World Famous Hand

See that hand? The one wrapped around the glass canning jar? The one just above, with all the wonderful non-pasteurized, non-homogenized milk in it it? See it?

Yup, it's my husbands hand and its famous. Front page famous. The amazing thing is, the really awesome and totally unbelievable thing is. His hand is clean, relatively speaking. His nails do not have manure embedded in them as they normally do. There is no blood dripping from his knuckles from yet another source of injury he can't quite remember.

And we didn't even plan this shot.

I just told him he needed to hold the jar while I took the picture (used on the front page for another writers story) so I could submit it to my always patient editor Joel McNair, at Graze Magazine . So he did.

The second photo I submitted was also used along with the article I wrote about a new breed of customers buying raw milk from us, the raw milk virgins I call them.  Seems some farmers think we should avoid these folks who are seeking raw milk but whose immune systems may get a shock with all the new good bacteria. Too much risk.

But I think life without risk is a dull life indeed and instead we just need to spend more time educating these new customers about raw milk, and then treat them like adults and let them decide for themselves.

I am such a radical.

Virginia Woolf, alive and well at South Pork Ranch

Meet out two newest breeding gilts, they are in front, Clarissa and behind her, Mrs Dalloway. If you're a fan of Virginia Woolf and have seen the movie, or read the book 'The Hours" you'll understand the name reference. If not, go read the book/watch the movie. I'll wait.

Good, wasn't it? But poor poor Leonard, droopy sort of fellow was he not? He tried so hard but he just didn't get her did he?

Back to gilts. A gilt, for you non farmer types, is a virgin pig, one who has never given birth to a litter of petite spare ribs, which is not the same as "baby back ribs" as they do not come from baby pigs at all but rather are the most tender, most expensive  part of the ribs, the ones with the most meat, on a full grown market hog.

Details...details...

The new girls,  full Red Wattles, were both farrowed (born) here about 10 months ago and are of the size and emotional maturity for breeding. How do we know? Just look at them ! Shiny, happy pigs they are and at feeding time I recently overheard Clarissa to Mrs Dalloway

     "No sweetie, you go first, heaven knows my hams are big enough for three sows!"

I wanted to disagree but they kinda are...but still, emotional maturity is no question.

In a few days, we picked my birthday May 17 because we need all the memory help we can get, and because it allows me to blatantly drop a hint about my birthday, we will introduce them to our Red Wattle Boar, Wally, of the  Wickham Farm line. Then we start the countdown of 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 salt grains thrown over our left shoulder and we hopefully will welcome two more  beautiful Red Wattle litters into the family at South Pork Ranch.

The girls come from good stock. Their papa is our own Mad Max and their mama,Whispering Willows Deb, also resides here, . Don't you love that name?  In my next on stage performance I want to be known as "Whispering Willows Donna" Yes , I do.

Saponification Sunday and Sidewalk Satisfaction

Before I move on to soap lets just take a peak at that awesome sidewalk me brick layin' friend Jay gifted me with.  He finished it today before heading back home. Keep in mind...made with all recycled brick from our old chimney circa 1897

Even the weed barrier under the bricks was recycled, using the black plastic we used to wrap the hogs in (dead hogs, no live hogs have ever been wrapped in Plastic on this farm, they have been wrapped in sawdust and straw but never plastic). Towards  the back you'll see the clay drainage tiles.

The one on the right I will use as a small fire pit and the one on the left is filled with gravel and supporting the tall white column. The column came from son Colton's porch, another century old house and I plan to attach birdhouses to it, an antique clock,  or maybe more climbing vines or perhaps a big pot of flowers on the top with trailing IVY...hard to say how it will end up.

More soon as the Secret Garden evolves.

So, onto soap. A great week for making it and selling it. Not such a great week for ADDRESSING it. No, not in "Hi Soap, how are you?" That's just goofy, I mean putting it in a package and addressing it to be mailed. Soap that was to go to Susan in California was accidentally sent to Susan in WI. Fortunately Susan number one emailed me about the mistake and offered to send it on to Susan number two, and Susan number two has graciously accepted my apology for the tardy soap delivery.

In the meantime I did get around to participating in  AMY WARDEN'S weekly soap challenge. I missed a couple weeks. The goal was to make gradient soap and the process went fairly well. Except that I over poured my Castor oil by one ounce, giving me a softer soap than usual.

Cutting it caused a little smearing. I used Indigo powder to color it. Loved the muted blue grey I got but  ticked that my new camera is STILL in the shop (waiting for a part they ordered to come in) and my photos are back to sucking.

Loaded with excuses aren't I ? What will I do when my Nikon is returned and my soap still looks second rate ? I'll blame the lye I use of course. And after that, the essential oils and after that my stick blender, and after that the phase of the moon. the slope of my kitchen floor. the dimness of my bulb...so to speak.

The Secret Garden Part 2

With a little help from my friend...the one and only Jay...the pathway of the Secret Garden begins to take shape.We had planned to work on it together, I even managed to help him load up all the bricks on the back of pickup. But then the Saturday customers began arriving. So I just gave him a general idea of what I wanted...and off her went.

 First he outlined the curving pathway with the old bricks we saved from the house's original chimney (over 115 years old)

Then he dug and dug and dug, removing all the soil and grass and weeds. Then he tapped down the soil to give the sidewalk a good hard base. The he posed for a photo at my insistence.

Does he look a little tense to you or is it just me? Truth is he hates being interrupted in the middle of a task but the way I look at it, he's taking off two days out of his own busy life to put in a brick pathway for me, free of charge, using old tools and even older bricks, on an extremely warm day, the least he can do is smile for a picture.

And the least I can do is feed him his favorite meal. A huge bowl of popcorn with a pound of butter and a liter of salt with a side dish of raw chocolate cookie dough. That should bring a smile to his face.

The Secret Garden Comes out of Hiding

In February, I showed you the above (left) pic of the spot in our yard designation for my future Secret Garden. I have for many years wanted a private place of my own, one filled with flowers and birdhouses, recycled farm inventory and sidewalk made of wood, stone and glass (yes, glass, as in glass mulch). Walls covered with vegetation to ensure at least the facade of privacy.  A place where I could go with a cuppa or a beer-a and a book and practice the fine art of lounging.

Close up view of the East wall which curves.
Imagine a chaise lounge under the tree

Sure, you are thinking. She wants privacy but then shows the whole world wide her  "Secret" Garden. Just goes to show how much YOU know. In order to get into this special spot your will have to tell me the SECRET password and show me your SECRET engraved invitation (or just hop the fence.)

In April we got started. See pic above (right) as we put up the four walls and planted the perimeter with sunflowers and/or climbing vines such as morning glories and red Hyacinth beans.Yesterday I added annual seeds such as lavender, nasturtium, white moon flowers, cosmos, zinnias and more. Gladiola bulbs are scattered throughout.



The thick grass on the left will remain
A winding walkway made of wood, glass and stone will
curve along the annuals planted along the right


 The old claw foot tub will hold ornamental cabbage in pink and yellow as well as alysium and marigolds. I may even paint the outside. If the muse so strikes me.

We have kept with our promise of using only recycled materials already taking up space here on South Pork Ranch, such as livestock panels from the 1940's, the 1910 claw foot tub (missing 3/4 of its claws, so sad) decorative wooden posts from one of our porches long ago torn down and re-built, a concrete post from the Goodman Theatre, a gift from friend Jay who helped re-do much of the stone work there about 10 years ago etc etc etc.

Entrance will require engraved invitations,
secret code words and finally a secret knock

 The main gate was found by herself buried deep in our hayloft. Based on the hand forged latch and the deeply gouged out area of wood where the latch swings, we are guessing the gate to be several decades old and probably original to our farm.

In all, when done, I am hoping it will look like many of the garden delights I have pinned to my own board here on Pininterest. If you see a particular pic there, which you love, feel free to ship the complimentary building materials to me at your convience. Keith and I will do all the work of opening the boxes I can promise you that!

PS I also have to thank Blog Friend, Rare andSharon Lovejoy   for their beautiful gardens which have inspired me. Of course their creations are not in the same league as mine. Doubtful they have clawfoot tubs in their gardens and if they did...they'd have all four feet I betcha.

My (never has been) Humble Opinion

I have hit a nerve.
 I wasn't aiming at anyone in particular but someone in particular was highly offended.

The specifics are: I posted the following on Facebook a few days ago

 "Tired of tasteless, unethically raised supermarket pork ? Then now is the time to order      certified organic, South Pork Ranch meat, where the animals know what fresh air and sunshine feel like. "

A Facebook Friend (because it's our business page, so I'm friends with the whole world) took offense and responded:

 "unethically - really - maybe different, not better, not great, but unethically ?? lots of good farmers over my way who would take great offense"

Then I made one more comment suggesting he contact me so we could talk off-the -record but he didn't like that. To see the comments in their entirety go HERE. I was disappointed that Mr. T.P did not wish to communicate with me person to person, I really had some decent questions for him and I would've given him the chance to ask some of me.

What concerned me the most was his apparent feeling that I was calling all farmers, who didn't do things my way, "unethical" when I was instead calling particular methods of hog farming, such as the use of gestation crates, unethical, and I stand by that comment.

When my FB commenter also suggested I only talk about what is good about our products and not "disparage" others, I thought he made a decent point, and I gave it great thought. Perhaps I should only talk about what is wonderful at South Pork Ranch and forget the others who raise animals on concrete, in tiny cages, in areas so crowded it is impossible to turn around, in buildings that don't allow natural sunshine to invade, on feed with questionable origins.

But if we stay silent about the atrocities that are indeed occurring in the livestock raising world, if we avoid taking a stand because someone might be offended then how will consumers be able to make informed choices about what they eat? In this case being silent about bad farming practices benefits no one, except maybe the farmer with unethical practices.


And please, let me be clear, I do not think that a farmer who does things differently than we do here at South Pork is automatically unethical. (Believe me, of the 40 or so farmers we personally know who raise pastured hogs like we do...NONE of  them do it exactly like we do. Many of them do it BETTER) But I do believe that the majority of confinement hog practices are in themselves...unethical.

I stand by my Facebook comment  and I am open to discussion from either side on this blog.

    

Saponicationnday:The Algae in my Shower

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I am not talking about the stuff on your shower walls, I am instead referring to the algae in your soap. At least if you buy soap from me there might be some algae in it, you never know. Wait, actually, you WILL know, as I label each of my soaps with all the ingredients just to be fair.

My Soap colored with varying concentrations
of powdered Spirulina

But if you saw one of these soaps ( and please forgive the photo quality , again, as my new Nikon Camera is still languishing in some photo repair shop in Farmington, NY. and I had to use some older photos from the ancient Kodak camera. So if you live in that lovely berg could you do me a favor and knock on their door and ask how the repairs are coming? There's a ten spot in it for you if you can get them to mail the camera back to me before my GK's graduate high school. Patience, by the way has never been my virtue.They said it would take 2-3 weeks and it has been 17 days!!!) now, where in Farmington's name was I?

Ah yes, soap with algae would be that colored with Spirulina, which oddly enough is not the name of Pasta Loving Princess, but rather a type of blue-green algae that grows in the warm alkaline, oceans of Africa, South America and Australia and is rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. It is thought to be very nutritious and is often consumed as a powder in pills, capsules and smoothies.

Spirulina Powder. Price Varies Widely

Since I am only about 1.5  generations away from my own green teeth family members I prefer to use Spirulina only in my soaps. Some sources suggest just 1/2 teaspoon per pound will make a very dark green soap and it will, but Spirulina is not well known for its commitment value.

Those are not big air bubbles.
It's just my old camera I tell ya.

It can leave overnight. Not unlike a certain pony-tailed-bell-bottomed-Mad Dog 20-20 swirlin'-in-the-jelly-glass-like- he-was-someone-special-guitar-player who swore he'd be around long enough for next months rent payment but...(did I just write that out loud?)

One minute a beautiful green, the next camo green and the next a green brown. The soap, not the guitar player. I have found it stays a  brighter green longer when my soap recipe is at least 25% lard. Perhaps the hardness in a lard soap bar makes it harder for Spirulina to escape. I favor using 1 full teaspoon to each pound of oil.

Water imbued Spirulina

Some other sources think the powdered algae can smell a bit 'oceany." I have smelled no such thing but then again I think the smell of Galway Bay water wafting through mounds of seaweed is nothing sort of heaven.

Spirulina Hill as in "I found my thrill on..."

The cost varies widely,  from $4 an ounce from Brambleberry to 35 cents an oz in the bulk bins at Naturally Yours Grocery in Bloomington, Il. I have not tested the quality of one against the other and have no idea if one Spirulina would outlast the other. I do know I am a distance from Australia and the oceans who grow the algae naturally but HEY I know some international soapers in those areas so tell us...how much does this beautiful, healthy powder cost in your neck of the oceans?