Now that Lamb is Back in Stock....

As previously mentioned, we are back in stock with our very own Spring lamb! If you are feeling adventurous for new flavors and haven't tried the ground lamb yet, why not try making an easy curry?

Here's one easy way to prepare a curry using ground meat: Just brown the pound of ground lamb with a half cup or so of finely chopped onions (pour off any excess grease), add optional other chopped veggies to saute such as sweet or hot peppers, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes; add some fresh garlic or dried/minced garlic or garlic powder if you like.

Next add a pat of butter to the saute and spice it up however you like with a tablespoon or so of any standard curry powder blend, or make your own curry blend with cumin, paprika, salt and pepper, tumeric, a sprinkle of cayenne pepper for heat, and a little ground or whole cardamom seed...cinnamon is nice too--so is bay leaf. Add about a cup or two of water once the meat is browned and the onions are tender so you can simmer the curry and add more veggies (or not).

If you like garbanzo beans (chick peas), add about a half cup of those or else you could substitute green peas, or skip the beans/peas entirely. You could also add a diced carrot and a diced potato or turnip or cauliflower. Once all the ingredients have been added, simmer the curry for about 20 minutes to blend all the flavors and allow the root veggies to become tender, if used. 

Now to make it your own....taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed or a little tomato paste or ketchup if you like a little sweetness. ( If you want the sauce thicker, add a spoonful of flour or cornstarch blended in a little cold water or mash up some of those root veggies in the sauce.) For extra richness if you like, just before serving, stir in a spoonful of sour cream or a few tablespoons of half-n-half or cream (next time try some coconut milk). If you made your curry really spicy with cayenne or red pepper or hot peppers, you could serve some plain yogurt along side. If your curry is very thick with veggies, you could serve it like a hearty soup. If it is thinner like a gravy or meat sauce, you could serve it over rice, such as basmati or brown rice.

I think you get the idea that the curry is your own creation! If you like the flavor of curry spices and enjoy eating lamb, next time try making lamb curry the more traditional way using longer-cooking cuts of lamb such as stew meat or shoulder chops and larger chunks of veggies.  . To speed it up, you could even use a pressure cooker!

Lots of New Products!

I guess I must have been hungry when I chose the latest assortment for the store.   Besides restocking the favorites such as Pilgrim's Pride chicken salad, Chuck and Dave's  chips and salsa, and Arnold Palmer half & half  iced tea/lemonade......we now have a larger selection of Italian-style products such as canned Italian plum tomatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic/cheese toast, and Margherita Pepperoni Sticks!   Also new is Borrelli brand mushroom medley gourmet pasta sauce and cannellini beans (white kidney beans).

We also just received Yoder's mustard potato salad in the deli section and Johnsonville bratwurst in the freezer.    Don't forget to request specialty bratburst buns from the freezer section!  Now you are ready for football on TV!

For some good snacking, we have Walnut Creek all beef summer sausage, which goes quite well with our Wisconsin apple-smoked gouda cheese,  the sharp cheddar, or the Amish mild-lacey cheddar.

On a  healthier note, we have canned, sliced beets; canned  pineapple tidbits in their natural juices; and jars of sliced, red grapefruit, refrigerated.

Local Lamb in Stock Now and New Fall Hours!

Finally, we have harvested some of our Spring Lamb and are back in stock now with:   ground lamb, lamb chops, boneless leg roasts, boneless shoulder roasts, lamb shanks, and 1/2 leg roasts with the bone intact.  Those of you who have been on a waiting lsit since July 2012 should have received a call by now or an email to let you know of the availability of our wonderful lamb!  

Since Fall is a busy time around the farm, we have new hours for the store:

Open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.

The store will be closed on most Sundays and Mondays except by appointment for purchases of lamb or eggs or for special events in the community.

Not sure if we are open?   If it is Sunday or Monday, and the Open Flag is not flying outside the store, and the sign on the door says "Closed", then we are not open.   Feel free to call ahead to verify our hours and whether we are open.  (740) Eight Nine Two- Three Two Four Two is the phone number for the store.

I hope you are enjoying all the beautiful fall colors!   Looking forward to seeing you in the store!

Time for Salad

I don't know about you, but I love to eat lots of salad when the weather gets this hot!  Cool, fresh greens, with tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions tossed with Garlic Expressions salad dressing and sometimes some feta or blue cheese and a few dried cranberries.   Sometimes just a little drizzle of olive oil and vinegar with cracked pepper hits the spot, especially if I have added lots of tasty items such as bacon bits or cheese to the salad greens.

Stop by Homer Village Market for fresh produce.  Chopped romaine and green leaf lettuce just delivered today.  It's already washed, so no fuss.  Also fresh vidalia onions, vine-ripened tomatoes, and large, fresh mushrooms arrived today along with poblano peppers, great on the grill.

A Fourth of July We Won't Forget

I was in the store at 5:25 p.m., June 29, when the power went out during a serious thunderstorm.  The sky was dark, and the rain was coming down in sheets.  Cars were pulling off State Route 661 into the parking lot because they couldn't see to drive down the road.

The temperatures had been flirting with 100 degrees all week in Ohio and all of the eastern US, and wild fires were burning in Colorado.   So a big thunderstorm wasn't a huge surprise, but the power outage went on for days!   This was the longest week ever, with the temperatures near 110, no electric to power the water wells or air conditioning, and even the phone service went out for a few days when the generator powering the substation ran out of gas.

There were long lines in nearby Utica where people found the Marathon gas station had gas for sale to power the portable generators.  Ice was hard to find as everyone bought what was available to try to save the food in their freezers and refrigerators.  Even the ice companies had no power to make more ice.  This was a wide-spread outage, and the local power company AEP was telling customers they expected to have 90% of the customers back up by July 7.

Homer Village Market lost all the cold and frozen food in the store because we didn't have a generator when the storm hit.  We were initially hopeful power would be restored in a day or two and were reluctant to open the coolers and freezers to let out the cold air.  So the store remained closed during the power outage.   We were able to secure four small generators on the third day of the outage, and these were used to save the frozen food in the chest freezers, such as alligator, frogs legs, duck, ground beef, lamb, and prepared entrees.    Near the end of the outage, we were able to find a much larger generator which will help us avoid this problem in the future, and was helpful to be able to run more freezers for a longer period of time before resting the generator.

Luckily, Homer Village Market has insurance to cover the lost food and the business interruption as well as the addtional expenses to get back up and running--subject to deductible of course.  We are very thankful our insurance company was prompt in advancing funds to restock the coolers and freezers pending settlement of the claim.   Full restocking will occur over the next few days, as the established delivery days with various suppliers need to be observed.  By early next week, July 17, the store should be fully restocked with the usual assortment of favorites.  Currently we are about 80% restocked including milk, ice cream, all the dairy favorites, bread, some meats and cheeses, and lots of produce including vine-ripened tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and cabbage, locally grown.

The hardest part of being without power was making sure our flock of sheep had a continuous supply of fresh, cool, water to drink in the hot temperatures.  Luckily, the wool-sheep had recently been sheared, and the hair sheep were holding up fine without wool.   Some of the sheep could drink from the pond on the farm, but those in pastures near the barn were unable to go there for water and it had to be hauled to them from the pond or from the nearby Homer Volunteer Fire Department, which had a hose available for the community.  Neighbors were helping each other out with what they could do, but most everybody was in the same "boat"--no water, no A/C or fan, no phone or TV, and spoiled food.

HOT, HOT, HOT!

I think this may be the hottest week in June that I can remember!   Sorry to say that we are SOLD OUT OF ICE until Monday, June 25.   No ice this weekend!  There will be plenty for next weekend though and for the Fourth of July holiday.

This heat really calls for grilling outside!  We have lots of grilling meats including locally raised, all natural, grass-fed angus beef, ground.  Also, fresh sirloin steaks, all beef hot dogs, garlic knockwurst, alligator, frogs legs, salmon burgers, and more.

Somebody was wondering how many pair of frogs legs are in a 5 pound box.  Since there are 6-8 medium size frogs legs per pound, let's use 7 as an average, then you will have about 35 pairs of frogs legs in a 5-pound box.  I counted them once, and that's about right.  So you can buy a pair of individually wrapped frogs legs for $1 (minimum 6 pair)  or a 5-pound box for $35 regular price or $30 on sale.   They are quite good on the grill, and also make a nice cajun stew with tomatoes, butter, and garlic.  Go ahead, add some alligator to the stew, and make it a seafood gumbo.

Be sure to stop by for fresh sirloin steak.  They are USDA Choice grade, approximately 6 oz. each, and only $3.95 each or 6 for $22.   Great on the grill.  Next Tuesday, the extra large (13 oz) pork chops will arrive.  The pork chops are porterhouse-style cut with the loin attached and are marinated for your convenience in getting a nice, tender chop without overcooking.

 Speaking of $22, you can get 3 pounds of salmon burgers (that's 12 individual burgers, 20 ounces of protein each) for $22.  They are great on the grill or baked in the oven or warmed in a frying pan.  They are meant to be cooked from the frozen state, so it only takes about 4 minutes per side if you cook them on the grill or in a frying pan.  They take a little longer in the oven, like 10 minutes per side.   These salmon burgers are delicious, all natural,  and are made with wild-caught Alaskan salmon and no fillers such as bread crumbs.  They are lightly seasoned and have mild smoke flavoring.

We have extra large mushrooms which are so delicious stir-fried at high heat with butter and olive oil and garlic.  You could also put them on a skewer with some other veggies and cut up steak and have a tasty shish-ka-bob.

I hope you are staying cool.  It is nice and cool inside the store!  Hope to see you soon!

Here is a picture of some frogs legs ready to grill.

Goings on at the Farm

Lambing season has finally come to an end, and many of the lambs already appear to be as large as some of the ewes!   They have an amazing, lush pasture this year due to the early warm temperatures and mild winter. 

Last week, twenty-six of the sheep had an appointment with the sheep shearer for a haircut.   They are very happy to have lost all that wool now that the temps have been getting into the upper eighties and nineties.   Even the black-faced great-grandma ewe got sheared...first time in a couple of years at least.

One of the Black Spanish turkeys was sitting on a nest of eggs in a remote corner of one of the barns, and became the proud mother of nine babies at the end of May.   While they were a few days old, we kept the mom and her babies in a large cage for about a week with food and water to protect them from predators and assure they had food and water.   As they got a little bigger, we let mom and the babies out to roam the fenced front barnyard.  Mom was very protective, chasing after any sheep, chicken, duck, or human that got anywhere near them.  At night she kept them huddled under here wings.  Sad news is that one morning three babies were missing and then a few mornings later three more, and now she only has one baby left!   We kept that one baby in a cage overnight hoping to save it.   We really need to build a secure area for young turkey families.  Currently we have none that would keep them contained in a tightly woven mesh fence.     I'm glad I got a picture or two of the turkey family before their demise.