nimue our milk cow had a calf merlin. he was full blood jersey and had horns. we didn't castrate him because it seemed a little too violent. he shared milk with us. we got the morning milking after he'd been locked up all night. merlin got everything else. nimue wouldn't let her cream down for us, she'd save it for merlin. it was a constant battle for tabitha until we weaned him. then we got a real taste for what having fresh jersey milk is all about. merlin became uncontrollable and we opted to have him live with mikes cows. mike fed him out on alfalfa and grain with his other cows that were queued to go to slaughter.
during his stay with mike we visited him and told the kids that he'd be merlin burgers and all other manner of beef we were going to eat. they warmed to the idea and our visits to visit merlin became less frequent. when the "big day" came (slaughter day) no tears were shed and everyone looked forward to merlin burgers and beef. tonights dinner was beef short ribs--merlin style.
dinner
bbq beef short ribs (merlin 0 miles)
cantaloupe (cousin bruce 2 miles)
sliced tomatoes (our garden 0 miles)
fresh milk (nimue 0 miles)
pickled beets (our garden 0 miles)
more than 100 miles
bbq sauce (st louis, mo)
crappy beer (st louis, mo)
an appetizer of pico de gallo and chips. the pico was local and made by me. the chips were organic and petrol imported.
we picked the rest of the onions from the garden this evening. we also pulled tons of weeds that had overgrown that area. we'll till and plant some more herbs in that area. we already have a healthy stand of basil and some mint at the southern end of that sliver of the garden. we need more cilantro our salsa will suffer unless we take drastic measures. store bought cilantro just doesn't feel the same.
chicken ex-tainment is mostly successful. we have one small chink in the armor. i'll make the necessary repairs tomorrow and monitor for further breeches. on other chicken news our new girls (the austrolorps) are laying and i'm well impressed--they are three weeks early for their breed. henny penny sally is getting broody again and is looking for a clutch. we might let her set another clutch and give some of the brood to bob. he is looking for some girls to keep his guineas home and lay an egg or two once in a while.
just a few photos of the kids
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| 7-27-07 |
1 comment:
Ribs look good - I need to make some. Saw your comments over at my blog, we've been on vacation. What kind of advice were you looking for regarding Local Harvest? Our listing is here.
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