The Universe is Speaking....

....and it's reminding us to hug our kids, appreciate our educators, and always be aware of what is going on around you.

This was my daughter's school day today.  Some jackhole parent showed up to confront a teacher, and brought a handgun.  Lovely.

HUG EVERYONE YOU LOVE AND DON'T FORGET TO TELL THEM LOUD AND CLEAR.

From Garbage....Goodies!

Call me frugal, creative, cheap....but the thrill of getting something from nothing (or close to nothing) never fades....

Ever since I have been knitting socks, I have been SOOO reluctant to give up the small ball of extra yarn that is usually left over.  I finally bit the bullet and decided to do a Beekeeper's Quilt, and so the first hexipuff rolled off the needles...

I am only stuffing them with the tiniest bit of fleece...actually the leftover stuff I scrape off the drum carder and save as stuffing for fiber projects such as this...

And since the gardener in me so COMPLETELY finished with winter, I just had to be doing something green and food related, so I fished the scallion ends out of the trash and planted them.  In just a few weeks, we have this:

It's not the first time I have tried this, but I had forgotten about it, so I was reminded by this blogger, and it just happened to be on a day I was using some scallions!  I use much more of the scallion than she, so my ends were not much more than 1/2 inch, but it worked!

And here in Zone 5, it's about time to start thinking about seeds, so I planted leeks and onions, which need a good amount of start time before they get set out in the garden.  We made these little "greenhouses" with leftover containers with our 4-H group - what a great way to capture sunlight and warmth...not to mention easy transport to the garden when it is time for transplant...

This year I started American Flag leeks. ( Love leeks.....so good in soups! ) And the larger container has two types of onions: Copra, a good yellow storage onion in half, and Ruby Ring, a nice red onion in the other half.  The boxes are set in a window with southern exposure, and which happens to be close to a heater vent, so it actually gets warm enough to germinate seeds. (The rest of our house is kept around 62 degrees, and I often have to break out the heat mat for seeds...)

Spring is in 16 days and 2 hours....does it seem desperate that I know that???

FO#1 2013

First knitted project off the needles in 2013.  Socks for my daughter, and no yarn was purchased for this project!  Moving on...

Happy Potty Day!

Perhaps a "crappy" title, but appropriate, nonetheless....you see Saturday was all about the potty.  Let me give you the "poop"...

It was warm enough (high 40's) to allow our bees to take a cleansing flight.

You see, bees don't go to the bathroom in the hive.   So they spend the winter with little legs crossed, waiting for a warm enough day to "take care of business".  It also means for us (anxious beekeepers) that we get to see that the hive has survived so far...

Temperatures were also warm enough that hibernating bears woke up for a mid-winter snack...my neighbor/friend lost a hive to a foraging bear the same day (major bummer!)

And keeping with the waste removal theme...

Here is the riser, or opening to our septic tank.  Why am I taking a picture of that, you ask?  Well, it turns out that Saturday was also the day we had to have an emergency visit from the Septic Folks to deal with a blocked septic tank.  Fun.

Actually, I dug the riser out myself as a part of my trying to diagnose the problem.  Only the unnaturally curious or seriously poor/cheap do that sort of thing - but it paid off.  I saved $45 off the service call.  Do you know where your tank is?  (Might be a good idea to check that out, and mark it! )

All is fixed....so it really was a happy potty day!

Sprouts!

Love, love, love my winter sprouts!  Probably all the more because I can't get into the garden, and they are the closest thing to farming right about now...

These are organic alfalfa sprouts and cost me about 35 cents to grow.  Compare that to $2.99 at the grocery....

We use a large mason jar.  The lid is replaced with 2 circles of screen, cut from repair screen we had on hand, and placed in the rim so that the gridwork of the screen is reduced by the overlapping holes/wires.  Large enough for water to drain, and small enough to keep the smaller sprout seeds from washing down the drain.

Throw in a few Tablespoons of sprout seeds, cover with water and soak for an hour.  Drain off the water, and put in a dark cupboard.  Next day, and each day, rinse with water, swirl well, and drain.  After 4 days or so, you should have decent sprout growth:

From here on out, place the jar in/near a sunny window so the sprouts will leaf and green.  They usually take 7-8 days.  Store in fridge.  Or eat.  Immediately.

NOTE:  I choose to live life on the edge.  Therefore, I disregard the warning on the organic seed packets required by the litigation-fearing lawyers who represent the seed company.  Rinsing my sprouts in a bleach solution just doesn't sound like a good idea.  You make the call.

Knit faster, dammit!

It's COLD!!!!  That's what the chickens are saying.....hoping to get some poultry lingerie...I am sure.   It dipped WELL below zero the last two nights.  It's the kind of weather that makes me want to do NOTHING more than cozy up on the couch with some knitting....

These socks languished on the needles all during December - not for lack of interest - but because I got practically zero knitting time (dratted job!).  The pattern is mine - anyone wanting a copy should e-mail me, or shout out in the comments section.  It will eventually be up on the website/Ravelry, but that may take a while....

My daughter is also chanting the mantra, "Knit Faster!" as these are her socks.  Basic ribbed design, in Dyenamics colorway Starry, Starry Night.  Believe me, these are not all on her list, she has ideas about a pair of fingerless mitts...

Meanwhile, Chicken Mamas - Don't forget our feathered friends in the cold - we swath all combs, wattles and tender parts in Vaseline for the cold weather to prevent frostbite.  Liberal application, frequently.

Stay warm!

Rendering

Lard, that is..

Not much to look at, I realize.  But when we had our pig butchered, leaf lard was one of the products we got back.  (We had to request it, actually.  Many butchers keep it and sell it to willing customers if the uninformed aren't smart enough to ask for it.)

Leaf lard is the highest grade of lard. (Didn't know they graded that stuff, did you?)  Lard is pork fat, BTW.  I, like many, thought it referred to just fat in general. It comes from around the kidney/loin area of the pig and is highly prized because it is an excellent neutral-flavored cooking fat for moist, flaky pie crusts.  (Pie crust?  I'm in....)

The rendering is quite simple.  Just cut the lard into small cubes.  If you notice, it does not cut completely smoothly like butter, but has some residual "threads" of gristle (that's what rendering separates out...more about this stuff in a minute...).  Put just the slightest amount of water  (about 1/4 cup) in the bottom of the roasting pan. Add lard, and heat in the oven on a low temp - I use 250 degrees.  Think low and slow. (Crock pots on low also work....)

Stir it occasionally as the fat melts.  The "cracklins" begin to form - they are the strings of pork you felt as you cut that cook out during this process.  Pork rinds!   They are actually quite tasty and have uses - don't waste!  Once the cracklins settle, remove pan and pour the liquid fat through a fine strainer or cheesecloth into canning jars.  It will keep in the fridge for a month or more.

This jar is actually darker than usual (I let the lard render longer than I needed - got distracted...imagine that!) But it will cool to a nice creamy white-ish color.

I told you to save the cracklins - also know as chiccharrons in some Mexican recipes -

This time we used them heated in a nice green tomatillo salsa, then loaded into tortillas with black bean refried beans.   Don't forget the dollop of sour cream.....

Thank you again, Mr. Pig!

Hello, old friend...

We are closing out 2012 with something we haven't seen around here in quite some time...SNOW!

Filling water pails from the pond overflow

Two hives we hope to overwinter

"This is exactly how far I am going out of this barn in this stuff..."

Alexander and friends are willing to go out...but not off the "beaten path"...

White makes a name for itself even when you look up (I love birches against winter sky)

Icicle

And we are at 6 minutes more daylight than the darkest/shortest day....any plans?

Makin' Bacon

Truthfully, we didn't make the bacon - the processor took care of that part.  But we have a lot of it - and more...the pork is back from the slaughterhouse!

Just one view of our available freezer space (and, yes, I know there is a chicken in the photo...it's one of our meat birds from this year)...you get the idea.

102 pounds represents our half of the pig (we split with another family).  We raised a Tamworth - a very nice heritage breed.  We used 10 bags of organic hog feed during the season, supplemented with family food scraps, organic produce throwaways, apple drops, and lots of organic milk and whey from a local dairy/cheesemaking operation.  We raised this pig to slaughter weight a full month earlier than last year, and I really believe the difference was the dairy.  Lots of colostrum milk from the birthing cows, and in the end we even got old cheese (concentrated proteins and fats!).

Feeling very thankful this day for a full larder!

Using wool

The Storm blew this little house down to the lower branches, and we got a chance to check out the building materials...glad to see someone else besides me is putting all this wool to good use...

Speaking of wool...I'm on a quest to knit down the stash - (I SWEAR no more yarn till I see the hidden corners of the house finally empty of yarn...) and I just finished one badly needed addition to the sock drawer:

I got bogged down in the first sock trying to knit with these cuter-than-heck bitty circular needles.  Saw them and just HAD to give them a try.  While they will meet the requirements for knitting while on jury duty (I think) they are just not as fast as good ole DPN's.  Once I gave up the circulars, I flew right through.  Lesson learned.

Back to the quest....

Poultry Ambassador

Far and away the best entry in the Schaghticoke Fair Poultry Show was Barty.  My baby.  (With a face only a mother could love.)  He got more visits and photo shoots and oohs and aahhs than just about any other bird in the barn.

Why?  Because most people coming through had never really seen a turkey up close.  They know more about the white plastic wrapped Butterball in the grocer's freezer than this fellow.  (sigh)

Fingers crossed, he will be back again next year.  We'll be watching for you!

Testicular Housekeeping

It was time.  Our three lambs had finally reached the age where the nuts were starting to make them nuts, so they had to go.  (The nuts, that is.)

Friday we made a cram-them-in-the-dog crate run for the vet, and they were happy to set up shop in the parking lot, thereby skipping the farm visit fee.

First was Bronx, the eldest.  He is a single, out of Secret.  He was born black, but as you can see, clearly possesses the fading gene.  A look at his horns and you can see why there was no way we were keeping him intact.   That tight curl is going to be somebody else's maintenance - he is up for sale.

Then the twins, Brooklyn and Broadway.  Brooklyn has a nicely developing set of horns, probably going to be almost perfect, so we kept him intact for another month to see if any buyers want him to come fully "loaded".

He is black, and shows every indication of staying that way.  Here's a top view of the horns...

His brother, Broadway has been smaller and more gentle from the start, and while that is endearing, I don't believe in giving anyone the opportunity to create miniature Shetlands.  Besides, his slow growing horns don't look all that promising in terms of development, so *squish* went his chances of becoming a father:

You can see, he has already had a run-in with somebody/something that took off the tip of the horn.  Here is a top view and you can see the "full" horn at the top of the photo:

He's laying down, because frankly, he's sore.  Not that I blame him a bit.  Although the burdizzo method leaves no open wounds to attract flies, just the thought of all that crushing makes even ME wince.  DH can't even stand to watch....I do this vet trip solo.

They all got CDT and rabies - mostly because next week they are going to "farm camp" (as we are calling it) to be decorative backdrop for Liberty Ridge Farm during their Fall tourist season. Rabies is required of all animals going to this type of "zoo" setting, and because it goes to the public record, I could not do the shots on the farm, they had to be administered by a vet.  The other three sheep that will be "rented" out besides the lambs are all getting their shots next week, literally on the way to the farm for dropoff.

We will have three left here - the ram, Leonidas, and two wethers, Jack and Alexander.  Besides reduced chores for us, the rent-a-sheeps earn some $$, save us more $$ on hay/feed, and hopefully attract an interested fiber artist who wants to add some/all of the lambs to their flock.  Keeping fingers crossed!

Ooh-la-la...another good use for the juicer!

It is disgustingly hot.  Over 90 and humid as hell by noon.  Which of course means the tomatoes all come ripe NOW.  But we figured out a way to cut the heat and challenge of tomato sauce in August....

Ta-daa!  Throw them all in the juicer.  Which also has the bonus effect of being able to use the cherry tomatoes, which have such beautiful flavor, but normally are too tiny to bother boiling off the skin...

Afterwards, there is still lots of usable pulp, so into the usual food mill....

A few turns, and we get all the good stuff, and it's even more efficient than the old system!  Throw the garlic cloves, a few shallots, and the basil in the juicer as well.....and voila!  tomato sauce with half the bitchin'.....gotta love that.

Now put the sauce on the slow burner to cook, and walk away.  Hopefully into some air conditioned room far, far away from the kitchen.  Bring knitting.  Come back in a few hours.

Summer Rituals

Regardless of the kind of summer one is having, there are just certain things that have to get done.  One of them is taking the best of the poultry to be tested for pullorem, prior to the county fair.  As those who free-range their birds like we do can attest, there's no fun like trying to catch and cage a dozen or more chickens who have no interest in going anywhere except back to their business of running the yard...I'll save you the details, just picture hot, dirty, sweaty, scratched, covered in feathers and a good deal of chicken poo (all before 8 a.m.)

Here we are, everyone loaded in the back of the Baja:

And then Barty decided to check everyone out...probably throwing in more than a few cracks about being locked up while he gets to stay home, etc. etc. (I'm guessing - I don't speak turkey):

All back home by 10 ish with bling...silver ankle bands...very stylish.

Next it was off to pick Blueberries at a local farm.  My "assistants" probably spent more time running through the rows or throwing drops at each other, but we still managed almost 20 pounds...and now time for jam!

Not a bad time, really.  But a little crazy considering we still have this staring us in the face at home:

But I just can't resist a PYO...

How to buy a (call) duck

My daughter has been lobbying for a call duck for almost a year now.  For the uninitiated, a call duck is like a bantam chicken. Once Olivia and Elliot arrived, my general arguments against ducks melted away, and so we marked our calendars for the Spring Poultry Swap.

Today we got up at the crack of dawn, drove through the country fog to the Schaghticoke (sca-ti-coke) Fairgrounds and attended the swap.  What started as a tailgate sale for poultry enthusiasts years ago has become a sort of farmer's flea market with animals of all sorts and a lotta other junk thrown in.

We saw beautiful and rare pigeons:

 We saw beautiful and rare pheasants:

We saw utility ducks:

( who defied logic and stayed in the little box)

And we saw plenty of sub-standard chickens (who didn't warrant a picture).  Which is kind of sad, really.  Not to be a chicken snob or anything, but the majority of the public do not know much about poultry standards, and I really hate it when breeders pass off sub-standard stock to unsuspecting customers just to make a buck.  If we want to encourage more people to raise chickens, and want to interest some in showing, we should be promoting heritage breeds, good stock, and educating the public as we go.  Instead, there are a lot of people out there selling crap.  (OK, off the soapbox now...)

We finally saw these call ducks:

Which happened to be kinda large for call ducks and too brown and mottled to be good quality for this particular variety (see above rant).  That didn't stop their owners from asking $30 for each of them...

So, we looked at all the neat poultry supplies, including these nice cages:

And we wandered amongst the goats, donkeys, turkeys, puppies, tomato plants, Adirondack chairs, saddles and tack, piglets, guinea pigs, walking sticks, parakeets....

....till we finally found what we came for:

...a happy teenager.  (What??!? You were expecting a call duck?)

Apparently, a cute Mini Rex is awfully close to a Call duck.  Who knew?

There's fading...and then...

...there is an abrupt change of plans.

Somewhere, oh, around Christmas, my little grey lamb decided to be white.  Look what we found when we took off the coat and sheared today!

His mother (obviously) carries the fading gene.  So we knew our little black lamb was actually grey...but this was more than we expected!  Hee-hee!

Looks can be deceiving, no?

More to scare you...

Real Estate anywhere outside the state of Michigan should be seeing a boost....You'll understand what I mean if you go here, and do a little reading of the recent posts.

Make no mistakes - the government, at the behest of processed food manufacturers and retailers - is after your right to choose what you eat and how it is grown.

Imagine... being served, raided, and forced to slaughter your family livestock. Forced to brutally kill animals you have helped to breed, feed, understand, respect, and even love. Because some moronic politician passed an idiotic law. It's happening right now in Michigan.

Today it's hogs...tomorrow.....???

They're taking the fresh salad right out of your mouths, and shoving the Twinkie and McNugget as far down as it will go....

Yak!

So, at my new job there are some strange things we do...all in the name of collectible dolls. (That's what we make..)

Like today. I spent several hours ironing the doll wigs made from yak hair. Really. We make wigs with yak hair. And the best part is the sewer has all kinds of "leftover/unusable" yak hair when she is finished. The more wiry stuff is actually better for wigs, so this "leftover" hair is the softer, fluffier part of the yak.

And I get to keep it! So, spinners....any suggestions? Ever spun yak before? It has no crimp/memory like wool so it needs to be blended. Blend it first on the carder? I'm full of questions...

In the end, my beginning spinner skills (or lack of) may put this fiber on the shelf, but we shall see...