Accessorizing Ms. Daisy

Sometimes things just wear out.

The other day Daisy came walking up to the barn for the morning milking and her halter was just dangling from her neck like a necklace.  See looked sad or embarrassed to have this on in front of the other animals with her being the Boss of the Barnyard.  The Queen of the Pasture should not be seen in public like this. She had worked hard to cultivate a persona of strength, and well, this is not dignified and is a great injustice.

Without the luxury of opposable thumbs to allow her to take the broken halter herself, Daisy was forced to appear in this disheveled state until her humans could do something about it.

Oh, the horror!

Years of repeated action of metal rubbing against metal while grazing on the pasture had taken its toll on her halter.  Look at how the chain almost wore completely through the ring.

Wear & Tear

Fortunately Russ made a trip to our local feed store and purchased a new halter for Ms. Daisy, a nice red one.  Red is an intense color that is said to symbolize growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility.  I guess that somewhat describes the old girl.

Daisy's new accessories

We promptly took the old halter off and put the new one on her so that she could regain her stature and prominence among the barnyard animals.

Daisy modeling her new accoutrement

All is right with the world again now that Ms. Daisy is dressed for success!

Harvesting Basil/Making Pesto

Basil is one of the easiest things to grow.  Actually, we don't have to plant it anymore.  It just comes up on its own from seed.  When I recognize the distinctive leaves of the basil seedling, I'll dig it up and re-plant it in one row.  When it gets warm basil really rows quickly and puts out flowers that attract honeybees.

I'll try to get out and harvest all the tender, new basil leaves to make pesto.  Our family really enjoys this dish.  Basil is so fragrant.  As you're harvesting it, the fragrance fills the air and the scent stays on your fingers.  I think I posted on this a year ago, but for those who missed it, this is an annual occurrence.  Join us as we go out to the garden and then into the kitchen.

Perfect for making pesto

To make our pesto recipe, I use the following ingredients which will make 32 ounces of Pesto:

• 4 cups fresh Basil, packed in a measuring cup
• 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2/3 cups pecans (well, why not?  The recipe calls for pine nuts or walnuts.  Pecans are cheaper & better!)
• 6 garlic cloves
• Salt & Pepper

I've picked 4 cups of fresh basil leaves and packed them into a measuring cup

4 cups basil leaves

I'll grate up a cup of Parmesan Cheese.

Grated Parmesan Cheese

All of the ingredients from top left going clockwise: basil leaves, grated Parmesan cheese, peppercorns, Olive oil, kosher salt, fresh cured garlic, and pecans.

All of the ingredients

I wash the pesto leaves very good as there are lots of bugs in the garden this time of year.  Drain as much as you can.

Wash 'em up

Next I'll mince the garlic in the processor.

Minced garlic smelling good

I'll add the pecans to the processor and then slowly add all of the basil leaves until everything is chopped up super-fine.

It's coming together now.

While you puree, slowly pour the olive oil into the processor and mix up.  I like to stick my nose by the hole and smell the wonderful smell coming out of the processor as the pesto comes together.

Adding Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Finally, add the grated Parmesan Cheese, salt and pepper and continue to puree until mixed well.

Parmesan Cheese

We use a rubber spoon to get every last morsel of pesto out of the processor.

Ready to eat or freeze

We find that Pesto freezes nicely.  We'll use old 16 ounce sour cream containers in which to freeze the pesto.  We find that pasta and a 16 ounce container of pesto feeds our family perfectly.

Ready to go into the freezer

This is a quick, delicious meal, so I'll try to make/freeze a dozen such containers so that we can thaw them out as needed.  Once I get that stored away, we'll dry a bunch of basil leaves for seasoning things like spaghetti.  We'll also use some to make Basil-infused Olive oil.  We've got a lot of basil this year so I'll be looking to give some away and also find new things to try basil in.  Believe it or not, there is a recipe for Basil ice cream.  Interesting.

Poor Sally

Sally the Hen.  May she rest in peace.

A few posts ago (I think it was the one about the snake), I told you that we had a hen in the infirmary.  We were trying to take care of her and nurse her back to health after an unfortunate accident.  Some day a couple of weeks ago, she had gotten a bit too close to either Daisy or Rosie and the cows don't look around before they meander off to graze.  As a result, Sally, the Barred Rock hen, found herself under an 800 pound cow's hoof and quickly found she was no match for the weight and pressure of a mama cow.

For two weeks now, Russ faithfully brought Sally fresh water and rice to a safe place in the goat barn where he had positioned her away from the other animals.  It is an odd thing about chickens, but when one is injured, they sense the weakness and begin picking on the bird, pecking at her and will eventually kill her.  Sally was eating and drinking just fine, but her legs... they just didn't work anymore and just dangled by her side as she leaned over to eat.  No hobbling, no standing up.  Sally was not making any improvements.  Her legs were crushed.

Russ came to me and said, "Dad, I think we need to put Sally down."  Awww man!  I hate to do this, but she's not getting better and is suffering.  I don't like to see animals suffer.  We tried, Sally, we really did.

The executioner's tool of choice, sharpened

Sally is not an overly special bird.  We call ALL the hens Sally, because we can't tell most of them apart.  It is no big deal for me to kill a meat bird.  We grow them for meat.  After 8 weeks, they are butchered and find a new home in our freezer.  But for the laying hens, it is different.  They live on our pasture for years.  The lifespan of a chicken is said to be around 8 years.  

We started banding our chickens a few years ago and put a different color band each year so we can tell their ages.  Sally did not have a band so I'm guessing that she was at least 4 years old, but probably older.  I read some information that said that on average hens can lay 800 eggs in five years, varying depending upon breed and environment.  Sally has given us lots of eggs over the years and has fertilized a lot of grass during that time.  In this same time, we've given Sally a good life, 3 acres of pasture to roam on and the freedom to do things that free chickens like to do in the great outdoors.

Out of respect for Sally, I won't show you a picture of her or the deed.  "Thank you, Kyle," I can hear my readers say.  Russ turned his head and I sadly and swiftly performed the task.

The Crime Scene

We gathered Sally's remains and a shovel and planted her in the row where the kale grew this past winter.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to dust

Sally will continue to be an asset to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm as she'll fertilize the soil and grow healthy vegetables for our family next Spring.  Death is part of life.  I think it is important to show your kids things like this.  They get to see life and death.  They get to learn that you are to treat animals with kindness, you handle them in a gentle manner, you give them a good life and a humane death.

Russ worked very hard to save Sally, but finally recognized that there was only so much that he could do and he came to the decision of what needed to be done.  That decision was not an easy one for him to make and it made me happy that he deliberated on it and didn't take it lightly.  Life shouldn't be taken lightly.  It's only a bird, you might say.  Yes, but Sally's death provided a teachable moment for my kids and one in which character was developed.

Making frittatas

The frittata originated in Italy.  It is very similar to an omelet, but rather than folding the eggs over ingredients, with a frittata, you mix the ingredients with the eggs and flip the entire thing over in the skillet.  When Russ & I were bachelors the other day, we figured we'd try our hand at making a frittata as we had a lot of fresh eggs and vegetables to use.

First we cubed up some potatoes - both red and golden ones.


Chopping up potatoes

We also chopped up an onion and a clove or two of garlic with the potatoes and along with a generous amount of butter, set the onions and potatoes in a cast iron skillet to saute.  When the potatoes and onions were "happy," we moved them into a bowl.
 

Potatoes and Onions getting happy

Meanwhile, we beat 6 freshly picked eggs and then poured the potatoes and onions, a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and some fresh criolla sella peppers back into the cast iron skillet with a fresh pat of butter.
 

6 eggs beaten


Cook this on medium heat until it is firmed up.  With a frittata, you flip the entire thing, so get a plate, put it over the skillet, and turn the skillet over, loosening the frittata so that it falls on the plate.


Halfway done

I sort of made a mess with this, but you get the idea.  Move the uncooked side of the frittata into the skillet, after you've added some additional butter, of course.   

Frittata flipped over

After a few minutes, the frittata should be done.  Again, put a plate over the skillet and turn the skillet over to release the mean onto the plate.  We garnished with some fresh shallots and garlic chives. 


Grab a fork, Russ.

This was some good eating.  We splashed a dash or two of Tabasco Sauce over it for some added spice.  Here is a fork's eye view:  

Yum!

In no time, Russ and I had eaten through half of the frittata.  We saved the other half to eat for leftovers the next day.

Only half a frittata left

We made another that used yellow squash and zucchini squash in place of potatoes.  


Squash Frittata

Frittatas made with fresh ingredients are just the thing to put a smile on everyone's face! 



:)



Saving Cucumber Seeds

Have you ever overlooked a cucumber growing in your garden only to find it when it turns yellow and is way past the point of eating?  I hate to waste any produce.  Don't throw it away!  If it is an open pollinated, heirloom cucumber, save the seeds.  Here's what you do:



Over-ripe cuke

Leave it on the plant to continue to grow until you see the vine that is attached to it turn brown and wither.



Hard to miss this yellow fellow

After a few weeks, the cucumber is ready to harvest for seeds.  It is kind of soft, just cut the stem.

Ready to pick for saving seeds

Cut it in two pieces with a sharp knife and this will expose the seeds.

Use a spoon to scoop out all of the seeds onto a plate.


Scooped out cuke seeds

Add some water to a glass and dump the seed mixture into the water.

Cucumber seeds in water

Sit the glasses of water with cucumber seeds on a window sill for 3 or 4 days.  The reason there are two glasses is that I had another cucumber as well that I was saving seeds from. 


Setting out to ferment for a few days

When you've got a smelly, fermented solution growing on top of the water, you know it is ready to drain.  Fermentation helps to kill viruses or disease organisms on the seed.


A nice layer of mold and scum

Pour the mixture into a sieve and shake.  Separate the pulp and fleshy parts from the seeds. 

Running the seeds through a sieve

Now place the seeds on a paper towel for a couple of days to completely dry out.


Seeds are drying

After a couple days, remove the seeds from the paper towel.


Seeds are dry!

At this point they are ready to be stored.  I store mine in old vitamin bottles that are not transparent and have a good seal to keep out moisture.  I also label the bottle so I know what's in it as some seeds are very similar. 

Label on a seed storage container

I'll store this with my other seeds and this will save me from having to buy seeds next Spring.  I can simply dig in my seed bank for seeds.  Hopefully the germination will be good.  We'll know in 8 months or so...

Learning to Share

We have a little process for sharing milk that has served us well over the years and I'm not sure I've ever explained it.  When our cows calve and our goat kids, the babies need the colostrum for the first few days to get their antibodies and nutrition.  After we're sure that the baby is off on a good start, we begin separating the mama from the baby in the late afternoon.

All that night the momma makes milk.  But this milk is not for their baby - it's for us!  We're out in the barn before dawn, usually between 5 and 5:30 and promptly milk the cows and goat.  Once we're done milking, we release the calf and the doe to their moms.  They get to drink the milk all day long - from 6 am until 6 pm when we separate again.

Here is the process:  Between 5:30 and 6 pm, we head out to the barn.  Nellie sees us and comes running.  You can hear her bell jingling as she trots curiously up to us and into the stall that contains her milking stanchion. 

Suppertime for Nellie

Annie, her little doe, comes following behind her, butting us in the back of our legs with her horns.  We're going to have to do something about them.  They're almost 3 inches long now.  So we grab Annie by her collar and move her into the Goat Barn doubling as a Chicken infirmary and secure the door. 

This is her bedroom for the night and she perches herself up on top of one of the chicken brooders that I store here when we're not brooding baby chicks.  In the morning, she's ready to be let out.


Annie's bedroom

A little sidebar on the brooders - Do you see the one to the left of her?  The one she's not sitting on?  The boys and I had to pull that one out of there as Annie completely demolished it after I took this picture.  Goats like to climb and that brooder is more than a few years old.  She smashed it flat, the little trouble-maker!

Annie's mugshot (trying to look innocent)

As far as Daisy and Rosie, we call them in for the evening milking and they go into their respective milking stalls for feeding and/or milking.  Since Rosie doesn't have a calf on her, we milk her in the morning and in the afternoon.

The girls eating their supper

Daisy's calf, Bully, follows behind his momma and we separate him into his stall where he'll spend the night.  Tomorrow morning after milking Daisy, we'll reunite them for the day until we separate them again for the night.  It has happened that we've forgotten to separate them OR the calves get out or get access to the momma.  In those cases, we don't get any milk that day as the babies gladly drink their share AND ours!


I don't like to share...

When we wean the calves or goats, we separate them 24 hours a day.  Then we have to milk twice a day as milk is produced on a supply/demand basis.  We'll be weaning Annie sometime next month.  We'll also be
'drying off' Rosie next month to allow her a couple of months prior to calving to use all her energy in growing her calf (and not producing milk).  Ol' girl needs a rest - and so do we!


Maggie is sad

This here is Magnolia Mae and she feels left out.  While Daisy, Rosie, and Nellie are eating supper, she stands just outside the barn door and pouts.  She gets no feed - only grass.  At Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, you must be contributing to the farm economy to eat anything other than grass/hay.

But hang in there, Maggie, your time's coming.  She'll be calving after the first of the year.

A scare in the 'chicken infirmary'

We have a small barn that we call the goat barn.  This is where Annie gets put into each night to keep her away from Nellie so that we'll have goat milk for us in the morning.  Currently, the goat barn is doubling as our chicken infirmary.

Our hens have a really bad habit of getting too close to our cows.  They scurry around them during the morning milking and they also like to wait for flies to land on the cows' legs and then they catch the flies and eat them.  This is a dangerous activity that inevitably leads to problems as the cows aren't looking out for what's underneath their feet.  A four pound hen is no match for an 800 - 900 pound cow.  A couple of months ago we nursed one hen back to health after she had been stepped on.  Currently, we've got another hen in the chicken infirmary that we're feeding and watering during her rehabilitation.

Yesterday, Russ came running and told me that there was a big snake in with the injured chicken.  As I opened the door, I spotted the snake.  He was hard to miss.


Rat Snake

This is a rat snake.  They're also called chicken snakes around here because they can be found in close proximity to chickens many times as they LOVE to eat chicken eggs.  They are harmless to humans (other than scaring them!).  They are like heat-seeking missiles that seek out and destroy rats.  This is a good thing - especially in our barn.  I really want to just leave him alone.  However, the sad fact remains that he eats eggs and has made his way into our barn where the chicken nesting boxes are. 

A greater point of consideration is the reality that my wife goes out to the barn daily and it will be impossible for a BIG snake and my wife to coexist in the same general location.  Tricia does not like snakes.  So, the snake must die.  I asked Russ to run and get a shovel.  In the prior picture you couldn't really scale the snake to see how big he was - in the picture below you can tell.  I'm 5 foot 8 inches tall.  I'm not holding him by the very end of the tail. I would estimate he measured about 6 feet long.  They can grow to be around 10 feet long.

Over five feet long

Snakes causing trouble comes as no surprise,though.  They've been causing trouble since the beginning:

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
And dust you will eat All the days of your life;15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” - Genesis 3: 13-15

See what I mean about there being enmity between the snake and the woman?!  The hens gathered around the body of the snake just to rubber-neck or possibly to try and figure out how to eat the snake - the hunter becomes the prey.

Dont' tread on me!

After taking the picture below, I chopped up Mr. Snake into bite-size pieces for the chickens to snake, err, snack on.  Chickens are omnivores, after all.


Let's say grace before we eat, shall we?

So killing the snake was a positive occurrence for most involved:

• For the rats,
• For the chickens and their eggs,
• But most importantly, For my wife! (She's in South Texas visiting her Mom and she's already texted me asking, "What's this I hear about a snake!!!!")  Russ must have called his momma!

It's all taken care of, dear.