Early this morning, Daisy May was bellowing. Couldn’t hear Eleanor, so had a bit of concern as to the whereabouts of Tony. Could see Gus from the back window, but no sight of Tony. So at 8:15 am I was down in the milk parlour, setting up for milking. Took just under 3-gallons from them, leaving the rest for the boys. The problem doing it this way is that most of the cream stays behind.
Then went feeding and watering all the other beasties, and discovered that the Jerseys has bust through the closed gate. Dammit, another thing to fix. Trudged back to the power point, turned it off, found my fencing supplies and 2 new gate handles, then returned and fixed that. Added a spring to each strand which gives it a little more give, as that’s the side that Gabriel keeps lifting, which moves the fence post making it very difficult to re-latch.
Talking about Gabriel, taking him, Little Red, Immanuelle and JuneBug to Mike on Monday for the livestock auction on Tuesday. So we’ll be out of the Scott Highland business. I’ve struggled to find a market for grass-fed beef here in Ionia. The health-kick hasn’t reached here yet, and Herbie doesn’t want to feed them through another Winter. Seasaidh is going down to Coldwater, and I’m getting ready to send Taxes to butcher. IRS will be our beef next year, and then Tony the year after and probably Gus the year after that. I’ll be putting Ginger and Thor on CL for sale.
I decided yesterday to make falafel for Herbie. Rather a large undertaking starting with soaking the chickpeas last night. Today I roasted the sesame seeds in a cast iron pan until lightly coloured, then whizzed them in the VitaMix with olive oil for the tahini. Next came the hummus, opened a jar of chickpeas I canned last year, added garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, cumin, tumeric, onion, salt and pepper and processed to a paste. Added some tahini to it. Amy was my taster, and she pronounced it good.
Then started on the falafel. Drained the soaked chickpeas, added them to the Cuisinart, then garlic, onion, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and a bunch of freshly picked parsley. Chunked it up and went looking for chickpea flour to bind, but discovered I didn’t have that, so used almond flour, which didn’t really do the job. Amy suggested I needed to process the mixture more to a finer consistency, so I did, and although it held together a bit better, it wouldn’t stand up to deep frying. So added plain flour and 2 eggs. That did the trick and I started frying them. Amy tasted and said they were good. Her 2-month old grandson started getting agitated, so I made her falafel to-go. Couldn’t get the pita to pocket, so gave her falafel tacos as per the photo above. Put 2 or 3 pieces on half a pita, added sliced avocado, put some onion and a tomato from my garden in white vinegar with salt earlier to marinade, added some of that then put a dollop of hummus on top and drizzled with the tahini. Not quite traditional, but I thought they’d go well together. Amy enjoyed it :)
When Herbie got home, he thought I’d made hush puppies and started eating them standing in the kitchen, then said he wanted tzatziki sauce to dip them in. Although I’d planned on making tzatziki sauce for the falafel, discovered I didn’t have any cucumber. It took a bit of convincing him to let me make him the same as I’d made for Amy. He wanted to wait a little before eating, so I took one to him with a bit of hummus and tahini in it. He wanted to know why I’d put peanut butter on it :/. Sesame seeds, not peanuts !!! Same colour, different taste.
Yesterday Jackie and I met down at the new coffee place in the village, owned by a previous milk herdshare owner at the farm, Jennifer. We agreed to go to some estate sales this morning, she had to take her son to a specialist in Grand Rapids at 9 am, but thought she’d be finished early. I’d offered the falafel to Amy for lunch, and she was bringing her first grandson over, Gabe. And a bowl of her home made soup, which is why she’s known as “Soup Amy” so Herbie knows who I’m talking about. Jackie ran late, and I was cooking and didn’t get some messages until later, so didn’t get to go to the estate sales, but Jackie said it wasn’t that great. Also didn’t get to go back to the coffee shop, as we were trying to figure out why the espressos were sour. I’d taste tested so many cups I was feeling rather light headed. Found my tin of Illy, which I want to take over to see if my favourite espresso beans would make a difference.
All in all, I was on my feet for about 8 hours today. Whew, I’m bushed. And the kitchen, as usual I suppose, looks like a disaster. Lay with Herbie until he fell asleep so didn’t get to separate the cows, so it’s going to be tricky getting the milk I need for Manda tomorrow. Brad is hunting tomorrow morning so I have all the Border Collies in the garage. Also, Lisa has discovered she can chase Tony and Gus down the channel. She’s tried with the milk cows, but they don’t run. It’s behaviour that needs to stop.
Oh well, good night to all.