Christmas is postponed this year...

Feeling very smug about having all my Christmas shopping done early, I paid scant attention to the weather. Wednesday before Christmas I went to the feed store to ensure a plentiful supply of bagged feed for the animals, and to the local Wally World to get fresh produce for the turkey stuffing. After that I just went about my life in a normal manner. There was mention of snow, maybe colder temperatures, but nothing prepared us poor Oklahomans for blizzards and state-wide road closings! I know that those of you "from up North" find our alarm and snow-storm ineptitude laughable. But when you get 10' snowfalls and below 0F temperatures on a regular basis your local and State officials are prepared with veritable mountains of sand and salt, and hundreds of snow/ice defeating machines of Leviathan proportions. Here, because we deal with this rarely, we have a much lesser ability to cope when Mother Nature throws a tantrum.

So. As Christmas Eve dawned I smoked the Christmas Turkey and prepared the cranberry sauce and stuffing. The heavy rain we had in the morning had turned to sleet when we went out to feed the animals and ensure that they had adequate bedding. The temperature was dropping rapidly, but this is Oklahoma. Nothing ever lasts more than a couple of hours. Only when we turned on the 6 o'clock news did we see the full extent of the snow-storm. Oklahoma City had it's highest Christmas snowfall since they started recording this sort of thing in 1890. Everywhere there were white-outs, blizzards and impassable roads. The Governor declared a State of Emergency and ordered the National Guard out to help the sorely over-loaded emergency services with finding and rescuing those trapped in their vehicles. The travel advisory service had just one word of advice "Don't".

By Christmas morning we had only about 5-6 inches of snow laying on the ground, but the heavy winds that had blown Thursday and overnight had mounded up some drifts that came well up my thighs. Our local highway was closed as were almost all the interstates. Those that weren't officially closed were extremely icy and hazardous with abandoned vehicles scattered everywhere. I called Amanda and found that the major road leading to her house was closed so there was no way we could travel there. It was all very disappointing.

Ken and I hunkered down. We fed and watered the animals, then set up the new DVD player that was our gift to us. We listened to traditional Christmas music and I cooked a piece of ham. It was pleasant but it wasn't the same without the children's laughter, the traditional family games and being surrounded by the warmth that is family.

Despite the disappointment, we are very lucky. We have plenty of good food, a warm home, we can at least call our loved ones on the phone. Our animals are well-fed and safe from the storms. I know there are many out there right now who have none of these privileges and my heart goes out to them. I hope everyone reading this had a warm, wonderful Christmas in the company of those they loved and I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

A Lady of Virtue

That would be me, in case you didn't recognise my new title. I am feeling particularly virtuous today because not only did I spare Ken the ignominy of eating cold turkey sandwiches yet again, I also have the value-added virtuosity of creating something truly delicious in the process: Turkey and Bean Soup. The beans go particularly well in this because the turkey was smoked, as was the bacon.

I put the turkey carcass - including the unused thigh and the few leftover slices of meat - into the huge roaster-thingy. I added a couple of cans of chicken stock (on sale at Wally World for 48 cents each!) and a couple of quarts of water and left it simmering gently overnight. I soaked a bag of dried beans (the 15-bean soup ones) overnight too. This morning I took out the carcass and picked all usable meat from it and returned that to roaster. I added a couple of good sized onions, a few chopped celery stalks, leaves and all, several chopped cloves of garlic, a chunk of the pepper-cured bacon I made the other day, the beans, another couple of quarts of water and a huge can of crushed tomatoes ($2.50 or so at Sam's). It is now simmering merrily and the taste I just had of it had me going "Mmm, Mmm, Good". It is a thick, substantial soup with a hint of smokey flavor. I will add a grind or so of pepper later and we will have a large bowl of this soup, garnished with grated cheese, along with home-made bread for dinner tonight. As there is at least 10 or more quarts of it, I will freeze the rest in handy portions so that we can enjoy it at a later date.

Learning Curves - A Reflection

This morning we didn't just breakfast - we Dined. Sumptuously. What did we have? you might ask. A spread of gargantuan proportions? A fancy feast such as one would get at a seven-star resort? Some complicated dish that took me hours to prepare? No. We had bacon, eggs and toast. Simple fare for sure. But the bacon was home raised from the time it was a baby piglet, farm-butchered at 200 pounds, and home cut, cured and smoked. The eggs were from our more-or-less free ranging hens. The bread I baked myself last night from my current favorite recipe using some organic flour and home-grown and home-dried herbs. The flavors in this simple meal were deep and complex. I am convinced that this is because each element had the kind of life it was supposed to lead.

The pig ran or basked in the sunshine, wallowed in the mud, rooted in the garden, was fed good food and was petted daily. She had two friends for company, and they got on very well. She had a good, happy life until the very last split second. Even then, she was doing what she loved most - eating. I was very fond of her, and I look forward to getting more piglets next year.

The hens have a large grassy enclosure in the back yard. That is where their coops are and where they are fed and watered. But they are frequently out of it because their wings are as nature intended, and they can fly the fence. They hunt bugs, scratch for worms and seeds, wander around the three field areas - two have found where my garden is, but right now they are not doing any damage, so I will let them be. They, too, have a pretty good life and all I ask is an egg now and then, perhaps a clutch of chicks once in a while. The ducks have their own enclosure with a small pool, though they can actually leave the run they are in and go swim in the creek when they want to - which is most days.

If you had told me thirty years ago that I would be sitting here today writing of butchering and other rural activities I would have laughed in your face and called you crazy. Twenty years ago I would have given you an amused smile and ten years ago I would have told you "I could NEVER do all that". Yet, here I am. My whole life has been a journey that led me inexorably back to my childhood desire to own a small farm.

At that time, of course, I had no idea of how hard the life could be or how unforgiving Mother Nature is. I never thought about getting up in the freezing dawn to go feed animals. Or staying all night in a cold barn to ensure a safe birthing. Or weeding under a blazing sun. Or losing a whole summer's work to a freak storm. It seemed idyllic, always sunshine and sweet animals and bountiful crops in the garden. My uncle Len, who had pigs and chickens and a huge market garden always seemed to have everything under control and worked at what seemed a leisurely pace. My uncle Jim had a small Jersey dairy herd and also seemed to work slowly and deliberately. He moved his few cows down a picturesque narrow lane between their pasture and the milking parlor twice a day. "Cush, cush" kept them moving nicely. (Strangely enough, this doesn't work on Texas Longhorns, but that's another story) He milked by hand and when I was there he would give me large cups of delicious creamy milk still warm from the udder.

Now I know that the pace of work is also a measure of care. Nothing escaped the eagle eyes of these two gentlemen. What I thought of as easy indolence was, in fact, them taking the time to check each individual animal, to ensure that they were in top health, so they could intervene early if they were not. When I started out with livestock I lost a few due to my ignorance. I did not recognise the early signs that could have been treated. My delays cost the animals their lives. I did not appreciate Len's gardening skills until I tried my own hand and failed miserably at producing a fraction of what he did. I am getting better, but how I wish that he were still with us so that I could ask him all the questions I need answered.

Each year I try to improve upon the last. My animal skills are getting quite a bit better. So much so that I can provide us with enough home grown meat year round that I never have to buy it from the grocery store. I have learned to stand, quiet and still, and observe them several times a day. Now I have an idea of how they look and behave when they are healthy, I can recognise if they are even a little "off". I wish I could say the same for my gardening skills. I still have a brown thumb. But I am trying to develop my well-hidden talents in that area. I am pretty good at growing lettuces and baby greens. I can grow radishes. I usually get decent tomato, cucumber and squash crops. Those amongst you who are the gardening whiz-kids will be curling your lips right about now or politely suppressing a guffaw. But to me, every ripe fruit or vegetable I get to the table is a small accomplishment, a small baby-step further than I was. It is my hope that one day I will be able to grow enough to have rows and rows of home canned goods that will get me proudly through the winter.

Thanksgiving

I am fortunate in that my daughter, Amanda, is happy to share the Thanksgiving cooking. It lightens the load on both of us and give us both time to enjoy the holiday. Over the years we have evolved a pretty set menu that varies very little - other than minor variations of recipe -which makes it even easier. We do the same menu for Christmas. Here is what we have:

Amanda's Cheese Goo with hot fresh-baked artisan bread to dip in it
sometimes a salad
Turkey with stuffing and cranberry-orange sauce
Roast potatoes
Jim's green bean salad
Giblet cream gravy
Amanda's apple pie and cream
Chardonnay, coffee

The cheese goo is Amanda's secret recipe. A hot fondue-like mix of cheeses which is totally delicious. The bread is made from the 5-minutes a day book.

Miss Piggy had managed to find her way into the hoophouse before leaving for Amanda's and had eaten all the lettuces and other greens in there, so no salad this year. Usually I do a spicy baby greens salad with a sweet dressing, usually involving oranges, dried cranberries and sometimes apples.

This year I used a 24 hour brine for the turkey that was from one of the Nigella Lawson books and sent to me by a friend. Then I smoked the bird overnight on the charcoal smoker, with a packet of mesquite chips. That was meltingly delicious. I had never either brined OR smoked a turkey before, so was a little worried that something would go wrong. All that cortisol for nothing, LOL.

I usually make a stuffing with a mix of cornbread and white bread (I cheat - I use Stove-Top brand) to which I add onion, celery, apples and walnuts. This year I still got the Stove-top but got the bread stuffing with cranberries. I soaked some dried apricots overnight in Grand Marnier, then Thursday morning I fried up the onions, celery as usual, added them to the broth I used instead of water, added the apricots and walnuts and then added the stuffing mix. I really liked this recipe. Nice and sweet with a crunch. When I roast the bird I usually stuff it. However, as smoking takes so long, and is generally at a much lower temperature than an oven, I decided that stuffing the bird might be asking for trouble, so we just had it as a side this time. I do think that the juices from the roasting bird adds even more flavor to the stuffing, though.

Cranberry-orange sauce is really easy - I get a small can of orange juice concentrate, add a bag of fresh cranberries, some orange zest and just a little sugar then boil them up until the cranberries have popped and cooked.

Jim makes delicious green beans - it is not a dish I have ever cared much for till I tasted his. The secret is apparently in the seasoning.

Amanda is allergic to cinnamon so most apple pie recipes are out. She cuts her apples into vanilla sugar instead of cinnamon sugar and the result is wonderfully rich and fragrant.

The girls tell us that they are going to contribute to the Christmas menu with an appetiser of stuffed mushrooms. They are already pretty competent in the kitchen so I have no doubt that this new addition to the menu will become a tradition, too.

Comings and Goings

I have been pretty sick the last two weeks. Not sure what it was, but it was miserable. Either the mother of all colds or a moderate dose of one of the flus that are going around. Anyway, I am a lot better now - though my chest is still full of fluid and I am coughing like a 100 year old smoker!

We did get some animals moved around this weekend. Amanda brought T-Bone, the Dexter steer, over for finishing. He is being very well-behaved so far. But he is LOUD. I am seriously considering giving him a goat buddy to keep him company. Perhaps that will tone down his protests.

Fair exchange being no robbery - we sent her home with Ms Piggy who was becoming very miserable on her own. She loaded easily - all you need is a red bucket and a cheerful voice. She is going to live at Amanda's with Willie, the Chester White boar. Hopefully she will be producing a plentiful supply of little porkers. I will miss the pigs. I really enjoyed having them. I will get a couple each year to raise so I am already looking forward to the next ones.

I also sent my Dexter heifer, Shay, with Amanda. She was supposed to be bred when I bought her, but her due dates have come and long gone so I figured that she could go and spend some time with our Dexter bull, Squire. Hopefully I will have a new bovine addition next September. Shay was not that into being loaded. We had to resort to tricks and subterfuge. We put feed in the bunk and moved it nearer and nearer to the trailer. She was finally loaded, but it took a while.

Amanda needed a buck to service her goats. Her first choice was Black Bart, a gorgeous Boer/Nubian cross who is large and muscular. He, however, didn't understand the benefits of going to Amanda's and refused to come near the gate, the trailer or the feed. So she settled for Doobie who is a very nice fullblood Nubian. Doobie has a wonderful "pet" temperament. I just put a lead on him and he walked amiably along. I am pretty sure he has got all my girls settled so he can stay there as long as needed.

Today I am smoking bacon from the pigs we did two weeks ago. Amanda's is all maple cured. I did one third of mine in maple cure, one third in a rub of salt, sugar and apple juice concentrate and the last third was done in a salt, sugar, cracked peppercorn rub bound to a paste with hard cider. I am planning on a bacon sampler for tomorrow's breakfast.

Tomorrow I want to move the sheep up into the north field and the goats down into the south field. That will make the grass use more equitable. There is precious little of it left now, and everyone is getting hay twice daily. The big round bales are proving very easy to use. I am really happy with them.

I need to get together all the things I need for the turkey brine. I will put the turkey in the brine tomorrow morning, then take it out and smoke it overnight on Wednesday for Thanksgiving dinner - which will be held at Amanda's.

Another Busy Week In Paradise.

It seems like I have not stopped all week. After starting the pigs last Saturday and Sunday, and getting them into primal cuts, they rested in the fridge for several days. But did that mean I could take it easy? You got it! I had to get the old kennel transformed into a meat processing room. Of course, nothing ever is easy around here. What should have been a day's work at most ended up taking three days. First, the floor drains were clogged from two years of non-use. Getting them unclogged was a major task. The electric high-pressure washer worked great, thank goodness, but the wetvac - which has a hose connection to pump the sucked-up water out into a drain - had small leaks around the water exit. That was not something I could fix so I just put up with it...

Then there was the new meat bandsaw. Now - I am no engineer, but I am betting that I could have designed something to go together a LOT easier than this. Ken and I spent a HUGE amount of time trying to figure out what the instructions actually meant, and then how to accomplish the task. Nuts and bolts were in impossible places, adjustments and readjustments abounded. It was very frustrating. At least it was cheap...

Anyway - Amanda and the girls came over on Thursday, bringing their piggy parts with them. We sawed, sliced, deboned and ground for 4 hours and were rewarded with a handsome pile of nice-looking pork cuts. We made a maple cure for the two bacon sides and they were refrigerated. Amanda had to leave then, so I decided I would get to work on my pig.

The first thing that happened was the blade of the bandsaw came off as I was cutting rib chops. I have figured out that the blade tried to follow the natural line of the rib instead of cutting through it. I still haven't figured out a way of preventing that happening. I eventually boned out the chops and cut them boneless to save time and temper. Ken got the saw fixed while I was working on a shoulder, but by then it was getting late and I needed to feed animals so we quit for the day.

Friday we got a fair amount done, but we hadn't got the saw adjusted properly, so it twisted off again a couple of times. We spent a lot more time messing with the saw than with the meat, so we still didn't finish the cutting. We finally got done yesterday.

Overall, I was happy with the cuts I did. Some looked better than others and there is certainly room for improvement, but I felt I did a creditable job. Even the less-pretty ones will taste good. I ended up with 116 pounds of cuts, including the bacon, but not including 10# of soup/stock bones, 4# dog bones, just short of 9# trimmings for sausage and a measly 3.5# of fat for rendering into lard. Actual "throw away" was less than an ounce...

The only part of this pig that was "wasted" was the hide. The LGDs have picked the head clean and eaten most of the offal. What they left the chickens picked over. When the bones are done making stock I will put them in the pressure cooker and cook them under high pressure till they crumble, then they can be crushed and added (along with their calcium-rich broth) to dog food. Adding a little apple cider vinegar to the pressure cooker with the water will help the calcium leach from the bones...

For the bacon, Amanda used a very basic cure of brown sugar, salt and enough maple syrup to make a paste. This was rubbed all over the bacon, and it is now in the refrigerator curing. I used the same cure for one side, then for the other I substituted some apple juice concentrate for the maple syrup. For the uneven "chunks" that I cut off the two sides I made a cure of salt, sugar and cracked pepper bound to a paste with hard cider. I am thinking that I will need to smoke the bacon Tuesday or Wednesday. I am really looking forward to tasting the results.

This Little Piggie Stayed At Home

Amanda, Jim and the girls came on down this morning and we butchered my pig. She was smaller than Amanda's barrow - taping out at around 190 to 200 pounds. That's OK. There is only Ken and I here now, and we don't need huge amounts of meat. I was happy to butcher her a bit smaller rather than feed her out any longer. She is nicely covered in fat, neither overly obese nor too lean. I think she will make really good eating. She is cut into primal cuts, and resting comfortably in my refrigerator. I will turn the cuts over daily and then cut into the roasts, chops, steaks, etc., probably Friday or Saturday. I will render the fat into lard for cooking and cure and smoke the bacon with a couple of different recipes. I will probably also hot smoke one of the legs.

I never imagined that I would enjoy raising pigs so much. They are really quite charming and friendly. I will miss them till I get their replacements sometime next spring. Then the cycle will begin again.

My 5 round bales of hay arrived this morning bright and early. It looks and smells wonderful. The goats lost no time investigating it, and have already pulled some out of the first bale. I will spend some of tomorrow unrolling one bale and getting it stored under cover.

Another thing I will need to do tomorrow is go find some nuts and bolts so we can finish off putting the meat bandsaw together. I will need that on Thursday when Amanda brings her pig back to be cut into the "retail cuts". That will be another first for us. We have watched it done, and we have a pretty good video showing how to get the pretty butcher cuts, now to see how close we can come!

This Little Piggy went to 'Manda's

Today was pretty productive. We processed the male pig. He was a goodly size - he taped at about 260 pounds. That was mostly meat. There was not near as much fat on him as I had expected. Definitely less than an inch of backfat. The meat looked nice and slightly marbled, with a nice color to it. I really hate that anemic looking, almost white, pork. It doesn't seem to have any taste for me. Tomorrow we will do my pig - she is a bit smaller, but not by much.

Ken, meanwhile, was attempting to assemble the meat bandsaw. Between the mis-numbered diagrams and the missing screws he didn't get as far as we had hoped, but I can go get the appropriate screws on Monday and we should have it all put together by time we need it to cut the pigs into nice, neat little chops and roasts. That should be Thursday or thereabouts. Then I'll be REALLY busy because I intend to render the fat into lard, make at least three types of sausage and cure and smoke the bacon.

Jim replaced the front brake pads on my van, and re-checked the battery terminal that has been giving me a hard time. So hopefully now I will not have any more trouble. He took the opportunity to give my grand-daughter Krystal a lesson in maintenance, showing her how to change a tire. She is looking forward to getting her driver's permit soon, and one of the things her parents are insistent upon is that she be able to carry out simple maintenance and emergency procedures before she actually starts driving.

Well, it is late, I am tired and there is another full day ahead of me tomorrow. I need to go around and change all the clocks before going to bed because daylight savings time starts at 2.00 am ...

Good, Bad and Could Have Been Worse News

First the Really Good News: I have got my hay locked in for the winter. I bought some square bales from this lady a couple of years ago, but had lost her phone #. I found an ad from her at a local feed mill, so called her about some round bales a couple of days ago. I went to look at it yesterday and immediately bought 5. It looks and feels really nice. I am going to see how the critters like it, and how long a bale lasts, then call her to reserve as many as I will need to take me through to April, when I HOPE my pastures will be coming up. She will store what I need in her barn, and then have it delivered as needed. That is a great weight off my shoulders. I was starting to worry about finding enough hay. I have fed the small square bales until now, but apart from the fact that fewer and fewer farmers are putting them up - they are a lot more expensive than the large round bales. I plan on unrolling one at a time, and storing it in the south barn under cover, feeding the critters with it twice a day.

The Bad News was that as I was about to leave this lady's barn, having bought four small bales to tide me over till the round bales can be delivered, my van refused to start. It had been working perfectly well until that second... Then... nothing. We tried all the usual stuff - checking battery connections and grounding connections, looking at fuses, etc. We tried jump-starting from her truck. All to no avail. Not so much as a glimmer or a click. (sigh). So I had to call poor Jim, my dear, long-suffering son in law and favorite mechanic. He ran me through a couple of things that might be wrong - but alas, they weren't the ones. So I had to bum a ride home from the generous hay lady and Jim had to spend his evening travelling up to Muskogee to look at the van.

The Could Have Been Worse news is that it was, in fact, a ground wire that was not quite tight enough so at least it didn't involve something time consuming and expensive. For which I am truly grateful.

The other Good News is that I scored 10 big fat chickens at a great price from a local processor. These are HUGE. They look almost like small turkeys. They were free ranged during the day and I understand that they were fed organic feed. They are now settled comfortably in my freezer. Between these, and the ones we processed at Amanda's a few weeks ago, and the few cockerels that are running around here and surplus to needs, I now have enough to last me probably a year. Which reminds me - I still have another large chest freezer to inventory and I need to empty and defrost my upright freezer so I have room for the piggy that we are processing this weekend. Always something.

Long Time, No Blog

The time has just flown by since my last entry. I have been pretty busy here and there. We have got a large area of the backyard fenced for the chickens, scavenging the chain-link dog kennel panels. They now have a (relatively) safe place to range, roost and lay eggs.

Last weekend Krystal, Alex and I went to the dog show at Lawton. Krystal and I were ring stewarding, Alex was showing. It was a good weekend. She won Best of Breed both days with her Long Coat Chihuahua, Ch. Kyfo Manor Liza With A Zee. Saturday was no big deal - there was just one other exhibit, and that dog was also being shown by a Junior. Sunday, however, was a different matter. There were several entries and two professional handlers were exhibiting. Alex managed to beat them both for the Best of Breed honor. She enjoyed the experience of going to the Group competition, though she did not place there. I also got a championship point on my smooth coat Chihuahua - Star-K A Toybox Sugarplum. Sugar does not like to show, unfortunately, so that was her last time in the ring.

Alex also shows in Junior Showmanship, and does a very creditable job. There was no competition in her class this weekend, so she won by default.

On Monday morning Krystal and I inventoried one of my chest freezers. I do this periodically, then find myself forgetting to update the list when I remove stuff. I am going to make an Excel spreadsheet to see if that makes it any easier than the current book and pen method. I had to get Krys to the gym in the afternoon, then on to the garage to get the hydraulic strut that holds up the back door of the van repaired. It was very hard trying to hold that door up manually - it weighs a lot more than one might think. That took care of Monday!!

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent nourishing my mind. Tuesday was a workshop on composting, with emphasis on the composting of animals. It was extremely informative, and something a person might want to think about, though any of my mortalities get fed to the LGDs. Wednesday was a series of speakers on the various aspects of Organic Gardening. My one criticism is that there wasn't enough time for anyone to be particularly comprehensive. After the workshop I went and picked up four Partridge Cochins that were kindly donated to me.

Yesterday - Ken and I moved the pigs from the summer garden to the top triangle. The garden is very soggy and muddy after so much rain. We are hoping that they don't turn over the ground in the triangle too much before Sunday (the day they go to Camp Westinghouse). It went pretty smoothly, and we filled their "bedroom" with hay to keep them cosy. We did lots of "puttering" so although we worked long and hard, there is precious little to actually show for it.

Today is going to be a boring cleaning day. I need to get what was the kennel cleaned out ready for Sunday, in case the weather proves to be unkind. We intended doing the butchering in the field, but there is a chance of rain, and the temperature may be a bit chilly, so a back up is a Good Thing.

Saturday - Boring but productive

Ken finished the little shed in the north triangle, so the piggies have a bedroom now. Not a minute too soon - it was really cold last night. I know they are pretty well insulated, but so am I and I feel the cold a lot, so I was really concerned for them to have a nice warm place to sleep. I know - anthropomorphism rules! Hard not to assign human feelings to such sweet and friendly creatures. I had run out of hay, so I put down a bunch of old paper feed sacks for them to shred and bed down in. I put a small amount of hay sweepings from the floor of the barn feed area plus some of the hay discarded by the wasteful sheep from inside the barn. I have plans to put that stuff in the summer garden in Spring - it will be great fertilizer by then... Anyway, the piggies are enjoying their new room.

My meat from which I make dog food was delivered Saturday. Today I will grind it all down, five pounds at a time, add some juiced vegetables with the fiber added back in, and package and freeze it all - about 175 pounds of it. That is likely to take much of the day, as it is a fairly slow and laborious process. However, I truly believe that the dogs are much healthier on this raw, natural diet. I know exactly what goes into it and where everything comes from. That means a lot in this day and age of frequent contaminated food recalls...

My other task for today is to empty and inventory at least one of my freezers. I have three. Two chest and one upright. Currently I have no real idea of what is in any of them. I found a lamb loin from 2006 in one chest freezer the other day when I was rummaging around trying to figure out what to cook for dinner. My alpha LGD was grateful for my lack of organization, but I could have kicked myself. Lamb is an expensive meat - though (thankfully) this loin was part of a home-raised, home-butchered lamb and cost little to produce.

Ugghhh...

It has been a trying few days.

For starters - my van wouldn't start. It worked just fine last Friday when we went to the Fair, but when I tried to start it up on Sunday to make a run for chicken feed it said "No way". The battery was low, so I recharged it. Darn thing still wouldn't start. Recharged it again. Same story.

Finally called my son-in-law for advice, and he (bless his heart) came out and replaced the battery. So now the van runs. I had to make two runs for animal feed, because the bins had got really empty. Ken and I were emptying the feed from the second run into the bins, when the hydraulic whatever-the-thing-is that holds the rear door up when it's open broke out of it's attachment. The door closes, sort of, and can be propped open when needed but it is very inconvenient as it is. Jim says he will take a look at it next week if I bring it in to the shop, thank goodness.

Then there is the question of the weather. It has rained pretty well non-stop for the last 36 hours. We have had a rainfall of somewhere around five inches. And it is COLD. I don't mind dry cold, I don't mind warm rain. But I hate cold and rainy with a purple passion. My hands feel as if they will never be warm again.

And another thing. The goats are getting all too clever at getting out of the north field. I need to get that fence fixed (it has a couple of areas that are very slack) and wired hot enough to fry them if they so much as think of testing it. It is one thing to slog through the rain carrying feed buckets, it is quite another slogging through rain carrying a feed bucket and having a gaggle of goats trying to feed out of it.

Ken is valiantly fighting the weather, finishing off the shed for the pigs to get out of the wet. I will go get more hay and put that down for them as soon as he has finished the roof. Painting will have to wait till it dries up some. The whole place is soggy. The one bright point is that the rain made it even easier for the pigs to finish tilling up the summer garden-to-be.

OK. End of Pity Party. I feel better now I shared. (g)

Tulsa State Fair

We (my daughter Amanda and her two daughters) arrived at the Fair good and early. We found a close (free!!!) parking spot and set off in search of Dexter Cattle, which were slated to be judged at 10 am. We found their stalls without much trouble. The entry was small but high in quality. As the judging was running late on the Longhorns, we wandered around, looking at several other Breeds - I was particularly taken with the Santa Gertrudis and the Gelbveigh (sp??). These are large, meaty cattle that are bred to grow out fast. We also took the opportunity to watch some of the Dairy Breeds being judged. Some of those udders almost made my eyes pop out!! I would hate to have to hand milk them - I am betting on eight to ten gallons!

After the Dexter judging was over we went to the Petting Zoo area where the girls had a wonderful time petting the goats, sheep, Highland Cattle, Zebu, and many other animals. I have to confess to enjoying that myself...

Directly behind the petting animals were the poultry exhibits. I am very fond of poultry so we spend a short while walking between the cages. There were several breeds of chicken I did not recognise and some of the bantams were too pretty for words. I would not keep bantams because every animal here has to contribute something edible, and those bantams don't have enough meat on them to keep a mouse alive, LOL, and I would bet their eggs are minuscule, too. Interesting for fancy hors d'oevres but not for breakfast... There were a few geese there. I didn't realise how huge the Toulouse and Embdens are. When I told Ken about them he about drooled. I am betting that geese are on our next poultry order. He really likes goose. It is not one of my favorite meats - I find it rather greasy, but then again, I have never had a home raised one either. I am willing to try anything once.

It was getting to leaving time - Amanda has weekend guests, and I had critters to feed when I got home. I would have liked to spend more time there, and would have loved to return to watch the sheep and swine judging, but alas other things need to be done here at home for that to be possible. The girls wanted to take a photo of themselves so we waited around just long enough for that, then home it was. All in all it was a very enjoyable break from the usual workaday routine.

Mission Accomplished! (well, a third of it!)

Yesterday I finished weeding, raking and amending the east bed of the hoop house. I now have parsnips, carrots, radishes, beets, endive and two types of lettuce mixes (for fancy baby greens salads) sown in there. I can't tell you how much I miss having salad prepared from produce that was picked literally minutes before eating.

I had already got broccoli and brussels sprouts planted in the second , center, bed last week. There is another eighteen foot of it to prepare, and that is my goal for next week. The following week I want to get the last, west, bed done.

Ken helped me move the bin of pig feed from the old building to near the hoop house, so that I can feed the pigs without running the gauntlet of goats all trying to grab the bucket. Feeding the piggies was soooo much easier this morning.

Another thing I did yesterday was measure the pigs to get an approximation of their live weight. I came up with: Boss Hawg (barrow) = 228#; My Hammy (Hamp cross) = 193#; Ms Piggy (?Berk cross?) = 217#. Butchering day has been reset to the 25th October, so they may be a little more by then.

Ken is still working on the housing in the north triangle for future pigs, steers that are being grained out, and other animals that are being "beefed up" ready for the freezer. It will also hold my bucks during summer when I don't want them breeding the does... all in all a very useful area. I will have photos of that this weekend.

A Productive Weekend

Saturday I showed the rabbit cages I still had for sale to a very nice gentleman and his wife. They bought them all, which was great. They raise Holstein cattle, and the wife was very informative when I told her how nervous I am getting about Shay, my Dexter heifer, who is due right about now. In fact, today is *supposed* to be her last due date.

I spent the rest of the afternoon weeding and raking part of the east bed in the hoophouse. I only have another eight foot to go on that bed (PTL) then I can get the salad greens and beets planted. I plan on making that my task for today.

Sunday I went to Amanda's where we butchered 16 chickens and 2 ducks. The chickens still were not as "full-figured" as we had hoped they would be, leading us to believe that they are NOT the Cornish Cross they were sold as... We started in on Amanda's Rouens, but they are not ready yet. The two we did will barely make a meal for two each. It was a tiring day and my joints are protesting, but looking at the packages in the refrigerator makes it worth while.

We were supposed to be butchering pigs yesterday, but the weather was too hot for it - over 90F - so we decided to put those off till the end of October, when it will (we hope) be cooler.

The little red hen that could

You may recall that a while ago I mentioned that one of the hens was sitting on some eggs. Well, she hatched seven out of twelve eggs, so she definitely did better than I did. She did lose one, but she is being a wonderful mamma and taking good care of her babies. What is the most surprising is that she is a "red broiler", not some uber-broody breed one usually thinks of when envisioning a hen and chicks.

The pigs are doing a job on the summer garden to be. We will be butchering two of them on Sunday. They are a goodly size - probably close to 250 pounds for the barrow and not far from that for the gilt. I am sure looking forward to bacon.

I have started to shovel up the compost that was under the bunny porch and put it in the hoop house beds. I also have some good goat compost in the south barn and the small shed in the north field so I will be utilising that, too. I need to get the salad greens in there while we are still having warm days. Hopefully tomorrow will see that bed done. Then there will just be the bed with onions, garlic and shallots to plant. I think I am finally starting to believe that I will have some crops this year.

Mama Mia! Such a weekend.

Friday morning I found that *something* had got into the coop where the young turkey poults were and killed every last one of them. I am so mad I could spit blood. I put a live trap in there, but of course I have caught nothing.

Friday evening I picked up my two grand daughters. On Saturday the kitchen sink was STILL not fixed, so they spent several hours under the house with their Grumps trying to find out why. To no avail. We are going to have to cut a chunk of pipe out and replace it, as the only piece the clog could be in doesn't have a clean-out on it. We spent Saturday afternoon in the hoop house planting brussels sprouts and broccoli plants and starting on raking the beds level.

In the evening we went to see the musical Mama Mia! at the Tulsa PAC. I had scored GREAT seats - front row mezzanine - so great view of everything. It was a wonderful performance. A couple of less than perfect spots but overall a contagiously joyous event. The girls enjoyed themselves tremendously. We ended the evening at Fridays - where there was $5 off the Jack Daniels meals, so it was a "Jack Daniels kind of night". Mmmm... yummy.

Sunday we were up bright and... well, bright anyway. I was supposed to take a livestock guardian dog to a friend, but she knew something was going on and refused to be caught. I swear she was laughing at my antics. I worked at it for a couple of hours, but then had to leave because I was going to take the girls home and help butcher the remaining meat chickens. Fate was in one of her moods, because one of the van tires had a blow out on the way. Fortunately there was no traffic at that time, so we did no worse than skid across a couple of lanes before I got us onto the shoulder. We were, however, an hours drive away from Mr Wonderful Mechanic (aka my son in law Jim) so we had to sit and wait till he got there. Now - I am not helpless, I can change a tire. But the lug nuts were on too tight for me to get off. Jim managed them easily, then we went off the the shop where he found me a new tire and put that on for me - thanks, Jim! So the chickens got a reprieve for now.

More progress.

The pigs have pretty well finished tilling the hoop house so we moved them to a temporary pen while Ken finishes the fencing for the pasture and gardens. It is an awfully small area but they will have to manage there for another two or three days.

I got my dog food ground up. It seemed to take forever. Next month I will be a lot more organized. It is nice to see all those nice, neat baggies in the freezer, though. Over a month's worth by my figuring.

I found some broccoli starts at Lowe's this morning so maybe I will be lucky and get some before it freezes. I couldn't find any Brussels Sprouts so I am going to start a few seeds indoors in the hopes of getting a gentle enough fall for them to grow. They will be in the hoop house, so will get a little extra warmth from being covered.

My kitchen drain is clogged up. I bought some cleaner, but it has had zero effect. So now I have "something" in the drain and caustic de-clogger as well. How great is that? I knew I should have just taken it apart but I figured that the caustic stuff would be easier. HAH.

Progress. Sort of.

Well, the turkey poults are outdoors. They seem happy to have more room to move around in. I was worried they would be too cold, but they were trilling happily this morning.

The hatchlings are in the larger box. They are not as happy. I have no idea why. One would think they would appreciate a larger area, but they are huddling and looking apprehensive. Presumably they will get over it. I sure hope so because they are slated to go outdoors into a coop within the next week or so.

The pigs are really happy. They have almost completed the task of rooter tilling the hoop house. I am hanging onto the hope of actually getting something planted for a fall harvest in there. With the weather as it is, that is rather a vain hope, but I have little to lose, I guess. I do know that I can get spinach, lettuces and other salad greens to grow. I doubt there will be enough warmth left this season for much else.

I got most of the round pen broke down today. I have a few more zip ties to cut then I can move it to behind the house, where it can temporarily house the hens till I can get a more permanent structure up. It will be nice to be able to find eggs instead of the usual hunt.

Ken is getting on with the top triangle. He has all the 4x4s set now, and has started on the fencing. He still has the shed to build in there, that will house the resident animals. The corner 4x4s are up for it but that is it.

I was supposed to start clearing out one of the garden sheds this afternoon. When I looked inside there was a HUGE wasp nest. My wasp/hornet spray was almost empty. Guess what I didn't do? There is no way on God's Green Earth that I am going within 100 yards of that shed with those wasps in there. Apart from the fact that I am allergic to wasp stings - I am plain old cowardly about being stung.

The fencing in the north field is now officially a joke. I went out there this morning to find EVERYONE except the cow (thankful for small mercies) outside the fence. The goats consider fencing a personal challenge, and they were certainly up to this one. I swear I am going to wire that fence so hot they will fry just looking at it...

Well, tomorrow is another day - they say. I sometimes wish it were not, as new days bring new challenges. Tomorrow I have to grind somewhere in the region of 250# of dog food. I would have done it today, but it had not yet defrosted. I didn't complain...

I feel lazy

Really lazy. There are so many things I need to do and I am sat here trying to not think about them all. I have to get the turkey poults outdoors into a coop, because they have outgrown the box they are in. I need to clean that box out and put in the chickens I hatched as they are rapidly outgrowing the box THEY are in. I need to move the semi-grown heirloom meat chickens (Freedom Rangers) into a larger round pen because they have outgrown the coop... I have to fix the round pen because something (I suspect a goat) leaned on it and cracked the supports. I need to go pick up some gamebird feed for the ducks and turkeys... and here it is almost 9 pm and I did pretty well none of the above, other than getting the bird feed.

So tomorrow is going to be a really busy day because not only will I have to play catch-up, I also have to meet the raw dog food guy to pick up my meat order then grind at least some of it up into 5# packages. Sigh. I sure hope tomorrow is better than today...

Labor Day

I went out to Amanda's yesterday and we processed a few of the white chickens that have been hanging out there a whiles. They are supposed to be Cornish Cross, but they have never developed much meat on them. The ones we did were "OK" but nowhere near as meaty as they should have been. They are now resting in the refrigerator till Friday, then they will go into the freezer

We did some research on pasture improvement and found out that pasture seeds are very expensive! LOL. We are going to have to suck it up, though, as even expensive pasture seed is not as expensive as bagged feed.

When I got home Ken had plotted out the north triangle area for the fences and the critter shelter. He has dug the holes for the 4x4 posts and now is waiting for me to go get the concrete to set them in. I am beginning to feel hopeful that I will have some sort of garden this fall/winter and a pretty good one next year. I am currently researching companion planting, and planning the beds to incorporate the most supportive rotations.

Dear Pig, are you willing?

Yesterday was the Great Pig Move. Ken and I had made a rectangle around the hoop house with T-posts and cattle panels. My daughter, Amanda, and her husband Jim came over in the afternoon and the game was on.

If you read old accounts, pig herding used to be a common task for the young lads of the village. They would go house to house, collecting pigs as they went, and herd them into the local forest where they would hunt for acorns and stuff (pigs, not lads)... so for three modern, intelligent adults it should be a piece of cake, right?

Wrong. They started out just fine. Came out of the south field, started following me and the feed bucket, everything was hunky-dory. For all of about 10 yards. Then they figured that the grass was more interesting than the sweet feed, and wandered off each in their own direction. We chased, we herded, we shouted, sweet talked, encouraged, disparaged, and pleaded. To little avail.

Eventually Jim managed to get one pig's snout into the feed bucket. That is apparently the magic solution. He kept walking, Pig kept following getting a tiny lick of sweet feed now and then and finally he was in his new home. Repeat x 2 with the two gilts and we were done with that particular chore.

I have to say that they are enjoying their new home. They have already rooter-tilled half of one of the beds. These are raised beds, and they have rooted out some of the soil, so I may have to rethink the whole raised bed thing, but so far the concept of Gardening With Pigs seems to be on track.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin' down the river...

I hate thunderstorms. I am not afraid of them, but they scare the animals. The major storm we had on Tuesday night and Wednesday scared everyone badly, it was so loud for so long. I went out to feed and water last evening and - no ducks. I could hear them quacking, but they were not in their designated pen.

My grand-daughter found a small hole in the pen, through which they must have escaped, I looked over the rail and there, down about 20 feet in the creek, was my duck flock. They are all happy to have a nice large swimming pool but I am very UNhappy as I have NO idea of how I am going to recapture them. If they go downstream they will end up in the Kerr-McLellan canal system.

Counting Chickens after Hatch

Well - the grand total is nine still alive and healthy. That does not sound great, but of the twenty or twenty one I put in the incubator I had to throw two out before hatch because they cracked, one pipped and didn't hatch, two drowned in the waterer and then 6 others died of "unknown causes". Considering that the eggs that went in were not freshly gathered and some were from hidden nests, I think I did pretty well. They all have feathered legs, so that tells me that they are all either Standard Cochins or Cochin crosses. No telling which, as they all range together.

Chicken Update

I currently have five live and healthy looking chicks. These are out in the brooder-box I had set up for them and they are chirping, eating and drinking. There is another one that looks sickly, so I am reserving judgement on him. This morning there were two dead in the incubator, and one egg had pipped but the chicken was dead. I still have four eggs that are not pipped, but whether or not they will hatch I don't know. I will give them another couple of days but if they don't hatch by tomorrow night I will throw them out and get the incubator cleaned up.

All in all this was an interesting and rewarding experience, despite the disappointments. These were not "hatching eggs" per se. I just wanted to see if I could do it so I collected up eggs where I could find them - the chickens are masters of the art of hiding nests - so some were probably already old with low viability. The next batch will be collected more carefully.

Just as an aside - there is a hen decided to set in a planter on the back deck. When I was out there this morning she eyed me with that "Don't even think about it" look and an air of smug satisfaction. She is probably thinking "I'll show that amateur how it's done"

Hatchlings - not good news

Well, the hatching is NOT going as planned. The chicks are hatching, all right. But I have already lost three. Two drowned themselves as soon as the opportunity presented. The other just died - I have no idea why. There are still seven in the incubator (and still more to hatch) but I am feeling pretty inadequate right now.

I guess I sort of expected that if they hatched they would be fine and dandy. I am pretty good at raising chicks I get from the hatchery. I lose only a very small percentage, and those I can pretty well figure out why.

This does not deter me from wanting to try again - I will keep hatching till I get it right. My goal is to be able to incubate eggs from the Red Freedom Rangers I have next year, as well as turkey eggs from my Narragansetts and perhaps eggs from my Pekin ducks. My daughter has geese, and we were thinking that perhaps a hatch or so of them per year would be a Good Thing.

Surprise!!!

I am really, really new to hatching eggs. In fact the ones in the incubator are my very first batch. I was supposed to take the turners out tomorrow, and I was supposed to see my first home-hatched chickies on Monday.

Well - I guess those eggs didn't read the manual. I did my usual peek throught the lid about noon, and was sure I heard a "peep, peep". As I still have turkey poults in the house, I shrugged and thought nothing of it.

Well, I heard it again - so lifted the top a bit, and YES!!!! There is a chickie struggling to get out of the shell. Now I am on pins and needles to know if s/he is going to make it OK.

I took the turners out, raised the humidity and lowered the temp a tad so now I am just waiting. More on this exciting development when there is "Breaking News"

Best-Laid Plans

Well, we did NOT start building the Piggy Pen around the hoophouse today. Reconcilable differences delayed the project. However, I think we have it sorted out now. I only hope that by the time the pigs have done their thing there will still be time to plant some winter crops. I doubt the hoophouse will be plantable before mid-September, but if we have a mild fall/winter I may get carrots, parsnips, brussels sprouts, maybe peas but that is pushing it. I will definitely get spinach and some other salad type greens to keep us going through the winter.

Let it be known that this is NOT how the hoophouse looks today. It is sadly overgrown with weeds and crabgrass. Hence the need for Pig Power.

I need to find my copy of Eliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest for more ideas of what I may be able to do over the winter period.

Weird Weather

It has been an unseasonably cool August. I am not complaining. If there is one thing I hate with a purple passion it is heat combined with high humidity. I just cannot function under these conditions. We are having a pretty hot day today, but then it's back to the 80s. I say hurrah. It will mean that Ken and I will be able to start building the cage around the hoophouse/garden in the morning.

We measured everything out today and (sort of) planned where everything is supposed to go. I am still not decided between raised beds and simple pig-tilled mounded beds for the summer garden, but I can decide that when I see how well they work. It will be a work in progress until I find something that works for me.

One thing is for sure - I will need to really get down to planting. I haven't got a single thing to can or freeze out of the garden this year. I usually at least have some beans and tomatoes if nothing else.

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Well, we have started making Plans. With a capital P. We decided that the first order of business is to get the Piggies to work on the hoophouse/garden so that we (I) can plant some fall/winter vegetables. So Ken is "planning". You have to know Ken to know that is not necessarily a Good Thing. I want a fence around the hoophouse to keep piggies in, he wants a miniature Fort Knox to keep everything else out. What can I say? He's an engineer.

He wants to make a TALL fence to keep the chickens out. It is not that I want chickens IN exactly - but I am not sure that I want to garden inside a 6' chain link fence. I am thinking it will feel like the exercise yard at Riker's. On the other hand, I am not sure we would keep chickens out if the fence were any shorter, and I know from this Spring that any hint of succulent new plants is like a magnet to the Feathered Hordes. Hopefully I won't have too much trouble growing something green and pretty up that fence. Actually, if I can it may be really peaceful in there shut off from the world.

Now I am trying to press-gang my DD Amanda and DSIL Jim to help with the critter moving. If we are lucky we will get the goats and the Dexter, Shay, down to the south field and the sheep up to the north field at the same time as we do the Great Pig March.

Day of Rest

One of the things I have retained from the "normal" world is the habit of keeping Sunday light on work. I really do feel the need to recharge the batteries at least once a week. So I do the chores then try and do something relaxing such as reading or just sitting and watching the critters. I don't really have any favorite authors. It's all grist to this mill. I am not that into great literature. My reading is generally fluff stuff. Tales of improbable high adventure or grisly crime scenes determined to hide their secrets.

I rarely read about "real people" but I have just finished "Take Big Bites" by Linda Ellerbee, a former CNN anchor and a person I think I would like as a friend. She has traveled a lot and enjoys good food - what's not to like? The book is basically a memoir, giving glimpses into her life and relating her visits to far flung places, giving recipes that she particularly enjoyed in those areas. I found it hard to put the book down. And I will try some of the recipes. I might even post some.

I have never understood travelers that go thousands of miles to a foreign country, then are disappointed when it isn't just like home. My parents are like that. They visit Spain fairly frequently and are bitterly disappointed if the hotel doesn't have roast beef and mashed potatoes.

When Ken and I visited Spain we searched out the small tapas bars, and the restaurants that served local produce and local recipes. My most memorable meal ever was at a tiny (three tables) restaurant that was a half mile hike up a steep hill but had the most spectacular view of the town and the sea from the tiny balcony that was the "dining room". We had a simple salad which was unceremoniously whisked away when the paella was ready - you don't wait around keeping it warm. This was followed by a goat cheese and sugar confection served with oranges soaked in liqueur. We drank local wine and afterwards were invited to join the owner and his family in their home (behind the restaurant) for brandy. I have eaten at some great restaurants in Paris and London, but this is the one I remember...

I think these expectations run through our lives. When I decided I wanted to homestead, I searched out people who were doing it. I needed to know how it was actually achieved not how someone sitting in an office in New York thinks it might be done. I have read prodigiously about most aspects of homesteading - but the books I read are the "Been there, done that" type. I came to it with more or less down to earth expectations, and a knowledge of my own limitations and weaknesses. I was prepared for the hard work, the dirt under my manicured fingernails. I was prepared for - and enjoy - the roosters crowing at 3 am, the dogs barking if there is something around that shouldn't be.

I wasn't prepared for losing animals because I didn't know enough to save them. I wasn't prepared for the down and dirty fight with Mother Nature to drag a few pitiful vegetables out of the ground when she had sent rain to drown them and then drought to scorch them. But I am trying. I am learning more about the animals I care for and about. I am starting over with a new garden, and tell myself that this time it will be better because I am better prepared.

I really wasn't prepared for the MacMansions a couple of miles down the road where every inch of the 5 acres is perfect lawn. People who want to be "in the country" and then want to turn it into a sprawling rural city. A couple of days ago one of the "Lords of the Mansion" complained to another neighbor about their roosters... I am glad there is no chance of anyone building any closer to me than the houses that are already there and that we are surrounded by Corps of Engineer land. Some people should just stay home, and should choose their home in a place that meets their comfort level instead of being disappointed when they find that other places are not what they expected.

Lagniappe

I love the Farmer's Market. I have a choice of two - one local and the other not so far away. The local one is smaller, with not as much variety but the prices are a bit better and the people seem more willing to give you a bit extra - what is known in Louisiana as "lagniappe". I got a couple of extra tomatoes, at least a pound of extra baby red potatoes, an extra little patty pan squash and an extra cucumber... and I know they will all taste wonderful. Match that, Wal Mart.

For just under $8 I have my vegetables for next week. I have my meat in the freezer, so everything is good.

I have been trying to sit Ken down and discuss how we can make this place more efficient. Everything has been done reactively instead of proactively. So there have been mistakes made. I now want to get things streamlined so that it isn't as much work. I am not getting any younger and need to work smarter instead of harder. I need to reduce my sheep and goats, I need to move the cow down to the larger field before she calves, I need to get the north area fenced and the pigs in to till it up for a garden...

There are times when I think I need a fairy Godmother. LOL

Cheep, Cheep

6:20 am and the phone rings. "This is Angela at the Post Office. We have your chickies". They are actually turkey poults - Narragansetts to be precise - but I see no reason to correct her assumption.

I get them home and put them in their new box - everything is already set up for them. I will set them up a bigger place in a couple of days when they have learned to eat and drink properly. Meanwhile, I think it better that they have their food and water close at hand. I think turkeys were hiding behind the door when brains were given out. They are pecking everything BUT the food and stumbling into the water like little drunkards.

This is only my second attempt with turkeys. My first attempt was a resounding failure. I started out with 9 and ended up with 4. Those four are almost certainly Toms. Two White Broad Breasteds (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and two Narragansetts whose fate is yet to be determined. Eventually I would like to raise some of the rare Breeds and color varieties, but until I am more experienced I will practice with the Hatchery variety.