Just when I was beginning to feel like I couldn't possibly heap one more thing onto my already full plate (like my food-pun??), of course, I do manage to find *just* one more. Given my most recent addition to my resume (cattle rancher), I didn't see the harm in taking on this particular commitment. Besides, if I miss a day, nobody will die, get sick or fetch me a lesser dollar at market unlike our beef herd, right?
Here's how it's all gonna go down. I will attempt to share what I cook, how I cook it and where the stuff I'm cooking comes from and if you give a rip, I'll tell you how you can get some for yourself. Actually, I'll probably tell you whether you want to know or not.
I am an accidental farmer which is a massive departure from the urban, fashion-centered life I imagined for myself in my naive highschool days. I've heard it said that folks come to the Yukon for one of two reasons. Love, or money. I came for love. My sweetie is a second generation farmer (who was, incidentally nominated as farmer of the year for 2010!) and while he tries to pretend that moving back to the Yukon was my idea, I think he wanted it worse than I did but I'm okay with taking the blame. Life really couldn't be any cooler. I swear.
Now, let's make it known at the beginning of our relationship here that I am not a delicate kinda gal. I like a good f-bomb now and again (okay, my friends are all gonna comment on here that I use it the way a teen girl uses the word "like"...well, maybe not THAT bad but you get the idea.) I will try to be sensitive to you, my readers and make an effort to express my verbal seasonings with some courtesey so just know that an "eff" will be the stunt-double for my good friend, the F-bomb. Deal? Okay.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business. Let me give you a snapshot of who I am. I'm 33, mama of two boys (aged 6 1/2 and 12). I met my husband on the internet (thanks for the good times, Lavalife!) and have been married since 2003. That's a big deal these days... the being married for 7 years not the online dating. I wanted to be a fashion designer growing up. I tried it (long before the time of Etsy and all those other great online art selling meccas) and made a few bucks for a little while but holy crap, it was expensive, exhausting and cut-throat. Needless to say, I had a little burnout. I moved to the Yukon in 2007 with the fam to take over the sod farm that my hubs' parents started when he was a kid. They wanted to retire and the hubs' job in forestry had gone to hell in a handbasket (thanks for nothin', softwood lumber jerks!) so the timing was perfect for us to move up and try our hand at sod farming. I had no clue what to expect...and it's probably good that I didn't .
Fast forward a few years and we've been trying to get our hands on a few more acres (300 or so to be exact) and just when things couldn't be more exciting, the hubs' dad figures this is a good time to see what cattle ranching is like. After I recover from a mild panic attack at the thought of being responsible for a bunch of cows, we get down to the business of cattle ranching. We fed 'em grass clippings from the farm as well as grain & culled potatoes from the Yukon Grain Farm. So these spoiled cows were eating a hundred-mile diet!
The hubs had a questionably close & friendly relationship with a few of the cows but once it was time to slaughter (which wasn't as emotional as I had anticipated) it was all business. Now we have a crapload of beef all cut & wrapped and ready for market. A little scary but exciting at the same time.
I love cooking so I have a funny feeling the next hundred meals or so just *might* include beef...but that's just a guess. On tomorrow's menu however, certified organic chickens from my friends, Cain & Michelle's farm, tiny oven roasted Yukon Gold potatoes from the Yukon Grain Farm and probably a bit of beer from Yukon Brewing. We're having the family of our youngest son's friend over to meet them. More on that later!
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