That secret road trip, thrifting find, poultry update

As I mentioned previously, we made a trip to view some land. The land turned out to not be for us. There is a 1/2 acre flat area about 50 feet higher then the other 6 1/2 acres. The lower acreage flooded last year which does not make me feel good. Having a barn with poultry, goats, and cattle down there to chance is not what we want. We LOVED the area and am determined that is where we will buy. Land is cheap there, which means we can have our 10 acres (or more), the big 4 bedroom house, a nice barn and a decent greenhouse and not have to struggle. The realtor had her friend (who lived a mile down the road and had a hottie for a husband) meet us at the property. She was better able to tell us about the community, the school and even better first hand about the property. They drive by it every day. That is how we found out that last year, the entire bottom acreage flooded at least 1/2 a foot deep. We will continue to work with this realtor in our search. We are determined to buy before winter in that school district.

Stopped off at the thrift store for some kitchen towels- they alsway have those great waffle cloth kind for 50 cents- and I never leave without a look in the kitchen aisle. I keep my eyes open for big stainless steel bowls, possible cheese mold items, vintage picnic supplies or great old fashioned but in great shape kitchen ware. i am still looking for those old wooden box bottomed coffee grinders. I did spot one today but they priced it at $8. Just too pricey in my opinion for something that may not work. but I did find a great partner to my old picnic basket- which needs to have a few repairs on the edges.
A vintage jug thermos! The tag was in mint condition till the soapy water washed over it. DARN! Oh well, at least the jug is in mint condition inside and out. Just look at that aluminum handle. Not a speck of rust or discoloration. The lid untwists to reveal a small cup inside. Lift off the cup and the rim is wide enough for a soup ladle! Perfect for those fall outing picnics and I want to bring along some soup- some like that wild rice and sausage recipe I made last fall.
This just gives me another excuse to make another one of those picnic cloth sets-complete with a bib for Frog. One set with green, yellow, and tan colors to match my picnic set above.
The Muscovy ducklings are growing fast. There are 2 that are half the size of the other 14. Yes, that would be 16 total since another duck in my care has drowned in 4 inches of water... Poor thing must have got in and could not find its way out before the cold night came. So I moved the pool to a spot where it is on a slope . It puts the water in half while the other half is dry. They have steps to get in and out just to be safe.
Since we did the road trip this last weekend, I had to clean out the goat cabin, weed a 1/4 of the garden- since it has been wet for 2 weeks increasing their size like steroids, and visit the feed store for Chicken food. Those broilers are not at the size they should be by now. its my fault. I did not want a bunch of dead chickens due to all that eating, so I thought if I slowed them down some, it would increase their vitality and keep deaths at a minimum. Wrong. We are still down to 9 out of 15. So it goes to show, next time I will let them suck up all the food they want and not feel guilty. But D***, they eat alot despite my rationing. They are scheduled to go to freezer camp on the 20th. I hope I do not have to bump it up a few weeks. I want some fresh chicken for the captains birthday. Which is no longer a toga party. Too many people will be out of town, so maybe next year.
Enough rambling. Off to bed with you!
Sweet dreams,
~Tammie

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Neufchatel cheese and some future plan rambling....

I began the process of making cream cheese or rather "Neufchatel" the evening of last Thursday. I followed the process listed on this great Cheesemaking site-(Fankhauser's)- many of you may already know of. It was so easy and simple which produced a large enough amount to make 1 cheesecake. After the milk/buttermilk/rennet sat all night at room temperature, I drained the curd( in 1st picture). Then had to hang in a sterile handkerchief (pic 2) for draining the excess liquid. I had to use the empty "Kegarator" The Captain has in the rec room. Since the fridge upstairs has the tempered glass shelves. -This would be where all adult beverages are stored- where children do not wander. After hanging all night, It is ready to unwrap and add the salt (pic 3). Smells so creamy!
The Sugar pie pumpkins are starting to change colors from green to yellow orange. Yippeee! I hope to make more cream cheese when the pumpkins are ready to whip up a pumpkin cheesecake. The accomplishment I feel from producing our own dairy products can not be easily described. It is so uplifting and a boost is just what I needed right now.
Future plan outlook:
We are leaning towards Dairy cows in the future. 3-4 would be enough and male calves would be processed/sold to supply meat for winter and buy enough hay for the dairy girls. Any females MAY be kept or will be traded/sold for other needs. A few dairy goats but not more the 2 or 3 at a time- would like to have & train a few wethers to be pack goats/ pull a wagon. Raising chickens-really liking the Delawares- for meat and eggs, plus growing a 3/4 to1 whole acre garden would be enough for freezing/canning and sell extra off or trade for what we need. (Can you tell I really enjoy bartering?) We plan to put in 8 blueberry bushes, 4 peach, 8 apple, 4 pear, and a very big amount of berry canes and table fruit variety grapevines. It will take about 5 years to be established, but Rome was not built in one day my friends. The grape startings I received from a freecycler recently, will be established & produce in just 2 years. Those will be going with us to any new land.
I would like to point everyone over to Pile O'Melays blog.Click here to Check out the root cellar they are building- with a glass bottle wall! Very cool. Gotta write "root cellar with glass bottle wall & outdoor bath tub" on list of things to build in the future homestead. Lots of great stuff over there to drool over and be inspired- gardens, projects, recipes and adventures. Be sure to check it out if you are not already a current visitor to his place.
Sweetest Dreams,
~Tammie

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Yogurt success , a weeks garden bounty & secret road trip

I used 1 gallon of "FRESH" cow milk mentioned in my last post to make a batch of yogurt. At first i thought i goofed due to the websites recipe stating it should be ready in 3 hours. After utilizing a great homesteading forum asking for answers, I placed the above back in their warmed water for 6 more hours. SUCCESS!
I did not realize till later that I used Dannon All Natural yogurt WITH vanilla added. All recipes call for plain yogurt to be used for a starter- Why i am not sure, but Mine worked out just fine. The taste test will come in the morning. we add a teaspoon of cinnamon and a cup of granola to our morning Yogurt, but I will be brave and taste it plain from the jar. I tried my hand at Mozzarella but am not sure if it came out O.K. I will sample that at lunch with halved cherry tomatoes and basil leaves drizzled with olive oil and minced garlic.

We have had a wonderful week of rain and the garden keeps pumping out the summer squash. The herbs have been abundant too. in the pink bucket is Basil- the 1 of 2 times a week cutting, off to the left of it are peppermint and thyme for drying. The cherry tomatoes are begining to ripen and the zinnia's are still providing centerpieces. The light yellow sunflowers are new for us this year. They are "lemonade" far bottom right & center plus "teddy bear"- being the more frayed appearing petals on the far upper left. We have always grown the autumn harvest color in the far bottom left and the Russian mammoth- not being very mammoth on the upper right..
We are looking at some property this weekend at a secret location. But I will tell you it has over 7 acres, A very nice distance away from any stores, a wide stream you can fish or swim in, Woods on the surrounding edges, and was used as farm pasture before the last house burned down. All at an amazing price too enticing to pass up without a look. If it is worth mentioning again, I will post pictures before Monday.
I have sewing to finish- a top for myself, a twin size blanket for Lil' Man, and a few tops for frog before Saturday.
Sweetest dreams,
~Tammie

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blueberry picking, old man in the tree, sewing, fresh cow milk

This week has been filled with activities. After reading Cheryl's post on her blueberry picking, I could not hold off the urge and packed the kids up for a day of it. We reached our goal of entire bucket filled for the day. Frog was more active this year- but not helping in the picking department. She would sneak berries from our buckets as we dropped them in. Her wagon was brougt along and she would take breaks from all her sneaking sitting in there- eating her handful of berries. As you can see in the photo, the Blueberry shack has lots of bushes. Over 5,ooo. we are centered in the mid-line of rows. It goes all the way back to the woods. More blueberries will be picked this upcoming weekend with my Mother in law. The price went up from last year at $1 a pound to $1.20 a pound. It is still worth every penny.





Remember the man in in the tree?
Well on our return trip from the blueberry shack, I spotted another! I just love these carvings. We have it in the plans to have one of our very own when we purchase our next property. Right by the driveway to greet all who drive up the long path. How amazingly beautiful to use carve a dying tree's trunk instead of disturbing the earth & destroying all signs of its existence. Truly an "aw inspiring" moment.
A few rainy days lead into lots of sewing time. I found this great pink canvas like material with all the "O" 's - which made me think of our niece whose name starts with O and had a birthday party this last weekend. So I made her a purse she can fill with markers, crayons, coloring books or even baby dolls if she liked. we bought a few gifts along with giving her the purse. I Made one for panda too who loves it! I feel it has a messenger bag look and feel without the flap. Love how it wraps the body but could also be thrown to the back and still be comfortable to wear. Frog was not to be left out. Looking through her closet she had nothing to wear to the party so I whipped up a dress with some fun fabric and a thrift store found vintage 70's pattern in her size. My first try at making /sewing my own binding, so its not perfect. it still got lots of "Thats so cute. Where did you buy it" comments. I did not attend the party. The Captain was in charge of the day (his family so he was in charge-were weird like that), while I made a trip for fresh milk & firebricks- more about that in a minute. The captain said no one could believe the dress was homemade and even made the comment "She made it? It doesn't look homemade"- ummm thats the idea.... So Thank you- I guess.... smiling...
So while he attended the kids party I was off picking up fresh cows milk(5 gallons) to make some cheese and other yummies plus trade a complete set of old skis for 32 firebricks. I really want to make an outdoor oven for bread and pizza making. the firebricks go on the inside- obviously. the plan i found to be easiest so far, is this one. But the materials are bit much. there has to be less "extras" in a plan that works- somewhere. I will continue my search and hopefully get started on that oven before the Fall. Yes, i realize some may find building an outdoor oven when we are trying to sell our home may seem a bit "duh". No, this is a practice oven. This one will make me more prepared for the next properties Oven. i can learn from my mistakes and improve on other things from the experience of building here- and not having to tare it down to only build another.
This week a trip to the auction is planned. All these ducklings and extra chickens need to be cut back. I hate to do it, but the offensive odor from the little escapees are too much to handle. They hang around our deck and I'm sick of stepping in bird poo. The 3 brahma bantams serve no purpose other then eye candy, so they gotta go along with 8 muscovy ducklings. Out of the 9 left, we will keep a female and the rest go to the processor in the fall (for $4 a bird- ouch! add it to the cost of raising them & imagine if we did all 17...). Maybe I have not mentioned this before but just as an FYI, we are not allowed to butcher any animal on our property in this township. That is my reason for bringing the animals to someone else. It will change once we move.
The garden is calling and the "goat girls" would like to browse sometime today....
Harvest dreams,
~Tammie

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Fernie, Delawares, Zinnias, & our table runneth over....

I picked up our dairy doe Saturday. A long drive due to wrong directions and a late night drive home - really "blew"- which I do not like driving at night on the interstate.

Her previous name was Fawn- which I find myself calling her Fern. It just flows out and feels so right to call her that. So Fern it is. Sometimes it is Fernie but we call Lady Chia "chi chi" all the time now... In fact all goats are named Chi Chi according to Frog.
I found Fern in a condition I call neglect- especially being a "milker". The owner of a huge boer farm for many many years should know better. She needed a hard dose of wormer, a shot of B complex- with possibly an iron shot (if her eyelids do not start to pinken more). Fern was the bottom of the herd line- picked on by all the meat goats with their big horns & pushy ways. Her previous home owner said she would have to chase her in order to milk her- so she just did it when it was convenient...Sigh... Well here she is being lovingly smothered with care. She is not up to having a full body shot but we are working on building up her confidence for the camera. Oh and with us she is calm & never runs from us. She walks up to us and rubs her head against our legs for a sweet whisper in her ear and a gentle petting. She has won over Panda who can lead her around by a gentle collar hold. I hope to make a trip soon to buddy's home in Millersburg Ohio and be able to set up a "date" for the two.Panda has a new found love for Zinnia's. we have just a small but decent size patch of them, which has given many child size bouquets for the dinner table- compliments of the children.
The delaware hens we purchased back in late May have become very nice sized and now sleep in the goat cabin with the other hens. They are handled/carried by the children (and chased) but do not mind enduring a walk around the yard in search of snack bugs while the kids do all the searching and turning over of rocks. They are filled with personality but can be a bit "pecky" at times. They love the brass circle tabs on jean sides and lookout bandaids! Otherwise, we are happy with them so far.
The garden has pumped out so many Zucchini & squash Our table truly runneth over!- like you have never heard that before, I know..
So a fair amount is sliced thick & frozen for the winter while others are being enjoyed stuffed, sauted, grilled & marinated. But the most recent favorite is Zucchini/squash Fries!

ZUCCHINI/SQUASH FRIES:
Halve length wise- scoop out seed middle- slice width wise into 1/4 inch thick slices- dip in egg/milk mix- then coat in flour which you have added garlic powder and seasoning salt. You can either use a deep fryer or just pour 3 cups veggie oil into a saucepan heated on medium. drop in a handful of the prepared slices, scoop out once lightly golden brown onto a newspaper lined plate to cool. We dipped ours in ranch the first night. Many variations have transpired with tonight being a dip from roasted red peppers.
The recipe is from Rachel Ray magazine for her Zucchini fritter recipe.
1 12 ounce jar roated red peppers- drained then puree in food processor with 1 clove garlic smashed and peeled. add 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 tspn salt plus a dash of hot sauce if you like. Puree again then serve with the above.
Looking for ways to use your abundance?
A link to all zucchini summer squash recipes: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blv61.htm
I aspire to make the zucchini tarts at this link-scroll down- maybe the couscous with spiced zucchini at this link.
~Sweet summer dreams,
Tammie

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Chica bonita and in search of Buddy......

I have had a bit of bad luck on the whole goat breeding experience. Last year we had 2 does which neither were successfully bred. So I sold Cleo (keeping Lady Chia) and this last spring brought dehlilah home in the hopes of another try. Lets just say a farm friend was visiting and noticed something a bit different about her & did an exam. Lets just leave it at she has been sold to a lady who wanted her for just a pet and not breeding.
After searching on various local goat forums, I found a goat in milk as a first freshner at an agreeable price and just 3 years of age. Her first kidding was with triplets. Here is glimpse:
This weekend I will be making the trip South to look her over and possibly bring her home.
The Captain & I had always hoped for kids from Buddy and after seeing the potential Doe's pic above, I made a call. The call was to the auction house we sold Buddy at and am now waiting for a return call with the buyers information. If you read over the post about his auction day, you will then know it is an Amish young guy who bought him and Buddy was his new buck to start up his own herd. My immediate thoughts were -what if he no longer has him? What if he sold him to someone else & I just end up with a big chase? But it is a chase well worth the chance of pairing him up this Bonita. I strongly feel any female kids would be a great herd starter for our Forever home. I only wish you could have heard the admiration they had once seeing Buddy. I always thought of him as a handsome and a well formed buck but I was his momma. All mommies think their kids are perfect. I say this laughing of course. His form & milking line added with this doe would hopefully make treasured kids.
On another note, the gardens are doing very well despite the dry weather. We have squash plants still pumping out their fruits, 6 watermelons about tomato size, 12 sugar pie pumpkins the size of grapefruits or larger, tomatoes bursting all over the place and a lettuce bed that needs reseeding- like last week. There is more but i will not continue to bore you of the subject. I am sure everyone is blogging about their gardens and the abundance so far.
Tommorow is green bean picking at the local U-pick. I think we will go with yellow wax beans and see if they have the smaller green beans available.
~Sweet dreams,
Tammie

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A day at Goat Fest (with 2 slideshow links)

The goat fest was an enjoyable day with my girls. They had a decent amount and variety of goats to view, decent demos including basic canning and basic soap making. I overheard there was one for cheese making but could not find any info for it. They had a great raffle pavilion with LOTS of great goat related items. I won 2 3.5 lb containers of goat kid milk replacer. There was a windmill on display which showed how it can aerate your pond- kinda cool (& easy) how it works. There was a gentleman who makes wood buggies and the prices- in my eyes- were reasonable. in the slide show there are 2- the bigger one was $1400 and the smaller $1100. There was another gentleman who made the carts for goats to pull and his prices were very reasonable too. his were more like $300-400 for the more simple 2 seaters & unfortunately I took no pictures of them.
Click here for slide show part 1.
Click here for slide show part2.
There was goats milk cheesecake- very very yummy and there were some very delicious Chevon (goat) meat sandwiches. Lots of fun but check out the slideshows to view all the pics.
Panda wants to have her own goat & cart now. Guess I better start researching ...
Sweet dreams, ~Tammie

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How many do U C?, cast begone and Wagon makeover

Did you count them? I had to take a picture just to be sure I was not counting double. There were more eggs under her then I realized. 17 baby Muscovy ducklings. Now what the H*** am I going to do with 17 of them. I had not expected this many to hatch out. I thought maybe 12 or 13 at most. It costs $4 a duck for processing so I am doubting all will be done. We will save 1 female out of the bunch & hope it is not from Clyde. We will go with one that looks most to Bonnie's previous "bo".


Look who got her cast off today! Everyone in the family is happy about that one. The lil monster discovered that her cast makes a great people wacker and door banging is much louder. She was a real trooper. Not a wimper or tear was shed getting it on and not a tear or wimper was made while getting it off. She uses that arm as if there never was a cast on.
Big plans tomorrow. I am taking Panda & Frog to a "country skills" festival which centers around Goats. as i did my checklist of what to bring, it occurred to me, I need to bring something to pull frog in. I no longer own a stroller since they never work on hiking trails anyway. So I decided that our trail wagon needed a makeover. After all, it is 7 years old. It had to have the back wheels replaced this last Spring and the only available ones were bigger then the front. It gives it more of an all terrain tough touch, in my opinion. The inside was getting rusty due to being left outside in all weather conditions and a certain little boy last year decided he was going to paint stripes on the wood sides. So this is the new Frog friendly wagon:
I stripped off the wood and spray painted the (red) Red Ryder body with a sage green color from Rust- Oleum. I then spray painted all the wheels and other "wheel hardware" were spray painted black along with the handle.
The wood sides were cleaned of all dirt and old paint then painted with a "white wash pickling stain" by Minwax ( 1 qt. was on the clearence shelf for $2 from $10).
Of course how could it be finished without some new cushioning for napping little girls. It is one whole piece with 2 separate pillows inside. It ties at the top for easy removal and washing.
The umbrella is great for those sunny days to keep the glare out of her face.

I like it and will keep my eye out for more metal wagons that I can makeover for others. I may see if the local freecycle has any I can repair. I think it would make for a great kid birthday gift. I hate buying toys. I Love making stuff instead. I plan to make a few sun dresses and headbands but one of these would make a big hit in pastel pink...
Sweet Dreams,
~Tammie

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Wholesale Furniture Brokers now Advertising on "5 Minutes for Mom"

Wholesale Furniture Brokers has posted advertising on a website that we feel is worth some extra kudos. Started by fellow web-entrepreneurs Susan & Janice (who are both very pleasant to work with), 5 Minutes For Mom is a great web ring for all work-at-home moms, helping with recipes, experiences, website/blog links and, yes, kids furniture. Check it out, and don't forget, moms, we have grownup furniture too!

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Furniture Shoppers Want Your Opinion Online

Globe & Mail recently reported that consumers (possibly one reading this sentence) are shopping for furniture online, rather than going store-to-store in their community.

"About 38 per cent of online buyers visited more than one online store this year before making a purchase, an increase of four percentage points from 2006, the study by J.C. Williams Group found Wednesday.
The survey also showed that online buyers are early adopters of social networking such as writing or reading blogs, customer reviews, and community websites. They're more likely to share their opinions and give reviews online than people who shop the old-fashioned way."

It stands to reason that people prefer to hear opinions and information from their peers as opposed to reading a splashy sales ad from a business trying to make a sale. Wholesale Furniture Brokers has always displayed customer opinions on their furniture testimonial page and is already featuring their Furniture Review pages and look forward to sharing thoughts and opinions with their customers across North America.

Click Here to read the full article.

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Ducks are hatching!

Walked out this morning to find 3 Muscovy ducklings have hatched.
1 which hatched out in front of Panda & I.

Another had poked a hole before our eyes which was amazing to watch and then see these eggs jumping around in the nest along with little peeps.
As of 9pm, there are 8 that have hatched out with one who appears to be still soaking wet.I think I saw 5 more eggs left ( a which few I could see did have the beginnings of a hatch) which also means i was kinda off on my egg count from before. 2 rotten eggs exploded today and another looks black as they did- which leaves 4 good white Muscovy eggs and 2 chicken eggs yet to hatch. Man it stinks in that shed! The egg exploded right in the nest which means I can not do anything till she is ready to move off the nest with her babies. Hopefully the morning will bring a nest full of babies all hatched out and healthy. Lots of colors in the batch. There is one who appears to be brown and yellow. 1 looks all yellow and a good amount have Clydes black markings.
I'll be sure to get a few good shots of proud mama and her babies on parade soon.

Sweet dreams,
~Tammie

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chickens and berries

The Delaware hens & Brahma bantams were let out to free range today. I have kept them in the chicken tractor that is moved every other day on the hilltop and around the gardens, which gives fresh greens often. But today they were loose to wander IN the gardens. They follow me around as I go through attacking the (many) weeds, which have escaped my sight over the last month. Little peeps surround me, feathered wings brush my ankles & little claws climb over my sandaled feet as they weave in and out of the tall tomatoes, bushy squash and viney pumpkins/watermelon. Little puffs of white and brown mixed in with all that green put a smile to my lips.
We have had a horrible time with Japanese beetles this year. I have never had a problem with beetles- never even had one beetle- until this year. I think it may have something to do with the first time growing of potatoes. We have put up a "beetle bag" and continue to pick them off plants and throw them into hot soapy water. They have done a lot of damage to my zinnias and morning glories. luckily it has kept them off my tomatoes which sit next to the flowers.
This is the first year I have been able to collect the wild strawberries that grow here. The chickens have always free ranged and Buddy (that D*** goat) would get to them before me.
But not this year! AHA! Although now the kids know they are there. Actually, they have been eating them for weeks now before I could stop them. Lil' boogers.
I was able to freeze a small handful today along with the 2 cups of wild blackberries we picked at the secret spot.
The blackberries were abundant and there are lots of canes that are not even close to being ripe for at least 3-4 weeks. So I hope to trek back in the next day or two to pick enough to fill a quart freezer bag full. I hope to have at least 5 of those bags in the deep freezer before the season is over with a variety of other berries.
I am really hoping i did not give myself a case of poison ivy. I was wearing flip flops and know there had to be some I stepped on. I had not expected to pick berries. I was lucky to find a plastic bag in the glove compartment and an old map under the seat to line it ( I had just cleared out all my pails and baskets from the cargo trunk to shampoo the inside the night before!!). The Captain was taking Panda & Lil Man fishing and I spotted a woman with a bowl of berries who stopped to chat about how little willow is. She said there was not much on the spots she visited which must be different from where i checked. Of course having a sleepy frog on your hip prevents the stretching needed for the deeper/bigger ones. Oh well. That just gives me a great excuse to go hiking while the weather has turned cooler for 1 more day.
Berry sweet dreams,
~Tammie

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