Fresh from the garden....

Freshly picked from the garden, we might have produced more if not for curious chicks pecking at the flowers.

On the left is a Meyer lemon, on the right a Persian lime.

Hurried mom's cheesemaking...

Okay, so you have a crying baby clinging to your leg, another child needs help defeating Bowser for the 10th time in his Super Mario Brother game...you have milk, and want to make cheese...what are your options!

Well, there are many actually!  Easy enough to make while bouncing the baby in one arm, and stirring your curds in another!

But first you need some basic supplies....
>Yogurt or buttermilk cultures, either a frozen icecube, or prepackaged single use packets are great in a pinch.
>Thick bottom pot,
>A thermos, or warm place,
So now, what to make...Yogurt, Chevre, Fromage Blanc, Paneer, more buttermilk, basically those soft cheeses, great for fresh eating, low muss, types. 

For recipes, I like to refer to one of my cheesemaking books, each one has it's strong points, from Ricki's cheesemaking book, 200 Easy Homemade cheese recipes, to Mary J. Toth's book, each is great in it's own right.  For online recipes, I recommend cheesemaking.org
Happy cheesemaking!

Mud, rain, and more mud....

 

 

Kids playing in the dry areas

It's been a mild winter!   I'm glad the kidding happened in the coldest part of the season.  Although inconvenient, the bugs, worms and what have you are at their lowest levels, ensuring a fast growth rate with the kids.  The kids just tend to be hardier overall as well.

The garden is just covered in weeds, and the duck is just having a party with all the puddles everywhere.

I for one, I think my kids will agree with me though, that we are ready to have some drying sunshine.  This was a day for DH to put in some more raised beds in the garden though.  Next weekend will be another barn scraping day, with all this rain, the sheep will go out rain or shine, but the goats, are my barn babies, and I have black gold to scrap out for the garden!

Stay dry everyone!

My feathered kids....

It's that time of year again, where I move the chicks from the greenhouse to the coop where the big hens play.  It's always a stressful time of year...will they jump into the pond? will they stay out late at night chasing moths? will a hawk or possum pick them up?  or try to return to the greenhouse?  Well, they are too big for that greenhouse, so off they go, to forage and play.  The first night not too bad, they huddle on the floor rather than roost, but I lost have the chicks during the night, it was pretty stormy.  I blame the lead rooster, a wussy one has taken his place, such is nature. 
Everynight, I go to the coop collect the chicks from the ground and put them up on the roost with the big hens.  DH said it's so much easier when the hens raise them, but no, it's worse with the hens sometimes, because I have to help the chicks down from wherever the nest is, usually on a bookshelf or trough, every morning, and back up to the nest at night to sleep under Momma.  The mother hen just clucks anxiously at the chicks on the ground to fly up to the safety of the roost, but being chicks, lack feathers or skill. :rolling eyes:  Still, nothing beats the flavor of free range eggs, and the yolks have such a bold yellow color, I swear it's high in omega 3s or something cool.
In the picture, is Mr. Roostery, such named by my son, he's sweet, and a wuss, I don't see him fighting off hawks or possums, but he'll do just fine. :-)