Yes, I do have days when I question the wisdom of the whole enchilada. Today was one of those days. It is 8:08PM and I am just now hanging up my proverbial hat for the evening. My hands are shaking with exhaustion and I am ironically eating a deli pizza dressed up with rehydrated Costco mushrooms after having spent the past 2 and a half hours grinding my own lamb meat. It isn't all pasture-raised meats and organic eggs here at SSF.
Between a half-day small-farming workshop on Monday and losing all of Tuesday to driving my mom into Seattle for her cardiology appointment, the rest of the week has felt like running a marathon to catch up.
Spring is intense, for small-scale farmers and for stay-at-home parents alike. Taxes, baseball, lambing, a spike in egg-laying in conjunction with a sudden island glut in eggs, getting the ewes back up to weight, a local election I'm involved in both professionally and as a volunteer, Dylan's homework, swimming lessons, piano, transition from cub scouts into boy scouts, and helping my mom with her current and future art class and shows...these (in addition to the mundane grocery shopping and everyday household chores) frame my days and leave precious little time for strategic thinking about which project comes next: finish Dylan's treehouse, start building his cottage/the guest house, fence off a production garden, get the ram separated or slaughter the ram, prune the trees and shrubs trashed by the winter and overcome with horizontal growth, expand the chicken run, build a proper fence for the veggie garden, establish a fruit tree orchard. What's most urgent first?
And every day I wake up with "finish planting seeds" on the top of my to-do list and every night I go to bed with "finish planting seeds" on the top of tomorrow's to-do list.
Now I'm really tired.
Tomorrow we head to Seattle for another rare city evening of dinner and symphony with our dear friends. But, when I bought the tickets in January, I didn't think about our ewes dropping lambs right now and didn't know my mom's first full art show would open tomorrow night. So, even though I know I will enjoy it and be glad we did it, right now the idea of going off-island for 18 hours or so just fills me with anxiety and fear. Every weekend seems a battleground for farm/family/couple/musician obligations and attractions. Mark and I spent 15 minutes on the phone today, walking through our calendar for the month to figure out how to pull it all off.
One of the main reasons we went to a single-career family model was to free up our time and make sure that our family spent most weekends recreating and enjoying each other's company. Right now it doesn't feel like we're meeting that goal very well.
I know this isn't anything close to a unique situation - we all struggle with time management, whether we're two-career couples or one, urban or rural or suburban. Farm commitments can be uniquely frustrating, however, because they trump everything - spending time on homework or other parental activities, for instance, b/c if you don't attend to your animals, they die. So, your kid handles his homework on his own while you're out throwing hay.
On the flip side, of course, there's working together on weekends and long afternoons as the days lengthen. Building the property and the business side-by-side as a family carries a satisfaction that's tough to match. And those times do happen - pretty often.
But, we all have long days.
Almost everyone has one lurking on the bottom shelf of the pantry, hiding behind the stockpot in the cupboard, lying forgotten out in the garage with the bread machine and the Vita-Mix. Well, throw out the 2 pots or pans you use the least and haul your crockpot into its rightful place among your most useful cooking implements. Maybe even in between the coffee maker and the tea kettle because you just might get addicted.
Before downsizing, I had 2 crockpots and I used both of them. Living in 1500 square feet requires some hard choices, however, so I passed the smaller of the 2 along to a friend where I believe it continues to lead a happy and productive life.
So, why do I evangelize about the lowly slow cooker? Several key reasons:
First, contrary to general perception, the crockpot does not only excel in meals that consist of the contents of a few cans and a jar poured over ground beef and then revisited after work. I use my crockpot to cram as many healthful things into one dish as I can.
Second, it makes healthy eating easy. Once you get the hang of it, you can make your meals as simple or complicated as you choose and rarely need much of a recipe.
Third, it cuts down on clean-up, which leads to the most important reason, for me, which is:
Fourth, whatever work, mess, and clean-up you have to do is done in the morning, leaving right-before and right-after dinner as pleasure and leisure time for yourself or with your family. If you cook from scratch a lot anyway, you might find yourself truly surprised at the amount of time that opens up.
And, finally, it frees you from the tyranny of the stovetop. You can take your favorite soup, chili, or pasta sauce recipe and adapt it to the crockpot. You still brown and saute on the stove, but then you dump everything into that beautiful appliance sitting all self-contained and safe on the counter. You wash up your pan, throw your scraps out to the hens (or into your composter) and you, my friend, are out the door or in the garden or off to work. You no longer have to babysit those wonderful foods that just need to burble and simmer all day to reach their full yumminess.
Another myth: crockpots are for winter when we crave heavy foods. Not necessarily so. I find that my friends and I are much more inclined to cook during the cold season. Everyone's inside and it gets dark early and the rain is pelting the windows. Warm ovens and sizzling pans seem right at home. But, as the afternoons lengthen and the occasional warm breeze beckons, I find it harder and harder to motivate in the kitchen. I just long to be outside - whether its planting things or just sipping wine on the front porch. Spring is the perfect time to dust off this versatile machine and free up your evenings.
So, in celebration of your coming liberation, a pasta sauce recipe I adapted a while back from Pasta & Company's first cookbook, published in 1991.
P&C Bolognese Sauce
Make up a double batch and freeze it for easy pasta dinners anytime. We especially like this served over wide silky papperadelle noodles.
1. Brown about a pound each of bulk hot or sweet italian sausage and lean ground beef. When no pink shows, pour both into the crockpot.
2. Chop up one yellow onion and saute it over medium heat in the oil left from browning the meat (there shouldn't be more than a few tablespoons). After the onion has been cooking 3-4 minutes, throw in 3 each chopped up celery and chopped peeled carrots and 6-8 cloves of minced garlic. Saute all until the onion turns translucent. Dump into the crockpot.
3. Wash and quarter 8-10 mushrooms. Heat your pan back up to medium. When it's hot, pour in 3+ tablespoons of olive oil. Toss your mushrooms in, stir to coat them, then pour a healthy splash of dry white wine in. Saute mushrooms, careful not to stir often, for about 5-7 minutes. Toss into crockpot.
4. Cut 2 zucchini into rounds, then quarters. Add to the crockpot.
5. Crumble a healthy tablespoon each of dried oregano and basil over the contents of the crockpot. Throw in a bay leaf or two.
6. Open 2 28-oz cans of Muir Glen diced fire-roasted tomatoes and add them to the crockpot. Stir.
7. Add a little salt and pepper.
8. Turn crockpot to "Low" setting. If your version has a timer, set it for 6-8 hours. Stir occasionally if the spirit moves you.
Put a large pot of water on to boil 20-30 minutes before you're planning to eat. Cook and drain pasta and ladle sauce over individual bowls.
Enjoy!
