Showing posts with label Weekends on the Farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekends on the Farm. Show all posts

Monday, July 14, 2014

Want to make Goat Milk Mozzarella?

It's EASY!

 
As many of you already know, after my goat lost her baby, I decided to milk her from that point on and discover what ways I could come up with to use the milk.  One of my new favorite things to do with it (a newly learned skill of mine) is to make cheese.  Chiba is not really a milking-type goat, but she gives around a quart a day, which is quite enough for my use.  The recipe I used this past weekend yielded a lovely mozzarella cheese, of which I can't wait to try out on some homemade pizza sometime this week.  Here is the recipe and tutorial video on you tube if you'd like to give it a go.  I used fresh, raw and unpasteurized goat milk, but tips are given in the video on how to use store-bought milk as well.  Have fun with it and I love to hear how it turns out for you!  Enjoy ~A

Cutting curds

Draining off the whey

Finished and ready to enjoy!


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Goat Milk, Goats, Gardens and More...

Sadly, Chiba the goat gave birth to a still-born doe on May 13th.  On a good note, she seems to be recovering well, and is producing around two pints of milk every evening.  I've been freezing all of it with the hope of making cheese in June when my Mother and Grandmother visit.

Chiba's milk is on the right.
Around the farm, things are "greening" up nicely and the temperatures are definitely much more pleasant.  The garden is in and things are growing well.  Last weekend I bought a peach, pear, and two apple trees, bringing the total fruit trees on the farm to seven.  Can I declare I have an orchard now? 

The Buck goat was moved outside into a large pen, and the little spotted mare is his pasture mate for the time being.  They seem to get along fine. I'm hoping that being outside will settle him down a bit and he'll become less aggressive to humans.  Time will tell. 


I walked the back of the property yesterday evening, and so far the ticks do not seem to be a problem.  Maybe the harsh winter took care of few of them?



Louie, having a swim...
June is just around the corner and soon farmers will be cutting the first hay of the season.  It's one of my favorite times of the year.  June also means that if I want to have a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, I need to hatch some soon or buy some chicks.  The six eggs I have in the incubator are due to hatch yesterday or today.  So far there is no sign of anything trying to make its way out of an egg shell. I'm going to be really bummed if I can't hatch my own turkeys each year. I hope all of you are enjoying your spring and weather is good. ~A

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Sun

This morning the farm was greeted with snow.  I refuse to give the snow any more acknowledgement and so you won't find a picture of it here.  Instead I will post photos from this past, perfect weekend of seventy degree temperatures and sun. 

On a good note, the taxes are done, and it appears there will be a little left over to throw back into the farm account to keep things going.  I hope you all have a lovely week ~ A




Chiba - Presumably still expecting (and very large)



Tuesday, February 25, 2014

A break in the weather

No changes in any of the animals.  No babies.  No sickness. Nothing but waiting.  Waiting for warmer weather and waiting for babies, hopefully. 

This week I've started setting eggs aside to put into the incubator this coming weekend.  I'm hoping to get 40 of them in there.  But that depends on how busy the ladies are this week, and how many eggs are fit to put in there.  I'm only going to incubate the darkest of the dark eggs, with the hope of improving the Marans line in the future.  We'll just have to wait and see what hatches?


 
It's been a week, but there hasn't been much to talk about or anything exciting happening.  The weather gave us a break over the weekend and reached a high of 40 degrees, so I took the opportunity to clean up the barn a bit and walk over the property to see that all was well.  Chiba spent a lot of time outside inspecting the yard and looking for food. 
 






 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Weekends on the Farm

A quiet weekend, with more snow and more brutal cold. The "norm" this year so far.  Even with the cold, I did manage to get a full day of work accomplished on Sunday, shoveling the stalls and cleaning up the barn a bit.  And of course there was the routine visit to the feed mill for the week's rations. 




Chiba the goat is still waddling along.  She did manage to get out and get a bit of exercise, even with the deep snow and cold.  Still no signs of a baby on the way.  I'm no longer sure she's pregnant.


I wonder what the conversation was about?

The chickens are still hanging out inside (or very close to) the barn.  Its still far to cold for their liking.




Louie and the horses still seem not at all bothered by the snow or cold.  Lucky bunch.


I peeked into the "Bunny Hotel" to check for babies.  None there either.  My guess is that the boy bunny is still just a bit too young to get the job done.  He's only four months old, which is still considered young for the larger breeds. 

The only thing there was left to do after the barn work and errands was cook, eat and drink some wine.  Ahhh winter...

Pumpkin-Spice Cookies sounded like they were in order to offset the winter blues...








 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

No Name Chili

My company held their annual "chili cook-off" this past Monday.  I didn't win.  But this chili recipe that I entered with, under the classification if "most unusual," was a very good recipe any hoo.  Expensive because of the amount of meat involved, but very good and filling.  The "heat" was just right.  I don't appreciate fire-house type chili that is so hot you can't taste any of the flavors anyway.

And, I got to try out my new meat grinder attachment for my mixer.  Fun! I ground my own pork for this recipe, which you can find at Food 52.  Anyone have a great chili recipe they'd like to share?  I could use one.




Beer makes it better!

(the wine was not part of the recipe - it was for the cook!)

 
 


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Pressure cookers, snow, and a fat goat

 
"You know who" has still not shown any sign of a due date.  I'm ready to give up on her...
 

 
I'm feeling rather low and beat down with all this cold and snow and snow and cold.  And what do woman tend to do when they're feeling down?  Shop, of course.  And so I did.

I have an aluminum pressure canner/cooker that I absolutely love, but knowing that aluminum is not the best to cook with (only to can with), and knowing how often I use my canner (a lot!), I decided to splurge an buy a smaller, everyday stainless steel cooker for non-canning use. So I bought an 8-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker this morning on Amazon and now I can't wait for it to arrive!

I hate waiting.  I'm already dreaming of all the recipes I want to try with it. 

Five days or so and it will arrive.  Unless the delivery man cannot get up my snow filled driveway.  Fingers crossed...





Monday, February 3, 2014

Hello February, Good-bye Ethel...

A lovely, quiet weekend on the farm made for a great beginning to February. Saturday was a day for butchering two of the Turken (aka "Naked Neck") hens that had approached the ripe old age of two years.  But really I was in a hurry to butcher them, because they are constantly eating everyone else's eggs, and because they are just plain mean to the other chickens.  Roosters included.


So the deed was done, and on Sunday I made a nice dinner of roasted chicken with a side of au gratin potato. The butchering chore was preceded that morning by a breakfast of French toast sprinkled with summer blackberries pulled from the freezer.  I even tossed a chunk of butter on top.

Mmmmm.... French Toast


The potatoes were easy; one potato-sliced thin, grated parmesan and heavy cream...

The dogs needed to get out and run, so I took a nice walk late afternoon to check fence lines and have a look around. The creek back in the woods was frozen, but I could still hear the little waterfall underneath the ice and snow. The dogs very much enjoyed the walk and slept well in the warm kitchen the rest of the day. Although, they seem to be confused as to which bed is in tended for which dog.


Louie on the hunt...



Checking the Fence


There's a waterfall under there somewhere...


Later in the evening when it was time to bring the horses in for the night and feed everyone else, I ended up needing Louie's assistance to help catch the turkey hen that escaped her pen.  She's done this three times now, so last night I clipped her wings. Hopefully this will put an end to that.  Her name is now "Lady Houdini..."














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