Last Saturday, we took the four-wheelers out to the upper 40 (that’s what we call the rather rough 40 acres found across the farm from the house, over the creek and through the north hayfield).  Anyway, in moving the cattle every morning through the upper 40 the last few weeks, Jon discovered that there are several smallish cedar trees, which might make for a sufficient Christmas tree for our living room.  Here’s our photo documentation of our humble Christmas tree outing.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and much joy in the New Year!

Roger and Carolyn, coming up from the creek.

Jon cutting the tree -- this one was situated under a much bigger tree and quite close to several other trees, so we simultaneously were thinning the trees and getting a Christmas decoration.

Small, but sufficient. It's a Charlie Brown christmas.

Voila! Very nice.

Matilde

Every so often, and usually at least once a year, we end up feeding a baby calf who, for one reason or another, can not be taken care of by his/her mother.  Sometimes the mama has a difficult birth and does not make it, or sometimes there are twins and the mama will only take care of one calf.

This year you’ve probably heard or read about Hummy the Red Heifer on our blog or on our facebook page.  Last year, we had Thlama.  And for the winter of 2011/2012, we actually have two bottle babies, Matilde and Ferdinand.

Matilde: Matilde has her name because she has a white marking on her forehead that somewhat resembles the tilde punctuation mark.

At first, when we brought Matilde in from the field, sometime around Thanksgiving, she wouldn’t have anything to do with us.  For a few days, Jon took a bottle of milk out to her, but he just couldn’t get her to drink.  Finally, he had to straddle her to keep her from running away and push the bottle nipple into her mouth. For about a day, she still resisted, but drank vigorously once she got the hang of it.  Now, she comes running whenever she sees Jon and drinks very well.  Matilde currently resides with the south group of goats and touches noses with the bigger calves who live just east of her field.  She aspires to one day be a grown up calf like them.

Jon feeding Ferdinand

Ferdinand: Ferdinand is a bull calf and is named after the old children’s storybook, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.

Ferdinand just came in from the field a few days ago because his mama was not producing enough milk.  He is quite eager to drink and eat grain from our hands.  He is all black with a little white tuft around his navel.  He is definitely a cutie.

Pounding the cabbage

Jon and Janelle recently purchased a copy of Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions, which includes many recipes for fermented foods (i.e. pickled vegetables, fermented dairy products, etc).

Jon, in particular, has been interested in fermented foods for awhile and has been making yogurt from milk from a neighbor for several years.  But as we learn more about the benefits of eating foods with live cultures, our interest has grown.

We also recently bought a kraut crock from our good friend and potter Nathan Ferree, which he has been developing over the past year, at the request of friends and family.  It’s just a basic crock, but it also includes some weights, which you put on top of the cabbage (or whatever you’re fermenting), so that the veggies will stay at the bottom and can be completely covered by the juices which form over time.  In addition, the lid fits neatly into a moat-like rim, which gets filled with the juices and/or water that you put in it.  This forms an air-tight seal.

Crock made by Nathan Ferree

The recipe in Fallon’s book just says to mix your cabbage with salt, caraway seeds and whey (or more salt if you don’t have the whey, which is what we did).

Then you pound the mixture for 10 minutes with a wooden pounder (Jon just grabbed and cleaned off a scrap of cedar from our stair railing project), to help release the juices.

The book says put the cabbage in a quart jar, which is a good alternative, if you don’t have a nice crock like ours.  Then wait at least 3 days for fermentation.

Remember, the longer it ferments, the more beneficial it is for your health.

We’ll let you know how it turns out!

Humphrey is a Full-Blood Boer breeding buck, registerable with the American Boer Goat Association.  He is the son of Hillbilly Boers Willie (pictured directly behind), who has given us many wonderful kids with lots of color!  Humphrey and his twin were born March 3, 2011.  Asking price is $250.  Ready to be your next herdsire!

Lettuce and green onions straight from the garden.

We’ve had quite a few guests on the farm over the past month and unfortunately, our lettuce has suffered the consequences. Lettuce waits for no one. So, we’ve been working on interesting ways to use lots of lettuce.

Here’s a recipe that Carolyn found in her cookbook from Orange City, Iowa. It’s called “Dutch Lettuce”, which is not surprising, considering Orange City is in the heart of Dutch country.

Dutch Lettuce

8-9 potatoes, crumbled small or mashed

Yu-hummmm!!

1 lb. bacon, fried and crumbled
6 eggs, scrambled in bacon grease (we sometimes leave this out)
3 quarts garden lettuce, chopped
Combine all, add a few diced green onions and drizzle with bacon grease.

We LOVE it!

Relaxing in front of the garage/bunkhouse

Even with the humidity it starts cooling off when the sun goes down, and its more comfortable to sit outside than in. All the animals like to be outside too.

Gizmo enjoying the cooler evening

And you thought YOU had it bad?  Think of the animals!

Compared to other parts of the Midwest, our little corner fared pretty well — half an inch of ice and then less than six inches of snow.  Our cows are weathering the storm as well as can be expected. They’ve found their spot amongst the trees, safe from high winds, but unfortunately, they got covered in ice and snow immediately.  However, keeping close together, using body heat to keep warm, they will be alright.

This morning, at the first sound of the tractor, they all came running from the trees to get some hay.  For the first time, when Jon opened the gate to the hay shed, they actually went inside and started eating the hay where it stood.

The birds are also taking advantage of the free food in this big storm.  Although some of the feeders are covered in ice, the cardinals and finches are still finding plenty to eat.

As for the humans, we’re staying warm inside, except for chore time, taking the opportunity to work on taxes, and being thankful that we still have power and that the goats aren’t kidding right now (knock on wood!).

Hope you all are staying warm and safe too!

When we decided this fall to let our pigs roam our one-acre seed garden until they grew to adult size, we knew that they would like to root around in the dirt.  We did not know, however, to what extent they would do so.  They have not only systematically gone through every row, but have also dug around the perimeter of the garden, pulling up roots and extra tidbits, aerating the soil all the while.  Who needs a tiller when you have pigs?

We’ve added 3 pigs to the farm.  We’ve currently got them in the “Seed Garden”.  Everything has been harvested for the year.  Now Pork Chop, Ham, and Bacon are rooting around in the soil, aerating, and fertilizing for next year.  Besides what they will do for the garden we’re also planning to raise them for their meat.