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| Saturday, June 27th, 2009 | | 12:43 pm |
away we go
Friday has long been my day off the farm, when I drive the market van in to Union Square at dawn, and then go forth into the city for a day of wound-licking and recreation: two hours of qi gong therapy for my sore and aching corporeal self, followed by a spiritually restorative lunch and a beer ior three with friends. Now that I'm pretty much healed from all of my various agrigenic hurts and pains.of the past few years (really, I'm ok!), I've been replacing the body-work therapy with a film or two, and I'm pleased to report that there are some good ones running in the local bijou nowadays. For example, when I saw that a cheese-loving union Square regular had a new film, I just had to repay her patronage in kind. So, I went and saw "away we go", which is a quirky, thoughtful, laughing-out-loud funny film, which deals with some pretty serious stuff without seething its characters in self-pity, and affording both the protagonists and the audience, well, redemption. Especially those of my friends who are 30-ish and have yet to spawn (nearly all of my lj friends, I think!), you'll get a hoot out of this film. And, with your help, Maggie will be able to keep buying my cheese! | | Thursday, May 7th, 2009 | | 10:00 pm |
My life doesn't totally suck. this is what I've been up to these past days: | | 9:26 pm |
My testimony at a NJ lesgislative hearing
Chairman, Senator, Secretary, and members of the committee: My wife and I are dairy farmers in Vernon, in Sussex County, on the "rooftop of New Jersey". We pasture just under one hundred cattle, and produce fine artisanal cheeses from their raw milk. Our cheeses have been served at Drumthwacket, the White House, fine restaurants, US embassies around the world, and more to the point, at the dinner tables of voters and taxpayers all over this state of my birth. We are fully licensed and inspected by the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services, and enjoy a healthy and productive relationship with our regulators. Nina and I are not even remotely interested in selling raw milk, as it is worth a great deal more to us made into cheese than any sensible person would consider paying for fluid milk. So, our comments here can be considered to be those of informed consumers, and not merely the punditry of industry insiders. First of all, Nina and I do indeed drink the milk of our cows, on a daily basis. We consider it to be the safest food available to us, as we are quite aware of every aspect of its production. Of course, most consumers don't have the luxury of such a posteriori knowledge of their foods' provenance, but neither do they have sore backs and skinned knuckles that come with the luxury! Depending on which anthropologist you ask, you'll be told that humans have been drinking the milk of ruminants for somewhere between five and fifteen millenia. The cow has been called "the foster mother of the human race", and we must recognize that the cow, the sheep, the yak, and goat have been our co-evolutionists. The earliest words written by human hands are the cuneiform clay tablets of the Kingdom of Ur, in 2800 BC, in what is now Iraq--and guess what they record? The dairy records of the king's herds of cattle: how much milk, how much butter, how many calves. If the members of the committee were to visit our farm (and we do hope that they will!), they might be lucky enough to witness a new calf being brought into the herd by its mother: the other cows come and circle around the new little one, and each in turn gives a sniff and a lick, and then a moo towards the proud mother. They are welcoming the new calf to the social community, and associating its odor with the face of the mother. The mother then goes off to fill her belly, while the others keep an eye out for their new relative. Nina and I like to think of this as "No Calf Left Behind', without the mandatory testing, and fully funded! Any one who has witnessed this ritual can see how it is the origin of our folk dance, as is evidenced by the fact that all of the human cultures who have developed circular folk dances are descended from pastoral cultures: the Celts, Semites, Balkan, Latin, to name a few. And, because the cows do the dance as part of their evolved means of survival in the perilous open savannah, it follows logically that WE LEARNED IT FROM THEM! My point here is simply this: drinking milk right from the cow is part of our human heritage, an expression of an ancient relationship that helped to define us as the humans that we have become. While the State may have an interest in regulating the sale of raw milk, and perhaps setting standards to protect the health and well-being of the people, an outright ban on the sale of raw milk is denying a basic and ancient human right. But let's be clear about the safety of raw milk: A few years back, the top food safety expert from the US FDA testified by affidavit at a hearing such as this in the Ohio state assembly. One can assume that such an august federal official would have access to the best epidemiological data. He goes on for a few dozen pages, citing all the supposed dangers associated with raw milk. The most striking aspect of his testimony is the paucity of actual victims: most of the cases that he cites, when you drill down with Google into the primary sources, were in fact nothing more than a positive reading on a fast screening test, many of which were subsequently found to be false positives when the more accurate, slower lab tests were done. Nearly all of the cases cited were victimless: nobody got sick. The case can be made that the manicure industry has a much, much worse safety record than the raw milk industry! Which brings us the next point: there are risks associated with every sort of action; any one of us could have been run down by a bus while crossing the street to come to this hearing today. We all make daily choices of risk and benefit, based on our own perceptions of both. The State has an interest in protecting its citizens from untoward risk, and therefore we have rules, regulations, enforcement, courts. The state also can reduce personal risk by helping individuals make more informed choices by providing better data: nutrition labels, tobacco warnings, PSAs encouraging good hygiene, and so forth. We as a society have decided to permit a wide range of potentially dangerous activities and behaviors, including smoking, drinking, firearms, golf, and yes, manicures. For some reason, many years ago, for reasons that may have been more political than scientific, our state decided to forbid the sale of the milk of our foster mothers, and now we have the opportunity to correct that mistake. Let's hope that we will consider the big picture, measured in millenia, not quarterly corporate 10k filings, and decide to restore to New Jerseyans a basic and ancient human right. | | Monday, May 4th, 2009 | | 7:02 pm |
Bobolink Media Blitz
Nina and I just spend three lovely days in front of the lenses of a TV crew from France. Three days of being "on" is indeed a tiring stint, but the crew were truly lovely to work with, and the show looks like a really, really nice production. (pardon the vagueness, I'll provide more details about the show once I clear it with the froggies.) Just before the French crew arrived, our baker's brother's friends shot this "Swine flu PSA" at the farm. During all of this, I shot a few stills myself, with the ole' blackberry: I'll put them on on flickr later, and embed them here..... | | Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 | | 4:22 pm |
nina roosterbane
Nina is a woman of many talents: she can sing, dance, cook, make babies, run a business, educate complicated children, and more. But she's also pretty good at disassembling roosters: not bad for a woman with all of her teeth! We'll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes, when she comes... | | Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 | | 11:47 pm |
What Body of Water Are You?
| You Are a Bay |  You are a blissful, peaceful person. Some might call you spiritual.
You are easy-going and tranquil. You take solace in life's sweet moments.
You are sentimental and open-hearted. You love many people, places, and things.
You try to live an enlightened life. You are benevolent, noble, and intuitive. |
| | Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 | | 9:32 pm |
Bobolink Calving Season
It's been a pretty good season so far: we're milking nineteen cows, with number twenty expected "soon". That's probably about the halfway mark for this season. | | Saturday, February 28th, 2009 | | 5:08 pm |
Jonathan and Cesare 2/28/98
Look what I found on my morning walk: an hours-old calf! He was born with a bit of a neuro delay: he couldn't walk or find his mother's teats, so an intervention was in order. We carried him to the barn, got him dried off and warmed up, then taught him how to suck. By mid-afternoon, he was standing on his own, and momma had him all cleaned up. | | Friday, December 26th, 2008 | | 4:05 pm |
Which is stranger: liposuction or lipodiesel?
I'm thinking that, while lipodiesel will get all the press attention, liposuction is much, much more bizarre, macabre and nauseating. Surgeon uses human fat to run his cars Health department raids liposuction clinic as doctor leaves for South America By Guy Adams in Los Angeles Friday, 26 December 2008 Alan Bittner has been accused of removing too much fat from three patients A leading Beverly Hills plastic surgeon claims to have found an environmentally friendly way to combine two of America's great obsessions – after converting his 4x4 to run on fat removed from clients during liposuction operations. Alan Bittner, who founded a high-profile clinic on Rodeo Drive, the Bond Street of Los Angeles, claims to be able to power both his Ford Explorer and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator on biofuel converted from excess flesh from human tums, bums and thighs. "The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel – and I have more fat than I can use," he says. "Not only do they get to lose their love handles or chubby belly, but they get to take part in saving the Earth." Dr Bittner made his claim in a posting on the internet site lipodiesel.com, adding that he has performed roughly 7,000 liposuction operations, and that a gallon of human fat will produce roughly the same quantity of biofuel. Scientists say there is no reason why human fat cannot be turned into biofuel, since it contains triglycerides which are no different from those found in waste animal fats that are already being used for the same purpose. However the discovery left medical regulators unimpressed. Using human medical waste to power vehicles (or indeed for any other commercial purpose) is largely illegal, and Dr Bittner's clinic has been raided by California Health Department officials. The magazine Forbes says that Dr Bittner's ability to create what he calls "lipodiesel" first came to light in lawsuits filed by several former patients, who recently accused him of allowing his girlfriend and assistant, who were both unlicensed, to carry out intricate operations. A gallon of "lipodiesel" will give motorists roughly the same mileage as they would get from regular diesel, the magazine added. At present, most biofuel is made from a mixture of specially grown corn, and left-over beef or pork products. Sadly, Dr Bittner is no longer around to bask in his new-found fame. His practice in Beverly Hills suddenly closed shortly after last month's raid, and he is believed to have moved to South America. Lawyers representing several former patients are currently attempting to track him down. One of them, Andrew Besser, claims Dr Bittner's unlicensed girlfriend removed too much fat from his three clients, leaving them horribly disfigured. Dozens of other patients have complained to the State Medical Board, he added. Dr Bittner's lawyer is yet to comment. A notice on his website claims that the doctor is currently living in Colombia. | | 1:28 pm |
Babka's post-op visit
I took Babka back to the vet today for her post-operative checkup. She's healing remarkably well, and seems to be regaining feeling and muscle control in the left rear leg. Her left hip is dislocated, and the foctor wants to wait a few more days before reducing it, to let the swelling go down. Thanks for all of your well wishes! | | Thursday, December 25th, 2008 | | 2:52 pm |
babkarisen
Two days after being hit by a car, Babka has risen! She's doing a fine job of tripod-walking. In fact, she just tried to follow Nina and Jacob on their afternoon walk--we convinced her to come back a rest some more. Her left rear leg is still pretty sore, but she seems to have much, most or all of here neurological capabilities there. Tomorrow she'll go back to the vet to have her surgical drains removed, and hopefully she'll be back to normal, more or less, soon. "Babka, you good dog!" --"a-ffirmative!" | | Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 | | 3:32 pm |
Babka, risen
Yipee! Babka just stood up and walked into the kitchen, tripod-style.she strode over to me, looking uncomfortable but proud. She seems to have some use of her leg, but we might not know if there's neuro damage for another few days. | | Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 | | 10:23 pm |
Babka's mishap
Babka got hit by a car today: She's alive, no fractures or obvious internal injuries, just some severe lacerations to her rear legs. Nina and I were both off the farm: Tobias and Dom got her to the vet, followed by the driver who hit her. The vet examined her, took X+rays, stitched her up. The driver presented her credit card and covered the fees, which was greatly appreciated. Babka is now at home, lying on her Tibetan rug, looking pretty uncomfortable . She was able to produce a sadly meager tail-wag just now, and had a few sips of water with her doggie-Advil. We'll know in a few days if there's any neuro defecit. Phew! | | Thursday, December 18th, 2008 | | 9:56 pm |
neither rain nor snow nor...
...Will keep me from making my appointed rounds, which include Union Square Greenmarket in the morning, laden with untuous cheese, and thence to d.b.a Brooklyn (N. 7th bet Berry and Wyethe) in the evening. Where I'll be serving up cheese and homemade charcuterie to match Ray's best beers. How's that for a run-on sentence? Other good news: I figured out how to clean my Blackberry's sticky trackball, which was no doubt full of whey, or worse. | | Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 | | 9:07 pm |
Sneak previews of forthcoming events
Here's a bit of advance notice, but please note that the details are not quite gelled yet: Cheese, Charcuterie, and Beer tasting at the newly opened DBA/Brooklyn Once again, Jonathan will be teaming up with his good friend Ray Deter, beer maven and owner of two of the nation's best places to drink beer, for a pairing of fine artisanal foods with excellent artisanal beers and ales. The event is a celebration of the recent opening of Ray's newest venue, DBA Brooklyn, 113 north 7th st (bet Berry & Wythe, L train to Bedford Ave). The tasting will be on Friday, December 19th, 7-10 pm, and is open to the public. Because yelling "free beer!" on the Internets seems like a really bad idea, we will collect a $5 donation from all participants, to be donated to the Labyrinth Dance Theater, a 501(c)3 arts organization On a somewhat related note, another forthcoming event: Nina's Film Debut!
The premiere showing of a dance film titled "Dark Angel", by Labyrinth Dance Theater, will take place in NYC on Monday evening, December 29th.  The supporting cast includes Bobolink's own Angel, Nina White, shown here in Angelic Purple (Nina made the angel costumes, too!). The event will include a reception, including Bobolink's breads and cheeses, Finnish Vodka, Ales from Brooklyn Brewery, and other delectations. There will also be a silent auction including a number of unusual culinary and musical items. To see the trailer, learn more about the event and to order tickets, please click here. | | Monday, November 24th, 2008 | | 11:18 am |
The problems facing the world are not the result of a lack of solutions, rather a lack of leadership. Doesn't it seem that, just this week, the transitional government has just sent the lame ducks to the back of the bus? | | Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | | 10:20 pm |
Genghis Kahn
With the herd tucked into the winter pasture until March, the salami and prosciutti hanging and the bacon smoking, my mind returns to reading and, hopefully, writing. I just finished "Genghis Kahn and the making of the Modern World", by Weatherford. If you haven't read it, you ought to, really. Tomorrow shall find me in NYC, and probably free for.lunch, and thence to dba. | | Thursday, November 13th, 2008 | | 8:57 pm |
Scotland
Now that we've saved the world, Nina and I are taking Paulie and Tobias to Scotland for New Year's. Any suggestions, or am I getting to Scotland before thee? | | Monday, November 10th, 2008 | | 6:23 pm |
End of grazing season, beginning of salumi season
On Sunday, I stopped milking 30 cows, to let them "dry up" and have a break before winter sets in. We'll keep milking six late-calving cows through the winter, most likely, unless they start to lose too much body fat: it really depends on what sort of winter we have, which is anyone's guess. So, until calving begins in earnest in March, I've got only about 40 litres (call it ten gallons) of milk to play with each day. The good news is that milking 36 cows was taking upwards of two hours, but it's done in less than an hour, now that we're six (thank you Steeleye Span). The bad news is, once again, I'm a cheesemaker with very little cheese to make, which makes me sad. So, to cheer myself up each fall, after I dry off the cows, I ship the whey-slurping pigs to the abattoir, and begin making cured pork. This is a very, very old farm economy, and also the reason that ham and cheese pretty much co-evolved. So, last Wednesday, we rounded up out last two winter-farrowed pigs, the other five having gone "on holiday" in early October. These guys (one guy and one gal, for all that it matters) were born in February, of an old English breed called the Gloucester Old Spot. I got them in early April, when they were cute little just-weaned spotted piggies weighing all of 35 lbs each, cute little huggable piggies. After digging our garden for us in the spring, they spent the summer foraging in the pig pasture, gorging on whey, stale Bobolink bread, weeds, roots, grubs, table scraps, garden waste, mice, unlucky chickens, and the odd dead cow. By mid-summer, they were big, ugly pigs. By early October, they were getting so big that I worried that they'd not fit in the scalding tub at the end of the season. So, we shipped five to the abattoir, keeping just two for salumi season, and bought five summer-farrowed pigs, Old Spot -Tamworth crosses. The five hogs yielded 1,000 lbs of pork, which is very, very good, especially considering that the feed bill was zero, or perhaps less than zero, since it would have cost me $250 to have the dead cow "disposed of properly", in the county landfill. Back to the last two pigs: with a truck coming on Thursday morning to bring them to the abattoir, we herded the two behemoths into the calf barn and put them in a box stall, to await their Big Ride at sunrise. A few minutes later, there were two pigs running down Meadowburn Road. They had gotten their snouts under the box stall door and pried it off its hinges, then did the same to the barn door and the barnyard fence. A pig's snout is its digging tool, and a pig's neck is soild muscle, especially a FIVE HUNDRED POUND pig. Yes, these little 24 inch high puppies were about 2/3 the weight of a small cow. Next, we herded them into the old chicken barn, which has hefty doors, and I called the trucker and asked if he could come by this evening instead of in the early morning, since I was reasonably sure that they wouldn't be able to bust out of a steel horse trailer.. I then grabbed four pallets, a box of ten-inch timber-screws and a hefty drill, and did a Bugs bunny-style barricade on the inside doors of the chicken barn. Not leaving anything to chance, I also grabbed a chair, a flashlight and a good book ( Gengis Kahn and the making of the modern world by Jack Weathersford), and spent two hours guarding two pigs and kicking them lovingly in the snout whenever they tried to disassemble the barricade. I've never spent much time indoors with pigs before: it's not very pleasant. They grunt, belch, and fart pretty much continuously. By 7 pm, they were on the truck and headed to meet their destiny. Today, I drove down to the abattoir in my white market van and brought home some of the most truly spectacular pork I've ever seen: rich, dark, deeply marbled chops, oh yes, and some big shoulder roasts, ground pork, ribs, also leaf lard, fatback, livers, kidney, trotters, taails, two heads, four jowls, and four tearfully beautiful hindquarters cut for prosciutto (well, almost...) and four huge, long, thick meaty bellies cut for bacon, kind of. Also, as requested, there was a box of neck meat (oh those necks!) and fatback chunked out for me to salt down and make into lactic salumi. So, as the sun was setting and a glorious moon was rising, I salted down the following in Jean-Louis' dry cure: four bacons at 16 to 21 lbs each four prosciutti at 32-36 lbs each 42 lbs of lean meat and 14 lbs of fat for lactic salumi another 14 lbs of fatback for lardo Darn, I forgot to salt the jowls....oh well. Tomorrow will be Salumi Making Day at Bobolink, if anyone wants to come and help peel garlic, grind spices, feed the grinder or stuff the salamis, c'mon over! The bacon will be ready to eat by early December, the salumi by winter solstice, but the prosciutti won't be ready until Valentine's Day. | | 5:07 pm |
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