Fresh From the Farm Blog

I am somewhat of a history buff anyway, but February 19, 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the start of one of the fiercest battles of WWII in the South Pacific on the island of Iwo Jima. My father was there as a 19-year-old radio operator on a troop transport ship. Were my father alive today he would be 99. My dad didn’t talk much about his war experiences other than to say that he was one of the lucky ones. “I came home,” was his usual answer when asked something specific. There was a whole generation of young men...

As a child, I remember eagerly checking the mail in the days before Valentine’s Day to see if there were any red envelopes waiting in the mailbox. It meant that grandparents, aunts or uncles had sent me something special. I always liked getting humorous valentines from my grandmother that had a $2.00 bill enclosed. Now as a grandmother myself, I mailed red envelopes to my grandchildren last week and there was a little something extra tucked inside. I also enjoy treating the Fredericksburg Farms team with Valentine goodies, today it was pink iced cookies. On Valentine’s Day itself I am...

OK folks, a sure sign that we live in the country is that we make our own venison sausage and we love dry venison sausage. This is a hands-on labor of love. Once the links are stuffed, we smoke them in our own smokehouse and some are wrapped and frozen to be grilled or fried later. Other links we leave hanging in the smokehouse to dry for a week. This is usually done in the winter when temps are low and the air is dry. This year we did not make our own sausage (insert a sad face here) but...

What’s the deal with all of the hype over whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not on February 2 each year? If you turn on a TV on that morning there will be live coverage of the groundhog being pulled from his den to face TV cameras and excited reporters wearing funny hats. Will he see his shadow or not? Will there be six more weeks of winter or not? Do we believe this? Likely not, but it is all in the spirit of fun. So, in the spirit of fun I propose that Fredericksburg Farms “Prairie Dog Pete”...

What is your favorite winter recipe? Is it a dessert, a soup, a snack? My favorite winter recipe is hard to choose. On one hand it might be a steaming pot of chili to warm up a cold night, or something decadent for dessert made from chocolate of course. Last week we had a fridge full of left overs but nothing sounded quite right for dinner so I searched and found my mother in law’s recipe for chicken spaghetti. It was the right combination of comfort food and a great family favorite. While it was cooking my kitchen smelled just...