Monday, November 06, 2006

November 6

It is now truly fall here in Texas. The trees present yellow and red banners fluttering down to a blanket of green rye grass. Quite a palette for the eye. We have a rooster with feathers perfectly matching the fall colors. The kids named him Adam as he was the first chick actually born here on the farm. He is a beauty with a mellow disposition.



Some of the yellows of the season are reflected in the color of a wonderful ice cream that we have been making here lately. It is a frozen custard made with 8 egg yolks (!) and is simply divine. Here, I must share the recipe with you (with thanks to Susan):



Yellow yellow Ice Cream

2 c. whole milk
2 c. heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I like to use Mexican vanilla)
8 large egg yolks
3/4 c. granulated sugar

Combine milk and cream in saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Whip the yolks and sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer about 5 minutes, until thick and pale in color, and holding a ribbon. Slowly stream 1 cup of the hot milk/cream into the yolk mixture while blending. When well blended, pour the yolk mixture back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon until thickened slightly (to coat the spoon), about 10 minutes.
Strain the contents of the pan into a large bowl. Chill several hours or overnight, and then put into the ice cream maker. Yield: c. 1.5 qts.

(Note: if you can get your hands on some raw, grass-fed milk and cream this ice cream will be positively neon, due to the extra beta carotene!)

The holidays are coming the holidays are coming! We are stocking up in anticipation of all of the extra baking. Don't forget these eggs in your syrup pies and glazes on your crusts. I will have some more terrific recipes up very soon and please don't hesitate to send your own, they would be much appreciated.

--Jackie Leigh

Thursday, October 19, 2006



Our chickens are laying like mad. When chickens first start to lay, they lay many but smaller eggs. As they mature their egg production goes down, but the eggs get bigger. We have had a lot of rain this fall (thankfully, as we are still suffering under a drought) and the pastures are very green. The chickens live in a mobile chicken house that is moved every three days.

This is mutually beneficial to the chickens and the pasture. The birds eat the new green grass and seeds and the ground is aerated and fertilized. See for yourself. Here is a section of pasture a few weeks after the birds were on it. It is so green.






The magazine, Mother Earth News did nutritional analysis of eggs from four flocks of pastured chickens and then did a comparison of the results to regular super-market (factory produced) eggs. Their results,

“revealed that compared to supermarket eggs from hens raised in cages, our free-range eggs contained only about half as much cholesterol, were up to twice as rich in vitamin E, and were two to six times richer in beta carotene (a form of vitamin A). For essential omega-3 fatty acids (vital for optimal heart and brain function), the free-range eggs averaged four times more than factory eggs.”

You can read the whole article at: http://www.motherearthnews.com/eggs/testing

In fact, I recommend it. It discusses in depth how much of the foods in the food supply have been declining nutritionally due to industrial farm practices.

--jackie leigh

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Greenfield Family Farm


We are Jackie Leigh and Ann Marie, two sisters who, with our families, are transforming the farm that was the legacy of our grandparents into lush, green fields. Our philosophy of farming grows out of our belief that the best food comes from animals that live as they are designed to live. Our chickens roam the pesticide-free pastures, where they forage for insects, grasses and seeds, giving us beautiful, nutritious eggs.

The creation of Greenfield Family Farm came from the quest to find the most nutitous food for our families. We were dissatisified, even horrified with the meat and vegetables coming from factory farms (even organic ones). We started a vegetable garden on our land in East Texas where we continue to grow produce without pesticides, using organic fertilizer. The quality of these fruits and vegetables is outstanding. The way they taste, the way they make your body feel, inspired us to keep going and keep growing. We added a small chicken flock to our farm for the eggs. We were amazed with the bright orange color of the yolk from these eggs from free-roaming chickens and we knew we had something wonderful. We decided then that we needed to 'share the wealth' so to speak, so we added another flock of chickens and we are now selling our eggs to others who care as deeply about where their food comes from.

This blog is our way of sharing our lives and the life of our farm, to share our knowledge of what we have learned about good nutrition and bad farming practices.

Jackie Leigh and Ann Marie