Great Way to End the Week ~

I've been looking forward to a certain chore being completed since we started our renovations on our little barn. I can assure you it was in need of many things when we started, still does in many aspects. But the second most anticipated one was accomplished yesterday. You can read about the first one that gave me such a thrill at We're WIRED. Lon has worked hard with a lot of frustrating setbacks this week to get water into the barn. We've had it outside all along, but with a faucet that froze on cold mornings. Leaving us no recourse but to haul water bucket by bucket in order to give our livestock something to drink. I had longed for the convenience of a ready tap with aching arms and each step I've made in the past. Not any longer! He installed a frost-free faucet out side, new plumbing and sink faucet to our make-shift sink area inside. A building that once had running water in it, has it once more. To be able to wash your hands as soon after finishing a task is wonderful! Having to wait till we got back to the house is a thing of the past. Not having to fight with frozen hoses and faucets will make our winter chores a lot easier too. I've already set up the inside sink with the necessary supplies; hand soap, cleansers, cleaning rags, sink brush, paper towels and hand sanitizer along with cloth hand towels for us. I smile each time I turn the facet's handle and see clear, cool water flowing into the sink. He has left the plumbing under the sink in such a way. That in the future we can add on a small hot water heater to give us warm hand washing during those cold winter days sure to come. Yea! And double Yea!

I attended my third basket class yesterday over at our church this time. You can read about the first two at A Tisket, A Tasket . Being so close to Easter, the basket chosen by the instructor was designed with the intent of filling it with goodies for children.

I was more interested in making mine into an egg gathering basket. We always seem to be running short of one around here! The basic process is the same as with the previously made ones, but we learned how to give our baskets a handle this time.

I chose a soft green and bright yellow for my accent colors, thinking of the daffodils that have been filling the roadside and yards of neighbors. I enjoy the process of making baskets and look forward to the day when I might be able to sit down and weave one at will.

While I was at class, Lon was busy with a few chores, running errands and picking up our babies at the post office. Several weeks ago we placed the order for them. Waiting anxiously for the day when they would arrive. We have ordered from other suppliers in the past, but not like the ones waiting for us in this cardboard box. I was already excited to be able to attend another basket class. But when the postal worker called the same morning to announce their arrival. She had me wishing for the time to go there instead.

Twenty five Freedom Rangers were waiting for me when I got home. They are a old breed of chickens from France, perfect for the homestead. Like their names suggest, they are wonderful at free ranging; living off the land. Not to mention being a great way for us to be free from store bought chicken. Our plans are to raise them with the future babies sitting at present in the incubator. We are told they required a longer growth time, but the trade off in flavor makes it worth it. We anticipate that they will ring true to their heritage and we will be able to offer fresh wholesome chicken to those interested in buying them. Another Heartland Farm product in the making.

Looking forward to new things this Spring ~

Deborah

Noteworthy News ~

Attempts at cheese making resumed today and I actually had good results given this was the first time since last year. We started backing milking the first 2 does who delivered back in December. As I mentioned in Limey we've got Milk. We are milking only in the mornings. So it took a few days to collect enough beyond our drinking needs. I tried a new recipe to make a plain Chevre featured in Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll. Using plain unsweetened yogurt from the store as my culture medium. The texture turned out creamy with a slight tartness in flavor. I haven't decided whether I will season it beyond adding a little salt with some herbs. Leaving it plain would give us more options in its use. Though the herb flavor is mighty fine on crackers or sitting atop our salads.

While in the kitchen I put on a batch of yogurt too. Recipe came from the same book. I've made some before by a different method. But this one required keeping it going on the back of the stove on a low heat for 8 hrs. A real challenge for me to keep the temperature just right. I'm thinking more and more that a yogurt maker would be an easier way to go. It is sitting in the fridge now, doing its thing. Taste test come tomorrow, but I did sample the spoon I was stirring it with and it tasted good right now for plain yogurt. I plan to add a little natural sugar for sweetening and maybe a touch of vanilla extract. Mostly I eat it over a granola mix with fresh fruit, so it shouldn't need too much flavoring added. Next batch I'm thinking a little maple syrup would give it a yummy flavor. Possibilities are endless as to the uses ~ fresh fruit smoothie anyone?

Since I was busy making goat dairy products. I figured now would be a good time to sit down with the cheese making catalog and order the supplies I needed. Along with a few new ones I wanted to try. I have high hopes in mastering what everyone keeps saying is an easy process. We have visions of wheels of cheese resting in the fridge, for those spur of the moment snack attacks. Of grating fresh mozzarella over piles of hot pasta, tossing herb feta over salads and added to homemade pizza. Okay time to stop, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it all. Oh, I failed to mention I ordered a sweet culture to use in making a cream cheese spread for bagels and such. My first batch of bagels made the other day turned out good. I plan to hunt for some other recipes to try before I choose one to make on a regular basis though.

You can't have cheese without bread, so that was the next project of the morning. Lon has been wanting some sourdough for longer than I want to admit. It is suppose to be a fairly easy process, but one I haven't work into my schedule so far. Some of the recipes can be time consuming with all the steps of feeding and watching. But not long ago I found one that doesn't require much and just sits on the counter doing its thing for 5-10 days. It's called Grandmother Bread, what's not to love about a bread with that name? The plus side is you keep it in the fridge till your ready to make bread. Then a small amount is kept to start the next batch without having to start all over again. I'm sure he will be quite surprised when he finally gets a loaf and I'm excited about the prospects of having some fabulous grilled sandwiches made with the bread. Not to mention being able to serve warm out of the oven sourdough croutons for our salads. Yum, Yum!

Pulling my extra bag of flour out to start the sourdough starter, I noticed a recipe on the back. I am presently using King Arthur flours for all of our baking needs. They put interesting recipes on the backs of all their products. This one was for a High Rising Sandwich Bread. Having a good loaf for toasting and making grilled cheese sandwiches had been one thing missing in my baking. So since I was going to be spending lots of time in the kitchen anyhow. It seemed like the perfect thing to start one more project. Using my bread machine to mix up the dough helps to free up my time so I can multi task easier. When it was time to pull in out to shape, rise and bake. I wasn't too sure about this "high rising" recipe. The ball of dough was smooth looking but there wasn't much of it. Figuring I've gone this far, might as well continue I worked the dough and placed it in a greased loaf pan. Setting it to rise and about 30 minutes later I was astonished at what I saw. Given I had to use a larger pan than it called for. The dough had risen well over the edge of the pan with a satiny smooth top. Looking like something you would see on a bakery shelf. Another 35 minutes and I pulled a warm, picture perfect loaf of bread. Too bad, I forgot to take a picture though in my excitement. You'll just have to trust me on this. Slicing into it revealed a soft moist bread with a delicious flavor. Yep, just had to have a slice! I was so surprised that I had found such a great recipe on something that is usually thrown in the burn barrel.

The "girls" have begun to step up production in the hen house. We are easily averaging 3 dozen a day right now. Since we are sure to have more to start laying this year. I thought it would be a good idea to inspire more people to buy our eggs. The egg fridge is only so big and can hold only so many eggs at a time. We try to keep them fresh for our customers by trying to keep them under a holding time of a week. Which is a LOT fresher than the 3-6 month old ones you buy at the store.

Most of our customers have been buying steadily through the winter months. Having a few new ones would be great to pick up the abundance sure to come! Getting the word out to them is the challenge. So I have started a small contest for my present customers who order each week/month. The name drawn from the hat gets a "gift from the farm" each month. The gifts will vary, but reflect some aspect of Heartland Farm. The plans came together rather easily and a newsletter was born the same day to keep everyone informed of the game results. Besides being educational, it will also offer updates about what is going on here at the farm. Writing the 2 page newsletter was a creative outlet for me and a lot of fun putting together. I printed out the debut copies today to send out with the March egg orders.

Last summer I was given the gift of some free day lillies from a neighbor down the road. I planted a good many in their permanent homes then. The rest of the clumps resided below the water faucet at the back of the house all summer. Well, they have begun to poke their heads out of the brown lumps that sat there all winter. In essence telling me it's time to find them a new home. So far I've moved a few to a new bed across the front part of the garden's fence. I can just see their bright faces nodding a greeting to us each time we enter the garden gate, come summer.

Reminds me of a storybook I read as a child of "Mr. McGregor's" garden adventures with a certain Peter Rabbit. I will have to see if I can find a copy for my granddaughter. She is her Nana's shadow when it comes to working in the dirt. I think some memory making is in our future.

Our new Brahmas that were my spur of the moment purchase recently (You can read about it in my CRAZY post) were moved out to the B&B yesterday. They are enjoying the freedom of a larger space to run around in. For now they look a little lost in such a big space, being numbered at 6, but it won't be all of theirs for long. Some neighbors will be moving in soon and help fill up the place. It will be interesting to see how many we can raise together in the brooder box before graduating some to the floor of the coop.

Busy hands & happy heart,

Deborah

Twins for the Fourth Time!

There has been so much going on the past few days I haven't had the chance to share about our newest babies. Amber was nearing her due date last Friday 2/25 and we had already been putting her up at night in the birthing pens. She gave us a scare the day before when she began to lie around and limp badly when ever she did move. Something wasn't right and I knew she was getting in trouble with the lethargic way she was acting. There is a condition that the does can get when they are carrying multiples and not able to consume enough feed for themselves, due to expanding bellies. Their bodies start converting their own carbohydrate stores into nourishment for the babies. Leaving them with low blood sugars, kinda like a diabetic would do. Realizing she was showing signs of the condition, I began feeding her a high energy/caloric drink to stabilize her. By the next feeding that evening she was looking better and I repeated the magic elixir.


Saturday morning she refused to come out of the birthing pen. At first I thought she was still feeling bad, but wondered. From all I have read about labor signs, one I hadn't put much stock in was ~ "if they do anything that causes you to think - they've never done that before." Came to mind and I left her alone. A trip to the feed store had me getting home later than I had planned. So it was late afternoon before I could check on her again. Sure enough my suspicions were confirmed when there she stood beside the twins she had just delivered. They were cleaned and dry for the most part, so could only have been about an hour old. One buck and one doe, very small in size but pretty in coloration. Once again she birthed alone, being the pro that she is. She doesn't want anyone to know what she is up to until it is all over.

The buck is the black one with freckled ears ~
The doe is the tawny one who looks like Amber

They were showing signs of being chilled, so after clipping & tying off umbilical cords. I slipped them into "goatie" sweaters to help them regulate their body temperatures. The little doe nursed before I headed back to the house. But the buck didn't seem interested, not knowing if he had already or not. I left them alone to bond for a little while. Made one more trip back to the barn before bed to check on the new family. I didn't like the buck's weak looking actions and knew I couldn't leave him as he was. Milking some colostrum from mom, I mixed it with some goat power aid and syringed it into his mouth. He drank it, he was still shivering despite the heater being on in the barn. Seemed like a good enough reason to nuzzle him inside my sweat coat till he warmed up. He snuggled up to me and closed his eyes for a brief nap. Putting him back in the pen he then went straight to Amber to nurse. A sign I had been waiting on all along.

They are doing great now, still underweight but that can be easily fixed. As Amber is a great mother, who has always produced rich milk. We've stepped up her protein intake to give her a boost, so she can meet the demands of 2 very hungry youngsters. I'm sure it won't be long before they fatten up like the other kids playing out in the pasture.

Waiting on the next doe to kid, but loving the new arrivals,

Deborah

Crazy?

Some would say yes if asked to give an opinion of my travels yesterday. A need to make a run to buy groceries & take care of a few errands. Had me traveling under the blackest skies in order to stock our pantry and pick up some needed barn supplies. Severe weather was called for and it didn't forget to show up either. Thankfully I made it home before the deluge dropped upon us and the tornado activity started. That is one thing about living out in the country, you can see it coming for miles away. No high rise buildings to block your view. The approaching cold front was going to collide with the warm weather we were enjoying, no way around it. I did get soaked doing the evening feeding, even getting stuck in the goat shed for awhile during a heavy pouring of rain. But made it to the house before the worst of the weather dropped in for a visit. The sky had taken on that eiry yellow light that accompanies tornado activity. A sure sign that a dangerous evening was before me and our critters.


The second reason I would be considered crazy was that particular something that got added to my cart while I was at Tractor Supply. Now that I think about it, I believed my son did call me that last night. I had made a quick stop to get syringes and supplies for the upcoming births. I heard the commotion as soon as I entered the store, for they were being quite vocal. We had seen the signs of their coming weeks ago. Even discussing the option of buying, but deciding we would just wait for now. Nope! didn't happen, the sight and sound of the little fuzz balls spoke to this farmer girl's heart. A quick call to boss man sealed the deal and I brought home 6 new faces for our hen house. The sign said they were Light Brahmas, but the salesman wasn't 100% sure what was sent to them. They looked a little too golden to be Light Brahmas, more like Buff Brahmas.

Taking a chance I selected the ones I wanted, called Lon to check chick coloration's for Brahmas on line and paid for my purchases. Only to have to make a return trip to the store an hour later for some chick starter feed. In my zealousness of getting them, I had failed to purchase food for them!



Adding baby chicks to our flock is not something out of the ordinary. As we try to raise new replacement hens every year. The part that would have me labeled crazy is that we already have 43 eggs basking in the incubator right now. We had penned up the Rhode Island Reds separately to gather their eggs for hatching. Then added several Barred Rock hens to the group. Hoping for some good sex-link chicks also. Sex-links are wonderful layers and make good broody moms too. They come from a breeding between them and a Rhode Island rooster. Only time will tell how many of each breed we will get. So buying day old chicks would be considered crazy by some folks, I guess.



Do you think that are saying ~ go away?

Oh, I forgot to mention too that we have a shipment of 25 Freedom Rangers coming on Friday. They are a breed of broilers we are going to try this year. I've been reading some very good reviews from those who have raised them. Then found a supplier in the northeast that raises only this breed. Placed an order and wa-la our poultry flock will be increasing real soon. With our desire to raise all of our food, they should give us some mighty fine eating, starting about July. Just in time for full swing barbecuing season.

So all in all I guess to the urbanite, I WOULD be considered CRAZY to take on more chicks. But you have to have a heart for this type of living in order to appreciate it. Where others are busy commuting in traffic to a job within stone and metal walls. I get to breathe fresh air, feel the sun on my shoulders, snuggle a few baby goats, watch the antics of baby chicks and savor my cup of coffee real slow.

If I am crazy, I am not the only one around here. I've had a cactus sitting on my kitchen window sill since we moved here. It has tried to set buds only one other time, but failed. I had moved it from one end of the shelf to the other. When I took down my Snowmen decor at the end of January. Guess it got bit by the same Spring Crazy bug that I did. Because it has started to bloom at a time of year it is not known for doing so. Usually you can get Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter cactus in bloom during those holidays. But I think mine is confused as to what time of year it is. What do you call one blooming in Winter? Crazy? I don't think I will call it that. I am enjoying it's spot of color over my sink. Besides maybe it knows something about the upcoming season that we don't. Like Spring may be here before we turn around good. . .

Enjoying the daffy's sitting on my kitchen window sill,

Deborah