by, Shannon Hayes of Sap Bush Hollow Farm

Shannon Hayes is the host of grassfedcooking.com and the author of The Farmer and the Grill and The Grassfed Gourmet. She works with her family on Sap Bush Hollow Farm in Upstate New York. Her newest book, Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture, is due out really really really soon….

1. Please be flexible. If you are buying your pasture-raised turkey from a small, local, sustainable farmer, thank you VERY much for supporting us. That said, please remember that pasture-raised turkeys are not like factory-farmed birds. Outside of conscientious animal husbandry, we are unable to control the size of our Thanksgiving turkeys. Please be forgiving if the bird we have for you is a little larger or a little smaller than you anticipated. Cook a sizeable quantity of sausage stuffing if it is too small (a recipe appears below), or enjoy the leftovers if it is too large.  If the bird is so large that it cannot fit in your oven, simply remove the legs before roasting it.
2. Know what you are buying. If you don’t personally know the farmer who is growing your turkey, take the time to know what you are buying! “Pastured” is not necessarily the same as “free-range.” Some grass-based farmers use the word “free-range” to describe their pasture-raised birds, but any conventional factory farm can also label their birds “free-range” if they are not in individual cages, and if they have “access” to the outdoors – even if the “outdoors” happens to be feces-laden penned-in concrete pads outside the barn door, with no access to grass. “Pastured” implies that the bird was out on grass for most of its life, where it ate grass and foraged for bugs, in addition to receiving some grain.
3. Brining optional. If tradition dictates that you season your meat by brining your bird, by all means, do so. However, many people brine in order to keep the bird from drying out. This is not at all necessary. Pastured birds are significantly juicier and more flavorful than factory farmed birds. You can spare yourself this extra step as a reward for making the sustainable holiday choice!
   Tags cooking - tips
   
   

By Stacey Morris
Contributing Writer

COHOES, N.Y. – In the world of cheese making, Sean O’Connor Is relatively new to the game. He may not have decades of experience (yet) to his name, but the Troy resident makes up for it in his love of the process.

O’Connor spent seven years working at various creameries throughout the region before opening R&G Cheese, his own cheese-making operation in the Harmony House complex on Remsen Street last year.

In a short time, his distribution has skyrocketed from Remsen Street and local farmers markets to gourmet shops in New York City and a recent nod of approval on the Food Network.

Think of wine growing regions, and the great vineyards of France and Italy come to mind.  Here in the US, California is a favorite viniculture region, producing the spicy Zinfandels and Syrah, and buttery Chardonnays.  Closer to home, New York’s Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley and Long Island regions are gaining in popularity and reputation.  Once you get north of Catskill, however, the colder climate of the north pretty much means that growing grapes is a foolish proposition.  Defying the odds, the DiCrescenzo family of Altamont is proving the naysayers wrong, by not only growing grapes at their 1000 foot elevation vineyard, but by producing some very good wine as well!

It all started back in 1981 when the previous owner of the hillside property, Larry Grossi, decided to retire from his career as a diesel mechanic.  Like many first generation Italian immigrants, Grossi felt the call to return to the land and rekindle his family tradition of wine making back in the old country.  Grossi first became inspired when he stumbled upon the unique property, its sun-drenched slopes and views of the Helderberg Escarpment reminding him of landscape of his youth, growing up in the Lazio province of Italy (this region has a vinicultural history that dates back to the tales of Homer’s Odyssey…referred to in the sirens’ song episode).