happy new year, here's some ammonia treated beef.

Right here.

holiday.

happy near Thanksgiving.

over this week, Amtrak will sell over seven tons of turkey on its trains.

wow.

farming and kansas in the news.

what more could i ask for?

NPR continues its streak of featuring farmers and ag. news with a profile on Wes Jackson of The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas.

nice!

apple pie, unsuccessful but still delicious.

after seeing a flyer around chicago a few weeks ago, i decided to enter the Bucktown Apple Pie Baking Contest.

this required that i learn how to bake an apple pie. i asked for the advice from friends and family, and baked several test pies.

in one trial pie, i took sam's suggestion. i added a finely chopped habanero pepper minus the seeds. the result was fantastic. so so delicious. spicy, peppery, sweet. really really good.

however, i settled on something more traditional for the contest:

here's my basic recipe:

--

Crust:
1 c. flour
1/3 c. butter
1/2 t. salt
2 1/3 T. water

mix flour, butter and salt until it pearls (forms into small, pearl-sized balls).
add in water, lightly. don't over work it.
form into a ball and refrigerate while you work on the filling.

double the recipe above if you want a top crust. i did.

Filling:
5 medium-sized northern spy pples, thinly sliced
1/3 to 1/2 c. sugar
1 t. lemon juice
1 shake of cinnamon
half shake of ground cloves
half shake of ginger
1 glug of vanilla
1 T. flour
2 T. butter

mix apples, sugar, lemon, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, vanilla.
somehow resist not eating the entire bowl of spiced, sugared, vanillaed apples. delicious.
let rest for 10 mins.
mix in flour for thickness.

Construction:
roll ball of dough out thinly on counter.
turn dough into greased pie pan.
trim any excess and add to the top crust ball waiting in the fridge.
fill with filling. really fill. over fill. mound. the apples will cook down.
dollop butter from filling ingredients list on top of filling
roll second ball of dough thinly on counter.
lay crust on top. crimp edges together. poke a few holes to let steam out.
bake for 60 t0 70 mins at 375.

if the edges of your crust start to burn, cover them in foil.

--

two other notes:

1. the apple you select absolutely matters.

the apple should be tart and flavorful. typical apples - particularly red delicious - will melt away and leave you with over sweet apple mush. not good.
i settled on northern spy apples from michigan that i got at the farmer's market.

i had been using granny smiths but so many of them that you get in the grocery store are tasteless. while cooking with the northern spies, i cut up a granny smith to snack on. after eating the northern spy, the granny smith tasted, literally, like trash. crunchy, bland, trash apple.

the lesson: sample your apples, demand more from them.

2. i dressed up the top crust by constructing a lattice and then topping that with an apple cut out.

the lesson: presentation matters.

the result, which i named "humble pie," is below:


and me, excited with all the apples and pies, on the stairs at the contest.


fun time.

farmers on npr.

National Public Radio has had a number of compelling and interesting stories on farmers in the last week.

The best, called Five Farms, is airing on Here and Now. They conduct long and detailed interviews with five different farm families, one each day this week. It is wonderful and provides a great cross-sectional view of farming across regions, races, and farming styles.

Another notable story, titled Hispanic Farmers Fight to Sue USDA, is about the struggle between Hispanic farmers and the USDA.

check 'em out.

kankakee

after relocating to chicago from austin, the urban-ness began to get to me. so i picked a state park off my map of illinois and djt and i headed out. we visited kankakee river state park.

hiked around a bit, played in the river shallows. it was nice escape.



saw what looks to me like a heron, but were too far away for any accurate identification.


chased crawfish!
geese!and, on the drive home, stopped and had a hot dog based solely on this sign.

leaving a mark.

as i start to make plans to leave austin, i want to leave something permanent behind.

the retamas out front are one of my favorite parts of the place. they drop seeds and a bunch pop up all over. a few weeks ago, moved one out to a spot in the side yard and have been tending it since.


despite planting against the seasons - it's not a good idea to start anything outside in the middle of july in texas - it seems to be doing well. after a few weeks, it's almost doubled in size.


hopefully, in a few years, i'll be able to come back and see it in bloom.