Sheep Milk Paneer- Made with Lemon Juice

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

I followed the recipe for Paneer from Forgotten Skills of Cooking and it turned out whiter then her’s in the photo but otherwise, its awseome, we had some fresh last night in the supper and it got a 2 thumbs up yum from DH, and I now have lots in the fridge, that is one of my big supersized dinner plates that is sitting on, I made it with 4 pints of milk so 8 cups of milk, which was just half a cup more then the recipe called for but sheep milk produces more solids so I was very pleased with how much of this wonderful Indian Style farmers cheese.

Really can you get a easier cheese to make, in a deep steel pot, add your whole milk, (ideally raw that has aged at least three days before making, this works best with older milk if you have the choice), heat till just under boiling, add in 1/3rd of a cup of either lemon juice or vinager in a pinch and it will curdle, allow to continue heat for maybe a min, taking off and let the pot sit for ten or so, then strain though either cheese cloth or a good quality lining.. afterwards I added in salt, both for taste and keeping power, that’s it folks..

Because of the acid in the cheese, its a bit sharp for a sheep cheese which naturally tends to be on the sweeter side.

International Womens Day

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in Life moves on daily | 2 Comments

A Sure Sign Spring is coming..

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Despite the bitter wind today, clear signs of springs are showing themselves on the farm and this so far has been one of the biggest..

yup the sheep are starting to shed out their winter woolies..

Milking this morning was cold, enough that the first milk to hit the steel froze right up..

This little lamb had the perfect idea, shelter from the wind, warm bedding to sleep on and fresh green hay to nibble. thankfully only the wee lambs can pull this little stunt off and once they get bigger they won’t be able to get up and into the bales..

Today’s big lession for Brandy was to be tied up and to just hang, she is better about this somedays then others, but its a good lession and reminder that she can be tied off and stay there while I go about doing other things..

But the other little lambs were all sleeping together and chewing cud, its so cute to see itty bitty woolies chewing away on a tiny piece of cud.

Posted in Critters | 1 Comment

Several Thousand Pounds of free bad/old round Bales…

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Sounds awesome! Farmer R was dropping off some lovely fresh green hay for the pasture critters and we got to talking, and we got around to the topic of straw, (need another four large square bales dropped off) and that lead to asking about if he had anything in a tighter round bale for the straw that would work as a target practise bale for the crossbow and for my bow that I want to be able to shoot off the horse by the end of the summer!

Trust me on this, with hay supplies as tight as they are right now, no way! would I ever consider doing this with a hay bale, even if I paid for it, it would just be wrong this year to do that to a good bale, when I know that so many others are doing without.

But I was thrilled when he said, yes, he had a bad bale that would do just what I wanted and then I was even more pleased when he said, do you want them all, and I said, how many, and he said, six or seven or so.. I snapped them all up, they are a mix of weed/old hay off the edges of a field, and they were baled wet and hot, so can’t be used for critters be it feed or bedding but they can be used for safe target practise and they can be used for safe garden bedding as long as we were masks when working with them cuz they will for sure have mold in them, or they will work at being set on their sides, end to end as a rapid and easy way to add in another four feet high by four feet wide instant garden bed for the coming year.

Posted in gardens | Tagged Hugelculture beds made of round hay bales | 4 Comments

March 6th- Pink Feather proofing :P

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

March 6th- Pink Feather proofing 😛.

Posted in Life moves on daily | Leave a comment

Do you ever do things in your garden just for the pretty?

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

I hate when the lose the rest of the post.. this had writing in it and lots more photos.. but I will need to redo it all again.. so watch for pretty in the garden round two.. but for now.. do you like to have things in the garden that are there to add color or texture that is just for the pretty, not because its functional for growing?

Posted in gardens | Tagged gardens | 5 Comments

The Bit.. dum dum Dum DUMMM..

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

ah, brandy and the bit.. you just never know where quirks come from when you buy a older horse, Brandy is very good about tacking up in so many ways, call her and she will meet you at the gate, I have even been able to get her to learn two different names for where I want her to go, she can be harnessed up for draftwork without even being tied up, she is just put into stand mode and she understands it and does so well with it.

When it comes to the saddle, blanket or fiddling around with gear etc, she is very good, and again when being worked regular, she is trustworth 98 percent of the time being put in a ground tie

But the bit, that is a different beast.. if you get her in the right working mode and can get the bit in on her first try, she is good and you are done and all is well..

She did not like the first bit I got her, it was a straight bit in the same size as what I had been told she had before.. she hated that bit, and her mouth was so soft it was crazy, yes I had her teeth checked, yes I checked other things as well..

My dad sent me the most amazing bit for her, properly fitted, full cheek and copper roller, better fitted to her mouth, giving her a sweeter taste and something to play with.. 200 percent better in so many ways..

She does not fight the bit once its in, she is so much better to ride, it was like taking her from stick shift with someone just learning to auto drive, the head lifting and dropping disappeared, she softened and was so much more willing to do her turns and flex’s.

She is calm and play’s with her roller and you can see she likes it..

But the fly in that soup is that she still does NOT want to take a bit.. and did I ever get reminded of it yesterday, the two favored tricks are head to the ground, with maybe half a inch clearance from ground to nose or head as high up as she can get, both are very effective at keeping you from getting the bite in the right postion because as soon as it is in the right spot and touches her mouth, she then relaxes, opens and takes it..

Now this means that you end up needing to tie her up to a post to keep the head in the correct postion in order to have it happen as smoothly as possable if you forget (like I did yesterday) you end up having a battle and then needing to retie her..

Not how I want to start getting ready for a ride..

So this is my current small baby step challange.. teach Brandy to not just take the bit but to look forward to taking it and learn to bite herself.. and the secret is answered in this photo!

That’s right, i’m going to bribe her into it.. I am even using the straight bite because i want to just start working with a bit only and it holds its shape really well for training, so the first thing we did was just stand there with a bit in my hand and offer her cookies in the same hand, this alone showed me just how much work I had cut out, as she circled and at first gave me rump.. it took a good ten minutes to get six cookies taken within six inches of the bit.

The second lession was easy, let her taste the molassies and then smear it all over the bite, so she could lick it off, first two times she would not take it, just lick and lick and then back off.. Third time offered a molassies covered bit and she licked and mouthed it and took the bite herself into her mouth and cleaned it and I took it back out..

Good enough for now.. will continue to do these until she is looking for that bit and treat, and at the same time I will start adding in the bridle rattle, shake the bridle come and get a cookie, walk away, repeat, then work her up to needing to touch the bridle, then cookie, then touch the bit, then cookie..

Going to work the free bit and the bridle at that time, then will start to sweeten her riding bit, anytime she is being tacked for riding, I will sweeten the bit but with apple sauce, as the molassie scent is going to be a training tool for the moment, then once I want to transfer it to the riding bit, I will do a mix of molassies/apple sauce, the goal is to have her looking for that bit and wanting it in her mouth for her sweet treat..

So how long do you think it will take to make this happen.. I want to do three short 2 to 5 min training sessions daily but can go upward of ten min depending on Brandy’s reaction..

This is a slow and steady, and she gets to set the pace of this learning curve.. Dibs that by the end of the month, I will have her taking her bit willingly..

Posted in draft horse | Tagged postive horse training | 3 Comments

Farm Fresh Eggs Recipe

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

I have written before on how much I love my farm fresh eggs, and if you want a whole cookbook on them, you will find a good one there.. I had some extra pie dough left over from making the lemon pie

So this was made on sunday, one serving went hot and the other done cold 🙂

Some cooked diced homegrown and home cured Bacon, some leftover mushroom from the birthday dinner, and some brocolli bits went into six beaten eggs with a splash of sheep milk, baked till cooked though at 350..

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | 1 Comment

Cream of Califlower Soup

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

This is a very simple easy but filling and tasty soup..

Now I am not going to say that you can’t add extra’s to this soup, like a onion or a couple potatos or even a bit of cooked crumbled bacon or a sprinckle of grated cheese on top..

But this version is so good as is.

1 head of califlower, clean out the green, stem and cook in just enough chicken broth to do so, add in 1 tsp of minxed galic, 1 tsp of italian spice blend, Salt to taste and a good amount of cracked black pepper. When cooked Blend it with a stick blender or in a blender.. then add in 3/4th cup of good whole milk (I used sheep milk) and one tbsp of butter, mix, melt and heat though..
Serve at once, its excellent hot but cold its awesome as a very thick spread on cold roast beef..

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged califlower soup recipe | Leave a comment

Homegrown calories feb update

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Just another day on the farm

Homegrown Calories 2013

Ok, I am going to try this again.. I tried this once and got overwhelmed and lost.. so lets see if I can make this work better for 2013..

In general for health, and for ease of rounding out.. DH and I need 5000 calories per day, 365 days in a year and we need 1,850 500 in calories..

Jan

Lamb Meat Imputes: 223,020

Pork Meat Imputes: 231,000

Beef Imputes; 226,800

Milk – 6480

Eggs- 7200

Jan imputes : 694,500 which means that in the single month of Jan, we had a major meat overload and over half of the years needed calories provided but lets face it, you can not live on meat, milk and eggs alone..

Feb:

Sheep Milk-56 pds -11,880 calories

Eggs- 210 – 21,000

Feb Imputes: 32,880 calories

Total Imputes to date: 715,500

Total needed 1,850 500