Hectic Heaven

Make your own butter

One day last week I remembered that I had bought some heavy cream over the holidays for Moma's Favorite Cookie, which I am GOING to post the recipe for! REALLY! :)  Well, I thought with this much cream, it would be a good time to show the children how to make butter... well the easy way to make butter.
We pulled out the ole food processor.
Poured in all that cream and turned it on...
There were a few different stages that I told them we would see...
First of all we saw it just as a liquid, as it is as cream.
We would start seeing the cream slowly becoming thicker, until we had it at the whipped cream stage.
They all tried it at this point and sneered... sadly they thought it would taste like cool whip.  Pitiful, huh? I told them at the enormous amounts of 'stuff' added to cool whip and this was so much better, and that we could add a little sweetner if we wanted whipped cream, but we want butter!
Keep it moving, keep it moving...
FINALLY!
BUTTER! :) HURRAH!
Please forgive the skunk stripes down my child's hair... our New Years Party got a bit crazy! :) haha
Mmm... this butter is good, Mom!
We even took the buttermilk and put it in a jar to use later and washed the curds with ice water to help get all the milk off so the butter would last longer.
Now a solid. How crazy are we? Doing school when we are supposed to be on holiday? haha... so is the life of a homeschooler.
I hope you have a great day friends.
From My Homestead to Yours,
~Chas~
Chasity L. Burrell
Heritage Acres Farm

Still Working on Windows

We put up some white shades with white lace curtains in the dining room today.  I love them.  They look great.  I still have to figure out what to put on the dining room's picture window.

We put two white shades in the living room too.

I still have the quilt over the picture window in there.

I really like the lace ivory lace curtains on the door window.

I need to put curtains on the kitchen door window, the dining room picture window, and the two living room windows with only the shades.

Then I'm going to find some nicer curtains for upstairs and the bathroom.

This is actually fun.  I'm enjoying myself.

~Candy~

Dairy Goat Questions

I need some information on dairy goats.  With so many wise and experienced homesteaders, I thought I'd throw out some of my questions and thoughts, hoping to get some help and/or advice.

I have a chance to buy a 4 year old Saanen dairy goat.  The gal is willing to breed her and throw in 2 bred doelings in the deal.  The doe is a good milker giving almost 2 gallons a day. I was told she often falls asleep while being milk.

Here are my thoughts/questions:

1.  I'd like a dairy goat to have milk to drink, make soap, ice cream and cheese.  Is a Saanen a good overall choice for these things?

2. We are used to drinking raw cow's milk.  I have tasted Oberhasli milk and I couldn't tell the difference between it and cow's milk.  I keep reading about the "goaty taste of goat's milk".  Is this something that happens in certain breeds or does it have more to do with the goat's diet - grass vs. grain?

3.  I'm reading that Saanen are seasonal breeders... if this gal tries breeding them now, will it take?  She says they are not currently bred, but she will breed them for me.

4.  Does a 4-5 yr old doe have a few years left before I need to retire her from breeding/milking?

Thanks for the help
Carol

Wish Books...

Oh, those tempting little darlings are arriving daily in the mail ...yep, you know what I mean...SEED CATALOGS! 

What lovely thoughts they do bring to mind, gorgeously blooming flowers, luscious fruits and bountiful vegetables all in a perfectly tended garden  . 

Making a long list of new things to try and some old favorites to replant comes next. 

Then reality sinks in when I actually add up the cost of my wish list ; and the paring down begins.  I still usually end up with more seeds than garden space; but they make nice little gifts to tuck into a card or letter for a fellow gardener, and many can be saved for planting next season. 

I've yet to sit down for my list making this year, and it is just about time to start some things indoors ; but this afternoon looks to be cold and dreary outside- perfect weather for "seed shopping" in my book!

I will probably order from Bountiful Gardens and Seed Savers Exchange this year.  I love The Cook's Garden catalog, too; though mine has not yet arrived.  What are your favorite places to order seeds from?  

Next week I'll try to post a few picks for 2009 from my wish list.  Please share your own favorite seed catalogs, and any "must have" items from your own wish list this year!

With Wishes for a Bountiful New Gardening Year,

Catherine

Brined Roasting Chicken Recipe

Here's the chicken recipe I said I'd share with you.  I found it in a Taste Of Home magazine.  Don't be afraid to try it.  I thought the molasses would be weird but it just tastes like chicken with the flavoring throughout, not just in the skin.  Not sweet, not salty, not molasses tasting, just plain good!

Brined Roasting Chicken

8 cups warm water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp whole peppercorns, crushed
1 tbsp whole allspice, crushed
2 tsp ground ginger
1 roasting chicken (4 lbs)
4 cups cold water
1 tsp vegetable oil

For brine, combine the first seven ingred. in a large kettle.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir until salt is dissolved.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Remove giblets from chicken and save for another use.  Place cold water in a 2 gal. resealable plastic bag; add chicken.  Placein a roasting pan.  Carefully, pour cooled brine into bag.  Squeeze out as much air as possible; seal bag and turn to coat.  Refrigerate 3-4 hours; turning several times.

Discard brine.  Rinse chicken with water; pat dry.  Skewer chicken openings; tie drumsticks together.  Brush with oil.  Place chicken in a roasting pan.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 80-90 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees; basting occasionally with pan dripping.

Yields: 4-6 servings.

Enjoy!
Carol

Jasmine!

Jasmine, our new miniature jersey heifer arrived today.
She is precious!  She is a bit uptight, but we expect her to fall into a routine and relax a bit as the days go by.
Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Starting Over

We had prepared ourselves to move to Alaska.

Since we planned on flying, we gave away most of our stuff.

It's not upsetting.  It was actually rather freeing.

I hate stuff anyway.  Clutter....yuck!

Now that we have moved into my mother-in-love's old house, it's like starting all over. 

We are doing pretty well though.

I tend to think that we will end up with too much stuff.

People can be very generous when they hear someone needs something.

I am enjoying starting over.  It's like a fresh start.

I'm still not sure where we will be in the future, but I know that God is in control and that is enough.

I am actually still working on the curtain part.  I guess I am being very picky.

After I finally conquer the curtain detail, I want to wallpaper the kitchen.

I have a lot of ideas floating around.  It's exciting.

I like things simple.  I want our home to be inviting and peaceful.

Our children have refinished our big kitchen table.  They have done a wonderful job.  Thanks, guys!

Things are coming along nicely.

Until next time,

~Candy~

Interesting Sunday

Oh, it was "brisk" this morning (-8 degrees) when I bought the new rabbit mamas in to nurse their youngsters.  We named the mamas Phyllis and Poppy Seed.  I hated calling them doe 1 & 2.  Both did well once they understood what was going on.  We should only have to bring them in once a day since they are good moms and every little one had a fat little belly after nursing.  That makes things easier for me.

Madison brought one of my bantam chickens to me during chores to show me its blood stained feathers.  It's chest area obviously was bleeding at one time and Madison said there was blood on some of the old piping (pipes from when it was a dairy barn) where the chickens roost.  I figured that it just got in a fight with a turkey but Rich and Madison investigated further to discover skin on the pipe.  So we think the chicken must have gotten wet and its feathers froze to the pipe while it was sleeping.  OUCH!  My goodness, that must have hurt!  I think the little guy will be ok. 

I tried a new bread recipe I got from Karen L.  She shared it with me a few days ago and I've been waiting to try it.  Unfortunately, I used the bread machine (cuz' that's what Karen does) and the electricity popped off while it was in the dough cycle.  It still tasted good but I'm not sure it rose properly so I will try again in a few days.

We did a bunch of search-a-word puzzles today.  I'm very competative when it comes to puzzles.  Madison and Rich imposed rules for me to follow to slow me down as I get them done so quickly.  I had to use a different color crayon for marking each word (that included removing and putting each crayon back in the box) and I had to go straight down the wordlist, no skipping around.  FYI:  I'm still the word search Champ, lol. 

I made a brined chicken for supper.  I had my doubts due to the ingredients in the brine but it was delicious!  The recipe is a keeper.  I'll share it you real soon.

I think that's about it for today.
Carol

Fleece In The Valley

One of the problems I have encountered over my years of raising sheep is connecting with local handspinners who might like to buy my raw wool.  In my earlier days of raising sheep, there was no local wool mill to take my wool to.  Now I have the luxury of having a mill just 7 miles from my home.  That sure saves me and my customers a lot on shipping costs!

So I got to thinking the other day that there's got to be a way to connect the grower/producer with the handspinner and also including the mills in Montana.  I created Fleece in the Valley.  It's a yahoo group. 

Here's my description:

Wool & Shearing Sheep

I've blogged about shearing sheep here before.  In fact, there are several entries in case you want to search around. 

This post was born of frustration.  The frustration that comes from totally ignorant comments like, "I am a vegan and therefore I will only use man-made fibers, so as not to harm any poor little helpless animals."

May I be blunt?  (I guess I can, it's my blog!)  What do you think the good Lord put animals on this earth for?  For our viewing pleasure so that they may live out their days with rotted wool falling off their backs?  UGH! 

Let me give you a little lesson in sheep shearing.  Shearing prepares the sheep for giving birth and allows the lambs to find the teats much easier.   Wool is a renewable resource for the sheep, just like our hair.  Funny thing is, you cut it and it grows back.  A spring shearing is much like a shave and a haircut for us. 

The sheep is sat upon his/her rump in a position that is very calming and relaxing to it.  It's just sort of mezmerized  and allows the shearer to do his work.  From there the shearing begins.  A clipper is used to cut the wool off.  Once in a while a sheep is nicked, but sheep have so much lanolin in their wool, the nick QUICKLY heals.  Occasionally there are careless shearers out there who don't give a hoot about the sheep.  I've had some ears cut and teats cut off.  That shearer will not be back on my property.

Wool is a wonderful fiber.  There are so many different uses for it.  I just get tired of having to defend it to the ignorant, but then as they say, ignorance is bliss.

Besides, what do you think those man-made fibers are made of?