Happy New Years and Press ON!!

On this new year I want to encourage every one to press on!  We were a bit de-railed with the incliment weather we've had...including the tornado on Dec 23rd!  We were blessed with no damage here, but we had snow the next day and it's been wet ever since.  That makes slow going for building.

It is very hard to tell from this picture but these buildings are SO great!  My milking parlor on the right is all clean and tidy now...plus the roof doesn't leak!  It also has a storm door....we'll see how useful the storm door is, but at least it will let in less dust than the half-door!

On the left is the new kidding barn....2 stalls for kidding and for kids!  It is still sporting it's primer white paint because it is either too wet or too cold to paint.

For now the 2 yearling bucks are in the first stall in the new kid barn. They needed a bit of extra pampering after their first rut....and they are CERTAINLY getting it in here!

First due to kid is my dreamy goat. She is a doll! Not a great picture of her, but you can see her fancy socks she has on. Bob calls her the "racing goat" .... like those race horses that wear socks. Actually, she had some scaly skin on her pasterns so I treated them and then wrapped them to keep them dry. It is very wet here. Have I mentioned that? Do you need some mud? I could send you some!

She is due to kid Jan 5. She is a hoot.

Okay if this picture wasn't so dark, you could see exactly HOW pregnant my favorite goat is.  She is SO pregnant that we've considered putting a skateboard under her tummy to help her get around faster!  She is huge!  I couldn't reach my arms around her 2 months ago and she is not due until Jan 12!!!!!

The Milkbarn Gets a Facelift

It has a number of names...."the milkbarn", "the milking parlor", "mama's shop", "the goatroom".....which tell you what a catch-all this little building is.  It is where I milk the goats, trim their hooves, give them haircuts, plus it is where we store excess canning jars, gardening supplies (starter pots, stakes, etc) as well as chicken feeders not in use, bird cages, and feed barrels......anyway.  It is where all the animal stuff goes so that it is not in the house....plus it is my milking parlor.

Another name for it is a MESS!  Since we haven't done any milking since the end of September, the milkroom has gotten piled high with stuff.  Not to mention the fact that the roof leaks are getting worse and it seriously needs a coat of paint. 

Getting ready for kidding means that we have to get this room in order, and since we were adding a kidding/kid barn to it....we decided to pull the old roof off the milking room and replace it.

Here's how it looked before this project all began...

The new building is attached to the milkroom, and will give us a place to put the does for kidding and a place to house the newborn kids.  Since our livestock guardian dog is still in training (he's just 12 mos old), I do not want to trust him to be with the does when they kid, nor with the newborns.

The milkroom is 8x12 and the new addition is 8x12 as well.  With a winter storm expected for the evening, we were working hard together to get this all pulled together. 

Bob was building and roofing while Rebekah and I emptied the milkroom, and started painting everything.  The new building's walls are waferboard so they had to have a good coat of primer to seal them before the rain came.

Bob pulled off the old roof sheet by sheet in case it started to rain.  Meanwhile Rebekah and I painted around him LOL!

The goats have no idea how fantastic their new maternity ward and milkroom are yet.  But they sure were curious about all the activity.

We got it all done, 13 hours later.  Just in time for the rain to start.  It was too dark to get any final shots of it last night, but I will try to get some today.  We still need to hang the doors and paint the outside, but we accomplished our goal for the day!

Now that the kidding barn (aka maternity room) is nearly ready....I call this picture the Lobby.

Countdown to Christmas and Kids!

Bekah and I have been busy with all the last minute projects that need to be done before Thursday.  Tomorrow is our last day to get things made so we can get our baskets put together!  The last meat project was a batch of bologna.  I used store-bought beef along with our home raised pork to make bologna.  Once I grind and mix the meat with the seasonings and cure, we shape them into logs and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.  This step is very important or you can end up with air pockets in the center of the loaf.

Next, we tightly wrap them with parchment paper and tie each end with butcher's twine.  Then they are put in the fridge overnight to allow them to set up.

The next day we carefully unwrap each log and place on a wire rack, then baked at 250 for about 4 hours.

When done we allow them to cool completely before slicing.

We used the meat slicer to cut them into both thick and thin slices...

Meanwhile Rebekah has been working on some really neat candy molds.

She is turning each one into a hand crafted work of art.

And also on our worklist this week is to get the kid/kidding barn finished!  Bob is laboring feverishly to get it done before the does start to labor!

Meat week

We have spent the week working on various smoked and cured meats getting ready for Christmas.  I have ground or processed close to 200# of meat!  Something new for this year is a ground flat jerky.  We make jerky every year, but this year I bought a jerky gun and been playing with different recipes.

I didn't get a lot of pictures, making sausages is pretty labor intensive and messy...and my daughter was out of town visiting her cousins.  These are the ground sticks, aka slim-jims.

Once pressed out of the jerky gun they are slow dried in the oven at 200º.

I made a LOT of slim-jims.  I didn't count them, but it was about 5# of ground meat.  That is a LOT of slim-jims!!

Once done, they are a very tasty treat packed with protein.  Next was Summer Sausage and hot links.  I dry these in the oven for a short time before moving them to the smoker.  We made several varieties of Summer Sausages....Beef/Pork mixture (using our home grown pork), all Beef, and Venison/Pork with varying degrees of spiciness. 

We should have the last of the meat done by the end of the weekend.  We have a turkey ham in the cure, another turkey waiting to be smoked, and 9# of bologna setting up in the fridge.

And finally I took some time out and noticed how beautiful the trees in the yard are.  We lost a big tree this year, but it hasn't hurt the view.

Smoking Almonds

Smoked almonds are one of our favorite snack foods.  I was able to get several pounds of raw almonds on sale recently and decided to try to smoke them ourselves to give in our Christmas baskets, and of course to snack on here.  We have tried our usual smoking methods including using pecan wood...but were just not satisfied with the results.  Today I worked on a new method for doing them and it turned out to be a great success.

First you melt 1/4 cup of butter (not margarine) in a small sauce pan.  Add 1 tsp hickory flavored liquid smoke (this doesn't really give them a smoky flavor, but enhances some of the natural flavors), then stir in 2 cups of raw almonds.

Stir the almonds well to coat thouroughly, place a lid on the pan, and allow them to sit for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, begin soaking your wood chips.  I have found that hickory is really the best wood for almonds.  The wood needs to be soaked in water for 15 minutes before adding them to the smoker. 

This handy little iron box doesn't look like much, but it does a fantastic job once you get the hang of using it.

I used my propane grill with this iron smoker..using about 2 pounds of wood chips for smoking about 5 pounds of almonds.  Drain the almonds in a collander (save the butter for the next batch), and spread them out in a single layer on a perforated pan.

It doesn't take long before they begin roasting and taking on a beautiful golden brown color....which is when you need to start building smoke.

They must be stirred often and moved away from the heat source to prevent burning.  About 30-45 minutes is enough to give them that fresh smokehouse flavor!  Once they are out of the smoker, dust them thoroughly with the seasoning mix (recipe below).  Enjoy!

Seasoning Mix for smoked Almonds...

 1 T Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (the same stuff we use as a rub for our deep fried turkeys)

1 teaspoon onion powder

Grind together in a spice grinder until it is a very fine powder.  Add 2 T sugar and mix well, sprinkle liberally over the almonds while they are hot.

Merry Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ... Kidding Season

Our first kids aren't due for a few more weeks, but by the looks of the does we are in the home stretch.  Happy is the first due, she is due by the 10th of January. 

Keep in mind, the due dates are really just a guessing game...but the dates we use are the first possible date.  We never know for sure if the doe settled on the first breeding.  Faith (the white one) is due for her 6th kidding with us, and she is due the same time as Happy.  Angel (on the left) is due about that time as well, but she hides her pregnancies well.  Last year she had triplets and did not look large at all!

Next should be Daydream, this is her second freshening....

And then Tina....this is her second freshening as well...

One of our first fresheners is Delight (the black and tan doe in the foreground).  She was our first born this year...and as far as I know she should be the last one to freshen for our 2010 season!

We'll see.  One thing is always predictable about goats...the fact that they are unpredictable!  We are praying for easy deliveries and lots of milk...and homes for all the babies!

Making Plans

We typically stay busy around here with one project or another....and this year we seem to have gotten overwhelmed with things that need to be done, but there is never enough money for.  We have a number of projects started and I hope that we are able to complete them before spring.

1. The buck barn is on perpetual hold...it will happen one day, but for now we have does gestating that ll need this space for the winter.  The doe barn is currently occupied by our 2 junior bucks.  Before the first of the year we would like to finish the hay storage area that is inside the buck barn.  We need to be able to store 2 years worth of hay, and right now our storage is limited to about 2 WEEKS worth!  That's why this is the #1 priority.  It's a mess.
2. We need to build a cover over the kid pens.  Right now there is no cover other than a very large dog house type thing.....and I would like to have 3 separate pens with a roof over them.  Before Feb.  Please.
3. I desperately need to clean the milking parlor.  It hasn't been done since Spring.  Ick.
4. We are looking for a woodstove for the house.  This house was built for one, but the previous owner sold it.  We live in the woods, firewood is free for the work.  We have cut a lot of our electricity usage over the summer months, and this would be a big help for the winter.
5. Winter forage.  Our local feed store carries a "wildlife forage" seed mixture that we can broadcast now and is a good forage for the winter months.  It grows well in our area.  Keeping "green food" to ruminants is important during the winter....it helps prevent that green bloat in the spring.  More importantly, it cuts the cost of hay and grain...which have to be purchased.  We plan to do this before Christmas.

Of course there are the day-to-day things that need to be done.  The henhouse needs a fresh layer of lime and hay.  The nestboxes need to be scraped out and packed with fresh hay.  The bucks need their hooves trimmed and need to be tested for worms.  During the stress of breeding bucks need a lot of TLC, just as the does need during kidding and milking.

I have a dozen or so more of the "chixperiment" birds ready to butcher.  I figured I'd wait until next week when the temps are back into the 60's because I'm lazy that way.  I despise achy cold fingers.

Anyway, those are the big plans from now till Feb.  Of course we are busy right now getting things ready for Christmas.  We are making jerky, sausage, hams, bacon, smoked nuts, and chutneys for our Christmas gift baskets.  We try to steer clear of the commercial side of Christmas and work to make something nice to give as our gifts to family and friends.  The basket contents change from year to year, this year I didn't make cheese.  Some years it's cookies, some meats, or jellies.... But whatever it is, it is good, it is home made, and it is made from our home by our family. 

It got cold this week.  I hate the cold.   Yesterday it snowed.  Snow is pretty for an hour or so.  The wet cold makes it miserable to work outside, but gives you great inside time with your family. 

Our Chixperiment Update and 2 bushels of Sweet Potatoes

About 3 months ago we began hatching eggs from our 3 Cornish Cross hens and our RIR/Americana roo in our quest to breed our own meat birds.  We've tried to do this over the years but have never been successful....until now!  The chixperiment began back in August with our first hatch....and we continued hatching until the end of October. 

The results were some birds with interesting markings, some with red some with black markings on white bodies.  They have grown out well, these are 12 week old birds.  They were raised on chick starter, scraps, and chopped corn.

You can see the size of them compared to a full-grown RIR hen. 

So far I've dressed out 4 of them.  Their dressed weight averaged between 3-4 pounds....perfect fryers.  They are quick to pluck and although they don't have the broad breast like the cornish cross, they are certainly much more meaty than heritage breeds.

We will be keeping the largest 4-5 hens and a couple of roos for breeding in the spring, and see if these birds will continue to provide meat for the family without having to buy chicks from the hatchery or chicken from the grocery store.

Another project we did this week involved 2 bushels (100#) of sweet potatoes.  Thanks to the grocery stores' price wars we were able to buy them for .18/pound last week!!  Since sweet potatoes do not store well, we knew we had a job getting them canned before any spoiled.  It took us a whole day and 3 pressure canners, but we managed to get them all done....15 pints and 39 quarts...54 jars in all!

Twas 2 days before Thanksgiving....

Okay, so I'm a little late catching up on my blog.  We have been SO busy, but I should be able to catch up today.  This was the first year in 20+ that I did not host the Thanksgiving meal.  This year mom wanted to do it and in exchange I get to do Christmas Dinner.  Of course that doesn't mean that we didn't cook or that we were not busy....in fact it all started 2 days before Thanksgiving, getting turkeys ready to deep fry.

They were store bought turkeys this year, we'll try again next year with raising some.  Step 1 to deep frying is injecting the marinade.

One bottle per bird works well, and we did 4 birds in all.  Next is the rub.  I apply the rub liberally to the birds inside and out...

Once you think you've added enough rub....flip 'em over and rub more...

The rub is what salts the meat and helps the skin crisp nicely.  Once done we wrap them up and put them in the fridge for 2 days.

And look at how yummy it is when done!!