Duck, Duck Goose!

We got a duck today as well.  I had some left over plum sauce from a previous meal so we decided to do a slow cooker duck with plum sauce and fresh veggies and an apple (we're kind of shooting from the hip on this one).   The kitchen smells heavenly.  It has a plum-y meaty delicious scent floating throughout.  I think we will make some sort of delicious potato dish to accompany daffy and I would like to incorporate the "yogurt cheese" that we purchased today into it the potatoes in some way.  The "yo cheese" has a really great thick texture and has the flavoring of a cross between sour cream and cream cheese.  It's just great.

Well these are my idea for the meal.  We shall see what kind of journey our duck takes us on and I will update when we have tasted, eaten and discussed the meal in detail as we always do.

Until then
~CM

Presto! it's pesto!!!!!

Well it's Saturday, in our household that means farmer's market day at McCarrin park near our house.  We ran into our farmer friend from Vermont and talked with him about our visit to his farm.  We, of course, got some delicious cheeses too!  Onto the meat man next and we they had fresh duck this week.  Well say no more mr. meat farmer and yes please we will take one of those :)  A few other veggies and fruits and a baguette to round out our trip should do it.  With the cheese - oh and I bought fresh basil too, so with the cheese and basil I made a wonderful pesto and will divide it up into an ice cube tray for freezing so we can have single servings of pesto as needed.  I use a recipe form the Hippy gourmet's cookbook (check him out, he's cool and really fun to watch on youtube.  Here is his recipe:


12 cloves garlic (approx 1 head of garlic)
4 cups fresh basil
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used a hard artisan goats milk cheese - so good!)
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste (remember cheese has salt in it so start out light and add slowly)


I have a food processor so i tossed everything in there and let it, um, process.  When I was done blending it up i tasted it and it was really REALLY garlicky.  ugh! I thought I ruined it.  But instead of messing with it further I let it sit, and sit, and sit and it is just now coming into it's true flavor.  It's a rich and delicious pesto, oh winter bring on your wrath!  I have delicious home made foods to battle you all season!

~CM

Four Springs Farm day 3

 

Our last day :(

 

These are the broiler chickens, we helped to give them water, they were very nice.

 

These are young laying hens who have not started to lay eggs yet.  Mr. Mouse made friends with one who got stuck in the fence, I think she had a little chicken crush on him.....

 

This gentleman was the head rooster for the older ladies who did lay eggs.  

I liked his fancy tail feathers.

 

This is the laying hens house.  All the different chickens and turkeys are moved to a different part of the farm each day to help keep the grasses healthy and so the chickens get fresh bugs and grasses to eat each day.  The little fence is a mild electrical fence to protect the birds more from predators than to contain them. 

 

These are the turkeys (obviously) they are only about 2 months old, they make the cutest little cooing noises and are kind of funny to watch.

 

The farm barn and one of the little camp cabins.

 

One last sunset to round out our trip......

Four Springs Farm day 2 part 2

 

Deep in the woods on the farm we found a stream of water and sunlight.

 

Our favorite time of day......dinnertime.  

We made bison sliders, cooked pumpkin, potatoes and roasted corn on the cob.

 

Cook my pretties!

 

C'mon, would you want to leave this place????

 

Sorry if I keep posting this one, but the colors are spectacular!

 

Setting.........

 

Sepia after dark.

 

Our late night snack, we roasted pumpkin seeds fireside and sprinkled them with maple sugar.

Four Springs Farm day 2

 

Sunrise at the farm, it was so peaceful.

 

This pic was just awesome, I love the moon in the upper corner.

 

This is the sun rising over the opposite hill, the picture is beautiful but does not do what I actually saw justice.

 

Mr. Mouse took the reigns for brekkie, he made roasted eggs and we reheated the potatoes, let me tell you, roasted eggs are GREAT, and it was really fun to watch them cook.

 

This was my first conscious experience with instant coffee, I have to say it was pretty good.

 

More sunrise.

 

Morning dew on the spidey webs.

 

The quaint little town of South Royalton (about 15 minutes form the farm)