Fall Garden in Review

Looking out towards the garden from the covered deck as you walk up to our front door.

The garden is rapidly winding down for the year with several light frosts under our belt and temps in the mid 30's to low 50's.  The rains have begun in earnest and the leaves seem to melt off the plants and trees in this weather, luckily we have plenty of evergreens for late Fall and Winter color.  With much of the harvest canned, frozen, dried, or in cold storage I now have more time to sit by the fire and share what's been going on around here.

Josie was napping under a Bloodgood Japanese Maple, I called her name and she looked up, my goldens are constant companions while I'm gardening, they love to oversee it all and help dig if I let them.

Most of these pictures were taken  in early to mid October when the garden still had some color. 

One of the central paths in the vegetable garden.

Red Chidori Kale, delicious lightly steamed with a little butter and vinegar. 

One of kale's virtues is that you can harvest it from Spring through Fall and into the Winter. 

 

Artichokes that were successfully grown from seed produced their first year.  This is a perennial crop that will have permanent spot in my garden.  We're still eating plenty out of the garden even this late in the year, there is kale, swiss chard, small broccoli florets, sorrel, carrots, beets, turnips, potatoes, celeriac, and greens.    Many meals have everything grown or raised right here, with the addition of our eggs, chicken, and dairy products.

Swiss Chard loves our climate and the leaves really liven up a salad

I'm learning to cook with turnips and like the small ones fresh in salads, the larger ones cooked like mash potatoes, or baked in a root vegetable casserole, plus I'll add them in small amounts to soups.

Every year I have a few favorite plants and flowers, this year it was all of my patio plants that I got for Mother's Day from my husband and children.  They bought plants for me at a local hobby gardener's sale, he has one a few times per year and specializes in annuals.  I tried some fun new plants like the Angel Trumpet Flower, Albutilon, and the Shrimp plant, along with geraniums and petunia's in color's that I had never grown before. Most of the one's I can over winter are inside all toasty waiting to go back outside next year when it warms up again.





Everyday over the Spring, Summer, and early Fall I had so much enjoyment from my garden, with music softly piped outside while I worked away, I thought this is heaven on earth.  My favorite music early in the morning are the bird songs, their singing is delightful with the robins being especially nice.  Hummingbirds live in the Douglas fir trees surrounding our property and they love to race from flower to flower and then they'll sit quietly on the fence and look about.  The hum of life comes from the birds and bees, the flowers that feed our soul, and the fruits and vegetables that feed our bodies, you can feel the pulse when you enter.  The work of the garden pays us back in so many wonderful ways throughout the year. 



Angel Trumpet Flowers

Magnificent, I loved this as a patio plant!

A type of "Albutillon"

Amaranth "Love Lies Bleeding" is a favorite of mine.

During the summer I gathered peppermint and dried the leaves for tea to drink through the year.  I also dried plenty of thyme, sage and oregano, the herbs in my garden are at their peak the end of July so I gathered the leaves on a dry morning at the height of summer.  They taste wonderful in soups, stews, spaghetti and for cooking through the winter.  I dry them in full leaf and then grind them in a mortise and pestle just before adding to soups and salads.  The flavor is so fresh and takes me back to the mornings I picked them.  There are still plenty of fresh herbs going strong in the garden but the leaves gathered at the height of summer have the best flavor.

This year with our fence complete and no deer getting inside, I can now grow roses.  Over the summer I ordered the David Austin catalog and have been dreaming of a garden filled with roses ever since.    Tamora was a rose I bought several years ago, it has a delicious old rose scent.   If you aren't familiar with David Austin roses look him up online and order his Rose Catalog you will see what I'm talking about.  He's bred the best of the old roses with the new for repeat flowering, disease resistance, and fragrance.    You can also classify many of them as edibles because of their rose hips and petals that you can make jam with.



  

David Austin Rose "Tamora"



I'm in Love

My little "Romeo" 

Roman David born November 3rd 

8lbs. 2oz.

I fell head over heels in love with my new Grandson from the minute he was born.  The strong maternal feelings were so overwhelming that I just wanted to bring him home to love and cuddle.  Of course my daughter wanted to bring him home to her house too... imagine that.  I told her they would just have to move in with us so I could see him everyday.  It wasn't realistic but that's how I felt, I'm thankful they only live about 30 minutes away so I can see him often. 

The birth went well, my daughter was amazing, and her fiance' Michael was a shining star. I have a whole new appreciation for him as I watched him care for her while she was in labor for 20+ hours.  Both his mother, sister, and I were the support team right along with him.  I was so proud of my daughter Christina and glad I could be with her through the long night at the hospital while she was in labor.  Little Roman came into the world healthy as can be and has a full head of dark hair, he was beautiful even as a newborn.  You can see in the picture above at a couple weeks old how adorable he is!  When I hear grandparents gush about their grandchildren, now I understand, I wasn't prepared for the love that wells up inside us for grandchildren, but it surely does! 

The Benefits of Keeping Rabbits

The benefits of raising rabbits as small livestock are many, especially if you live in a neighborhood and dream of farming on a miniature scale.  The fact that they require very little space and are quiet is nice for your neighbors nearby, who may never even know you're raising  them.  If you have a fenced backyard you can also let them out to get exercise for a few hours while you're gardening and can keep an eye on them.

The nutrient rich compost gathered from under rabbit cages works perfectly into a small farm permaculture plan, used for top dressing beds and natural fertilizer for the vegetable garden.  It's nice to know that all the feed you buy is utilized and converted into a most useful product.  They also can be bred through much of the year and have short pregnancies of around 31 days.  Housing costs are minimal, you can either find new hutches through your local feed store or look on craigslist for nice used ones.  If you're handy you can easily make your own hutches.  Storing their feed is simple as you don't need a large area to put a bag of food and a bale of hay.  Buying rabbit food through the feed store in 50lb bags is economical, along with buying a bale of good grass hay like orchard or timothy.  These will both last rabbits a long time.

Finding the right breed is a part of the fun, and visiting different rabbit breeders allows you to view a variety of rabbits and their housing set ups, as well as talk with an experienced person who's been raising rabbits usually for some time.  My focus has turned from pet rabbits when my children were small to now raising American Chinchillas and Champagne d' Argents which are both  medium sized meat and fur breed of rabbit.  Typically meat and fur rabbits weigh between 9-12 lbs.  The main focus in our rabbitry is to raise quality purebred and pedigreed rabbits to sell.  I sell them for between $30 to $40 each, if I can sell them for that price they will not be for meat.  If however I have extra's they will be for meat.  We haven't quite gotten over the cute factor on our small farm yet, as you can see they are very cute and personable.  So my goal in our rabbitry is for a little side money along with compost, and an enjoyable hobby.  Will we harvest any we don't sell? The answser is yes, I think it may get easier with experiece.  I am going to research the different humane ways of processing them (I can hardly bring myself to say butcher) but that is the reality on a small farm, and the meat is one of the finest  meats and is very popular in Europe, I will share what I learn about the various methods.

It takes time to set up a rabbitry for breeding.  You can buy quality young stock at 8 to 10 weeks old, this is the most common method.  You need to allow them to mature until they're 6-8 months old before they're ready to be bred.  Study books on rabbits and find out all you can to be successful.  One area where I've really learned is regarding their feed, I was feeding them more like my goats with their daily ration of alfalfa rabbit pellets and alfalfa hay, I gave them dry cob (corn, oats and barley) as a supplement.  An older book on rabbits advised both of these things, since then I've learned rabbits are leaf eating animals, they do much better on a mostly leafy diet, they need to have a daily ration of  quality rabbit pellets, plus I give them additions of dandelion greens, lettuce, carrots, apples and many other fruits and vegetables, but the basic everyday feed should be a high quality rabbit feed around 16 to 17 percent protein, along with always providing grass hay for roughage in their diet, they need all three things, fresh raw foods, rabbit pellets and grass hay.  A good quality grass hay like timothy or orchard is better for them than feeding too much alfalfa, I give them alfalfa as a special treat, or if it's really cold outside.  What they don't need is a lot grain products like corn, which mine happen to love.

The litter of American Chinchilla kits in the photo below is from Serendipity's breeding to Tobin, the buck from China Moon rabbitry.  I kept one doeling and sold the other doeling and buckling to a nice young lady who bought them to start her own backyard meat production.  In addition I have several people now on a waiting list for the next litter, due in about a week. 

The American Chinchilla's I can't say enough good things about, overall I love their personalities and they have beautiful long eyelashes.  In my experience so far they're good mothers and have nice litters.  The ratio that is ideal for me is 3 does and 1 buck.  I keep them outside where they get fresh air and morning sun.

Some Big News!

I'm turning the page in the novel of my life and getting ready to enter a new chapter, one that is ushering in the next generation of our family! Yes, it's true... I'm going to be a Grandma and am I ever excited!   You can see in the picture above my very pregnant daughter Christina (due Nov.1st), along with all of my children.  This picture was taken at her baby shower a month ago.  Both sides of the family were there to shower the soon to be parents with gifts.

One of my gifts for our new grandson (we already know he's a boy) is a newly grafted baby apple tree that I will graft and plant just for him.  It will be a honeycrisp apple tree, and I'll do the tending of it.  He'll have his very own tree that only he can pick from, and I'm going to have a plaque made with his name and birth date and every new grandchild we have will get one too.

This year will be an extra special Holiday season for our family as we celebrate with our first grandchild.  All of the kids and Grandpa are as excited to welcome him into the family as I am.   Knowing that someday I would be a Grandma, I saved things over the years, things that I've either collected or kept, a cute little rattan chair for toddlers, old Disney movies my kids loved, dolls, legos, a tiny bicycle, and a whole treasure chest filled with the best Halloween costumes over the years.  I'm kind of a pack rat and sentimental, two things that cause one to save all kinds of things.  So now I'm glad I saved them all.

We're only a little over a month till her due date and I'll be on call to go to the hospital, because part of her birth plan is to have me with her during her labor and birth.  I remember well all of my birth stories and shared some more with her yesterday about her birth in particular.  She's my oldest child and is almost 22 years old, I'm so proud or who she is, and know she'll be the best Mom.  When I hear her talk and the words that come out of her mouth, I hear the same spirit and faith that is part of me. 

This holiday season we are going to be blessed with a gift from God, and I can hardly wait to hold him and give him a kiss from Grandma!

Milking Muscles

One year later and I'm still milking,  all because of  one goat "Lucky Star's Acceptance" aka Zolena, we haven't had to buy a drop of milk since bringing her home. It was a truly a lucky star that brought her into our life and our family got to meet the elegant and charming Lamancha's.   We have been so impressed with her milking ability that we've thought perhaps we'd just buy another Lamancha doe and buckling next Spring and focus primarily on this breed.  Zolena is so smart and inquisitive, we've had to double latch every gate and watch if something's amiss in the goat pasture, usually she's the little monkey behind all the mischief.

As you know we also have a sweetheart Nubian named Jersey, and the cheese girls, Joon and Snowdrop are Nigerian Dwarf does.  Right now we're at 4 does and one buck "Cowboy".  Both Stormy and Comet the two wether's went to a great home together and are sharing a pasture and barn with a couple of alpaca's, they're helping to eat down the blackberries.  I hear they're doing wonderful and have settled right down in their new home and are happy.

Over the past few months I've thought so much about who should stay and who should go as far as the does, now at this point in the year I've decided to keep all four since we love our goat family and it's diversity.  Jersey never was pregnant, if you can believe that.  I must have overfed her and she just got big.  I felt pretty silly after her due date came and went and I had been going outside at night to check on her night after night, then she never was pregnant.  I wanted to get her bred to a purebred Nubian and last year we went to the buck 3 times to get her bred.    This year I've decided to keep her and try one more time to get her bred and will breed her to Cowboy.

I've been milking Joon, our little black Nigerian since the middle of July when her kids were weaned.  I grumbled at first because she wasn't as easy to milk as Zolena, then after a couple of weeks my milking muscles grew and I adjusted, now I love milking little Joon.  She likes being a dairy goat, and she's a great milker, giving a full to the brim quart of high butterfat milk everyday.  I only milk once per day, usually around 9:30 AM, I'm sure both goats would produce more milk if I milked them twice per day.  With one milking per day, Zolena gives about 3/4 of a gallon right now and Joon a quart.  So, I'm still getting about a gallon per day.

My plan is to breed all the does to Cowboy, he's a Nigerian and has a champion pedigree, there are some gorgeous milking does in his lineage.  I've done research on miniature Nubians and Lamancha's and have decided to use him for breeding them all.  If you remember last year I was opposed to breeding miniatures.  Over the last couple weeks I've been getting the does and Cowboy ready by deworming them and giving mineral supplements, like copper, selenium and vitamin E, as well as writing down dates when each doe is in heat.  I will breed Jersey first then the other's, spacing them apart over 2 months.  

We also emailed Lucky Star Lamancha Farm and are planning to go visit them the first of October to look at their bucks and does.  I told Judy the owner that I was looking for a show quality doe in milk.  You never know I may want to show my goats next year at a couple of local events, I think Zolena is show quality and would do well.

Sorry I haven't been here writing on my blog over the Summer.  I've missed sitting down penning my thoughts and going onto other blogs I enjoy.  Anyway hello again and Happy Fall :)

The rabbitry ~ American Chinchilla's

Zelpha "Fern"

2 month old doe, from China Moon Rabbitry

Our rabbitry is going to focus on the American Chinchilla rabbit breed.  This doe "Fern" will be with us for many years to come as our foundation doe, the first of our pedigreed American Chinchilla breeding stock.  She's tattooed in the right ear to prove it, and last week I even joined the ARBA, the American Rabbit Breeder's Association, so now Applegarth Farm is officially a registered rabbitry.

Zelpha Fern was my grandmother's name and I've always loved it!  Mostly because it represented my grandmother and she was an amazing woman with so much energy and zest for life.  I remember her cooking and love of family and wanted to think of her often.  The story behind the name is that her mother, my great grandmother made up the name with a friend when they were 10 years old and were talking and playing and thinking about names for their future children.  My great grandmother chimed out saying, "I'm going to name my firstborn daughter Zelpha Fern", and she did!  I remember my grandmother telling my sister and I the story when we were about 10 years old, she had a real southern Oklahoma accent with inflection and tone that made stories fun to listen to. 

Of course I had to name her husband, the buck Melvin.  My grandfather's name is Lawrence Melvin "Mel" for short.  My grandpa is still alive and still gardening.  I'm sure he'll hear about me naming my rabbits Mel and Fern after both of them.  As I say their names to my new rabbits, I often think of the many happy memories our families have shared over the years with both of my grandparents.

American Chinchilla buck Melvin "Mel"

from the Tree House Rabbitry

Serendipity

One year old American Chinchilla doe 

bred to Tobin of China Moon rabbitry on 6/8

Serendipity, our one year old American Chinchilla doe came with us as we travelled South on I-5 for an hour and a half as we headed to China Moon Rabbitry.  She was coming with us to be bred to one of their nice pedigreed bucks named Tobin, I hope to get a picture up soon of him. Melvin is from a totally different rabbitry in the same area called The Treehouse Homestead rabbitry.  He's a 3 month old buck that is non related to both Fern and Serendipity.  We had a nice time at China Moon meeting Theresa the breeder, and I had fun seeing all of her rabbits and her whole set up.  It's nice to talk to other's who are further along in their breeding program, I always learn new things by asking questions.  Thank you Theresa for the rabbits and the breeding to Tobin, we enjoyed our time at their rabbitry, talking with both her and her husband. 

Fern is happily rooming together with Serendipity for the next few weeks, and a few days before she gives birth, Serendipity will get her own large cage as we're growing more cages are being built along with the rabbit tractor.  Melvin is in the cage next door, and next to him are the Champagne d' Argents.

Early Summer farm update

Looking out my back door I can see the vegetable garden beyond the patio, it's situated close by so we can easily gather fresh food.  This year we're feeling more self sufficient than we ever have before in our lives, all the hard work is starting to pay off.  We're eating salads from the garden, fresh eggs from our chickens, delicious milk, yogurt, and cheese from our goats, along with our own farm raised chicken meat.  As we walk around our property the salmon berries are ripe, they're the first berries of the season, and we're harvesting loads of rhubarb.  The beautiful spring weather we had during the time the fruit trees were in bloom has resulted in the apple, cherry, pear and plum trees to be loaded with healthy looking young fruit.

Spring is slowly turning into Summer around here, we're at a higher elevation so everything is about 2 weeks behind the valley and town below us.  I still haven't planted out many of my warm season crops except for a few tomatoes and basil on the porch, the rest are still in the cold frame staying covered on cold nights.  The cool season crops like broccoli, kale, peas, potatoes and greens are all doing great!  Note to self, remember I need to set up the trellis for the peas early this year.  The rhubarb has been the best harvest this time of year, I've been making stewed rhubarb and rhubarb pie.  I'll be planting out my warm season crops in a couple weeks as it's still getting down to the high 40's at night, the few pumpkin starts I did put out to test just withered from the cold.  We're having a full moon tonight, so the next couple weeks the moon will be waning and I'll be focusing on planting root crops.  I really do try to plant by the moon, when it's waxing or getting bigger I'll plant above ground crops, when it's waning I'll focus on below ground crops. 

In the farm yard, the goat kids are so much fun and growing up fast, they're curious about everything, and will run, climb, and leap about with such joy and abandon it's a delight to watch.  I was worried about them being aloof because Joon will stand off to the side as everyone else clamors about wanting attention.  She would call her kids to her as if to tell them to keep their distance. We held them and gave them attention from day one, and I decided when they were three weeks old to separate them from Joon and bottle feed them.  She was miserable with this arrangement, the kids were miserable, and so was I.  After 2 days I had a talk with Joon and told her why I was doing this, I wanted her kids to be as friendly as all the other goats, and I wanted her to come around and be friendly too.

A funny thing happened with Joon almost instantly, or perhaps it was with me.  I brought her back in with her kids, and she decided it was time to get over her shyness and let us get near her and pet her.  She has always been friendly with me as I'm the one who feeds and spends the most time with them all.  Joon is a good milker and is great about walking on a lead, it was mostly with the rest of the family that she wouldn't let near her or pet her.  So what I've been doing to get her to be more friendly is to bribe her with food, I started by filling my pockets with lots of good grain, fed from the hand and every time she eats her grain and alfalfa pellets, I literally have her eat from my lap as I pet and scratch her, of course the kids are right there crawling all over me wanting pets and scratches too.  I'm  making sure everyone has grain when they go in to see her.  We've spent loads of time with the kids, holding and loving them, my husband was amazed at what a difference it has made because now she'll even let him go up to her and pet her.  I'm sure she still won't run up to strangers for a pet, but with grain as a treat she is overcoming her shyness.  Last week I let all the goats be together, the babies love to play with Snowdrop and Stormy, and all the goats seem happy.   I'm gearing up for Jersey's kidding, she may be pregnant, but I'm still not sure.  Her udder isn't filling up, but I've read that may not happen until right around the time she gives birth.  Joon's udder filled out several weeks before giving birth.  If Jersey is pregnant, she will give birth around the middle of the month, but we bred her 4 times so time will tell.

Over the last few weeks I haven't written or posted here on my blog, it's not that I haven't wanted to or tried to, I attempted to upload photo's on several different occasions and got frustrated with my extra slow dial up connection.  I never could get the pictures uploaded. I've bemoaned not having high speed internet for years, with dial up you can never watch you tube videos, much less post them, it's hard for me to look at blogs that don't minimize their pictures before they upload them.  Most of the blogs I read and can upload are aware of the fact that they need to minimize their pictures for dial up readers, otherwise it takes around 10 or 15 minutes to upload versus say 2 minutes.  Sometimes I let things upload and go put in a load of laundry or do a few dishes, however it seems that my computer has slowed down even more over the last few months.  I need to clean it up, remove pictures and cookies, do some maintenance and see if that helps.  My dream for this year is to get high speed internet, we had a friend out the other day who tested his verizon cell phone service, he said it's spotty and may not pick up enough signal for a computer connection.  Our main option (because we're in the boonies) is to get a small satellite and use it for the internet.  I could then post videos and easily upload photos.  So, my plan for this summer is to look into the costs associated with getting one, and see if it would work for us... I'm crossing my fingers!!

In other farmyard news, I'll be picking up a couple of American Chinchilla rabbits later this week, a young buck and doe, plus I'll be taking Serendipity our mature doe to get her bred.  The American Chinchilla breed is the one I want to focus on, not that I'm getting rid of our Champagne d' Argents.  I'm just adding a pedigreed buck and doe and getting some new lineage, that way I'll get some nice diversity within my rabbit stock.

The 2 hives of honeybees I installed a month ago are doing well, they need to be fed sugar syrup on a regular basis, and need room to grow this time of year.  Feed them faithfully until the blackberries come into bloom and they'll thrive, between the dandelion/ fruit tree bloom and the blackberry bloom there's a real gap with almost nothing for them to eat, this is the time of year they can starve quickly.  I learned the hard way one year, so I always like to remind new beekeepers to be vigilant about feeding in late May and early June.  If you see any dead bees on the entrance, suspect hunger and put on sugar syrup right away, for us up here so high we have to feed the whole month of June.  The ratio of sugar syrup is 2 parts water 1 part sugar in the Spring.  In the Fall it's a one to one ratio, because you want a thicker syrup.

This spring has been busy for me with my daughters having track practise everyday and meets once a week, work 2 days a week, and in between, I'm in the garden, with the farm animals, cooking, cleaning, and feeding everyone.  My days are full and happy!  I hope that wherever you are, you're having fun and blooming where your planted!

twins for Joon

Calypso and Comet

Last Friday Joon gave birth to twins, a doeling and a buckling, our first kids born here at Applegarth.  We had been getting ready for them all last week by setting up a separate paddock and stall just for Joon, cleaning her area and filling it with fresh straw, gathering all the supplies I thought I might need in a basket set by the door, plus I spent time reviewing every book I had on goats and what to expect for my first kidding.  The last year I also followed several blogs that focus on milk goats and read all about their birth experiences, so I did feel somewhat prepared.  Still I was nervous and anxious because I didn't want her to go into labor without me there. 

I watched for the signs that would indicate she was going into labor soon, a full and shiny udder, soft nickering, a pinkish discharge, and of course the days.  A normal gestation for goats is 150 days, but does can give birth anywhere from 145 to 155 days.  Finally last Friday morning, day 148, I went out to feed everyone breakfast and noticed Joon stayed in her stall and wasn't interested in eating.  Upon checking her, I noticed a pinkish discharge and watched her lay down and could see she was in labor, I thought it was still the early stages.  So I quickly finished feeding everyone and ran to get my husband,  he had one more gap to fill in the stall so the new kids couldn't slip through into the big goat area. The timing was good because he hadn't left for work yet. While we were in the big barn where he was cutting a piece of wood, we kept hearing all the goats calling, I wondered why since I had just fed them.  As I ran over to check what was going on, I realized they were trying to tell me Joon was giving birth and having her first one.  By the time I reached her she was cleaning up her first doeling, it was that fast, like 10 minutes from when I first saw her.  I ran to the house as fast as I could and grabbed my basket by the door and sprinted back out to help dry her doeling.  She was all black just like her mom, except she has grey ears from her dad Cowboy, she is so cute! 

Applegarth's Comet and Calypso

Being new to all this I was so surprised how active a newborn goat is, once dry she was crying and crawling all over both Joon and I, it was a noisy affair and Joon was still in labor.  After almost an hour and a half of  pushing during the second birth, I started getting concerned for Joon and thought my first delivery I'd be going in to help straighten out a kid or untangle kids.  I also knew the little doeling was getting hungry because she was stomping her foot and crying as she looked at Joon.  I had read that new kids need to nurse within an hour, and every time Joon stood up, we tried to get her to nurse, and she couldn't get the hang of it,  then Joon would lay down and push some more, I was getting worried.  After two hours of pushing I began to pray in earnest for her as I watched her push and cry out and still saw nothing.  Finally the pinnacle happened with one huge push and I saw a large form begin to emerge, she continued pushing and I realized she was giving birth in a breech position and that's why she was having such a hard time. Imagine touching your toes, he was coming out bottom first, and he was a big strapping buckling compared to the little doeling.  As she pushed I helped ease him out carefully with each push, by the time he was born I breathed a huge sigh of relief, I didn't realize I had been holding my breath.  It was an emotional moment, and I was thankful to be there for Joon. 

Joon was thrilled to finally welcome him and she licked him all clean, then laid her head down for a much needed rest and dozed, she was exhausted.  I dipped the bucklings umbilical cord in iodine and then his feet, I had already done the doelings earlier.  I also gave them some probios, a probiotic, and some vitamin E and Selenium, stuff I had read is a good idea to do.  I was getting anxious for Joon to get up and nurse them, as the doeling was going on two and a half hours, finally once rested after about 20 minutes Joon got up and the kids began to nurse, thankfully.  She is such a good mom!  I waited not knowing if there was another kid to be born, but soon after nursing she passed the placenta uneventfully and the final part of the birth process was over.  Once we were all done I got Joon some fresh water, alfalfa, and extra grain.  She also wanted some probios and licked it up, her body must have needed the electrolytes after all that. 
 
It was so amazing to all of us that when goat kids are born they are only wobbly on their legs for a few moments and then are running around and will crawl all over you.  Joon is so proud of them, and Cowboy too looks on at his first offspring, I went over and congratulated him.  All the goats wanted to know how Joon was and it was fun to watch them and see Zolena peak in to give updates to everyone as I held the doeling up for her to see.   We are going to name the doeling Calypso, and the buckling Comet, he has white mark on the center of his head, and is so cute too.  Both are C names, every year the American Dairy Goat Association has a letter for tatoos for that year, if you want to name your goats by that letter it helps to  remember the year they were born, this year it's the letter C.

Sugarcreek Joon and Comet

Morels ~ A Northwest Delicacy

This has been a week of morel foraging in our neck of the woods.  I wanted to make a note here to myself to mark the date of the first harvest of the season, this is our first year ever picking morels, our neighbors hunt for them every year and they've shown me what they look like.  Over the years I've read about them and looked at pictures, and have hunted for them on our property, I wanted to find some but had no success except for one time, I found one.  Morels are kind of a mystery, where they will grow, and what conditions they will grow in, they are one of the only mushrooms that are not cultivatable, they need a perfect growing condition of  rain and sun.  Here in the Northwest we are one of the mycological capitols of the world with our rainy climate, many mushrooms grow and  thrive here, especially in the Spring and Fall.

One of our goals in becoming more self sufficient as a family is to learn all about foraging around where we live.  I want to learn to hunt morels in the Spring and chanterelles in the Fall, these are yearly Northwest harvests I want to participate in.  We have so many mushrooms on our property and it would be fun to learn more about them,  either I would need to have someone from the mycological society come out to identify them for me, or I will join the mycological society and go on their walks and learn.  Even if I only know a few mushrooms, it's something fun and free to look forward to each year.  I already know how to identify both morels and chanterelles, as they are some of the more easily identifiable mushrooms.

My youngest daughter Kaley and I went morel hunting the other day, I knew they were ripe when I saw a couple by the entrance to our driveway, as it turned out there was a whole little grove of them right near us,  hidden in the woods coming up under the leaves of alder trees, with fir trees nearby.  They seem to like it where there are lots of leaves and the sun can filter through a little.  It was like an Easter egg hunt, we were so excited as we found one after another, and would exclaim everytime we found one, I found one!!  I found one!! 

From what I've read about morels you want to eat them right away, within a day or two or dehydrate them, you also want to clean them really well.  We cleaned them by filling a bowl with warm water and added a teaspoon of salt, swished them around and then rinsed them in fresh water until it came clean, about 4 times.  You don't eat the stems just the mushroom end, we cut off all the stems and discarded them.  To dry them, we put them in a salad spinner, and then laid them on a clean towel and rolled it up softly to get them good and dry.  Some we dehydrated right away, and the rest we sauteed in butter and garlic and had good bread to eat with them,  along with penne noodles and marinara sauce, it was a delicious meal!

April through June is the season for morels in the Northwest, so there is still plenty of time to hunt for them this Spring.  I know we'll be going out again to see if we can find more of these mysterious and nutrious mushrooms.  Mushrooms that in the gourmet world are a true delicacy!

Bees

I can hardly wait until next Wednesday when the bees arrive, my garden doesn't feel the same without them in their corner buzzing about.   I've got two packages coming, each  are three pounds and will have their own queen.  Tomorrow I'll be going into Snohomish to visit Beez Neez, the nearby apiary store where I'll be getting more frames for setting up the hives before they arrive.  I'll also pick up some paint so I can give them a fresh coat of green, they say in our climate green is a good color to paint the hives, because we want our hives to warm in the sun.  The traditional white is great for sunnier and warmer areas of the country where you want the hive to cool, rather than absorb heat.  Any green will do, I have used the same color for the last six years.

The guys at Beez Neez also shared some new information about frames, so after I try them tomorrow I'll discuss more about them.  This will be a busy week getting ready, the bees will arrive just as many of my fruit tree blossoms are opening, and they'll have plenty of dandelions to feast on too.  Over the sunny weekend the dandelions began their annual bloom, and as a beekeeper you have a whole new outlook on dandelions as you watch the bees bring in the pollen from their flowers.  The pollen feeds their young as they grow and mature.  They will also gather pollen from the fruit tree blossoms, and in turn pollinate them for fruit, this year I'm hopeful for a bountiful season, and the bees are at the heart of it all.

This will be my sixth season raising bees, and my 4th season buying them.  I've learned so many lessons the hard way and lost bees along the way.  I have kept journals through each season with records of the successes and failures, and how to solve the problem the next time.  Working with bees over the years and those experiences are what it takes to learn this ancient art. I intend to keep at it and not give up.   One week to get ready!

mozzarella cheese

Good fresh milk is the all important ingredient for making delicious cheese.  This was my first time making mozzarella cheese with our goats milk, it tuned out nice and chewy but lacked the flavor I was hoping for.  I have since found out I can add a little lipase culture for added flavor.  Mozzarella is an easy beginner cheese to make and is great for cooking pizza's and using for lasagnas and omelette's.  Most cheese when it's first made has a fairly bland taste, the taste develops as the cheese ages, and with mozzarella you don't age, it's ready to eat and use right away, this is definitely one of it's virtues

Here's the recipe I used, it's for one gallon of milk.  The recipe is from the book by Mary Jane Toth and is called Goats Produce Too!  The Udder Real Thing

Quick Mozzarella Cheese

1 gal            milk

1 1/4 tsp       citric acid powder

1/4  tsp         liquid rennet or 1/8 rennet tablet

1/2   C         cool water, divided in half

In a stainless or enamel pot, place the cool milk.  Dissolve the citric acid powder into 1/4 cup cool water and add to the milk.  Stir well.  Bring the temperature of the milk to 88 degrees.  Mix the rennet with the other  1/4 cup of cool water and stir into the milk for about 10 seconds.

Allow the milk to sit for 15 minutes to coagulate.  After setting for 15 minutes, the curd should be firm and when you dip your finger into the curds they will break cleanly over your finger and whey will fill the depression where your finger has been.  Cut into 1 inch cubes and let rest for 10 minutes.

Then place the pot of curds into a sink of very hot water and slowly bring the temperature up to 108 degrees.  The curds will shrink during this process, keep the curds at 108 degrees for 35 minutes.  Drain the curds into a colander for 15 minutes.

Save the whey if making ricotta or heat treating the curds in the whey.  When the curds have drained , they are ready to be heat treated to get their stretch.  For the stove-top method, Use a double boiler.  You will need enough hot water or whey to cover the curds. I used the whey. 

Heat the liquid to 150-155 degrees, then place in the curds, which have formed into a mass.  Work quickly as it does not take long int the hot liquid before the curds melt together and become stretchy.  This is an amazing process, which happens very quickly.

Use a large slotted and a large regular spoon and bring the curds out of the liquid, pulling and stretching like you would taffy.  Use your hands or the spoon's to stretch the cheese.

Shape into balls, and place into a brine solution for 10-30 minutes, depending on how salty you like you cheese.  Remove from brine, pat dry or air dry.  Refrigerate cheese for up to 2 weeks.  Freeze for longer storage. 

Brine Solution

2 lbs kosher or canning salt to 1 gallon cold water or

for a smaller batch add 8 oz salt to 1 quart of cold water.

Salt amount can be altered to suit your taste.

Note;  This cheese is great eaten freshly sliced with a slice of tomato, a basil leaf and olive oil drizzled over the cheese.

Bringing the temperature of the milk to 88 degrees

After 15 minutes of setting, the milk coagulates, then place in a sink of hot water and bring the temperature up to 108 degrees, this lets the milk temperature rise slowly.  The curds begin to shrink up and form a mass.

The rinsed curds

Stretching the warmed cheese

Cheese



There are many different ways to make and form cheese, from presses to molds,  and so many different types of cheeses to try.  It's been fun for me to learn and read all about being a cheese maker, like any artisan's craft, it takes time and many experiences to learn the fine art of turning out truly great cheeses.

This morning I've been making out my order for more cheese supplies, and as I'm looking through Hoegger's goat supply catalog, I spot their cheese presses.  I'm seriously considering buying a cheese press, maybe not today, because I already have a list of needs on the order.  However, Hoegger's has a nice looking one that is maple wood and stainless steel, it has a two hoop cheese press and is ready to use upon arrival.  Considering how much I like things to look nice sitting on my kitchen counter, I'm thinking this may be good investment in my cheese adventures.  I've discussed it with my husband before, and we talked about design and how to build one.  This evening I'll show him the picture and see if we can figure how to make something, or I'll plan for purchasing one.