All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small

In an up-coming post, I'll share some photos of the beauty of late spring around our parts.  Spring is just a wonderful time.  There is anticipation of the garden harvest, flowers abloom, and baby goats frolicking about in the pasture.  Last week I chronicled the momma wren nurturing her little babies in a nest in Tricia's planter.  God's creation and His creatures that inhabit the world are truly something to behold.

As I sat thinking about all God's creatures, I was reminded of this wonderful book that I read 18 years ago:

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

The author's name is James Herriot, but that's just a pseudonym.  James Alfred Wight is his real name, and he was a real veterinarian in Yorkshire Dales of Northern England.  In "All Creatures Great and Small" he recounts actual stories in his experience as a veterinarian.  The book is beautifully written.  His love for the quirky people, the animals (from goldfish to race horses), and the stunning countryside of Yorkshire comes across in his descriptive writing style.  

Some stories are downright funny.  Others are emotional and hit you right in the feels.  The stories are true, but he's changed the names of all of the people to protect their privacy.  I've got All Creatures Great and Small out on my counter to re-read,  but I've just discovered Herriot's other works.

I checked out "All Things Bright and Beautiful" in audiobook format from the library and have been listening as I'm driving around for work.  So far it's just as good as All Creatures Great and Small.  His descriptions of making farm calls brings to my remembrance emergencies we've had on our farm, like, for instance, when Rosie stood up and stepped on her teat, tearing it with her hoof!  Or, just recently, having a stillborn goat, or milk cows with mastitis, goats with copper deficiency, or cows with parasites.  Every day is a new adventure being a steward of God's Creation.  Sometimes you meet with success and other times you find failure.

I think the author gives us a formula for success:  Have a love for people around you.  Have a love for the animals you encounter.  Have a love for the countryside.  James Herriot's book titles tell you the most important thing: Have a great love for the Lord.  He named four of his books after the verses in the hymn "All things bright and beautiful."  It's a beautiful hymn, praising God for creating such a majestic creation.  The hymn is in our church's hymn book, but we never sing it.  Perhaps we'll learn it and sing it soon.  Click the arrow below to listen:

A Better Moth Trap

Yes, you read that right.  A Moth Trap.  Last year we lost a hive of bees to wax moths.  I'd like to avoid that this year, if at all possible.  There are chemical treatments you can do, but we don't want to use chemicals.  I began to search for natural methods.  The reason this search was intensified was due to what I saw in the first hive on the left.

The two hives on the left that only have 1 deep box are two swarms that we caught in the yard.  While I was watching all the activity, I watched a MOTH crawl out of the box on the left!  Oh no.  The best way to ward off wax moths is to have a strong colony.  A healthy hive of bees will get rid of the wax moths and larvae because there are enough numbers to protect the hive.  We have a problem here.  The swarm is small.  The queen just started laying, so the numbers are low.  In about a week or so the colony should be growing exponentially, but will the hive be destroyed before the cavalry arrives?

I read about some traps that you can build to attract moths and kill them before they damage your hives.  The idea is to lure them away from your bees.  The trap is made with some plastic bottles that you cut a quarter-sized hole in the neck.  You make a concoction of 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup warm water and a banana peel.  You put that concoction in the plastic bottle and hang it near your bee hives.  That's what I did.

I actually made two.  Now, we wait.  The moths will smell the decaying banana peel and sugar, vinegar and water fermenting.  They go into the bottle and never come out.  Or so I'm told.  Let's see what happens...

The same afternoon I went out to check the traps.  There was already a moth in one of them!

A day later, I checked them and there are drowned moths in both bottles.

These moth traps work.  Moths are drawn to them like... well, like a moth to a flame.  Hopefully, we can catch enough of them to put a dent in the wax moth population.

Dewberries... Woods To Table

It's dewberry time.  Dewberries are similar to blackberries, but better.  They are bigger and juicier.  They grow on vines that run along the ground in the woods and edges of fields.  They come our earlier than blackberries.  Years ago they grew in abundance in the ditch across the road from us.  They no longer grow there since the field is mowed frequently now.  

Not to worry.  I've found a 'honey hole' in the woods behind the henhouse.  I noticed all the white flowers and made a mental note to check back in a few weeks.  I'm glad I did.  Tricia and I walked back there yesterday with quart-sized yogurt containers.  In three shakes of a billy goat's tail, we had them filled up and were walking back to the house.  Here's a sneak peek at what dewberries look like:

I have a weakness for pies, so I was thinking homemade dewberry pie would be a nice dessert for Sunday after church with some coffee.  Tricia was thinking about making a homemade dewberry tart.  Well, I like them both.  I'm not gonna sit here and split hairs about which one is better.  Bright and early Sunday morning, the wife began making the dough and putting together the dewberry tart.  Doesn't that look nice?

After folding up the edges, she began applying an egg wash to the sides of the crust.

And then, yes, you can't forget to sprinkle some sugar on the edges...

This tart is so fresh.  Those dewberries slept in the field last night.

Speaking of fresh.  Here's the dewberry tart, fresh out of the oven.

We sliced that up and served homemade goat-milk ice cream on top.  So good!  I'll be checking the woods for more dewberries in a couple of days.  When picking there were some that were still red that will be ripening in a day or two.  We'll pick more and maybe make a pie or use them in a smoothie.

Falling Down, And Getting Back Up

For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.  Proverbs 24:16

The Bible is speaking of men who trust in the Lord, and though they may fall over and over again, he won't stay down.  He depends upon God to provide a means for him to get back up.  God sustains you.  He is the rigid framework that holds you up.  He dusts you off and sets you back on your way.

Speaking of falling down, we had a 1 inch rain yesterday.  It was pleasant, refreshing.  After the rain ended, I glanced in the garden and what I saw was a little discouraging.  I didn't think the rain and wind was bad, but it evidently was, because about a third of our sweet corn was lying on the ground, blown over.  It had fallen and on its own, it didn't look like it would rise again like our righteous man in the Proverb.  The sweet corn is beginning to tassel, and it's important for the corn to be standing tall so that all the kernels will be pollenated.

Tasseling

My mind began thinking of quick ways to stand it up and support it.  I grabbed the sledgehammer, some baling twine and four t-posts and went to work.  I hammered in a t-post at the beginning and end of both rows of corn.

Here is the second row:

I tied the baling twine together to make a long rope and I encircled all the corn and tied it back off.  The idea is that of a 'seat belt' for the corn.  It will hold the corn upright even when the strong winds blow.

Corn that was just blown over on the ground is now standing tall again.  Time will tell if my sweet corn seat belt will work, but at least for now, there will be no tickets for seat belt violations in our corn patch.

But wind blowing the corn over is not the only problem we have in the corn patch.  Take a look at this right here.  Can you see how the tops of the corn on the first several stalks have been eaten?  That damage is not from a bug, or worm.  No sir, that is damage from a goat (or nine others), but who's counting?   

The temptation is much too strong, and the goats fall to the temptation, leaning way over the fence to eat the corn.  What to do?  Barbeque the goat?  That will come later. 

For now, I'll simply build and obstacle.  The obstacle will prevent the goat from leaning in and eating our corn.  I simply got a cattle panel and tied it into the fence to prevent the goats from standing on h ground and gobbling up our corn.

Three days and counting and the cattle panel worked!  There was no new damage to the corn from the troublesome goats.  There are new challenges everyday - from wind knocking the corn down to meddling goats eating the stalk.  Every day is new.  Though we may fall, we get back up!

Better Than Philadelphia

We buy a good bit of Philadelphia Cream Cheese as we enjoy homemade cheesecake.  Cream cheese is expensive, but what isn't?  I don't know why we've never thought of making it.  We make mozzarella and ricotta, so why not give cream cheese a try.  We got out our cheesemaking book and found the recipe.  Looks easy enough.  So we mixed cream and milk according to the recipe below and warmed it to 70 on the stovetop.  Then we added the starter and rennet and set it out for 24 hours.

The rennet causes curds to form.  We spooned the curds into our cheese colander and allowed the whey to drip through for about 12 hours.

Here is the curds when done.

We scooped it all out.  Yes, it has the consistency of cream cheese!

We deposited the cream cheese into a glass container where we'll store it in the fridge.

The glass container weighs one pound.  So the recipe was right on target.  It made 1 pound do cream cheese.

We snacked on some of it and determined it needed a little salt. Once that was added, we put some bagels in the toaster, pulled out some capers, and then I went out to the herb garden and harvested some fennel to put on top.

Sorry Philadelphia, homemade cream cheese is just better!  We'll be making this over and over and over again.

Babies Everywhere!

Our goat, Callie, just had a kid.  The fourth kid of spring.  More on that in an upcoming post.  But there are more babies this spring.  I wish I could tell you it was a new calf, but we're still trying to get our cows bred.  They've been exposed to the bull, but so far, it hasn't "taken."  I was talking to a neighbor today who has offered us his Jersey/Holstein cross to breed our cows in the event that Nick, the bull, is sterile.

The other new babies I'm speaking of are on our back patio in a chicken-shaped planter with English Ivy growing in it.  A momma house wren picked out that spot for her home and she began bringing straw, sticks and feathers to fashion a comfy nest.  We watched her as she built her home.  I didn't want to be too nosy, but the sudden change from bringing building materials to the nest to bringing worms and bugs let us know that our little wren friend had laid eggs and hatched them!  Here she is watching us with a worm in her mouth.  She doesn't want to give away her secret home address and location.  She's got  babies to protect.

That tiny bird assembled quite a nest!  As soon as she flew off, I quickly peeked into the nest.  I think I spot four baby birds.  I didn't want to give away the secret, because Ginger, our cat, would LOVE to find the nest.  She'd quickly indulge in a four piece chicken dinner.

About a week later, I peeked in again. The baby birds are growing!  I clearly see two birds in there looking back at me!  The other two must be in the back bedroom.

My hearing is damaged, so I can't hear very well at all, but Tricia confirmed that she doesn't hear the baby birds chirping.  Perhaps the birds have muted their conversations, so as to not alert Ginger, the cat to their hidden nest.  Stay vigilant, my little wren friends!

The Sweetest Thing in the Garden

(Other than my wife, ha ha!)

Sweet Peas!  Just the name of them gets your taste buds anticipating a sweet, crunchy taste.  I usually plant them in the fall and then again in the early spring.  They don't like hot weather.  The ceiling for the high temperatures for them is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and we're already 14 degrees above that on an average day.  Their yield will soon fall off and they'll succumb to the South Louisiana summer sauna.  I'll be harvesting every other day to try to get what we can off of them.  I like to eat them right off the trellis while picking them.

The sweet pea puts out stunning white blooms all over the stalks, attracting honeybees and butterflies.

I have two varieties growing.  The first is the Oregon Sugar Pod.  They are my favorite as they produce a big, wide and flat pod that is tender with small peas inside.  The second is the Sugar Snap Peas.  They have a smaller pod that is rounded, with bigger peas inside.

The peas have thrived in the location of my trellis.  I alternate sweet peas with cucumbers and fertilize with fish emulsion and composted chicken litter.  They climb on a cattle panel I have supported with t-posts.  You can't see perspective on the height, but they are approximately seven feet tall and growing!  Even though their tendrils attach to the cattle panel, the weight of the plant causes the entire plant to sag.  To remedy this, you can see that I've taken some baling twine, tied it together and fashioned a "seat belt" to hold the plant firmly to the panel.  If I didn't do this, harvesting the peas would be virtually impossible.

I generally walk out to the garden with a kitchen colander and pick the ripe ones off.  I generally circle the trellis a couple of times since many of the pods are hiding in all of the foliage.  The goats come up to the fence hoping for some sweet peas, but, no dice, goats!

We are picking pretty decent quantities and we'll be blanching and freezing quart bags real soon.  Other than eating them raw, and it salads, we like to sauté them in a skillet with butter and salt.

Delicious!