Connections

Despite some difficult circumstances in our family right now, I am very aware of the blessings. The word that comes to mind is "connections." Pictured at left, George (1/2 of "George and Weezy," a pair of Jersey cow twins that came to TLC Ranch from Ron Garthwaite at Claravale Dairy) bestows a bovine benediction on Bob Thorson, of Deep Roots Ranch.

Logan and I were at TLC Ranch yesterday, bringing with us another young chef, this time Ben Howard from Gabriella Cafe. Inspired by Michael Ruhlman's book, The Making of a Chef, Ben went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and had worked on a CSA in Poughkeepsie whenever he could.

Jim's wife, Becky, gave us a peek at of the brand-new (two-day-old) baby chicks that had escaped their confines, and were scattering like two-inch tumbleweeds among the larger poultry (which includes 35 Bourbon Red poults, and hundreds of other pastured chickens). They are speedy, but their legs are tiny, and it was easy and fun to scoop each of the little powderpuffs up without hurting them.

I asked Jim if Justin Severino was coming by any time soon: Justin had promised me some fresh sausages. Also, I wanted to hook him up with Ben: they're only seven weeks apart in age, and have so many things in common. "He'll be by in about an hour and a half. But hey, Jean and Bob are going to be here any minute." This was great, as I had intended to stop by Deep Roots Ranch on the way home, so Ben could meet them.

And soon enough, we headed down to the barn so Jim could load up the bags of organic feed into their truck. Conversation was easy, and as is often the case with my work, centers around food. Today it was meat: I'd brought Michael Ruhlman's cookbook, Charcuterie, to show Ben—and wound up passing it around to Jean and Jim, who are both nobody's fools when it comes to the kitchen.

I learned from Jim that Justin had been out to TLC on Sunday and had gotten a lesson in slaughtering a pig. On Monday, he reciprocated, and gave Jim a lesson on butchering. Becky said, "He showed
Jim how to french the rack...those things sold out in about two minutes at the Wednesday market." Apparently the market manager is so excited about Jim and Justin's collaboration on the sausage thing that he's bending over backwards to help them out. TLC's new USDA designation seems to be a magic charm, and I'm really looking forward to the products Justin's coming up with.

We left TLC and headed towards Watsonville. Bob Thorson gave me a new route to travel, and how beautiful it was. These hills only want castles, and they'd look just like Italy.

So we had a brief visit with Jean and Bob, and another link in the chain—more like a golden necklace, actually—was forged.

Today I had to go to the new Westside farmers market, as my daughter-the-salutatorian's scissors needed to be sharpened. Off we headed, Logan and I, and who did we run into but Justin. He was hanging with Jim and baby Fiona, and he handed me two bags of sausages: his grandfather's recipe for sweet Italian sausage, and some chorizo. Score!

Because we had time, finally, I persuaded him to go down to River Cafe and Cheese Shop, where he heard the steak sandwich with gorgonzola-cognac sauce calling his name. Luckily, Amy was in the shop, and I introduced her to Justin. "He makes sausages, Amy, the best I've ever had anywhere." (No lie.) There is really something about the words "bacon" and "sausage" that stop conversation or rev it up, way way up. Amy's eyes got big. "Sausages?"

I told her I'd be right back, and fetched the chorizo from the car, so that she and Heidi could try it. And when I came back, Justin and I noticed the presence of Fra' Mani salamis in the cold case. Which reminded me that Ore, my friend who works there, had left a comment here saying,"When are you coming up?"

So Jim and Justin and maybe Ben and I are planning a visit to Fra' Mani, maybe as soon as this week, for the tour.

Pigs and chickens and cows, oh my.

There are more connections, but they are forthcoming.

So welcome to my new motto: "Will work for food." Yeah, the domain's taken, but stay tuned. "Small Farms Blog" is going to undergo a transformation, as I rename the site "I Heart Farms." This really isn't a blog anymore: it's not a hobby. It's my life's work. With the support of some really wonderful writers and friends, I'm being encouraged to step up. I've known I was a writer since I was twelve, and I've been writing professionally for over ten years. If I seem scarcer on the social end of the blogging scene—like the comments and regular blogging events—that's because I've had to narrow my focus and keep working. I've got a ton of paying web work right now, and I'm doing lots of research for things near and dear to my heart: farming and ranching. And always, every single day, networking and hooking people up. I'm loving it all, deeply, and sometimes feeling like I'm having a dream. I love all these people I work with, so much.

And with that, Bob and I a're off to dinner...you can be sure we're going somewhere that supports our local farms.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “I did what most writers do when something happens that's overwhelming, fascinating, moving, all of that. I didn't know what else to do about it except write about it.” — Patti Davis

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