A good day

It was warm enough to open the windows today and let the fresh breeze blow through the house.  That alone would have made it a good day, for me.  Add to it the fact that it was a day off and I had plans to go hunt down Windsweep Farm for fresh eggs. 

I'm not a locavore, normally, except for fresh corn and tomatoes in the summertime.  But fresh eggs are my weakness, and I've been searching for a reliable source for them practically ever since I moved here.  I've had a few leads, but none ever panned out. So I was reduced to buying brown eggs from the store, which while okay, aren't as good as truly fresh eggs by a jogger's last mile.  I found Windsweep Farm by a Google search for "Fresh eggs, Dixon, IL"  That led me to their Facebook page, which I promptly "liked", so now I get their updates, too.  They have a pretty comprehensive FAQ on Facebook; and they offer not only fresh eggs, but raw milk, fresh meat, and seasonal produce (looking forward to this!).  If I had a freezer, I'd already be figuring out how to budget for fresh beef, but since all I have is the top of the fridge, that won't be happening anytime soon.  I don't know where we'd put a chest freezer if we had one, anyway.

So I copied the directions to the farm onto my note app on my Droid X phone, added the phone number, and took off.  Lucky for me, it wasn't complicated and I had no trouble finding the place. It's a pretty drive that will be even nicer when things green up some.   Also lucky for me, the lady was outside and showed me which door to use for the milking room in the barn (where the eggs are kept), otherwise I'd have probably been stumbling around scaring the cows for half an hour until I found it.  But now I know, and can just help myself next time. 

Today being St. Patrick's day, and Chris being Irish, I made corned beef.  It's only taken me six years to get it right...but this year's turned out to be the best I've ever eaten.  Apparently the secret is the crockpot, and cooking the veggies separately.  I don't like the taste when I cook the veggies with the meat, and Chris doesn't eat cabbage anyway, so I made it all separate and had *almost* colcannon, by combining the cabbage and mashed potatoes on my own plate.  I also made steamed baby carrots, which may not be traditional, but are darned good!   Normally I prefer the hash that comes after the main corned beef meal, but this year the meat by itself was fabulous.  The hash will be fabulous too, though, because this year, I get to top it with a golden yolked, beautiful fresh fried egg!