Saturday, April 28, 2007

welcome home merlin


we picked up merlin at the slaughter house today. our life is full of paradoxes. i couldn't work for bob last week because my injured leg wouldn't allow. so that put us into a financial crunch that was exacerbated by needing a new faucet in the kitchen. our old one fell into pieces and was not reparable nor usable. tuesday we went to lowes and bought a new faucet that i promptly installed. that check for the faucet was going to put us over the available balance. so, friday i came home from work and grabbed all the change in the house and took it to deposit in the bank. kassi and tristan needed to come also--the bank has a popcorn machine. the bankers all loved the kids and fun was had by everyone. i narrowly averted an overdraft with pocket change to spare. the paradox is that we picked up merlin and are eating like kings. we are broke, broke, broke but gorgeing ourselves on grassfed, naturally grown porter-house steaks. our huge freezer is almost not able to close with the all that beef.

the kids loved the steak even toly. tristan asked several questions about how merlin was killed. we explained everything several times and he understood. he really needed to get his mind wrapped around the whole thing better. kassi and tristan each ate an entire porter-house


steak--toly mostly sucked the bones. i thought toly was going to throw a conniption when he momentarily dropped his precious bone.


tabitha and i took a walk after supper. we like to walk around the farmstead and bask in the accomplishments and make strategies for the immediate future. tomorrow morning we will finish planting tomatoes. we have fifteen or so planted and have many more to plant tomorrow. in the afternoon i'll work on the calf pen more. it needs a partial roof over the back corner and the front gate. these are both things we can do without spending any money and are needed to be finished almost as badly as the root-cellar/storm-shelter. i need to purchase a load of chat to finish the cellar/shelter. if it weren't for my stupid leg injury i'd be probably finishing it up tomorrow. safety from the impending spring storms plagues me but things happen as they should. if i have time tomorrow evening i'll build new compost bins. i need a few pallets, tom has some laying around that i'll ask him about when the time comes.

i scattered about 2 yards of composted manure in the garden. the soil is looking so good right now. we have such high hopes for our garden this year.

7 comments:

Phoebe said...

Looks very tasty. Was it strange at all?

Reckon somebody woulda ate him, why the hell not you guys!

Anonymous said...

Welcome home, Merlin! You look delicious! Y'll better send, or save me a steak!

Anonymous said...

Sounds delicious!! What a neat full circle.

Danielle said...

Wandering and visioning and planning and basking is one of our favorite things to do! Feeds the soul.

Glad Merlin's so tasty. A full freezer and a family is rich no matter what's in the bank!

Off to eat some homemade donuts...

Omelay said...

phoebe, not strange in the slightest for me. i don't really take issue with that kind of stuff anyway. i'm glad we are the ones eating him because we know what he ate--grass and alfalfa. if everything in our food chain eats what they naturally eat and live full rich lives i feel better about it all.

uncle matt, you'd better get your but on a road trip.

rebekah, thanks we see it that way too. plus, it is a good example for the kids.

danielle, i look forward to see your exploits at your new farmstead. congratulations

Danielle said...

It was I, the other Danielle, who recently upgraded to the new blogger and lost my whole profile. Oh well, it was time for a new photo.

Touch the Earth Farm

Lafianza.doula said...

That was a lovely post! I so often feel so poor yet we eat "like kings". but for us it is different. our goal is a small farmstead but not yet as we can't afford it. for now we put a good majority of our money to buy grasfed meats and raw dairies from an amish farmer we know close by. if i can't have my own animals, I will give my money to someone who can raise that was. it's so very important to me... even if it means we have nothing else to say for all our hardwork. it's sad to me that people put food at the bottom of their priorities...

you will never regret keeing your priorities straight.

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