Mother's Day

It seemed a lot like spring early last week. We’ve had a cold wind for the last two days, but the weather has been sunny. It’s nice in the greenhouse. Last Sunday, I got a little over half of the north garden raked, and we planted the potatoes planted. Hilda and I shoveled out all the wood chips that the chickens had kicked out of the coop over the winter. It was bad enough that Hilda had to clear them away to get the coop door shut every night. We filled up six muck buckets!

Buckets full of wood chips

Julia inspects the cleaned out area

The girls were very excited to see the ground again. I noticed that they were hollowing out dust batch behind the windbreak this morning. I would have taken a picture, but they spotted the carrot peels that I was delivering and ran to the fence.

I spent a little time outside today. I raked the rest of the north garden and weeded the garlic. I spent most of the day baking and cooking. I made apricot muffins for my breakfasts this week, a brisket for Mother’s Day, and a rhubarb cake for dessert.

I chose brisket because when we got the beef this year, the brisket came in one giant piece about two feet long. Needless to say, it didn't fit in the freezer very well. I was getting tired of shuffling it aside every time I went foraging. I started defrosting it in the refrigerator Friday morning. I used a recipe from Sara Moulton Cooks at Home. I had to cut the meat in half to fit it in my Dutch oven. After browning the brisket halves one at a time, I deglazed the pan with onions and garlic, added an entire bottle of Shiraz, evaporated nearly all the liquid, added chicken stock, and braised the brisket all afternoon. I threw some carrots in for our vegetable. The brisket was awesome, if I say so myself. Sara included a recipe for a marvelous sauce made of horseradish, chive, and sour cream. Thanks, Sara! I rounded out the menu with cheddar cheese polenta.

Big ol' hunk of meat for Mom

I love spring. Life just gets easier when you don’t have to bundle up every time you go out. I can do my morning chicken chores without freezing my fingers. I like that.