Graduation!

Let's start with the sad part: the tomatoes just couldn't handle all the rain. They are ghosts of their former glory. It's kind of ok at this point, because with Fall coming I'm excited for some pumpkin soup and roasted winter squash. That is the joy of seasonal eating.

There was a huge party at the farm with all our friends and families for graduation. My Mom and Dad and Rebecca and Anthony all came to help us celebrate. We kicked off the afternoon pressing cider in the orchard.

Mom helped take the leftovers down to the pigs. They were so excited! (And huge!)

I think the most amazing skill anyone has learned this year is the rare ability to levitate pitch forks. Theo is obviously a master.

We all sat on hay bales (and were given the above pitchforks as a present) for a wonderful ceremony full of poems, thank yous and a violin duet by Emily and Rebekah.

We made Sara a cake for her birthday on Tuesday.

I put a rabbit on it in honor of the angora rabbit she has taken care of over the last year.

Post graduation on the tractor!

With Maggie's Field in the background.

And our diplomas!

And the best graduation presents ever! Sweatshirts for our new farm. I'll post more about this soon, I promise!

Dad, who used to be a welder, checking out my fire cube with me.

And finally, the T-Rex that Betsy and Sarah gave Theo as a graduation present with the Prosecco from Rebecca and Anthony. You can also see Theo's bingo card from Thursday night with Josh, Stephen and Justin on the coffee table as well.

So Much Has Happened!

So much has happened!

We cleaned up an abandoned lot in Lawrence, MA for a nonprofit there who farms with high school students:

The lambs learned how to be extra cute climbing in the manger (before we castrated them and docked their tails):

Our piglets arrived:

We visited the garlic we planted in the fall and it's delicious! Green garlic any day now:

More tomatoes sprouted:

I repotted the older tomatoes:

We gave the onions a haircut:

We planted spring wheat:

And Theo had a birthday:

Pigs are Delicious

As an educational/ eco-tourism farm, Spannochia focuses on what they call their 'Noah's Ark' project. They raise Cinta Senese pigs which are an ancient Tuscan breed in an effort to keep them from dying out. They're characterized by their white band across their backs, they long snouts, floppy ears and one curl in their tails. They're also delicious.

We had a pork tasting class which started with talking about the live pigs and moved on to curing their meat. Spannochia does all the cutting and curing themselves and it was pretty cool to see all the steps in the process. These are legs of proscuitto that have beneficial mold growing on them.

We tried a number of different cured meats including lardo (salted lard), proscuitto, capicola, pancetta and a few others which I didn't write down (but admittedly should have).

We even had a boar's head watching the proceedings and ensuring we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

This little piggy...

These little piggies went to slaughter. This little piggy came home as bacon and ham.

Actually, not quite yet but we're waiting for our delivery from the slaughter house. Most of the meat will go to our meat CSA while one whole pig will be for us.

It was a bit strange to load up the animals we had been feeding and taking care of. They went off into their green trailer to return to us in vacuum sealed boxes. I miss them a bit, especially how excited they were to be fed. Luckily, come this spring, we'll have piglets!