Brining a chicken or a turkey (for flavor and moisture)

John & Elizabeth

From the California Culinary Academy cookbook, BBQ, Grilling and Smoking, 1988
1 gallon of water
2 cups of kosher salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of molasses
2 Tablespoons of black pepper
2/3 cup of crushed fennel
1 Tablespoon of crushed sage
Zest of one tangerine or orange
Zest of one lemon

Make enough of the brine to cover your bird, and pack the bird into a cooler large enough to allow the bird to move a bit.  Weight the bird so that it stays below the level of the brine. Cover the bird with several frozen icees.  A chicken may be brined in 24 hours, but it will be a couple of days for a turkey, based on weight.  You may experiment with the seasonings as well.  Drain the bird well and season and bake as usual.  Enjoy :)

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This month has been the month of babies.  We have had four of the five litters of piglets, successfully, and are waiting for the last litter to arrive.  Two of the sows decided to farrow (the special pig term for birthing) out in the woods, one in our neighbor's front yard...  We had to escort that pig home with her six babies, but the mama in the woods is on property we manage, and she is happily raising her young ones out doors.  We have provided her with a tarp for the storms we have been having lately.
  The storms and the warmer weather have made for lots of grass growing, and we have been reluctant to mow because of the wet. We are planning to move some of the grazing animals around to take care of the grass growth.

   We have been welcoming visitors to our home and farm, and we are looking forward to having a long term visitor from Spain.  Raul will be here on about the first of May and is looking forward to learning about our part of the world.  We have enjoyed spending time with our friends from Nashville, and a local friend is coming over the mountain from Sneedville to help us with some household chores.  If you want to spend some time getting muddy and learning more about animals or plants, let us know and we will work with you to get you some experience.

     Two weeks ago, we worked hard with the folks from the Porter Road Butcher shop to create bratwurst, sweet Italian sausage and all natural hot dogs.  These wonderful products, made from our own pigs, are made without any fillers, additives and in natural casings.  There is wonderful flavor and great texture.  These are products you can be proud to serve at home, and that you can feel good about serving to your children. For more information about them, and for the chance to get some, please plan to attend the ETSU Farmer s' Market on Thursday, the 23rd, this week.  Come out to the Saw Works brewery on Saturday the 25th at 3:30PM and actually taste our wonderful bratwurst with some of the great Saw Works beer!
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Morning Everyone.

We had a great weekend and had a great day at the Winter Farmers Market in Knoxville on Saturday. The weather was fantastic and since everyone had cabin fever we saw a lot of our friends. I just love Saturdays!

Well, JEM Farm is Super excited to announce that we are selling through Overstock.com. They've developed an online farmers market and we jumped on-board. They are a fantastic company to work with and are committed to supplying farm fresh LOCAL food to its customers. They have actually sent their employees to training sessions to help them understand the pliet of the farmer and what it takes to get these products from the farm to the consumer.

This is VERY COOL and I want to give a shout to our Customer Care Representative "Faviola" from Overstock. She is fantastic to work with and a joy to talk to over the phone. (she's in Utah) so we've never met......YET!

This is perfect for those individuals who simply can't or don't want to visit their farmers markets but still want Farm Fresh Product.

Overstock.com

We offer deliveries from Bristol TN to Oak Ridge and all points in between.
John & Elizabeth

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