Chicken: the tuna of the land

Chicken: “ the Tuna of the Land! ”

Whole birds begin at $2.50/lb.  Eggs for $3.50/dz. Home delivery option

NO GMO, Pastured, Free Range, Humanely Raised by Your Neighbors

TwoInTents: (720) 722-Farm – www.twointents.blogspot.com

Let's support 4-H!

Hi! One of our fellow members, Bill, is very active in Elbert County 4H and wanted to let everyone know that 4H is holding a silent auction to raise money for college scholarships for 4H kids, and ask if anyone wanted to donate some of their products to the auction, or if non-farmers and ranchers would want to purchase items for donation to the auction?

Any donation would be tax deductable, very much appreciated, and go to a great cause - training new farmers and ranchers at college! Together, as a co-op, we might be able to put together a basket of summer-time goodies: eggs, milk, meat, veggies, fruits, honey, grains, beans, cheeses, prepared foods... everything the co-op provides is welcome!

If you're interested in helping Bill supporting 4H, just email in at twointents@gmail.com, or call the main line at (720) 722-FARM.

Dehydrated Country Vegetable Soup

How easy is this?  Just order these great dehydrated Maia grown veggies (from last year) as a soup mix, put into a pot and you've got dinner!

Dehydrated Country Vegetable Soup

by Aaron Brachfeld

You will need:

1/2 cup dry mushrooms, crumbled rough                1 cup squash chips                                  1/4 cup dry potatoes

1/2 cup dry tomatoes                                               1/8 cup dry beets                                     1/2 tablespoon pepper

1/2 cup pre-cooked beans and rice                         6-8 cups water                                        1/2 tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon dill                                                       Pinch of cilantro                                       2 teaspoons parmesan

2 Tablespoons garlic powder or 1 clove garlic         1/2 tablespoon salt                                  1/4 cup elbow pasta

1/4 cup vegetable stock (try a little V8)   

Wintertime means using dried vegetables from last year’s harvest, and really great soup, too.  This soup can be made thick with less water, or watered down.  Cooking the beans and rice ahead of time will help you make sure that they are very soft for the soup!  This soup is very easy.  Just combine all of the ingredients in a pot.  Bring to a boil, and then let simmer for about an hour.  If you want the soup very thick, let simmer longer so the water will evaporate. 

Non-resident farmers rediscover the joys of cooking

This was first published in the Meadowlark Herald

        When you think of a personal chef, you typically imagine them working for a very wealthy household.  But across Colorado, there are numerous personal chefs who help their neighbors at less glamorous costs.  The reason why, rich or poor, people choose to hire chefs is the same: there is an inability to cook: some people can’t cook worth a darn.  But most people are simply too busy to cook and refuse to eat restaurant fare.

        In every case, the employer hires the chef to cook particular meals, and provides the food for them to cook.  In this way, the chef is not selling food, but simply their services.  What this means is that, unlike “commercial” chefs, who prepare foods at restaurants for sale through commerce, these “personal” chefs are classified as servants, providing a service.

        In farming and ranching, personal chefs have typically played a large role for traditional Coloradoan agriculture, manning the chuck wagon, or helping neighbors preserve the harvest by canning, dehydration, or fermentation (such as making cabbages into sauerkraut or kimchee, or pickling gherkins, or making cheese).  But sometimes it was the neighbor-farmer, who had better experience cooking, and was already preparing their own similar products similarly. 

        Today, many farmers still rely on personal chefs, being far too busy with farming and ranching to preserve their hard work. 

        What is interesting is that an increasing number of these farmers and ranchers do not actually live on the farms and ranches they own or operate. 

        Beginning in the late 20^th century, through cooperative agriculture, even city dwellers were able to buy interests into herds of cattle or goats, and obtain raw milk by hiring a servant to milk them.  Though health departments initially resisted this advent of cooperative dairy farming, the courts have upheld the rights of farmers – even non-resident farmers – to enjoy the fruits of their harvest.

        These non-resident farmers quickly resumed the old traditions and began hiring personal chefs to improve their milk into cheese, yogurt, butter, and more, providing their chefs the milk, and paying them for the service. Enjoying their cheese, yogurt, butter and more means hiring another chef (or sometimes the same one) to then improve their milk further into breads, pastries, pizzas, enchiladas, and more.  Still, the farmer (even though a non-resident of their farm) provides the ingredients to their servant, who prepares for them what is ordered.

                Though non-residents, and often very new at farming, these new farmers are decidedly resuming many of the old traditions in Colorado, and it is exciting to watch the future unfold with such loyalty to the past. 

Get a "raw" deal with TwoInTents

Get a “raw” deal with TwoInTents!

Get home delivery from your co-owners of raw cow and goat milk from local farms!

NO GMO! NO CHEMICALS! HUMANELY TREATED ANIMALS!

A one-stop shop, with shares in everything from fruits and vegetables, grains, beans, potatoes, eggs... to even bulk orders of toilet paper. 

Everything is cheaper when we order direct, and enjoy benefits of buying wholesale.

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Cooperation Makes Good Common Sense, Good Fiscal Sense.  From Table to Toilet, Everyone Can Get A Raw Deal When They Join Our Co-Op!  www.twointents.blogspot.com   (720) 722-FARM (3276)

Officer meeting - tuesday jan 15 at 5pm

the first co-op officer meeting of 2013 will be held on january 15 at 5pm via skype teleconference. If you would like to listen in or participate in discussions, you can call in too! Contact Mary for more info: 720722FARM or twointents@gmail.com

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Raw milk makes sense for consumers and producers

When milk is pasteurized, many of the nutrients are lost, including Vitamin C , Calcium, Folate, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Iron, Iodine and other minerals.  And while demand for pasteurized milk has declined since the 1960’s, demand for raw milk has steadily increased.

        Choosing a raw dairy can be difficult: in some markets, there are no raw dairies, while in others, there are too many to pick from. 

        Complicating matters is how raw milk is legal in some jurisdictions, but not in others, and is quasi-legal in yet others.  “In Colorado you cant buy raw milk at retail because the law says it is a dangerous liquid. But if you own the animal or have a partial ownership in the animal you can enjoy the milk.”

        The purchase of a “share” in a herd is a common way to acquire raw milk.  Through cooperative ownership, sometimes a herd has dozens of owners.  The milk that the animal produces is divided among the owners, who are the only ones legally allowed to enjoy the milk. 

        Sometimes, the cooperative members will take turns delivering the raw milk to each other, but usually all the members need to pick up the milk at the farm or some central location.  When buying a share, make sure to ask how you will get your milk. 

        Sarah Patterson is the rancher at M and L Ranch, and  raises goats for milk, and offers this advice to those choosing a dairy: “when choosing a raw dairy, choose someone who doesn't mind showing you their process, tests monthly for microbial organisms, has those tests available for viewing, and practices good herdsmanship and who's animals have also been disease tested.”  The Raw Milk Association of Colorado establishes guidelines and undertake certification of dairies – ask whether your dairy belongs!

        Each dairy may be different, even in the same neighborhood because of how the goats are raised, and what breed they are.  Stacey Thomas is the rancher at Thomas Ranch of Elizabeth, which raises La Mancha goats, famous for milk which is rich and sweet, and higher quality than Alpine goats produce.  Right down the street is Rosemary Ridge Ranch, which is run by Victoria Lawrence-Williams: she raises Nubians, which produce milk very suitable for cheesemaking (or drinking).  Both ranchers feed their goats similarly, but attribute the popularity of their milk shares to their practice of immediately and rapidly cooling the milk after milking – this reduces the “goaty” flavor, even in the winter to the point where some of their co-owners mistook the goat milk for cow milk!

        Steve Gilmor, a dairyman near Byers, raises old-line Jerseys and says that his co-owners never buy anywhere else once they taste the difference of a Jersey, and an old-line Jersey that produces so much more milk fat than regular cows – and milk fat that is sweeter and more nutritious.

        There are numerous health benefits to raw milk, and recently raw milk has seen use as a medicine.  “My great nephew Lane only lived because of Raw goats milk,” says Patterson. 

        Tracey Shipley also testifies to raw milk saving her infant grandchild.  “The Doctors wrote him off as failure to thrive. He spent 1/2 of his first year in the hospital,” after receiving goat milk, his health improved and he now is a healthy, happy, but silly, little boy.

        Maybe the goat milk made him capricious? 

        Probably not.  Raw milk doesn’t have those sorts of side-effects.

        Raw milk also is seeing a growth market in the lactose intolerant.  Surprisingly, Patterson herself is intolerant, “I personally am intolerant to cow milk. Can't digest it without having major problems and being sick for days. I am not a big milk drinker but can digest the raw goats milk.”

        There are many reasons these days to either join a co-op and buy raw milk, or for a farmer to join a co-op and sell raw milk.

Review of Thompson and Morgan’s sprouter

        Thompson and Morgan offer a sprouter that works very well.  Available also through Amazon.com for about $12 plus shipping, the sprouter takes all the hard work and time out of sprouting.  Seeds are soaked overnight in the bottom reservoir, and then, effortlessly, poured into one of the two shelves above it.  Less than a quarter cup of water is needed twice per day, and is poured effortlessly through the top where it evenly drains through to both shelves evenly.  The shelves inhibit mold and fungus, and allow free flowing air and light without drying out the seeds.  If you enjoy sprouts, give it a try today!

Using oregano against fungus and mold in sprouts

        Sprouts are susceptible to fungus and mold because the same conditions excellent for germination are also excellent for fungus and mold.  One easy way to avoid that is to use concentrated essential oil of oregano.  Just four drops in a gallon of water will reduce the likelihood of fungus and mold.  A slightly higher concentration will fight back an infection.  The use of highly concentrated oregano can keep equipment clean or clean infected equipment. 

        Oregano is a natural way to reduce mold and fungus, and won’t introduce harmful chemicals to your diet as some synthetic chemical antifungals will.  There is no more need for chlorine, ozone or bleach!

        Oregano is affordable through the Maia Cooperative's TwoInTents CSA, which bulk-buys and bulk-ships to reduce costs, or is also available online through Amazon.com.

Pumpkin seeds are "in" for the holidays

The fad herald at Coastalfields Farm announces that Pumpkin Seeds are IN this holiday season.  For Christmas and New Years, pumpkin seeds help you stay healthy and provide a delicious, nutritious snack kids love.  Cheaper than anywhere else, non-GMO, organic.  Get them today with your order, call (720) 722-FARM (3276)