Cooking a Ham Roast

I’ve had so many questions about how to cook a ham I thought I’d put some information together. First a disclaimer: while I am fairly experienced cook I certainly have no training or expertise; I often still rely on the Betty Crocker cookbook I got as a wedding gift for cooking times and temperatures for meat.

The ham you bought from us is most likely a smoked ham. However, unlike the ham many of you are accustomed to from the grocery store (what my kids used to call “the pink meat”) these hams are not pre-cooked. That means you’ll need to cook it more like you would a roast not just re-heat it as you would typically do with a ham.

Roast your smoked ham uncovered in a 325° oven for about 20 minutes per pound. This recipe recommends roasting to an internal temperature of 170° and the rationale makes great sense to me, so that’s my advice. A meat thermometer is really an essential piece of kitchen equipment so if you don’t have one, now is the time to get one. You may have to make a “tent” from foil toward the end of the cooking time if the ham is getting too brown on the outside.

I don’t usually add much in the way of seasoning to ham but I am going to try the maple-spice glaze from the recipe in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since I do like a crust on the outside of the ham. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Another traditional meat for Easter dinner is a leg of lamb. While the idea of “spring” lamb is a bit of a misnomer for us as lambs are born in the spring, not butchered then, we do have lambs available for purchase and many of you may have saved a leg for a special meal.

My favorite recipe for lamb comes from the “Garlic, Garlic, Garlic” cookbook written by our friends Fred and Linda Griffith. Their support in the Cleveland area has been so valuable and they’ve been so generous that, anytime I make one of their recipes, thoughts of them are always a part of the pleasure of the meal.

A few more of our Easter food traditions are made with products we raise here on our own farm and I’ll post more of those recipes later this week.

Another Sign of Spring

If you've ever been out to the farm, you know this guy. He's the official greeter.

His name is Nemo; he's a four year-old springer spaniel who thinks everyone's as eager to see him as he is to meet them.

We worked hard with him as a puppy so that he would sit on the porch when cars pulled in. It's difficult for him but he can usually wait until you get parked, then he's all over it!

Aaron and Daniel clip both dogs very short as soon as the weather warms up a bit. Keeping them trimmed helps reduce the amount of dirt they track in the house. And with 3 kids, 2 dogs and a farmer husband, you can imagine what the laundry room floor looks like! I've always said I chose tile the color of mud for that reason alone.

The other dog is a springer too; she's an old girl who is nearly blind and quite arthritic so you'll rarely see her but she's still around. She's the one who dictates the haircut time; when it's warm enough that Sally won't be too cold without her winter coat, it's warm enough for the spring haircuts.

So here's another sign that spring is finally here. Be sure to tell Nemo how nice he looks next time you see him.

Signs of Spring

One of the first signs of spring around the farm has always been this sight. Buckets hanging on the maple trees in our yard mean the days are getting warmer.

The sap runs when nights are below freezing and days are warmer; it runs best when the temperature is above forty degrees and the sun shines.

Our middle son was "bitten" by the sugaring bug years ago; his childhood friend had an old-fashioned sugarbush on their farm and Sam loved to go there and ride the sap wagon. He's been tapping the trees on our property and making syrup on the halves with a local man since before he was big enough to lift the buckets high enough to dump them in the tank we put in the bed of the pick-up truck. In fact, his college admission essay described his syrup-making business!

This season has been a short one. The boys tapped the trees on a Saturday and by Friday had taken the buckets down. We've put them back up on these clear nights as there has been frost but we're only collecting about 40 gallons of sap which doesn't even make a gallon of syrup.

We'll hope for the weather to stay cool for a few more days but, when the trees bud, the syrup season is over. Enjoy the beutiful spring weather while it lasts!

Howland Farmers Market

Tomorrow I have a meeting of the Howland Farmers Market Steering Committee. We participated in the market last summer and met lots of great people, established some contacts and had a fairly successful season.

We’ve kept in contact with some of those customers by establishing a monthly delivery to WineStyles which is across the street from the township park where the market is held. They’ve been very accommodating there, it gets a little more foot traffic for them and I’ve gotten some great wine information from the owner, Mark Rhodes.

The steering committee will be looking at logos, branding and some other ways to move the market to a new level. The group that volunteered to take this project on is such a great, interesting group of people that I’m really looking forward to sharing information and no doubt, getting some great marketing ideas for our farm.

Hopefully we’ll come up with some exciting things for the market season which I’ll be able to share with you soon.

Finally blogging

Finally! I've been working towards linking website, Facebook and a blog for what seems like months.

I'll keep you up-to-date on happenings on the farm during this busy Spring season. Check back often!