Another Thing we do with Muscadines

First off, we were blessed to receive almost none of the effects of Hurricane Ida.  That was mostly felt on the southeastern part of the state.  

Two days ago we were talking about the muscadine harvest that gets bigger every year as our vine grows.  We eat most of them just snacking on them, but tonight I'll show you another thing we do - we make New Wine with them.  New wine is full of flavor, fizzy, refreshing with none of the alcohol that regular wine has.  Here's how we make it:

After picking we thoroughly wash the grapes.

We use a very old juicer.  I think it is called the Juice Man, or something like that.  I think it was invented shortly after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.  We feed the grapes into the hopper and it spins into a mechanism that juices it.  The juice comes out one end and the pulp and seeds fill a bucket on the other end.

The juice is pretty thick, with some pulp in it.  It is sweet and sticky.

Here is the bucket full of muscadine skins and seeds.  I like to get everything I can out of it.  I thought about running it through the juicer again...

But instead, I squeezed it through a muslin cloth.  This has an extra benefit as some of the red color from the skins comes out which gives the wine a red tint.

The recipe comes from The Maker's Diet, by Jordan Rubin.

New wine only has 3 ingredients: grapes, whey, and salt.

Add 1/2 cup of whey.  This separates from the yogurt when Tricia is making kefir.

Then you add 1 tablespoon sea salt:

We pour it all into a big jar, cover, and sit it on the counter at room temperature for two days.

After two days, put it in the back of the refrigerator and 'forget about it' for a good while.  We start drinking it when it is about 3 weeks old.  It looks horrible, but the taste is delicious and something that you look forward to every year during muscadine harvest.

Two Goats Gone

One thing about goats is that they multiply.  They have a tendency to have more triplets and twins than singles, so in no time at all the pasture is full of goats!  They are very cute when young and are so fun to watch.  They have the best little personalities.  This year Annie (Nubian momma goat) had triplets and Oreo (La Mancha momma goat) had twins.  Two of Annie's kids died due to parasites.  We've had quite a time this year fighting parasites!

We decided that we needed to downsize in order to make things easier.  It is quite a rodeo getting to the barn every day during feeding time.  All the goats (Annie, Buckwheat, Oreo, Andy, Salt and Pepper) rush to try to get into the barn before the cows arrive.  The cows can be quite mean to the goats, using their heads as a battering ram to violently push the goats into the wall.  When you try to open the gate, the goats are all up around you.  It is especially annoying when you have your hands full of milking buckets and wash buckets.  It is a real chore to try to get into the barn without one of the goats knocking into you and causing you to drop something on the ground.  When we come out with a bucket of hen scratch, the goats get all under your feet, making it hard to walk.  Sometimes they'll jump up and pull the bucket down and make us spill it.

We need things to be a little easier.  Tricia put Oreo and one of her doelings, Salt, up for sale.  In a short time, we had someone who had agreed to purchase.  Sunday afternoon, we bid farewell to Annie and Salt.  The purchasers showed up right at the time when we had to meet to go Christmas caroling, so I missed telling Oreo and Salt goodbye.  Tricia stayed behind for a short while to make the transaction, but got distracted and didn't get a chance to get pictures.  Oh well.

So now there's just Pepper left.  Pepper is Oreo's doeling.  Here she is on top of the old freezer we use to store feed.  She's always hopping on top of something! 

Although she is a La Mancha, her Daddy is Buckwheat, who is a Nubian.  Pepper inherited the long ears of her daddy.  Tonight at supper I asked Tricia if Pepper was acting sad that her momma and sister are gone.  Pepper didn't cry a bit.  She's acting normal.  We're planning to keep Pepper for breeding stock.  Oh, and Tricia said that it was much easier around the barn at chore time with two less goats!

Thoughts on a Thursday

This afternoon was a busy one.  When I got home from work, I weeded the three rows of green beans.  All the weeds were thrown over the fence and the chickens and goats happily disposed of them for me!  This green bean experiment may be an exercise in futility.  I was told by a master gardener at church that you aren't supposed to plant green beans until mid-August as green beans don't like hot weather.  Since our spring green beans didn't produce well due to excessive rain, I'm hoping that these produce.  If not, I'll plant again in a month.

I moved the cows to the next paddock in the pasture.  Every two days I move them into the next paddock and close off the one they were just eating on.  This gives it a little over a week to "rest up" and re-grow.  The paddock on the right below has been eaten down.  The side on the left has tender growth.  The cows recognize the sound of the electric fence reel.  They equate it to fresh grass and come running.

Then I walked out to the barn to get my small animal trap.  Last night I spotted a possum in the yard, but by the time I went inside to get my rifle, the possum was gone!  I'll set the trap in the yard and hopefully catch him.  I baited the trap with dog food and will check in the morning.  I hope I don't catch our cat in the trap.  In the past I've caught many possums, but have also caught the neighbor's cats from time to time.

While I was at the barn, Oreo's two baby twins, Salt and Pepper, were playing in the wagon.  I tell you, these goats get into everything.  They were playing in the wagon!

Pepper figured the wagon was as good a place as any t take a nap.  Salt was too antsy to rest.

As it turns out, it was a good thing I went back out to the barn to get the trap.  I discovered that after we separated the bulls from the mommas, Clarabull had escaped and had rejoined the herd in the pasture.  It is a good thing we noticed or we would have gotten no milk at all tomorrow!  Crisis averted.  We captured the escapee and put her back in the corral.

Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn

Well, the other afternoon, we heard a familiar sound.  A goat was crying.  We knew exactly what had happened.  It is not the first time it happened, or the second, or third, or fourth.  Or fifth, for that matter.  Salt is one of Oreo's twins.  Salt is not too bright.  Her brother, Pepper, is not a Rhodes scholar, by any stretch, but he's smarter than Salt - although Salt does not set the bar for intellect very high.

Salt has been getting her head stuck in the fence.  Repeatedly.  The grass is indeed always greener on the other side of the fence.  The fence, in this case, is a 4 x 4 "hog wire" and the goats love to poke their heads through it and eat the tender grass on the other side.  The predicament they find themselves in is that they have horns that prevent them from getting their heads back through.

Help me!

The ideal thing to do is that when the goats are a week or so old, you get a de-horner and de-horn them.  We got busy with other things and didn't do this in time and the horns are too long.  Those horns have proven to be troublesome for Salt.  I think if you look at her below, she's kind of embarrassed to be stuck yet again.

Okay, I know it's like the tenth time, but can you get me out, please?

I searched for ideas.  We've used rubber band emasculators before on Annie in order to de-horn her, but she grew scurs (partial horn re-growth).  I found people that had success with something I'll call the "Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn."  The cost for installation is negligible.  All you need is a length of PVC pipe and some duct tape.  Every redneck has that laying around somewhere.

You simply lay the PVC pipe horizontally against the front of the goat's horns and apply the duct tape numerous times in a 'figure-8' around the horns and PVC until secure.  When you are done, it will look something like this:

I am so ashamed!

The Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn work because they prevent the goat's head from being able to fit between the 4x4 spacings in the fence.  Although it is July, looking at Salt reminded me of Christmas, specifically this guy: (Don't you see the resemblance?)

Image Credit

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...  Salt did not like her antlers.  The duct tape held them on tight and no amount of shaking her head would shake them loose.

Salt saw that it was futile to try to remove her antlers and tried to accept her new accessory.  She tried to act normal, but I believe she knew how ridiculous she looked to us and her barnyard friends.

What are you looking at?

Her twin, Pepper, approached her and inspected her antlers between spasms of laughter.  I'm pretty sure I witnessed Pepper laughing uncontrollably.  Salt's confidence was shaken.

You look mahvelous! (cough, cough, snicker, snicker)

But here came Oreo.  It was suppertime!  Salt and Pepper ran to Oreo to nurse.  Then the craziest thing happened.  Oreo would not let Salt come near her with the antlers.  Oreo began to head butt her away.  I don't know if it scared Oreo.  I do know that Salt and Pepper aren't weaned yet and with the Antlers of Ridicule and Scorn installed, Salt would be on an involuntary hunger strike if I didn't take action.

I reluctantly removed Salt's antlers.  I have them stored away for safekeeping.  In a month, when it is time to wean Salt, I'll re-install the antlers.  Until then, we keep our eyes and ears open for Salt.  She doesn't seem to learn her lesson and I'm sure we'll have to pry her head out of the fence another time or three...

More Things To Do With a Bumper Crop of Tomatoes

The 2018 crop of heirloom tomatoes are still coming in.  Numerous varieties.  Some big and fat.  Some little. Some deep, blood-red, some yellow, some orange and some almost black.  I have fun growing them.  Lately, however, when I bring yet another bucket full into the house, Tricia almost groans.

We've canned forty-something pints of diced tomatoes and about the same amount of tomato sauce. 

Tricia makes an Italian tomato salad that she likes and we've made numerous batches of pico de gallo.

Today we'll be drying some tomatoes in the food dehydrator.  It is a simple thing to do.  You simply core out the tomatoes and cut them into quarters and align them on the dehydrator trays.  I pack them in pretty tight.  They will shrink up.

You want to get them close together to make the most of the space that you have.

I'll liberally shake kosher salt over the tomatoes and then I went outside and picked a whole bunch of rosemary.  I skinned the needles off of the rosemary and sprinkled lots of it on top of the cut up tomatoes.

Once I have all the trays prepared and ready, it is time to get them dehydrating.

It takes only about a day for the tomatoes to be dried.  All of the water has been removed and it leaves behind a concentrated flavor of tomatoes, salt and rosemary that is like candy to eat!

We've made several batches.  Once totally dried, we store in mason jars and zip loc bags and snack on them.  I'm not a big fan of raw tomatoes, but dried tomatoes are quite good.

We have a few jars of dried seasoned, herbed tomatoes put aside and many more on the way!

The smaller tomatoes actually make the best dried tomatoes. 

Pucker Up!

Several years ago my lovely wife introduced me to a new spice blend.  I love spice!  I'm always adding peppers, our homemade tabasco sauce, and salsa to everything.  This spice blend was new to me.  As the colors on the label might suggest, it is from Mexico.

It is called "Tajin," pronounced "ta HEEN"  As the color might suggest, it has pepper in it, but I don't think you can really call it HOT.  Tangy is the better adjective as the lime in it steals the show.  It makes you pucker up, kind of like a big juicy dill pickle does.  This stuff is delicious.  Something a little different is what this spice is used on.  The label calls it "fruit seasoning." The only seasoning I've ever eaten on fruit was to put salt on my watermelon.  You have to trust me on this.  Tajin is great on apples, pears, watermelon, mango, and citrus.  It is also great on non-fruit items like cucumbers.

The other day I was having a craving for it and so we decided to just make some ourselves.  The label ingredients are: salt, chili powder, dehydrated lime juice and silicon dioxide.  Easy enough.  We assembled our ingredients:

I cut up some pears and then got some kosher salt, lime and chili powder.  There are numerous types of chili powders and the label doesn't specify which one, so Tricia mixed it up and used half regular chili powder and half Ancho chili powder.  To make it simply use equal parts of salt and chili powder.  In our case, we used 1 Tablespoon of each.

Then, simply sprinkle on top of the fruit and cut your lime into quarters and squeeze one of the lime quarters over the top of the sprinkled fruit.

Now, we're ready to snack!  Here is the money shot before Tricia and I make them disappear!

I'm not embarrassed to say I licked the plate clean.