Just another Day on the Farm

The sun is warm..

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Yup, you heard me right, despite the cold temps, despite the snow, despite the drifts that are so huge and solid that even the horse’s walk over the beaten path.. the sun, the sun its got promise, it started last week, the bright sun poured in though the big living room windows, and I turned off the main floor heater, and the whole house was warmed by the sun!

I watch the critters, they know it too.. no more hiding in the barn, no more hiding out of the wind on the side of the little barn, nope, they come out in the morning, and for the rest of the day, they hang out by the feeder, resting, sleeping on the bedding that is spilled like a green carpet around the ring feeder, they lay low to the ground, chewing cud, resting with closed eyes and a softness, and if you walk up and say hello, you get happy smiles, and when you put your hand on their coats, its so warm from the sun, you just want to snuggle in and get a warm horse or sheep scented hug..

There is dirt under my fingernails, not my dirt, my dirt is frozen solid at this time, hidden still by snow/ice, even my first to melt out spots are still a good solid two to three feet under its winter blanket.. but soon, soon shovels will come out, and that snow will be removed from the bed, and the early early spring cold frame will cover it up, and in a mear two or three weeks, tough little greens will be put out in trays an started..

But for now, its bought dirt, taken by the cupful out of a big bag, and containers are filled, seeds are sown, water is done and up to the top of my older fridge, this is the perfect place, they fit under the cupboard so no cats can get to it, the warmth from the back of the fridge, its my own personal starter area..

This is a old salad keeper gotten from a farm sale in a one dollar box, it didn’t have the lid but it did have the little green bottom, which allows me to put a bit of rock under it, it on top and gives the box the ability to drain properly.

This box is one of those that will grow me dark green harvested as a baby spinach, if I wanted to grow them for transplanting, they would be in their own cups/trays/plugs.

I will need to start my leeks next week, but they will need a very different set up..

Are you starting some early indoor greens, are you starting any of your transplants? I can start a few very early because they will be hardened and moved to the greenhouse very early in the season..

Speaking of greenhouses.. there is news coming on that front.. I have a area that you could make a walk in pop up greenhouse with pretty ease and I am thinking of trying it, it would be a put up and take down one..

Posted in frugal, gardens | Tagged Garden 2014 | 5 Comments

Planning for Pasture Repairs

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Two summers ago we had a drought that did a number on my pastures and then last year, we had a ok year in terms of weather but I was over stocked, I had allowed my sheep flock to get to big, I had added in a horse and the milk cow was no longer a calf/yearling but instead was a full sized grazer/with calf at side..

It was to much for my pastures.. I feed hay all year around, but sheep being sheep, they will eat every single scrap of pasture before they will turn to hay.. to say overgrazed is being kind.

That means that between the two years, my pastures have been put back in a big way.. We are coming into spring in much better shape, my sheep flock is down to nine ewes, and one yearling ram, what will be one yearling calf (but only for part of the season), and two horses, plus the pigs, and geese..

The first thing we need to do is a bit of inside fence repairs so that I can close off different pastures, the small pasture is going to be the horse grazing pasture only, no sheep allowed, other then for a odd short grazing if needed..

The pigs are going to have the corner pasture this year, I want them to turn it, and beat the crap out of it, they will have a small pond to dig and play in, If they do it faster then I expect, then I will move them over to the barn paddock and rake, flatten and re-seed out the corner pasture.

The big pasture, well I had dreams of splitting it off into at least two pastures but the truth is, now that I have the horses, I need that space to be able to do proper ring work with them, to have that full open space to do my training, to do my horse agility..

The front corner pasture currently part of the big pasture, however is getting fenced off with a gate and its going to be re-seeded and done..

All the pastures need a light feeding of compost, and a good heavy frost seeding.. The area that we call no man’s zone is going to be electric fenced off and will be the pigs first turn out zone, I want them to dig and flip and mix to their hearts desire, then I am going to plant that area into a three sisters this year.

this year the poo piles that are horse and cow patties, that are picked up are going to a different place for composting, I am going to drop them down on top of a brush pile creating a adhock hugelcutlure that is just being used to fill a swale in a area that I don’t want it to be..

Then the rest of the compost/bedding etc from the barns is going to be used to start leveling area’s in the big pasture to work towards smoother riding, after I get my new hugelcutlure beds finished for the year.

How are your pastures? Sitting pretty? Doing well? Need work? Needs lots of work? What do you have planned for this year?

Posted in farm | Tagged improving pastures | 2 Comments

Canning Day..

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

So far today, I have done, not all are in the picture, its just a sample of them..

This what happens when you want to clear out the freezer to make room in it, suddenly all the different bags of fruits you put away in the busy garden time of fall find their way to your stove and into yummy fruits and jams and compotes. The Pork is the huge legs that I put away, planning to get back to them and I am working my way though them, trimming, curing, grinding and canning as I go!

– 18 pints of pressure canned Raw Packed Pork.

-3 pints of Grape Juice

– 6 pints of strawberry rhubarb fruit

– 4 pints of raspberry Jam

-3 pints of Gooseberry Jam

-4 pints of blueberry fruit

My biggest crock pot of rendering lard, my biggest stock pot of pork bone broth simmering away with onion and garlic, two huge stock pots of elderberries for making Elderberry juice

Posted in Canning | Tagged Canning, Feb Canning Update 2014 | 1 Comment

Homemade Sheep Milk Tapicoa Pudding Recipe

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

I know that there are many good tapioca recipes on the net but not many of them use sheep milk and sheep milk is so rich, sweet and thick on its own that it needs to be treated just a bit different then regular old cows milk.

Its also got to be one of the easiest recipes I know, here is my percents, 1 cup of Whole Sheep Milk (don’t take the cream layer off the milk before making this for sheep butter), I heaping tbsp. of minute tapicoca and one egg yolk.

Now from there you can make this as small or as big of a recipe as you want.. Typically I make a pint of milk into the pudding at a time so it goes like this..

One Pint of sheep milk (2 cups worth), 2 tbsp. of the minute tapicoca, stir and let sit for five min, add to the pan, crack and get the yolks only of the eggs, lightly beat.. add to the pan, heat at a slow simmer till just boiling, stirring gently the whole time (otherwise it sticks to the bottom), once its reach a slow boil.. take off heat, Pour into container, cover, let sit for ten min, then either serve warm or put in fridge to chill and serve cold.

Delightful, I don’t find that sheep’s milk needs any added sugar or honey, I don’t find you need to add the vanilla, or spices – you can and you are welcome to do so.. but I like it just the way it tastes naturally.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Homemade Sheep Milk Tapicoa Pudding Recipe | 6 Comments

Sheep Beestings Pudding Recipe

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

While its very tradional to make Beestings pudding by pouring in a pan with a touch of spice and doing a low slow cook in the oven, creating a type of pudding/cheese. I have done this and its delightful!

But tonight when I had a pint of fresh Colostrum (from the second day of milking) sitting in my fridge, I wanted to make a much more tradional to my own family milk pudding.

Its one from my childhood, it was milk, egg yolks, sugar an vanilla, and it was made with whole milk and more of what other would call a custard if made by grandma, as it was thin and more of a pudding if made by mom, as she would thick’n it with either corn startch or with fine tapioca flour.

I made mine more like my grandmothers but because I was making it with Beesting milk and with extra large egg yolks, it ended up right in the middle..

So on with the recipe.

2 cups of rich thick sheep colostrum milk (second or third day after birthing), this was so rich, that it had a thick layer of cream rise to the top within eight hours of fridge time.

2 tbsp. of honey (to replace the normal 1/2 cup of sugar)

1 tsp of vanilla

2 extra large egg yolks, the better quality of the egg yolks you can get, the better this will be, if you can get duck yolks, they will be perfect, if you only have chicken, that will do just fine, if they are regular large eggs, might want to consider 3 yolks.

Take the whites off the yolks (put them aside to use a different dish), lightly beat the yolks and drizzle into the milk, stirring with a whisk till well blended..

Bring to a slow simmering boil over a med heat, watch it carefully, once it starts to thicken, remove from heat, add the vanilla, mix in and pour into your dish and allow to cool before serving. (it can be eaten warm but it will be very thin) it will be much more thick once fully chilled.

Can be served with a drizzle of homemade maple syrup, can be served with some fresh berries (I thawed out a few rasberries for this portion) can be served with a bit of carmel sauce or just serve as is.. totally up to you, it can be as fancy as you want or as homespun.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Milking Sheep Beestings Pudding, Sheep Beestings Pudding., Sheep colustrum Pudding recipe, Sheep Milk Beestings Pudding recipe, Sheep Milk Beestings Pudding. | 1 Comment

12 Months- 12 Sausages Recipes -All Beef Sausages -The ILTTWFHCHBIISFA Sausage

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Now I must share how this sausage got its name, which stands for:

“I like to torture Tyler with food he can’t have because it is so far away” or The ILTTWFHCHBIISFA

You see I was blank on a name for this sausage so I put up a request for idea’s on my facebook and a dear friend wrote this on my wall.. it made me laugh, and when you make me laugh, you need to be rewarded.. so he got to name it.

Another 2 pound roll but these would be fab as big fat supper suasages if you wanted to case them up..

2 Pounds of Lean Ground Beef
1 med onion, peeled, and finely diced
1/2 cup of dried sweetened cranberries-Finely Diced
1/2 a cup of dried greens, in this case dried nettles, but dried spinach or dried collarads would work, try not to use ones that would have a strong bitter after taste, If you don’t have dried greens, consider two tbsp. of dried basil and dried chives as a replacement.
1 tbsp. of dried garlic, salt, pepper,
1/2 tsp of keens dried mustard powder (for a little kick), if you don’t want to add the mustard, add in 1/2 a tsp of ground dried hot peppers of your choice.

This is going to create a lovely red and green flecked sausage with a lovely favour, we are working to bring out the beef in this sausage, Not like last month where it was all about the spicy and flavours in each bite..

I mixed the spices, fruit, onion and nettles together and then put it over the meat, mix really well with super clean just washed hands til its all mixed in, should have no area’s that look like just meat if possible.

Then you can roll into meat balls, or make small or big patties for the freezer (remember to put wax paper between them so they won’t stick, or roll logs of them in tinfoil for baking off and then browning in the fry pan.. or stuff them into sausage skins big or small for future use.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Leave a comment

Rendering Lard and Tallow

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Frozen fat, big rolls of fat, Thaw just enough to move it around but ideally cut it or grind it while its still mostly frozen for ease

It always amazes me just how little fat you get, there is this myth that there is lot and lots of fat, but the truth is by the time you use the needed fat to be ground back into the ground meat, the amount left over seems like a lot because it fills the bags and weight’s nice and heavy in those bags but its not all fat..

By the time you render the lard or tallow out, you are left with lots of crackle and in this case six and half pounds of cleaned, strained o mile fat for house use, it was poured into pint jars and will be store in a cool dark place until use, (remember to use wide mouth jars for ease of access)

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Home done lard, o mile food lard, Rendering lard, Rendering Tallow, Rendering your own home raised lard, Rendering your pasture fed lard | 2 Comments

Rolled Stuffed Beef Roast..

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

The finished dish is above and it was delightful, the flavour combo’s was perfect, its the way to take a poor cut of meat and turn it into something outstanding! This was a simple cut of a rump roast, I sliced it into a butterfly cut

Then I covered it with wrap and took the roller to it till it was flatten by about half and even out.., sprinkled with salt..

Then overlapped four slices of Bacon, trying to leave the edges free..

I then thinly sliced half a med size onion and layed them out, half of a med size red pepper, and then I sliced pieces of soft sheep cheese (but cream cheese would work) in slices and layed them down.

Salt, Pepper, Dried Nettles and Dried Horseradish greens, Once it was rolled and tucked into its pan, I covered the top of the roast with montreal steak spice, it was baked with cover on for 45 min at 350, then uncovered for 15 min, then wrapped and allow to rest for ten before slicing and serving.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Rolled Stuffed Beef roast Recipe | 2 Comments

Pullet Eggs means Homemade Pasta in my house..

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

The young hens born last summer are coming online as layers.. First itty bitty egg, pullet eggs lined up with a regular large egg next to it.

Now pullet eggs mean fresh pasta to me.. its a family thing, my grandmother and my mother would see the fresh new pullet eggs and say.. its pasta time.. and now I do it 🙂

I hope you can see that the yolks are almost the same, but if you look at the white, the pullet egg has a tight small white, all the rest of the extra fluid and look at how much bigger the white is on the regular egg.

Now some folks go yolk only when they make pasta and then this is a moot point but if you make your pasta with full fresh eggs, the pullet egg is the egg of choice (well behind a duck egg, they rock it as a pasta egg )