Just another Day on the Farm

Homemade Paper Making using Sheep Manure

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Had a couple really great questions and comments on my first post about making homemade paper using Cow Manure, along with a few great ideas.

So one of them was that in the UK they sell Welsh Sheep Poo Paper, and the other was if you could use bleach to lighten your paper..

I had never used sheep poo, when I took my course years ago, it was explained that all would work but she recommended cow or horse so that was all I had tried until this week.

well, the first thing I noticed, more work picking up for less return, and more of a poo smell, where as the cow poo really does not smell much, the third thing I noticed, much smaller finer fibers then the cow manure has.

So I did the first boil, and rinse out, then I bleached them, this did lighten the fibers, you can see that there is quite a diffence in the color compared to the first post, and in the prepared water with fiber.

Now at this point, I was quite excited, I was not happy with the smell but the rest was working like a charm, until I went to screen it and it went down hill at that point.. I have a fine screen that I have no issues with when used with cow or horse fibers but at least half the sheep fibers were small enough that they just shifted though.. and living an hour from the nearest craft store that “might” have a smaller size screen, I didn’t just hop to town to go get a new one but worked with what I had.. I got a small amount of very thin paper done.. It was way to fragile, I took a photo for you to show you the final color.

Things I learned, I would not do sheep poo without adding extra thicker fibers, either by a) doing a mix with Cow Manure or buying the bag of paper fibers from the craft store and going at least 50 percent of other. B) Need to find a different screen size for sheep manure fibers.

I will see if I can find a better screen for this kind of fiber type and will do a follow up at a later date, but my next project is to do another batch of cow fibers to make card stock with wild flower seed pressed into it, so the gift tag is also a bio-composting flower packet, so the tag is part of the gift itself.

Keep those questions and idea’s coming my way.

Posted in Carfts an Hobbies, sheep | Tagged crafts, Garden, Hobbies, Homemade Paper, manure, sheep | 8 Comments

The sap is running now..

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

I know compared to lots of folks, that we are later, but this week looks like it will be a great run, and I am so looking forward to those full buckets of sweet Maple water.

Question for all those that have lived in maple country longer then I have, Can anyone tell me if there is a reason that you could not boil down your maple sap to say 20 to 1 and then can it for keeping?

I love the taste of half way there maple water, and I would like to try it as the water source in a number of cooking recipes, like instead of using water in a bean recipe, use Maple water instead, in those case’s it would finish cooking down a bit in the recipe, but also because I do like the taste of it, I was thinking chilled the fridge and drank as is on a hot humid summer day sounds heavenly.. or could use it as the base for homemade iced tea with maple undertones..

So anyone out there doing this already? if so, words of advice? Anyone out there can tell me why this would not work? The sap would be strained, boiled and then water bathed in regards to the canning. As long as it was eqaul to canning a “light” sugar syrup, I can’t see why it could not be done? Thoughts are welcome.

Posted in local food, wild foods | Tagged Farm Life, Local wild crafting | Leave a comment

Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

of New England and Eastern Canada by David L Spahr

This is a wonderful photgraphic guidebook to finding and using key species, I am a mushroom fan, and I buy a fair number of mushrooms for fresh use, as well as drying but I am also a mushroom hunter in our local pastures an woods, I have a number of different books on mushroom hunting

One of our regular mushroom that we collect each year is our Giant Puffballs out of the back pig pasture, they are just huge, otherwise, our most popular wild mushroom is morals and Brick Tops, they are my favorite.

Back to the book review, so it has the most common and safe mushrooms with detailed photos of them, as well as helpful hints on where to look for each one and its perferred growth patterns.

There is very good details on how to check and test your mushrooms to make sure that they are the ones that you think, as they say, always check and recheck when it comes to mushrooms.

But what makes this book stand out for a host of others is the section on Medicinal mushrooms, it has very detailed instructions on how to use them and prepare them, for anyone that like to have a all natural medical chest, this information is very useful.

There is a interesting section on progagation strategies, and I am tried some, and will do future reports on how well they works in the future. I have used plug spawns on a number of logs, and hope to have lots and lots of mushrooms to dry for future use.

Last but not least, its the great list of what mushrooms can be used for the purpose of using mushrooms for dyeing, it includes what kinds to use, what is required as a stablizer and what range of colors they will produce., the great thing about dyeing with mushrooms is that you can use mushrooms that are not edible, or are not quite good enough for you to use for human use.. it give one more reason to take that hike in the woods. The Giant Puffball shown above, gives the most lovely red-brown set with Ammonia when used on sheeps wool.

This mushroom which is not edible, can be used for dyeing wool, some fabrics and also paper, it turns it a lovely rust red color, I have a few of these in the house and will be playing around with them to make some lovely homemade red paper in the near future.

Posted in Book Reviews, wild foods | Tagged Frugal, Garden, Hobbies, Homesteader Books | Leave a comment

March 27th-Milk Products-Cheese, Yogurt, Butter

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Fresh Raw Milk, Cold Pasturized Milk, Soft Cheese, Hard Cheese, Butter, homemade thick Tangy yogurt, Sweet thinner Store yogurt, Sour Cream, Sharp Buttermilk, Cottage Cheese, Cream Cheese.. All these amazing things are Milk and Cream Products, and who can forget Ice Cream.

Photo Credit to Welsh Milk.

When we lived on the farm, and had our family milk cow Jessie, I remember her cream being so thick in its glass jar that you needed a spoon to get it out, I loved it on heavy thick slices of fresh bread with a sprinkle of sugar on top. We use to make homemade Icecream for Christmas time and have a huge spoon of it on Red River Porridge for our special breakfast. When we moved to town, we all refused to drink that crap they called milk from a store, and I still don’t like it, but give me farm fresh milk, and I love it.

For those of us that don’t have health or moral issues attached to them, they tend to be part of our world and our tables in so many ways.

Have you ever used a old fashioned hand cracked paddles to make butter in the glass jar, so you could see what it looked like.. o and it takes forever to get that last bit of buttermilk out of it, I remember the sound of mom’s big machine that separated the cream from the milk, the skim milk went to fred (our pig was always fred) and to the barn cats and to the chickens.. after all you can only use so much whole milk even for a growing family, but you didn’t want to give up that amazing cream.

I remember milking Jessie, I could only do the front, before Big Brother would take over and do the back and somehow mom always got more when she would finish off. I was always in awe of Jessie, she was a mixed breed milk cow and she never did like my dad as much as she seemed to like mom but she was so good with us kids, I remember being aware of her but I don’t ever remember being afraid of her, but man o man could her tail whap you if she wanted to let you know to hurry up.

I remember aiming that teat and when mom was not looking trying to hit the barn cats in the mouth or general area with it, the swish, swish of it hitting the pail, until it gets more milk, then the sound changes and it becomes almost a pishing sound, and you lean your head into the cows side and listen to her gurgle away, its a calm event, it needs to be as stress free as possable for all, after all its about trust and letting that milk down.

What about you folks, did you have a family milk cow when you were growing up? Do you have a family milk cow now? Do you live where you can get fresh raw local milk? Be it Cow, Goat or Sheep, fresh milk and its many things you can make from it add to my daily life.

Breakfast -Waffles, Butter and Jam

Lunch-Frittata with corn beef, onion, potato, with a bit of yogurt on top.

Supper: Toast and omlets

Snacks: Cookies

Drinks, Water, Tea and Hot Chocolate

Posted in March Challange | 3 Comments

March Challange -Week Four Overview

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well, its week four on our March Challange, eating out of your pantry, and other then a blip on monday night where we I forgot our prepared food on our outing, truly its been a great week.

Somehow this week was in fact easier then last week, not really sure why, perhaps because of the meal choices I made, or perhaps because I am really enjoying the flush of eggs and so bread tastes better and last longer with the eggs added in, I have made deviled eggs, fresh mayo, custards and frittata, and I got a break from Porridge and got to have herb flavored and crispy edged dippy eggs.

DH, comment was.. it was good, nothing to report, other then another 1.6 pds weight loss..

So girls how was week 4 for you?

Posted in March Challange | 3 Comments

March 26th-Tea/Herbs

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Had a great day yesterday and really enjoyed blogging on a few things I did or am doing but for the life of me, could not come up with idea on what to post about for my march challange as it needs to be something out of the pantry, and today as I made myself a cuppa tea, it hit me.. Tea, Dried Plants aka Herbs

I like Tea, I used to be a big coffee drinker, these days the only time a pot of fench press coffee gets made in my house is when my dear momma comes to visit, she is a big coffee drinker, and I find myself having a cup or two and then having to wean myself off after she leaves. I do use it now an again as a hair rinse, plus as a natural dye or stain. Have a few friends that I always seem to have a cup when out with them but otherwise, I drink tea

My favorite kinds are herbal, I like Red Tea or Rooboo alot! but my staples are mint tea, Rasberries, cranberry, lemon balm, and lemongrass. I like them with a bit of my homegrown stevia in the mix for a natural sweeter, or with a drop of honey in them, and if I am really in the mood for campfire tea or coffee.. its a triple, triple on the sweet and milk.

You can pick and dry your strawberry, rasberry, and blackberry leaves to add in homemade tea. With Spring right around the corner, I will be making and drinking fresh nettle tea, among a number of others.

Do you make or use herbal tea? If so, what is the one plant you would not want to be without, for me, that would be mint or more like Mints.. Chocolate Mint, Lemon Mint, Lime Mint, OOo the wonderful amazing different kinds of mint available these days is just heavenly.

Breakfast -Leftover Mashed, a bit of leftover roast with scrambled eggs

Lunch-Hambugers and fresh buns with homemade mayo, green relish and a bit of cheese.

Supper-Pasta with sauce, tiny bit of diced leftover roast, onion and a grating of hard cheese.

Extra’s -Chocolate Chip Cookies-You can tell that DH made these, they are Loaded! with chocolate and made huge.. FG would have used half the chocolate and made double the number of cookies with the same amount of dough, but they are yummy.

Drinks-Water, Tea and Hot Chocolate.

Posted in March Challange | 1 Comment

Making Paper out of Cow Manure

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Cow Manure, you can use it to help your soil, your garden, you can dry it and use it for fuel for your fire and you can even make paper from it.. thanks to your cow (sheep, horse etc) ability to turn pasture or hay into tiny bits of fiber that get passed out the other way.. we can take advantage of the fact that around 50 to 60 percent of that cow pie is in fact useable fiber in paper making.

Now let me say right off, that if you want to “just” use cow poo fibers, you will end up with a different texture and a greenish or Tan paper, if you want to cut it with available white fibers from a hobby shop, you can get a very pretty flecked paper, and from there you can add in all kinds of things, colors, different types of fiber etc.

However I went for straight and plain. So first you need a source of cow manure, you need to have pie’s that are not having a lot of straw or bedding, that is has had time to dry out some.. These are about perfect for me..

Now comes the part that is just plain not fun but required.. if you can do this outside, I would recommend it, but if not, just clean the kitchen and sinks really well afterwards and open a window..

Put your tidied up, dried cow patties into a big pot, filling it no more then half full and then top it up to mostly full with water, bring to a boil, and stir to break them up as they heat up and start cooking.. Boil that sucker for at least 20 min, some perfer more like an hour, but to me that is overkill, your choice.. it will look like this when done..

Now again, if you can do this outside with a pillow case or old linen, and the garden hose, saving that compost tea for some plants but its way to cold out there for that today, so I am working inside.. so in much smaller batches.

I used a cheese cloth, and you start running cold water in, then you lift the different sides until its a ball and you just keep running that cool water in and pushing it out, till the water runs mostly clear, the key is to run that water till there is NO smell left and all the extra’s are washed off, you will be left with the clean wet plant fiber.

Now some folks will put this back into the cleaned pot and boil it again, you can if you want, I don’t, at this point, you will have a whole bowl of this fresh cleaned fiber, it should look like this..

Now you have the your basic fibers, and if you want really course paper, it will work but while you want a rustic homemade look, I would not recommend it being quite this course, here is a close up view for you.

Now I like to put it back into fresh clean water and hit it with the blender stick, you can use a blender if you perfer, I find the first much easier to clean. It will cut the fibers into much finer peices and leave you with a smoother looking paper.. I went for a rough look myself today.

Here is my blended fibers in their pan and water, just waiting for me to dip my screen into it, remember to come in sideways and go all the way to the bottom and then bring it up and a gentle sway to level the fibers on the way up.

Now I would recommend that you flip it out onto damp felt and then cover with the same and press it down with a weight. Here it is on fresh out damp on my screen..

It looks dark right now, but I assure you it will look like a more lighter tan with green overtone when its finished drying out.. So here is the final product..

It turned out great, a few words of note, Even when this paper is fully dry its still going to be more fragile then store bought paper, treat and handle with care, second, because of its more textured surface, I would recommend a thin felt pen instead of a typical ball point pen. You will need a softer tip and more flowing ink to get a nice write out on it.

Otherwise kept in a box and treated well your paper will last a long time and a perk, it will recyle like a dream.

Working on making my own composting plant starter pots, plus will do some posts on how to use natural plants/mushrooms to create colored paper as well as how to add dried flowers to make flower paper later in the year.

Going to make this post part of the Homestead Barn Hop #6

Posted in Carfts an Hobbies, frugal | Tagged compost, Family Milk Cow, Frugal, Hobbies, Homemade Paper, manure | 45 Comments

Girl Training Update-Baby Oxen in Training.

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

As I am on Dial up, putting in or watching video’s on others sites are not really possable, so it will be photos.. so first we did a grow out photo of Girl my combo milk cow/large draft cow to be.So she got her feet picked up, her full body brushing, her all over touching, and a number of quiet touches on her udder area.. this little ladies temperment is to die for.. she is so willing to learn and work and so calm when in her halter, an so much more hoppy and kickin when not.

So I don’t have proper leather traces yet, I have a set with nylon but didn’t feel the need to be so formal today, I just wanted to work on the basic’s, so I grabbed a full size peice of hay twine and made a line of traces out of it.

Be tethered out on a tie down

Walk on: Move out in front of me in a straight line

Stand-Stay where I woo you, even if I am walking around you.
Back-Go back in a straight line
Right and Left turns

As anyone who has trained a horse can see, I am using straight basic training on her, pull out to the side that I want her to turn on, put line pressure on the side I need to move in.

She is really starting to get the hang of this, and It was lot of fun out working her around the pasture, I felt for her, we had done a good amount of work before I was able to snag DH to take pictures.

Cheers from Girl

I am making this a homestead Barn Hop Post.

Posted in oxen | Tagged Family Milk Cow, Oxen | 9 Comments

Being Prepared

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

I was raised in a family that always had food storage, I thought it was totally normal to have fathers, and uncles that hunted each fall, aunties that all had gardens, and to be sent to the cellar to get Pickles, relishes and fruits raither then to the cupboard.

I was raised to believe that you should have a min of six to eight months of food in the house, It was based on the growing cycle for my climate, on good years, when we have bumper harvests, its always a wonderful idea and joy to be able to put up two years worth of goods, as an example would be tomato’s, I had a wonderful crop in 08, put away almost two full years worth, which turned out to be a very good thing, as we have a crop failure in 09 with blight, (as did many) and a good crop last year 10, where I again put away 2 years worth, just in case.

My father works hard but he choose a living that has boom and bust cycles, you make really good money when you work but there are times of the year you don’t work (spring Breakup) and there are times, there just is not enough work to go around, till the next job starts, I am aware that this has helped make me who I am, as I watched us often go from plenty to rationing in different ways, and while my DH works a steady regular job, I can’t seem to stop myself from prepping just in case.

This stocking up on food, and household goods, allows us to have a buffer and the wiggle room to wait for sales on goods, which in turn allows us to stretch our buying power just a little bit more.

Add in what I see happening in the world in terms of rising food prices, rising costs in power, rising costs in gas, and the fact that I believe that we are a climate change, which is effecting crops and countries (my heart goes out to so many of the area’s/countires/peaple that has had natural disaster happened in the past couple years and is still happening in Japan)

With our global network linked in regards to almost everything that touches our daily lives, we have a couple choices, Put our heads down and just keep plowing ahead, hoping for the best, or read, learn, panic and feel overwhelm, an plow ahead making no real changes, because how in heck can anything we do make a difference.

Or in my case, Read, learn, watch, listen and quietly step sidewise, grow alot of my own food, raise my own meat, have my own milk, my own fruit, make choices to spend my money on life style choices and in keeping with that comes the ability to choose to stock or prep now to help in regards to future needs covering as broad as base as possable.

What about you? How are you feeling about these issues? Are you taking some extra baby steps to get a few more things in the house? or are you taking big old leaps in regards to getting your things in order? or are you happy to stay the course with what you are currently doing or not doing?

Posted in Food Storage | Leave a comment

March 25th-Storing your Garden Produce

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

The different Methods used to store your garden produce include

Clamping
Freezing
Drying
Salting
Canning
Pickles and Chutney’s
Relishes, Ketchups and Sauces
Jams and Jellies
Fruit Butters
Fermenting.

Most folks in Canada would use a combo effect of the different methods listed above, I am unsure who lives in a zone good enough for Clamping to work but I am sure that it would in a mild enough climate. Just as Overwintering and Wintersowning are now choices to make, that were not really talked about at the time that list would have been made orginally.

Do you use all the methods listed? What is your favorite way of storing your extra’s? I use all the different methods listed above, it just depends on what its is and how my own family perfer’s it.

Wanted something crunchy, sweet and chocolately but at least a bit healthy if possable..

Enter chocolate Granola

1/2 cup dark bitter chocolate chips, poured enough sheep milk (which would be light table cream fat wise) in the bowl till it just covered the chips, and melted them together, stirring till I had a smooth chocolate paste.

4 cups of old fashioned oatmeal, 1 cup of dried cranberries, 1/2 cup of raw pumpkin seeds, 2 tbsp of poppy seeds, 2 tbsp of Chia Seed, poured the chocolate mix over top and stirred it all together, then spread out over a cookie sheet at low heat, and mixed it every five or so min till dried into clumbs and crumbs. Cool and enjoy, could be used as breakfast with cold milk or maybe pressed into a very well greased pan and then cut into bars. or dropped by spoonfulls and allowed to harden.

Breakfast-Eggs

Lunch -Hambuger, leftover mashed, and carrots.

Supper-Steak/onion Pizza with tomato base sauce.

Extra’s -Buns, Bread and Pizza dough, chocolate Granola

Drinks-Water, Tea