Sunday, April 15, 2012

Walnut Hollow Farm

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Our sweet cabin in the woods
Walnut Hollow Farm is a 13 acre farm in the mountains of Tennessee near the North Carolina border. The steep rolling hills contain 5 cows (3 when we arrived), 3 horses, 2 pigs, 2 goats, a multitude of assorted fowl, and 1 rabbit (4 when we arrived). Elizabeth and John started the farm a few years ago in order to help realize their goal of self-sufficiency. Elizabeth is an awesome canner, and is quite successfully learning about making butter, cheese, and other dairy products. John is an easy-going guy who is quick to smile. They both work long and inexhaustibly, which is a great trait for establishing a farm while raising four kids. Their efforts have so far yielded an impressive framework, and they have many more plans on the horizon.
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A corner of our cabin, taken from ladder going up to loft
They are in the process of building a rootceller, have a blacksmith's shop, and have plans to expand their barns. They also just completed a cozy little 12x12 cabin on a wooded hillside where we stayed. There was no running water or electricity, but the view out of the 8x4 picture window more than made up for it, especially during a thunder storm.
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John and one of the calves
While we were there we experienced the many facets of bovine, equine, porcine, caprine, and  fowl husbandry. There were two dairy cows, Misty, a Holstein-jersey cross who was milking, and Mama Cow, who was a pregnant jersey. They also had a young holstein steer, Tom, the last surviving member of an ill-fated oxen team whose future is leaning towards hamburger. Mama Cow was unbelievably pregnant when we arrived, with enough milk in her huge udder to sustain an entire elementary school cafeteria. Every day she would tease us with "sure" signs of an impending birth, and every day she slowly lumbered back from the pasture without a calf. A week and a half later, an approaching storm and its ensuing low pressure led us to anticipate (again) a possible birth. When her upset companion Misty returned to the barn without Mama Cow, Randy and Elizabeth searched field and forest for the elusive cow. We found her on the highest hill, amidst distant thunder, stoically overlooking the valley and waiting for what may come. The next morning Randy ran up to check on her, and found she had given birth to not just one, but two male calves. John was excited at the prospect of a new oxen team, and plans to start training them right away. It was also fortuitous that the calves were both male, because when there is one female and one male twin the female is infertile, or a "freemartin."
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WWOOF usa tennesseeElizabeth was worried that Misty would be a little jumpy around newcomers, but we learned how to milk her without any problems. She produced 3.5-4 gallons of milk a day, which seems insignificant when compared to the hormone-induced 12-gallons per day on dairy farms, but is plenty for a family of six. In fact, there was so much milk we were constantly learning new ways to utilize it.Elizabeth makes butter regularly, and we learned how to make it in the blender, as well as in the churn when the blender broke. Using the churn seemed like a daunting task after the ease of the blender, but it was faster than we expected (20 minutes for 2 lbs of butter), and just as efficient.
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John harrowing with Dolly
We also experimented with cheese, successfully making cottage and paneer, but Randy's attempt at curing Farmer's cheese ended up as a bitter brick, fit only for pig consumption.

They had three horses, Crystal, Chyenne, and a Percheron draft horse named Dolly. While Crystal and Chyenne were only for riding (which we had a chance to enjoy), Dolly was a contributing member of the farm.
Cooling Dolly off after she worked hard
They used her to log a lot during the winter, and she turned over and harrowed fields in the spring. She even pulled a buggy for leisurely family joyrides. The horses also provide excitement when they jump the fence to visit the neighbor's vocal stallion.
We didn't have much contact with the pigs, but they sure are handy for turning kitchen scraps into future tasty bacon.
Before
Neither of the goats were milking while we were there, but we did get to expand our goat skills with a hoof-trimming session. We also learned that in addition to the invasive species of kudzu and privet, goats also thoroughly enjoy the invasive multiflora rose bushes, introduced from Asia in the 1860s.
After: cramming four birds in the oven, and four on the stove
Elizabeth gutting a rooster
The poultry situation on the farm was a bit unbalanced due to the earlier purchase of several meat roosters who, having escaped the previous butchering session, were now maturing. Although we enjoyed their adolescent attempts at crowing, often grading them based on tone, syncopation, and effort, they were becoming too sexually aggressive for the poor outnumbered hens. The time had come for a culinary culling of the flock. We killed the eight offending roosters, and then skinned, gutted, cleaned, and cooked them, canning about half the meat. Just about every meal for the next week consisted, at least in part, of that delicious massacre.
Meanwhile, every few days, we had been finding dead ducks. In the morning we would find a bloody carcass that was virtually untouched, indicating that the likely suspect was a domestic dog, killing for fun. When we arrived there was 1 Muscovy male whose mate had been a recent victim, a Peking pair, and three Indian runners left. It wasn't long before they were taken out one by one like characters in a cheesy horror movie. On our second night there the male Peking was mortally wounded; the widowed Muscovy was quick to try to console the female Peking, but she rushed to the arms of one of the runners. A few days later one of the runners was found nearly dead, and expired soon after, and the last female runner had disappeared without a trace. Then on Friday morning, the female Peking's body was discovered, leaving only the Muscovy and his rival runner. Fed up with this senseless bloodshed, we decided to do an overnight stakeout in their treehouse. John provided a pellet pistol, and a description of the most likely suspect, a neighbor's terrier. Randy sat watch until the wee hours, but no culprit showed its face. The next night Randy, the protector of ducks everywhere, was still on his guard, and when he heard the frantic flapping and excited hissing of a distressed Muscovy, bounded out of bed with BB gun in hand. Unwilling to allow time for his eyes to adjust to the dark while ducks were in jeopardy, he promptly fired two rounds into a cardboard box that had been moving in the breeze. Needless to say, no ducks were killed that night, but the killer is still at large. The day we left, both we and the two remaining ducks were happily surprised to see the female runner duck. Realizing she couldn't depend on the males for protection, she had taken to hiding out.
While the loss of the ducks was distressing, sometimes death is necessary on a farm. In order to transplant lettuce into the garden, we


had to ensure its safety by taking care of a few local rabbits who were hanging around. Previously pets, they had taken to lounging about the future lettuce beds, as if waiting for the buffet to begin. John deftly shot them through the eyes, and then gave us a rabbit-skinning tutorial. Due to a previous engagement he was only able to process the first rabbit, and felt confident in our ability to process the next one. However, the first one had been a female, and ours was a male, requiring a whole different anatomical procedure.
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Apparently there's more than one way, but  this is how we learned to skin a rabbit

While he had taken 10 minutes from start to fridge, we hemmed and hawed for at least 45 about what to cut and where. Ultimately ours turned out fine, and became part of a delicious rabbit pot pie.
In addition to butter and cheese, John taught us the art of making kimchi, a spicy fermented cabbage dish. Part of the process includes crushing the ingredients down elbow-deep into a spicy brine. This was fun at first, but a slowly growing tingle in our forearms reminded us that we had pulled rosebushes the day before. The burning increased as the salt, garlic, ginger, and chili pepper mixture worked into our thousands of miniscule cuts. When we left we took some of the kimchi, a tad prematurely, and it was well worth the discomfort.
We continued our Sunday tradition of exploring nearby churches, and having been in a Baptist rut, we were looking for something new. Naturally a sign proclaiming "Cowboy church" piqued our interest. Holly was really excited, and wore her flannel shirt and braids, only to realize that while there were a few cowboy hats, most people were still "church formal." The service was focused around women from the local Christian recovery program, Teen Challenge, who sang and gave testimony about their struggle and ultimate salvation.
Our last day there was Easter, and the night before the kids had had a blast decorating four dozen eggs.
Everyday the younger kids eagerly sought out chicken and duck eggs, usually finding two or three, so the large-scale egg hunt was exponentially more thrilling. The two year old beat out her three older sisters for number of eggs collected. Elizabeth also made delicious homemade peanut-butter eggs for everyone.
Holly in the cave

Later that day we all went to a nearby cave, but since we were in a hurry to get to our next farm we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. We enjoyed exploring the cave and seeing the bizarre limestone formations. The cave was also the most interesting site for goodbyes we've had so far.
John, Elizabeth, and Randy outside the cave
 A final musing:

The uncanny resemblance between a guinea hen...
and a skeksi

4 comments:

  1. looks like meat has become an option?
    I hope that each of you can attend a conference or workshop at polyface farm with Joel Salatin in staunton, virginia. He has been an innovator in production on small acreage of excellent quality, grass fed livestock and poultry raised in combination with companion crops, herbs and vegetables. well worth the visit.
    enjoy!

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  2. hi,Holly, how do you slaughter the rooster? is there a best way to do it? there are many opinions.

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    1. You're right, there are quite a few different ways to "skin a cat," or in this case, slaughter a rooster. First, there are a few choices for how to do the actual killing. At Walnut Hollow Farm, we used a sharp knife to cut the throat, cutting in between the spine and trachea, where you will hit the 2 major arteries. A quick slice in one side and out the other should efficiently cut these arteries. They bleed out fairly quickly, but an extra humane measure is to also pith the animal after cutting its throat by inserting the knife through the roof of its mouth into its brain. Either way there will be some twitching, which is normal and does not mean the animal is in pain. Another option is to completely sever the head with an axe or hatchet. We prefer cutting the throat, because with a hatchet anything less than the best aim will result in the animal suffering unnecessarily.
      Regarding defeathering the bird, the two main options are either skinning or plucking. Skinning is nice because you don't need 5 gallons of boiling water, and can be faster. Plucking involves submerging the bird in boiling water for about 10-15 seconds, and then quickly pulling all the feathers out. Plucking's biggest advantage is that the skin remains intact, which some people like because the chicken doesn't dry out as fast when it roasts (if you do skin it, you just need to baste it frequently). Holly likes skinning better, while Randy prefers plucking, it just depends on the space and equipment available to you.
      Before defeathering, the head is removed. The first thing to do after the bird is featherless is to remove the feet. This is done by cutting around the leg joint where the feet meet the feathers, and then twisting the foot at a 90 degree angle to separate the joint. Next cut off the oil gland, which is a hard bump at the tail. Simply scoop it off the tail with a sharp knife, it should be yellow, and make sure to get it all. Then you make a small incision between the anus and the breast, being careful not to nick any internal organs. Once you have a small incision you can see where the organs are, and make a larger cut. Feel free to expand the cut as needed to remove organs. Now you basically just stick your hand in and pull everything out, but do so gently so as not to puncture the intestines or gallbladder (a greenish node attached to the liver), as these are mildly toxic and ruin the flavor of the meat. However, a quick thorough rinse will usually remedy any puncturing. You should see the stomach, gizzard, intestines, kidneys, liver, heart, and testicles if its a rooster. The lungs are sometimes stuck to the ribs, and require a fair amount of scraping to get them all out. They usually don't come out in one piece, and you will probably just see little bits of bright pink mash. It is possible to pull all the major organs out the backside if you carefully cut around the esophagus. Everything may not come out in one piece, and sometimes its easier to pull the remaining pieces out the neck depending on where the tract broke. At this point the only connection between the organs and the bird should be the intestine into the anus. Carefully cut around the anus, and pull it out, pulling the intestines with it. Now simply rinse out the bird, let it sit in the fridge for a day, and enjoy! If you would like more clarification or have more questions, let us know, we'll be happy to help.

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  3. thanks Holly for the nice and detailed description. is that you holding the live rooster? did you yourself or Elizabeth did the slaughtering? i admire ladies that can raise their own animals for food and can butcher. i think even many guys are squeamish about this.

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