Cooking on a Woodstove

I recently visited a friend of mine in Louisiana.  She is a true homesteader and a GREAT friend!  I asked her about her woodstove that appeared to be well used.  She laughed and assured me that it worked well.  Then, since it was a nice cold, January day, she showed me how to work it!

The first thing that you will notice is that it is up high.  She said she got tired of always leaning over so she had her husband put it up on blocks.  What a GREAT idea!

Notice that it has been elevated so one does not have to bend over to use.

 The first thing she did was get some wood split to put in the stove.  She had lots of wood handy as that is how they heat their lovely home.

Splitting wood

 Then add the wood to the stove with a little newspaper.

Remove the burners and add the wood from the top.

 Next you need to put the burners back in place.

Place the burners back where they belong

 Light the fire...this is really easy guys!

Light the fire.

 Now you have to wait for the stove to get hot.  Really, it did not take that long at all. 

The biscuits were cooked on the gas stove.  We are waiting for the fire to get hot.

 

Eggs cooked on cast iron with a wood stove:  YUM!

 And there you have it!  A wonderful breakfast cooked in a very little amount of time using cast iron cookware and a well loved woodstove.  Yes, everything tastes better cooked on a woodstove!

Upgrade To the Birthing Kit

Ok...the basic birth kit is for when everything goes as it normally does! Sometimes, however, things go wrong. I have already written about my favorite book for newbies to read if they plan on getting livestock, and that book is 'All Creatures Great and Small' by James Herriot. I learned a lot from the book about general birthing problems that I still remember and apply today!
So...the first additions to the birthing kit are latex rubber gloves and a tube of lubricant, such as K-Y jelly. These are for if a baby gets stuck inside during the birth process and you need to go in after it. Make sure your hands and arm as clean as possible first! The gloves are not sterile, and are mostly for protecting the inside of the animal from your fingernails. This is especially important if you have long, rough nails or dirt under your nails.
Now...if you just stay in the vaginal canal, you don't have to treat the goat with antibiotics. If you enter the uterus, it is a very good idea to administer penicillin in case you accidentally introduced any harmful bacteria.
Therefore, the next part of your birthing kit includes 20 gauge needles, 6 ml syringes, and a bottle of penicillin. The penicillin will need to stay in your refrigerator, but is still a part of your kit!

The Very Basic Essentials for a Lambing/Kidding Kit

Its that time of year...lambs and kids are arriving! Be ready, NOW. Do NOT be rushing around trying to assemble what you need when your doe or ewe has begun to push.
The very most basic kit is very simple. Though there are many thing you should...and ought to include, these are the bare necessities.
#1 Towels- These are for helping to clean up and dry off the new baby, starting with the head. The stimulation of being vigorously rubbed is good for the babies! The towels also give you something help grip slippery feet and legs if you need to assist with the birth. Fold a towel like a pot holder over the legs, and pull. The towels are also good for setting the new baby on to keep them off the dirt for a bit, or cover up a cold baby, or for the midwife to sit on!

#2 Nasal Aspirator/bulb syringe. Not to be gross, but we call these 'snot suckers'...its what they do! They are used to help clear the mucus and birth fluids from a newborn's nose and throat. I use the ones I got from the hospital when my human children were born. They have a much longer tip that can reach where it needs to! Most of the ones sold in the baby section of stores are quite inadequate. Instead, go the the pharmacy section and look for an ear syringe. MUCH better!

#3 Iodine in a medicine bottle, and sharp scissors. This is for trimming the umbilical cord to 2 or 3 inches, then dipping the cord in iodine as a preventative for infection.

This is the most basic of basic kits, and should ALWAYS be ready before kidding/lambing season starts. Do not raid this bag of its scissors or towels because they are needed elsewhere and 'you will put them right back'...once is it ready to go, consider the bag in another dimension and DON'T TOUCH IT until a doe or ewe is in labor! I said so and I mean it!! :)

Is Three Months Too Young for a Goat to Become Pregnant

In a word...no. And here is the story...my friend bought a purebred Saanen doeling a little under five months ago. The doeling was born in June, 2011. Here it is January,2012, and last week, my friend called me and said that the doeling was developing an udder. My first thought was precocious udder. This is when a doe who has never freshened develops an udder, which frequently happens in young does from really 'milky' lines. It has happened to a couple of our does, and we generally just leave it alone.
However, my friend said that it appeared this young doe's ligaments were loosening as well, and then...she saw kicking from the kid(s). Uh-oh. Her doe is not even eight months old, and will be kidding any day. The breeding happened before my friend got her, and the goat was not kept with any buck, but somewhere along the lines she did come in contact with one for long enough.
So...a word to the wise about keeping your buck and doe kids running together...better not do it too long, or you may get a big surprise 5 months later, in the form of a doe kidding that is too young and too small!

Horse Story Part Two

So...my friend got home and went to go check on her horses. On her way, she almost tripped over the afterbirth, so she knew the birth had happened. However...there was a problem! The two adult horses were mother and and daughter...and the new grandma had decided that the foal was hers...no ifs, ands, or buts about it! The real mom was, understandably, very upset. My friend had to get past the upset real momma horse to separate the foal from its well meaning grandma...who could get aggressive when angry. And...seeing as how she claimed the foal, she fully believed that my friend was stealing her baby! It all worked out in the end, with the two adult horses being separated, and the foal being put with his real mom...and finally getting the milk he needed! What a day!

Horse Story Part One

My friend had a horse that was pregnant, but she was unsure of the due date. The horse's udder started to fill up with milk, so she knew the time was close. She kept an eye on the mare, but with two small children, could not be watching every moment. However, her Great Pyrenees livestock protection dog was watching...not just over the goats, but over the horses, too.
Now, dogs can't speak the same language that we do, but they can be very innovative in how they can convey messages. My friend's dog, Sadie, pulled the horse's afterbirth all the way over the entry gate of the pasture, where her people would have to trip over it to enter the pasture. This was not 'normal' behavior for a dog. She did not eat the afterbirth, or drag it over to her 'valuable' belonging pile...those of us with pyrs know what I am talking about with that. This pile is a location where the dogs drag every toy and interesting stick, bucket, or scrap of what-have-you. However...this is not what Sadie did...she pulled that afterbirth across several hundred feet of pasture and deliberately left it at the gate, letting her people know what had happened...and there was something over there in the back pasture that needed some fixing! Which will be my next post...

Chill Your Milk!

It is very important that once you have filtered your farm fresh milk into clean jars, that you chill the milk immediately.  We have found that old yogurt containers and cottage cheese containers to be very helpful with this.  We take our quart size yogurt containers and fill them with water.  Not all the way, but for the most part, fairly full.  Then we will put the lid on the container.  If the lid does not have holes, we will use a knife to 'pop' holes in the top.  Now put that in the freezer. 

Twenty-four hours later, you will have a very large ice cube!  We will fill our kitchen sink with water and then put the ice cubes in the sink.  Normally we put two or three large cubes from the containers in the sink.  Then we will filter the milk.  By the time we are done filtering, that water is literally ice cold!  Put your jars filled with milk in the sink and in about fifteen minutes or so, your milk has chilled quickly to a nice cold temperature. 

Now all you have to do is dry off your jars and put them in the refrigerator.  Make sure your refrigerator is set for around 39 to 40 degrees or your milk will spoil quickly.  Many people don't realize how temperature really does effect the quality and longevity of milk:  but it does!  

I hope this is helpful information and that your milk will last a long time and taste great!

How to Filter Fresh Cow's Milk

We filter milk a little differently than most people.  This is because it really is a one person job here on our farm.  Here is a picture of the filters that we use.  We purchase these filters from Hamby Dairy Supply.

Buy the size filter that you need for your strainer.

Next, gather all of your supplies into one location.  I run our jars through the dishwasher on a high heat cycle to ensure they are sterile.  Then I store them with a sterile lid and ring attached until I need them.  The milk buckets and strainers also go through the dishwasher on a high heat cycle.

Here are my strainers, jars and filters...all ready to be used.

Because this is a one person job, and sometimes we use small mouth jars, the first strainer that we put on a jar is a small milk strainer for goat's milk.  This is a 'cute' strainer that is good for a family that has only one or two goats.  Any more milk than that and you need something bigger.

Place the small strainer on the jar.

 We use this also because we can then pour the milk without the strainers falling.  This is important!

Next we add another strainer.  This one is for more goat's milk.  It is good for someone that has a few more goats.  This is nice because it will fit in a small mouth jar.  The reason 'we' use it now is because the first strainer is too small for our large strainer.  So now we have something that will catch the milk from the large strainer and that will funnel the milk down into the jar.

This strainer is used because our larger strainer will not fit into the first strainer.

 Next I will put on my larger strainer.  This is for the cow's milk or lots of goat's milk.  The diameter of the bottom is 6.5 inches and that is why we need the middle strainer.

It may look funny, but it works!  It is perfectly balanced and I don't have to worry about loosing milk.

 Now I'm going to put the filter in the bottom of  the large strainer.  The wire ring is very stiff and holds the filter in place very nicely.  We were given this from a dear friend of ours that used to have a dairy back in the 1960s.  He hand milked five cows each day growing up and then had about 20 cows when he had his own place.  We love the fact that he blessed us with this strainer a couple of years before he died.  He taught us much about dairy cows and horses!

First put the filter in under the plate; then add the wire which is not shown in this picture.

Now, pour the milk!  Keep an eye on how much milk you add to the strainer.  You don't want to add too much and overflow.

Pour the milk into your clean jars is easy!

Cap your jars and now you have clean milk to enjoy!  I will share how to properly cool your milk in another blog.

Enjoy your fresh milk!

Our Jersey is 12 years old now.  We have had her since she was six.  We have bred her three times and she has always given us great milk!  We normally get about one to two gallons of milk each day from Laurie Belle.

Managing the Homestead

Being a homesteader is not always easy.  In fact, often you have to make hard, but necessary decisions.  This weekend, we finally 'acted' upon a decision that was made last spring.  It took us a year to 'finally' say:  enough is enough and put our ram down.

Unless you are a shepherd, you probably don't realize that a ram is the most dangerous animal on any farm or homestead.  Yes, they really are more dangerous than a bull.  I don't know if they are more dangerous than a Jersey bull because I don't own a Jersey bull, but I have heard they are from people who have had both.

I am not even going to speak concerning other sheep breeds, because I am not familiar with any breed except the Gulf Coast Sheep.  However, I have been told by friends that have had these sheep since the 1960s, that the Gulf Coast ram are the most aggressive rams around and will take down rams from other sheep breeds in one blow.  They have seen it happen more than once. 

There seems to be a distinct character and physical trait to determine if you are going to have an aggressive Gulf Coast ram.  It's the horns.  Yep, if your ram has horns, it will be aggressive.  If your ram is polled, it normally is not aggressive.

Our first ram, Dodge, is polled.  We were advised to never get a horned ram due to the aggression.  So as newbies back in 2005, we purchased our first polled ram.  Our flock grew and we gained experience.  Then in 2009, we had the opportunity to purchase a beautiful Blue Gulf Coast ram.  The blue describes the color.  It is a sheep that starts off black and then fades to a beautiful chocolate color.  Since all we had were white sheep, some natural color for our fiber friends would be nice.  The only trouble with the ram:  he was horned.  We made the decision to go ahead and get this ram.

When he was young, he was fine and easy to handle.  But time quickly passed and as he turned one year, we learned to NEVER and I mean NEVER turn our backs on Blue.  And then we learned that we had to keep at least two ewes with him at ALL times or he would go through the fence to get to the ewes.  Then he learned, I'm sure by smelling, that we had another ram.  It seemed he would bust into the barnyard to get to Dodge every two to three months this past year.  More than once we got there and you could tell the fight had been going on for a while and that the ONLY reason Dodge was not killed was due to his mature size.  Honestly, it is not easy for a polled ram to defend itself against a young horned ram.

In fact, I can remember getting up in the middle of the night for a drink only to hear hammering going on down at the barn.  I listened and listened and listened.  I could not figure out 'who' would be at the barn at this hour hammering!  So I woke my husband and after making sure our oldest was up with the phone in his hand, we proceeded down to the barn to check out the problem.  We could not believe that Blue had broken through two strong gates and was butting the front of Dodge's stall to get in to him.  I quickly ran back to the house to get the boys and ropes.

For the past two years, the big pasture has been off limits to the young children and to me.  We just could not walk out there safely.  And we are not set up to run two completely different flocks of sheep, but since Blue had the big pasture, we had to run another flock up in our orchard.  This is not healthy for the trees as it is full of young trees!  And this past week, Blue decided he was going to be sneaky to get to Dodge.  He went threw our main fence that separates us and our neighbor's property and came at Dodge from that angle.  We fixed the fence, but the patch did not hold him.  So then we put him in our calf pen which put him closer to Dodge, but had two strong fences between the two rams.  When he had almost made it threw one of the fences, we finally decided that we had no choice but to put him down.  

I'm sure some of you reading this will say:  Why didn't you sell him?  In today's world of lawsuits 'just'  because you 'looked at me wrong', how can you sell a dangerous ram to someone who 'thinks' they can manage him?  And how could we sleep at night knowing that the ram had killed or maimed someone just because we did not have the courage to kill him?  It was not an easy decision.  In fact, it took us a year of being chased, butted, and knocked down for us to make this decision.  And then it took us another 9 months to act on this decision.

He has three years worth of babies on the ground.  And in fact, the latest one arrived today.  We are blessed because we still have his color genetics in our flock and a good friend of ours has a BEAUTIFUL blue ram from him...that is polled.  And we now have a freezer full of meat.  We don't know yet if we will like it.  I will let you know.  If not, that is fine.  We will grind it up and use the meat as dog food.  His fleece is currently salted and being tanned.  His horns will be turned into Shofars

Blue, a mature Gulf Coast Ram

Oops

So...now is the time when we go looking on the calendar for the times when we know animals were bred, so we can be ready for due dates.
Except for a friend of mine, who will only have the guessing game this year. Her husband was with it for the New Year, and one of his resolutions must have been to get rid of the burn pile, and everything that was 'junk' that could be burned. Unfortunately in his zeal, last year's calendar with all the breed times was included as junk...and burnt to ash before his wife realized what had happened. Oops!

January Freeze Story

I can't complaint too much about our January so far. We have had a few really cold days, but all in all so far its been pretty mild!
When I lived in Maine, it was different, though. We were newly married, and had just gotten our first puppy. Not too long after getting her, we spent the night in my husband's family cottage across the bay from Bar Harbor. That night it was COLD. There was a small woodstove for heat, and that was all...it was still pretty cold inside. The puppy was too young to be fully potty trained, and with how cold it was outside, I can't say I blamed her for making a little puddle on the floor. I walked to the kitchen to get a paper towel to wipe it up, only to find that what I actually needed was a shovel, because the puddle had frozen solid on the floor in less than thirty seconds! Did I mention it was cold that day?

Another Surprise on the Homestead...

We had been keeping a close eye on Star and her baby ewe lamb since last night was going to be so cold.  And it was cold!  Even right now, as I type, it is 30 degrees outside.  So as JAB and Bill went down to check on Star one last time around 9:30 pm, JAB heard a lamb crying.  At first he said he thought it was our buck, but he could not figure out why the buck was calling from this part of the pasture.  So he and Bill headed off in search of what was crying.  Much to their surprise, on this cold dark night, they found a lamb all by itself crying for it's mother.  It had been dried off but had just a little blood on its head.  This is not like the Gulf Coast sheep.  Mom's don't leave their babies.

They brought the baby to the house immediately as it was shaking with cold.  However, even with it being a cold baby, it was a STRONG baby!  Below is a picture of JAB holding the baby as he walked in the door.  Yes, everything gets put on hold when an emergency like this happens!  You grab what you can so you will see a clean tea towel used as a quick blanket as I realize the situation.

This lamb was found at 9:30 pm in 20 degree weather with no mother.

 I'm so thankful that my family checks on the animals like they do.  If my son and husband had not gone out in that cold weather to check on the ewe lamb that we knew about, this little lamb would never have survived the night to be found alive.  The mystery that I don't know if we will ever solve is:  What attacked this lamb?  Yes, that is right.  When they brought the lamb into the house, it had been dried off by momma but the head was wet....and bloody.  It had been bit on the head at least once, but I'm thinking twice.  Why it was not killed, I don't know.  Was it because it was being attacked when my son heard the cry?  I have no idea.  All I know is I think there must have been a dog after the baby when Star had her second baby; thus to save herself and the second one she was giving birth to, she must have run off.

We checked all pastures last night to make sure there was not another ewe off somewhere, hurt and needing our help.  We could not find any nor could we find another ewe that had given birth.  So at this point we just assume it is Star's baby.

What's next?

We took the baby down to the barn and Star accepted it.  This is another reason that we think this lamb is Stars.  After an hour down at the barn, we decided to bring both babies to the house as they were SO COLD!  We put them in a dog crate with cardboard on the bottom and then a layer of hay.  You need to put the cardboard down or they can't stand due to hooves and the plastic bottom.

Next we went to the freezer and pulled out the EVER SO IMPORTANT colostrum.  Bill found some from our goat, Millie.  It was 'day 1' colostrum.  Using a double broiler, we warmed the colostrum with a little bit of Laurie Belle's milk.  She is our Jersey.  And both babies ate well!

Both ewe lambs...settled in for the night...in our warm home

 I did not feed them again until 7:00 am.  To be honest, it was because I was so tired!  JAB and I were up late checking the pasture for other lambs and ewes that might need us.  I fed them more colostrum this morning.  And both successfully went potty on me.  Trust me, neither lamb have a problem in either area!  As a homesteader, this is all just a normal life and we smile and say:  At least we know they are eating well! 

Notice the stains on the towels in the picture.  That is from the iodine that we used to treat the navel of the baby lamb when we found it.

Once the temperature gets above 40, we will re-introduce the lambs to Star.  That will be the next post.

So until later...happy homesteading!

It's Lambing Season

We have had a warmer than usual winter which I have really enjoyed!  The wood stove has not been used very much and many days we have enjoyed gorgeous weather outside.  However, sheep never pay much mind to 'good' weather when it comes time to lamb.  Tonight's low will be in the 20s where the last week or so, the lows have been in the 40s.  Why can't the ewes wait for nice weather?

As it is, here is Sunshine.  She and Star always have babies within 24 hours of each other.  She is a seven year old Gulf Coast ewe that came straight from Dempsey Perkins' farm to ours as a lamb.  She produces a beautiful fleece each year; along with beautiful lambs!

Sunshine:  A seven year old Gulf Coast, Perkin's Foundation ewe

Sunshine heavy with a lamb...due any moment

 One of our other little Gulf Coast, Star, did have a ewe lamb this evening.  Currently we are in the low 30s and the expected low is 23 for tonight.  Tomorrow's expected low is once again in the 40s!  So why today?  I don't know, but it really is just the way it always happens!  I'm so thankful they are born wearing a wool coat!

Star:  A seven year old Perkin's foundation Gulf Coast ewe with

 lamb

The lamb is a ewe with a brown ear.  She is less than an hour old in this photo.  She will spend the night in the barn in Max's stall with her mama, Star.  They will be nice and toasty in the barn!  Don't worry, Max has a good heavy blanket on him for the night.

Which end is the milk?

I love our Gulf Coast sheep!  So far, we have been blessed with a healthy flock that lamb without complications.  I will share later what we name her.  And don't worry, more pictures to come!

Starting out the New Year

It really is a good time to re-evaluate your life, goals and dreams.  I have been doing a good bit of that lately.  Without a doubt, 2012 will be a year of change for me and my family: change for the better!

I have 'written down' several goals.  From many things that I have learned, if you write your goals down, you have a greater probability of them coming true; so I wrote mine down.

I have 'written down' some dreams that I hope will come true this year in 2012.  I don't want to forget them and I want to do everything possible to make them come true.  I have 'stuck' them around where I will see them on a regular basis.  Not all over the house as an eye sore, but in strategic locations so I will see them.  You should consider thinking about your dreams and then right them down so you don't forget them.

We also reviewed our schedule today as a family.  We marked on the calendar our monthly club meetings which let us see clearly that we really will only have three nights to eat together.  By writing this down and seeing it on paper, this elevated the need to protect those few nights each week and not make plans to go elsewhere.  It also helped us see that one night a week we will need to higher a babysitter if we are going to keep the three youngest children on a schedule.  Yes, they could go the the HAM meeting with my husband and older two children, but then they would not get in bed until 9:30 pm.  That is one and half hours later than normal and that will effect what time they get up in the morning and how well they learn the next day.  It was clear that it would be a good investment to have a friend come over and watch them for a couple of hours to ensure that we stay on track.

The other benefit of writing down our schedule is the older boys can plan their day better too.  They know which day we will leave the farm and they can plan their homeschool day accordingly.  They know they need to be up on time or they will be doing homeschooling at night instead of participating in the family games or read aloud.

A schedule...a goal...a dream...they all work together.  Set your schedule today so you can reach your goals and make all of your dreams come true!