Thursday, November 16, 2006
a not-so-successful adventure (1).
so i've mentioned this half hog briefly before, but i thought that i'd take the time to explain further what the heck is going on, and then segue into my not-that-awesome banana flower story.
let me back up a little bit though. this past summer, cavin and i were part of a csa (community supported agriculture) subscription where for 20 weeks, we got all of our veggies from bull run farm in virginia, about 40 or so miles from our beloved (but cramped) tiny apartment in dc. (for a 2-person share, 20 weeks of veggies was $420, and i should note that each week we would just have to go to dupont circle to pick up our veggies, and they would usually last us more than a week, so we were always in abundance of fresh vegetables.) leigh, our farmer, shared with all his subscription members some of the honey he raised from his worker honey bees, the black walnuts that had fallen from his trees, extra seedlings from the greenhouse that did not make it into his garden plots, and of course, the source of his protein.
leigh usually goes to a butcher close to his house. he sent out an email asking if any of us wanted to put an order in for meat. the choices were 1)half hog 2)whole hog 3)quarter cow 4)half cow 5)whole cow. after discussing with family members ("your tito tony wants beef! what are you going to do with all that pork! can you order the beef AND the pork?"), cavin and i decided on the half hog (~90lbs) because we wanted to participate, and i think eating over 100 lbs of red meat in a year or so might be a little bit hazardous to our health. plus, since this is just the first time, and because the butcher isn't some guy who does this in his kitchen, we can always order from the establishment in the future if all goes well.
we were told to fill out a cut sheet for the half hog (i finally understand that saying "go whole hog" now!) and return it to him about a month before the little piggy cried all the way home to our freezer. i don't know if you have ever filled one of these out, but let's just say it's not the same as going to your grocery store or meat market and picking out pork chops, ribs, shoulder, etc. we had to specify if we wanted the front shoulder as steaks or roast (boston butt) [we chose the latter for braising purposes]. do we want pork chops or pork loin, and if pork chops, how thick do we want the chops? whole side or short ribs? plus a plethora of other specifications. cavin and i got a good lesson in the different cuts of pork, though we were still a little bit unclear about the ribs so we checked both boxes (whole side AND short ribs), but someone from the butcher called cavin earlier this week and told him it's either or, not and. so he picked the short ribs, and now i'm curious to see if pork short ribs are similar to beef short ribs (i.e. cut across the rib bones).
anyway, leigh is great and even set the pick up for us: he would pick up everyone's order, bring it back to the farm for everyone to pick up on saturday, november 11, instead of everyone having to drive out to the butcher, where we don't really know where it is.
saturday morning came, and our plan was set in motion. we didn't want to go out and buy a large cooler because we wouldn't have space for it in the apartment, so our workaround was to use one of those many gallon tupperware containers that we had used for moving, clean it out, line it with bags, drive to the farm stopping by sheetz for ice, stuffing it full of our pork (which he mentioned would be vacuum-sealed and frozen), and then drive straight to philly to hand out our pork presents to the fam.
it was a great day, not just weather-wise, but also driving-wise. we usually take 66W out there, and the road is always chaotic. the last time we drove out to the farm to pick our pumpkins and glean the fields (we ended up with so much freaking eggplant and peppers, it was awesome) it took us over an hour because of all the jerks on the road. but this time, it was like no one was out driving, and those that were knew how to avoid causing traffic. (don't break! decelerate by letting go of the gas, man!)
we stopped at the sheetz, picked up a bag of ice, and drove the few miles down to the farm. everything was going as planned, or so we thought. the farm is on a road that doesn't see many cars go on it, except for those who live in the woods back there. the road is not paved and only one vehicle can go down it at a time, so if you are in a situation where another car is coming, one of you needs to pull over onto the side of the road (aka the woods) to let the other car go by, which is something that frequently happens on our previous visits to the farm. but something was suspect this time around: no cars were passing us on the road. in fact, it was quite dead. so as we pulled into the long driveway up to the house, we knew something wasn't right. we only saw one other car and two ladies walking on the road by the chicken/hen/turkey house. that's it. and we weren't there early either.
we pull up and leigh is not outside. his white van is parked neatly near the house, and finally after we park, we see him coming outside. he greets us and tells us that it wasn't ready when he went to the butcher earlier that morning. (!?!?) because the day before was a holiday (veterans day), usda didn't go to the butcher to inspect the meat, thus, they did no butchering and the meat wouldn't be ready until a week later! AGH!
so that was that. what else could we do? leigh said there were some apples left and we could help ourselves (which we did, because we needed fruit for lunch and i didn't want to drive all the way out there and come back empty handed). because of the weather, he said that most of the veggies that were still growing out in the fields died, so there wasn't much else but sorrel, and i wasn't feeling the sorrel this time around, so we passed on the sorrel, and then we drove back.
i called my mom and told her we wouldn't be coming, even though 2 hours before that i said we'd be in philly in the afternoon. i think she was a little bit disappointed because she was looking forward to seeing what this half hog business was about. i was also a little bit disappointed not only because we drove out there and didn't have the pork, but also because i wanted to go back to philly to see my parents, especially because my dad is now back at work, and my mom is recuperating from her meniscoscopy (sp?). but i guess i'll just have to wait one more week (actually, 3 more days).
...which leads me to the banana flower (see part 2).
let me back up a little bit though. this past summer, cavin and i were part of a csa (community supported agriculture) subscription where for 20 weeks, we got all of our veggies from bull run farm in virginia, about 40 or so miles from our beloved (but cramped) tiny apartment in dc. (for a 2-person share, 20 weeks of veggies was $420, and i should note that each week we would just have to go to dupont circle to pick up our veggies, and they would usually last us more than a week, so we were always in abundance of fresh vegetables.) leigh, our farmer, shared with all his subscription members some of the honey he raised from his worker honey bees, the black walnuts that had fallen from his trees, extra seedlings from the greenhouse that did not make it into his garden plots, and of course, the source of his protein.
leigh usually goes to a butcher close to his house. he sent out an email asking if any of us wanted to put an order in for meat. the choices were 1)half hog 2)whole hog 3)quarter cow 4)half cow 5)whole cow. after discussing with family members ("your tito tony wants beef! what are you going to do with all that pork! can you order the beef AND the pork?"), cavin and i decided on the half hog (~90lbs) because we wanted to participate, and i think eating over 100 lbs of red meat in a year or so might be a little bit hazardous to our health. plus, since this is just the first time, and because the butcher isn't some guy who does this in his kitchen, we can always order from the establishment in the future if all goes well.
we were told to fill out a cut sheet for the half hog (i finally understand that saying "go whole hog" now!) and return it to him about a month before the little piggy cried all the way home to our freezer. i don't know if you have ever filled one of these out, but let's just say it's not the same as going to your grocery store or meat market and picking out pork chops, ribs, shoulder, etc. we had to specify if we wanted the front shoulder as steaks or roast (boston butt) [we chose the latter for braising purposes]. do we want pork chops or pork loin, and if pork chops, how thick do we want the chops? whole side or short ribs? plus a plethora of other specifications. cavin and i got a good lesson in the different cuts of pork, though we were still a little bit unclear about the ribs so we checked both boxes (whole side AND short ribs), but someone from the butcher called cavin earlier this week and told him it's either or, not and. so he picked the short ribs, and now i'm curious to see if pork short ribs are similar to beef short ribs (i.e. cut across the rib bones).
anyway, leigh is great and even set the pick up for us: he would pick up everyone's order, bring it back to the farm for everyone to pick up on saturday, november 11, instead of everyone having to drive out to the butcher, where we don't really know where it is.
saturday morning came, and our plan was set in motion. we didn't want to go out and buy a large cooler because we wouldn't have space for it in the apartment, so our workaround was to use one of those many gallon tupperware containers that we had used for moving, clean it out, line it with bags, drive to the farm stopping by sheetz for ice, stuffing it full of our pork (which he mentioned would be vacuum-sealed and frozen), and then drive straight to philly to hand out our pork presents to the fam.
it was a great day, not just weather-wise, but also driving-wise. we usually take 66W out there, and the road is always chaotic. the last time we drove out to the farm to pick our pumpkins and glean the fields (we ended up with so much freaking eggplant and peppers, it was awesome) it took us over an hour because of all the jerks on the road. but this time, it was like no one was out driving, and those that were knew how to avoid causing traffic. (don't break! decelerate by letting go of the gas, man!)
we stopped at the sheetz, picked up a bag of ice, and drove the few miles down to the farm. everything was going as planned, or so we thought. the farm is on a road that doesn't see many cars go on it, except for those who live in the woods back there. the road is not paved and only one vehicle can go down it at a time, so if you are in a situation where another car is coming, one of you needs to pull over onto the side of the road (aka the woods) to let the other car go by, which is something that frequently happens on our previous visits to the farm. but something was suspect this time around: no cars were passing us on the road. in fact, it was quite dead. so as we pulled into the long driveway up to the house, we knew something wasn't right. we only saw one other car and two ladies walking on the road by the chicken/hen/turkey house. that's it. and we weren't there early either.
we pull up and leigh is not outside. his white van is parked neatly near the house, and finally after we park, we see him coming outside. he greets us and tells us that it wasn't ready when he went to the butcher earlier that morning. (!?!?) because the day before was a holiday (veterans day), usda didn't go to the butcher to inspect the meat, thus, they did no butchering and the meat wouldn't be ready until a week later! AGH!
so that was that. what else could we do? leigh said there were some apples left and we could help ourselves (which we did, because we needed fruit for lunch and i didn't want to drive all the way out there and come back empty handed). because of the weather, he said that most of the veggies that were still growing out in the fields died, so there wasn't much else but sorrel, and i wasn't feeling the sorrel this time around, so we passed on the sorrel, and then we drove back.
i called my mom and told her we wouldn't be coming, even though 2 hours before that i said we'd be in philly in the afternoon. i think she was a little bit disappointed because she was looking forward to seeing what this half hog business was about. i was also a little bit disappointed not only because we drove out there and didn't have the pork, but also because i wanted to go back to philly to see my parents, especially because my dad is now back at work, and my mom is recuperating from her meniscoscopy (sp?). but i guess i'll just have to wait one more week (actually, 3 more days).
...which leads me to the banana flower (see part 2).
2 Comments:
Anonymous said...
Actually, the pork isn't from the butcher. They're just doing the butchering. But looking back in the emails from Leigh, there isn't any specific information on where the hogs are from, except "Susannah". I guess we can ask on Saturday.
kalat-o-scope said...
so, basically, the pork could be virginia backroads road kill? awesome.