Fall

This morning when I woke up it was.....COLD!  Fall is upon us at last!  I took the opportunity to start changing the tablecloth and start our decorations for fall. 

Our chicks are getting big, they should be ready for the freezer by Thanksgiving...with a new batch of eggs in the incubator now...

Happy loves the weather as well....her expression says it all!

And we topped off the day with a fabulous bowl of venison stew...

Makin Bacon and Baaaaacon

We are trying an experiment this week....making lamb bacon.  I did the cure exactly like I do with the pork, and in a week or so we'll smoke it and give it a taste.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!  To make bacon, we use a cure of Morton's Sugar Cure and brown sugar. 

Each piece of meat is carefully weighed.  The cure is mixed and rubbed into each piece, then the meat is flattened into the glass pan.  Any non-metallic container will do, but it needs to be large enough for the pieces to lay flat.  Once all the pieces are done, the dish is wrapped and put into the fridge.

Then I did the same thing with the pork bellies, 38# of them total...

In about a week they'll be ready for the smoker. 

Lamb!

We butchered 2 lambs today, 1 for a friend that was helping and 1 for ourselves....The carcass weight was 43 & 44 pounds! These were humanely raised on pasture, and they were dispatched quickly.  It was a hard days work but worth it to have healthy meat in the freezer.

We cut out all of the belly meat from both lambs....and I'm experimenting with making lamb bacon, since my friend doesn't eat pork.   We'll see how it works!

Curing the Hog

The breakfast sausage total from the hog is at 22#.  This may be the best breakfast sausage I've ever made, and I did post the recipe on my recipe blog so that I can make some more of it later.  We got it all vac sealed and packaged for the freezer.  I don't make breakfast links....mainly because sheep casings are so difficult to stuff and we like patties just as well.  No sense in making more work for myself!

I also started a couple of small pieces of loin in a brine in my second attempt at Canadian bacon.  I did this last year for the first time and we were not very impressed with the results.  I'm trying a different recipe this year and we'll know how it turns out in a few days.  All that's left to do now is the regular bacon, which I'll get started tomorrow.  The rest of the hog is packed and in the freezer, or already in cure.  It's a good thing, too...since tomorrow is errand day and then Friday we're butchering a couple of lambs.

Here's a shot of the 22# of pork that we used for sausage this morning.  I just can not say enough great things about growing your own pork using nothing but scraps, goat milk, and fresh eggs!  No mystery ingredients here, this is just succulent pork harvested from a hog that had a good life and fed good food.  What a blessing!!

Hog Results

We spent the day today turning this hog....

Into some fine cuts of meat.  This was the largest how I've ever processed...and I've decided it's about as big as I ever need to grow one!  She weight taped at about 230# but I think she was bigger than that. 

Here's how it looked once we got it quartered....

The tally of the main cuts are:

hams - 46#

bacon - 38#

shoulder roasts - 20#

ribs - 5#

whole loin - 7#

chops & steaks - 7#

sausage and lard - 20#

Tomorrow we'll start the curing process for the bacon, grind & mix the sausage, render the lard, and get it all packaged for the freezer.  Not a day too soon either, since we're nearly out of pork. 

By the way, over the weekend we smoked the 2 hams from earlier this month.  They turned out really nice, but we haven't tasted them yet.  This is the first time we've cured & smoked hams that we had previously frozen...but it looks like it didn't make a difference.  Once I cook them I'll let you know if it had any effect on the texture or flavor. 

Thousands of Reasons...

Why you should not neglect your compost bed...!!!

I have been battling tendonitis in my hand and wrist for months now, and as a result I have let my compost bed sit.  I have not moistened it, added to it, or turned it all summer.  Yesterday I decided it was time to get those microbes back in action and went at it with a water hose and pitchfork....determined to bring it back to life and get it cooking again. 

Little did I know that what was "cooking" in it....was a huge nest of yellow jackets.  I got about a third of the way through it turning and wetting it when suddenly a cloud of yellow jackets came swarming out.  I managed to only get stung twice....but I also knew I was done for the day.  I gathered the materials and made 2 traps for the pesky bees before heading to bed.

This morning my son came to visit and I explained the story to him.  He quickly went searching for a can of spray paint and a lighter, and started to smoke them out.  What he found was simply amazing.  The compost bed is surrounded by railroad ties.  When Ben flipped the tie over this is what he found!

That round object on the railroad tie.....

At first I thought it was a coiled snake....but on closer inspection (while avoiding another sting)...

Ben continued to use his redneck flamethrower over them...and they continued to come out...

Finally he had singed enough of them to try to move the nest...

Which we scooped up and carried out to the chicken coop...it didn't take long for them to gobble up the larvae...

Going back to the compost we found the area that they were defending so feverishly..the queen..

Here's a closer look at her...she's much larger and darker in color than the others...

I guess once they clear out for a day or two I can get back to that compost bed!

I Heart Pork

I spent a good part of the day yesterday sorting out and cleaning one of our chest freezers...and found several cuts from our last year's hogs.  My plan was to thaw all of the meat, then can some of it and use some of it for sausage.  After unwrapping it all and allowing it to thaw, I just couldn't bring myself to cut the 2 hams up.  I've never cured hams after they were frozen, but they were just too nice not to try.   I use a combination brine injection and dry rub curing method for my hams.  Since our temps are so warm here, there's no way to do a traditional country ham.  We also do not scrape our hogs, we skin them...so our hams are not skin-on.  This method works well for us, you have to do what works for you.

The first step is to weigh the piece of meat.  The cure amount is based on the amount of meat you are curing, so accurate measurements are essential.

My ham cure is just Morton Sugar Cure and brown sugar.  First I weigh the Sugar Cure to get the amount needed for the ham...

Then I mix 1/2 cup of the cure with 2 cups of water to make the injection...

I inject all along the bone, creating pockets of cure.....and then more pockets in the deepest parts of the ham..

Then mix the remaining dry cure with some brown sugar and carefully rub it into the outside surfaces of the meat...

You have to be sure and get the cure into all the folds and cuts in the meat, covering every inch of the ham...

These hams are each over 14 pounds.  Now that they are injected and covered with the dry cure, they are covered and kept in the refrigerator for weeks until they are ready to smoke.  I'll turn them every day, and keep an eye on their texture.  Once they are fully cured their texture changes to a firm flesh.

Turkey Vs Goat ... Dog wins!

We are gearing up for fall and winter, which means that we're well under way breeding the goats, culling chickens, hatching eggs to raise as replacement layers & meat birds, and getting ready to butcher the hogs.  Once we get everything done for fall we'll have a bit of a rest.  I guess that's what winter is for.  I spent the day yesterday trimming hooves, and once I had Pete's done I took the opportunity to get a few pictures of him.  He was not very patient since he is in full rut and we've been breeding him this week...but you get an idea of the size of this boy, his head comes up to my shoulder.  He is just gorgeous and we love him alot!

I spent a good bit of the day Saturday weeding the 2 herb beds.  Oh my were they overgrown!  Our beautiful cucumber wall is now done...but we do still have a nice watermelon vine growing.  The eggplant has 1 tiny fruit on it, and we're letting the Basil go to seed to save for next year. 

That's what it looked like after I pulled all of this out!

Considering the amount of work we get done each day, we still have plenty of leisure time to sit and watch the antics of these animals.  After weeding, I dumped the carts of weeds into the goat yard for them to snack on.  This attracted the attention of the goats, chickens, and our juvenile delinqent tom turkey.  The turkey insisted on taking the weeds away from the goats and successfully chased most of them away.  His tactics didn't work on Happy.  She's old enough (she'll be 10 in Jan) to take him in stride, as you will see from this video.  Aegis the World's Greatest Livestock Guardian Dog, however, had enough...and put him in his place.

Please Vote for Ellie Mae Every Day!!

I have entered a picture of one of my goats in a photo contest and the prize is a complete pulling harness! You can vote on the picture every day in September, the photo with the most votes wins! Please go and vote for the picture "Ellie Mae Muddy Feet" here http://www.workinggoats.com/?action=Photos&photoid=5157 and help me win a new harness for Roadie!!

Thank you!!

Falling into meat

We have begun hatching our new batch of meat birds now that cooler fall weather should soon be here.  Our own meat chickens have a tiny drop of Americana blood in them and as a result most of the eggs they lay are a blue-green.

We incubate every egg laid since the meat birds are a very heavy bird and not great layers.  We have a small flock of Rhode Island Reds for eggs.  This meat cross has a great growth rate, reproduces naturally, and doesn't have the health problems of the hatchery Cornish X.

I'm not sure if we'll have our own home-grown turkey this year.  We have battled disease, accidents, and predators all year...leaving a precious few turkeys for breeders.

It's a rather eclectic flock of turkeys including Royal Palms...

Standard Bronze...

Bronze/Royal Palm crosses...

And our tom, a Bourbon Red.  We're praying that he'll sire many healthy poults next year!  He looks rough right now because he flew into a neighbors' yard and was mauled by their dogs.  If he stays home he'll be safe.  LOL

And our June kids are getting big!  Down to 2 milk feedings a day, now they go out with the big goats during the day.