Abernathy Creek Farm

County Fair - Day Four and Still Functioning

2011-08-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

Have you been keeping up with us? It's County Fair time. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day Four and Still Functioning.

County Fair - Day Three...Keeps Getting Better

2011-08-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

It's County Fair time for us. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day Three...Keeps Getting Better.

County Fair - Day Two and a Great One at That!

2011-08-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

It's County Fair time for us. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day Two and a Great One at That.

County Fair - Day One and Counting

2011-08-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

It's County Fair time for us. Head over to our family blog SixintheNorthwest.blogspot.com and read all about it...County Fair - Day One and Counting.

Time for a Little Maintenance

2011-04-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today's goal, as has been for about about a week now, is to update our Goats for Sale page. We are down to only three does for sale at this point of the year. But that is soon to change...

This week marks the beginning of our kidding season, and we are likely to see our herd double in size quickly.

Our Nigerian herd sire, Mo, already has a mini Ober with almost no white on her on the ground from a breeding we did outside of our herd. Looks like a sweetheart.

More posts will be coming shortly with the results of his other breeding in our herd. The clock is ticking...

Where are the eggs?

2011-02-05T15:36:00.000-08:00

Definitely the question of the month...where are the eggs? My flock of about a dozen laying hens have been conspicuously absent from the egg laying business. Most winters our egg production will drop and perhaps even stop all together for awhile after a significant drop in temperatures. But no eggs at all? I'm not dealing well with this at all.

I know the basics: good poultry feed; 14-16 hours of light; shelter; all the stuff that we normally provide. So what would be the difference this year?

Well for one, I had slipped into the habit of buying an all-purpose 14% feed. Definitely not the protein or calcium that laying hens need. So two weeks ago, I updated their feed and have made a commitment to always have their feeder topped off so they are not tempted to forage so much and dilute their diet.

We have been running a light on a timer all winter with a few hours in the morning and a few more hours in the evening totaling 14 hours. But I may have stumbled upon something out of curiosity the other day. Online sources I referenced made mention of providing light obviously but some went so far as to suggest red or orange bulbs that would provide more of the natural spectrum light they need. Being lazy I just stuck in a regular light bulb in their house without a thought this fall. I'm beginning to wonder if it was not providing enough of the right type of light for them. In other years I have run a red heat lamp and have had great laying as mentioned above throughout the winter months.

Other than these two changes, there isn't much more I can do I suppose. Fresh water is out all the time. They have a fantastic house to roost in. Nice laying boxes filled with hay which they prefer to shavings. Satin pillows perhaps? Soothing music? It has been two weeks since the feed change and just this week with the new light. So I'm anticipating some eggs here real soon. The kids are anxiously waiting to feast on raw cookie dough again!

July Harvest and Preserving

2010-08-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Although I post to our Daily Harvest and Preserving pages almost daily, readers of this blog might not get a glimpse of what we grow and raise around here plus what we try to put away for later seasons. So my thought is to share from those links monthly in a separate post. Just looking back on what we had access to is sometimes quite surprising. Another reason to be thankful for the property we have and the ability to produce healthy foods for our family.

July's Produce

free-range eggs
twice-a-day goat milkings - ricotta, chevre, feta
snap and snow peas
strawberries
Russian and Nero kale
Swiss chard
endive
radicchio
radishes
green onions
Romaine lettuce
spinach
mache
arugula
snow and snap peas
winter mesclun mix
red onion thinnings
a tiny amount of basil prunings
fresh hardy herbs - chives, thyme, oregano

July's Preserving

7/1/10 - 14 oz. Romano goat cheese
7/2/10 - 14 oz. Parmesan goat cheese
7/8/10 - 10 oz. Italian seasoned ricotta salata
7/11/10 - 14 oz. Romano goat cheese
7/15/10 - 10 oz. plain ricotta salata
7/17/10 - 16 oz. Romano goat cheese (might not make it though)
7/19/10 - 18 oz. farmhouse goat cheddar
7/29/10 - 14 oz. Romano goat cheese

7/15/10 - 24 pounds blueberries u-picked from Redland Blueberries
(blueberry tart; 6 gallon bags frozen)
7/30/10 - 15 pounds blueberries u-picked from Redland Blueberries
(lost track of how many berries were frozen; lots though)

7/19/10 - 2 pint bags frozen Marionberries
7/23/10 - 2 pint bags frozen Marionberries
7/26/10 - 1 pint bag frozen Marionberries
7/29/10 - 2 pint bags frozen Marionberries
7/31/10 - 2 pint bags frozen Marionberries

7/28/10 - 12 oz. lime basil white wine vinegar
7/31/10 - 12 oz. thyme red wine vinegar

So as you can see this year has been a pretty productive gardening year for us. Plenty of material to work with and to be creative with in the kitchen.

Morning Chores

2010-08-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

If you have pets at home, you have a few extra daily jobs to do. If you raise livestock, then you start calling that extra work chores. If your daughters raise the livestock, then you don't worry about the extra chores because your daughters take care of them.

HOWEVER...when those daughters are gone to camp or unavailable, those animals still need cared for. And guess who gets to step in? Yep, me.

So here's a taste of this morning's chores:

Scooped up daily allotment of food for both puppies; fed half this morning. Filled water dish.

Headed down to let out chickens.

Fed both horses and the donkey their hay.

Brought down one doe to get milked. After finishing her and while she was still on the milk stand, took hay to the buck pen. Returned Vega to the goat yard. Let out Kari.

Milked that doe. While she was still occupied with her grain, took grain out to the baby goat kid pen. Took Kari back to her yard. Let out Wroxy.

Milked her and took hay to the milking does and filled their waters while she was still on the stand. Filled chicken water pans. Returned Wroxy.

Threw out a scoop of feed to the chickens. Set out pan of goat milk for them to eat/drink.

Maneuvered two pails of milk and a hay carrier stuffed with hay up to the backyard where hay was delivered to goat kid pen. Filled water buckets for goat kids.

And I was done. Actually, it's not hard word. It's just that the efficiency expert in me tries to get it done in the least amount of time possible. I think I do a pretty good job actually. The horse and buck pens waters will get filled by the 20yo when I have her clean the stalls later today. At least I got out of that job!

So by now you're either feeling a little jealous because you've always wanted a hobby farm type of life, or you're laughing because these aren't real livestock chores as those dedicated farmers we owe our food to go through every day, or you're perfectly content to just read about the foolishness others get to go through.

Either way if occasional chores get thrown my way, then there are no complaints. I relish the life we life out here, the quiet and peace, the outdoors all around us, and a little work just comes with the territory.

Do You Like Radishes?

2010-06-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well, do you like radishes? Some people don't. They're spicy...too hot...tough...just don't care for them. Nice garnish, but nothing to really consider eating. I never was much of a store-bought radish person either. But home-grown radishes are really tasty. We have been growing Cherry Belle for the last few years, and then added Scarlet White Tip this year. These are good!

Radishes need to grow quickly enough to avoid being invaded by root maggots or becoming hot and tough, so they need plenty of cool, moist soil. They are a perfect vegetable for growing in the spring or late fall. The fact that they mature in 30-something days makes for a rewarding effort in the garden when there isn't much of anything else growing. OrganicGardening gives some great tips on growing radishes too.

But what to do with these guys other than putting into a salad? Here's what I do. It's not much of a recipe; pretty much more of a procedure:

Toast a somewhat thick slice of peasant/rustic bread.
Butter it. (THIS is the key ingredient. Don't skip this step.)
Layer thinly sliced radishes over the entire slice.
Sprinkle with kosher salt. (Table salt would work but would not taste quite the same.)

Enjoy, and then find yourself making another helping.

It's the first part of June here, and the radishes are still growing strong. So I've kept up my succession planting. We've had an extremely damp, cool spring which has probably helped. I know that once our temperatures start climbing, the radishes will just be a memory until fall.

2010 Goat Kids

2010-06-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

HM Kari's 2010 triplets

For other links about Kari, click here.

Weaning Goat Kids

2010-06-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

The sun is out today, and there is promise of no rain for a few days, so it's goat kid weaning day. Our first six kids of the year to be born are a little overdue to be separated from their mothers. We usually wean right around three months of age. But since we have been having torrential downpours and experience tells us that the kids will stand outside and holler, waiting until the weather moderates is in their best interest. The two does whom we will begin to start milking ourselves are experienced mothers and don't seem the least bit worried that their kids are starting to holler just on the other side of the fence. They look just a little bit secretively relieved to be off mother duty at three kids a piece. The kids about now though are pretty convinced that day-camp is over, and it is time to go back to mom. I do believe it is going to be a pretty noisy night outside later on.

Curled Toes and Riboflavin Deficiency in Chicks

2010-05-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

I hate when you have to learn something the hard way. This week's lesson: riboflavin deficiency in poultry which causes curled toes and eventual paralysis.

One of our sexlink hens brooded a clutch of nine eggs and hatched out six of those on May 9. Now 16 days later, we discovered one of the chicks outside, alone, unable to move with a case of curled toes. Now perhaps I haven't done my research properly, but from what I can tell, this is a common reaction to vitamin B2, or riboflavin, deficiency.

Here's how I believe it happened. Momma hen has her six chicks with her foraging along side the other hens. Although I have tried to pull them aside and feed the chicks the normal chick starter/grower feed that we use for our replacement hens, it has been difficult to keep our egg layers from consuming it. As it is medicated, I don't want that feed entering our egg supply. The chick in question has always been the one to lag behind and more than likely is not receiving his fair share. My guess is that in the larger picture of our poultry set up, this little chick has simply not received adequate nutrition.

These links were helpful in doing my own diagnosis:

Merk Vet Manual
World Poultry
Backyard Chickens
Backyard Chickens

From what I could tell, if nutrition is corrected as soon as the deficiency is noticed by giving Poly Vi Sol infant vitamin drops, then it is possible to reverse the situation. We're not quite to 24 hours yet after starting this chick's recovery process, but it seems to have worsened instead. We can only hope that it will in time pull out, but frankly I'm not hopeful.

With our recent heavy bout of rain, it has been hard to keep tabs on the chicks as momma has had to keep them brooded to stay warm, and we have simply not been outside as much. Lesson learned I guess.

So what are we going to do to keep the other chicks healthy? I'm contemplating a design to allow the chicks to "creep feed" as is done with other livestock. The smaller, younger animals are able to access feedstuffs available for their consumption only and not by the older, larger animals.

Although we have not experienced this situation before raising chicks in a similar manner, it is a concern that we will need to address to keep it from happening again.

If you've had experience with a similar deficiency, leave me a comment. I'd like to hear what advice you have to offer.

My Techie Garden - PlanGarden.com

2010-05-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

I debated last gardening seasoning whether to spring for an online subscription to PlanGarden.com. What is PlanGarden.com? Well, imagine it as an online tool allowing you to track the seeds you start, when you transplant, your harvest details, plus a visual layout of the garden. There are probably other online gardening tools out there, but I'm perfectly happy with PlanGarden.com after stumbling upon it. I started using their 45-day free trial early this spring, and by the time that subscription ran out, I was convinced it was worth paying $20 for a full year's access.

One cool feature is the ability to take a snapshot of the screen which can then be printed out or uploaded to your blog as I have done here.

A series of snapshots could be filed in your garden notebook by month showing your progress. Yes, the one I mean to start. But I'm really anxious to use the harvest feature. What better way to determine if a particular variety grew well or even met your taste expectations at the end of the year. I am prone to forgetting exactly which variety of lettuce I really enjoyed or which tomato succumbed to blight early. Their online tracking and ability to enter daily notes will take care of all that for me. There are also handy planting calendars and harvest calculators as well as tutorials to help you get started.

Or if you want to link your PlanGarden site to your blog, you can also do that as I have done here.

Abernathy Creek Farm Garden Design

If you want to check out what their site has to offer, click on the link below.

They also feature gardeners and their PlanGarden sites which can be inspiring or intimidating depending on how you look at it. I'm just excited to finally have a tool to use that won't get left out in the rain to run the ink or disappear from one gardening season to the next. A perfect mix of technology and good old fashioned hard work I say.

She's Outgrown Her Miniature Horse

2010-05-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

This is a hard post to write, but we have finally made the decision to move our miniature horse, Nick, along to a home where he can be used by another family. We purchased him as a three-year-old stud and stopped to have him gelded on the trailer ride home. We had known him since a colt and knew that as he was harness broke, so quick to learn, and flashy to boot with his pinto markings and blue eye that he would make a great equestrian and 4H prospect for our oldest daughter. She used him her first year in OHSET and then moved on to target gaming and cow events with her quarter horse.

What to do with Nick now that we had him and were in love with him? Our youngest at the time was five, so he became her "pony". She quickly learned to ride him lead line, be the one to catch him up in the field and bring him, do his grooming and bathing, and love all over him. As she became more confident, we turned the reins over to her, and he was hers to ride all over the property. We turned our backs to only find her jumping him over obstacles, leading him through all sorts of mazes and trail obstacles she set up, or sneaking him into the house. They've made plenty of memories together.

But as you grow up, you also do so in size. She is now simply too large for him...feet can almost touch the ground...and it's time for him to be loved on and put to work by another family. It's a sad day for me and a sad day for her as well.

Our 2010 herd sire Mystic Hollow Geronimo

2010-04-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to introduce our 2010 herd sire, Mystic Hollow Geronimo, a registered Nigerian Dwarf buck. He was added to our herd last fall as the primary buck for our dairy does. He successfully bred our four miniature dairy does as well as our Oberhasli doe producing a first generation miniature Oberhasli with that breeding. We just received word that his sire Copper Penny MTB Money To Burn "Burnie" just received 2010 Best in Show at the Mega Buck Show. Good bloodlines through and through.

'Mo' has to be the friendliest buck I've encountered. He's easy to handle, has a great disposition, and a cutie besides. We have five sets of his kids on the ground and are pleased with everyone...7 doelings and 2 bucklings. Not a bad ratio at all either.

Asparagus

2010-04-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

This week has been marked by our first asparagus harvest. Probably due to the fact that I took a little time in early February to cut down the old fronds, pull some major weeds, and drag a little compost over the bed, the asparagus is looking marvelous.

It looked so marvelous in fact that my neighbor who happened to be outside stopped me and asked if that was really asparagus. I walked over to the fence to show him and asked him if he wanted a taste. He asked if it could really be eaten raw, at which point I couldn't actually remember eating it raw myself, but replied, "Sure," and popped some in my mouth as well. It was so sweet and tender, I began to wonder why I even cook it at all.

Needless to say, I now only lightly steam my garden asparagus. Last night's was served with a little squirt of Bistro Sauce from Cash and Carry which has just enough horseradish in it to make it interesting. Oh, so good.

They say you can harvest an established bed for up to eight weeks. I can only hope I've kept the bed even somewhat vigorous for a harvest even half that long. Checking OrganicGardening.com for their asparagus gardening tips it would seem I'm on the right track...removing dead fronds before the growing season, keeping the bed as weed free as possible, and mulching in early spring. As I didn't get any fertilizer put down this spring other than the composted manure, I will be sure to add some after the main harvest is over in order to strengthen the plants for next year.

Any way to coax more asparagus out of the ground each spring will be high on my priority list from now on.

Pruning Butterfly Bushes

2010-02-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

I tackled a fairly easy job yesterday, but one that some years I don't get around to...pruning back my six butterfly bushes. Last year was one of those never-got-around-to-it years, and those bushes had grown to about 10' tall I'd say. Now, they are back to their more respectable 2' stumps.

The first year I followed the pruning directions for butterfly bushes and pruned them back to their first sign of growth, no matter how low on the branch, I was sure I was going to kill them. There was no way that ugly stump could grow enough in time to produce the bountiful elongated blooms that the books promised. I was wrong. They had no trouble at all. And the biggest benefit of all was that their rapid flush of growth produced more branches at eye level on which the blooms are produced. Last year the blooms were sparse and were mainly located only at the tippy top.

This year I needed to use loppers on them as the branches have become too thick for simple pruning shears, and the stack of branches removed will make the beginnings of a great burn pile after the goats have had their initial fill of leaves.

Pruning seems to be one of those tasks I tend to neglect and then pay the price later in the season. So therefore a goal for this year is to keep up with the pruning jobs that need done. Today's job...getting those branches hauled away to clear the view. I want to be able to watch those bushes grow!

Beretta and Ruger - Our Mini Aussie Pups

2010-02-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well the puppies are here. Head over to the link at SixInTheNorthwest.blogspot.com for the full story.

Mini Australian Shepherd Puppies

2010-02-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

Our two miniature Australian Shepherd puppies are coming this weekend. Follow this link to SixInTheNorthwest.blogspot.com to see how we plan to follow Cesar Millan's pack-leader training. It should be fun.

Pruning Everbearing Raspberry Canes

2010-01-27T23:37:00.000-08:00

I really should have tackled this job last fall while there was still some foliage on my everbearing raspberry canes. The goats would have appreciated me for it. And I would have appreciated myself come January when I find myself having to tackle the job in the mud.

Everbearing raspberries are raspberries that will set canes and develop fruit on the tips in the late fall, around late August through our first frost in October, here in the Northwest, the same season the canes are grown. The following year, those same canes if left alone will generate new growth from the lower half of the cane and produce berries in June. In the meantime, they do generate a modest amount of new canes to begin the fall berry production again that same year. A pretty good arrangement.

In some years I have simply taken the canes down to the ground in the spring and have had an amazing, abundant crop of fall berries. However, by that time of the year after feasting on fresh fruit all summer, you tend to lose the tenacity to get out there and harvest all they have to offer. So last year, I cut half of my bed back to the ground and pruned the others down half-way so as to get a June crop and a fairly large fall crop. It worked so well, that I'm going to take that approach again this year.

Here are a couple of shots of the raspberry canes that were cut half way back so that they will produce a crop the following June.

And here are another couple of shots showing those that I have taken back to the ground to encourage heavy new growth that will produce a fall crop of berries.

The job for tomorrow, or the next day I get out there I suppose, will be to truck loads of composted manure from our horse stalls which is comprised of disentigrated pelleted bedding and manure, of course. Or if I tackle the other half of the goat shed, it will be a layer of wasted grass hay and goat manure pellets. The best scenario would be horse manure first and then hay mulch on top. But of course that would be ideal and not necessarily reality.

Goat's Milk Ricotta Cheese at Home

2009-10-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder what can be done with goat's milk other than drinking it? Well baking and cheese making ranking pretty high around here as well. The simplest cheese on the face of the planet to make has to be ricotta. In fact I had no idea that I could have been making my own ricotta even from grocery store milk all along. It was one of those revelation moments such as I had when I started preparing my own buttermilk.

Here's how I go about making our own fresh, creamy ricotta cheese. Heat two quarts goat's milk to 180 degrees on the stove top stirring frequently but gently to distribute the heat. As it nears the 180 degree mark, stir in two tablespoons of either apple cider or white vinegar. As you continue to heat the milk, you will notice that the acid in the vinegar will begin to coagulate the milk and the yellowish whey will begin to separate. You may have to raise the temperature up to 200 degrees to achieve separate of curds and whey but do not let it go any further than that. If you have reached 195 degrees and there is no separation, add an additional tablespoon of vinegar and that should do the trick as it continues to climb to the 200 degree mark. Once you see the curds really begin to form, remove from the heat and allow to cool. The curds should float on the whey and form a semi-solid mass. For the creamiest ricotta, allow to cool undisturbed for a half of an hour. You can then gently lift the curds off of the whey with a slotted spoon and place them into a container. You may occasionally need to drain extra whey from your container as you fill it with the warm curds. Refrigerate and use within the week.

That's all there is to it. Once you're comfortable with making your own ricotta, next thing you know you'll be hankering for some semi-soft cheese as well. It's easier than you think and more rewarding as well. Enjoy!

Rotten Eggs

2009-10-01T23:03:00.001-07:00

"Last one home is a rotten egg!" Ever hear that before? It was a frequent phrase while I was growing up, but I must admit I never stopped to wonder what was so bad about a rotten egg. Do I ever know now...

Raising your own hens for fresh eggs has always been a desire of mine since we adopted a bantam chicken when I was a child that appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a suburban LA neighborhood. Now that we have the property to keep chickens, we do. Their eggs are fantastic. We love them and so do our occasional customers. However, with that said it bears repeating that eggs are only as fresh as you allow them to become.

I will admit that during the times we are not providing eggs for customers, my egg collection habits can get a bit sloppy. And yes, we have a couple of roosters hanging around so the eggs are fertilized. So now imagine the scenario...eggs get fogotten under hens or the lucky child sent to get eggs does not want to bear the wrath of an angry hen and doesn't search for any under particularly annoying ladies. That same eggs escapes coming into the house for more days than it should while receiving the incubating warmth it needs to develop. One day the egg is unsuspectingly collected with the others and brought into the house. It may sit around awhile in the fridge before it's used, and then one day, it's cracked open to the panic of the cook. And boy does it smell...reek...of a most distasteful, putrid odor. No matter how fast you rush that egg and its watery contents out of the house, you're left with a lingering reminder of your careless mistake.

So, here's how I should be protecting myself from further odoriferous adventures other than the obvious of prompt egg collection and refrigeration. Eggs can be floated in a bowl of water and observed. Those that lay flat on the bottom are as fresh as fresh can be. If they begin to tilt upwards at a 45 degree angle, they're ok but the yolks may crack upon breaking. A little more age on the egg, and it will float on its end on the bottom of the bowl. I'd still use this egg but maybe just in baking. Once that egg is floating on top of the water, it's gone. The last test for a dead-ringer of a bad egg...give it a little shake. Any sloshing inside is an indication that all is not well inside and you should get that egg to an outside garbage asap.

After another incident with a rotten egg, I have vowed to be more careful with egg collection at our home. With cooler weather coming, the eggs do stay fresher outside in our refrigerator temperature weather here. But all the same, they do belong inside in the refrigerator.

I guess life raising animals to provide your family with healthy and nourishing food can throw you a twist now and again. Any harrowing stories you'd like to share? Love to hear and laugh along with you.

Tomatillos from the Garden

2009-10-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite cookbooks is Mexican Kitchen by Rick Bayless. It is pure and simple authentic Mexican cooking. As such, it is one of my main resources to turn to when the garden is full of produce utilizing vegetables and fruits native to Mexican cooking. Specifically, I love the recipes using tomatillos.

I had never heard of tomatillos for many years until I stumbled across them in my seed catalog and decided I should try growing some. They are an unusual looking... small green globes covered in a papery husk. I also hadn’t realized they were the main component of many of Mexico’s green sauces. They are also prolific. These small, innocent little plants usually get planted among peppers and other 1’ x 1’ square plants in my garden, as I seem to forget every year how they grow. They sprawl and crawl and take over an enormous amount of space rivaling that of a well-manured zucchini. Hence, after planting two of these guys this year, I will be way over my head in tomatillos.

Rick Bayless advises using the tomatillos whose husks have turned papery but have not become golf-ball sized yet. After collecting a bowlful of the ripest tomatillos, it’s time to head to the kitchen and remove the paper husks. The husks leave behind a slightly sticky residue so a rinse under cool water is necessary. My favorite way to use them is his “Essential Simmered Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce” although I don’t add as much heat as the recipe calls for and adapt it slightly.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

1 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed
Fresh chile peppers (1 ounce Serrano or jalapeno for spicier, 2 ounces banana for milder taste)
2 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 small white onion, finely chopped
¼ cup loosely packed, roughly chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar (if needed)

Place tomatillos on baking sheet and place under broiler. Boil until skins blister and blacken then turn them over and repeat, about 10 minutes total. Cool.

Roast chilies and garlic in a dry cast iron skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally until blackened in spots and soft, 5 to 10 minutes total. Cool and then remove stems from chilies and peel garlic.

Place cooled tomatillos and their juice into food processor along with cooled roasted peppers and garlic. Pulse until reduced into a coarse-textured puree.

Scrape the sauce into serving bowl and stir in ¼ to ½ cup water to thin to a spoonable consistency. Place the chopped onion into strainer and rinse thoroughly to remove its hot taste (trust me on this little extra step...it works). Shake dry and add to salsa along with cilantro. Season with salt and add sugar to taste if too acidic.

Grab your bag of chips and enjoy!

Busy Season

2009-07-14T10:59:00.001-07:00

This is definitely one of the busiest months of the year for us. Family visiting. Church camps. 4H horse fair. Lots of garden harvesting. Berry picking. Animal and house sitting for others. Goat kid weaning and sales. Extra milking.

Therefore, posting here may seem sporadic but should start to improve. I still update our daily harvest here and am just keeping a daily journal posting over at our home blog site, Six in the Northwest.

In other words, don't go away. So many wonderful and interesting things happen around here but there just doesn't seem to be the time to get them posted. Working on that though.

Off Flavor Goat's Milk Solved

2009-06-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

Do you remember my post from last week? The one about the nasty goat's milk we'd been getting from our normally fantastically fresh and sweet milk producer? Well I proceeded to play scientist and start to go through my list of potential taste offenders. Here they were:

1. Checking milk taste now that stainless pails have been sanitized with acid detergent. Also tasting the milk immediately after milking will determine if milking containers, our cooling process, storage jars, or shelf life are affecting the taste.

2. Comparing taste of milking doe's milk to that of other does still with kids to see if the unpleasant taste is there as well indicating that it could be their intake of the different hay. I will also compare the milk taken before feeding in the a.m. to that taken in the p.m. after feeding.

3. Purchasing B vitamins in injectible form to combat any potential deficiency, and reviewing mineral content of their supplement.

4. And lastly, if the taste suddenly dissipates regardless of the above, perhaps residual from the wormer was the cause.

I started at the top of my list and immediately found out that the taste of the milk directly after milking was delicious, just like it always had been. I again milked before feeding and even several hours afterwards. Guess what? The off taste couldn't have anything to do with the hay.

I grabbed some milk from another doe. Her milk was fabulous too. Definitely not the hay.

I went back on-line and checked around for some specific descriptions of the taste I had been experiencing after the milk had been processed and refrigerated for several days. I stumbled across several sites which went way in-depth as to the different off-tastes that milk can take on. This is almost a full-time profession for some it would seem. The best way I could relate the taste of the milk was the equivalent of tasting the smell of tallow. I learned that oxidation of the milk can be a common cause for this taste. I also noticed a small comment. Milk that has been warmed above the temperature of 50 degrees and then recooled can dramatically alter the taste.

Light-bulb moment. I had gotten lazy and had been pouring fresh strained milk into some half-full akreadt cooled quart jars. Guess what I had been doing? Raising the temperature of the milk by pouring in warm milk. Bingo.

Let's face it. Sometimes we get sloppy when we feel it doesn't matter or affect anyone else. If the milk were intended for someone else, I would've never dreamed of treating it so. Why is it that we allow ourselves to take shortcuts when we're well aware of the risks or problematic outcome? Not to get too philosophical here, but it made me do some thinking. Perhaps this experience...that nasty taste will not be soon forgotten...will stick with me long enough to remind me to take care in all areas of my life - family, friends, faith. No more thinking it won't matter or taking the easy way out.