Eight Mile Creek FarmHappy New Year 2018 !
Jewel
Wishing you and your families a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!!
Meet Jewel
Jewel came into my life on Christmas Eve. She is a 17 hand high, 2000 pound percheron mare and is the newest member of our workforce here on Eight Mile Creek Farm. Percherons are a breed of draft horse that originated in France in the 17th century. They were originally bred for use as war horses, but over time, because of their large size, heavy muscling and strong “work ethic,” they began to be used for pulling wagons and for agriculture. The height measurement is taken at the withers, or the spot just below the bottom of the mane, and is based on the measurement of a hand being 4 inches. Thus, she is 68 inches high at the withers. That’s a lot of horse power! In fact, the term horsepower was adopted in the late 18th century by Scottish engineer James Watt to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses! Mechanical horsepower = 746 Watts. Pretty cool! Some of her jobs will be: cultivating the vegetable fields, pulling logs from the woods, hauling water, and maybe carrying a tired farmer! We are looking forward to Jewel helping us here on the farm!
To give you an idea of her size, look at the size of her feet next to mine!
What’s Available from the Farm this Month:
Microgreens, Carrots, Beets, Fingerling Potatoes, Winter Squash, Kohlrabi, Onions
Chicken and Chicken Parts
Turkey and Turkey Parts
Grass-Fed Beef
This month’s special: buy 10 1 lb packages of our ground beef and get 1 lb free!
Pork
This month’s pork special is on our fresh ham roasts – 20% off – makes a great winter crock pot meal!
Warm Beet Salad with Microgreens
2 medium EMCF beets, rinsed and scrubbed clean
EMCF Microgreens
2 slices bacon (try our traditional bacon, or our no-nitrate bacon)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 oz goat cheese
For the vinaigrette:
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp shallot, finely minced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
For the beets: place beets in a foil pouch, drizzle with olive oil, and close pouch. Roast in oven until tender. Peel beets and cut into cubes. For the vinaigrette: in a small bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Cook bacon, and transfer to a plate, reserving 1 Tbsp bacon fat in skillet. Place beets in the skillet with the bacon fat and heat to warm through, about 4 minutes. To serve: place a portion of the microgreens in the center of each plate and surround with the beets. Sprinkle the bacon, goat cheese, pine nuts, and vinaigrette on top.
adapted from saltpepperskillet.com
Everyone is happy to see the two week long stretch of brutally cold temps and high winds end (at least for a bit). Here, some of the cows eating on one of those frigid days.
And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
That beet/bacon/microsprout recipe is totally mouthwatering!! I sure hope the winter weather abates long enough for you to come to Peekskill this Saturday. We love it when you bring your incomparable produce to us -all the way from Westerlo. I will be purchasing those three items from you FOR CERTAIN.
As always, thank you both for all you do.