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Fall off the Bone Smoked Ribs
For best results, begin prep at least three days before you want to eat.
1 rack of St louis style pork ribs (spare ribs)
2 cups Don’s amazing Kansas City Rib Rub
6-8 ounces prepared yellow mustard
1 cup apple cider
8 oz wood chips for smoking
Charcoal for smoking
A smoker
A slow cooker
Heavy duty aluminum foil
- Rinse the ribs, pat dry, and remove the membrane from the underside (concave side).
2. Cutting the ribs into sections of 4 or 5 ribs at this point can make them easier to handle.
3. Apply a smear of yellow prepared mustard to all surfaces of the ribs, then coat with the dry rub.
4. Place the ribs in a plastic bag and refrigerate at least overnight, up to two days
5. Soak 8-10 oz wood chips in warm water for at least 24 hrs.
6. The day you smoke, remove ribs from the refrigerator and allow them to reach room temperature prior to smoking.
7. Prepare the smoker to achieve 225 F (108C).
8. Boil 2 gallons of water for the water pan in the smoker.
9. Once the heat is achieved, place the ribs on the highest rack in the smoker, being careful not to overlap.
10. Once the temperature has stabilized again to 225F, place half the wood chips into the coals in the smoker.
11. Once the smoke subsides, and temperature is 225F again, add the remaining chips.
12. Smoke at 225-250F for 3 hours.
13. Remove ribs from smoker, wrapping each section tightly in it’s own heavy duty aluminum foil.
14. Place them in the refrigerator overnight.
15. Prepare a slow cooker (crock pot) for medium heat.
16. Open each foil wrapped pack of ribs and pour a few tablespoons of apple cider inside.
17. Re-wrap tightly and place them in the slow cooker, low heat 170F (76C) for 6-8 hours.
18. Test them to see if they fall off the bone. Allow a little more time if they need it.
Voila!
Tomato seedlings ready to stretch their legs
We have four varieties of tomatoes that can’t wait to go in the ground. Unfortunately, they have a few more days of waiting for the last frost danger to pass.
The four varieties this year are:
Estiva – Medium early red fruits
Sungold – Sweet golden cherry variety
Granadero – Plum-type sauce variety
Brandywine – Large, gnarly-looking beefsteak-shaped heirloom variety
So around mid to late July, look for these beauties at our farm stand, while supplies last. 😀
Footprints In The Snow
The other night I dreamt that I kicked the bucket and went to be with Jesus. As I was floating up into heaven on a cloud, I looked back at the snowy earth below. I noticed some footprints in the snow behind my house. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,other times there were just one set.
This bothered me a little because I noticed that during the coldest winter of my life, when I was lugging armloads of firewood through the snow from the woodshed up to the house, I could only see the one set of footprints.
So when I got up there through the gate, I said to Jesus, “Why, when I needed you most, were you not there for me?”
Jesus said,”I would never leave you Don, I don’t care how cold it gets in New Hampshire. Those times when you saw only one set of footprints, those are the times when I carried you, and all the firewood you dropped.”
Buddy the rooster watching over the new hens. He’s easily three times bigger
But a very gentle watchman.
Sink full of food
You’d never know it by today’s weather, but last weekend, the weatherman predicted a frost. So the day before, we harvested all the less-than-hardy plants, bringing them inside for processing. It took every crate and basket we own to gather it all! Despite a massive canning, drying, freezing effort, (thanks for the help Christie and Zac) we still have many baskets of half-ripe tomatoes, lots of cukes and peppers to put up. I make it sound cumbersome, but the fact is we love having fresh food by the bushel crowding the counters in our farm kitchen.
Many of the broad leaf herbs also got pulled to rescue them from the coming frost. When dry, this will be about a pound each of basil and flat leaf parsley. Chives, onions, mint will be ok a while longer outside, along with the kale, brussel sprouts, peas, etc.
The keeper squashes are on the lawn curing in the sun for a while, to harden up the skins before storage. It’s rewarding to see them all gathered from the garden patch, all huddled together on the lawn.
All in all, a pretty good year and a plentiful harvest!
Got Basil?
Preserving The Harvest – Making salsa
The smell of the kitchen this time of year is incredible. Today we’re making salsa from our sauce tomatoes, bell peppers and poblanos. We will likely be processing the harvest every weekend for the next few months. We’ll eat good this winter!
Bean Season!
This beautiful variety was grown on the bean house:
Nature’s candy
Despite the 80 degree temperature, I donned jeans, boots and an extra heavy jacket to pick these beauties. Wild blackberries are very prolific this year, and the usual flocks of hungry birds don’t seem to be touching them. This makes about two gallons we’ve picked over the past two weeks from a patch with about a dozen fruiting canes and there’s more that will be ready in another week. Sweet and delicious!