Celestial Travel

Where do the heavens want to send us during these winter months?

It is difficult to travel in these times, except "otherwise". Viruses, ice, distance, and apprehension keep us bound to our homesteads this winter. But we do have the means to transport ourselves via celestial avenues. And the primary access to such travel is through good food!

For your enrichment and enchantment, we have conspired to send you to the Mekong River, for a long leisurely float down a great body of water through a tropical paradise... How does that sound? The Mekong River is one of the world's longest, flowing through 4 countries, and spawning myriad species of large fish. So, you will be treated to cultural richness; tranquil pace of travel; a stunning array of wildlife on the banks, in air, and in water, and, most of all, to great exotic foods. One of the centerpieces of the menu will be Mekong Pho (pronounced fuh). 

This is the famed soup of Vietnam. It is a spiced bone broth with rice noodles, and typically includes a light meat of some sort, which is either cooked in the piping hot broth or pre-cooked and added at the end. This picture includes cilantro, a slice of sweet red pepper, a slice of lime, and our new Mekong Meatballs, precooked. Bean sprouts are a common addition to this delicate and nourishing fare, as is a splash of Sriracha sauce... It fills the kitchen with sublime aromas of cinnamon, cloves, and fennel.

While you are at it, don't hesitate to think big and explore other wonders around the globe. In addition, we can transport you to: the Rio Grande for Beef Barbacoa, Central America for Aztec Taco Meat, North Carolina for Pulled Pork, Seoul, Korea for Pork Ragout, Tennessee for Shortrib Burgers, Morocco for Sliders, France for Aioli, Italy for Bolognese Sauce, ... with several more products on the horizon, like Japanese Gyoza and North African Merquez Sausage.  All of this travel can be realized from your kitchen and within 30 minutes. We do the work; all you have to do is heat one substance and pour another! This kind of adventure renders the winter wondrous.

The cows were here one day and on the ridge the next. Frozen ground keeps them from damaging pastures as they move through. 

Sheep don't bunch up and loiter like this often, except on bitter cold mornings. 

We are making slow but steady progress on our hog-sorting and holding facility. The posts lined up here create an alleyway or chute through which hogs will move before being weighed in the orange crate, now filled with empty cement bags. After the scale, a hog will either be returned to the greater group or sorted into another pen for shipping. Most of the posts will be cut off, 3 feet above ground. A few select ones will remain as is, with which to fashion guillotine, drop-down gates. 

These colorful bags hold seeds from the wetlands, painstakingly gathered by Kathy and her team. These include: False Nettle, False Indigo, Seed Box, Button Bush, Monkey Flower, Woolgrass, Swamp Lousewort, Joe Pye Weed, Penstemon, and Wingstem. They are drying in the breeze, and soon Kathy will begin cleaning and shifting them to arrive at higher concentration of actual seeds. These will be spread in our expanded wetlands over the next year. One of our future projects will be to take pictures of each of these. 

May your winter travels be celestial!