The Learning Curve!

I grew up in the Midwest.  A land so fertile that it seems possible to stick a seed in the ground and have it almost guaranteed to grow.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are of helping Mom can produce from the garden, and working in the garden.  In truth, I probably didn’t help much but I remember it very clearly.  (And I was very normal and complained about it a little bit, especially when I wanted to do something other than hoeing out weeds and standing cornstalks back up after a terrible storm flattened every row!)  We had a big family and a big garden, as was appropriate.  Corn, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, onions, peas, cantaloupe, zucchini, cucumbers, and more.  MMmmm!! Nothing in the world tastes as good as food you picked from your own garden.  We all learned a lot from these experiences, too.  

At my dad’s place, he would feed the horses in a wide run between the pastures over the winter, and of course where they ate they left nutrient rich deposits too. ;-)  In the spring, that section would be closed off and the garden would be put in.  No kidding, we had tomatoes the size of small cantaloupe out of that area!  And the flavor was incredible! 

I think this is why children today are more fussy eaters – the food from the supermarket does not have the richness and depth of flavor that home grown quality produce provides, and the textures are bland and frankly often unappetizing.

That said, I am still learning to garden in Texas.  The brutal Texas sun and 100 plus degree days are an absolute beating on plants.  The one little pepper plant that currently enjoys filtered sun is the only one really surviving right now.  However, the lettuce bed produced like mad this year!  We took our barnyard organic matter (isn’t that a nice delicate way of putting it!) that the chickens have composted down for us, and added their own organic matter to, and worked that into the soil – which is heavy clay – and added some healthy doses of sand to keep the soil more permeable and it is really helping.  (We planted that in late February and covered the raised bed with a glass door that needed a job.  It let in sun, and kept in warmth during the cold!) 

Tomatoes… poor things burned up.  Peppers – all but one burned to a crisp.  Etc…  BUT, I have been inspired by that lucky little pepper that is in filtered sun.  It seems that a lattice providing some afternoon / evening filtered light would help tremendously, plus it would give climbing plants a handy place to grow.  I *have* successfully used blue lake green beans (bush style) as a border around the house serving as food and incentive to water the foundation.  (Digression here: This is Texas - you have to water your concrete foundation so it doesn't crack from the heat and shifting soil.  15 years in this state and that's still weird to me!!!)

Fall planting here I come!  Thank goodness Texas has enough warm weather to get away with two planting seasons a year!!!  Better for me and my learning curve!

Terror From The Sky

It’s been all over Facebook lately, and even on the news:  Advice and comments to keep your dogs safe and indoors during the holiday fireworks displays, as the poor dogs are terrified by the explosions in the air.

Sadly, no mention is ever made of the effect this has on livestock. 

Let me share last night with you.  The neighbors set off about an hour long display of Large and Loud fireworks and I spent the entirety of that time vacillating between the house and the barn / pasture trying to comfort my animals.  The poor donkeys were worked into a sweat, running trying to escape the nightmare explosions over their heads.  The goats were literally climbing the walls of the barn, when they weren’t running and trying to escape the horror around them.  The poor chickens huddled together in one of the stalls, and squawked with each display.   

The dogs were locked in the house and the two most sensitive had been given calming treats that contained valerian, ginger and chamomile.  They only last about 45 minutes though, so for that length of time they just whined and trembled a little bit.  The rest of the time they wanted to climb inside my skin for safety.  It's only a miracle that no one was injured during this night.

My pear butter burbled on the stove while I went back and forth from house to barn, projecting calm and trying to get the livestock to slurp some pear puree that was heavily laced with valerian.  Penny, Cindy and Chester all had some, but not enough to do any good.  Lulu, Gerie and Balvenie were skeptical of the world and would not eat anything.  Lulu came to me for short moments of comfort before another blast would send her running full tilt around the pasture, accompanied by Penny and Gerie, and sometimes all of the livestock, looking for safety and distance from the blasts.  Gerie and ‘Venie would cower against my legs for very brief moments then take off running again.

In the house, poor Puck trembled and whined even after calming treats.  Cami whined and couldn’t decide if she was better off in her kennel, next to my ankles, or behind the chaise.  The other three dogs barked and acted as if we were under attack.  To their minds, we were.

It was one of the most heart breaking nights to not be able to make it stop for them, and to be unable to assist them any more than offering myself as comfort. 

I beg of everyone who enjoys fireworks to enjoy them away from livestock and other animals.  Look and find someplace that is not right next to a farm.  The horror that animals are put through is not worth your enjoyment of a few sparkles in the night sky. 

Pears Galore!

When we bought this house we were delighted to find that there were two young pear trees on the north side.  What we have learned in the intervening six years is that they produce every other year!

Not having any idea what type of pear trees were planted, we just say that one has what we refer to as cooking pears, and the other eating pears.  When the cooking pear tree produces it's usually pretty good - but this year it's insane, despite the grass hoppers doing their level best to eat every leaf on the poor tree.

On the eating pear tree, the grasshoppers have devastated all but a few of this years crop of pears, but left the leaves largely intact.  It's extremely bizarre!

In the past, we have cooked down the pears from the first tree and used them in baking, much like you can use applesauce in cakes to replace the oil.  This works really well, slowly stewing them down then pureeing in the food processor and freezing the output for use at some future date.   The only problem with doing that this year is that we still have some in the freezers from previous years!  If I can't get a peach tree to grow in the heart of peach land, at least the pears are rampant!

In doing a little bit of research, we have learned that these hard cooking pears should make excellent pear butter.  We're going to try this out, and the process (or trial batch one as I'm calling it in my head) has begun.  After all, I've lost two branches to the weight of the fruit and it's just now coming ripe - I have to divest that poor tree of its burden, or we could lose the tree.

Since it will be at least the end of the coming week when I can get a food mill, I'm trying first a recipe that calls for stewing down the pears and then running them through a food processor, then sieving that resultant mush into a crock pot.  There it will be sugared and cooked down to the appropriate sticky consistency then canned.  I'm anxious to see how this comes out so I can post and share either the success or failure. 

Cross your fingers! 

Eerie Animal Moments

Perhaps it was prescience on the part of the animals that made them do it, just to unnerve us as they will undoubtedly be unnerved tomorrow evening.  Perhaps it was just a fluke.  Either way, this morning I fervently wished (30 minutes later!) that I had the camera in hand when I opened the back door to let the dogs out, and what greeted my eyes was a scene I’d never witnessed before.

Over half of our chicken flock was spread out in a long line along the fence bordering the back yard, all facing the back yard and not making a move or a sound.  I found this a little bit eerie.  This followed the first day in more than 20 months that not a single bird in our flock of 21 hens laid a single egg.  Something is definitely going on here.

Even the donkeys and goats were arrayed very quietly and barely made a sound. No donkey brays rent the morning air, nor did even a quiet bleat from a goat disturb the dawn.  It was very strange indeed.   My husband went out to feed and milk while I took care of the indoors events, and upon his return to the house said that they all quietly followed him into the barn.  Whatever spell was upon them dissipated when he tossed their scratch grains out. 

I’m a firm believer that our animals do communicate quite clearly if we pay attention to them.  They are far more honest than people ever will be, and something was up that had every farm inhabitant in a somber mood this morning. 

If only we could figure out what it was.

Whey Awesome!

With every batch of cheese we make there is one consistent result. Not necessarily great cheese, though that’s always our goal, but whey.  Whey is that funny greenish yellow leftover fluid, after one has convinced the solids in milk to all get married and cozy together plus live with the right kind of bacteria and turn into delicious edible-ness. 

There are only so many batches of ricotta cheese that I need, and though the dogs get a few spoons of whey on their meals, there is still a huge amount leftover.  I do hate to waste, and sometimes don't make it out to the barnyard to share it with the chickens and goats.  So, taking the advice of a friend of mine who suggested using the whey to replace the water in bread recipes, I did just that.  She’s a genius! 

That simple change made a basic white bread so tender and gave it such a remarkably richer flavor that I am going to have to start saving whey just for this purpose!  Can’t wait to do it with some bread in which we use spent beer making grains!  What deliciousness!

Easy Roasted Peppers

We can all probably agree that the best way to roast peppers is over a fire, and blacken the skin then pop them into a ziplock bag, close it and let them sweat.  Once they are cool, peel the skin off and toss the stems and you're ready. 

Sometimes that lovely open fire isn't a ready option or maybe it's raining or you really just don't want to fire up the grill to fire a couple of peppers.  Whatever the reason, you can roast peppers fast and easy in the oven.

Join a couple of sheets of aluminum foil and spray lightly with olive oil, then lightly spray your fresh garden peppers, wrap them in the foil so they are enclosed and put the whole package on a baking sheet or jelly roll pan.

Pop it into a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes, then take it out and let them them cool.  Peel the skins off, toss the stems and voila!

Try chopping these into long strips and tossing with some pasta and pesto and pine nuts!  YUM!

Farm Therapy

Ever wake up in the moring and you're already on the wrong side of life?  Some days that extra fifteen minutes to "hatch" as a good friend of mine puts it, would make an enormous difference in your outlook on life. 

Today was one such morning, but the puppies were early in their whining to go out. I turned over and nudged my husband hoping he would get up and let them out so I could hatch slowly.  I should have known better, because just turning over I was awake and irritated about it.  We've all been there - don't deny it! 

Skip forward a couple of hours through the morning farm chores of milking and feeding, and loving on the animals.  (That last one sounds like a real chore, right?!)  That's good therapy - and I find myself making the chocolate sauce again for homemade mocha capaccino's and have a batch of gouda cheese started.  My daughters are sleeping in, lucky gals, and my son is helping with everything I ask and a few things without being asked.  I have awesome kids! 

It's hard to hold on to irritation when you have farm therapy.  I'm already trying to figure out what kind of project my teenage son and I can get into today that will be both productive and fun for us. 

Have a beautiful day!