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By Administrator, January 30, 2010

We haven’t done a Dog Profile in a while, and the remaining dogs are feeling slighted. So, here’s the Pivot Questionnaire filled out by Negão, our oldest gentleman. We don’t know his exact age—thirteen or fourteen, most likely—because we got him when he was already big. Negão spent his young life chained to a mango tree. So, when we got him, he was prone to biting people. With us he has always been a sweetheart. (I trust him more than I do Oscar.) But with strangers, Negão is a “red-zone dog,” which is what the National Geographic Dog Whisperer guy calls dogs that pose a danger to people and other animals. Because of his temper with everyone outside of our immediate family, we’ve always had to walk Negão on a leash (unlike our other dogs, who roam free) and keep him in a kennel with a dog run. Also, he is Lorenzo’s father! (But they have a strained relationship.)

Full name: Negão
Nick-names: Neguinho, Nego

Pivot questionnaire:
1. What is your favorite word? Walk
2. What is your least favorite word? Oscar
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? A stranger’s upper arm. My teeth sink in so nicely there.
4. What turns you off? My kennel.
5. What is your favorite curse word? Why curse when I can bite?
6. What sound or noise do you love? The sound of my extendable leash being clipped to my collar.
7. What sound or noise do you hate? The sound of Oscar traipsing around outside my kennel, peeing on my turf.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Airline pilot. Sushi chef.
9. What profession would you not like to do? Monk. Cosmetologist.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? ‘Negão, no more gates or doors or leashes for you. Oscar, on the other hand, is tied up out back.’

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By Administrator, January 17, 2010

What’s in a cup of coffee?

Tasting coffee to understand its flavors and aroma is called “cupping.” At the most basic level, cupping coffee involves putting 2 tablespoons of ground coffee in a 6 oz cup, pouring hot water directly over the sample, and then tasting it. There’s no filtration in cupping. Coffee should be roasted light and several samples should be compared in one cupping session. Here’s a great step-by-step guide on how to cup coffee.

Why do roasters, buyers, and growers, cup coffee? It’s a way to evaluate the merits of one coffee over another, or one roast over another. Cupping helps define a really great coffee. Coffee cuppers are like wine tasters—some have such refined palates they can detect blueberry flavors, cherry notes, anise, molasses, baked apricot, blackberry jam, and other flavors in coffees. As a novice cupper, this kind of specificity intimidates me. I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that, yes, great coffee can be just as complex and exciting as wine, but its basic attributes aren’t hard to understand.

1) Aroma: Most of our sense of taste comes from smell. This is aroma.

2) Acidity: It’s not a bad thing. Actually, it’s pretty good. A good level of acidity in coffee is kind of like the acidity in red wine, or that charged feeling on your tongue when you eat a section of tangerine. Some coffees are called “bright,” which means they have a kick, or a bit of fruity acidity. The darker the roast, the more you lose acidity. Also, espresso is a very concentrated drink, so most roasters and coffee drinkers don’t want a lot of acidity in their shots.

3) Body: This is acidity’s friend and opposite. Usually, the more body a coffee has, the less acidity. What is body? Basically, it’s a coffee’s fat content. It’s the viscosity. What the heck does all this mean? Just how the coffee feels in your mouth. Does it have the thickness of water, or of milk, or of heavy cream?

4) Sweetness: This speaks for itself.

5) Clean cup: Does the coffee taste muddy, dusty, or dirty? Are there any negative flavors that block your perception of how the coffee should taste?

6) Aftertaste: What lingers in your mouth? Professional coffee cuppers spit out their sample after tasting it. What stays after the coffee goes away? Does it linger? Or is it short? Is it a good taste (like chocolate or smoke) or a bad one (like medicine)?

7) Flavor: This is the subjective category. What does the coffee taste like? How do you know? Everyone has different flavor references—what does sour taste like? Salt? Sweet? The more you taste throughout your life, the more you remember that taste and sour it, the more references you have to look back to. So maybe a coffee tastes like the pecan pie you ate as a child, with that molasses-like sweetness? Maybe it has kick to it, and that kick reminds you of a jolly rancher candy? Or maybe it has a weird, bad taste, like sucking on an aspirin? All these flavors are subjective and depend on references unique to the taster. After talking to a few professional cuppers, they’ve told me the best practice for training your taste buds is, simply, eating and drinking a variety of things, and filing away those flavor references in your memory. When you cup coffee, your personal library of flavor references will come in handy.

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By Administrator, January 10, 2010

It’s cashew season! The cashew is a tree in the Anacardiaceae family. The pulp is sweet but very acidic. We drink a lot of cashew juice this time of year, but it’s available year-round in frozen packets in the grocery store. The cashew nut is actually a seed. It’s surrounded by a shell lined with a highly toxic anacardic acid, so you can’t eat the nuts right off the tree. The acid must be burned off first. Some people use the seed’s acid to create home-made tatoos on their skin, but I don’t recommend this. (I have yet to see a really pretty caju-tatoo; they all look like burns.)

We feed the pulpy parts to our pigs and goats, and then collect the seeds. In the past we’ve sold the seeds, but this year we hope to roast them and feed the finished nuts to our pigs. This will, hopefully, give their meat a nice flavor.

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By Administrator, January 3, 2010

“Girder” by Nan Cohen

The simplest of bridges, a promise
that you will go forward,

that you can come back.
So you cross over.

It says you can come back.
So you go forward.

But even if you come back
then you must go forward.

I am always either going back
or coming forward. There is always

something I have to carry,
something I leave behind.

I am a figure in a logic problem,
standing on one shore

with the things I cannot leave,
looking across at what I cannot have.

Antônio Gedeão, Poema de Domingo

Aos domingos as ruas estão desertas
e parecem mais largas.
Ausentaram-se os homens à procura
de outros novos cansaços que os descansem.
Seu livre arbítrio algremente os força
a fazerem o mesmo que fizeram
os outros que foram fazer o que eles fazem.
E assim as ruas ficaram mais largas,
o ar mais limpo, o sol mais descoberto.
Ficaram os bêbados com mais espaço para trocarem as pernas
e espetarem o ventre e alargarem os braços
no amplexo de amor que só eles conhecem.
O olhar aberto às largas perspectivas
difunde-se e trespassa
os sucessivos, transparentes planos.

Um cão vadio sem pressas e sem medos
fareja o contentor tombado no passeio.

É domingo.
E aos domingos as árvores crescem na cidade,
e os pássaros, julgando-se no campo, desfazem-se a cantar empoleirados nelas.
Tudo volta ao princípio.
E ao princípio o lixo do contentor cheira ao estrume das vacas
e o asfalto da rua corre sem sobressaltos por entre as pedras
levando consigo a imagem das flores amarelas do tojo,
enquanto o transeunte,
no deslumbramento do encontro inesperado,
eleva a mão e acena
para o passeio fronteiro onde não vai ninguém.

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By Administrator, December 27, 2009

Caul fat is a membrane of fat that encloses a pig’s intestines. Fat, unfortunately, has a bad reputation these days. We tend to think of it as greasy, unnecessary, or harmful. We might not think of fat as being beautiful, but caul fat is just that. It looks like lace. It is blindingly white and not at all oily.

In Jennifer McLagen’s book “Fat: An appreciation of a misunderstood ingredient, with recipes,” the author argues that, if used properly, really good animal fat gives food incredible flavors. About pork fat, she writes that, depending on the breed of pig and their diet, “pork fat is mostly monounsaturated in the form of oleic fatty acid, plus it contains palmitoleic fatty acid, which has antimicrobial properties…Pork fat’s low levels of polyunsaturtaed fatty acids means it doesn’t turn rancid easily and is very stable when heated.”

Caul fat turns a lovely golden brown when cooked and is indicated for wrapping around lean cuts of meat. So, when baking our Christmas turkey, I decided to try something new—in order to keep the breast meat tender, why not cover the bird in caul fat before slipping it in the oven? (We just happen to have an excess of caul fat around here from our pigs.) I draped that lacy membrane over the bird, and the results were incredible! The fat melted to a thin, crispy webbing. The breast was extremely tender and juicy. Caul fat is my new best friend.

Here’s the turkey recipe. I’m not specific with amounts because it really depends on the size of your bird. You can ask a local butcher to get you some caul fat, especially if you live in Chicago and have access to places like the Paulina Meat Market.

In a small bowl, combine the following:
Minced garlic
Kosher salt (not too much, because the fat will add some saltiness)
Fresh rosemary
Black pepper
Lime/lemon/orange zest (again, not too much)
2 bay leaves

Rub the bird with lemon juice and olive oil. Give her a good Swedish massage. Then apply the garlic-spice rub over and under the skin. Slide the bay leaves under the breast skin; when the bird cooks and its skin becomes transparent, the leaves look very pretty underneath. Let the bird sit, unstuffed, in the fridge over night. The next day, let the bird get nearly to room temperature (so you’re not putting it in the oven ice-cold.) Stuff the bird if you like. Give the bird a generous coating of honey or maple syrup. Soak the caul fat in lukewarm water to loosen it. Stretch it out carefully, place it on a towel, and pat dry. Drape your bird with the caul fat. (I had to carefully cut my piece of caul fat in half, because it was enormous.) Then place the bird in a roasting pan with a rack, and cover in aluminum foil. Cook depending on the turkey’s weight. In the last 30-or-so minutes, take off the aluminum foil, brush on some more honey/maple syrup, and let it get nice and golden.

If anyone actually tries this recipe, let me know how you like it. I’ll be making it again next year for sure.

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By Administrator, December 22, 2009

Cicadas are the loudest singing insects in the world. The most famous cicadas are the seventeen-year variety, but there are 200 different types of cicada. Here on the farm we are overrun by cicadas every summer. (That’s right, it’s summer here.) Male cicadas have “timbals” on each side of their abdomens. These timbals are basically muscles that contract and release, clicking each time. The male cicada’s abdomen is fairly hollow, and serves as a kind of echo chamber. He contracts and expands his timbals so quickly that these clicks become one long, loud hum. It’s really a mating call. (Hey, sweetheart, listen to my timbals.) The call sounds like the buzz you might hear walking under some high-voltage power lines. Most days, the male cicadas sing in unison and the noise makes my eardrums vibrate. They like to start their courtship rituals early, too. They sing at 4 AM (thousands of vibrating timbals make for an interesting wake-up call), noon, and again at dusk.

So, in the summer months, the men sing and attract some ladies. The ladies get pregnant, cut slits into the bark of a tree, and lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch the baby cicadas (or nymphs) fall to the ground and burrow under the dirt. They spend most of their lives underground, feeding off roots. When they reach adulthood, they dig themselves out of the dirt, shed their baby carapaces, and become male and female adults, ready to sing and to listen.

The dogs here like to eat cicadas. Apparently they are high in protein. I’ve been told that, crispy fried, cicadas are pretty tasty.

Here’s a cool video of a cicada molting into an adult.

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By Administrator, December 14, 2009

Soneto de Fidelidade
de Vinícius de Morais

E tudo, ao meu amor serei atento
Antes, e com tal zelo, e sempre, e tanto
Que mesmo em face do maior encanto
Dele se encante mais meus pensamentos
Quero vivê-lo em cada vão momento
E em seu louvor hei de espalhar meu canto
E rir meu riso e derramar meu pranto
Ao seu pesar ou seu contentamento
E assim quando mais tarde me procure
Quem sabe a morte, angústia de quem vive
Quem sabe a solidão, fim de quem ama
Eu possa me dizer do amor (que tive)
Que não seja imortal, posto que é chama
Mas que seja infinito enquanto dure

Sonnet of Fidelity
by Vinícius de Morais

Above all, to my love I’ll be attentive
First and always, with care and so much
That even when facing the greatest enchantment
By love be more enchanted my thoughts.

I want to live it through in each vain moment
And in its honor I’ll spread my song
And laugh my laughter and cry my tears
When you are sad or when you are content.

And thus, when later comes looking for me
Who knows, the death, anxiety of the living,
Who knows, the loneliness, end of all lovers

I’ll be able to say to myself of the love (I had):
Be not immortal, since it is flame
But be infinite while it lasts.

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By Administrator, December 11, 2009

10/12/2009
O video da entrevista na GloboNews, feito por jornalista Claufe Rodrigues.
(For all of my English-speaking friends out there: Here’s a video of an interview with Globo News–a Brazilian TV network–for their weekly program, Espaço Aberto Literatura.)
Aqui está o link. Just in case, here’s the link.

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By Administrator, December 10, 2009

Espaço Aberto Literatura, um programa da Globo News, me entrevistou aqui na fazenda. O programa de 23 minutos estreia hoje!

Estreia: *Quinta-feira, 10/12, 21h30min

Reprises: *Sexta-feira 01h30min / *Sexta-feira 08h30min / *Sexta-feira 16h30min / Sábado 08h30min / Sábado 16h30min / Domingo 06h05min / Quarta-feira 05h05min

Lembrando que o programa fica disponível no site da Globo News após a primeira exibição. (Claro que vou tentar colocar o video no blog!)

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By Administrator, December 9, 2009

Dear friends,

Something troubling has been brought to my attention. I’ve decided to include it in the blog so that all of those quietly suffering from the same affliction can find camaraderie and seek help.

There’s someone on the farm, someone very close to me, with a serious dilemma. I’m keeping her identity secret in order to preserve her dignity. Let’s call her “Long Zipper.” Long Zipper used to consider herself fashionable. She used to take a certain amount of pride in her appearance. But who needs fashion on a farm? When you are covered in mud, dog slobber, pig slobber, goat slobber, and every other kind of slobber, who really notices a cute pair of leggings? And you certainly can’t hike in ballet flats. (At least not every day.) So, over time, you (Long Zipper) begin to lower your standards of what is an acceptable way of dressing yourself. A shirt covered in blood stains is considered work wear. Pleated-front khakis two sizes too large that a random guest left in your house five years ago become your “comfortable” pants. Anything clean becomes your “going-out outfit.” It’s a slippery slope.

We’ve come to the crux of our problem: pants. (See Exhibit A below.)

Many of Long Zipper’s jeans button at chest height. One pair (Exhibit A) is peg-legged, and has the words “Pepe, London” embroidered on their back pocket. Who is Pepe? Why did he have his jeans embroidered in the UK? Where did Long Zipper acquire Pepe’s pants? It was a long and sordid road though the 1990’s. We’ll leave it at that.

Please send words of encouragement to Long Zipper, who is reluctant to let go of her pants. Please tell her to burn them, to liberate her belly button. With your help, we will find a solution.