Circle M Farm

Michael Perry kicks off his memoir Truck: A Love Story on a pile of sheep manure the size of a yurt. Then Chapter 2 begins with an absolutely delectable recipe. This method of making tomato sauce and stock is attributed to Tom Colicchio’s Think Like a Chef a few pages later, but here is Perry’s version:

I roasted [the tomatoes] in a deep pan with salt, olive oil, cloves of unshucked garlic, and sprigs of thyme. You ladle off the juice every twenty minutes or so and freeze it for a sweet, delicate stock best consumed during snowstorms. The residual pulp gathers body from the garlic and spirit from the thyme. The spent garlic, when squeezed warmly from its husk directly upon your tongue, will slacken your face and make you shimmy.

My gosh! I know it’s January and I lost a whole season of fresh tomatoes to late blight this past summer, but I’d just about give an entire chest freezer of pork and beef to be able to make that right now.

This being my first official day of winter (the final work of fall feels to us as though it rolls on, building in intensity, until the tremendous release of Christmas Day – meat harvested, meat delivered, presents made, presents finally opened ), I’ve just woken up, made the fire and thrown myself onto a couch nearby to snuggle up for a delicious read. The book I’ve chosen for this special morning is, finally, Michael Perry’s Truck: A Love Story. This book has been so often recommended to me over the past few years, I feel like I’m in the closing scene of a romantic comedy with the boy next door I stubbornly ignored but everyone knew was perfect for me. continued »

Here is the 2009 version of the Circle M chicken tractor design. Aren’t these pretty? For better or worse, one of our main criteria for shelters is that they have to not only function efficiently, they also have to look good and blend in with the old structures that are here on the farm. We’ve built new chicken housing for each of the five years we’ve been here, and each time we’ve learned from our mistakes. I think we’ve succeeded with the aesthetics this time, and we’ll soon see if they work the way we hope they will… continued »

Happy Spring! This year the first day of spring appears to be rather a mixed bag of seasonal messages. The temperature is not to reach 50 today, but the sun is out sporadically and the ground is more or less thawed. Returning sandhill cranes have been squawking overhead for about a week, Canadian geese have in the past few days taken up residence in our neighbor’s soggy field next door and spring peepers have started singing in Madison, though we are still waiting to hear them in our slough. Perhaps the most sure sign that we’ve turned the corner from winter is that our chickens, ducks and goose are finally starting to lay in earnest. Eggs are back! continued »

“A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish…” I love these words from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. While I’m mindful that, in context, these words have to do with world-changing themes of justice, redemption and the nature of Jesus Christ, I can’t help but feel them directed toward myself today. Yesterday afternoon I found two just-born lambs in the corner of the little stone barn – healthy, beautiful and happily tagging along behind their attentive mama. What a relief after the sheep defeats we’ve had these past few weeks! Baby that I am, I don’t think I could have mentally taken another bad experience. continued »

We almost lost Bounce this week. continued »

This first month of the year has already brought some difficult defeats and some wonderful victories. The sweetest victory is named Bounce, and he lives in front of our fire. He’s a tiny bottle lamb, born a month later than he was scheduled and in a far colder month than expected. My son Eli found him on a subzero morning last week at chore time, frozen to the ground in his own birth fluids, cold and unmoving. Nevertheless, when Eli touched him, the lamb was still alive and cried out gustily. Newborn lambs, before they are fed, have surprisingly capable lungs and bawl insistently if separated from their mothers. That’s how Eli found the second one, Bounce’s twin sister, who was up and running in circles, in pursuit of her absolutely oblivious mom, Lena. continued »

Our favorite winter proverb around here is “When life hands you cold, make something hot in the kitchen.” A cake or pie is always nice baking in the oven, but to really warm the house up on a miserable morning my hands-down favorite strategy is to make stock. Simmering on top of the stove for most of the day, the magical pot produces humidity, fragrance and the promise of a delicious soup or sauce when all of the flavor is at last distilled. continued »

My name is Kriss Marion. And I’m an addict. continued »

When Thanksgiving is as warm, sunny and in every way gorgeous as this one was, it’s easy to get into the spirit of gratefulness. This year I was especially thankful that we had another balmy 10 hours to get more winterizing done in the gardens and paddocks, and I was also thankful that while Shannon and the boys were outside doing that, I was inside making dinner out of my fabulous new cookbook, “The Joy of Cooking.” continued »