Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Winter Work

The cold dark days of winter signal a slower pace here on the farm. The chickens spend more time in the coop, cow's huddle close in the field, the cats mound up in a little furry pile in the shed, and our giant farm dog, Bruce, stays close to his blanket draped bed in the back of the barn. This is the time when us old farmers move down to the basement and begin a Stone Cross winter tradition of making our herbal soaps.

We start by heating and stirring lye with rich natural oils like palm and coconut. This oil blend forms the cleansing base to all our soaps. Adding in the specific all natural ingredients that give each of our soaps their unique character we continue to stir mixture. Trust me it takes a lot of elbow grease to make soap, just ask our forearms!

 As the mixture cools and thickens we pour the taffy-like soap into large lined wooden forms. We add the subtle artistic touches here that, once cut, will give each soap a different color pattern and texture. The forms are left to dry and allow the new soap to solidify.

After a few days of drying we empty the large soap cakes from the wooden forms. The cakes are measured, scored and cut to increase the surface area and left for continued drying. The more air reaching the soap the faster the essential oils will dry and stiffen to the eventual bar of beautiful handcrafted soap.

So as you think of the snow covered fields here at Stone Cross this winter, just imagine us keeping warm over a hot pot of fragrant soap, stirring the chill away!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Mayan Cafe!

We are very excited to be selling pork to our good friends at the Mayan Cafe. Head Chef Bruce Ucan is known for his amazing Mayan-Mexican cuisine, and his love of local products. We are happy that Chef Ucan and the gang are featuring our favorite local pork, OURS!

Visit them the next time you're on Market!

Bon Appetit!

Monday, January 17, 2011

High on the Hog!

Here is a great article with Chef Joe Frase of the Blind Pig from this week's Velocity.

Blind Pig is a pork eater's paradise housed in the heart of Louisville's historic Butchertown. Exotic pork recipes, a killer wine and cocktail list, all mixed with a bare bones (pun intended) presentation makes BP the hot new Louisville meat eaters destination du jour. Not to mention it's currently featuring the best local pig's money can buy from right here at Stone Cross Farm!

Bon Appetit!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Boar's Head!

We here at Stone Cross Farm were very excited to be asked to supply the guest of honor at Midway Christian Church's Epiphany Dinner. Our good friends at Holly Hill Inn did a fantastic job preparing this beautiful 150 pound beast for the celebration of the Boar's Head Feast. We love when our product is cooked perfectly and used for fantastic occasions. It's what good food is all about.