Interesting piece in this morning’s Billings Gazette about Hutterite Turkeys. The “Hoots” as they’re colloquially known, cut back on turkey production this year fearing that their premium birds wouldn’t sell in the recession, but they’re finding the opposite is true, and now there’s a run on Hutterite birds: “Foodies have driven up the demand for the fresh birds, which can cost more — $1.70 a pound versus $1.29 a pound for a pre-sale frozen turkey. It doesn’t hurt that the birds have a back story, raised in rural Montana by pacifists observing 16th-century Anabaptist principles while operating some of the…
-
-
Cormac McCarthy, who is famously reticent was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal last week. It’s a terrific interview. Here’s one of my favorite parts: “WSJ: What does your brother Dennis do? Is he a scientist? CM: He is. He has a doctorate in biology and he’s also a lawyer and a thoughtful guy and a good friend. WSJ: Brotherly conversation just turns to the apocalypse? CM: More often than we can justify.”
-
Hi everyone — I’m on a bit of a blogging break still. There are changes afoot here at LivingSmall, and I’ll be back, but for now, I need a little time to rethink the blog, my schedule, etc … You can keep up with me on Facebook (just sent me a Friend invite) or on Twitter at #cmf406.
-
Check out my new piece at Ethicurean.com. Pets vs. Livestock: Cracking Open the Myths about Backyard Chickens. “Last spring I decided that this was the year I was going to finally get some chickens. On a snowy Saturday in March I brought home six tiny cheepers that I bought at my local ranch store in Livingston, Montana. Two of them died right off, which didn’t entirely surprise me: those fluffballs didn’t look like they’d really committed to life on the planet. … “ Keep reading by clicking here.
-
Still trying to figure out how to balance blog, freelance deadlines, family stuff, chickens, and my own writing. So, I’m the lame blogger. I promise I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, all is well, I’m just a little swamped.
-
Well, that was unexpected. I had a girlfriend in town last week, hence dropping off the blog, and then just as I was about to get back to it, I accidentally drowned my computer when a re-corked bottle of red wine came uncorked in my messenger bag. Dead. Dead dead dead. And if your laptop dies on a Friday, in Montana, you can’t really get a replacement until, well, Tuesday afternoon at nearly four. However, I’m now a HUGE fan of Time Machine. I plugged in the new laptop (which is very shiny and aluminum and pretty), it asked if…
-
So the NY Times had a good little piece this weekend by Michelle Slatalla about digging out her grandmothers’ old recipes — they’d each lived through the depression, and were good cooks, and managed to keep everyone alive on beef barley soup for decades. She even punts a little bit at the end as she discovers that short ribs have gotten expensive, so she experiments with shin, because her grandmother was nothing if not thrifty. I had to laugh a little — not at the article per se — but at the mere thought of learning anything about cooking from…
-
So I realize I’m the last person in America to experience this, but I just got a new-to-me used iPod and well, I’m besotted. Many years ago, my Beloved Stepmother gave me an original 10GB iPod as a delightfully extravagent birthday present, and I’d been pretty happy with it, although I was always running out of room. Then when she was here a few weeks ago, she traded me the iPod Touch she’d replaced with an iPhone for an older MacBook — she’d never really used a Mac so I gave her an old one of mine to see whether…
-
I’ve got a deadline this week, so blogging will probably be light, and since the temperature hasn’t gone above thirty since Friday, I thought perhaps a recpie for potato soup might be in order. There’s just about nothing cheaper, it’s dead simple, and infinitely variable. The basic recipe is, of course, Julia Child’s: 1 lb. russet potatoes, peeled (you want a mealy potato, not a waxy one) 1 lb. leeks or onions (onions are much cheaper, and my leeks are currently frozen in the garden) 1 tbsp. butter or olive oil salt to taste water Really. That’s it. Peel and…
-
It’s supposed to go down into the single digits tonight, so this afternoon, despite the fact that it was only 25 degrees out, and snowy, I got the storm windows out of the shed, and put them up. Every year I forget what a colossal pain in the ass they are. I replaced all the old windows in my house except for those in the living room. They’re really old double-hung windows, so old that the glass is wavy, and I just fell in love with them. So I kept the clunky old wooden storm windows that go with them,…