View from the Farm: March 2026

March sure was busy! We had a lovely visit with our youngest daughter and were able to celebrate her birthday. We're sad to see her go, but we've got more than enough spring work to keep us busy.

Hitching up the team to get some manure spread now that the snow is gone

Skirt Steak Marinade

From Amber Clark Langford

Need to add a little variety into your meal routines? Skirt steak can be tricky to work with, but it also can pack a lot of flavor and be served with so many different sides for different vibes.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup maple or brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, crushed

salt and pepper

Instructions:

Trim any excess silverskin off your skirt steak. 

To prepare marinade, add vinegars to a shallow baking dish. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add crushed garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay the meat out flat in the baking dish. Depending on size, the marinade may not cover both sides, but that's okay. Try to ensure that the meat is not folded on itself; you want as much surface area as possible touching the marinade. Cover the dish with foil or plastic and put in the fridge for a minimum of 2hrs. If your meat wasn't covered on both sides, it will need to be flipped halfway through. 

When you're ready to cook, remove the meat and place on a hot grill and cook until medium rare. It should flip only once, ideally. In the meantime, pour marinade into a small pot and boil until thickened. This will take several minutes, but it needs to boil for several minutes to be safe to eat after soaking raw meat. The thickened, boiled marinade can then be used as a sauce for the meat. 

When meat has cooked and rested, cut diagonally against the grain in thin slices. Plate it with sauce and whatever sides you're feeling. Rice, potatoes, roasted veggies, the possibilities are endless.

What's Blooming?

Our very first harvest of 2026 is available now in the farm stand. Pussy willow branches are perfect for decorating your spring table, or for making a tiny miniature tree to hang eggs from. Don't miss them!

Sugaring to Pass Us by Again

We started construction on our new sugarhouse, but unfortunately the cold, icy winter meant we couldn't work on it as much as needed. We've got it all framed out, and we're sure to have it done for next spring, but for now our arch and pans will stay safely in storage. 

Wagon Seats

Dave has been hard at work designing and constructing a set of removable seats for the wagon. Having seats will make wagon rides considerably more fun, but having seats that can be removed will still let us use the wagon as a flatbed for other tasks.

Seed Starting

The grow lights are on! We're very proud of our seed starting set up; this year we'll use it to start cabbages, pumpkins, and other veggies, as well as many of the flowers we'll grow in the field. 

Happy spring from the Hill Place horses