Sometimes you try something new, and you think to yourself this will probably turn out well – and then it turns out phenomenal!  Such is the case with these pulled pork carnitas. Don’t be afraid to change the custom meat rub to your own desires, this is just a baseline to begin with and is a bit on the spicy side.

Ingredients:

• 2-3lbs of sliced pork shoulder steak
• Custom rub of mineral salt (1/2 tsp), onion powder (1/4 tsp), garlic powder (1/4 tsp), cilantro (1 tsp), cumin (1 tsp), red cayenne pepper (1 tsp) and chili powder (1 tsp).  Tweak to your own likes or add something new.
• 1/2 cup water

Thaw pork steaks completely.  Mix rub (tweak to your preference) and place onto both sides of pork steaks, rubbing into the meat.  You will want to cover all areas pretty well.  Place steaks in crock pot, add 1/2 cup of water and cook on lowest setting for 6-8 hours or until desired tenderness.  We like to rotate the steaks from top to bottom a couple of times during cooking to mix the juices well.  Once done, shred meat and remove bone.

Serve on corn tortilla and add fresh diced tomato, bell pepper, hot peppers and/or salsa.  Finish with some fresh graded raw milk cheese and/or sour cream.  For an extra special treat, purchase a jar of Cordita (fermented hot peppers, cabbage, carrots and seasonings) from our friends Mark & Josh at Fermenti Artisan (see under “Who We Recommend”).  A small spoonful of cordita will make your carnita out of this world good!

This past week we stumbled across an article by Jeffrey Smith (author of the book “Seeds of Deception”) about the new Food Safety Czar that was being appointed by the White House. Normally not something that would make mainstream news (which it didn’t) or that anyone would really pay attention to (which most haven’t).

The scary news though is exactly who this new czar is going to be and the history he was with food products over the last couple of decades that may have had more changes impacted on the average human being’s health than any other person. The actions that this man has taken might make McDonald’s look like a viable competitor with a Jenny Craig health food ad.

Here’s a clip from the article:

But the biotech industry had rigged the game so that neither science nor scientists would stand in their way. They had placed their own man in charge of FDA policy and he wasn’t going to be swayed by feeble arguments related to food safety. No, he was going to do what corporations had done for decades to get past these types of pesky concerns. He was going to lie.

If you’re worried about genetically modified (GM) foods, you should really take a few minutes and read this article. If you’d like to know a little bit more about what happens to the food we’re eating and where it’s coming from, read this article. If you’d rather not know, and just keep eating like nothing is changing and it’s the way it’s always been, then move along, there’s nothing to see here.

You’re Appointing Who? Please Obama, Say It’s Not So!

If you do read the article, I’d love to hear your opinions.

Last chance to save this year

It’s time for our annual summer chicken sale!  This coming Monday, August 22^nd we will have fresh chicken available at the farm from 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.  If you didn’t get signed up for our chicken CSA in April or May, this is your last chance to save this year and stockpile our delicious birds for winter!

The following discounts will be applied:

• Buy 10 whole or whole cutup chickens:  5% off
• Buy 15 whole or whole cutup chickens:  7.5% off
• Buy 20 whole or whole cutup chickens:  10% off

You can mix and match on any of the above packages, but please note that quantities of cutup chickens will be very limited!  Reservations will be accepted with advance notice.

All breast, leg quarters, stock packages and chicken wings will be 10% off.  No minimum quantity is required.

These prices are good for Monday only!  So take a short drive to our farm and save while you can.  Also, for your convenience we can accept cash, check or debit/credit card.

Directions to the Farm

Headed to the farm to take advantage of our chicken sale? Find out where we are and how to contact us.

Or you can simply click on this google map: http://bit.ly/o8ni1U

This post shares content that we recently sent to our customers that purchased one of our free range turkey’s last year. Even if you didn’t purchase a turkey last year, we didn’t want to leave you out of the opportunity to grab one for your family this year. However, be aware our customers were very happy last year and already have a bit of a headstart on you for ordering, so you may want to read quick and order your turkey as soon as you finish reading this.

While it may seem early to be talking turkey, our turkey poults actually arrived here at the farm two weeks ago and Thanksgiving is just a little over three months away. We are already working hard to make sure your Thanksgiving Feast is as perfect as it can be!

If you are not on the e-mail newsletter list, you can sign up quickly and easily on our website. This will keep you up to date on all kinds of things including product availability, new recipes, news articles, etc.

Secondly, the feedback we received from last year’s turkeys was nothing short of fabulous and very humbling at the same time. In short we were blown away with the comments that many of you sent to us after the holiday. We knew the week after Thanksgiving of 2010 we would be offering turkeys again. Thanks to all of you for supporting our farm, and hence our family. Without you, there is no Simpson’s Farm Market!

Now to let you know what is different about this season’s turkeys:

Less Expensive Turkeys, Same High Quality

They are going to be less expensive! However, I want to stress that we are not cutting any corners here! You will receive the same product you did last year that is raised on our typical mix of transitional organic grains and certified organic mineral supplements. And of course, they will graze on our chemical free pastures. We are raising more turkeys this season which spreads out our fixed costs in addition to working smarter. The price this season will be $4.99/lb (a 10% reduction in price over last year’s $5.49/lb).

You Can Now Order Online

You can place your deposit thru our new secure online ordering system, or you may also do it in person at any farmers market (or mail a check to us). Just like last season, a non-refundable $25 deposit is required for each turkey ordered. Please note that you can order as many as you would like. Many of you called last year after Thanksgiving to see about getting a turkey for Christmas or New Years and as you learned we did not have any extras! Please plan accordingly in advance this year.

Downtown Pickup Before Thanksgiving

We will once again have a downtown pickup point the Friday prior to Thanksgiving on November 18th. That was very popular last year and worked out well, especially for our North, West and East side customers. This year, we have worked out arrangements with an old friend of ours from Martinsville who just happens to be one of the owners at Sun King Brewery at College & Ohio St. The parking lot area is also much larger than the Indianapolis City Market and will make logistics much simpler. If you have not tried Sun King beer, you are missing out! And Friday’s are the discounted day of the week to fill your take home growlers. Local raised turkey, local brewed beer……nice.

At the Farm Pickup Too

We will also have a pickup at the farm later that same day, just like last year.

If you have more questions, you can get all the details on our turkeys here. If you have other questions, feel free to contact us here.

One of the newer products available is our ground pork. This is just like ground beef but is made with our pasture raised pork.

I know, I know what you’re thinking. That doesn’t sound appealing at all! Do you eat it like you would ground beef and just make a hamburger patty out of it? After all, the first part of “hamburger” is “ham”. You’re exactly right, that’s all you do and let me tell you, the finished product is absolutely fantastic.

I had my own reservations initially, but I grilled some for our family a couple of week’s ago and they were fabulous! I actually couldn’t even really tell the difference between them and a lean, ground beef. They were juicy, great taste and with the chopped up onions and hot peppers I had garnishing mine they were great!

Next time you’re at the Binford Farmer’s Market or Greenwood Farmer’s Market, be sure and ask Darby or Kim for a package of your own ground pork and head home to fire up that grill!