Pork and deer sausage being smoked!
Yes, we are alive and well on the Callens Farm! After a quick trip out to Wyoming this past weekend and having a few close calls, snow related experiences, we spent the entire day making sausage. Nothing like jumping right back into things after a little road trip!
Sausage ready for the smoker. Isn’t it lovely?
We made 175 pounds of sausage and tomorrow we will finish up with the rest of it. It was a blessing to have Alan Ferber out to the farm to teach us some of his sausage making expertise, having spent some 50 years in the meat processing business. What a guy who is full of great knowledge and tips.
Mario, Silvana and Marisa with our new Sausage press. Works like a dream!
Today we made Pepperoni sausage. I’ll let you know if it tastes anything like the town stuff. I have my doubts, but you never know! We also made some other kind of spicy sausage or Slim Jim mix. It tastes pretty good but could be a bit spicier in my opinion. We froze 25 pounds of fresh Brat Jalapeno sausage to make into patties later. Now THAT WAS spicy enough for me. Tomorrow we plan on making more pepperoni and some traditional Summer Sausage. First though, we are butchering two hogs for a neighbor.
Fred, Marisa and Silvana getting the sausage ready for the stuffing process.
Alan gives Silvana her first sausage stuffing lesson on our new stuffer. He used to own a butcher shop out in Wyoming!
Silvana and Marisa stuffing sausages. On top hanging are some of the smoked sausages.
Rick Fonder, our Organic Valley Dairy farmer friend stopped over after a farm sale. If you stop over at our place, you will most likely be put to work! Fred is in the back grinning.
Fred and Alan carrying out a load of sausages to be cooked in the smoker.
Farm yard setting adds to the beauty of it all!
The smoke from Apple wood along with Hickory chips makes for a delicious aroma. Got smoke??
The sausages are around 2# each but if I had it to do over, I’d have ordered the 20 inch length. As it is though, I’ve 500 casings to use up which sounds like plenty but isn’t really that much considering how much they hold. Tomorrow I am guessing we will be doing another 200 #. I really enjoyed learning so much from Alan and he has so many tricks that are well worth remembering. It’s nice when the older generation cares enough to pass on lost arts to the younger generation, don’t you think?
Maggie prepared a hearty and delicious meal for everyone. It was biscuits and sausage gravy with Apple Dapple cake. I heard it was excellent, having actually missed it in order to keep the meat grinder going. So happy my girls are wonderfully capable in the kitchen! That’s one thing mothers of young children have to look forward to, older children who grow up in to fabulous cooks and bakers. Among other things………… of course!
Frenchy got a nice buck; Maggie got 2 does and we were also given a couple of bucks from some generous neighbors, which are now part of some very tasty sausage recipes.
On to other news……Thursday Marisa and Fred dug up the last of the garden goodies. There were carrots and parsnips that needed to come in. If you have never grown parsnips, you really need to give them a try. I have eaten them only once prepared by MaryAnn Duppong for us during their cattle drive out in North Dakota. They made a big impression on us and I knew we had to start growing them on our farm.
Carrots fresh from the garden in November.
Popcorn graces our front porch. Yummy!!
We had a great garden year and have plenty of food put up for the winter. Our popcorn crop was amazing! Talk about fresh! This stuff is delicious topped with home-made butter and sea salt. You can keep the cheese Doritos! You know, the ones with the ingredient label which is three inches long, full of things I cannot pronounce. It really does matter what we eat. Grow what you eat and eat what you grow. No matter where you call home, try to grow what you can.
Life is good by golly. I bet you already know that!
Me and all of my grand children. All because two people fell in love!!!!!
CALLENS HONEY FARM 