Friendsgiving and a Postscript

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we celebrated Friendsgiving with friends old and new. It was simply lovely, and the first of what I hope will become an annual tradition.

(That's me and Jake with the 30 pound turducken! Whether the deliciousness was worth the work is up in the air- thanks to A & B for their late-night poultry-boning skills.)

Thanks to A for the photos!

One last thing I'm thankful for... my awesome dad. He has been working hard on the Recall Walker campaign in Madison these past two weeks, collecting and reviewing signatures for United Wisconsin. My birthday present from him was an all-inclusive set of Recall propaganda- this yard sign, some bumper stickers, some buttons, and a t-shirt!
Wisconsonites- let's do this!

"Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."

Garrison Keillor signs off with that phrase each Saturday night at the close of his Prairie Home Companion radio show. I grew up listening to that gravelly-smooth voice, and was excited to receive tickets to PHC as my 32nd birthday present on Saturday morning from Jake.

This Thanksgiving weekend was marked by wellness and good work. Our house was full of family- my sister, her husband, and our two neices, my mom and dad, my grandpa, and my aunt and uncle. Not ones to while away the daylight hours, they helped us fell trees and split logs and stack firewood and button up this wee farm for winter. The long dark evenings were spent playing cards and board games, and eating, of course.

The weekend leaves me feeling immensely thankful for my family, my kind and earnest husband, our warm and comforting home, and a life that challenges and amazes me at every turn.

Goosed

Twice in the last two weeks I've been SHOCKED! and APPALLED! to discover that someone had been attempting to peel off my giant "Recall Walker" sticker while my car has been parked in the school parking lot.

Then I discovered little torn off pieces in my own driveway, and one stuck to the bill of one of the geese. I can't tell if they're male or female, but I guess they're republicans.

The first November weekend

Not everyone would have accepted an invitation to a weekend of butchery, but my old friend Gavin and his lovely lady Erin did. With each go at this- and this was our third - we've perfected our method, but this time, with the addition of loppers like these added to our tool set, we efficiently slaughtered and processed 24 chickens and 1 duck. We worked until dark, and then we went out for margaritas.

Today, we toured the gorgeous acreage they're looking at in the area. We're thrilled at the prospect of new neighbors!

And... the DUCK. We ended up with three more drakes than we wanted, and although ducks are the cutest and most loveable of all poultry, reading Novella Carpenter of Ghost Town Farm's book this summer, along with some recent enthusastic discussions about duck confit inspired me to attempt a duck slaughter. I should have researched a bit more beforehand- the plucking took a very long time. Probably 3 hours to do an imperfect job... something I read online suggested dipping the carcass in hot water with melted paraffin- next time. That said, my man Mark Bittman
helped me figure out how to roast it with some potatoes and make a honey/cider/pear glaze for finishing, and its all currently in the oven and smelling divine.

Happy Halloween!

Despite the welcome squashes at the doorstep, these were our only trick or treaters tonight:

I got home with some daylight to spare today, with an itch for something warm and cozy to eat on a dark and chilly evening.

Potatoes from the root cellar:

...and kale from the garden:

Colcannon! With a side of kraut.

Colcannon, my cookbook says, is a traditional Irish dish especially associated with Hallowe'en, when it is likely to be made with curly kale and would have a ring hidden in it- predicting marriage during the coming year to the person who found it. Also served throughout the winter, using green cabbage.

We make it a lot around here... easy hearty big-batch food, good for leftovers. No jack-o-lanterns here tonight, but a boston marrow squash pie is in the oven. O, Fall!

Colcannon

Serves 3-4 as a main dish; 6-8 as an accompaniment
1 # potatoes, boiled
1 # kale or cabbage, cooked
milk, if necessary
2 tbsp butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
salt and ground black pepper

Mash the potatoes. Chop the kale or cabbage, add it to the potatoes and mix. Stir in a little milk if the mash is too stiff.
Melt a little butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion. Cook until softened. Remove and mix well with the potato and kale or cabbage.
Add the remainder of the butter to the hot pan. When very hot, turn the potato mixture on to the pan and spread it out. Fry until brown, then cut it roughly into pieces and continue frying until they are crisp and brown.
From The Irish Heritage Cookbook by Biddy White Lennon and Georgina Campbell

Gifts from my Mil

My special name for Jake's mom is Mil, an initialism of Mother-in-law. Jake's dad is Fil, and they call me Dil. Jake's sister and I are Sils. My sister calls Jake Bil. Its fun: code names for the marrieds.

I've received a few gifts from my Mil lately. Among them, this fedora:

which will help me look awesome at an undetermined future time and place,
and this smusher thing, which she said belonged to her mother, my Gil, Inez.

This contraption made easy work of mashing the two bushels or so of apples I smuggled off of lonely roadside apple trees over the past few weeks.

And now, my pantry looks like this!

It will defeat the purpose of all that canning to not eat the stuff, but I also really like just looking at them!

A Perfect Autumn Weekend

My parents came to visit over the weekend, and helped us clear out the garden and make applesauce, a second batch of sauerkraut, and piccalilli- a green tomato relish. We hiked up the ridge, enjoyed a roasted chicken supper outside last night, and watched the big moon rise.
This morning, they dropped Jake and Echo and I off with their We-no-nah canoe at bridge 14, and we spent a lovely few hours enjoying the river, and watching flutter down from trees and into the current on this gorgeous fall day. We had the river to ourselves... almost.

Thanks, mom and dad!