PJ Comes to Visit

Miss Broody Update: Finally I put Miss Broody in her own cage in the barn. She had to stay there all day long. I did give her food and water, and after three days I set her free. She's cured! So, all ten hens are back in business.

Other news: I have a new goat. Well, she's not really mine, she's a loaner goat from my friend and goat mentor. I haven't had as much milk as I wanted, so my friend is loaning me a doe. I'll return her in the fall. (See PJ's picture in the sidebar area.)

I picked her up yesterday. There's been a lot of head butting between Tigger and PJ. (See picture above.) They are trying to establish a herd queen. So far Tigger is definitely on top, but it remains to be seen what will happen once PJ settles in. She's found the food, water, and minerals, and she was very well behaved on the milkstand this morning and last night, so, so far, so good.

I need more milk so I can make gogurt, mozzarella, ricotta, and soft cheese enough to last me through the winter when the does are dry, i.e. when I have no milk. Right now I have very little in the freezer. I just can't imagine going back to store bought after having these delicious goat milk products, made right here. Yes, I'm spoiled.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Pork Sausage, Egg, Onion, and Cheese Scramble; Gogurt with Raspberries
Main Meal: Mixed Green Salad with Garden Lettuce, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Chopped Walnuts, Shredded Colby Cheese and Sweet Oil and Vinegar Dressing (salad dressing recipe in the June 8, 2009 post); Cheesy Kohlbari and Smoked Ham Casserole
Evening Snack: Cheeses, grapes, salami, dark chocolate and wine

Miss Broody

Well, we have a broody hen. This means that the hen has decided it's time to hatch some eggs. So, she keeps trying to sit on the eggs that the other hens have laid each day. There are a couple of problems with this. First, the eggs are not fertile (since we have no rooster) so they will never hatch. Second, because she sits more than she roams, eats, and drinks, she probably isn't laying very many eggs herself. Third, she's taking up one of the next boxes, and the other hens get annoyed because they can't get in to lay their eggs.

I looked on line for some remedies. I've tried most of them. First, keep taking her off of the nest. Then, put ice cubes under her. Put her in a separate cage so she can't get on the nest. With this one you are suppose to put the cage up in the air so that the wind blows under her. The last one I saw was dunk her bottom in ice water. I've tried all of these except for the separate cage, because that makes more work for me, providing separate food and water for her. Yes, I even dunked her bottom in ice water, twice. She did not like it at all, but shortly thereafter she was back on the nest.

I'm ready to have her for dinner. I'm open to suggestions, though.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Eggs Scrambled with Spring Onions and Grated Cheese, Uncured Bacon, Gogurt with Blueberries
Main Meal: "Spinach" Salad with Onions, Carrots, Chopped Pecans, and Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing; Grilled Pork Chops seasoned with Homemade Seasoned Salt; Peas and Minced Garlic Sauteed in Butter and Olive Oil; Apple with Peanut Butter
Evening Snack: Salami, Cheeses, Grapes, Wine, and Dark Chocolate

It's "Spinach" Salad because it's made with a spinach imposter. Spinach does not grow well in the Summer, in fact, all of mine has bolted. But this year I tried something new, called New Zealand Spinach. It's suppose to grow all Summer without bolting, and taste like Spinach. So far we like it. It has a little greener taste than Spinach, but the plants are growing well, and it's tender and nice. I like it very much with this Honey Mustard Dressing.

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
1 1/2 cups Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Honey
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard

Mix all ingredients together. Chill.

Why Raw Goat Milk?

One of the things that I have become convinced of over the last several years is the over processing of our food. Virtually everything Americans eat comes from a box, can, or package. I believe that the additives and preservatives added to the food, genetically modified ingredients, pesticide and herbicide residues, among a host of other things, take most of the goodness out of our foods. This applies to milk as well. Milk that you purchase at the store has been heated quickly (pasteurization) and pushed by strong force through a tiny screen (homogenization). This creates a liquid that is dead, and that needs to have vitamins added back because they are destroyed by the processing. Many experts believe that the pasteurization and homogenization of our milk is contributing to the high rates of heart disease, cancer, allergies and other illnesses. I'm sure no expert, but I've researched this and am convinced. Here's more: http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/Raw_Milk_FAQ.html.

The problem with all of this is that raw milk is illegal to buy or sell in Maryland. So, I bought my own goats. I can have raw milk, raw milk yogurt, raw milk ice cream and raw milk cheeses, both fresh cheeses and aged. Also, because I control how the goats are fed and handled, I know the milk is as good as it can be. And it is. It tastes like melted ice cream, especially early in the girls' lactation, when the fat is extra high. Nigerian Dwarf goats are prized for their especially sweet milk with high butterfat. My girls sure live up to their reputation.

I chose goats over a cow because I would have needed a lot more pasture for a cow, and I would have had way too much milk. Also, I didn't like the idea of having to handle a large animal. I chose miniature dairy goats because I have a very small pasture for them (only 1/5 of an acre) and I wanted them to have plenty of room. They do. I really love my little goats that only come up to my knee and weigh about 60-70 pounds. When one of them accidentally steps on my toe, it's no big deal. And that does happen. It would be a very big deal if a full grown cow stepped on my toe!!

The next event on our goat calendar is rebreeding in late October for Spring kids. Every year the does have to be bred in order to "freshen" the milk for another year. I'll give them two months off when they are "dry" (no milk), the last two months of their pregnancy. Then they'll give birth in the Spring, and I'll be off again for another year of delicious milk!

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Uncured Bacon, Over-easy Eggs fried in butter, Gogurt with Fresh Blueberries
Main Meal: Green and Red Leaf Lettuce Salad with Crumbled Pecans, Sliced Spring Onions, and Sweet Oil and Vinegar Dressing (see June 8, 2009 post for recipe); Grilled Chicken Thighs with Homemade Seasoned Salt; Swiss Chard Bake
Evening Snack: Leftover Grass-fed Pot Roast (see June 9, 2009 post for recipe), Fresh Garden Carrots and Celery dipped in Sour Cream Ranch Dip, Wine, Goat Ice Milk with Chocolate Syrup

Swiss Chard Bake

1 1/2 lbs. Swiss Chard - cleaned, ribs removed, cut into small pieces
1/2 onion, minced
2 T butter
1 cup eggs, well beaten
1 cup whole milk
1/2 t. salt
few drops of pepper sauce
2 cups (4 oz) shredded cheese, or 8 oz. soft goat cheese

Melt butter in large skillet, add Swiss Chard slowly until all is in the pan and it has wilted. Cook for a few minutes until just tender. Butter a 2 quart casserole dish. Place the cooked Swiss Chard in the dish, sprinkle the onion over, and cover with the cheese.

Mix together the beaten egg, milk, salt, and pepper sauce and pour on top of the Swiss Chard, onions and cheese. Bake about an hour or so at 350 degrees until lightly browned and set.

Note: I like this recipe because I can use the abundant Swiss Chard from my garden along with my own onions, eggs, milk, and cheese!

Barnyard View

Tigger and Una spend most of their time on their spools. They love being up in the air. Eddie collected these spools for me from different construction sites he has visited. I actually have one more, but we're keeping that one in reserve for when these rot. They aren't made of pressure treated wood, so they won't last long.

My dad built the ladder last year when I first got the goats, and that worked fine for awhile. But when they each got a few months pregnant in the winter they had a hard time getting up on the spools, so I asked him to build the steps. They learned very quickly that even with their very big tummies they could get up on the spools easily with the steps.

The girls are extremely friendly. They usually run to the gate to greet me when I go out to check on them. When visitors stop by they are always amazed at how tame my goats are.

I milk twice a day. This time of year it's usually around 6:15am and 6:15pm each day. I don't like milking in the dark, so when the days get shorter I'll milk later in the morning and earlier in the evening.

The goats get all the hay they can eat, loose vitamins and minerals, baking soda, and water. They get a measured portion of grain when they are milked.

They are happy, playful, and affectionate animals who give the most delicious milk I've ever tasted.

Chickens

The brown chicken is a Partridge Plymouth Rock, the white chicken is a Delaware, the light brown and white is called Salmon Favorelle, and the black is an Australorp.

We have two of each except for the Salmon Favorelles. We have four of those.

Here are our ten chickens. They are "multi-purpose breeds" meaning that they are suppose to be good layers and good to eat too. We have found, at least so far, that they are fine layers, but that they aren't very good to eat unless you cook them exactly right.

We originally purchased sixteen chickens; we've eaten six of them, ranging from pretty tough to yummy. The last two were yummy after my eighty-nine year old mom told me how her mom use to cook the live chickens they use to get. She said to boil them first until tender, let them drain, then roll in flour, salt, and pepper, and brown in oil. That worked nicely.

And the eggs are great!