Snake

Today I killed a king snake.  I am very afraid of snakes.  When I was a teenager a friend put a snake around my neck when I was napping.  Not so fun to wake up to his pet.  My family is afraid of snakes also.  My sister in Maricopa even jumps when she sees a snake on TV or in a book.  When our children were younger she would make them skip those pages.  When we lived in Alabama a rattle snake curled up on our front porch.  We lived by a creek and there were water moccasins everywhere.  when my husband mowed the grass they would all slither away from the mower.  I am sure that is how my children learned to run.  From the snakes.  Just kidding. 

In my opinion all snakes are potential killers.  If I let one go it will be the one that bites someone, or something I love.  So today when I was watering the inside dogs, who must go out to the dog run when we are not home, I came across a black snake with yellow rings.  I filled the 5 gallon jug and then I was washing the container we leave out for the Chihuahua.  When I lifted it up to rinse it out there was the snake.  I was startled.  Thank goodness I left the dogs inside.  I dropped the container on the snake and ran to get a shovel  so I could cut off it's head.  I picked up the container and hit the snake with the shovel.  It did not want to die.  I have killed snakes before and it surprised me how much it fought.  Any way it finally died.  I threw it in the garbage and went inside to google what kind it was. 

The snake most likely was a king snake.  Not poisonous.  But as I said before all snakes are bad.  I could not have left it there and put the dogs out.  They would have found it most certainly.  I texted my husband and of course he was busy and said "K".   Not you are so brave, I am so proud of you, What a big girl.  Just "K".  Oh well.  I still feel like a big girl. 

I'm Back

I have returned. I have no reason to offer for my lack of writing. I just haven't wanted to do anything but go thru the motions of life. It was like everything was to much. You know getting up everyday to do the same thing. I couldn't do anything extra. I wasn't even crocheting. Anyway sorry.

Everything on the homestead is doing fine. The animals are growing and thriving. We are making it through the summer heat. Water, water, water is the key. Oh yes and shade. But for the life of me, I do not understand why the silly goats will not use their shade. Not any of them. The stand in the blazing 110 + heat and chew away. It is as if the heat doesn't faze them. I hurry to do the chores in and out so I can get back to our house. My shade. They seem content.

We put the female goats with the bucks at the beginning of this month and left them there for a week then separated them again. And like last year Ned got right to work. He is very ornery. So it is a good thing he produces such nice kids. With the mamas help of coarse. Many times my husband and sons have said just get rid of him and find a new buck. I think on it. But here he is still. He is a small goat so he tries to intimidate others. Be it the other goats or the humans. His method of scare is head butting which is the case for most bucks. I remember one time he got me thru the fence. He hit it so hard I landed on my butt. Not before I hit my knee on the milking stand. I hurt for a good two weeks. This is also the reason why he is housed alone. When we purchased our Heidi and Coco they had their bucks penned alone. Now I know why. They are bullies.

We have 3 bucks. Ned who we keep for Abby, Heidi, and Coco all smaller breeds. Sprinkles who we keep for DQ, Nubians. Chocolate who we keep for Oreo and Barbie our babies. Yesterday we put DQ in with Sprinkles again. I did not think she was breed the last time. Sprinkles is housed with Chocolate. We haven't had any problems with these two males together yet. I think it is an age thing. I know the day will come when we must separate them. Goats are herd animals. They do not like to be alone. So It is sad for me to put them in a pen without a companion. However, what choice do I have when they are so mean to each other they cause blood. We will need to create yet another pen for Chocolate. I am hoping it can wait until colder weather. Nobody should be working outside in Arizona in 110 + weather. That is a sad statement because my husband did for over ten years.

Back to goats. The babies are in the new pig pen. I was afraid to leave them with the females when we put the males in with them, for fear of mating. They are to young, not yet 3 months old. Oreo is blind and follows Barbie around. They have a communication system all their own. Kind of a beeping sound. Oreo will walk backwards to get around which is something I thought was strange. But if you think about it would you want to bump your head or your bottom when bumping into things. Humans would use their hands to feel for walls and things. She can not. Walking on all fours and all. The wooden pallets we get are sometimes flawed. I was worried about a large gap on the top of one. It is by the gate and will eventually be an internal wall for the next pen. but it is alone right now. The babies put there little heads over the gap to look out. Very cute to see two little heads poking out to see you. Even when I know Oreo can't see. She to puts her head there just like her sister.


Right now Abby, Coco, and Heidi share a pen. Dq does not get along with these goats. When we are done mating her we will put the babies back in the pen with DQ. I am hoping the babies will not want to nurse after this separation. I milk my goats. That is there purpose. The milk stand is right outside the mamas pen. I open the gate and they jump right on. Sometimes they all want on at once. DQ is another thing. She is afraid of the milk stand Right now I walk her/ pull/ push/ drag her to move her outside the pen. She is named DQ for Drama Queen. When I finally get her out I have to hobble her foot to a pole. She gives close to a gallon but I have to work for every drop. When I made chevre last week I got three 8 oz containers from her one gallon of milk. When I use the other mamas one gallon of milk only yields one 8 oz container if I am lucky. I make yogurt once a week and chevre once a week. I put the yogurt on cheerios instead of milk, and use the chevre on my bagels instead of cream cheese. I have also made mozzarella which i eat with crackers. I am still using up all the grated cheese from the grocery store. To make Mozzarella the milk must be at least three days old or it doesn't work correctly, at least that is my experience. The pigs get whatever whey is left over and occasionally milk They slurp it up eagerly.

The pigs are growing. I think Dinner, the pig that was castrated, will be ready for the freezer before my November birthday. We feed them rolled corn and oats that my husband gets from the mill. They were getting whole corn but the mill didn't have that available last time. We soak it the night before. They also get any kitchen scraps and eggs that have cracked or are to soiled. After i wash them of coarse. What funny creatures, as soon as they see you walking out the door they begin to talk excitedly. I can imagine what they are saying to each other. They like to have their ears scratched and to be sprayed with the hose. Watering them is another story. We water them in barrel cut in half. As soon as you dump out the soiled water and scrub the barrels to refill they are standing in them talking happily. My husband has saved an old water heater that he is going to make a water device with a float in it so they can only put their snout in it. I think they will miss this morning ritual. However, making sure they always have clean water is very difficult.

The chickens are also thriving. That is if we can keep them inside their coops. We have one full grown rooster, four adult barred rocks, two adult black stars, five adult rhode island reds, and two adult red stars in the old coop. In the new coop we have three adult white leghorns, two teenage rhode island reds, two teenage americans, and two teenage welsummers. In this coop we also have placed the tractor that houses the remaining 24 barred rock roosters that we got on June 25th. I say remaining because we started out with 27. They kept getting out. The outside dogs like to eat chicken, as do I. They don't care how its prepared. I prefered mine to be cooked. He he. Oh I forgot we also have a teenage americana in the bunny house. Their was two but one got out and was dinner for the dogs this was after the other chickens tried to peck them to death. Occasionally a chicken will be brave an get out on its own. Flying out or running out the door, who knows. When we first built the new coop the dogs were stealing the chickens out from under the walls. They would lye and wait until a hen would go and sit in their favorite corner and grab them out. This was clever on the dogs part. We have since put blocks and boards in their way. One brave hen fought for her life which resulted in a broken wing. She still lays one egg a day. I didn't have the heart to cull her. She is thriving, this is months later. Her wing still hangs on her she roosts and eats and lays just like all the others. The chickens are at summer production. They will lay occasionally but not the whites. Every single day I get three nice white eggs, rain or shine. The teen age chickens have started to lay. It is so exciting to see their first egg. They are always so tiny. So far we get three different eggs a solid light brown an long oval light brown and a speckled brown. You wold think with 25 chickens we would be rolling in eggs, nope only about 10 to twelve a day. I bake alot and we eat eggs for breakfast. So I hope when it gets cooler they produce more. Some of the older chickens are getting up there in the years. I thought maybe I should wait and catch the ones who are laying and mark them and the ones that are not laying we should put in the freezer. In October the little roosters should be big enough to put in the freezer. So In September we should get 25 new egg layers and start a new flock. We shall see. I will get white leghorns for egg laying purposes.

Ducks
Well they are happy. Little Uno is as big as the other ducks. We had Uno and the gray female in the bunny house but all the water and no sun was causing a lot of flies. For the past two days we have left the gate open between the bunnies and the ducks and there haven't been any fights. No feather loses at least. Uno walks around cautious though. To fight the flies the feed store has canisters which you fill with water and put a terrible smelling goo in then screw on the top which has holes in and hang. The flies can't get enough of it. We got two. Placing one on our back porch and one in the bunny house above the duck water. Just a note it seems the one in the bunny house in the shaded areas does better than the one in direct sun. My husband has cleaned the one in the bunny house twice and we only got it ten days ago. As far as eggs go we get 3 to 4 a day. Uno is not laying eggs I don['t know if its an age thing or which sex uno is. I hope female. They have a duck house which I have never seen them in but they lay eggs there now. And each side still has a pool. They like to be sprayed with water. Their past time is drilling holes in whatever puddle is available. They love watermelon. I cut up the rinds and throw it in the pools and they dive bomb the rinds and gobble them up.

The bunnies or as my husband said I should call them rabbits. To each his own. We struggle to keep them cool. They get water in bottles to drink, water in bowls to throw around and frozen bottles of water to lay on. I also spray them down, which they do not like. They have a fan which blows on them. Out of all the animals they have the most shade. They are covered on the ceiling, and all sides. We feed them pellets, hay and vegetables. The females are still young they snuggle with each other. When I first got them we separated them. No eating, no drinking, just pacing. We tried this for a couple of days. I was so worried. I did not want to lose anymore bunnies. So I put two in each cage. Now I am worried that they will get to hot because they lay on each other. It is so hot. The two males seem content. I hope to breed them at the end of August. Again we will see.

We have 5 dogs. Dogs are like children. You must watch them all the time. I feel that my husband and I are fairly good at this. The boys do not do this very well. So needless to say the dogs do potty in the house on occasion. We have carpet. My husband cleans carpets for a living. You know the saying the plumber has leaky pipes, the electrician has bad wires, well the carpet tech has bad floors. We have riped our carpet out it is wonderful to have them gone. How yucky is that. We are hoping to replace it with wood floors. any way. The dogs have those automatic 5 gallon water canisters. They are so smart. The water that pools in the outside bowl gets dirty probably because they step in it. They will tip the 5 gallon jug over to get at the inside water. This is fine for that drink and maybe the next. But then when that water dries up they have none. So they roll the jug around to get more. We have placed blocks on top of the jugs to stop this but they still nock it over. We would use a 5 gallon bucket like the other animals but poor memee the chihuahua can not reach. We have been giving shots to the dogs. This Friday will be the last. At the end of August Taco and Puppy have appointments to be fixed. We will get the rabies shot then for them. This will be nice. It is so yucky when a dog goes thru the menstrual cycle. They do sell cute little diapers for them. But it is yucky still the same. We will have to continue with diapers for Memee. She is to old to get fixed, or so they say. She was a rescue. They do not now how old she is but the vets do not want to fix her.

The children start school today. My youngest lives in Maricopa with my sister during the week and comes home on the weekend. My oldest attends the night classes at a local high school. He is also wanting to attend an online school to play catch up. He has made some poor choices and is now very far behind. In the past we swapped kids every weekend. We have had them both at home a couple of times and no blood was drawn. It is hard to keep them busy all the time. They have video games, computers to surf, tv to watch, telephones to text, you know. Then of coarse theres the animals an house hold chores. Yet still they have issues when it is down time. We purchased model cars and the put them together and painted them. I thought that would take forever. Nope. We went to the library too. Anyway this school year I hope to have them both home during the weekend. They are getting older.

I continue to bake on a weekly basis. This helps with our grocery budget. I don't have alot of time so I created mixes in a bag. I was buying the jiffy corn bread mix and was shocked when it went to 67 cents a box. So I googled and found a recipe and made pre mixed bags now I can just grab a bag and go. I also did this for oatmeal cookies, chocolate cookies, blueberry muffins, and oatmeal honey bread. I just have to mix the wet ingredients (eggs, milk, oil, etc) then mix in the dry and bake. This cuts down on my baking time. Right now I have bags labeled and placed in the cabinet. But I think I will cover a shoes box and pt them in the box to keep them contained. The bags are kind of messy looking. I know who looks in your cabinets.

I went bowling with my youngest, my husband, and my husband's friend this Monday. I had such fun. When the children were young I went bowling once a week with my husbands grandmother. I have my own ball and shoes. Of coarse it has been years and I was a bit rusty. Monday night is dollar night. I will try to convince my husband to take me again tonight. He does not like to bowl. It hurts his shoulder and knees. Block laying put a lot of stress on his body.
But I had such fun.

My husbands company has hired another worker for Casa Grande. Which means my husband is a manager. He ran Casa Grande alone for several months but was very busy and has asked for help many times. This is a wonderful turn of events. They are both staying busy. This new employee is a friend of the man who changes our tires. So far all is going well. My husband has a new van it is so pretty. He is like a little boy buying all the supplies, tools and business materials for inside. Nothing feels better than buying whatever you want without having to pay for it. No decals yet. He had an appointment for this last week. after he drove 45 min they called to cancel after the appointment time. He set up another appointment for this week. Talk about frustrating.


　

　

Catch up

Catch up
You know how life gets away from you.
The children are out of school. My youngest is home during the week this summer and returns to my sister's house in Maricopa on the weekend. My oldest is the exact opposite. He stays at my sister's house in Maricopa during the week and returns home on the weekend. Perhaps someday we can have them both home without major fighting. My youngest works for the neighbor during the week. He does farm work. Cleaning out stalls, feeding and watering animals, working on fences and pens. When this work began someone told him he should be making minimum wage. He was sad to receive his first pay. I told him this is just farm work. He is after all only 15. He Is happy to see his earnings add up. His goal is to buy an IPOD. I am not sure which one. My oldest has yet to find a job. He is helping my sister in Maricopa. He helps cook and take care of her daughter.
I have been requisitioned to create several blankets. These are for my co-worker, Simona. I have made her many things in the past. This keeps me busy. Finding just the right color can be tricky. Did you know that Joann's will let you use competitor coupons and that they will let you use as many coupons as you can get. For instance if you have 5 items and 5 coupons you can use each and every one. This saves me some. Prices have gone up. People do not want to pay more money for craft items. If I sold a blanket 5 years ago for say $50 they want to buy it for $50 today. Anyway. This particular co-worker has given me a lot of business. She sends friends my way all the time. Which usually is like the snowball effect. Those friends tell their friends and so on. I usually give her the Simona discount.
It has been so hot here. I have been working hard at keeping all the animals hydrated and in the shade. We check the water buckets several times a day. My husband is surprised how much water they drink. The Mammas were drinking so much I put another bucket in their pen for fear they would run out. I keep all the feed and dog food bags for this purpose. I sew them together to create a tarp like fabric. This doesn't take me very long. While I am sewing the dogs are at my feet sniffing, sniffing, sniffing. Very funny. When it is all together we take it outside and tyewire right through the bags to the pens and coops. The chickens seem so relieved to have shade. They scratch and roll with new life. We built another chicken coop for the young chickens. Just a note. This time I bought stucco wire instead of chicken wire. It was much cheaper and serves the same purpose. To keep the rabbits cool I freeze soda bottles and put them in the hutches. They lay against the bottles to keep cool. I have also misted their ears. They do not like it very much. But they look so miserable. I wouldn't like to be in the Arizona heat with a fur coat on. Their pen was created with complete shade in mind.
It will soon be time to breed the rabbits. I hope this will be successful. The original rabbit Molly Magic broke free from her hutch and broke her neck. She is next to June. She was breed several times and never kidded. Not for the lack of trying from the buck. We even borrowed the buck from our neighbor. He sired many kits. I was lingering about putting her down. Molly Magic's story is quite funny. After getting our original 4 rabbits. I came home one night and checked on them. There were 3 black rabbits and 1 white rabbit. Strange I had all black. I asked my husband about it. He said he traded the neighbor who also just got rabbits. I asked him if he was sure this white rabbit was a healthy female. He said he wasn't sure and that I could check. Not happy that I was surprised. So upon investigation She had male parts. I showed my husband and then we took this male rabbit back. I did not need three males. He chose this one because it looked the healthiest. So the neighbor said we could trade another rabbit for this male. They were not the best looking bunch. One had a torn ear. One had a sore foot. One had a weepy eye. That is why my husband chose this one. Well they all had female parts all except the one my husband brought home. If I hadn't checked he would not have had a chance to breed his rabbits. Silly men. So I choose the one with the weepy eye. She looked the best. We treated her eye with neosporyn and it healed up in a couple of days. She could get out of any hutch I built. It didn't matter what kind of wire or lock it had. That is why she was called Molly Magic. Her original name was Molly. All the black rabbits passed away and Molly Magic still survived. So when My Husband found her one day lifeless I was saddened and relieved at the same time. I did not want to harvest her. My heart just wasn't in it. But she was not producing.
The chickens have moved to their new coop. They do not roost. I think they were in the tractor to long. We thinned out the other coop. Adding all the white leghorns to the new coop. Now you know how beautiful young chickens are. New full feathers. There were two white chickens who were pickers and egg eaters. Did you hear me. I found the egg eater. Or my husband did. One day I came home and one little red chicken was in with the ducks. Hum, Why I asked? He said they ate all her feathers off her butt. And wouldn't stop. The poor little chicken was a bloody mess. I said should we put her down. He said no she will heal. We were not sure which chicken was the culprit. So the next day. Another chicken in the duck house and two white chickens in Sprinkles and Chocolate's pen. He said it was them. So no more pecked eggs. The little red chickens are heeling. They like the duck house. Or so it seems. The ducks don't bother them. They eat what the ducks don't. The white chickens fly. They kept going out of the pen and pecking the dogs. Dogs do not like to be pecked. Dogs have sharp teeth. They had enough, eventually and the dogs won. These chickens were going on 4 years old. I have my eye out for anymore egg peckers.
My youngest brought a puppy home from work one day. The neighbor's heeler had 10 puppies. My husband had his eye on a little white female. My husband never brought her home and the neighbor sold her. My husband was thinking we don't need more dogs. Here comes my youngest with Taco. He is all brown. I told my son he must stay outside. He lives with Bandit our goat dog. They greet me every night when I come home to get a cookie (dog biscuit). My husband and I keep them in our vehicles. It is a small thing to do to keep them happy. I went to the town feed store to get a 5 in 1 puppy vaccine. The service at this store is terrible. They are snotty and it was like I was inconveniencing them. I left with nothing and went to the Pet Club. I know I should support the locals but they have been increasingly rude each time I go. Pet Club is very friendly. They usually have everything I need. I can ask questions to the moon and they ack like they enjoy our conversation. Not like I am a stupid farm girl. I will continue to shop at Pet Club.
Little Uno the duck is out of the chicken tractor and in the duck pen. Uno spends most of the day behind the house. The older ducks don't really spend time with Uno. Uno will survive. We had another duck hatch and called it Dos. Dos got stuck in the corner of the aquarium and died. We tried to put Dos in with Uno, but Uno pecked him until Dos's little wing was bloody and sore. So I needed to go to the store and was gone for not more than an hour. Poor little Dos. The Ducks are setting on a clutch again. Two this time. My husband also has three eggs in the incubator. Who knows?
DQ had kids. She was apparently pregnant when she came to us. The neighbors sire was gorgeous. These goats will be beautiful. DQ had 4 kids. 2 males 2 females. 1 male was still born. 1 male died the next day. So we have Oreo and Barbie. Sadly. Oreo is blind. I saw DQ kick dirt in her eye. We treated it with penicillin for 4 days and neosporyn for 4 days. She can not see but it is clean. She eats and sleeps. Oreo does not run and play like Barbie. Every one says to put her down. I don't think that is the answer. She will adapt. Barbie is a bouncing baby. She is the friendliest goat I have ever seen. She is all ready eating and drinking alfalfa.
We had a lead on a herd of potbelly pigs. 1 cut male, 1 intact male, 3 pregnant females (due in 1 month) Must take them all. This person from craigslist wanted to get rid of them due to divorce. Anyway, we made plans to meet them on Sunday. The reason for this delay was they were in a city 2 hrs away, Tonopah. This person said that would be fine. This was on Monday at 4 pm. I checked craigslist on Wednesday and the add changed. 2 males 1 female. I emailed them and they said they sold the 3 pregnant females. Where did the other female come from. What happened to must take all. Then the craigslist add changed again. 2 cut males. Weird right. This person wanted to know if I was still coming. I said no that they changed their story to many times. And 2 hours was to far to drive for nothing. Bad people SUCK. I created a pen for this new herd. I worked all day Tuesday. Oh well Our female Meat pig will need it when she is breed.
I am busy in the house just keeping up. I make yogurt and chevre once a week It lasts all week. My youngest likes this yogurt he mixes honey in his. I poor it over cereal. The chevre is used for bagels, kind of like cream cheese. The pigs are getting 1/2 gallon of milk almost every day. They also are eating about 6 eggs every day. They make a scheeemmm scheeemmm scheeemmm noise when they are snarfing this up. I have had a concern with making raisin breed. When to add the raisins. If you add them first they are all mushy. If you add them through out the mix they are all chopped up almost missing. If you add them last they are only on the top of the bread. I use a bread machine. I have followed the directions and am not happy with the end result. How do you use your bread machine to make raisin bread?
I bought produce this week. I do not feel bad. Yes I do. I can not grow anything. So my husband said it was okay. I bought grapes( red and green), apples(red and green), oranges, pears, bananas, tomatoes, lettuce(ice burg, and Romain), spinach, cucumbers, celery, green onions, carrots, green peppers, lemons, cantaloupe, honey dew, and strawberries. I try every year to grow my own produce. I have spent hundreds of hours and dollars. I give up. I love love love to eat veggies and fruit. Please don't think I am bad. I know many people buy produce. I am supposed to be a homesteader. I just can not grow produce. It is to hot. To dry. I have a brown thumb. So I am done. I also bought squishy sandwich bread and store buns. I will hide my head in the sand now.
I bought a whole chicken. This also upsets me. I will be buying meat chickens soon to harvest for our freezer. We tried this last year but lost almost half. The neighbor also did this at the same time he had losses to. We think it was a bad batch. Anyway I bought a whole chicken. It was on sale. I baked it for 1 dinner. Made chicken salad for lunch the next day. And the next day we had chicken noodle soup. It was well worth it.
I boil a dozen eggs every week. We use them all week long. Most days we have eggs for breakfast. We also have bacon or sausage. I can not wait until our little pig gets bigger to put in the freezer. We will have our own sausage and bacon. Raising a few pigs has not been that difficult. We have 3, nowhere near the number the neighbor has. They are very simple to feed. We are still on our first truck load of corn. The other animals have helped eat it to. It has lasted a long time.
I guess that is it today. I will try to add pictures later.
　
　
　
　

　
　
　
　

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful to be able to watch the new beginnings of life at my home.  It is such a great joy to hear the peeping of our little duckling.  He/She is still alone.  Today he spent many hours in my pocket.  If we are quiet we can hear the peeping from inside the eggs.  I have told them to hurry up because Uno is waiting to snuggle with them.  He/She is waiting.

Up until Wednesday

On Sunday I made clabbered milk

I placed ½ gallon milk out with only a paper towel over it.  I secured the paper towel with a rubber band.  On Monday I had clabbered milk.  I froze the mixture in ice cube trays for mesophilic starter. 1 cube equals 1 oz. of starter. I can’t wait to try it out on hard cheeses.

I went to see my Sister in Law from Chandler.  We had lunch/dinner.  Then we went through her craft room.  She is not crocheting as much as I do.  She also watches the hoarders and has decided to get rid of things she no longer uses.  I came home with 3 boxes of yarn.  I am so excited.  This will save me tons of money.  Thank you, Thank you.

I also brought the dog kennel back when I went home.

On Monday I made yogurt

Place 1 gallon milk in crockpot turn on low for 2 ½ hrs. (mine took 3) until temp is 180

Unplug crockpot for 2 hrs. until temp is 110

Add 1 cup yogurt with live cultures

Wrap whole crockpot, base and all with a large beach towel

Put in oven with only light on, leave in for 8 hrs.

I froze mine in ice cube trays and put remainder in easy serving cups

I ended up with enough yogurts for 4 Thermophilic starters (I plan on using frozen cubes for next time)7 cubes equals 1 cup yogurt.

And 12 cups to eat later

Of course this is after I ate some.  I couldn’t resist.

On Tuesday I made mozzarella

Place 1 gallon milk in stainless steel pot, add ½ cup lemon juice, heat slowly to 90

Remove pot from burner and slowly stir in 1/4 tab rennet diluted in 1/4 cup coold water 

 Cover and leave for 5min

Cut curd in 1 inch squares

Put pot back onto heat and heat slowly until 110 stirring slowly

Take off burner and continue to stir slowly for 2-5 min

Transfer curd to glass bowl with slotted spoon

Press whey out with hand until curd gets cold

Place into microwave for 1 min press and fold cheese draining whey out until cold

Place into microwave for 30min press and fold cheese draining whey out until cold

Press into a ball place cheese into cold salted (non-iodized) ice water

I served mine to my oldest with wheat thins.

Tuesday night an egg hatched from the homemade incubator.  I named him/ her Uno.

Isn’t the duckling darling.

On Wednesday I made laundry soap

Long ago my sister from the north taught me how to make this laundry soap.

Fill a pot with 1 gallon water heat on stove while shredding zote soap with cheese grater.  Stir to dissolve.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons water.  Add 2 cups borax and 2 cups washing soda

After water soap becomes liquid add that to 5 gallon bucket.  Stir and cover until the next day

Soap will become a gel.  Pour into user friendly containers.  I use gallon sized vinegar bottles.

You can use as much or as little as you like.  I use ½ cup in my new washer.  I was worried because it wasn’t High Efficiency soap.  It works great. 

This Week

This week very busy and not busy at the same time

On Saturday and Sunday
We sold our goat kids. Craigslist went great. They went in pairs to two separate families.  One family brought their dog kennel.  I can not tell you how useful a wire kennel is for the homesteader.  We have used ours to move every animal on our homestead.  From chickens and ducks to pigs and goats.  And of coarse dogs too.  My husband's sister borrowed ours in November and we have not gotten it back yet.  Busy.  The other family brought nothing.  They took the goats in the front of their 2 seater truck.  Funny.  We brought Abby home in the cab of our truck too.
 We had to purchase a new washer and dryer.  Our washer was breaking.  My husband had to jimmie rig it to make it go.  Last Friday my oldest dried a pen and it ruined the dryer.  Besides the store was having a sale that we couldn't pass up. I figured our old set would give out any day now and the sale would be over.

On Monday
I filed in for a coworker who could not work. The Manager / Lead on call called me on Sunday night to ask if I could start at 7am. I said sure. He apologized for calling me after 10:30pm. I only assume that is when my coworker called him. Which was good, because they have a 2 hr policy. Meaning you must call 2 hrs before your shift to call off. She could have waited until 5am. I would not have answered my phone. Sleeping. We have 2 people in our department who repeatedly call off, or leave early. I am surprised that they still have a job. This just makes in less fun for those of us that do show up on a regular basis and work the whole shift through.  We got a delivery of new Polo shirts.  Our company was honnored as Best of Heart for our city.  Big thing. 

On Tuesday
I started to MILK THE GOATS again. Well only the Mammas. We sold all the babies this past weekend. I am only milking once a day because of my schedule. Together they are giving around 10 cups each day. I have made basic chevre and am attempting to clabber the milk. Homemade buttermilk, kind of. I am trying to make my own
I also went to my oldest's parent teacher conference. He is not doing so well. I am unable to help him at this age. Other than nagging and making sure he is up to get there. He has a mind set that he is in control. Which by his marks he is struggling. My oldest goes to an alternative, computer based, night school. Work at your own pace. Apparently he is going at a snails rate. In the past he chose to not participate. Sometimes even not showing up. He is very far behind. He will be 18 in September and has approximately 2 more years to go as far as credits are concerned. This is because of all his, should we say, extra curricular activities. When someone says that you think church, sports, clubs. Oh no I refer to this as girlfriends and buddies. When you go to the park to hang out and smoke you miss a lot. Oh no mom I'm not smoking. Yeah right. I am almost sure he will not get a diploma.

On Wednesday
I began to work on my mother's project. She needed some head bands made out of towels. Her head sweats and these absorb them. To make a towel head band. You take a hand towel and cut it in half. Sew those halves together to make a tube. Add elastic and wala a towel head band. But when my husband delivered them they were to small. I must have a much smaller head.  Because I did try it on as I created it and I had growing room. Does your head grow when you are an adult? I will take the elastic out and replace with a bigger piece next week.

On Thursday
My husbands manager came to the house to deliver a barrel of chemicals. They go through a lot of this particular product. If you buy it in bulk it is cheaper. Up until now the company hasn't had anywhere to store it for our district. Why not on our homestead? I just hope we get to keep the barrel when it is empty. You can never have enough watering troughs for the animals. But my luck says it will need to be returned for a core charge. Anyway I made sure to have a display of cookies and muffins to go with teas and coffees. They didn't even come inside. Oh well.

On Friday
Pay day Friday. Run here, Run there, Run everywhere. I did stop at the Humane Society thrift store.  It is an old house that they display items people have donated to sell. A great find.  I found 2 gallon jars with lids for only 50 cents each.  Yes with lids.  I have a problem keeping lids.  It is like the sock monster.  You know the one, who every once and a while eats just one sock. 

On Saturday
My youngest has a school project due on Monday.  We wont go into how long he has known about this project.  He needed to create a catapult. Not just any catapult but and exact model of the print out. My husband took him to the store for all the supplies. Now what would we do if we had no money? Would he fail this assignment? I am sure someone had trouble with the money aspect. Anyway he constructed it and then they played. He is very proud. He even said I could post it on my blog.
We began constructing our second chicken coop. The hens are getting too big for the chicken tractor. It should have gotten done a long time ago. Busy again. We got 2 poles in the ground and then my husband told us we needed to go get cleaned up. We needed to be somewhere by 7.

He took us to see the Avengers. I had a very nice time. No one kicking the seat. No screaming or talking children. Just enough popcorn and soda. The movie was very good. Remember to wait for the ending or the beginning of the next movie. I think everyone forgets that. mesophilic starter in hopes of making cheddar cheese. Each recipe calls for 4Tbsp. This is so fun. Next week we will try to make the cheese. Unfortunately you have to wait for Cheddar to age. But you know what they say about those that wait. 　
　
　
　　

Saturday Update

This week I was very lazy. 

I went through the motions, you know.  Laundry, Dishes, Animals. LALALA. 

I had previously posted our little doelings on CL.  I have been corresponding with about five people.  You know you should read an add and do any research before you respond.  Otherwise you sound foolish.  In my add I listed all the pertinent information.  I still received emails asking questions when the information was clearly listed. Where we live, how much, how many, how old, what kind.  With one party we went back and forth for many emails.  Then the final response they asked where we were located (clearly listed).  When I said Casa Grande they said that was too far.  Why waste all that time.  With another party after sending many pictures and responses back they said they wanted pygmies and not dwarfs.  Why respond to an add if it isn’t something you want. I listed   Unless you want to see the cute little goaties.  People even wanted a discount.  Not just a little, a buy on get on free.  R U Kidding Me!  Do you know what goes into taking care of these little girls?  I am thinking these bargain hunters cannot afford to keep them. Hay is $16 to $18 a bail.    If they don’t sell I will just keep them and get a new buck to breed.  We don’t want any interbreeding.   I got a lecture about dehorning goats.  I chose not to disbud my goats.  This is my choice.  If you want a disbudded goat go buy one.  I see no good in this practice.  The goats I do have that were disbudded when I purchased them have had problems.  They grow back.  So now we have to monitor them so they don’t grow into their skull.  The scurs, as the horns that grow back are called, are much weaker than real horns.  They break off very easy and bleed and bleed.  OMG .  Seriously I didn’t realize this.  The two that we purchased with horns are just fine.  They do not harm others with them.  I can sometimes use them as handles, sort of.  It is my choice.  You do not have to purchase my goats. 

We received a large box of apples and a 50 lb. bag of onions.  What do you think I did with them?  Of course the goaties got some. They pushed and said "that's mine I want more."   Oh yes the pigs too.  They are still young and wait by the feeding barrel for their treats.  This is fine because I have heard horror stories of pigs biting off fingers. Well everyone got some.  Dent likes apples.  You would think he was dancing when he received his portion.  Merrel took her portion with no thanks.  Ducks and Chickens gobbled them up.  Even stealing from each other through the fence.  Like there will never be any more.  The dogs are easier to handle with only 3 inside.  I mean that with the most respect for the dogs who have left us.  They sit nicely while getting their portion.  Bandit the outside dog has a hard time sitting still.  She is still just a baby. Stretch let his float for a while then snuck up on his slice.  Perhaps he is pretending to be a shark.  He he he he.  My animals eat better than the humans do. 

Onions

I cut and chopped and bagged.  ONIONS, ONIONS, ONIONS.   I don’t think I will need to buy onions for a while.  Thank goodness.  I hated to buy them.  But I use them in everything.   Did you know that it is the gas enzymes that are released when you cut them that make you cry?  You have some options there.  Wear goggles, put them in water when cutting, or burn a candle.  I did not know this last one.  But my oldest came into the kitchen and lit a candle.  This stopped my crying.  I just thought I was getting used to the gasses.  Until I goggled it.  I love Google.  You can find almost anything. 

Apples

I made spiced apples, apple turnovers, apple muffins, and froze apple pie filling forever.  I made two jars of spiced apples for the neighbor and the neighbor’s brother, who we got this gift from.  My husband could only deliver one jar to the brother.  The other jar went into the fridge for when we next see the neighbor.  My oldest ate ours and the neighbors to. I have some more apples so I will be making more.  Maybe today.

Incubator

We have turned eggs diligently every 12 hrs.  I have added water to the little dish when it is low.  The temp has been steady.  When collecting eggs this week I collected the eggs the mama duck pushed out of the nest.  I was curious so I cracked it open.  How sad there was a little duck embryo.  You could see and eye, beak, body, feet.  It looked whole but not right at the same time.  I guess mama knows best.  This poor little duck probably would not have survived.

Romance

My husband and I have been married for 18 years this past Monday the 23^rd.  We had a nice quiet dinner at home. 

My oldest and his girlfriend have broken up.  This happens in young love.  I’m sure she will not be his last girlfriend.