Old MacDonald

My daughter and I spent a delightful morning at Merck Forrest, 3,160 acres of forest and farmland near Rupert, VT, less than fifteen minutes from our house. Merck was given to Rupert by George W. Merck, the big pharma tycoon, who owned a very large house there. Today, the property is a non-profit environmental education organization that includes hiking trails, a working farm, camping, programs in sustainable agriculture, high school and college internships and a great deal more. It’s a four-season wonder with maple sugaring, sheepdog trials,  cross country skiing, nature journaling for kids and other pastoral activities.

Ellen and I first visited a ram

and a whether grazing in a large, fenced-in space.  A whether for all you farm-fans, is a gelded ram whose job is to get the females excited in breeding season before the ram is “introduced” (he probably doesn’t shake hoofs.)

 

Chickens of many types  were clucking madly and, presumably, laying eggs. The pigs, a black and white breed, were having a fabulous morning, taking turns rolling in a puddle, sucking water from a very cleverly designed spout, eating grain from a bin or squash from their trough. They are probably destined to wind up as pork chops and the like—this is a real farm—but for now, any one of them could have been Wilbur. Some years ago at Merck, I watched a litter of piglets race around their house, squealing like mad. The minute the leader got to the front where we were standing, he stopped and dashed back around the other way, leading the other eleven, all squealing. this went on for at least an hour. How can you not love pigs?

 

Staff at Merck grow fruit and veggies that are sold on the property and at local farmers’ markets so we’ll leave the animals out of it food-wise and go vegetarian.  This ratatouille is relatively quick and delicious. Tomatoes have started to come into season — eggplant and zucchini are already abundant so the timing is perfect.

Ratatouille Express (serves 6+)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 onions, slivered

3 bell peppers, cut into one inch squares (try different colors)

2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (don’t go nuts, small chunks will do nicely)

2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (ditto)

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

2 pounds tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme  (no fresh, use dried)

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot on medium heat. Add slivered onions and while they cook, chop the bell peppers and add them to the pot, stirring well.

Chop the eggplants and add to the pot, stirring well to coat the eggplant with oil. By now, all the olive oil will have soaked into the eggplant, so you need to stir often to keep vegetables from burning until they soften some.  Once eggplant has softened a bit, chop zucchini and stir it in. Chop and add the garlic.

Chop the tomatoes and add them. Mince thyme and add it along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and cook about two minutes. (This is a very forgiving recipe. Two, four, five minutes, same thing.)

Turn down heat and cover the pot. Simmer until everything is soft and well blended,  about 40 minutes.

Stir in basil and remove from heat.  I add 1-2 T red wine vinegar to spark the flavor.

Hum a chorus of  EE-I-EE-I- O  and serve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and I spent a delightful morning at Merck Forrest, 3,160 acres of forest and farmland in the Taconic Mountains near Rupert, VT, about fifteen minutes max from our house. Merck was given to Rupert by George W. Merck, the big pharma tycoon, who once owned a (very large) house there. Today, the property is a non-profit environmental education organization that offers hiking trails, a working farm, camping, programs in sustainable agriculture, high school and college internships and a great deal more. It’s a four-season wonder with maple sugaring, sheepdog trials, nature journaling for kids and other pastoral activities.

 

Ellen and I first visited a ram and a whether grazing in a large, fenced-in space.  A whether for all you farm-fans, is a gelded ram whose job is to get the females excited in breeding season before ram is “introduced” (he probably doesn’t shake hoofs.) Think of the whether as sort of a pimp for a ram.

 

By this time in late summer, most of the farm animals are in late adolescence. Chickens of many types clucked madly and, presumably, lay eggs. The pigs, a black and white breed, were having a fabulous morning, taking turns rolling in a puddle, sucking water from a very cleverly designed spout. eating grain from a bin or squash from their trough. They are probably destined to wind up as pork chops and the like—this is a real farm—but for now, they were all candidates to be Wilbur. Some years ago, I watched a litter of piglets race around their house, squealing. As soon as the leader got to the front where we stood, he stopped and dashed back around the other way, leading the other eleven, all squealing.  Pigs are truly terrific animals.

 

Staff at Merck grows fruit and veggies that are sold on the property and at local farmers’ markets so we’ll leave the animals out of it food-wise and go vegetarian.  This ratatouille is relatively quick and delicious. Tomatoes have started to come into season — eggplant and zucchini are already abundant so the timing is perfect.

 

Ratatouille Express (serves at least 6)

     1/4 cup olive oil

2 onions, slivered

3 bell peppers, cut into one inch squares (try different colors)

2 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (don’t go nuts, small chunks will do nicely)

2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (ditto_

4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

2 pounds tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot on medium heat. Add slivered onions and while they cook, chop the bell peppers and add them to the pot, stirring well.

Chop the eggplants and add to the pot, stirring well to coat the eggplant with oil. By now, all the olive oil will have soaked into the eggplant, so you need to stir often to keep vegetables from burning until they soften some.  Once eggplant has softened a bit, chop zucchini and stir it in. Chop and add the garlic.

Chop the tomatoes and add them. Mince thyme and add it along with salt and pepper to taste. (and if you don’t have or can’t get fresh, feel free to add dried thyme.) Stir well and cook two minutes.

Turn down heat and cover the pot. Simmer until everything is soft and well blended – about 40 minutes.

Stir in basil and remove from heat.  I add 1-2 T red wine vinegar that sparks the flavor.

Hum a chorus of Old MacDonald.