That's My Girl

Now that's an udder!!

I Love my goats. Individually they are all special. Just some are more special than others. My milking does command my attention. But they return all of it and more.

Choe is Mary's daughter. We purchased Mary and Chloe from a family in Vass, NC. Chloe is a 3rd freshener. Which means that this is her 3rd pregnancy. This year she had triplets. (2 bucks and a doe)

Every morning she hops up on the milk stand and waits for her breakfast.

I am not really surprised by the size of Chloe's udder - after all she is Mary's (my #1 milker) daughter.
 

Life is Good

Ol Timey ready to throw some dirt!!

I know that my husband and I are a source of amusement for the farmers around here. Seems we don't do things quite by the book.

Who in their right mind would purchase a 1939 Ford Tractor.

We would!! We bought our tractor from a little old farmer in Burlington, North Carolina.

He used it everyday to run around his fields.

Chloe's doeling Velvet relaxing in the warm sun.

When my husband dies he says that he wants to come back as one of my pets.

I agree!!

One of the Barred Rock/White Leghorn mix chickens. 

And I Thought I Saw It All!

My husband and I burn our pastures in preparation for Summer. We get rid of all the leftover grasses (now 3 feet tall and very dry). Grass grows almost overnight in the field.

Today when I was out walking I noticed something sinister in the middle pasture.

2 feet of razor sharp spines running the length of the leaves with a yellow thistle like flower atop - nearly the size of a softball.

Seems it's called (of all things) Yellow Thistle.

Too dangerous for the goats.

It's gone tomorrow - today I am amazed.

Feed me Seymour!!

Kids Gone Wild

This kidding season has been very fruitful. Mary had triplets (2 bucks and a doe), Chloe had triplets (2 bucks and a doe), Fiesty had twins (2 does) and little Frosty had a single (buck). Since the weather has been quite nice, all the momma goats have left the babies on their own. I think the mom's really needed to catch a break.

Flowering (5 finger) crab apple
and Ol' Timey in the background

Hey John - this ones for you

Chicken Trivia

Amerucana eggs in the incubator.

Did you know that Mama Chickens turn the eggs their sittin' on at least 50 times in one day so that the embryo doesn't stick to the shell.

I am WAY TOO busy to even attempt that! But I do turn them every morning and again in the evening.

I love the olive colored eggs. Those are 1/2 Amerucana

This batch was started on Sunday March 11th. It takes 21 days for them to hatch. So that means on April 1st they should start to hatch.

Amerucana chickens also called "Easter Eggers" since they lay a blue tinged and pale pink egg.
For real!!

Honeycutt Hooch

My dad made plum whiskey (Slivovitz - another Czech thing) when my brothers and I were kids. He started it off in large plastic bins which attracted fruit flies by the hundreds. I think by the time the fruit was ready to distill we had generations of fruit flies around the barrels. My grandfather and dad devised an oven top still from a huge clam bake style pot and copper tubing that ran through ice.

Oh man, that stuff put hair on your chest.

Forward 30 or so years

This year on the farm we had a bumper crop of table grapes. Seems that the Japanese Beetles enjoyed the leaves but left the fruit alone.

When life gives you grapes - Make Wine

Mighty fine Wine

It is a simple process that only uses a couple of ingredients.
Roughly
Water - 1gallon
Fruit - 3 - 4 lbs.
Sugar - 3 lbs
Yeast (optional)

I started the wine August 1 and it is "supposed" to ferment 30 days. You then strain it and bottle it. Where it is supposed to sit for another 6 months. Thats it!! Easy huh

Sure easy for you to say. Hopefully I will be able to keep at least 1 bottle for the whole 6 months.

Taste testing equals Quality control

The Last Iced Coffee Recipe You'll Ever Want!

My Mom Loves Iced Coffee -

But she is very conscientious of her waistline. (sugar free vanilla syrup and fat free milk)

I on the other hand LOVE Creamy and Sweet Iced Coffee.
But...
I HATE paying over $4 a glass for it at some fancy-schmancy coffee house!

Being the frugal gal that I am - I figured out how to make the perfect creamy & sweet Iced coffee for pennies a glass!

First...
You have to make your coffee concentrate.
(This is the only part of the process that takes some time)
Don't worry,  the gallon of coffee concentrate you end up with will make enough to last you for a month in the fridge!

You do NOT want to brew a normal pot of coffee for your iced coffee.
You want to cold-brew it.
This leaves you with a smooth, acid-free coffee base that we all love for a refreshing cold drink.

Iced Coffee Concentrate. 

Ingredients-

• 1 gallon water
• 1 lb bag of your favorite rich coffee (course ground if ya can get it)
• Coffee filters or several layers of cheesecloth
• a fine mesh strainer.
• a large bowl
• pitcher (big enough to hold a gallon)

Directions-

1. Pour gallon of water into your large bowl.
2. Dump the entire bag of coffee into the water/bowl.
3. Stir to make sure all grounds are saturated with water.
4. Walk away, for 12 hours or overnight.
5. line a mesh strainer with a coffee filter or several layers of cheese-cloth, set the strainer on top of your pitcher.
6. Pour (or ladle) your coffee mixture into the strainer. (this part takes awhile...)   If using coffee filters, you might have to replace them several times during the filtering process.
7. Once all the coffee concentrate has been filtered, stick it in the fridge (it will last for a month!)

Sweet Cream
Ingredients-

• 1, 12oz can of evaporated milk
• 1, 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

Directions-

1. mix both cans together, refrigerate. 

So

1. Grab your favorite glass and fill it to the top with ice.

 2. Pour iced coffee concentrate into your glass, filling it a little more than half-full.

 3. Add Sweet Cream into the coffee/ice glass until full (or to taste)

 4.  stir to combine.

 5.  Enjoy!