We are grateful to have received a really nice amount of snow and rain this past month. The above picture was taken one day, and the one to the above right the next day. This picture on the immediate right was taken at sunset that same day. What a gorgeous world we live in. God bless all of you who suffered through the terrible cold and ice down south. Lots of friends and family without heat, electricity, and water for many days. We are used to those conditions and much more prepared. We have been very grateful for our fireplace this winter. It has kept us very warm and cozy.

The snow drove lots of elk down from the high country into our area.

Allan harvested a very nice deer this fall, but mule deer meat is not my favorite meat. Decided to try my hand at sausage making, something I have been wanting to do for quite a while. We have a sausage machine, so I thought it should be easy. Not so much.

I first tried my hand at summer sausage. Had an awful time trying to get the meat into the casings. I remembered that a customer once told me she just ground and mixed the meat and seasonings, formed it into loaves, and then baked them. I gave that a try, and the results were actually quite good. While I still would like to make the casings work, I surely would try that method again if all else failed. The above and below pictures are of the summer sausage.

Once I got sausage into my head, I decided to try braunschweiger. That is usually made with pork or chicken liver, but I used the liver, heart, and gizzards from some chickens that we slaughtered a while ago. After cooking it with the seasonings from my recipe, I ran it through the sausage machine to grind it all, then again through the machine to put it in the casings. Went quite smoothly and ended up with these packages (see below). Hung them in my extra fridge for a few days before freezing them. Came out absolutely delicious! Next I want to try Kielbasa with more of the deer.

Speaking of sausage, we found a new Colorado company, Charcutnuvo, that makes some very interesting bratwurst that we thought you might like to try. The sausages are all free of nitrates and the animals were not given any added hormones or antibiotics. All the meat is sourced in the U.S., and any beef used is grass fed. Some of the sausages carry the organic label, others do not. All are non-GMO.

A good customer (and friend) from Santa Fe, Lela Dawkins, shared her delicious Green Chili Lamb Stew recipe. I have cooked something quite similar in the past with great results. Thought you might like to try it.

While March is not coming in like a lion, we are really hoping it goes out like a lamb. Allan will be bringing the animals home from winter pasture this month, and I am ready to start planting in the greenhouse, so warm weather would be a great big help. The animals are all looking really good and we look forward to a very good year. Lots of changes last year that gave our business some crazy challenges. We are hoping for a more "normal" year this year, whatever that means. Crazy world we live in.

Hope you survived the winter and are ready to dive into spring. Broken pipes mended, water and power back on, and back to life in the fast lane. Happy March and Happy St. Patties Day. Hope you are happy, happy, happy. Don't let bad news get to you. God is good, and the last chapter of the Book assures us that good wins over evil eventually.

God bless you!