From my Farm to my Kitchen.: October 2011

My ministry of cooking, canning, growing, and sharing!

My ministry of cooking, canning, growing, and sharing!

Three years ago we bought a small farm with ten acres. The property had a mucky creek on the South side that was covered in raspberry brambles and poison ivy. The back six acres were so overgrown that I couldn't make it half way through the first pasture. There was mud, 10 foot tall weeds, about ten million ground hogs, and a house with "fabulous" 80's wall paper on EVERY surface. I looked at this property and my mind was spinning with possibilities of what I could grow, raise, and even forage off this little plot of land. My husbands mind, who was standing in nearly the exact same spot, was spinning with the thought of how much work he had ahead of him.

From my Farm to my Kitchen is a way for me to share my stories, recipes, failures, and successes. It is a way for me to tell you how sharing with others has opened the flood gates for abundant blessings, new friendships, and great lessons.

We have fought to "take back" parts of our property that had been swallowed by willows and scrub trees. My husband has suffered the wrath of the evil wood emperor, Sir Poison Ivy and our five children have worked tirelessly to help with chores like, "go get Mommy some basil" or I KNOW there's a Morel out there, GO FIND IT!

Please enjoy this glorious adventure with our family. Learn the lessons that I stumbled over, take the great recipes that I share and leave the miserable ones. I am hoping to write each day but you never know if the kitchen or the laundry monster will get me!!

Friday, October 28, 2011

The killer chicken

One of the older laying hens has recently decided that she likes being in the barn instead of the coop with the rest of the birds. She doesn't really bother me much and she not laying eggs right now so I just let her stay. No harm, no fowl. (get the chicken joke???)

Soooo....

I brought Dottie over to milk. I tied her in the center of the barn "like always" and she only took a slight interest in the bird. I brushed her, cleaned her utter and she just stood there "like always" until....THE KILLER CHICKEN decided to flap her wings and squawk. I already had the bucket under her and she jumped about a foot high and tried running from the barn. Of coarse she was tied to the stall door so if you can envision a cow trying to run while still tied then you can totally see the humor in all this. I decided that this was NOT going to be a fun time milking if there was a killer chicken on the loose so I chased it into an empty stall and closed the door.

Meanwhile....Dottie calmed down a little and I started over. Even though her milk had already let down, I wanted her to feel the comfort of the routine. I brushed her washed her teets again, and the STINKING bird flew up to the bars of the stall to see what was going on out there. REPEAT previous paragraph!!!

I grabbed a milk crate and with a TON of flapping and ruckus I managed to catch the culprit and take her out to the coop. I LOCKed her in solitary confinement with the goats. (They have a temporary apartment in one of the coops) I went back to Dottie who is now in FULL panic mode over the entire chicken event and is standing as tense as I've ever seen her. It was almost as if she had become 3 feet shorter in length. She was all bunched up and ready to bolt if another crazed chicken came after her to bite her neck and turn HER into a chicken too. It took nearly half the milking for her to relax. It took me until this morning.

So I've learned that startling a milk cow is a BAD idea and I've also learned that chickens are CRAZY!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

WE GOT A COW!!!

It realize it's been a while and I really really should update the site with ALL the things that have been keeping me busy. I'd like to introduce our newest farm member, Dottie! She is a Jersey/Swiss milk cow. My darling friend helped me find her at an Amish dairy farm. She is a DREAM of a milk cow. She just stands there while I hand milk her and she LOVEs me. She is giving our family around 4 gallons of milk each day. There is little better than fresh milk and butter from your very own cow.

The time I spend milking her each day is the perfect time for meditation and prayer. I can really get a lot of things in perspective during that time. It's almost like someone who has a long drive home from work. It's just nice down time to sort out my thoughts. She feeds our family, our pigs, our chickens, and our spirits. Now I know why the family milk cow is truly the heart of the farm.