Electric Yarn

Wanted to share my latest creation. This yarn is so wild, I'm considering keeping it for myself and knitting my niece something funky fun! But for now it's for sale. I called it Flamingos in the Lillies. It was a blast to dye and even more fun as I plied the two electric colors together.  Hope you like it!
To check out more of Iron Oak Farm products click on any image thumbnail in our shop in the right hand column of the blog.

Sweet Italian Sausage

Zach and I made this Italian sausage in a trial and error sort of way. We've tried the pre-packaged spice blends, but no matter how "all natural" they claim to be, there's always an artificial aftertaste that sort of takes away from that homemade satisfaction. So we went online and did a recipe search for sweet Italian, and to be honest, after tasting a few, they were quite bland. The majority of the ingredients you find on-line is parsley, salt and fennel. So we took that and jazzed it up a bit. When you make sausage, before you fill all your casings, take a little dab and throw it into the frying pan to see if you like it. If you think it needs something, you can still add it.

The recipe I give here is for 4 lbs of pork. We actually made 12 lbs total. But 4 lbs is a good manageable amount. You can double it, triple it, halve it...what ever works for you.

The pork we used was boneless country rib. We cut it up into approximately 1 inch cubes. LEAVE THE FAT!!! We made the mistake of cutting all the fat off of our first sausage, and it was dry like sawdust. Yum! The fat gets churned in and keeps the sausage moist. Most of it will cook out.

We feed the pork into our hand crank meat grinder and while Zach cranked the first grind, I soaked the casings.

We use all natural pork casings, yes, it's what you think it is. But I figure it this way, we eat all the rest of the pig, what's the difference really? And at least it's not synthetic silicone. The casings we get are packed in salt and they're kind of dehydrated and leathery. I soak them for a half hour, which softens them, then rinse once or twice.

Once the meat goes through the first large grind we season.  

Our concoction, going clockwise was chopped fresh parsley, fennel seeds chopped, salt, fresh cracked pepper, brown sugar, and minced garlic. Since this original post, we've tweaked the recipe to include sage, thyme and pepper flakes. 

Then we stirred it well and put it through the grinder again, with a finer grind plate.

While Zach was grinding for a second time, (he's such a trooper) I fitted the nozzle with the casing and tied the knot. The casing can be hard to open up at the end. If you hold the tip under running water, sometimes the water will catch the lip and inflate the casing, and you can find the opening.

We stuff the casings from our grinder. We attach the nozzle and grind the sausage through. As it comes out it turns into sausage.

When you fill one long casing, The sausage can then be twisted into links. Pinch it a bit before you twist because it's easy to break the casing. We leave the sausage in the fridge overnight, then cut them into individual pieces. The time in the fridge seems to firm everything up and the casings don't open up when cut.  


Recipe: (New and improved with a bit more herbs and a kick of spice.)

• 4 Lbs pork shoulder country rib
• 6 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. fresh cracked pepper
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fennel seeds
• 3 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tsp chopped fresh sage

Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber Tap Maple Trees, or Wait, is it an Oak?

So the weather warmed up a couple of weeks ago here in Michigan. It was short lived but non-the-less the temperatures were in the 50's. Zach and I, with elated excitement, dashed outside, tree taps and maple buckets in tow. The promise of sweet, delicious, homemade maple syrup heavy on our minds and on the tips of our tongues. I could almost smell the sweet maple steam as we boiled the buckets of sap down to syrup.
Oh the waffles, the pancakes, french toast and maple vinegarette would be endless. And free~no less!

The day started something like this.

Jennifer: "Here's a Maple, no wait, or is this an Oak? Yes, I think from the bark, this is an Oak."

Zach: "Here's one. No wait maybe it's an Oak. Where's the tree book?"

Jennifer: "Over here. I always pick up maple leaves over here in the fall. These have to be maples."

Zach: "But the bark looks the same as the ones that we just decided were Oaks."

Jennifer: "Oh yeah"

...and so on.

As we stood scratching our heads, staring squinty eyed at the tree tops trying to differentiate Maples from Oaks from Poplars from Hickory's. I must say, my feathers were a little ruffled, as I swallowed that thorny pill of humbleness. I was a nature girl after all. I've walked under these trees a thousand times. Collected acorns and leaves, hickory nuts. Why I knew a White Oak from a Red Oak any old day of the week. In conclusion, I guess I know leaves, not trees, but at this point, don't hold me to it, I can't promise anything.

We decided that according to our tree book, that this was our best bet at a Maple. Now granted, I know we don't have Sugar Maples, but I've read that you can tap any maple. The results are not as plentiful, and the syrup has a slightly different taste. But what the heck we'd give it a go. (All of you tree enthusiasts are probably snickering at the two idiots.)

So we tapped. And sap came out. And there was much rejoicing. Hooray, we did it! We tasted the sap and it tasted sweet, and it was probably hopeful imagination, but we agreed that there was the slightest hint of maple flavor. So we placed the bucket under the tap and skipped away dreaming of pancakes... La, la, la!

In an hour we checked the bucket. There was about a teaspoon of sap. Hmmm, this was going to take a while... We had no idea.

So in about 5 hours we checked again. About a teaspoon.

By sunset, there was...about a teaspoon.

Well maybe the temperature wasn't right. Maybe the moon wasn't full. Maybe we'd try again tomorrow.

So again we came with our buckets and hopes. By noon...we still had a teaspoon. (See the amount in the tip of the tap? That's it! That was the fruits of our labor!)

At this point I felt the need to liven things up. (Mom took this picture, and donated the syrup. Thanks Mom.) Zach found it slightly amusing...slightly...

Moral of the story, mark the trees in the fall. Don't be an idiot.

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Reader's Favorite Moments

This photo was sent by Bonnie Davenport of Freeport, Maine.

"This is my son Andrew at about 18 months in the cow tie up, he is about to kiss Jennifer a new heifer.  It is not his favorite photo, mainly because he is 1. kissing a cow, and 2. the purple "sheep" hat he wore as a child."

Oh my gosh, Bonnie, this picture melts my heart! It's so cute that they're at the same level, perfect for kissing!!(Love the cow's name, ha! Wink, wink) And the hat is absolutely adorable!


Have a favorite farm, crafting, nature, cooking or just plain fun photo that you'd like to share and see on Iron Oak Farm page? Please send your favorite Readers Moments to jenniferannmurphy@yahoo.com
Be sure to include your name and where you're from, a small caption is always good too.
If you have a website I'll link you up, if you link me too.

March Name That Chicken Contest

Be sure to participate in the March, Name That Chicken Contest and be entered to win one of Zach's hand forged items. Submit your answer in the form in the right hand column (arrow down a bit), and be sure to subscribe to Iron Oak Farm. Thanks so much!

February Chicken Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Colleen from Michigan! She was among many who guessed the correct answer of Buff Cochin chicken. We drew her name out of a hat from the correct answers.

She is the lucky winner of one of Zach's hand forged bottle openers.

Check back for the March contest, I should get it up in the next day or two. And thanks to everyone who played.

I also have a new Community Chicken post up, a product review on the Brinsea Ova Scope. There's even a short video. Check it out by clicking here. http://communitychickens.blogspot.com/search/label/Jennifer%20Sartell

Growing Shiitake Mushrooms

Zach and I were supposed to attend a meeting at the Gross Point Library last week on how to grow mushrooms, but unfortunately we were unable to attend. I was so excited to share all the knowledge that we gathered at the meeting with you, and was super disappointed that we weren't able to make it. Just because we didn't go to the meeting didn't, however, change the fact that I still want to know how to grow them. So I did some research and found some pretty interesting stuff.

My favorite mushroom and the one I'd like to know how to grow the most, is fortunately one of the easiest, so I've heard. Check out this 10 minute video above to learn more about the process.

There's also a great website I found that sells mushroom spores and other growing supplies. Click here to view.