This morning, I sat down and had bacon and eggs for breakfast made entirely from our farm animals: eggs from our chickens, bacon from our pigs. This took food to a whole new level of appreciation. So I thought I would share some of my thoughts on this journey of rediscovering my relationship with nature, on eating real foods, and being self-sustaining.
I grew up in Romania, and my first few years were spent on my grandparents' farm surrounded by animals, gardens and orchards. The love for nature I developed during that time followed me later on as I bounced from one city to the next pursuing my education (New York, Boston, Manchester, etc.). Last year, my wife Sarah and I with our kids (Sofia and Tess) and her family were able to come together and buy a house in Henniker, New Hampshire with 7 acres of land. My dream for building a farm became reality at that point.
We started in June 2011 with 2 goats and 9 chickens (Araucanas). I converted a wood shed into a small barn. I built in partitions to accommodate a small chicken coop inside, as well as the goats pen. I remember working for 30 minutes every evening after dinner and before putting our girls to bed. I never built anything like that before in my life. I kept telling myself: "It's just a barn. As long as the animals are happy and safe in there, it doesn't have to be fancy." So I followed the old NIKE add: "Just do it!" One day I was driving home from work and Sarah called me up and said "I hope your barn is ready 'cause we have 2 goats coming in today!". And that's how it all started. We let our daughter Sofia named them, and she chose Fiona and Faline. We are lucky enough to have our neighbor just a few houses down the road with a goat dairy farm, so we were able to get our goats right from the farm.
As the time went by we added 2 sheep (from another neighbor), 2 pigs and 125 chickens. All of a sudden our farm became an explosion of life. Our animals receive the best treatment we could think of. Our chickens (Buff Orpingtons - dual purpose: layers and broilers; also very gentle, great with kids) are literally free range without any kind of fencing. I build a coop on top of an old flat bed trailer and move them around the pasture to encourage fresh and even grazing. Our other animals get moved on a regular basis with electric fences.
As I was reading on different ways of farming, I came upon some of Joel Salatin's books that mention rotational grazing. It seemed like a great idea and a win-win overall for both animals and our land. The goats and sheep ate the taller grass and some of the weeds (especially the goats), the chickens came from behind enjoying the shorter grass and the larvae around the ruminants' droppings, also enriching the soil with their own rich in nitrogen manure. The pigs simply enjoyed helping me clear the land for next year (for pasture, or gardens, or a small orchard).
Seeing the happiness of these animals as they flapped their wings freely, pranced about jumping on rocks, or simply dove into a mud pond on hot summer days, filled my heart with joy. As we added these animals into our lives we also increased our workload, but the reward was always surpassing.
Soon we started getting milk from our goats (we even tried some sheep's milk which I love but the process of milking was a bit too strenuous). Even now we continue to experiment with cheeses. Our chickens started laying eggs and soon we got more than we could eat. So I put up a "fresh eggs" sign and started selling them to our neighbors. This by the way proves to be a great community builder. It's a great way to meet new people in the area and make new friendships. Not to boast, but they are very happy to eat eggs that are close to home and by far exceed the ones from a supermarket in both taste and nutrients.
Two days ago, I butchered our pigs and we were able to get a lot of meat. I really wanted to learn how to do it at home and not have to send them to a butcher. So I invited everyone I knew hoping someone would have a clue, and I realized that butchering at home is a lost art. I read and I looked at videos online, asked around. A few weeks ago I did some of our chickens and roosters too. Also one of our lambs died so I had 1 hour to skin him before it got dark (necessity is a great motivator).
My brother-in-law Dany and his wife Rachel as well as 3 other friends came for the event of pig butchering. One of my neighbors was kind enough to bring his tractor (to lift the pig once killed, and for easier gutting). With very little knowledge but a strong desire to learn we started the whole operation. It took us 6 1/2 hours to do both pigs from the live pig to the individual pork chops, bacon, sausage, hams, etc. I was very impressed with our work!! Most of the cuts we knew what they were, but the ones we didn't we put them in the sausage container. Either way we made use of as much meat as we could. The fat we rendered into lard.
We started curing it with salt as we went along. The next day however I got a bit impatient and jumped the gun. I set up a smoke house outside and little smoked all the hams and bacon. Later I read some articles that said you have to let it cure with salt for at least a few days even up to a month before you attempt to smoke it. Oh well! I guess you live and learn. Hope it doesn't go bad on us! Now we have it back in the salt bin and keeping it cool (the smoky flavor is there still and it is quite irresistible).
As I was telling my daughter Sofia the day before butchering the pigs: "We gave these pigs a wonderful life, a lot of space to run around and play, warm shelter, delicious scraps, and in return they thank us by providing us with all this meat". She got it without hesitation. We thanked John Smith and Pocahontas one last time as we played with their ears and ran around with them (I always let our kids name our animals; I think it's an important lesson in forming friendships and letting go. They never really attempted to name all 125 chickens though...). By the way, our pigs were both females, but I decided not to argue with their choices for names.
I will try to post some pictures too from our adventures on our Shaker Hill Farm in Henniker NH!
