We went to pick up a ton of feed for the beasties, and then went past Randys' to see Brownie, our Jersey bull, and the calves he is trading us for Brownies services. So far 9 of his cows have birthed Brownies calves, 5 boys and 4 girls, and the next lot are getting ready to calve. He has 35 bales of straw for us, and will take the $ equivalent in meat, works for both of us.
Today Herbie started building a new dog house for Anni and Fletch. It's a small barn, looks really cool. I'll post pictures tomorrow, and keep you updated on the process.
We went to pick up a ton of feed for the beasties, and then went past Randys' to see Brownie, our Jersey bull, and the calves he is trading us for Brownies services. So far 9 of his cows have birthed Brownies calves, 5 boys and 4 girls, and the next lot are getting ready to calve. He has 35 bales of straw for us, and will take the $ equivalent in meat, works for both of us.
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The sunset last night from the family room door. The weather is awful, cold, rainy, muddy and the wind is howling, so I think I'll potter inside today. Herbie is out in the shed designing a dog house for Fletch and Anni which will replace the temporary shipping pallet and blue tarp one I rigged under the pear tree for them. He has the salamander heating the shed, and I think he is happy to be playing with his tools.
This afternoon was butter making day. I use the Cuisinart with a blade, pour in the slightly turned (soured) cream that I scooped off the milk, and switch it on for just under 2 minutes. Bingo, butter. Then comes the work part, but it is much quicker than hand churning it, or shaking it in a bottle ! Poured off the buttermilk, keeping the butter solids in the bowl. This is the buttermilk, which I keep to bake with, biscuits (scones) carrotcake etc. Add ice cold water, and "wash" the rest of the milk out of the butter. The butter is holding together, the water is very milky. This is the 3rd wash water, and it is clear, so the butter is ready to be kneaded to rid it of all the water, and the salt is added, if making salted butter. This was unsalted, or sweet butter, but I use Kosher salt, just to taste when making salted butter. Place waxed paper on the scale, and add butter. I wrap it in 1 lb parcels. I don't wash the butter off my hands, just paper towel it off as it leaves my hands beautifully soft and moisturised. A farm task that is actually gentle on my hands. Fold it into the paper, flatten it in a roughly rectangular shape, all the easier to fit into the freezer. The 3 lbs I made today, 2 sweet and 1 lightly salted. Voila, butter, identified, weighed and dated, ready to pop into the freezer. I laugh at that ad currently on TV where the woman is about to roast tomatoes with a blow torch, when a fairy godmother type woman arrives to give her canned roasted tomatoes, asking "do you churn your own butter too ?" to which I always reply out loud, Hell Yes !
Just had a freak accident - the wind is picking up, and it blew the chicken house door shut, tearing the hinge out of the wood, and crushed a baby chick to death. It was a female, but sort of looked like those fake animals that are hanging out of a car door etc, only this one was still warm. Damn, of all the ways to lose another chicken !
Rosco is barking like crazy, and has been doing so for the past hour. Thank goodness the neighbours are far away.I sleep with ear plugs, as Herbie comes to bed late after getting home, the geese shriek early, and Rosco is a barker. I can hear the sheep baaing, they are probably frustrated that the chickens haven't been fed yet, so they can't steal their grain !
Expecting high winds today through tonight due to storm Sandy off the East coast, so need to secure the rubbish bin and egg carton return crate or else I'll have to retrieve them from where ever the wind tosses them. The house is hot, and I can hear the central heat, Herbie must have been cold last night when he came home to a cold house, and switched it on. It is currently 35 degrees outside ! A succesful day, methinks. Bought an apple press and grinder, ready for next years' apple crop. Planted garlic for next year, and the curly willow cutting my friend Jackie brought me, down in a swampy area.
Tonight, most of the chicks went to the chicken house by themselves, only had to catch and transport about 8, although when I called for them, lots more ran out of the chicken house towards me. Didn't clean out the garage, partly as I'm lazy, partly as it is cold, although the physical labour would be warming (so is a drinky poo) and partly because everytime I open even the side door, the chicks and chickens rush in, and I fell yesterday chasing them out. Sounds like lots of shooting outside, wonder what's up ? Good night, sweetheart, good night. Wow, what a day. Last night I moved the chicks out of the garage to the chicken house, had to catch each one and take it to the chicken house, what a job. Used a large plastic storage container, dumped them in that, about 10 at a time, carried them to the chicken house, tipped them out, went back and did it again. At least I could count them, 70, so we have lost 33 chicks in the 7 weeks we've had them. I know 6 died in the first week as I found the bodies, and the dogs killed some, found 3 bodies, but they may have had more. Then there is the hawk, never actually seen it catch any, but we are losing them, over 30% of what I bought. Raccoons, opossums who knows what else is snacking on chicks.
Tonight, I had to catch them all again, wonder how long it will take them to realise the chicken house is their home ? I put the red heat lamps there so that they can follow the light, but only 2 managed to get themselves to bed tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I can get to cleaning out the garage. Will be great to not have the fine chicken dust covering everything. Only problem is that the 7 or so chickens that were laying their eggs in various places in the garage, including an unused kitty litter box, now have to find somewhere else to hide their eggs from me, but at least I can keep the dog feeder full. I'm just irritated, made an appointment at the Apple store when I retrieved the computer, but they were packed as usual, and the guy only got to me 10 minutes into my appointment time, so I just took the computer and came home. Plug it in, attach the back-up to it to re-load all my stuff, only to find iTunes is no longer on the computer, so I cannot upgrade to Mountain Lion to get the Cloud, nor can I load the latest iTunes as I need the previous one, which is seemingly no longer there. Last year this time we had eggs galore, so landed up donating lots of dozens of eggs to charity. Now, we have customers waiting for the girls to lay, and I actually go to the chicken house and lift the girls up to take eggs for waiting customers ! Hopefully we have at least 35 girls in the new chicks to become future egg layers, as a dozen or so eggs from 50 chickens is not good going. But then, I'm don't put them under artificial lights, nor pump up their protein intake, o this i. Early morning, and the farm is still sleeping. 2 hours before sunrise. Schlepped 6 huge bales of hay home yesterday, which took most of the day. It's how it started that was special, I woke and Herbie asked me to mix an aromatherapy massage oil. He had set up in the guest bedroom, massage table, candles, relaxation music, and I was spoilt with a very good full body massage. I'm a lucky girl.
Today it is expected to be hot, in the 70s, but windy. Hope to finish cleaning the chicken house, plant garlic and spread manure. Also need to fetch the computer, it was ready yesterday ! Back from Grand Rapids without the computer - needs a new harddrive and will take about a week ! Wow, no computer for a week, iPhone can do most things except my spreadsheets, but how am I going to keep track of my farm purchases and sales ? Back to the old pen and paper system I suppose.
Cleaned half the chicken house today. Why only half, a customer came and we went to look at the new baby alpaca, and then it started to rain. The bi-annual cleaning of the chicken house is an awful, smelly job, in the rain it is impossible, as the chickens all come in, and then you are shoo-ing them out of the way, which is stressful and affects their egg laying, although from the 50 or so mama chickens we currently have, only a dozen are laying. Filled the back of the buggy with nice manure for the garden, which I'll spread tomorrow, makes wonderful Winter mulch. Then will finish up, put straw down, and move the little ones out to the chicken house and reclaim the garage !
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March 2023
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