Foggy Mountain Breakdown

Ok so I like Bluegrass! I am country girl after all!

Pics of Fawn and Buttercup

We have started separating Fawn and Buttercup at night so we can get the full milking in the morning.  As you can imagine Buttercup wasn't thrilled at this idea.  Fawn however seemed to take the whole thing as a matter of course. 

Mamma watching Fawn

Settling down for the night

Sniffing each other for a little comfort

Fawn is the sweetest little calf!  He is as tame as a little dog and loves to come up and be petted and scratched.  The kids just love him, but they know that he is destined for the freezer this fall.  This is a good thing for children to understand.  That the animals we eat should have happy good lives before we eat them.  As eldest daughter said to my mom one day

 "These are not my pets, they are for us to eat.  I would never eat Colby (her pet rabbit).  I like to pet and play with these animals but I know that we are going to eat them."  age 11

My children know what animals they eat are like.  To them eggs come from our chickens, not the store.  They love to pick grass and dandylion greens to feed them and collect eggs (and try to catch the chickens for petting when mommys not looking).  Once they saw a show about chicken egg farming with the chickens crammed in the cages.  Both of them (ages 5 and 6) couldn't understand it and thought it was sad. This is because they see our chickens as living feeling animals.  They have a purpose but we give them happy little chicken lives until butcher day.  Compare that to the kids that think eggs come from the store.  Do they care that the chickens who produced those eggs have very sad lives?  As most children they don't even think about it bcause they have never been exposed to the reality of farm animals.

Plauge Family, Milking Update, And what I did Yesterday

We have been battling the flu for the past two weeks in our family.  Less than a week after Buttercup had her calf I was struck (more like poleaxed) with a vicious case of it and had to milk while shivering in my wellies.  I'm still coughing like a pack a day smoker but am feeling much better.

Husband also caught it and now its working its way through Eldest Daughter and Viking Boy.  Little Viking Boy is horribly sick and has had a high fever for 4 days now.  I took him in yesterday out of concern but the doc said we just have to let it take it's course.  Mean while Viking boy is only eating chocolate milk and strawberries with some cheese thrown in.  I hate it when babies are sick with high fevers!  It's so scary because you can't ask them how they feel.  I would rather have the fever myself than have him sick.

Milking is going very good, and now we keep Fawn penned up while I milk Buttercup.  She is allot calmer without the calf near her.  My hands are getting very strong and I can milk the whole time without stopping much.

Yesterday I finally felt really good and wanted to get into the kitchen and bake something!  I haven't baked much for the past month due to illness and the new calf.  But I also was baking out of necessity due to the fact that we now have about 6 gallons of milk needing to be put to some use. 

What I made:

A double batch of potato white bread into rolls and 1 loaf of bread (I made this extra rich with all milk instead of milk/water like it calls for)

Egg Noodles

Chicken and dumpling soup (great for when you feels sick)


The day before I also made vanilla pudding (homemade of course), farm wife frosted cake, coffee cake, cottage cheese, and maple syrup quick bread.  Everything turned out great and it is so nice having all the milk I could want for cooking and not having to scrimpt.  We also are getting lots of eggs so that helps in baking too.

My next project is trying to make yogurt.

Making Butter From our cows milk

So today we had enough cream to make some butter!  YAY!  I have been able to use the milk for about two days now.  Before that it was colostrum and not very appetizing.  Buttercups milk has about 3 inches of cream when it rises for about a day.  Her milk is very yellow because it is so rich.  I used the instructions from my Encyclopedia of Country Living. 

First I used my mixture until it just broke.  Then I poured it into a clean 1/2 gallon mason jar and let the kids roll it back and forth across the floor.  This worked much better than letting them shake it since there is no risk of them dropping it or getting tired.  They loved it!

After the butter had "come" I drained it and then rinsed it with cold water.

Then I worked it with two wooden spoons until all the buttermilk and water came out, rinsing occasionally with more cold water.

Done!  Look how yellow it is!  That is the natural color. I added a little salt at the end and we are going to have this with biscuits tonight.

Abide With Me, Hayley Westenra, Rugby

A good Site for Home Dairy People

If you are interested in home dairying, or already have a cow this is a great site.  It's a message board with people who are raising one cow or quite a few for their home dairy needs.  I've been able to get lots of good info you wont find in a book.  And if you are just considering getting milk animals I would check out this site because it will clue you into some of the realities of milk animal care.

http://familycow.proboards.com/index.cgi

Quick Update

I have been very very sick these past three days with the flu.  Fun fact.  You still have to get out there and milk the cow when you are sick.  Buttercup won't let Husband or Eldest Daughter milk her.  This is probably due to the fact that I've been the only one milking her so far.  One very experienced dairy man said "You can make a cow do whatever you want, as long as you do it over and over again."

Cows are creatures of habit.  They don't like change, so they sometimes will resist a new person milking them.  So I have to go sit in a drafty cold barn and milk that cow!  This is one of the drawbacks of animals.  No matter how you feel you still have to take care of them.  You should certainly take this into account before you get milk animals because so much depends on their milking schedule.  You cant delay by hours if you have been sick all night.  Oh well, at least we are getting milk we can use now.  And really she's a great cow.  She holds still and lets me milk her and my hands didn't hurt at all today.  But then again that might be the codeine cough syrup the doctor prescribed me helping ;)  I'll try to post some more but I've been so sick I can barely read.

This mornings milk.  About 1 1/2 gallon

Here are some of our eggs from the chickens.  They are laying about 6-8 per day now.

Buttercup and Fawn: Update

I wanted to update everyone on how Buttercup, Fawn, and milking is going.

Buttercup is doing well and is a great mama, if maybe a little too concerned about her calf all the time.  Fawn is already running and frisking all over the place and is so darn cute!  Whenever he takes off running Buttercup lets out an unhappy mooooo and runs after him, which is hilarious.  Then when she catches up to him she gives him a lick and a moo as if to say "kid your going to poke your eye out doing that!"

Milking has definitely been an adventure!  I thought I had it down since I had milked goats before but a cow is ALLOT different.  First off you have to squeeze harder to get the milk out.  Ouch!  Also you must milk much much longer to empty her bag.  So here's how it went so far.

First milking:  My hands felt like they were involved in some sort of ingenious torture and buttercup kept moving because her baby  moved around.  It took an hour of milking to get her close to empty and the milk had muck in it from her moving so much.  At least she didn't kick.

Second milking:  This time we put fawn on a lead to keep him near mom.  But the place we put him was too close so that when he laid down he was right under her which is dangerous because she might step on him.  I got about 3/4 of a gallon of straight colostrum, and although my hands did a little better they were swollen and sore all night.

Third milking:  We have fixed the stanchion better this time but fawn kept moving and that made buttercup move because she is very protective of him.  It took me 45 min to milk her out with lots of stopping and starting.  3/4 of a gallon again.

Fourth Milking:  My hands are getting better but this time buttercup was highly irritated for some reason.  Fawn is slowly learning to walk on the rope but still pulls.  It took another 45 min to milk her out and was very frustrating with all the stopping and starting.  But really for how long that is she is pretty patient.  She doesn't kick, just moves her feet around.


Now we are getting it down to a science.  Eldest daughter keeps Fawn up by moms head so she can see him and he is finally settling down to the idea. We give her a little sweet grain and pure alfalfa so she isn't board.  This milking went really well  my hands are getting stronger and don't tire so fast.  Buttercup hardly moved at all and it took me about 30 min to milk her out.  So far we are getting 2 and 1/2 gallons per day plus she's nursing a really really big calf.  So you figure he's getting at least another 1/2 gallon or more per day.  We will be able to start using the milk from her in two days, right now it's mostly colostrum (Yuck!).  I froze a good amount of it for calf emergencies and am now giving the rest to the chickens and rabbits.  Waste not want not!

Oh and I've lost 2 pounds since I started milking!  Maybe I could turn this into a diet and write a book.  I'll title it  The Milk Cow Diet Plan.  Loose weight and give your family healthy food!

We Have A Calf!

This morning I woke up at four am and couldn't get back to sleep.  I just knew that cow was calving without me!  So I headed out to the barn and lo and behold when I walked in what did I see?  A brand new wet baby calf sitting there with his mama licking him!  And yes I said he.  It looks like we will have a beef to butcher this fall. 

all tuckerd out

He is so tall he has a hard time getting the teats

Buttercup is already an excellent mother. She is attentive and gentle with her baby and he is up and nursing just fine.  I had checked her last night around 9:00pm but there was no sings of imminent labor.  Note to self.  Buttercup doesn't show many signs!

This calf is huge! My grandma came over and exclaimed at his size.  Her father was a rancher in the blue mountains and always kept milk cows and she often helped with the calving and care of the cows.  I'm so thankful everything went well and no one died.  I milked her out after I got the baby nursing well and she stood like a rock.  Long may it last.

Buttercup cleaning baby.  Ahh mom that feels good!

This calf is already tame.  He came right up to our children when we brought them out to see him and let them pet him all over.  Mama allowed this gentle attention and only stuck close by her baby and let out low mooos ever so often.

What a lovely calf.  He is full bred jersey.  The kids are so in love with him and so am I.

A great book on Calving

I found this at the library a few weeks ago and am going to add it to my personal library.  Its a guide to calving and the most in depth, simple, and understandable book I have ever read on the subject of animal birth.



Essential Guide to Calving

By Heather Smith Thomas

This covers absolutely everything, even complicated medical procedures (best performed by a vet), and every disease under the sun for cows giving birth.  A must if you want to breed cows.

Signs of impending Labor: Buttercup Update

Over the last few days Buttercup has bagged up beyond belief!  And I thought she was big before.  This is her second "freshen" so she's not as huge as a third or fourth calver but still!  Her bag is now rock hard and her teats are full but not yet shiny.

Two days ago the farmer who lets us use his barn and pasture came in while we were feeding and caring for her and told us we should have a calf within a few days (he raised cattle for 20 years so he would know) with the way Buttercups bag and vagina was looking.  And he did say the word vagina with absolutely no embarrassment at all. We could have been discussing the weather, not the business end of a cow.   It's funny how conversations like that are totally normal for me  But that's the way it is when you raise livestock.  You come to be on very intimate terms with all aspects of an animals body and functions.  Especially reproduction.

Just yesterday Eldest daughter and I were discussing the finer points on rabbit reproduction (we just bred all her females) and how the males seem to be incredibly stupid when it comes to their main purpose.  The females, however, are patiently resigned to it and wait for them to figure out what they need to do. I'll post some picks of her rabbits soon.  They are so pretty.

Well, we will keep our fingers crossed in the hopes that it is tonight for calving.  Buttercups ligaments on the sides are loosening up which signals labor within 10 hours.  We've been praying everything will go smoothly and we won't have to call the vet in.

Funny Jokes

I found these while looking for a joke I once read.  Its on a site with all farming or country jokes
 
http://www.retrojunkie.com/jokes/farming.htm
 
Political Science for Dummies
 
 
DEMOCRATIC
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
Barbara Streisand sings for you.
 
REPUBLICAN
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?
 
SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.
 
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
 
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.
 
AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.
 
FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.
 
JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
 
GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.
 
ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.
 
BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have one cow.
The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish.
The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy

One of my personal favorites is as follows, because farming can sometimes be a loosing bet.  And you do it because you love it.

As the farmer who won the lottery said when asked what he was going to do with his winnings,
"Keep farming until it's all gone.”

Pics of Beauty

Here are some pics that I find interesting because of the contrast.  One set is of the stained glass at our 100 year old church built by the founding pioneers.  Sitting in church with the sunlight (and it almost always is sunny here) filtering through these windows is lovely. 

The second set is of the sun coming streaming through the clouds out on the farmland.  I don't know if it comes through the pictures very well but it was so gorgeous we had to pull over and look at it for awhile.  My breath was taken away.  It makes me realize that God is so good to us to make our world full of wonderful things, He didn't have to do it after all.  Artists strive to create something that comes close to the perfection and grandeur of what we see in nature but no matter how many massive or opulent buildings are built, or paintings painted, or sculptures chiseled.  They can never outdo the magnificence of God's varied creation.

The Song of the Meadowlark

My favorite songbird is the Western Meadowlark.  They are all over this part of Washington out in the fields and farmlands.  As a girl we lived at the edge of town where the houses met with farm land and sage meadows.  Every morning in the spring and summer while walking to school you could here the meadowlarks singing out.  It's one of the most beautiful calls I have heard.  I used to sit out in the fields waiting for them to sing when I was little, and now that I'm an adult there is nothing more pleasurable than sitting out on a porch after a busy day with a glass of iced tea listening to them sing in the evening.

While we were living on acreage outside of Pasco we again could here the meadowlarks singing in the all the time and my daughter fell in love.  They don't come into towns, even ones as small as where we are living now, for some reason.  That's one of the things I miss by living in town.  But now that we have a cow every morning Eldest Daughter and I go out to feed, water, and check on her and we hear the Meadowlarks singing again.  I know spring is here when they are calling and want to get out and plant something!

Bad News Bathroom

Last night was our maiden voyage on the newly remodeled bathroom.  Everything is (almost) done, but the tub was ready to be used.  For the past few days I have been dreaming of using that bath. The kids were almost as excited as I was.  So we turned on the water to rinse out the bottom, one child already begging to get the first turn, when Husband came yelling up the stairs "TURN THE WATER OFF".

Apparently we had a miniature Niagara falls coming off the first floor ceiling!  Water is turned off and we confront the fact that we may have to RIP OUT THE TUB.  Ack!

Deep breath and now Husband is cutting out the floor under the sink in the hopes that he can find the leak and fix the problem without ripping out the tile, the tub, and the paint.

Pray for us

Nothin Yet! Buttercup Update

Well I've been watching our milk cow like a hawk these past two weeks praying that she will go the beginning of this month and not the end.  We have some very encouraging signs but no calf yet.

I took these pics two days ago, now her udder is even bigger

As of right now she has the following signs:

yellow mucus
in the last two days her teats have begun to bag up even more and are now tight
the wrinkles at the back of her bag are almost gone
swollen vulva
slab sided
the ligaments at her tail are like jelly
she's holding her tail to the side

I watcher her for about a half an hour this morning but didn't see any obvious signs of contractions.  I think within the next two days we'll have a calf though!  I'm going to check on her around 11.00 today and see if any progress has been made.

Miriam Stockley - Perfect Day ((HighQuality - rare version))

I've posted this before but decided to put it on again to help sooth any frazzeled nerves.

Orange Scented Pumpkin Buns Recipe

I get most of my cookbooks first through the library, then if I really like them I buy them online.  This is how I got my cookbooks How To Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson and Roasting by Kathy Gunst.

These were both great cookbooks and my favorite cornbread recipe (that even the children love) is in the Roasting one. 


I have just found a new book that I am going to buy online.  It's called The Everything Bread Cookbook and lives up to its name.  The recipes sound delicious, but that doesn't mean they work.  I tried the Orange Scented Pumpkin Buns and they were a success.  Very yummy, the kids each ate two at dinner and wanted more.  This is a great way to sneak in veggies if you have a child who will not eat them willingly.   I didn't add the orange zest, mainly because I don't like it personally.  And I used leftover butternut squash instead of pumpkin, but that won't change the flavor much.  One of the things I enjoyed about these was the nutmeg.  I adore nutmeg!  Please try grating it fresh because the difference in flavor is huge when you compare it to the pre-ground stuff.  Much better.  In fact I never liked nutmeg as a flavor until I tried grating my own.

 

I'm going to try her basic white bread, Hawaiian Bread, the caramelized onion and asiago cheese bread, and many more next.  There is a big section on whole grain breads that I want to start trying too. But on to the rolls.

I served these rolls with the best roast pork I have ever made.  I coated a cheap pork butt roast in a mix of Herbs De Provance/garlic powder/mustard powder/fresh ground pepper/cloves/salt and roasted it for about 6 hours at a very low temp with 2 cups of water a whole apple sliced, bay leaves, and half an onion.  It came out meltingly tender with a wonderful flavor.  The rolls complimented it by being a little sweet.

The rolls were tender and moist with a nice crust that formed from the egg wash brushed on top before baking.

Here's the recipe

Orange Scented Pumpkin Buns

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup pumpkin (or butternut squash) puree
2 teaspoons plus 1 pinch kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
grated zest of 2 oranges
4-6 cups bread flour
1 egg

1.  In a large bowl combine water, 1 teaspoon sugar, and yeast.  Stir to dissolve and let stand about 10 minutes.

2.  Add remaining sugar, butter, pumpkin, 2 teaspoons salt, nutmeg, orange zest, and enough bread flour to great a firm dough.  (I used the mixer until the dough was about like cookie dough and then mixed in the rest of the flour until it formed a firm dough by hand with a wooden spoon)  Add flour only to reduce stickiness.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 8-10 minutes.  Return to bowl, dust the top with flour, and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.  Rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

For the next step I just formed them into standard rolls and plopped them into buttered muffin pans.  They turned out fine!

3.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.  Turn risen dough onto a floured surface. Shape into a rope, about 3" thick.  Slice 2" pieces off the rope, then roll each into a tight ball.  Place balls on Prepared pan., seam-side down.  Dust lightly with flour, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and proof for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375

4.  Mix egg with a pinch of salt and brush lightly across proofed rolls, bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely.

We ate these still warm from the oven smeared with butter!

Remodeling the bathroom

The upstairs bath has been inoperative for the last 3 months while we accumulated the money to fix the problem.  It all started when we noticed the tub (one of those plastic inserts) was cracked on the bottom.  That necessitated a total rip out of the entire thing and resorting to the use of our downstairs tiny shower stall for all personal cleaning.  I sooo missed my tub!

Wow that looks amazing.  This was our first remodel job ever with no help besides our neighbor helping Husband haul the tub upstairs.  Hernias and internal damage never keep good men down!

The $20.00 cast iron tub with dirt in the bottom.  I'll be rinsing that out as soon as were done grouting and caulking the tile

Here's a shot of the glass tile accent I used to cover up the wall cut.  I still need to grout it today.

This bathroom is long an narrow so pictures are hard to take

These cupboards were an ugly worn brown wood

This is the old tile I'm going to replace with the green glass tile you see above and around the tub

 

this light fixture is going to be spray painted with to oiled bronze paint to match the other fixtures

Because I'm a frugal person I found a cast iron tub on craigslist for $20.00 in perfect condition.  It will never crack!  So slowly Husband ripped out the old tub.  This last week we bought all the stuff needed to completely remodel the bathroom.  I figured we might as well do the whole thing.  So we painted, put in the new tub and walls, put in new hardware for the sink and tub, and put up glass tile.  We aren't done yet.  I'm going to tile the counters, spray paint the light fixtures and put new knobs on the the cabinets. 

I wish I had done before pics, the last time this bathroom was remodeled was in the 80's.  The cabinets were the standard dark brown wood and the walls were a plain white with all sorts of mismatched hardware.  It looks amazing but I still have a few things to do.  I'm going to paint the fixtures metal to match the oiled bronze switch plates and faucets and put the tile in.  Then Fin!

By the way I HATE painting and fiddly work.  I could work in the garden, muck out stalls, or cook all day.  But I detest painting!  Always have.  But a job worth doing is worth doing right.

What we've been up to with pics

The past three weeks have been extremely busy.  I painted the girls room, we just are finishing up remodeling our upstairs bathroom and will finally have a tub again, we got our milk cow that is due to have her calf any day, I started about 50 tomatoes/peppers/eggplants, and ordered and received my new milk buckets.

These milk buckets hold almost 4 gallons and are rolled stainless steel with lids.  They should work perfect for milking Buttercup.  I can't wait!  I loved milking our goats, but cows are so much nicer because the teats are bigger and easier to handle.  Plus the cream separates and rises to the top as apposed to goats milk which is naturally homogenized.

We also bought the boards to make 5 more raised beds but have to wait until the ground thaws to put them in.  Busy Busy Busy!  I wanted to get the bathroom done before the cow freshens because after that I will be dealing with milk processing for a good part of the morning and evening.  I still need to start my hot pepper plants but ran out of pots.  I'm also considering cabbage starts since we like cabbage. The day I started my plants it was snowing like the dickens, and today it's snowing again.  Sigh!  I am so looking forward to spring!

The REAL Pioneer Woman + Adorable and Frugal Old Fashioned Aprons!

 

I love this poem, just reading it makes me realize how strong and dedicated the women of our history were.  To make a farm and family work both women and men had to work from dusk till dawn.  Both the man and the woman were absolutely necessary for the success of the family.  Both had their jobs were important, but I don't envy the men.  Breaking land was brutal work!  I'd much rather cook! It was a life that was eminently useful.

 

The Pioneer Women

Grandma, on her start of day
Milked the cows and fed them hay
Slopped the pigs, saddled the mule
And got the children off to school.
Did the washing, mopped the floors
Shined the windows and did some chores
Cooked a dish of home dried fruit
Pressed her husband's Sunday suit.
Swept the parlour and made some beds
Baked a dozen loaves of bread
Split some firewood and lugged it in
Enough to fill the kitchen bin.
Cleaned the lamps and put in oil
Stewed some apples she thought would spoil
Cooked a supper that was delicious
And afterwards, washed all the dishes
Fed the animals and sprinkled some clothes
Mended a basket full of hose
Then opened the organ and began to play
'When you come to the end of a perfect day'