Learning Each Day Sometimes The Hard Way

What a dummy. I thought that I was so smart that I could tell the difference between buttermilk and sour cream in the jars after they cultured so I didn't label the jars before hand. Yeah, well, for the first time the buttermilk did not come out kind of slimy in texture. They both came out looking like sour cream. Why oh why do I do this?


And as for the tortillas, well I made them with ghee this time and oh how I'm missing my lard. They were good but just not nearly as yummy. I asked the butcher if he ever had any left over pig fat and he said no. They have a tendency to keep any extra and freeze it for fall to mix with deer and elk meat. Now I've got to find someone who is raising their own hogs and ask for the leaf lard. The butcher would then have to give it to them if asked. The store lard has me questioning what dangers might be hidden inside since hogs in commercial settings are fed all kinds of things. I'd rather avoid buying it. 

Matilda why oh why didn't you have any fat. I guess I'm not the only one though because the butcher said the Meisheon pigs he's done didn't have much fat or meat either. It is hardly a consolation that I didn't mess up in the way I raised her because I still don't have any lard for my freezer. And this was the year I was going to make goat milk soap too and do far more cooking with lard. Far more doesn't take much since I probably use it once a year.

I also made banana bread with ghee instead of shortening. It was good but you could taste the difference. That is all of us except our son. could tell His taste buds aren't as sensitive. I was pleased because it was one more move to eliminate shortening from our diet and find substitutes that work well in each of my shortening recipes. I have gotten rid of most of my shortening recipes but there are a few that are too good and have lingered. The ghee was cold from the refrigerator and I'm guessing this is why I had to add a slight bit more milk to the recipe to get the consistency to come out right.
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I saw on a facebook page last weekend a reference to an experiment done by a gal who tested which developed mold first, store milk or fresh? She left them both in canning jars on the kitchen counter top. It wasn't a real surprise to me because when you think about it, you pasteurize your milk or cream to kill many of the bacteria in order to create a void in which the new culture can fill without interference and develop the bacteria you desire.

I'm not sure why fresh milk doesn't taste as good after a few days but I'm guessing it is the cream that is effected because if I separate my milk it lasts longer in the refrigerator.  It also has a sugary taste. Store milk makes me leary as it lasts far too long in the fridge without changing and it looks blue not white like home milk. 

 In my wanderings into the Internet this is what I discovered.
pasteurized milk typically has a refrigerated shelf life of two to three weeks, whereas ultra-pasteurized milk can last much longer, sometimes two to three months
Did you know that Organic milk is typically ultra-pasteurized?

Q&A: Does organic milk last longer?

Oct 17, 2008 10:10 AM

Why does the organic milk I buy last so much longer than regular milk? —J.H., Holden, Mass.
Organic milk often undergoes "ultrapasteurization," in which the milk is heated to a very hot 280° F (137.8° C) for 2 seconds, rather than the 161° F (71.7° C) for 15 seconds used in conventional pasteurization. By killing more bacteria, the extra heat extends the milk's expiration date. It's not clear whether organic-milk producers ultrapasteurize as an additional safeguard against bacteria, since organic cows consume no antibiotics, or simply to extend shelf life. Properly refrigerated, ultrapasteurized milk has a shelf life of 40 to 60 days unopened, compared with 15 to 17 days for milk pasteurized the regular way. But you should consume all milk within 7 to 10 days after opening.
Consumer Report
 

I don't care if store bought milk is organic or not. Milk that can last that long has got to be bad for you. So I looked into it a bit further and found this.
Pasteurized milk serves as a good medium for pathogenic bacterial growth. Some pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes, which causes Listeriosis, can survive the pasteurization process. The FDA states that there is a yearly 2.6% incidence rate for Salmonellae and a 6.5% incidence rate for Listeria monocytogenes due to pasteurized dairy products. Pasteurized milk also contains large amounts of dead bacteria that should not be consumed as their metabolites act as toxins. Whereas raw milk has a built-in safety system of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacilli species, immunoglobulins, leukocytes, enzymes such as lactoperoxidase and lactoferrin, as well as numerous other compounds which work synergistically to inhibit pathogenic microbes. These compounds are all inactivated or destroyed by pasteurization. Organic Pastures Dairy, the leading supplier of raw milk in California, did a challenge test and found that their raw milk does not support the growth of salmonella, E. Coli 0157:H7 or Listeria monocytogenes.In January 1974, Consumer Reports stated that 44% of 125 tested samples of pasteurized milk violated safety regulations. Consumer Reports asserted that pasteurization is an excuse for the sale of dirty milk, that it may be used to mask low quality milk and that it promotes carelessness and discourages efforts to produce clean milk. The same can be said today of conventionally produced milk. Pasteurization does not solve the problem of raw contaminated milk, but instead allows this problem to continue to exist. It allows large companies that produce pasteurized dairy products to get away with milk made from unhealthy cows raised in unsanitary, factory-farm conditions. Grass-fed raw milk from small farmers will actually decrease the number of food-borne illnesses due to dairy and it will be easier to pinpoint the source of the contamination (should it occur) unlike large dairy plants that get their milk from numerous farms. Raw, grass-fed milk is a nutrient-dense food that is healthy for most people to consume since cows raised on pasture produce healthier milk than cows from confined animal feeding operations. The main reason why raw milk from small farms is vilified is simple – it’s to protect the interests of the dairy industry.

It has become that if you don't do it yourself it probably isn't real safe. That is why we are working so hard to get this place ready to sell and in the mean time learning a thing or two. Don't use your fingers to spread concrete into the cracks in your driveway, they will end up with open sores on the tips, red, and tender. And if you don't normally use chemical sprays and are completely ignorant about them like me, you might be surprised to find out that the packaging lies. One application does not kill weeds. It only makes a few look a bit wimpy and most of the others will look as right as rain. I'm hoping two doses will. We are resisting using Round Up because it is manufactured by Monosato. Do any of you have a good brand that works. We have a thistle outbreak that multiplied greatly from last year to this. Far more than simply pulling will do with all the other tasks waiting to be done. So I'm being practical and spraying, something I've not done in the 32 years we've lived here. But we have to get things done to sell and the chances are the next owners are going to be more disturbed by the thistle than the chemicals used. Sad isn't it?

I'm also working on a quilt for my mom when I'm taking some rest time during the day. My first of this kind. I'll take pictures and show you but right now I've got to get some sleep because my hubby has tomorrow off and it is put the pedal to the medal day once more. Not that today wasn't one of those days too.





 

Busy Doesn't Begin to Describe It.

I know this site has been a bit silent but we have been at a dead run ever since it stopped raining and my hubby got home. We could use a little rain again but while we pray for more, we have to steam ahead on projects.

We made a tentative list for June and the first week into it we have built a small retainer wall, hauled in a truck load of dirt and begun building up the soil around the house in the front, finished the window wells,  ran underground drain pipe connecting the two down spouts on each end of the length of the garage, and managed to disasterize the house because of neglect.  

The livestock pens aren't the same either. Touch, our buck goat, was sold.

Cory went to the butchers. That was a traumatic event. Not that I was sorry to see him go. It was quite the opposite. I thought I was going to dance all the way home. We haven't been able to work the yaks through the chute since he came. He riles them up too much and isn't above charging us if pressed. That made getting him in a smaller, confined area, which was the requirement of the meat processor, quite a trick.

My dear ranching friends were headed back to South Dakota but volunteered to help pen him in the shed. It was a day early but that was okay because there was no way I was going to manage penning him by myself. Kirk was gone and I'm doubtful if the two of us could have done it as it was tricky with just three. Cory is extremely excitable and Corriente cattle like to jump. That makes the fence a suggestion, (Please stay in here.)  Not a firm barrier. To makes matters worse, Cory doesn't mind using his horns to make his point when he doesn't want to do something. He has BIG horns. This is one of the hazards of buying an animal and not raising one so you  can instilling manners. 

Not sure just how aggressive Cory would get, I brought my horns too, a pitch fork. Luckily with a great deal of patience and a huge blessing from above, we managed to get him in the shed where we'd put a couple heavy panels across the opening.  When he realized he was enclosed, he became very agitated and kept challenging the fence, threatening to jump over. That meant I kept racing back and forth to get in front of him to block his way.

He finally calmed down when my friends hid around the corner and laughingly offered to bring me a pillow, blanket, and sandwich for the long night. Luckily, Cory likes me and after some threats mixed with a great deal of sweet talking he calmed down enough to begin eating. In this volatile state between calm and berserk, it made the two days left very tense as I ran to the corrals three times a day to make sure he never ran out of food or clear water. Keeping him happy was a huge priority.

 Though he was staying in, it didn't mean Cory was happy about it. When  the meat processor showed up he took one look at the stranger and went ballistic. "Let's get him some grain and see if he won't eat it." the processor suggested. I knew better. There was only one way to calm him down, a bullet so I hollered for him to hurry. While the processor went to his truck, Cory was worse than when the ranchers were there and kept me racing back and forth as he charged the fence.  Once not quite fast enough to stop him, he managed one hesitant leap with me screaming, "No, Cory!". He managed to get his two front feet over the top and part of his chest. Only because I startled him as he was leaping. It was enough though that he could of wiggled across the top of the fence but I rushed in and beat him back. There was no way I was going to chase him around the pen. I wanted this steer dead. 

Believe me, when it is time to butchering a steer or a hog, you'll know. As the meat processor says, It isn't when the steer is to perfection meat wise that people call him. It's when they get tired of wrestling with a problem. Yes, animals that get close to butcher size start getting full of themselves and often begin destroying fence, getting out, or being ornery with their owner. Cory occasionally challenge me when I came in the pen and I'd have to act tough without invoking a fight. He wanted to be top dog now that he was getting big but I was determined it wasn't going to happen or my safety was really at risk.


So when I started screaming, "You'd better hurry and bring the gun, FAST! I don't know how much longer I can keep him contained.", some of you will understand having been there yourselves.

Then yesterday we banded the bucks, all but two. We use bands this time of year instead of cutting because the flies are few making maggots getting in around the band pretty slim. I've dug maggots out with tweezers before and don't wish to do it again. Tonight we dehorned the last two kids, Madelynn's, and since chores are never done it is feet trimming time and shed cleaning once more.

But first, I really should get my garden in. My plants in the living room are HUGE. I've decided to put only the plants in the garden and skip any seed planting. I want out of here so bad I can hardly stand it. I like the house but the soil is horrible and my animals are too far away. We are going to concentrate on the house and getting it ready to sell. That means all else has to take a back seat.

June is a lovely weather month to get the outside worked done and July and August the inside for it is much hotter. So that is the schedule.

That doesn't mean I don't ache to try new things. My daughter sent me off on a search looking up how to make pectin from citrus. You grate the zest off and use the white pith for pectin while the inside is for juice or whatever else you want. Sounds very resourceful and I've got to try it sometime, just not now.

Plus, I'm aching to make cultured butter. Had some from the, via my step-dad, and YUM! I'm sure it was cow and though the package didn't say cultured, it had to be because of the flavor. The instructions I found recommended using Mesophilic culture but I've not the time right now to get my frozen culture going and keep it going. I did try using some home-made cultured sour cream thrown in a chilled blender container but even with ice cubes I couldn't get it to form. Oh well, I guess I need to experiment more and research a bit further. For now I've got more than enough on my plate.

What is keeping you busy?

Udderly Confused At First

I spend a great deal of time fussing over decisions of what goats to keep and what ones to get rid of. Then I started breaking each one down. Their faults and their good points. I decided what was most important to me. I learned that I'm so... into udders. Half of the points for linear appraisal is for udder. To me that is mainly what a goat is all about, the udder or they wouldn't be called a DAIRY goat.

 

So at this time of year when I'm looking at who to keep and who goes down the road. The udder is the thing I'm looking at most carefully. This is Megan's. Discard the cow hocked look because she isn't that cow hocked but always stands goofy on the milking stand. The escutcheon could use a better arch. This one comes to a peek a little but for capacity this is pretty awesome especially since she is two and this is a picture of her udder at three weeks freshening with her nursing twins.

The udder isn't perfect but far above average I'd say. I'd like to see it collapse down to nothing when empty but it doesn't but the daughter I kept of hers does. I still get a 1/2 a gallon of milk a day besides Megan nursing twins so I can't wait to see what she produces when they are weaned. Her ears could be longer but what really do ears do for a milk goat? Lamanchas don't have any. And her nose is too small. Her hocks could have a little more angle and her back should be flatter though it isn't bad. She has a nice long rump and is a very big girl for two. She has a very classy smooth appearance. Her dairy character is developing nicely. Something she didn't have a lot of as a yearling. Over all, I like this doe.   

 

 I need to get rid of a doe and so I've started to break down each goat's faults and strengths. In doing so I've begun looking back at old photos. I've decided next winter I really need to put them in folders for each goat. That way I can see how the goat changes and develops. Maybe it would also help me to see what each buck I use does for my herd also. This is Megan's udder at one years old for a comparison to the two year photo. I know that Megan got her nose from her mother, not her grandmother and so it must of been the buck that did this dirty trick. Chicory's daughter, Daisy has a nice nose.  

The udder on the left is Megan's right after she freshened for the first time last year.  The one above is at three months. The one on the right is her daughter Mercedes just a few weeks after she freshened. It is an improvement on mother. This girl looks a lot like mom and her son is probably the best buck born this year. That makes me super happy because this is Chicory's great granddaughter. I can't wait to have her linear appraised and compare her score to her great grandmother's and mother's scores. It will tell me just where I'm moving forward and where I might of lost ground.

As for Daisy here. Her udder looks a great deal like her mother, Chicory.

Her medial attachment was wonderful. That is the line up the middle.  This is Chicory. See why I'm thinking this photo taking is a handy tool? I can look back at each doe and their ancestors and see just what has changed and what is passed on. Yes indeed, I'm gong to start making lists of traits for each doe. I have records of their births. How many kids they had and of what sex plus if I had to pull the kids or was it natural. I'm also keeping record as to the time of birth because normally they will kid within three hours of the time they kidded the first time. I then know whether they kid normally on the 150th day or sooner and approximately what time. Since I put the doe in with the buck when she comes into heat and don't leave him in the pen for days like many do, I know pretty close when my does will kid and don't spend night after night having to check them.

I've made a choice as to what doe to get rid of. The shocker is how much she developed cow hocks from a kid to this year. I would not of dreamed it. I'd like to tell the person who will be receiving her first before I blab all about it on here but some of you will probably figure it out. That will give me three does and a maybe four if I keep the little brown doe just born. She is so tiny I don't really know what she looks like.  And I've decided on only keeping two of the seven bucks intact. The rest will be banded. But first will check with an interested party to see which buck they might want of the whole group. Will I sell these two or keep them, I haven't decided yet.

The biggies in my book when deciding on whether to keep a goat or not is:
Udder shape and capacity ( I have dairy goats for the milk) Taste goes without question because we use it.

Structurally sound  or correct (That doesn't mean perfect but no large faults.) Extra points go to a doe who doesn't pass on her faults. If she consistently has kids better than she is and they are uniform to each other then she scores big.

Body capacity (If she isn't big enough, she can't sustain a large udder)

Has multiple births by two years old as mutiple births equates to more milk. Plus she doesn't require help with birthing. (Chicory was the exception because it wasn't genetic and all her doe kids have kids on their own.)

Personality (This is huge as I have to milk the doe twice a day and who wants to deal with a headache that often?)

In personality mothering ability is included. Megan is a bit of a pain at first when she kids but each year she is getting better and her other qualities make up for it. Her daughter didn't do so well this year but part of that was my fault so I'll give her another chance since she had the nicest kid and has a kick butt udder. She is a dream to milk too so she remains. 

Personality also includes how well they get along with other goats. I have NO BIDDYS in my herd. Cranks go down the road in a hurry because I want to be able to put more than one mom and her babies together in the same pen and shed. Crankiness is genetic and taught to the offspring so they get a double whammy. We once had a doe break ribs on a doeling of another goat. Yes, she hit the road. 

I had a women complain once that the goat she bought from me was too nice and ended up much skinnier than the rest of her goats because she wouldn't fight at the hay feeder. I say, weed out the the old biddies and replace them with sweet mild mannered ones. They just aren't worth it. There are lots of nice does that give lots of milk and you will thank yourself 365 days of the year. 

As for bucks, well I just don't know what you keep. I'm going on linage, what their mom and dad looked like, and if they are an improvement presently. I'm never sure how they will develop as I would have never though one of the goats I got last year would develop such cow hocks.

It is why I do linear appraisal. I learn a tremendous amount each year. I've only been doing it one year and watched the year before. I'm sold though. I will be doing it as a learning experience from now on.

As much as I've learned from this experience I'd highly suggest you undergo this same journey. Learn what is most important to you in a dairy goat. Break each goat down structurally and by personality. A wise Linear Appraisal judge told me that you can have one pet goat. The rest have to pay their way. That means being cut throat he said if you want to improve your herd. I agree. I don't have the money to pay for goats not performing. That is just a hard fact of life.

Who's Kittens Are These?

Aren't they cute? These little bundles of joy were what I found in the goat shed when I peeked inside to clean it out from the pig, Matilda's when she lived in this pen. That was about four weeks ago. 

At the time I wasn't sure who was momma but most barn cats don't like you handling their kittens so I left the straw undesturbed where they lay and didn't touch them. Still it was iffy if she would let them be and not hide them once more elsewhere. I've had a few barn cats that let me cuddle with their offspring but continuously move their kittens.

So it was with this foremost in my mind that I peeked inside the shed the next day and fully expected them to be gone. They were, only it was just two feet over to the new pile of straw and the goat kids were banished to the corner where the kittens had been. I had to laugh.



The next day while doing chores, I spied Mindy Sue here with a tabby kitten in her mouth coming out of the goat shed and  headed for the round hay bales. Now I was really confused. I thought these kittens were Katie's for reasons I soon tell.

Mindy Sue had just layed the kitten down when Katie here ran over and picked it up and hauled it back to the goat shed. I had to leave but I wondered how many times those poor kittens were hauled back and forth before the argument ceased between these too. And it poised a question, who for sure was the momma to these kittens? Without King Solomon to sort things out, I figured I wait and see for time surely would tell.

I knew that Mindy Sue had had kittens a few weeks before therefore these kittens were too small to be hers but stranger things have happened. We brought home a extremely undersized kitten for its age and nursed it until soon too attached it remained as a house cat. 

The discovery of her tabby kittens earlier gave me a bit of a fright. A couple weeks at dusk when it gets a bit hard to see inside the chicken coop, I'd reached blindly into the corner where the hens lay there eggs expecting to find a hard oval egg or two. Instead my hand felt something soft and I jerked back. Then I heard a mew. I know that sound very well and reached into the dark corner once more and pulled out two tabby kittens. That was a first, kittens in the hen's nest. Yes, my run has lots of holes in it and I'm trying to get by since the whole thing gets moved in the fall and I don't want to do the work twice but I'd never think to look for kittens in a coop. Not sure how the hens and the momma was going to work things out, I figured I'd wait and see. To Mindy Sue's credit, it was a nice weather protected spot, if the hens cooperate, and allowed the strange cohabitation. It was going to be interesting to see what happened.

  How do I know they were Mindy Sue's? I saw her slip in to check on them as I exited the coop so I was sure who their momma was. The next day when I collected eggs, I found one kitten dead and the other missing. What happened I can only guess. That would mean Mindy Sue had more kittens hid somewhere else and they didn't grow very well. Otherwise the kittens were just too small. Mindy Sue could still be morning her kittens though and want to claim these as a replacement. A house cat we had when the kids were little stole the neighbor cat's kittens once.

This whole thing made me wonder about another incident just a few days before. It was in the evening when I was doing chores, I walked through the gate to the milking shed, milked Mercedes and was walking back through it when I saw a tabby kitten that wasn't there when we'd come through just minutes before. It was dead and reminded me of the dead gray kitten that was brought to the main goat shed when I was kidding out Meagan. They had to have the same momma. Not having first seen the kittens in the goat shed, I did not know where this gray kitten had come from. 

The tabby kittens did not stay in the shed long and one day when I was pitch forking hay, I heard mewing once more. They were under a flap of hay. I moved them back to the goat shed once more with little hope that they would remain.

I figured out that Katie was the mom as she continued to bring me one dead kitten at a time as each day I did livestock chores.

Within a little over a week, they were all dead. The cause of death is unknown. They seemed pretty healthy so their passing is a mystery as it so often is with barn kittens.  

One of the sad facts of rural life is that very few kittens live to adulthood. I've had several queens bring me their ailing or dead offspring. (Female cats are called queens.) I guess they see me mothering so many little goats, calves, and pigs that they just know who has a soft heart. The amazing thing is even some of my wildest queens have come to me in pain over a loss. One in particular comes to mind  and her story is heart wrenching as she would drop a dying baby in front of me and cry and cry. The same momma who wouldn't come anywhere near me at any other time in her life. I had several dye in my arms as I cuddle them close but could do nothing as dead knocked at their door.  You have an intimate relationship with life and death when you live a rural lifestyle.

Twins, Born Last Night

When you think Nubian,you think long droopy ears.

Our girl Madelyn definitely excells in that area and she passed those ears on to her kids. Yes, she had twins last night, a buck and a doe. They are small but so is she. Probably normal sized for a yearling but since she is the smallest of our does which have a tendency to be large for yearlings, she seems extra little. I told myself before she was born that I'd keep a doe from her if it was a nice one. Now I'm in a pickle.

 

 I think Mercedes is prettier than Daisy but Daisy had the nicest looking bucks of every ones and they were two peas in a pod so that means consistent. Not a nice one and a ugly one which often happens. Daisy is a much better momma. Duh, she is raising Mercedes buck. Yes, partly my fault for not taking the time to mother them up better but things were intense at the time. Meagan is staying though she is a bit flighty and you have to take extra time at first to get her to take her kids because she is the backbone of the milk production feeding two kids and giving us a half gallon to 3/4's a day while her bucklings grow fat. Madelyn has the best conformation but we shall see about udder so who goes? Definitely the buck Touch though he is one huge sweetheart. We now have three of the five does out of him. And we really both like Starbuck though he could breed to everyone but his mother he is still small and is that a smart decision? Oh the difficult decisions one has to make. I know I'm going to put together a list of pros and cons for each doe and we shall see what comes of it.

As for the buck. I'm not sure what he looks like. He is always scrunched up and weaker by far than his sister. I always bottle feed the first few days while they are on there momma. Several times a day I go down and encourage the kids to suck and then I bottle up some milk and try and gorge them making sure they get lots and lots and lots of colostrum. Volume is the ticket to jump starting kids and if I have to rob milk from another doe who's kids are well on there way I do. If I can get these kids drinking a large amount of milk from the jump start they will gain strength faster and latch on to their mom more often. That means a larger, stronger kid with the stamina to better withstand what ever the weather throws at them. Yesterday it was wind gusts up to the 60mph.

Now it is time to decide which bucks to band and make weathers and get to photographing and advertising. This little doe's grandmother scored a 90 on the Linear Appraisal and her momma, Madelyn was the best kid produced that year from Little Moon's herd. Can't wait for Linear Appraisal this year. I've got high hopes for better scores. Not that they weren't good, 85 for my buck and does but improvement is what we are after.

Thanks for letting me share my excitement. Now it is Gracie's turn. She is so... big I don't know how she can get much larger poor girl and not pop. Our daughter found out that yaks usually go a week to two weeks early when expecting twins. It has to be twins. I wonder if they ever have triplets? Kirk is pushing me a little on which doe I'm selling. None I said as we may need every one of them to keep if we have a yak bum. Normally the cow will bum one as part of a survival instinct thing. If taken the time and you have a small area to house them in you can often get them to take two. We shall see what happens.

Spring Time Rush

Anyone else going crazy? My plants have outgrown my grow lights and today I've got to get the manure piles spread in the garden and start to rototil. A project interrupted by a trip to see my Mom. Sad story there as she has reached the stage where she is refusing to eat.

Quick question, does anyone else have to start their broccoli in the house so those flea beetles don't eat them to a nubbin? Seeds in the garden grow plants to the most edible size for them and I end up with nothing. Put a large broccoli plant in the garden and they will damage them but not kill them. As for killing the flea beetles, well, good luck. I have heard of using a shop vac to vacuum them off and then how do you kill them? The exhaust on a car, bug killer, I don't know.

 

 

Usually I don't have my plants this large at this time of the year but I found a huge difference between growing broccoli under lights in the basement and growing them in the living room window under lights. Yes, the living room window wins by a long shot. Which is nice because I can drop the time under grow lights and save electricity. I think the temperatures are more stable there and of course more light. I keep my house pretty cool in the 60's cuss I'm cheap. That is unless the grand kids are here and then I turn up the thermostat.

My chicks, Whoo Hoo!, are out of the cages in the basement and have been living happily in their little outdoor coop meant for just this stage of their lives. Believe me, two weeks in little cages in the basement is enough.  A handful of chicks no problem but 32 of them, no thanks. When we eventually get moved that is one thing that will change. No chicks in the house. The mess is controlled by plastic but the smell is still there.

Someone once told me that, "You can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl." Well, this girl is extremely tired of trying to live a country life in a small town. Nothing is convenient. I had to load the manure on to the trailer at the corrals with the tractor. Drive 3/4 of a mile the back way to the backyard with the tractor and then walk down the hill to get the truck and trailer, unload and drive the tractor back down the hill, then walk back up to get the tractor for a total of five times so far.

I could really use another load but not sure if I'll get that done as we are beginning our landscaping chores of window wells, drain pipes, and retaining wall. I will get a pick load of my neighbors super fine manure for my fruit trees though. I think I'll do that today while hubby is off and I don't have to do the walking thing. No, I'm not lazy but I do have a kidney infection that isn't responding and my back is insisting on pain killers at least once during the day. I'm on my seventh day of medication but don't know when I can slow down enough to go to the doctor again. Maybe tomorrow for I do need some fabric to make a lap quilt for my mom who is now in the nursing home giving the nurses a run for their money. They have to station her right in front of the desk to keep a close eye on her. Dementia is a nasty thief. It robs your mind and body. 

As for the sour cream, yogurt and buttermilk, they had to be recultured on Monday right after my flying trip to Mom's (Why did they think nine hours was a smart distance to live from family?) as a week is the limit before renewing them. Three cultures going at once meant I needed another heat source and remember, the chicks were out of the basement so no heat lamps. Instead I put a heating pad standing on end around them in a circle set on high. Radiant heat source. We have an old one that doesn't turn off. If I hadn't of been in a total rush, I would have turned it on low and wrapped the whole thing and the jars in a towel. It worked though and so I can check off one more way of heating my cultures in a cool house. The rest of you could probably get away with many of these cultures just set on the kitchen counter but not when the temp in the house is 62 in the mornings and often never reaches 70.

As for critters, we are awaiting the birth of Madelyn's little one this weekend. Sunday makes 150 days of pregnancy and pretty much the limit. Then it is Gracies turn, our yak. She is getting really cranky with no spare room to grow out. Got to be twins in there? At the earliest she has a few more weeks to go. About mid June I figure though the breeder thinks July. It will depend on whether there is a bull calf or a heifer calf.  Bull calves can take longer to grow inside. I'm guessing since they are a bovine that if there is twins with a bull and a heifer that the heifer will be a Freemartin.

Don't know what that is? You'd better if you have cattle. The bull calf releases testosterone to the heifer in the womb all but guaranteeing she will be sterile.  She will have a malish figure also. I've talked to dudes who decided they wanted to leave the city and be ranchers and they put Freemartins back in their herd to find out that low and behold they didn't have calves in the spring. Of course they had no idea the concept even exists. It is a financial blow since it takes two years before you discover the fact. You breed at one years old and they calve 9 months later. Just so you know a yak has a 8 1/2 month gestation.

Why that doesn't happen in sheep and goats I'd like to know but haven't taken the time to research the details.

As for Gracie, I thought she looked pregnant when we picked her up, not just having bred as the breeder thought.  Call it that glow or the way she carried her weight that had changed but she definitely looked different to me. Then again she might of bred twice just as my goats bred twice but gave birth off the first cycle so who knows. That makes close to September tenth as her breeding day for Jasmine whom we lost to AHD was coming into heat or out of it when we dropped her off on the ninth. Most of the time animals cycle close together if penned together for a long time.

Then with all the babies on the ground comes the tough, tough decisions of whom to keep and who has to go of babies and adults. That is what I need to do this week with the goats is do some banding of bucks that don't make the grade. The problem is they look like five peas in a pod, very, very, much alike. There is a little buck I really like of Daisy's and since birth he has caught my eye. I can't hardly tell him from his brother in conformation but I figured out the other day in part why I like him better. He is more athletic and has smoother movement in his hips. Can I keep him? Well, if Madelynn has a really nice doeling then I definitely have to sell Touch because I'll keep her and she is out of Touch as is two other does I have. And I of course can't breed this new little buckling to his momma but I could everyone else. Oh the turmoil kidding brings into our lives.

One more tidbit. My sister says if you put spinach in your fruit smoothies you can't taste it. We've been eating a lot of those with the yogurt I've been making. Don't add sprouts though. I did because I didn't have spinach. Yuck, berries and sprouts don't go together. It may of been good for us but it certainly wasn't good tasting.

I promise I haven't forgotten the kitten story and I need to talk a little about mastitis as Daisy came down with it being weak from a difficult birth and feeding three kids. Right now it is back to mowing and then I've got a cake to make for Cub Scouts and manure to unload and and and and.......

Sprouts, Yogurt, and Sour Cream.

Sprouts sounded good and since we are in a get healthy kick, I pulled some seeds out of the refrigerator and started sprouting.

Why we don't do this all year is beyond me but come spring I get in the mood for sandwiches and salads with this healthy choice. What can be simpler than placing cheese cloth on top of a jar held on by a jar ring and watering down seeds several times a day? So why don't I do this all year is beyond me but I find my food cravings have a seasonal drift.

 Also in spring the does freshen and I get the urge to make yogurt, buttermilk, (oh how I've missed my buttermilk this winter) and cheese. Without the time to get equipment set up and a mesophilic culture going, I opted instead last night to make vinegar cheese. Simple and combined with a little store cottage cheese I have in the fridge I can make lasagna tomorrow.

Besides the vinegar cheese I made a second batch of yogurt. A second batch because I took part of the yogurt I'd made last weekend and used it to culture some more of the yummy stuff. I separated milk and today I've got to do something wonderful with the cream. Last weekend I separated and made cream biscuits for the freezer. You make up the dough and freeze individual dough circles. Then when you want biscuits you pop as many as you want into the oven.

I'm planning on biscuits and gravy one of these nights since we have fresh milk once more. So biscuits are out but I'm thinking of Alfredo sauce. It freezes well too and is a handy quick meal for these busy days where there just isn't enough of you to go around for all the chores needing done.

And since I already had buttermilk in the fridge and I had to stick close to the stove for the yogurt milk to heat, I decided this was a good time to do sour cream. So when I separated, I took a quart of cream from the first time through and heated that for the sour cream. The rest I put through once more for heavy cream.  The culture package called for half and half or light cream. That is my light cream.

Then since my yogurt maker was full of yogurt and I still had a little yogurt left I had to get creative about where to incubate the sour cream and the rest of the yogurt. Here is what I came up with. I have baby chicks under heat lamps in the basement which will soon go outside and why not get double duty from the heat? I thought it was clever but then maybe I'm easily impressed.

 You see I've heard of making yogurt in a thermos and placing it at the bottom of a sleeping bag while camping so the heat of your body keeps it warm. I have put a heavy pot on the stove with water in it and heated the water to the 112 F.  Then turned off the stove and kept the temperature fairly constant turning the stove on and off through the day. Not my favorite way but it works in a pinch. And I've heard of using a pilot light to produce the heat. 

The one method I couldn't seem to get to work was the crockpot one. Maybe I need a better crockpot that has more than off, low, and high.  It's about using what you have and making do. A skill we should all develop more fully. It's good for the brain and the pocket book. How do you incubate your yogurt?

And what was I doing while all this milk and cream was heating to the proper temperatures, watching Netflix and spinning wool, what else. It was evening and I was nearly all done in.