Just another Day on the Farm

Spring and Forcing Plants

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

It’s not really spring yet, but for a few hours last night and this morning, it almost feels like it, we had rain last night, not freezing rain but light gentle spring rain, it hitting on the metal roof was a sound that pushed into my sleep and woke just enough to go.. spring rain.. guess the weather man was right this time and then I drifted back off.

Woke up this morning to ugly site that is just right, let me tell you after a winter of hauling/spreading straw those rains were showing lines of trails, showing muck in the outside bird pens, showing muck under the rabbit hutches etc.. While not pretty in any way its a sure sign of spring on the farm.. they say that we will get to the plus’s for a few hours today before going down into the minus again.

As I was out doing chores, today seemed like a good day to open up our cold hoop house for a quick peek, I wanted to see what the cold house was in temp, and what the temp was under the second floating rows of cover, and was pleased, very pleased indeed.. Much warmer inside then outside by a good ten degree’s, and already my dormant greens are showing signs that soon they will stretch their roots and start growing, and I am really looking forward to it as they will be part of my fresh greens for my March Challange

I also took a look at my cold frames to see how they had done this winter, one will need some work, the others look good from what I can see.. I have a couple moveable cold frames that can go where I need them and I stomped my way though three feet of shushy, heavy wet snow to the spot I needed, and just looked at it.. one of my stinging nettle patches.. Start to shovel and my side and back said NO, guess that it will DH that gets that job right soon.

First we will shovel the snow off the area, building a bank up on all four sides with the snow till we hit the ground, then I will lay heavy black colored Steel sheets down over the space and up and over the sides of the snow hills and let the sun do its job, I will take any snow or rain off the plastic, the snow melting under the banks will keep the area under the steel watered After I can lift the metal and push down into the earth by half an inch, it will all be lifted off and moved to a different area of the garden to start the process again, and over that spot will move one of my cold frames to force the plants in the ground up much much earlier then they would normally come.

I will start working to force one of my rubarb plants to come out early, please remember to change which plant you do this to yearly and that once you get your first pushed crop to let the plant regain its strength for the rest of the season. Last fall, I dug out an split a rubarb plant, put half the plant into a big five gallon bucket and put the bucket into the cold hoop house, it should come early but only time will tell me how early..

So do you force plants in the spring? if so, what are plants do you do this with? Do you have anything you do that is clever and you are willing to share?

Posted in food, Food Production and Recipes, gardening, gardens | Tagged Garden, Greens | 4 Comments

Weigh in week 7/11

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Can you tell someone is dreaming of spring.. will be starting some of my seeds soon..

Goals for this past week..

Get hubby to take care of baby lamb for at least one day on weekend, so I can sleep more then three hours between feedings. -Yes, and lamb is now at 4 feedings a day.
Cut out a solid 100 calories per day on the food journal -Yes
Drink my water jug daily -Yes
Hot wax my hands to see if that will help with the soreness -No, didn’t get to it
Hot wax my feet as a treat -Same as above, but did get the feet soaked a few times.
Get outside to at least one fun winter event -Nope-Didn’t happen
No eating after eight -Yes for all week
Do more stretches daily -Tried to but not as much as I wanted.

So if you read the blog, you know that I fell on saturday and bruised myself up, so yesterday I went to see my Chiropractor, and I am pleased to see that my hips and neck are good, turns out I whacked my rib a bit when I went down and so that will need some healing time and some looking after, unless I try and lift something heavy from ground level or you push on the sore spot on my back, to be honest its not bad in the pain department, the bruises hurt more, odd huh?

So I would like to tell you that I worked out this week, but I didn’t, I did have two good days and then nothing much beyond normal chores since, I would love to tell you that I was really focused on my meals and that I was tight on my portion control, but I would be full of it. I have in fact been hungry this week for winter food.. which includes meat/potatos/pasta/chili which is why I have no real reason to report why I lost 3.6 pds this past week.. but that is what the scale says, and I am taking it! Yes, I checked it twice So I am down 50.2 pds since Feb 2010.

Goals for the week

No Eating after eight
Drink my jug of water
Keep drinking my Rooboo Tea Daily
Take it easy and let my body heal
Spend at least some part of the day out in the bright sunshine with a bit of skin showing if possable to let my body make a bit more vit D

Posted in Goals | Tagged Weight Loss | 4 Comments

How would you like to pay $29 for a jar of Cheese Wiz?

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Rant Warning..

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/98789_arctic_bay_food_price_pics_spark_quarrel_over_nutrition_north/

Having lived in the north for a number of years, having friends and family still living in the artic of canada, I am very upset by some of the changes that have been made to the food mail program.

In order to be fair, I am going to share the other side of the story..

http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/mr/nr/j-a2011/23460-eng.asp

Now having read the offical blub, to which I say.. Bla, Bla, Bla.. I call B.S.

Followup info

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/098789_aglukkaq_does_damage_control_on_food_price_spat/

While you can say that the program is “not” in effect, the effects are being felt period, while it sounds great that they are dropping things out of the food mail that are not “healthy” and therefor ~~forcing~~ recommending folks to eat more healthy food that ~~will should~~ be but won’t be cheaper for all this effort to make it so..

They keep going on about they want to force everyone to use the sealifts for the rest of their year long food stuff, I have been there, and done that, I have made those orders and bought my years supply in this way.. and let me tell you.. you need MONEY, you need to have either saved all year long, or you need a hefty line of credit, I don’t think anyone could get a years supply for less then ten thousand by the time you buy the food plus the sea can plus the shipping plus the delivery fee’s, plus you need storage to hold a whole years worth of food, and you need the skills to plan meals and figure out how to make what you have gotten spread out for a whole year..

Just think about only getting ONE shot at this, you only have one sealift per year, that’s it.. if you mess up, there is no fixing it.. now part of what they are saying in regards to the new program, is that unlike when I lived up there and had to order though the “approved company” that they are opening that up, in the hopes that folks will be able to find company’s that want the business and will offer the food at lower rates, therefor saving those few elite that can afford to do a full year sealift. Maybe it will and maybe it won’t, only time will give that answer.

How does this help the local Inuit (Nunvut), the local Natives and the rest of those living below the poverty lines in NWT, and the Yukon! It doesn’t.. the goverment is spending as much or more on the new plan, and with a population that has more young peaple then any other area then canada in growth, that cost is going to just keep going up.. This plan helps No one.. not the peaple or the goverment..

The old program had been in place for 40 years and overview was due but they could have done a better job on both sides working together then they have done, and I see no end in sight to the issues that have been created..

If I had a magic wand, I would have added one thing into this program, I would have made it so that the goverment supported food mail program took on ALL the costs of sharing local native food between the communities, then they could duke out the rest to get to the mess they have today, but at least the peaple that are going to need food on the table for themselves and their families would have had a chance at getting it..

Ok, I am off my soap box now..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Leave a comment

Express yourself!

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Ok, this is a little rambling post..I just sat down and looked, REALLy looked at what I had just put down.. an went huh.. so here is what rattled in my head..

The tea Kettle just called, and I grabbed my kitty teapot which was given to me by Dh’s ma, as she knows I like my purrpots and my teapots, Into that pot, I put my red Rooboo tea which is chosen because it helps my goal of losing weight It had a teaspoon of raw local honey from less then 20 min away for the farm, this is to help support local farms, plus it helps provide a healthy way to add that touch of sweet I like..

I buy it by the bucket, and I dug that honey out of a glass canning jar because I try and not use plastic if I can. I like a real teacup an so brought on of my favorites down and with me,

Now why is it a favorite, well two reason really, its a farm sale buy (which always have a special place for me) but the big reason is that it was from the first farm sale that my mom came with me after I moved to my area. She bought me this teacup and when I drink out of it, it reminds me of family

So there you have it.. a cup of tea-yes.. but SO Much More… a statement of who I am and the things in life that I give value to..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Leave a comment

Meat and Potato’s Meal

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Stuffed Steak with Cheesy Baked Mashed Potato with Gravy. It was so good!

or how I took leftover’s and made them into the above..

Well, Mainly leftover’s, I was digging in the meat freezer, in prep for my March Challange and found this little tiny frozen beef roast, it was just enough for four thin steaks or enough roast for 2 meals for DH and Myself but it was getting really old, and a bit frost bit, so needed to get used up..

So thawed out and cut into 4 steaks, but it was not looking all that great, so into a nice salt brine for 12 hours it went, then I popped them into a plastic bag and beat them flat with a big old wooden rollin pin., I was able to get them nice and flat.

Took the last end of my leftover buttermilk bread, cut it into cubes and dried them into breadcrumbs, lots of spices/dried mushrooms/dried green an red peppers, melted some butter and some lamb stock till just wet.. Take a handfull of stuffing, lay out flat over the beaten steak, and then roll up and place into a small baking pan.. total Four steaks, baked cover for 40 min at 350.

Leftover Mashed needed to be used up, but I also had old mozza cheese that DH had openned and it had not got rewrapped correctly, and so I had a good 4 inch chunk that was as dried out as can be.. so cubed it up, mixed it into the mashed, some sheep milk, and nice spices and into a baking dish, and into the oven for 40 min to reheat and melt that chunks of cheesy goodness. I used a little leftover bacon fat and bits into the mix for a little extra flavor.

Carefully lifted out the stuffed steaks, cover and let them rest, and I took the drippings and added a little more lamb stock and made just a bit of wonderful gravy, with a touch of corn starch for thickin.. Touch of sprinckled stringing nettle on top and Volio, old tough meat, old bread, hard old cheese and left over mashed turning into a mouthwatering meal full of flavor and melt in your mouth tender.

What have you done lately in the kitchen that has turned a frugal save into a great meal?

Posted in food, Food Production and Recipes, frugal | 1 Comment

Lamb Milk Replacers

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

If you have sheep for any length of time, you will have one or two bottle lambs, or more.. I know of at least one person that has a deal for one of our local farm’s bottle lambs, she takes them all and hand raises them, as she has show dairy goats and so she raised the lambs and a few pigs on the extra milk. Its alot better then dumping it, but boy talk about taking on extra work..

I have been blessed to have a few years where I have no bottle babies and I really like those years but that brings me to what to do when you do have a rejected by mom lamb.

Now sheep are sweet, gentle animals, and I adore sharing my space with them, they earn their keep in many ways, and regardless of what the old saying are, my sheep all have their own temperments and many of them are down right friends but no matter how nice the sheep or how good a mother she normally is, there are a few things that can go wrong in lambing that will end up with you having a rejected lamb.

The two most common is a hard labour means a weak lamb, which can turn into a chilled lamb which means you need to bring it to the house and warm it up and get it going and then mom is done, it does not smell right and that is not my child.. there are ways around this, do most of your work in the barn as much as possable, putting birthing fluids on mom’s nose and lips and or catching the babies pee and doing the same..

Most of the time, I can get a lamb back on mom when this happens, and after a few days of tethering momma up and letting baby nurse four to six times a day, with her having enough head room to smell bottom but not enough to butt the baby away, and things settle down and the baby goes back out full time..

The second reason is not as easy, the mom has twins or triple birth, and she has “lost” one of the babies, this can happen if a little one wanders off after birth and get lost or mom had two so quickly back to back that she only cleans and bond’s with one baby and rejects the second or third baby.. in which case, you most likely have a bottle baby.

Ideally, milk the mother and feed the lamb mom’s milk, this sounds great and works if you only have a single lamb.. but if she is already feeding one or two others regular, you are not going to get alot of milk out of her for the third.

So then everyone says, get lamb milk replacer, and if you can do this.. way to go.. that’s awesome.. but if you are like me.. and live in a area where you know more about your sheeps needs then the feed store or the local vet does, you are not likely to find sheep milk replacer, the best you are going to find is calf.. and they will try and tell you that it will work..

And it will to a point, it will give you a weaker, smaller lamb and you will think.. well its a bottle baby, it got a rough start in life, that is why the mom didnt want it.

However the odds are good that its not the lambs faults at all, its the milk replacers fault, a lamb will not do well on Calf Milk Replacer, its needs will not be meet.. So if Calf is all you can get.. then what??

Here is the best recipe I have come up with to date for bottle lambs.

Whole milk-Either fluid or Powdered Calf Replacer
Canned Milk
Whipping Cream
Full Fat Greek yogurt
Powdered Buttermilk

No, this is not cheaper then being able to buy the sheep milk replacer, and its not a cheap way to raise that little lamb, I know this but I still want that little baa’ing bugger to thrive..

I like to make mine fresh each time (the amount made changes but basic amounts stay the same as the lamb ages)

but for a basic mix to make six ounces of milk

4 oz hot water
1 tbsp of Calf Milk Replacer
1/2 tsp of buttermilk Powder
1 tsp of greek whole yogurt
1 tsp of canned milk
1 tsp of whipping cream (35%)

I add the powders and the 4 oz of hot water and shake till smooth, then add the rest and shake again, into the nursing bottle with a pinch of Baking Soda and serve the lamb..

I know that it seems like a bit of work but it really only takes a min to make, and the lambs love it and thrive on it.. remember to have some fresh good quality hay to nibble on by day 3 in their pen and to start offering creep feed in a little bowl, you will be surprised at how quickly they will start on their other feeds, sure its tiny amounts, but it all helps.

Posted in sheep | Tagged lambs, sheep, Sheep Milk | 9 Comments

Monday means Bread Making..

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

so on the big day of love, I’m making.. War Bread

War Bread has been around for at least 150 years now.. its a good hearty, dense and chewy bread, It is said that in war times that White flour was often hard to find and so this bread has rolled oats, cornmeal and whole Wheat added to stretch that white flour to go further. I like it very much because it is very filling, and is a good winter time bread.

War Bread Recipe

1/2 cup of Rolled oats
1/2 cup of Cornmeal or corn Flour
1/2 cup of whole -wheat flour but I have also made it with 12 grain or rye flour
1 tbsp of lard- you can use oil or other shortening, I used my home rendered lard.
1/3 cup molassies, I like fancy but if you like a stronger taste go blackstrap.
1 1/2 cups of boiling water
1 tablespoon of dry yeast
3 1/2 cups to 4 cups of all purpose flour.

Put your oats, cornmeal, whole wheat, fat, molasses, salt in a bowl and cover with your boiling water, stir it well, it will start out lumpy, stir till smooth.. then let cool, I like it warm to your finger touch but not hot, at which point, I add my yeast and stir it in.. leave for 10 min to proof (if you are in doubt of your yeast, make sure you proof a little first)

Then add your white flour 1/2 a cup at a time, working first with a spoon and then over to your hands, turn out and kneed till smooth, put in your greased bowl and grease the top of the bread otherwise a crust tends to form, allow to double in bulk, in most houses about an hour, in mine about two hours..

Punch down and create one large loaf or two small loafs, put into greased pans and cover to rise, normally about an hour or so. Bake at 350 (preheat the oven for bread making) for about an hour but always do the bottom bread test, you should have a nice hard hollow sound if the bread is done, if not cook for another five to ten min and test again. Cool out of the pan on a metal rack.

Posted in food, Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Food Production and Recipes | 5 Comments

Charcutepalooza February- Guanciale

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

I decided to keep it both tradional and yet mix it up a little at the same time. While we have often made our own homemade bacon, I have always used the pork Jowl as part of our head cheese, so this was the first time I have ever made Guanciale

So I did a little reading up on the net in regards to how this wonderful cured meat is used, and the thing that I found most interesting is that they often don’t use a tomato base sauce to their pasta dishes when this meat is used. Ok, I can work that..

Creamy Guanciale Pasta Recipe

One Cured Guanciale Diced
One Diced Onion
One Diced Garlic
One Stock of Celery-Finely Diced
1 cup of homemade Sheep Milk Ricotta
Salt, Fresh Cracked Black Pepper, Dried Crumbled Stinging Nettles.
Fresh Cooked Spaghetti

I am lucky enough that my sheep are lambing out, and I am milking daily now, so it just seemed perfect to make some fresh Ricotta soft cheese to go in this recipe.

Posted in Charcuterie, raw milk, sheep | Tagged Charcuterie, Food Production and Recipes, sheep, Sheep Milk | Leave a comment

Ah Monday

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

I meet my DH 12 years ago this past friday, and I remember that Valentine’s day came, and no wishes were sent my way..and I thought hmmm, well it has only been a couple days and I asked him his thoughts on Valentine’s Day and I will always remember his response..

“I would like to think that any women that I am with will know that she is loved every single day she is with me, she won’t need one day of the year for me to tell her”

I remember thinking, is he just cheap or does he really mean this? Well, he did mean it and a dozen years later and I can honestly say, I would not trade him letting me know that I am loved and treasured daily for a once a year big day event.

So I fell this past weekend, was hauling something and pull it while walking backwards, in a bit of a good snowstorm, but we wanted to get it done, and I tripped on a block of ice* and fell, landing between two blocks of ice. I now have bruises coming on my neck, shoulder, arm, hip, and a huge one on my leg, my left side is sore.

*We use big 80 liter tote’s for water in the winter, it means that most of the time we try and give as much drinking water as needed twice a day, because otherwise, it freeze’s solid, but it also will slowly build up, and when that happens, hubby turns the bucket over, and we pour warm water over and it will just pop out but it can be a very large heavy block of ice.

So I do morning chores, and as I was getting ready to start the day, the gasps coming from me trying to bend over told me that I was in trouble when it came to hauling water today.. love the hubby, he hustled to get everyone’s water done before he headed to work, I can’t say how grateful I was that he did this, I will still do the rest of the chores but they won’t be near as heavy in weight.

Got to see the most strange event this morning, was driving back from dropping DH off at the bus and I am driving a back road though bush, and I can see a dark shape comng up on the right hand side of the road, I am a good ways away but start slowing down. Then this mass of “something” comes tumbling out onto the snowy white packed road, I see color and tail with butt outline and I see coyote (not one of our ontario Coy-wolves) but the smaller normal size coyote, but its not alone, there is a blackish blog attached to it? And this mass is flipping and rolling around on itself.

Then my eye catch’s a 3rd blackish critter that is just coming to the edge of the road, I’m getting closer now, and to my amazement (darn camera was at home), here is a coyote in full battle with a raccoon, and that coyote is not letting go, and that coon is fight’n for its life and the 3rd critter is another big raccoon, that is following the fight and its pissed.

So the Coyote still dragging the coon with him, off the side of the left side of the road and the 2nd coon decides that enough is enough and tucked tail and went back to the woods on the right hand side of the road.. it was a WOW moment..

Really wish I had my camera with me..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 2 Comments

Sheep Questions

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

So got asked a questions about my sheep and here it an the answer.

Why don’t I dock my sheep’s or lambs tails?

The short answer is : Hair Sheep

The long answer is that the reason that you need to dock a typical Wool sheep is because the tails will over time accumulate large amounts of manure in the wool, which will attracting flies, which lay eggs in the manure, which them hatch into maggots (This is called Fly-Strike, and can occur on any animal that this is allowed to happen to) which then will eat not only the manure/wool but right into the flesh itself.

Other reasons typically given is that a dirty tail bothers breeding, lambing and or shearing.

However with hair sheep, no tail docking is required, No Wool, No build up of manure, no fly-strike and the tail does not seem to bother the sheep in regards to breeding, or lambing.

The second question was about Castration,

The short answer is : yes an no

The long answer is I tend to typically do my ram lambs between day seven and day ten after both testicles have descended, I follow the recommendation of my vet, and so use a elastaror. I do tend to leave at least one male lamb intact, its a matter of culture and taste, if selling lamb to the average Canadian, they will not buy a intact ram lamb meat, on the other hand if you customer is of Middle Eastern Descent, they will not buy a castrated ram lamb.

I personally like intact ram lamb meat myself, of course I perfer year old mutton to spring lamb, I like the bolder fuller flavor of a yearly personally.