to 1pm.
Speaking of mooooooooos, er news...
You can now find our beef, pork, lamb, and sausages inside Parry's General Store in Hamilton. We love this modern day general store's dedication their local community, especially their local farmers! So if you need anything and can't make it to market, pop over to Parry's. They carry produce, breads, eggs, meats and more from other local farms too!
Please let us know if we can stock anything special for you in the freezer there!
Lately I've been listening more carefully to all the calls for environmental action in the news. I'm so very glad humans seem to be paying better attention to this special sphere we call home. I kinda like this place...
But I also find much of the information to be conflicting and lacking in nuance, especially when it touches on food. Most agricultural-related environmental advice seems to boil down to: Eat plant based because meat is cruel and cow farts are going to end the world.
Every time a new study or report comes out telling me I am contributing to our planet's demise by being farmer and an eater of meat, I feel...guilty, just for a second. What if they're right? Then I look around our farm and compare those reports with what I can see with my own eyes: incredible biodiversity, healthy, contented animals, soils that improve each year, food that grows right outside the door- everything living in a loop as old as time.
They're not completely right but explaining why is not a simple task. That might be the biggest catch of all for us regenerative farmers - what we do and why we do it doesn't fit neatly in a soundbite. Still, I'm up for most challenges so I might as well try to add some nuance to the environmental eating conversation. Maybe they have you feeling guilty too, and you shouldn't. Not if you're eating from farms that close the loop.
I thought I might start by sharing some basic information on how the carbon cycle is affected by grazing livestock. The bit below is from a London-based company called The Ethical Butcher and explains it well. They gave me permission to share with it you and I encourage you to follow them on social media if you're into that.
As always thanks for being here and reading along, sometimes we just need more than a soundbite.
Kelly and Adam and Silas
From The Ethical Butcher, London England:
“About 40 percent of ice-free land on earth is considered grazing land, which sequesters about 30 percent of our planet’s carbon pool.
This is why we must stop factory farming. Now, because factory farming does not do this. Only animals raised in harmony with nature can accomplish this.
So how is carbon sequestered by animals and plants?
Every plant plays the vital function of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, via photosynthesis. Using sunlight’s energy, the plant fuses that carbon with hydrogen and oxygen to make carbohydrates, which it moves into the soil through its roots. (It also maintains some carbon in its own leaves and shoots and stems.) The roots feed the carbohydrates to dirt-bound fungi; in return, the fungi feed minerals back to the plant. As Mother Earth News describes it, “This invisible partnership…is the foundation of the terrestrial carbon cycle, as plants incorporate carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbohydrate biomass.”
The longer a plant’s roots, the deeper it can sequester carbon in the soil and the more efficiently it can hold it there. A healthy grassland, with a diversity of region-specific native grasses can create deep carbon sinks. Managing grasslands well also contributes to carbon storage other ways: by building up soil health to make land more resilient to extreme events, according to Marcia DeLonge, senior scientist in the Food & Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. This, she says, “can protect existing soil carbon to some degree, but perhaps more importantly may allow continued carbon sequestration. In other words, even when events like extreme heat, drought, fire, and floods don’t significantly affect soil carbon immediately, they could affect the plants above ground that contribute to soil carbon in the longer term.”
Often working against these heroic efforts on the part of plants and trees, though, is agriculture. To produce some of the food we need in order to live, we disturb or destroy our carbon-storing ecosystems. We run animals through them in unsustainable ways, or we chop them down and plow them up to raise monocultures of crops like corn and soy—some of them to feed livestock, others to produce the fake meat that’s meant to replace real meat—that require still more plowing, as well as the application of chemicals that kill beneficial soil bacteria, fungi, insects. The land becomes degraded, and carbon-poor.
Improbable and illogical as it may seem, livestock can help.
There’s been a growing movement of farmers and ranchers who have moved towards a “new” model of raising cattle. I say new in quotes because actually, the concept is based on the way herding animals have lived in nature forever. This method is called many different things: mob grazing, rotational grazing, adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing, holistic planned management and intensive grazing. The basic idea is that you need to intensively graze the herd of ruminants (grass eaters like cattle, bison, sheep, etc) on a piece of land and then quickly move them, providing the optimal nutrition for the animals and allowing the land to rest and recover. There’s more to it than this, and there are different philosophies on how often to move the animals, but that’s the basic idea: “biomimicry” or trying to replicate natural cycles as much as possible.
These are the farmers we source from, we will also teach more farmers to produce like this, because we like this planet.”
“Realize agendas drive data, not the other way around."
-Joel Salatin
There is a lamb in our house. For the last three mornings he has served as my alarm clock, emitting a loud "meaaaahhhhh" at precisely 4 am--about the time his 1am bottle feeding has worn off. I get up and let him out of his puppy crate so he can muzzle-bump the back of my legs with vigor while I make his bottle and my coffee. I am his mother now, so I must be hiding my udder somewhere in the proximity of my knees? As such, another day on our farm begins.
In the meantime, how is spring going for you? I hope you're managing to get all your spring tasks taken care of between rain storms. Holy moly, the rain this spring! But life goes on and so do we, I guess we just wear rubber boots.
I know it's been awhile since I've been able to say hi so I wanted to tell you a bit of what we've been up to. We've been, ummmm, busy. Spring on a farm is equal parts exhilarating and exhausting and it's my favorite time of year. The sense of renewal and relief that comes with watching the world wake up is what I wait for all winter. Blooming flowers, new babies, singing birds, growing grass, livestock in the living room...
If you couldn't tell, we are in the middle of lambing and calving season. In fact it all got started last week during that cold, wet spell. We worked over, over, over time making sure the cows and sheep had a place to keep out of the wind or wet. Temps in the 40's combined with constant rain and a hard wind is hypothermia weather, even for livestock. Our calves and lambs stay right on pasture to be raised by their mothers, so it's our job to make sure they all have what they need to do it well.
The cow herd came down to the home farm where the hills and hedgerows eliminated the wind and we built the sheep their very own prarie-schooner of a pasture shed using gates and recycled baleage plastic. It looked a little bit like the Clampetts moved to NY to raise sheep but it really did the job. Thus, into a wet, grey world the first lambs and calves were born and their farmer/shepherds waddled through it all in plastic rain pants.
Fortunately the weather warmed up and the hard work has been worthwhile; we have 18 healthy lambs and 12 happy calves out in the pastures at the moment. We are expecting about 40 lambs and 36 calves this year. Oh wait, about that one lamb in the house! His name is Arthur.
It has been a long time since we've had a bottle baby, which is a good thing! We want those youngin's with their mamas. But on a farm, things happen and so Arthur lives with us for now. The plan is to get him back with his flock when he is old enough to do some grazing and get by on less-frequent bottle feedings. Once he is completely weaned (from the bottle and my knees, apparently) he will be a friend for the ram who gets to cool his heels in a bachelor pad all summer. There I imagine they will laze about, swapping manly sheep stories and chewing the cud, perhaps while playing some checkers...?
Ok, back to being serious. Spring on the farm is hectic, tiring, inspiring, messy, magical, and perfectly imperfect all at the same time. We push and push ourselves to offer best care possible for our animals because we know you expect it of us. We expect it of ourselves. High welfare livestock care is really hard work--your support and encouragement for our farm helps make it happen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and lamb-worn knees for that. I'm so glad you are here to share in it all.
Please read on for details about upcoming markets, where to find our food, how to support our farm in the coming weeks (farms always need that), and a great recipe from a customer. Onward and upward together folks! Now, if you'll excuse me I hear a "meaaaaaaaah" coming from the other room...
Love,
Kelly
I'd say I’m pretty happy to see some spring sunshine!
How about you? What's your favorite sign of spring? I can never decide between the return of bird song at dawn, the peepers, or the daffodils pressing their snub little noses out of the warming soil. Actually, maybe it's that first morning I can step outside without wearing three layers of clothing...?
Last year I made up a joke about how if I had to have a pirate name, in the spring it would be "Long-Johns-Be-Gone".
Arrrrrr! And, um anyway... Just a quick hello from your farmer pirate to fill you in on a few things:
Summer Market Schedule. Outside markets start soon!
Easter Roasts, what's available and a few of our favorite recipes
A refresher on how to preserve local eggs during their most bountiful season, and
Spring Lamb orders
I'm heading back outside now, to help attend to the bazillion things spring throws our way. But feel free to get in touch if there is anything I can help you with. Be well and hope you get to soak up a little spring sunshine yourself!
Thank you for being here,
Kelly
1. QUARRY BROOK 2019 SPRING & SUMMER MARKET SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, APRIL 13
SATURDAY, APRIL 27
ONEIDA COUNTY PUBLIC MARKET-UTICA TRAIN STATION
9AM TO 1PM
**These are the last two train station markets we will attend until next November**
You can pre-order your food for these two final markets HERE
HAMILTON FARMERS MARKET-SATURDAYS
OPENS SATURDAY, MAY 4
8AM TO 1PM
Our booth will be across from the Hamilton Public Library
CLINTON FARMERS MARKET-THURSDAYS
OPENS THURSDAY, JUNE 6
10AM TO 4PM
We are on the Village Green across the street from Nola's
NEW HARTFORD FARMERS MARKET-TUESDAYS
OPENS IN JUNE (DATE TBD)
3PM TO 7PM
Sherrill Brook Park in conjunction with food truck night
Come get your local groceries and then get dinner from one of the food trucks!
Can't wait to see you! :)
2. EASTER ROASTS
If you need a roast for Easter we still have a few available:
Fresh Hams | uncured & unsmoked | fresh pork roast | boneless | approx 4 lbs | $14/lb
Lamb Leg Roast | boneless | approx 4 lbs | $16/lb
Mutton Leg Roast | don't laugh! they're really good and a good bargain for feeding a crowd | good mutton reminds me of extra buttery beef | boneless | approx 5 lbs | $10/lb
Please email me to reserve any of these roasts. I can also give you some ideas for less-traditional holiday fare if you aren't feeling like a roast. Lamb meatballs, spring stew, it's always ok to try something new.
Fresh Ham Roast Recipe
Honey Ginger Pork Roast Recipe
3. Here an egg, there an egg, EVERYWHERE an egg, egg… Old McDonald has lots of eggs! E-I-E-I-O!
How to stockpile this spring staple
It’s spring. Eggs are everywhere at farmers markets. It almost lets us forget that they will be much harder to find come fall. If you love your local eggs and don’t want to be without them come September, you might consider stocking up now and freezing them. It will be like nutritious, delicious money in the bank in a few months when all the local farms’ hens are on vacation and eggs almost disappear from markets. Read more...
4. SPRING LAMB ORDERS:
Everything is a cycle on the farm and we are just getting ready to complete the lambing cycle. That means we have just a few mature lambs ready for processing at the moment.
Now is a great time to stock up and have all sorts of great chops and kebabs in time for summer grilling season. After this the next lamb won't be ready until late fall.
**You select the cuts and we're happy to help walk you through it if needed**
WHOLE: 30+ lbs depending on cuts selected
Whole Lamb Price: $400 (includes processing)
Deposit: $200
Freezer space needed: A whole will fit into approximately 3 to plastic grocery bags.
HALF: Approx 15 + lbs depending on cuts selected
Half Lamb Price: $235 (includes processing)
Deposit: $100
Freezer space needed: A half will fit into 2 plastic grocery bags
Please send me an email to reserve your lamb. Please indicate size of lamb you would like (whole/half) and the best way to contact you. I will get back to you very soon to sort out the details.
Thank you!
"Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems"
-Rainer Maria Rilke
Sooo, we need a little help. Also, the Italians are coming! The Italians are coming! Or at least we hope so...
First, let me explain what I mean...
Cosmo and Bella are Maremmas which is a breed of working dog with origins in Italy. Centuries ago the breed was developed to protect sheep from wolves and other predators. They are GOOD at what they do.
Since we began keeping sheep, we have had a pair of Maremmas. They've kept our flock safe from from coyotes, foxes, and any other critters happy to snack on little lambs. As I've said before, wildlife is welcome on our farm but we'd rather they didn't eat our sheep!
For years our guardian dogs have been a hard-working and faithful part of the farm team. Sadly, we unexpectedly lost one of our dogs last summer. One day in June we went out for evening chores and found Marley gone. He had been his happy, silly self earlier that morning but it looked as if he'd later curled up for a nap and then never woke up.
While there was some comfort in the fact that his end was peaceful, it was a shattering discovery and one of the more tragic days in my memory. Since then his older sister Poly has been working double time, which is no easy task as she's not a young pup.
Hence, we have been looking for new recruits ever since. Then Poly can retire to a cushy desk job before the next grazing season. It has been a long few months, searching for dogs for whom our farm would be a good fit.
Okay, so now back to Cosmo and Bella...we were just alerted that they need a new job... and we have just such an opening... ah ha! Until recently they protected a goat herd in Massachusetts. However, their farmer just had to retire for health reasons and sold the goats.
The tricky thing about working guardian dogs is they need a task. Farm life is what they know and love and to remove them from that almost always makes for troubled dogs. Their current farmer is being very careful to re-home these dogs together and on a working farm where they can keep doing what they're meant to do.
After many phone conversations and questions, she feels our farm is a good match for them and we are honored to be entrusted with their future care.
As you might imagine, well-bred, well-trained and well-cared-for dogs such as Cosmo and Bella are not cheap. That is as it should be and they are worth every penny as they are an investment in the safety of our livestock and the future of our farm. We currently have about half of their $1,200 re-homing fee and that is where the part about needing a little help comes in.
Late winter is a notoriously tight time of year for farmers. We're lucky in that we always manage to squeak by but it's never easy.
Please don't worry, we've never asked our customers for donations and we're not going to start now. But what we would like to do is maybe encourage you order some food from us or sign up for a CSA share in the next few days? Those sales and shares will then be put toward the re-homing fee.
We have a good variety of meats available right now so if you have some funds to spare toward groceries from our farm, we'd be ever so grateful. You get good food, our sheep stay safe, and Bella and Cosmo get a forever home.
As always, thank you for being here, for reading my words, and entertaining my thoughts. It means a million just to know you care and are cheering us on.
Please use the buttons below if you'd like to place an order or sign up for a CSA share. Orders can be picked up at the next few markets or directly from the farm. Also feel free to email me with any questions or special orders.
Thank you so much and lots of love,
Kelly
I have worn nearly every type of seasonal clothing this week. You? Oh, NY state...
Last Friday it snowed, Monday was t-shirt weather, Wednesday required raincoats, and today I'm wearing a blanket over my shoulders as I sit to type because it's so cold in our house. Maybe tomorrow will call for bikinis and we can finally get the grill out? Actually, this weekend looks more like snowsuits than swimsuits. A chance of frozen mix on Sunday...! (Insert heavy sigh)
When I was a kid, my family had a weird tradition to help with morale when cold weather wanted to linger. We would crank up the wood stove, put on flip-flops. make summery BBQ food and have a "cook out" inside. With music. It really helped chase away the last of the winter blues and reminded us of all the good times to come. We called them "Go away winter!" parties. Flowery shirts and swim trunks were encouraged.
I've decided to throw one of these parties for Adam, Silas and myself on Sunday. I may have to wear heavy socks with my flip flops but so be it. On the inside I will be dreaming of soon-to-come frisbee and firelight with friends.
I just went looking through my cookbooks for the recipe I want to use. Nothing says summer like food on a stick, right? This is a recipe to make your own stick food! It's like bringing the fair to your house except you don't have to wonder what's in those things. And you can cook it inside.
Here's the recipe in case you want to throw your own party this weekend. It's easy to make, VERY kid friendly, and oh-so-summery, even if you're wearing wool socks while you eat it. :)
No matter what the weather does, I hope you have a really nice weekend and get to do something that makes you happy. We'll be at the final indoor Oneida County Public Market of the season on Saturday from 9am to 1pm. Feel free to get in touch if we can bring you anything!
And on Sunday, this farm family will be sporting sandals and enjoying some fun, spring-summoning food on a stick! How about you?
All the best to you and yours. See you soon! :)
Kelly
Quarry Brook Farms Go Away Winter Sticks*
Serves 4 to 5
1/2 cup cooked rice, oats, or quinoa (we like rice best)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/4 cup fresh minced parsley or 2 tablespoons dried
2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped or 1 tablespoon dried mint
1 tablespoon fresh oregano or 1 tablespoon dried
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground cornmeal plus extra for coating
1 pound ground lamb or ground beef
In a bowl, thoroughly stir together the rice/quinoa/oats, egg, tomato sauce, lemon pepper, herbs, salt, pepper, and cornmeal. Add the lamb/ground beef and mix well.
Shape into approximately 10 oblong balls. Press the balls onto skewers and roll them in the extra cornmeal. Broil (or grill) 3 to 4 minutes on each side until cooked through. If you don't have skewers, cook them and then poke a fork into them to serve as a skewer.
That's it. We like them with ketchup. They are one of the few things we eat with ketchup. Feel free to experiment, they're super tasty no matter what!
(*Adapted from The Grass Fed Gourmet Cookbook by Shannon Hayes)
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