Runny Babbits

Shortly after we acquired the chickens, our neighbors found a bunny wandering around the neighborhood.  Because they couldn't keep him, they gave him to us.  After having Oreo for about a year and moving to a new property, I soon added more rabbits to the mix, mostly so we could use their young for meat but also to sell them as pets or breederss.  

After three or four years of being in the rabbit business, I sold them off.  Shortly thereafter, my mom commented one day that she'd like to have a few rabbits to raise again so, for Mother's Day, my siblings and I bought her a pair of purebred Californians which she named Nellie and Olson.  For now, she just raises them for pleasure. 

After two years of buying and selling adults, she is pleased with the adults she has now.  Some rabbits just have bad temperaments, the main reason I'd gotten out of the business. This is one of Pearl's kits.  

Big Mama,  who has yet to be a mama with us, is pictured below.  The name suits her perfectly though. 

Pumpkin, a bunny some other neighbors gave us because their friends were moving and couldn't take her with, is a sweet little Lionhead. 

Here is Nellie with the only kit she kindled a few weeks ago.

And next are Maisie's three little cuties.

I don't have a good photo of Mom's newest rabbit buck; he hasn't got a name just yet either.  So, I will post, instead, a photo of Olson. 

Chickens

Before having goats and a garden,  we started out with a small flock of White Plymouth Rocks for eggs in 2008.   The original flock has since passed on (the last hen as of this month) but we have two main flocks now.  I call them the Banty Coop and the Big Coop Flocks.  The banty coop consists of older birds, game birds, bantam chickens,  guinea fowl, and a rooster, Sir Liverwort, to protect them.

Willow, a Black-tailed White Japanese Bantam, currently has six nearly grown chicks so she is locked up in a separate hutch during the night but runs around like the rest of the Banty flock during the day.  This photo shows one of her chicks, Mirror.  Yes, she looks almost exactly like her mom.

Ebony and Merrigold are 'my' two game birds.  I have come to love the game birds because of their independent personality.  Yet, when I take the time to give them little treats or such, they become quite friendly.   As a side note, the layers are quite docile, able to live at peace with each other other than the typical pecking order they establish amongst each other.  Many game birds do not get along with each other unless they grow up together.  I'm very blessed that Merrigold and Ebony tolerate each other plus I think their older age has helped calm them down too.  

Honeysuckle is an adorable, independent, sassy little hen.  She's five years old.

The Big Coop consists of all the consistent layers, a few older birds that are still laying, and their rooster.  My mom and I limit our chick buying to once every two years. Last year, we added about twenty some new birds to our flock.  They are all laying now.

A few young White Rock chicks which my mom and I named Daffodil, Daisy, and Tulip are from last year's addition.

In addition, we added two Barred Rocks, Iris and Izzie.  I have always enjoyed the White Rocks but was a little hesitant about the barred rocks because of negative reports about their personality.  To my relief, they have been just as sweet, friendly, and laid back as the White rocks.  The rocks also like talking to you as well.

There are six White Leghorns, four younger and two older birds.  Dove and Ms. Cluck are the older girls.  Pensacola 'Penny', Croatia, Italy, and Asia are the new girls.   Leghorns are excellent layers of large white eggs; however, they are high- strung birds.

Sunny and Shadow are the Light Brahmas. They were such curious girls when they were growing pullets, constantly pecking at my shoes.   A photo of their younger selves in the act. 

Nani and Lokelani are the Buff Orpingtons. Currently, they are both broody but I'm not giving them eggs to hatch because I haven't the room to give them for taking care of chicks.  This is Lani as a pullet. 

Lavender and Spot are Easter Eggers (really Ameraucana -mutt chickens that folks purchase because the hens lay green, blue, or brown eggs depending on the hen).  Spot lays pretty green eggs and Lavender is the rooster in charge.   From my experience, the EE's are seasonal layers or lay-whenever-I-feel-like-it birds.  Yup, the egg colors are nice but if you're looking for consistency, they're not your bird. Spot is a Leghorn and EE cross. She laid consistently like a Leghorn for a few years but has since taken on her EE side in regards to laying.

I took care of my neighbor's chicks when he was out of town last year and he let me have my choice of six birds.  Unfortunately, all but one was a rooster.  I named my White Jersey Giant Eema.

Suri is my sweet little mottled Japanese Bantam hen.  I kept her with the Big Coop birds for two reasons.  One, because she grew up with last year's new flock and, two, because for the past year and a half, my guineas have been having serious problems with attacking the chicks and layers, something I hadn't ever had to deal with before.  I didn't want them bullying Suri and I didn't think she'd be mature enough to stand up to them.  She does just fine with the big girls so I'm okay with leaving her with them for now.  To the left of Suri is our handicapped rooster, Rhett.  He has his own run in the Big Coop.  As you can see, Suri goes in and out as she pleases. 

And here are a few shots taken over the past year. 

The Garden

My family has been gardening since 2011.  The past two years have been the best in regards to production.  I know that the Lord has blessed us mightily with such wonderful harvests of fruit and vegetables.

We have several varieties of beans this year.  Under the green bean category,  we have french cut, jade, tender green, heavyweight, and bush blue.  Under the wax bean, we have the Gold rush and, well, the wax bean varieties.  The other bean type we have is Burgandy beans which are purple at harvest but turn dark green when cooked.  So far, with nearly nine full rows of beans, I have harvested nearly 44lbs of beans.

Also planted in the large ground bed is turnips, tomatillos, onions, and tomatoes.  Tomato plants include Sweet 100, Yellow Pear, Arkansas Traveler, and Roma among others.  They are now ripening. Across from the larger ground bed are small raised beds of peas and blackberry bushes.

In the ground bed to the left of the aforementioned ground bed is corn, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, and watermelon.

Do you spot the other cucumbers? 

One of the large raised beds is filled with different lettuces from which we have had many delicious salads.   The season for lettuce is pretty much over. 

The other large bed contains salad, hot, and bell peppers; beets and carrots from last year's planting; and radishes that bolted.  Root vegetables, it turns out, do not grow fast in raised beds.

This is the first year for our peach and plum trees to have produced.  The plums were oh-so-scrumptious, not even to be compared with the ones you purchase from a store.   Unfortunately, we have an abundance of squirrels.    The wasteful creatures stole every last one of our peaches (we didn't get a single one) and all the rest of the plums after our first harvest.

Gardening is something  I have really come to enjoy doing.  I have been able to help my folks much more now that I'm understanding how it all works along with the benefits that come with all the hard work; family time, quiet time, multiple harvests, healthy food, and, my favorite thing, enjoying the fruit of my labor.

Farmer's Cheese

In this post, I will be telling you how I make Farmer’s Cheese.  It is the simplest cheese to make requiring only two ingredients.  You can eat it plain, salt it, or combine different herbs to eat with crackers, on a salad, or as is.   You will need the following:

• A pot that can hold one and a half to two gallons of milk
• 1 ½ gallons of raw milk
• ½ cup Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
• Thermometer
• Strainer

Heat the milk on low, slowly till it reaches 200 (by then, it is probably bubbling high).

Turn off the stove and stir in the ACV.

Spoon out the curds and let them drain for about ten minutes.

Season to taste and enjoy!

Belle

My family has had dairy goats since 2010.  We started out with Nigerian Dwarf goats because of their small size and the high butterfat content in their milk.  Three years later, some friends blessed me with a lovely six-week old Lamancha doe which we soon named Belle.  Belle is such a sweet doe with a perfect temperament and now that she is lactating, she is all the more such a wonderful blessing with her delicious milk.

Belle kidded her first time with a single buck, Graham, in June 2014.

I milked her for about a year and a half, dried her up during the winter, and she freshened in March 2016 with twin bucks, Matzo and Seder.  I started milking her every morning in May.  Her boys, ever growing, get to be with her for the rest of the day till lock up.

To begin milking, I get her a full bucket of feed (you want to let them eat as much as they are able to while you are milking.  I like to let her have the whole bucket because she puts a lot into her milk).   Then I latch her on the stand and fetch my milking supplies all the while keeping her in sight.  One thing you never want to do is tie a goat up unattended; they can get themselves in the most precarious situations, escape, or choke themselves, sometimes causing death.

I then use one soapy wash cloth to thoroughly clean her udder and teats. Then I strip her milk, that is squeeze milk out of each teat to get rid of any bacteria or buildup in those first few squirts of milk.

Finally, I milk her.  Belle’s udder is nice and soft with nice open orifices making her a super easy goat to milk.

In addition, what you see in her udder size is mostly milk.  I’ve had some does with promising udders only turn out to be all fluff, with little milk and mostly tissue making up the udder.  This photo is before milking:

And this is after milking:

Once finished, I clean Belle’s udder and teats, then take her back to her pen with the rest of her feed.  Inside, I filter the milk, put it in jars, mark down what she gave and the time I milked, and put it in the fridge.  Today, she gave me one half gallon of milk after eleven hours since her boys last nursed her.

Good girl Belle!

Pretty Polish: Sweethearts

Once again, I painted the pattern on wax paper, let it dry, then attached it with a thin layer of base coat.  

 

Month in Review: January

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5,6

Movie: Spiderman 2 & 3 and  The Amazing Spiderman 1 & 2

 

TV show: Daredevil

Song: No Longer a Slave to Fear

          This month went from slow to busy fast!  I began college, starting off with two courses, one of which is a six-week course chock full of assignments.  Hard work having to manage my time and get everything done y'all.  One of my courses is American Sign Language; I'm enjoying it thus far.  Yup, that's one goal I'm stepping towards crossing off.