Liz and John's trip to Chestnut Farms

On Sunday, my brother John and I trekked out to Hardwick, MA for the semi-annual open house at Chestnut Farms. I called the day "Meet Your Meat."

Despite being a steamy summer day, we had a great time. My brother told me a few times that he was jealous of the family's nine-year-old, Sam, because he got to live on a farm and work with animals. I knew John had visited a farm when he was younger and really enjoyed it. He gets along great with the animals, except when he decides to chase chickens around for a half hour.

I didn't think he'd catch the mean black chicken, and yet...

The chickens don't want to be caught. In fact, between John and a couple of three-year-old kids, all six chickens escaped. I felt kinda bad about this and let the farmers know, but they said, oh don't worry about it. Chickens go home once it gets dark. Kind of like carrier pigeons.

Here's me with a red-headed chicken:

The chickens we caught are meat chickens, but the ones that lay eggs live in a school bus that has a plank out to a yard. Caroline, their daughter who is going to Smith in the fall, pointed out the "laying an egg" sound. "It's a pretty distinctive sound." And it seemed to be going on pretty constantly in the bus. Eggs everywhere.

Piggies! There was a couple from Somerville there asking a lot of questions. One question was, "Does that pig taste different than that pig?" I was sort of taken aback by that one, but I had to remember, yes, these pigs will be my food in a few months. The answer is that the flavor of the meat depends on the feed, not the breed.

Kim said that they brought a bunch of pregnant sheep to the barn in the hopes that they would lamb the week before the open house. And they all obliged. I thought this little guy was cute. The sheep were pretty hot and breathed heavily. They'll be sheared in a week or so.

Me with a lamb (so soft).

John with a lamb. There was also a goat, "Lizzy, why can't I have a goat?"

I asked Kim if they had sheepdogs or llamas. She said they tried llamas but it didn't work. They got out. Their neighbors were "from the city" and had spent $5,000 on their landscaping, and the llamas went over and ate it all. You would think this would be a disaster. Kim said they tried for days to chase down the llamas, and apologized to the neighbors. When they couldn't catch the animals, she told the neighbors that they'd have them shot instead. The neighbors wouldn't hear of it. They built a place for the llamas on their land and co-adopted them, and they are just fine without their landscaping. Too funny. I love western MA.

Be a local hero! Buy locally grown!

I need to post some thoughts on going local at some point. For example, how do I replace coconut milk in my cooking? And avocadoes? Important questions...