wow------time flies by so quickly. 5 days went by quick.
Coco= I been wondering about my blackberries===wondering how many the guineas are gonna eat and hope they leave enough for me==at least at the top of the plants. sigh. I really wanted to make blackberry jelly and if i could ever figure out how to make blackberry cider I would make it too. I have only bought blackberry cider at a local co=op and i love it.
The bull===i don't know where his short ribs are=====closer to the rear of his back is what i assume---and they are showing.- slightly. and his spine is bumpy. We gave him some worming salt block. His poo looks healthy.
He is mostly aggressive if he thinks it is feeding time or hay time. Then he rams the fence trying to get the feed while we are trying to pour it in the feeding trough-----which he broke cause he rammed it too. Now he gets fed in a trash can lid. LOL. I can't stand that bull. My son is coming home from the army ---out for good- in June. He just got back from a long year in Afghanistan. He wants to butcher the bull. He is suppose to be reading about how to do it.
Just one problem. I rather we had a head shocker. I want to Smoke his head(the bull) so I don't want it damaged.
Gosh==i sound heartless....... Anyway-- son Charlie is suppose to make a smoking pit out back so we can have a bigggggggggg 4th of July cook out---which is my other son Chads birthday. (will be 12 yrs old)
We all have C names. Me Carolyn(nickname Cricket) hubby Charles.
I am already attached to my new chicks. I had 22 but one died. Down to 21. Had them 10 days now. There is a little chick--- dominique- it seems small compared to the others. I call it midget and I hope it is a hen.
The neighbors ===whose house burned and they do not live on the land right now, left their cat and come by to feed it every now and then. The cat and her kittens are stalking my chicks. The temps are warming up nicely so I put the chicks in the chicken coop today. They were wanting to spread their wings and fly. They are so cute when they spread their wings for the first time and glide across the ground. Anyway===there might be some dead cats soon===or some dead chicks. I have checked the pen and made sure nothing could get in. The chicks still have a light to warm by. I put moth balls out around the pen hoping it will keep the snakes away. It worked with the guineas when they were babies===forgot what you call guineas when they are babies.
I realize I am long winded. have so much to say and so little time.
i could talk allllllllllllllll day.
happy gardening and farming.
Cricket
On the May Homestead
African Pygmy
I saw a roach in my wash room today. Gotta find my roach bait.
Robin, you forgot the link. I hope it works too. I think I am gonna take it to my friend's barn and try it on his goat that has kids right now. She is starting to wean her kids and he said I could milk her if I want to.
Some friends gave me a half feed bucket of strawberries today. I had a big bowl after supper. Mmm They'd be sweeter if there had been more sun and less rain but they were still good. Got some left for tomorrow.
Got my first squash bloom yesterday. Beans are up. I have eaten peas twice. I will definitely plant the sugar ann peas again. Corn and beets are up. Still need to add compost to the tater bags. Maters are growing but the herbs have not sprouted yet.
Ben, the colt, fell getting out of the trailer today. He landed on his right side with all 4 legs under the trailer. DH saw him fall and hollered for him to lay still. He did. We were able to get his feet out and roll him over. He didn't get a scratch but he is stiff and he will be sore. I gave him a ring of bute paste after he ate. So glad and thankful he is sensible and does not panic. He is getting tall. We had his feet trimmed today.
Hey Pod .... did ya'll get any rain?
3 1/4 inches here and still coming down.
yippy
This must be roach season. I am finding those roaches DOA on the floor in the mornings. I have been spraying for fleas and guess that has helped. I haven't had resident roaches but find they fly in at night if the door is opened. Guess they are drawn to the lights.
Cocoa ~ do you use straight borax or a commercial product? This area sees the huge wood roaches. An old gal gave me a home blended recipe to feed them that includes borax. I still feel alot of the old time ways are perhaps slower but better.
Lizards_keep ~ I am not meaning to sound like I'm whining here but.... only 1 & 1/2 inches. 8 )) Proud of it though. And about 8 inches of lightening and thunder. Still getting more thunder but the radar looks like it has moved through. Glad you recieved that wealth of rain. Here, I was wishing for more rain barrels to harvest the runoff.
Off to walk the canines and then to work. Have a great day all.
Cricket, baby guineas are keets. I want some guineas to keep the yard bugs and ticks down, and you have to get them as keets or they will try to go 'home'. If the milk thing works out with my neighbor, I can probably manage guineas, and they can sleep in the barn. No fencing or small pen needed after they aren't babies anymore.
Buster (neighbor) just helped me fetch (and unload) 2 scoops of topsoil this morning, and make 2 ridges for sweet potatoes. Normally, one would dig a trench and make tall ridges between the trenches, but that area is clay which doesn't drain well at all and they'd just rot. I thought I'd have to mix the topsoil with compost but there's plenty in it already (plus bottle caps and dried roots!). One row is crooked because of how the tailgate hung over the outside row while we were shoveling. I hope to get the slips planted late today after it cools off; they are stressed enough already.
MsRobin, Those tests are the recommended basics for drinking raw milk, only the milk cow is tested. We immunized our heifer and first round of testing after first calving. Some of those tests are to ensure a long healthy breeding life. Some because they are transferable to humans, via milk. Some are a one time test, others yearly.
Our steers don't get immunized. We do give a tetanus antitoxin at banding time. But they are raised here for are own use. I don't know for certain if there is a different immunization protocol for selling meat, sorry.
I bet Porkpal or Patrob, would know for sure.
I hope that snake didn't go after the broody girl's eggs?
Cricket, Sooo happy your son is coming home! I'm grateful for his service. The anticipation as a mother must be tough tho! Our middle child's birthday is celebrated on the 4th as well, he'll be 13. So funny, as a toddler he didn't understand why everyone else didn't get fireworks on their birthdays :0)
We're still discussing how we're going to bucther these next steers. Dh wants to send them off and be done, since we would have to borrow the tools for butchering. But I've had such close contact raising these guys. I hate the thought of them spending 24 hours in a strange place and not knowing if their last moments are with the same respect I would give doing it myself. I know that sounds odd too, but It doesn't sound like you'll have worry about that with bully bull!
Cajun, bravo to Ben and his sensibilities! My heart stops when I see big animals go down hard, it's always a tense moment. I glad he's o.k. How much milk will a pygmy goat give? They are sooo cute, cute and cute!
Podster, I'm using Roach Prouf. I think it's almost pure boric acid. I think you might have been the one who told me to use Muletrain for fleas in carpet. That worked so well, I'm hoping the pure stuff will work even better for the roaches. I have those wood roaches too, but they don't seem so bent on taking over the home. For them, I scream, stomp and flush.That seems to keep them under control.lol
I saw a recipe for mixing the acid with sugar, but worried the sugar might attract more into the house.
Darius, what a pretty kitty! I hope to get my slips out this weekend while we have some rain. I agree, the guineas are awesome at keeping the ticks down. I think we have far more baby copperheads now that the guineas are gone. I don't think we'll be able to keep them again, until our great dane passes on. She hates guineas. The chickens will eat out of her bowl, but will back down and leave if she gets upset. The guineas were aggressive and never learned to back down :0(
Thanks, that cat is Shuggah (Messhuganah) who is my garden buddy. She's part Blue-point Siamese, hence the coloration. Alice, my part seal-point Siamese kitten hasn't been allowed to explore outside yet.
Cajun, I must have just forgot when I got excited about the snake. LOL Had another snake this afternoon coiled up on the eggs. Have to look this one up, as it was different from yesterday's snake. Broody hen is all set up and perfectly happy in an unused rabbit hutch. This is a first for us, so we are really excited about the possibility of baby chicks. Here's the link for the milker instructions:
http://www.dairygoatjournal.com/issues/85/85-4/Hughlene_Dunn.html
Cocoa_lulu, thanks for the info on testing.
Podster, glad you finally got a bit of rain. Not to rub it in or anything, but I was debating on watering or not, since it's been over a week without rain. Well, all of a sudden like just on cue, the sky turned black and we had a nice steady rain for a little over an hour that left a full inch.
Forgot to add:
I have a grandson who will 5 on July 4th.
Darius, cool idea about the sweet potato mounds!
I killed a rat snake today. A female right at 4 ft. I usually am glad to have them around for rodent control but she was curled up in a nest eating eggs. Dispatched her quickly and cleanly with my trusty pellet rifle with the first shot. If I had a scope those nasty chipmunks would not stand a chance. LOL
We have one or more rat snakes that frequent the coops and they do eat some eggs, but we don't have any trouble with rats or mice so it's okay with me.
Y'all can keep the snakes, thank you very much! I have seen a few garter snakes here, mostly small, though.
After reading more on growing sweet potatoes, I decided my ridges are too narrow and too shallow for really decent production. So... I raked one row onto the other, and will get more topsoil maybe tomorrow or Tuesday. I was waiting until it cooled off to plant them this afternoon, but now I see a line of possibly severe thunderstorms heading my way from KY.
The moon is in Capricorn (an Earth sign) for two more days, good sign for planting root veggies.
The mid-central Virginia RU is next Saturday, and I'll probably go up Friday and stay overnight at the cabin several DG'ers have rented. SO much to do before then, including baking some goodies to take, and plants to dig and pot. Hopefully the tires I ordered will be in Monday or Tuesday, down in Bristol. The front end will need alignment after the tires are installed, too.
darius= thanks. I always forget "keets" They're all chicks in my mind. And I hope you have lots of fun on your RU trip.
thanks cocoa. I found out this morning that my son will be home shortly after June 7th. He has some hearing loss and has a few appts to go to. He wants us to keep his arrival a secret so he can surprise his wife. Her and the grandbabies live next door.
Cajun= I worry everyday that a rat snake is gonna eat my new chicks. I hope the ole wise tell of moth balls keeping the snakes away works. So far over the years, it has. I count the chicks everyday. Once, I did not use moth balls and I had 2 young ducks in the barn. I went out to feed them and a rat snake had a crunch on the ducks wing shoulder and was partially wrapped around its body. This was a big duck and there was no way that snake could eat it but it sure was trying. We got the snake loose from the duck and killed it.
Just got 3/4 inch of rain in less than 15 minutes. The wind lifted and turned my brooder (8x4x4) and moved it about 10 feet. Nothing else that I can tell yet, But it's dark now. I'll see in the morning. Think I'm going to have a moxito and hit the skids.
G'Morning... Weather is doing a number on everyone; my heartfelt prayers are out for those whose homes and families are completely destroyed by tornadoes.
Heavy storms due here shortly, hope the power stays on and we stay safe. Same for you ALL.
We just got rain last night with some wind, but nothing too serious.
Most of the storms keep missing us. I could use some rain. But I'm feeling a little jumpy and paranoid after all the bad news that keeps pouring in, due to weather. Just feel like communities are getting stomped on, one week after the next. Heartbreaking.
Busy week, kids will be out of school soon. Picked the first of the green beans today. Just enough for a serving..that serving goes to the kid that helped sow the seeds, says the little red hen;0)
Everyone stay safe.
This message was edited May 24, 2011 9:00 AM
Thankfully, the first round of severe storms passed just west of us, and we only got some thunder, lightening and needed rain (in spite of all the rain last week, my soil is dry down several inches deep).
Now to await the forecasted severe afternoon t'storms... I'm a bit jumpy and paranoid about the bad storms too, Lynea.
The RU this weekend will have more folks than I anticipated, so I started another batch of cream cheese last night for a 2nd cheesecake. (I have never made cheesecake, so it is a challenge anyway!) I still have to empty the chest freezer in hopes I have some blanched, slivered almonds for a batch or two of biscotti. I HATE crawling into the bottom of that thing!
I left my slip-on pseudo Birks outside, and Jess's dog chewed one to pieces. Sigh. She not only killed the sugar maple a few days ago, now she has torn at least one branch off my Nanking cherries. She spends all day outside, then comes inside to do her business, and Jess has no clue how to housebreak her, even if she stayed home (or out of bed when she's home) long enough to work on it. Sigh. Just glad my area is closed off!
Little jumpy here too with the unstable weather this spring. We've had plenty of rain and have still been getting additional rain in more appropriate amounts (1/2-1" at a time), so our soil is in good shape. We're finally getting enough sunshine that the garden is starting to grow. Not producing much yet, but at least growing.
I'm of the opinion, you can never have too much cheese cake :0)
I'm not sure what time the storms cleared out of here. We moved the boys to basement around 10;30. My daughter was about 20 miles to the south of us and spent much of the night in friends bathroom. Dh was nervous wired and texting her, so I passed out around 12;30. Going to be totally useless today.
Looks to be headed east today, please be careful.
I remember (and not fondly) spending nights in storm cellars when I lived in Kansas. Didn't think that might be necessary here, but Times (and weather patterns), they are a'Changin'...
Lynea, what's a good method for getting the buttermilk out of butter if I'm using my mixer to make butter?
Eww, yeah, spent lots of time in storm cellars, in west Texas. At least our basement isn't that bad.lol
I set out cream around 8am and sit to room temp and culture, it's ready around 12-1pm. It will take FOREVER to break in a mixer, If the cream is too cold.
I use the paddle? attachment. It's the one used for cookie dough.
I'm not sure if it's just my imagination, but when I used the whisk attachment, the butter seems to turn rancid quick.
After the cream breaks, I use the paddle and push together the butter clumps and remove paddle.
Pour out buttermilk.
Then I use my clean hand and agitate the butter with cold water and my fingers, push the clumps back together and drain again. You want the butter pushed into a clump before each draining..not to loose any butter during draining. I rinse three times. After the third time water will be clear, but not crystal/drinking water clean, just not milky looking. Over rinsing can be just as bad as not rinsing well enough.
I push the butter up against the side of the bowl, try to get as much water as I can poured off. Wash my buttery hand off :0)
Then working with small amounts and a spatula, I slap the butter on the side of the bowl to get last of water out. Then scrape that small amount out and put into a clean bowl.
OR, I use two spatulas and slap a small amount back and forth till the water is expressed out.
Did that cover it? If not, just let me know. I'm not getting anything else done today.lol
Yep, that covers it, thanks! That's pretty much what I did this morning, except I spread the butter in a thin layer on a smooth plastic cutting board.
Eat it... on EVERYTHING!
Been without the internet for a few days. My moden went bad and had to get a new one. Sure hate so many people are suffering after the storms. We had a few here. Dropped a big red oak behind my garage but only the small limbs at the top of the tree hit the garage roof. Didn't damage the garage but it took out some of my gold raspberry bushes. Can't get to them to see how many. Thankful it was not worse. Trees are still falling on the hill beside the house because it is so wet. Glad for my raised beds and "grow bags". Added some rotted hat to my tater bags today. I used the bales of hay I had my purple sprouting broccoli in. I carried it by 5 gallon bucket loads across the creek to my taters. When I went to reach in for the last handful I looked in the bucket and saw an itty bitty snake. It was a Ring Necked Prairie snake. I caught it and brought it in the house to show DH. It was a pretty little thing. I turned it loose in the garden. Later today DH saw a Garter snake in the back yard.
I shifted a bunch of chickens today and cleaned cages. Finally down to just the 2 little bantam chicks in a cage on the porch. I put their surrogate momma back in with the layers up the hill. She is likely sleeping lonely tonight. :(
I cooked some pork ribs in the pressure pot today and made gravy on them. Then I put in potatoes and some of my sugar ann snap peas. That is the 4th time I have picked them and they are delish!! I will grow them again in fall.
Had 6 blooms open on the flying saucer squash today. Looking forward to those. About to take the chinese cabbage up and put eggplant in it's place. Maters are starting to grow a bit. Burgundy beans are starting to bloom.
Had Tug gelded 2 days ago. He did great. Looking forward to riding him in a few weeks. The boys should be here ina week and a half. Can hardly wait!!!
I'm off to bed. Pushed too hard today and I am hurting.
Lol, Darius
Cajun, oh no, not the raspberries! Do they spread underground? Is there any way they'll return next year?
Still watching my pattypans, lots of male blooms but no females, yet. I've scraped off about a 100 eggs so far...they better hurry up, before I start loosing ground to the bugs.
I don't know about the raspberries. I had just planted them in the spring. They were a gift from friends who were thinning theirs out. I am sad about it. I was really looking forward to them. I tried raspberries last year and didn't have any luck with them.
Here is a pic of the little snake. DH is not the greatest photpgrapher but in his defense, the little snake was a wiggler. LOL
I saw the funniest thing on the news. A bunch of local kids, for their senior prank, all drove tractors and mowers to school. They complied with all road laws, rules and regulations. And most surprisingly, made it to school on time. lol
Brilliant prank, without being destructive. Great kids!
That is a hoot! And very inspired.
thats funny cute cocoa.
My son use to catch baby ring necks all the time and had them hanging off his ears, nose, and mouth= same with lizards. I think he did it to freak me out.
I have to dig up my potatoes= fungus. I am going to sow some white patty squash and crookneck in the grow beds.
Cajun= I really hope your raspberries has a good root ball so they will shoot back up. Crossing fingers for ya.
My chicks have been living in the chicken coop for almost a week now. They are doing great.
I noticed my bull has pink eye. Crap = But gaining weight. He is looking better. Maybe a combo of things= extra feed, extra hay, worming block,= he is a growing steak. He does have a name= Buckie= but should of named him Ribeye
I need some ideas if you have any.
I grew some radishes and some of them were suppose to be mild but they are really hot.
I thought maybe I could puree the radishes like you would horseradish and add it to something
so they don't go to waste.
I been thinking===but not coming up with much. I like raw turnips and radishes have a turnip flavor with a kick.
Cucumber Radish Ranch Dip?
I will have ripe tomatoes soon. Salsa with a radish puree to give it that mild heat?
I love to cook but the radishes have drawn a blank. If this was the cooking show Chopped, I would be Chopped.
I have a lot of radishes.
If it were cold weather, I would add it to a soup.
This message was edited May 27, 2011 6:26 PM
That dip with the radishes sounds yummy. Make a small dish and see what you think.
I've been inside all day doing some spring cleaning and cleaning up my kitchen after I finally got all of seed trays and rooted cuttings outside. Pretty chilly (62) and gloomy all day. Hubby's been in the shed working on the riding mower. It had an oil leak so he took the motor off to put in a new seal.
Feed them to Buckie to flavor the ribeye?
LOL @ PP. I can't help as I don't eat or grow radish. Sorry.
We named our pigs Pork Chop and Sparerib. They are very tasty.
I planted 6 peppers and 4 eggplants out today. Have to find a spot for one more eggplant. Also need to fix a few bags for some melons.
I have 2 white mulberries doing well. I grew them from seeds. They are about 4" high now and I need to pot them up.
Try lacto-fermenting some radishes in quart jars... should be recipes and instructions available with a Google search. They'll be yummy all winter!
I just got home from the mid-central-south VA RU; best vacation in years! Left here Friday morning and got home about lunchtime today. We had folks from Arizona, Tennessee, NC, Alabama and of course, Virginia.
I sure would like to make a RU one of these days. Glad you had a nice time. Bet your cheese was a big hit!
Caj, I took about 8 pounds of cheese, 5-6 herb flavors of 2 types of cheese, came home with about 2 pounds. I was greatly encouraged by the reception even though about 3/4 of them were really too young to have much taste.
The home-made, hand-churned ice cream from a custard I cooked the night before was a BIG hit with the grown-ups who remembered the taste. To the kids, it was just ice cream.
darius, as u know I am limited on the threads I can view - would appreceate someone posting the group pics where I CAN GET THEM! -D