Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Raining...AGAIN

Daily afternoon thunderstorms have blessed the farm with over 4 inches of rain this week.  The chicken yards are like a manure slip n' slide---only you pray you DON'T slip in that stinky mess.  Yesterday's strong winds proved too much for the young oak in my south pasture.  It is over on its side, begging to be stood back up.  

The okra, however, is going gangbusters in this hot, rainy weather.  I'll be looking for a good gumbo recipe in the next few days to try out.  Lots of folks don't like okra because they say it's too slimy.  I don't mind it much, especially when mixed with stewed tomatoes and Italian seasonings.  Southerners like it fried, but then again, Southerners like LOTS of things fried!  

Another way I've used okra is to slice it into 1/4" pieces, sprinkle it with garlic salt, and dehydrate it.

You can't go wrong with something that is crunchy and tastes like salty garlic.  

Speaking of dehydrating, my Excalibur nine-tray dehydrator arrived this week.  Hubby's credit card points sure have made me smile this month!  The oregano in the garden needed to be cut back, so I used that to try out the Excalibur.  It works better than my old Nesco machine did, drying out the herb in about 8 hours.  My little Nesco has served me well for several years, but seemed to take a very long time.  I'll keep it just for drying out chicken livers for the dogs---that's a messy affair, but the dogs love them.  

Homesteading gadgets are a weakness of mine.  They are in my cabinets, on shelves, in closets, and on top of the freezer.  Now I'm dreaming of an antique china cabinet to store/display all of my farmer girl kitchen stuff.  (Shh....don't tell Hubby!)  LOL

One Month of Keeping Track...

Update on Keeping Track

July 14th marks one month of recording everything produced here on my little farm.  My estimates going into this project for a year were:  100 gallons of milk, 3,000 eggs, and 1,000 pounds of produce.  Actual first month numbers were: 15.3 gallons of milk (7 gallons over my estimate for a month!); 261 eggs (+ 11 eggs over my estimate), and 38 pounds of produce (45 pounds under my estimate).

I knew going in that my produce numbers would be low at the start of this one-year project because summertime in Florida is not our main growing season.  Granted, you can grow food year round here, but options are limited in the heat of summer.  The bulk of my first month's produce consisted of two stalks of bananas, a small grape harvest, and 50 or so figs.  I did cut and dehydrate some basic herbs during the month---basil, thyme, oregano, and sage.  But they don't weigh much!  My tomato plants were past their prime before my project began, so there was only a pound or two of tomatoes to add to the spreadsheet.  Jalapeño peppers were winding down also.

Month #2 (July 15-August 14) won't be big in the produce department either!  My gardening consists of pulling weeds out of the raised beds and taking them to the chicken yards for the girls to munch on.  Then I bury the raised beds in spent hay from the barn that has been gracious laced with goat berries, thanks to my little herd.  

Pretty Boy Floyd and Glory Be on a "Date"

Speaking of the herd, I've sold/re-homed a total of 6 goats over the past few months.  It's now down to a manageable size--2 bucks, 4 breed-able does, 2 retired does, and 1 wether.  That's a plenty of hooves to trim and mouths to feed.  The last two girls to leave, Glory Be and Serena, are just 2 miles away so I'll get to peek in on them occasionally.  Glory Be was bred to my buck, Pretty Boy Floyd, before she left....there should be babies on the ground before Christmas!

Two more photos...brown turkey figs on the tree, and 5 new chicks hatched out by one of my bantam hens.  I love the connection to the earth and to nature that comes from farming.  Makes my heart smile!

Time for evening rounds!  Goat milking, egg collecting, animal loving time...

Swimming in Milk

Swimming in Milk

Seems every time I open up the refrigerator, I see the bottom shelf crowded with quart canning jars of fresh goat's milk.  Not that I'm complaining, mind you.  It's just that it's been years since I was getting 3 quarts of milk a day from my ladies.  Mercy Me is getting milked twice a day, and Little Miss Hope and Laura Grace are on a once-a-day schedule.  At this rate, I will be filling up my cheese cave rather quickly.

But today, I opted to try a Quick Mozzarella cheese recipe.  Mozzarella is a fresh cheese, not an aged one.  It takes about 3 hours or so to make, and will last in the refrigerator for  a couple of weeks.  I've never made this cheese before and wonder about the step where you "quickly use two large wooden spoons to work and stretch the curds until you can shape them into a ball."  What exactly  IS working your cheese?  Will it vacuum the rugs or sweep the floor?  Probably not.  I'll just play with the stuff and see what it does.

Even after using a gallon of milk on this recipe and sharing 2 quarts with a friend, I still have 4 quarts staring back at me from the bottom shelf...

See what I mean?

By lunchtime tomorrow, there will be 3 more jars and I'll be pulling out the cheese recipe book again to make some Colby, Lord willing!