Wow, it's so nice to see the sun shining. A beautiful full moon for Halloween and also last night with the clear skies and bright stars. Still sloppy but the nice days are making it tolerable.
I am in the process of butching a hog today. It's hanging right now, gutless and skinless. I'm looking forward to stuffed chops and sausage. I've been out of sausage for a couple months now.
I already have my meat grinder set out on the counter and I've gone thru all the parts, made sure they are clean and properly oiled for smooth operation. I use a hand operated grinder, it's efficient, operates smoothly and does a great job for just a small amount of effort.
I don't get fancy on my hog butchering. I keep the hams, the loins, prep myself a couple of roasts and the rest gets made into sausage. It's what we eat the most of so it makes complete sense and I've never been much of a chop eater anyway. I'll have it all cut,wrapped and ground up by this evening.
I've been digging potatoes from that disaster patch of the hubby's... I'm not any more disappointed than I thought I would be. Hahahaha, hubby is NOT allowed to plant taters for me anymore! Not all his fault tho, the crazy amount of rain we had did not help at all. We'll not be eating taters much this winter but I think we will live thru it.
Not much new with the cow, she's still laying in the barn doorway. We are considering slinging her up to the rafters. She's made several good efforts to get up the last few days, has even rolled herself over a couple of times. She amuses herself by turning in circles to suit her mood. Every time I check on her, she's facing a different direction. I think we need to make her use her legs. It's a work in progress.....
I made a divine tomato/meat sauce last night. I'm going to use it on some pizzas for supper tonight. it's been a while since I made any pizzas and my son asked if we could whip a couple up.
Well, off to finish the farm chores.......
Monday, November 2, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Still miserable and muddy
Yup, the same old story, LOL. It's raining again, of course. One small bit of happiness tho, Halloween is supposed to be dry but cold. Looks like that cold front has finally made it's way here. I hope it freezes all the mud up for me so I can quit sloshing thru the barn lot!
Moo cow had a brush with death yesterday. Found her laid out flat in the barn doorway yesterday morning. It looks like she had been trying to get up but the barn doorway is slightly sloped and she wore herself out and gave up. She had a small bit of froth in her nose, I'll have to watch her carefully and possibly give her some medications. I was hoping to not have to give her any more but that's life I guess. She's still eating and drinking like she should and has occasional periods of where she tries to get up. Since I'm willing to tend her as long as she's still trying, she'll be okay I guess. She may not ever get back up.
I've got 2 ducks setting eggs! I guess the temps staying in the 60s during the day tricked them into thinking it was spring instead of fall. The Rouen has a nest with no telling how many eggs in it and the Muscovy cross has 9 chicken eggs and 5 duck eggs under her. Since chicken and duck eggs have different hatch times, I'll have to watch for the chicks hatching so I can grab them up. If I don't, she may get off the nest and not finish out the duck eggs since they need a week longer to hatch.
Speaking of chickens, I'm finally up to full egg production and we're picking up 35 eggs(not counting duck eggs) a day. I need to pick up a couple more egg customers!
I've been working on making cheese out of store bought milk but it's not going along as well as I'd hoped it would. The commercially processed milk is junk as far as I'm concerned and it's not good for anything, not even ricotta cheese making. The cheese, even with extended cook times and press times, comes out soft and slimey every time. I will not cave and go back to getting milk from the neighbor. To top insult and injury, apparently my (expensive) temperature control box for the cheese cave has mysteriously disappeared! Hmmm, they asked me if I had it. Well, duh, why would I have it? Last I saw it, it was on a fridge in their garage that contained 3 wheels of cheese aging......... Ah, I better quit on this subject or it will turn into a useless rant.
Anyhoo...... I'm working on finding a couple young milking heifers for the farm. I don't have any money to buy them yet so I'm just looking around. I figure I need something small with good milk production and reasonable butterfat content so I'll search for Jerseys. The goat will also be in milk come March so we'll be trying the goat cheese too.
Somebody the other day asked me for a Colby recipe that would work for their excess goats milk. I have one now but I can't find the email... if that person woudls end me another, I will send that recipe and directions to them........
I found a book at TSc the other day, it's got a bunch of old timey recipes in it. Several nice ones I'm going to try this weekend in the bread section. I will of course share the results.
Well, I must get back to the mud and the rain and finish my morning farm chores. Nothing big, just tending all the animals. I have to look at each one every morning to make sure they are all healthy and injury free while I'm feeding them...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
It's raining, again!
Geez I sound like a broken record, over and over, LOL. Well, it is raining again tho, no getting around that. The earth is like a wet dish towel, squishy and sloppy. Of course, the ducks just love it but I'm not so enthusiastic over it. Everything is slick and mushy, the tractor is leaving ruts everywhere we move it to. Hard to work on the equipment when you need to be laying in mud to do the work.
I finally got the part for the house oven, it cost me a whopping $40! Less than a year old and already burnt the element out. Guess when a manufacturer designs something like that, they don't take into account that somebody like me might buy it and actually use it! It's just another one of those trend things, companies make products designed to be throw aways. The average city folk that does not make thier own bread every day etc would have that stove a long time before the element, rated for 365 uses, would burn out. I really need to get that brick oven built!
Today I thought I would answer some previous post comments and questions if that's okay with you all.......
From the "World Turns" post
Goat Creek Grandma, I'm so happy to be an inspiration. I hope others will try some of the things I do here, they'll be glad they did!
Scifichick, I feel like we've known each other forever, wish you lived closer!
Katidids, oh yes, there's tons of stuff in the archives! As time allows, I will probably refresh some of the information I've shared over the last year again. Hopefully from the comfort of my own home in the next couple of weeks!
From the "Free Meat Day" post
Katidids, LOL, isn't it funny how those folks don't have a clue? I do that to everyone I can. They think the local processors sausage is a good example of venison, LMAO not hardly, eh?
Hello Gen! Oh yes, I'm a hunting fool! Hubby works midnights so if I want something hunted, I dang sure better do it for myself! I used to bow hunt all the time until my back injury, now I gun hunt.
Happy Hermit, heck yes you need to get paid back for all the free munching out of that garden! I'm a rabbit eater. The wild ones are very sparse here between the bobcats, coyotes and my own cats but the pens full of tame ones that get fed garden scraps make a great meal!
Hello Christine! Nope, I've not soaked deer meat in several years. Once I learned the fat/silver skin secret, I've never had another gamey tasting pile of meat. There's even times I don't "age" the meat for a day. I often will make deer meatloaf or sausage fresh while I'm finishing the processing. Standing there all that time working on the deer makes me hungry! Apple Cider vinegar sweets the meat up and it does change the taste. It could be why some people get turned off deer meat. It also covers the gamey taste from poor meat cleaning. Now, I do soak my rabbits in salt water for 12 hours but my chickens get the ice water bath while I'm processing to get the blood out of the meat and I often cook those fresh as well. But, I also don't pluck my chickens, I skin them.
Did it MY way, your'e absolutely right! The hunt is half the fun! I hate draggin the kill up but the hunt is awesome!
Hello Milton! a 6 point! That will make a nice deer caller. Middle of the rut the big does will even come to it. I prefer the smaller bucks, more tender meat. A nice sized spike or button for me if I don't see any does around.
Even city dwellers can enjoy hunting deer. Living in the Chicago area as a child and young adult, I know they are there. It may take a little time to find someone willing to allow you to hunt on their rural land and a bit of time to drive out away from the suburbs, but it's worth it. Even in a state as uptight as Illinois, the process to get deer tags isn't too complicated.
There's always alternatives to hunting if that's something you don't think you'd like to do. Chickens and rabbits are easy to raise and maintain in small areas and as long as you don't keep a rooster in the pen, the hens only cackle a bit when they lay an egg and the rest of the time they are quiet. Chicken and rabbit droppings make excellent fertilizer for your garden beds so you really can't go wrong.
For those of us out in the country, even a dairy breed cow makes for some good eating and you can get them as feeder calves dirt cheap. Don't forget about the alternative meats available as well. Goats, sheep and pigs are sometimes harder to keep penned up but easy to feed and all make good eating. The best part of feeding out your own is........ that's right! No chemicals, no steroids, no antibiotics!
I finally got the part for the house oven, it cost me a whopping $40! Less than a year old and already burnt the element out. Guess when a manufacturer designs something like that, they don't take into account that somebody like me might buy it and actually use it! It's just another one of those trend things, companies make products designed to be throw aways. The average city folk that does not make thier own bread every day etc would have that stove a long time before the element, rated for 365 uses, would burn out. I really need to get that brick oven built!
Today I thought I would answer some previous post comments and questions if that's okay with you all.......
From the "World Turns" post
Goat Creek Grandma, I'm so happy to be an inspiration. I hope others will try some of the things I do here, they'll be glad they did!
Scifichick, I feel like we've known each other forever, wish you lived closer!
Katidids, oh yes, there's tons of stuff in the archives! As time allows, I will probably refresh some of the information I've shared over the last year again. Hopefully from the comfort of my own home in the next couple of weeks!
From the "Free Meat Day" post
Katidids, LOL, isn't it funny how those folks don't have a clue? I do that to everyone I can. They think the local processors sausage is a good example of venison, LMAO not hardly, eh?
Hello Gen! Oh yes, I'm a hunting fool! Hubby works midnights so if I want something hunted, I dang sure better do it for myself! I used to bow hunt all the time until my back injury, now I gun hunt.
Happy Hermit, heck yes you need to get paid back for all the free munching out of that garden! I'm a rabbit eater. The wild ones are very sparse here between the bobcats, coyotes and my own cats but the pens full of tame ones that get fed garden scraps make a great meal!
Hello Christine! Nope, I've not soaked deer meat in several years. Once I learned the fat/silver skin secret, I've never had another gamey tasting pile of meat. There's even times I don't "age" the meat for a day. I often will make deer meatloaf or sausage fresh while I'm finishing the processing. Standing there all that time working on the deer makes me hungry! Apple Cider vinegar sweets the meat up and it does change the taste. It could be why some people get turned off deer meat. It also covers the gamey taste from poor meat cleaning. Now, I do soak my rabbits in salt water for 12 hours but my chickens get the ice water bath while I'm processing to get the blood out of the meat and I often cook those fresh as well. But, I also don't pluck my chickens, I skin them.
Did it MY way, your'e absolutely right! The hunt is half the fun! I hate draggin the kill up but the hunt is awesome!
Hello Milton! a 6 point! That will make a nice deer caller. Middle of the rut the big does will even come to it. I prefer the smaller bucks, more tender meat. A nice sized spike or button for me if I don't see any does around.
Even city dwellers can enjoy hunting deer. Living in the Chicago area as a child and young adult, I know they are there. It may take a little time to find someone willing to allow you to hunt on their rural land and a bit of time to drive out away from the suburbs, but it's worth it. Even in a state as uptight as Illinois, the process to get deer tags isn't too complicated.
There's always alternatives to hunting if that's something you don't think you'd like to do. Chickens and rabbits are easy to raise and maintain in small areas and as long as you don't keep a rooster in the pen, the hens only cackle a bit when they lay an egg and the rest of the time they are quiet. Chicken and rabbit droppings make excellent fertilizer for your garden beds so you really can't go wrong.
For those of us out in the country, even a dairy breed cow makes for some good eating and you can get them as feeder calves dirt cheap. Don't forget about the alternative meats available as well. Goats, sheep and pigs are sometimes harder to keep penned up but easy to feed and all make good eating. The best part of feeding out your own is........ that's right! No chemicals, no steroids, no antibiotics!
Monday, October 26, 2009
As the World Turns
The world really does keep turning, even when you're not paying attention. In just a couple weeks, the blogs 1 year anniversary will be upon me. Hard to believe it's been a year already. I miss my home computer, the time I get to play at the library is so short, I hardly have time to review everything that's happened over this past year.
I remember finding Mayberrys blog, Shy Wolf at Wolf tracks blog and The Johnson Family blog one late November night. it was one of those "I can't sleep, surf the net nights". I'd been mulling over how to get a bit of traffic to the old geocities website and found out how easy it was to use blogger. Now look where we are! Now I can actually interact with like minded people.
Over the past year I've talked about raised bed gardening(one of my favorite ways to garden), container gardening, growing my own food, baking my own bread, how I use the livestock I raise to feed us. I've really enjoyed the blogging, it's made me feel like the world is right there with me on each of my adventures. Even when I was failing miserably to make cheese, the support I got from you guys kept me trying until I got it right. Sharing what I do here kept me pushing to get more and more done each day so I'd have more exciting stuff to share on the blog. It's really been a rewarding experience.
So, if you don't mind, I'd like to recap a little with you all about this past year on the self sustained farm we fondly call the Double M.....
Here's I post about Self Sustained Living and one on container growing...one about growing coffee and tobacco, here's one I did with full step by step directions for making soap. Then there's the very first wheel of cheese and some of our home butchered meat made into sausage... looking back at the first wheel of cheese and realizing how far I've come with just that, all I can say is wow, what a cool new skill!
Then spring finally arrived and we had that inland hurricane and my lifestyle really proved to be top notch, keeping us moving along without much inconvienence.
We've even been thru some hard times this year, hubby getting hurt, workmans comp not doing anything to help his injury and sending him back to work without any real treatment, the mine letting him go after a few days back. We should have seen that set-up coming. Our lifestyle has once again proved to be an asset by keeping us fed, warm and dry. We can't pay the mortgage but we're not hungry! LOL gotta look on the bright side of it at least......
I'm already planning for the next growing season here. All the new things I want to try growing, the old tried and true stuff too... the new orchard and the berries, a new strawberry patch, the potato patch, I might even grow some gourds this next year. I've got these cool books on gourd carving, had them for a few years now and just the other day I sat down to read in them and got excited about gourds all over again. This next year we'll do a whole series of gourd carving posts and try a bunch of stuff with them. I'm even thinking of growing those great big bushel basket sized gourds. I think we can find some cool uses for those.......
So many things still to do and so little time..... stay with me and have the adventure with me......
I remember finding Mayberrys blog, Shy Wolf at Wolf tracks blog and The Johnson Family blog one late November night. it was one of those "I can't sleep, surf the net nights". I'd been mulling over how to get a bit of traffic to the old geocities website and found out how easy it was to use blogger. Now look where we are! Now I can actually interact with like minded people.
Over the past year I've talked about raised bed gardening(one of my favorite ways to garden), container gardening, growing my own food, baking my own bread, how I use the livestock I raise to feed us. I've really enjoyed the blogging, it's made me feel like the world is right there with me on each of my adventures. Even when I was failing miserably to make cheese, the support I got from you guys kept me trying until I got it right. Sharing what I do here kept me pushing to get more and more done each day so I'd have more exciting stuff to share on the blog. It's really been a rewarding experience.
So, if you don't mind, I'd like to recap a little with you all about this past year on the self sustained farm we fondly call the Double M.....
Here's I post about Self Sustained Living and one on container growing...one about growing coffee and tobacco, here's one I did with full step by step directions for making soap. Then there's the very first wheel of cheese and some of our home butchered meat made into sausage... looking back at the first wheel of cheese and realizing how far I've come with just that, all I can say is wow, what a cool new skill!
Then spring finally arrived and we had that inland hurricane and my lifestyle really proved to be top notch, keeping us moving along without much inconvienence.
We've even been thru some hard times this year, hubby getting hurt, workmans comp not doing anything to help his injury and sending him back to work without any real treatment, the mine letting him go after a few days back. We should have seen that set-up coming. Our lifestyle has once again proved to be an asset by keeping us fed, warm and dry. We can't pay the mortgage but we're not hungry! LOL gotta look on the bright side of it at least......
I'm already planning for the next growing season here. All the new things I want to try growing, the old tried and true stuff too... the new orchard and the berries, a new strawberry patch, the potato patch, I might even grow some gourds this next year. I've got these cool books on gourd carving, had them for a few years now and just the other day I sat down to read in them and got excited about gourds all over again. This next year we'll do a whole series of gourd carving posts and try a bunch of stuff with them. I'm even thinking of growing those great big bushel basket sized gourds. I think we can find some cool uses for those.......
So many things still to do and so little time..... stay with me and have the adventure with me......
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