Goat's Estreus

The lone hold out. She's the only kid I haven't caught coming into estreus. She is the smallest by a little bit. Yet the whole female Nubian raise in my pen has been hard to decipher heat cycles in general.

 

But then in comparison  to my Saanens, which is the breed I had for years and years, who would come screaming up to the gate, the whites of their eyes in a full panic mode, their tails flagging to beat the band, and they let me know that they needed a buck and they needed him RIGHT NOW! So anything else in comparison would be more difficult.  

 These Nubians are a bit more shy and reserved. One might sidle up to the fence with Touch, our buck, and flag their tail a little but that is about it. You have to be watching pretty carefully.

 

This year has been more difficult than any other. My Meagan, our yearling on the right, flagged and was a bit more friendly than normal but no panic mode. She was in estrus for only 12 hours not the usual 24.

 

Then when Daisy, the black doe on the far left born in April this last spring year came into to heat, she just did a little wagging of her tail but not with the usual enthusiastic response we are use to. So I marked the calendar and bred her three weeks later when her tail wagged again. She is very large for her age but I none the less I wanted another month on her. I had thought I would be kidding Chicory and Meagan and then the younger does but alas, no Chicory.

 

And Mercedes was even more subtle than that. She wasn't over by the buck but I happened to be by the feeder and was petting each goat in turn running my hand down their backs and across the top of their rumps to their tails. She flagged enthusiastically but that was all, no interest in the buck. This will be an interesting match as I bred her to her grandpa. It will either be really good or really bad match.

 

As for Madeline, she hasn't come into heat yet. I stroke her back on down to the tail each day but no response but a light, wag, wag. Since Meagan didn't cycle the same time as Daisy and Mercedes and usually all does penned together for an extended period of time  will cycle within a few days of each other, I'm not sure what is going on. Light, short cycles, and not in sync hm.... must be the goofy weather.

 

None the less, without Chicory I have only two does I can breed to Touch and alas, I must sell him this spring.

 

Have any of you had strange estrus cycles on your animals this year?

Founder In Goats

 Got Milk? Remember those commercials?

You would think this was one of those but it's only our Chicory stealing milk from the cats. Or is it? After all it is Chicory's own milk that they are lapping. Our Chicory has never quit loving the taste of warm, fresh milk.

When she kidded for the first time as a yearling, she went down badly in her pasterns and thinking she was lacking in calcium, the previous owners gave her, her own milk to drink. Not every goat will do this but I have known some who will nurse off another goat.

We do the same thing, give her all of the milk her little ones don't consume along with a little medical calcium booster after she kids. Sometimes we give a little calcium booster before and leave her dry for a longer period of time than we would otherwise do, four months.

 

Chicory also has difficulty in giving birth and the triplets she's had the past three years have all had to be pulled though the labor has gone better each year.

 

Why do we bother? Well, these problems aren't hereditary. Her mother did not have problems and none of her daughters either. They pop out their young on their own and narry a pastern problem.

 

But as she has grown older, a whole whopping four years old, it has become very apparent that she had founder when she was one. She use to have excessive growth of her hooves especially in her toes. I keep them trimmed from once to twice a month to keep her on her toes as much as possible. If this founder has anything to do with the pastern drop near kidding, I don't know. I can't find anything on it so it might be a separate problem.

 

How do I know it is founder? Well look closely at this front hoof. See how she is walking on the heels of her hoof. It is because of the growth of a bone in her hoof. There is an excellent article by Onion Creek Ranch just click on Founder  Below is an excerpt.

FOUNDER IN GOATS Laminitis and its subsequent result, Founder, are diseases found in intensively-managed herds of goats. The usual cause is simple -- improper feeding. One of the many bad effects of overfeeding processed/sacked grains or feed that is too high in grain-induced energy ("hot" feeds) is Founder. A goat that has foundered will walk on calloused front knees and will have very overgrown hooves; the animal will have difficulty walking flat on the soles of its hooves because the bones in the feet have rotated out of normal position, shifting weight bearing to its heels. The hooves may feel hot to the touch, especially near the coronary band where the hoof wall meets the leg. Acute Laminits/Founder produces hooves that are sore and hot; when the condition becomes chronic, the bones of the feet become malformed and the hooves are overgrown. Chronic Founder is the type most often seen in goats. Founder is is not curable but it can be managed -- with great effort -- for the duration of the life of the goat. The term "founder" derives from the sinking of the bones in the hoof. When a producer overfeeds grain concentrates, one of the bad things that can happen is that the laminae of the hoof is affected. "Laminitis" is the term used to describe the initial outbreak of the disease when the laminae become inflamed and break down, releasing its hold on the bones in the hoof. "Founder" describes the resulting downward rotation of the third phalanx bone in the hoof. The laminae is a web of tissue and blood vessels that holds the bones of the hoof in place. When the laminae breaks down, the blood vessels will either collapse or flood the hooves with blood, releasing the bones from their proper positions. When the third phalanx bone rotates downward, it may actually penetrate the sole of the hoof -- making walking very difficult for the goat because weight bearing has been shifted to its heels. Usually the front feet are first affected, but a severely foundered goat will walk on its front knees with its back legs uncharacteristically forward under its body. Abnormal hoof growth also occurs. The toes turn up -- growing into a "pixie-shoe" shape. A foundered hoof has thick walls, extra material on the sole, and grows abnormally fast and irregularly in shape -- for the rest of the life of the goat.

 

Chicory has begun to moan when she puts weight on her front hooves when she walks. Not quite as bad right after trimming and so the amount of noise is more of a cue than how long her hooves look to whether I need to trim them.

 

I also notice only this year a difference when she is being milked and hence grained. She's never done this before. So I dried her up and ended the grain rations. Though she has never had a hot grain feed. I'm very careful to keep my goats intake of corn to a minimum. Their ration is mainly wheat, beet pulp, sunflower seeds, and oats. They gets lots and lots of hay.

 

Chicory was the only goat in the show herd I bought her from that was effected with founder and this can be the case with only one goat effected. I have to assume the founder was brought on by complications when she kidded along with her diet for she did have a difficult first kidding.

 

These problems are what brought Chicory down into our price range.

 

This fall Chicory has developed a congested udder that has baffled me to no end. She has a hard, but not hot, udder for five days and then it would be soft for one and then hard again for five more before softening. And I mean HARD. I knew it wasn't an infection but finally desperate I dose her with two rounds of mastitis medication in the both teats twice, three days apart. It was such a heavy dose she became a bit nauseated. Just like I thought, it did nothing. Will she be able to feed her kids this spring if I breed her? I'm not sure.

 

What choices do I have now? Carrying kids would make her feet hurt worse but I'd really like a nice daughter out of her.

I have a grand daughter and a great grand daughter.

 The grand daughter has become our milk producer. Meagan has a beautiful udder for a yearling. I'm not so thrilled with her split hooves. There is always something though. I'm down to milking once a day and still getting a half a gallon from her.

Yes, I have a daughter. She is growing so.... fast I'm worried about her foundering except she doesn't get but a tiny bit of grain just because I'm giving a little to two much smaller does to increase their size before breeding. I think Daisy here has her father's size gene. He is the largest buck the long experienced linear appraiser judge had ever seen. I only have Daisy, a daughter, because I became to busy to get her sold. Now I kick myself for selling the two I did. I should of kept one of them and sold Daisy here for I've seen one of the other daughters and I think she is better. I'm tempted to buy a doeling this spring from her if the owner will sell and of course she has a doeling. 

 

So now I'm thinking I will breed Chicory once more, hope she does well in the pregnancy and then decide whether to put her down this next summer. I will have five does, though very young, milking and hopefully that is enough milk. Too bad it has come to this since Chicory is only four years old and in her prime.   

I guess that is what I get for buying damaged goods. It was worth it though because she has given us nine kids and a wonderful personality that has given us a great deal of laughs and joy. Not to mention all the milk and education.

A Grain Roller, Was It Worth It?

 

I bought this Marcato grain roller hoping to rolled my own grains. I have found through experience that rolled oats go bad but wheat stays good for years and years. So I figured storing whole oats would be a good way to keep them for long term storage. So with two rebates from our cell phones we had to replace and a gift certificate I'd gotten for wellness testing, I had almost enough to replace our wheat grinder that bit the dust and buy this grain roller.

 

I couldn't find much information on it, as in someone who actually uses it. I can see with the little time I've spent today fussing with it, the instructions are WAY too simplistic. Especially since three-fourths of the slim booklet is in foreign languages. 

 Oh well, what's new? Most of what I know is from the Internet and exploration on my own. Since oatmeal was my main goal, I drug in a bag of triple cleaned oats that I bought for the livestock and began my adventure. That is all human grain is, triple cleaned. I know this because that is how I use to buy wheat from the farmers so I figured the livestock could share a little, after all I'm the one buying.

When the result was this. I began looking on the Internet to see if they grew a different strain of oats for animals than humans. I knew that farmers in the area I grew up contracted with different beer companies and raised different strains of barley which they claim imparted a distinct flavor to the beer. I don't drink booze so I've not tested the fact. Some of you might know this for sure.

Hoping not all was lost, I tried taking this outside to the little breeze that was blowing but it did what I thought and took the whole shibang with it. Nope, no winnowing done with this.  Good thing I only did a small amount.

Then I tried some white wheat kernels.

They didn't roll real well either but better than the oats so I called in frustration the shop I'd ordered my roller from. They recommended soaking the grain for a minute in water. I used hot water and tried 2 minutes. The result was better. But now I have moist rolled wheat that has to be used right away and it still looks way too smooshed. 

 

The Internet speaks of a couple ways of swelling the grains before rolling. Definitely more than  a minute in warm water. 

 

 I'm wondering about steaming the grains since that is what they do when they roll grains commercially for livestock. The Internet site didn't mention this but it did say heating in the oven for over and hour on low. That is a lot of energy used.

Steaming might work for grains like rye and wheat but there still was the problem of the whole oats which the store said didn't need soaking. Fine but the hulls still needed removed, something they didn't mention. I suppose they've never seen whole oats since this was the city I called.  

 

When I used some cracked oats I'd gotten from the health food store in Colorado some months back., that I need to use it up....

I actually had real oatmeal. Whoo, hoo!!. A quick oats style since the pieces were small but oatmeal none the less. I'm planning on making oatmeal bread and cookies tomorrow. I'll throw in the tiny bit of rolled wheat too. But tonight I'm blogging.

That didn't take care of my question, " How can I store oats whole so I can make the choice of flour or oatmeal?" Hulling your own oats didn't look feasible as I guess the equipment is expensive and for as little as I would use it, it is just not cost effective. The roller was I think $119 and the dehuller is in the hundreds to thousands. That leaves buying dehulled oats.

Organic dehulled oats aren't cheap and so I'm looking into buying 35 pounds of hulled oats for storage. Can't afford any bigger size but actually I can't afford it at all right now. I believe in checking things out wa....y before purchasing. The grain roller I've had my eye on for a year and a half.


Then as I was searching for organic hulled oats, I ran across a few articles on hulless oats. They are naturally 95% hulless. It sounded pretty good when I read about Avena Nuda as it grows in wasteland, cultivated ground and meadows, especially on heavier soils. Wasteland, and heavy soil we've got. But it doesn't like cold temperatures which we've also got and a short growing season.

Then I saw Paul hulless oats grown by North Dakota Agriculture Experiment Station in 1984. We're neighbors and since North Dakota knows about short growing seasons and especially about cold weather this strain was sounding good. BUT then I saw the low yields and though I'm wanting to try growing small patches of grain to gain the knowledge necessary in case I need it in the future, I'll just keep an eye on this project for future investigation. I need to know a whole lot more before I begin. 

I'm a bit disappointed in my grain roller. It doesn't quite do what I want but then again, I think part of that is ignorance on my part. I need to do a bit more work to figure out just how to prepare the whole grains before rolling. I'll definitely try  steaming them. To me, a hundred bucks is alot of money even if most of the cost of my wheat grinder and grain roller were bought with rebate and reward cards. I could have bought something else with them. I'll keep you updated on my results but for now I've got other projects waiting since I have enough rolled grains for bread and cookies.

Anybody else have experience in this area to share?

Meat Equipment

 One thing I want to make clear. I'm not pushing this product. A question was posed about what meat grinder I use and what it costs. I'm going to FINALLY answer. Hold on to your hats because our grinder if purchased today is $200 US dollars more than when we bought ours umpteen years ago.

Now it is $739 dollars. It seems to be the trend of higher prices. Don't know if it costs that much more to make, less demand, or what but this puppy is high priced. 

If you aren't a serious meat cutter, buy something smaller is a less expensive price. Another option would be to buy used. Advertise in your area, "Wanted, used meat grinder" you might find a bargain. But first do your homework. Decide how big and what brands you would be interested in. E-bay and used meat processing web sites exist online as another option. Meat shops and grocery stores that are going out of business or replacing equipment sometimes have something but beware of the volume of business they do. A meat plant might have really big equipment. Our meat saw happens to be used from an old butcher shop. It works great.

I understand few can fork out $736 dollars for a meat grinder. We are a one income family and hence money doesn't flow freely. I've spent years saving to purchase one item, often asking for money instead of gifts for Christmas and birthdays. Then I turn around and do it over again and again. I spent three or four years saving for my present spinning wheel. We have the largest hand meat grinder on the right. We used it for years and even added a motor but when we began doing beef, no way, was this going to work. My arm would have worn off.

So if something is a need, be creative. Our meat grinder is from Cabelas and for years we have been using Cabelas gift cards and points to obtain merchandise, sometimes adding a little cash to make up the difference. With a priority list we saved and purchased one thing at a time. Sometimes it will take us a few years like in the case of the meat grinder. Some people have cards that earn them flying miles, well, we buy self-sufficiency equipment with ours. It would be out of our purchasing ability any other way.

And though I'm not always keen on buying equipment that has a number of attachments because I'm afraid the main piece will go bad and there I sit with all the attachments and nothing to run them on, BUT room is essential. A small industrial grade meat grinder and cuber take up lots of room. A meat grinder and the cuber attachment, not so much. This is important when you have a slicer, large rolls of meat wrap paper, food grade tubs, etc. etc. and they all have to fit in a small space of storage. We have a single garage and a small home.

We have been collecting this equipment since all our kids were home and beyond, our youngest is 28, so that is over fourteen years. You don't have to be rich to have your own equipment, just determined. And I don't recommend going to the lengths we've gone unless you do 1200 pound animals such as beef. We spent years will a small meat grinder doing our elk, deer, lambs, and occasional goat.

On rare occasions we purchased half a beef and had a shop process it but that was rare because that kind of money just didn't happen often while our kids were small. Then when we started raising and butchering our own beef and two hogs, it was just too much volume and a small industrial grinder was needed. Usually we did the beef one year and the hogs the next because of freezer room and the money pinch. With this small volume on our  our type of equipment, it should last a life-time and beyond.

So I recommend that you first think long and hard about just what are your needs and the type of processing that suites you? For us one of our favorite extras is the cuber.We LOVE, LOVE our cuber. I have pretty severe TMJ but have no problem since we cube all our elk, deer, and some of our tougher cuts of beef and pig. My favorite meat cubed is pork. YUM! Somehow it transforms it into something extra wonderful.

Our grinder gets a work out. We don't just grind beef for hamburger but pork too. I purchased a couple packages of ground chicken from the store too see what it was like and I liked it. Now I'm open to purchasing turkey or chicken and grinding it, if the price happens to be right. Our grinder could really get a work out in the future. Our volume of ground meat is high since we mixed in with our beef and pork sausage or hamburger, deer scraps. Scraps meaning meat that was a bit too tough and sinewy for steaks or stew. I freeze it and thaw when we are ready to process a beef or pig. I don't stop there but grind fat too to render for soap and leaf lard for pies. For us, the grinder and cuber are a must.

We just purchased another piece of equipment last month with gift certificates given from a vendor to our husband and $12 bucks of our own. It is a hamburger patty maker that attaches to the meat grinder. We have a hand run press hamburger maker but it takes a great deal of time to weigh the meat balls for consistency and press each one. I give up long before I make as many as I want.

Time is the cruncher. Many hands makes light work but many hands have all grown up and left home. That means it usually comes down to just these two hands by that point in the meat processing, hubby having gone back to his main job, making money to keep a roof over our heads and pay for our daily needs. I am my own schedule to keep and have only so much time to a lot also before other duties are screaming loud and clear in their urgency to be done.

Each year we try something new in meat processing. We have books and a video and my brain, which is never still. I'm sure my husband would like to turn it off sometimes. Poor man, but he never says a word as I say again and again, "What if....? That has led to a love of sausage patties of various flavors and degree of fat, made into hamburger patties and frozen. We love these in the place of a hamburger and they make a quick fast meal, plopped frozen on the grill, cooked, and sandwiched in home-made bread or bun. They are a wonderful change up from plain hamburgers. This is fast food, our style. The sausage stuffer isn't used so much as we always slice our round sausages so they lay flat anyway.

There are a number of smaller grinders on the market if you do your own elk, deer, lamb, goat, and maybe a pig now and then that will do the job nicely.  Save your money. Don't gear up to this level if your not doing large animals. I'll do another post later on what I believe is the bare necessities of meat processing equipment and the luxuries I think are worth the buck.

We are planning to do a pig soon and in a few months a beef. I have a feeling it will be wise for us to lay away what food we can now. I'm a bit concerned about the drought and agriculture's stability. A friend just purchased four bales of hay at the feed store $15.90 a bale. OUCH! She is forced to sell her horses. 

So if you are a do-it-yourselfer meat processer, what are your favorite extras and what do you think is eccential?

Government Plunder

Today is the day to vote. If you don't, you have no right to complain about the government, for you did nothing to invoke change. Change is badly needed. A change in direction from our greedy tendencies. A need to stand on our own as a nation but first as individuals. For we collectively define a nation. If our national government is corrupt, then most likely our local government is too. What does that say for our families? A nation is a collective group of individuals and families. 

 

That said, you can probably surmise that I have some pretty strong ideas about the proper role of government. I am naturally of an independent nature, just ask my mother who was it that made the arrangements for her own piano lessons when she was four or five even though she had never met the teacher before?

 

We were once an independent nation of men and women who gave their time, talents, and wealth to the betterment of generations to come. These patriots didn't enjoy the benefits of their sacrifice. Their efforts were that we might have a better life. How many can you say work that their posterity will have a better life? Yes, we have grown to a nation of people who think they are entitled simply because they exist. 

 

After study of history, I believe the national government has the sole object and only legitimate end to protect the citizens in the enjoyment of life, liberty an property, and when the government assumes other functions it usurpates and oppresses. The national government should leave the details of all other services to state and local government where the people have more intimate say and control. 

 

Though our national government originally was set up with the idea to protect the citizens in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property. Remember, we have the right to the pursuit of happiness, NOT the guarantee of it. Somehow in our greed the government has become an agency that's almost sole job is the re-distribution of wealth because of  the natural nature of man's tendency to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort. Just visit the grocery store if you doubt where we are on this. Pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pre-made almost everything including apples already sliced and peeled. Is this not the lengths to which Americans will avoid labor? This poises a fundamental flaw.

 

 

How do I know this?  I'm am a fan of history believing that you either learn from someone else's mistakes or make them yourself. I highly value quotes by great men of the past who are wiser than I. They forge the foundation for my beliefs and actions. 

 

 John of Salisbury said in 1159 of those that study history. "We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours." 

 

We can stand a little taller because of the wisdom of those who have gone before and because we can choose to watch something and see where that leads. So those who study the past more clearly see the future and the present. This study curbs the weak tendencies in my natural nature as I see the fruit of behaviors years in the future. I've read and re-read the pamphlet, The Law, first published in 1850 by Fredrick Bastiat. Wow, it spells out the misguided direction our nation is headed  because of our tendency to do as little for as much as possible. 

 

"Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property.

 

But it is also true that man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder.

 

Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain--- and since labor is pain in itself--- it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work.

 

When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor. It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of work. All measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder"

 

Heard of pork bellies in laws passed by congress? Simply put, they are plunder. 

 

This being said, one of my most passionate areas is about this re-distribution of wealth by our national government. Though I am  independent by nature, I'm dependent upon my husband for my livelihood due to my health and Autism. Though he brings home the bacon, so to speak, I'm the one who cooks it.  We have established a division of labor. He makes the money and I do my best to stretch the dollars. The division of labor between us is not defined in stone as we do what needs done. An old ranching rule that means who's ever available does whatever they can of what needs done, which is not limited to outside or inside chores.

 

Could I have qualified years ago for government assistance, yes, I've no doubt. Could some of our children of qualified also because of their Autism, sure. Would our lives have been easier because of this re-distribution of wealth -- probably. But I was kept in check by George Washington's words, " Never trouble another for what you can do yourself."

 

Margaret Thatcher puts it, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." 

 

Our children could go on and on about the things they have learned from work. They began raising livestock when they were five, a bum lamb to be bottle fed and later sold. Then came a group of ewes and their lambs for 4-H when they were eight. They divided their income between expenses, savings, tithing to the church, and pleasures. Thus at an early age they learned to handle money. At thirteen they all also had another income from a regular babysitting job or a paper route. Did we over work our kids, they wouldn't say so. We built tremendous fond memories, confidence, talents, and spend a great deal of time together. My not working allowed me to help devote my time to teaching our children and home-school of course. 

 

Oh yes, we had our Tom Sawyer of the bunch. LOL She was good at talking her siblings into doing her chores. Her motto being, "If I can get someone else to do it, why should I do it myself?" Now she is a frugal consumer and a HARD worker.  

 

And even though you might have feelings of, "Everyone else is getting some, I want my share." which I heard my dear mother say about a government hand out one time -- resist. Think first, have I done all I can? Have I toned my imperfections in my personality, am I an asset to my employer or am I just a pain in the butt because of my self serving laziness and temper? Do I give my employer at the very least a hard honest days work for the pay? Have I honed and expanded my work skill? Am I humble? All labor that is necessary to sustain life is worthy of our and efforts and doing well.  

 

Am I saying that no one needs government assistance? No, there are those that need  help. But I believe in a hand up, not a hand out is in order. Helping the person to better be able to help themsleves rather than a removal of responsibilities. Give a boy a fish and he's fed for the day. Teach a boy to fish and you feed him for life time kind of thing.  And hand ups should be shifted to the local level where the needs can be better monitored. It is proven that people give more generously locally than through forced charities such as government welfare so they would be better funded without force. "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force! ( Fedrick Bastiat) Just think what happens when you don't pay the government.

 

Our government doesn't know what a hand up is. If the help motivates the person to do less for themselves, you haven't helped. you've done damage. For instance, if you have a baby with government welfare insurance, you pay nothing. If you have personal insurance, you pay a percentage. How come not having personal insurance benefits more?

 

I know of many who choose a lower paying job without insurance  and expect the government to bail them out or assist in their living expenses, school lunches, medical needs etc. I have no... problem with someone who honestly needs help by no fault of their own. We've been in circumstances where we had to come up with $12,000 one year for medical costs and another year $10, 000. Kirk is a welder and doesn't make that much money. We have insurance and through great sacrifice, we came up with the money and stood on our own. We are stronger because of it. Life was never meant to be easy.

 

I know many who choose not to better themselves and instead choose the easy route. "The fact, combined with the fatal tendency that exists in the heart of man to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort, explains the almost universal perversion of the law."(Federic Bastiats Law) May I also add needs, though many people are completely confused about wants versus needs.

 

I know a gal that works at the grocery store as a clerk at the cash register and she has arthritis so.... bad she can barely stand and walking is very difficult but she is at work five days a week doing her part to support herself. Does she have insurance, no. Does she need a helping hand on occasion, yes. But she is as self-sufficient and frugal with her means as she can be.  What would happen if everyone was motivated to take care of themselves as much as possible, not help themselves to as much as possible?

"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." - Ronald Reagan

Where are the patriots that gave their time, talents, fortunes, and many even their lives? Are they all gone or can they be raised up once more? Maybe we need to stand a little taller by studying the past so that we know where we stand in history and where we are headed. The Greatest Generation is the name given to a group of people living during WWII. What I have never heard said though is that these are those who sacrificed and sufferend through the Depression. That is what made them great not easy living. What will it take to turn this nation around in another direction?

My mother recently said in a resentful tone, " Well I never did any of those things because my mother never taught me."

I gently took her by the shoulder, looked directly into her eyes and smiled, " My mother mother never taught me either but that never stopped me."

Remember to vote. Set an example. A nation in it's most basic form is a collective group of individuals and families. Change the moral health of ourselves and our families and you change a nation. Fellow American, we have work to do.

Frozen Clothes

 With the cooler temperatures, it is getting trickier and trickier to get my laundry done. I watch the weather closely to see what days are warmest and what ones have the least wind. It doesn't work to hang out clothes when the wind is blowing 35 to 40 miles an hour. My clothes might end up at the neighbors.

To get three loads done, which is what my clothes line will hold, I have to have the clothes washed the night before and put them out at first light to get them dry by evening.

Our drier has been broken since June and Kirk and I have been too busy to get around to take it apart to check, if for sure, it is just the heating element. With the calendar still booked, I might yet figure out an old questions I've had for years. Do clothes dry more quickly if frozen?

I remember my mom sprinkling her ironing with a pop bottle that had a contraption in the top, a cork with a metal piece that had lots of holes in it.  Then she would stuff the clothes in a clear plastic bag and place them into the freezer. When she got around it, she'd iron. This method helped to smooth out the wrinkles more effectively than ironing alone but she never hung clothes out in freezing cold weather.

I've read of the pioneers hanging out their wash in the winter, they froze, and then they brought them in to dry. Sounds like a lot of work to do a load of laundry. I can't help but wonder how in the world they kept up with a baby and all those cloth diapers. A heated basement in this instance would be a big plus. 

 

I've been in a position before where I had to dry clothes on my two collapsible clothes racks in front of our basement free standing stove but it hasn't been cold enough to keep our stove going. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to start doing a load at a time and hanging them on the racks to slowly dry in our cool basement. Surely it isn't colder down there than outside. But I can't even do a full load at a time.  

 

This has my brain whirling, you know how it works. I can't help wondering about hanging clothes out in the freezing weather and drying inside. I bet the wrinkles disappear just like when mom use to freezer her ironing. Once at least I've got to try hanging clothes outside to freeze and then dry inside just to see what happens.

 

 One Internet site said since water freezes it stretches the fibers in clothes. Wonder if they spring back or just stay stretched? You know how hanging jeans on the line leaves them larger than those thrown in the dryer. Would frozen jeans be even larger? Not a bad idea for those who have to lay on the bed to get the zipper up.

 

A step further is drying clothes in freezing cold weather. It's possible I guess. The process is called sublimation, frozen water molecules go from ice to gas, floating away. We have dry air most of the year but in many areas of the USA, the air is dryer in the winter than in the summer and hence the clothes dry faster. Icicles have pressure that is low but pressure in the air is even lower when dry, drawing the moisture away from the clothes. A breeze can speed up this process.

 

So would the clothes dry faster frozen and then brought in to dry on a rack or left outside to dry frozen?

 

Some of you are wondering why this is even important, after all we have electric and gas driers? But if the shortage of electricity happens, like they are expecting in the future, we could be looking to save energy cost any way we can. Some of you might already be there because of your economic situation.  

Halloween Treats

What's beyond exhausted? This had been a very long day but look at those smiles that greeted me this Halloween morning.

You moms know just how tiring holidays are with small children. This one has been a all out marathon. This morning was storytime at the library.

Wednesday mornings are always storytime but this day I took my bippity boppety blue, fairy with me.

She doesn't get too far from me. That's okay, everyone needs a good fairy to watch over them. And that little red ball on the black little head is an antennae of a six month old lady bug, our youngest. Pretty hard to get a photograph when she is always in your arms. 

This afternoon was the school parties. A dear friend came to my rescue and helped me haul in two trays of treats, drinks, and costumes while my lady bug hitched a ride and my fairy trailed along behind.  

My daughter really out did herself today on the school treats. These were a Big hit. Rice Krispie treats made into pumpkin shapes. The orange cast was achieved with orange die and the stems are tootsie rolls with frosting as leaves.  You could even use these for November since pumpkins are in style yet for another month.

I love Pinterest for ideas. I occasionally scan through it and save things like this that can be used for fun holiday treats.

Butterflied Chicken

 Butterfly cuts on chicken breasts is a great way to slim down those chunky pieces allowing them to cook quicker. It makes me think I'm getting more meat because the size is larger. Oh I know it's not true but it fools my brain into thinking I'm getting more and that means I don't reach for another piece.  

 It is a great first move before pounding. I don't know about you but my pounded chicken breasts look like moosh if I don't first butterfly them. You simply cut horizontally halfway through the meat.

But  leave just a tiny bit of meat not sliced in the center and then you can pound it or simply cook.

That is what I did tonight. I rolled the butterflied chicken breast in a combination of dried bread crumbs, dried onions, basil, flour,  and dried Parmesan cheese. Not in order according to amounts. Next time you serve chicken breasts give it a try. 

Wood Window Wells

 Decisions, decisions, that is what remodeling is. We've been at it for years, slowly redoing one thing at a time. Trying to upgrade and create a thing of beauty on a budget.

In the present fore front is the drainage problem from the dirt sinking down directly around our house. We may be in a drought but the drought will someday end. If you happen to be talking to the Lord, please tell him soon would really be nice.

 Our house sits on the slope of a hillside. Not a steep one but enough to cause some water to slip down our way. Originally there was a dip in the yard that took care of the water, directing it around the house. Then the ground sunk against the house, the dip in the yard dissapeared as the ground shifted upwards. The constant shifting can be attested by our doors that are either too loose, too tight, and never just right. Aggrivating because you can't fix the problem permanently.  

 We couldn't just bring in lots of dirt filling up within a couple inches of the bottom of the house frame without changing window wells. The dirt would be over the top of them. With fall expenses of hay, a steer, soon a sow to butcher also and the usual stocking up for winter, money was a keen issue on this project. Kirk did some research and didn't seen any way we could afford to buy ready- made window well frames but I had an idea.

We live in a high plains desert area with on average 12 inches of precipitation a year, not much. If we add no watering with a hose close to the house, which is what we've been doing, you have very little moisture that will effect the window wells. Our daughter has some wooden window wells at her home she rents in Colorado and I thought ones somewhat similar would look great at our ranch style house.   

 We used pressure treated wood square posts 4inches by 12 feet long and the plan is to pile red shale on the dirt after it settles and then go over that with varigated color and sized river rock. The shale is less expensive and would do the fill work while adding more color and the river rock would add a nice contrast. The river rock I have in mind also has red rocks in it. The dirt is going to be sloped away from the house and what we will use to retain the rock is a mystery to be solved next summer after the dirt settles. I've also got drainage to figure for the downspouts and a rock path to figure out around the back of the garage.  

What we didn't realize when we decided to make this a do-it-yoruself project ended up a huge advantage. The window wells in the back both have to be shaped differently. The front window wells will be the same as each other but not the same as either one of the wells in the back. How would we purchase that?

When I first mentioned that we should go wood, Kirk looked at me and said. "Show me". That was hard. All I found was a building site on the Internet that explained how to build wood window wells, not ones completed. He went along though with a kind of, idea.  I checked with the Town Hall on building requirements for basement windows. The idea being we, excuse me, he would build them to updated specifications in case we ever decide to change basement windows. The rules for new or replaced windows being much larger than our existing ones. No plans to change the windows exits since we still have miles to go on the upstairs and outside of the house BUT who knows the future?

 

Interrupting this blog, I took my husband out to the front porch which has pulled away from the house and is sagging terribly to one side. I've got plans to build over the top with a small decked porch that will, in my mind at least, be the focal point for the front of the house. Yes, everything artisticly should have a focal point.

 

One of the smartest things I ever did was a self study program of photography. The rules of composition and texture have been the foundation for almost everything we do from Halloween costumes, to decorating our home, to Kirk's knives.

 

 I once visited with a acting judge and she also said one of the smartest and most helpful things to her career was studying under a photographer. After all a stage is a live painting, texture, placement of actors etc. is the basic visual framework for a play. 

 

When we are done I'll give you a gander.

Substitutes For Buttermilk

 What's a girl to do if she doesn't have some nice home made buttermilk? Well, I have been creating some wild substitutes. Oh I've gotten several batches of milk canned, some frozen, and some butter and ghee made but then the milk utilization ground to a halt beyond drinking and cooking with it. Life is simply getting in the way of self-sufficiency pursuits in the milk department.

Chicory here, who has been the foundation of our herd, if you can call six goats a herd, has me deeply concerned. She had an udder that was congested. Congested because it didn't have mastitis. She always gets one after kidding but this has been a huge problem over the last month and she kidded in April so the initial congestion problem was long gone.

 A couple weeks ago in frustration, I dosed her twice in a three day period, both teats, with mastitis medication. She acted slightly sick from so much penicillin. I didn't know what else to do. Her udder would be HARD and I'd have to massage and massage to get the milk to drop down enough to squirt out. What little amount there was. Then after a week of this, for a single day she'd have a fairly decent udder in stark and back to HARD once more the next day. The craziest thing since it happened over and over again. A week after medication her udder has calmed down a bit and the HARD isn't as hard and the softer is more of the norm. Did the medication do it or was time the factor? I don't know.

The problem wouldn't be so.... noticeable except Meagan has the softest textured udder I've ever encountered. You want to touch it, it's so velvety soft and there is no firmness what so ever. She milks down to a wrinkly sack.  I've begun to dry Chicory up hoping she will recover. And to think she started out with the highest milk production of her four years of life.

I'm not sure she is still going to remain with us though since she moans and groans something fierce. Her feet bother her terribly as she tenderly walks upon them. Is this connected to the udder problem? I'm not sure. Maybe she foundered when she turned one and kidded. This was before our entry into her life. We bought her because she was eliminated from a show herd because of weak pasterns that were never fully remedied. It is not a trait she passes on to her kids. Since founder can happen to one goat and none of the others in a herd eating the same feed who knows. After having ten kids in four years, maybe that's part of the problem too for though I've kept her feet trimmed, she is exceptionally right now.

I'll give her a months break without grain since she won't be milking, (our grain mix is very low in corn) and we'll see where she's at.  Can we get one more batch of kids out of her? That is the question. I do have a daughter, a grand daughter, and a great grand daughter from her so we shall see.  This means we have a yearling, Chicory's grand daughter as our only source of milk since the great grand daughter and daughter are just kids.

Though Meagan is milking far more than any other yearling I've ever owned. I've owned goats for over 27 years. She is still a yearling.

So now that you have heard my sob story, I'll tell you what I'm getting done about my beloved buttermilk, NOTHING. Life is interfering and so all those great recipes calling for buttermilk have had to take a major tweaking. I've begun dumping in whatever dairy product I have in the refrigerator as a substitute along with goat milk to create the same consistency.

My awesome buttermilk pancakes are likely to have a combination of cottage cheese and sour cream but yogurt is not beyond being thrown in either if I happen to have plain. I stick the cottage cheese in the blender and voila, a few pulses later and it is nice and creamy smooth. You'd never know I was using cottage cheese. I usually do this with the eggs called for in the recipe.

S
 If you simply add milk instead of buttermilk and toss in a little more flour, the taste of your baked good is bland. Also of note is in my opinion, Land O Lakes makes the best dairy products in our supermarkets here in Wyoming.

And lets not forget yogurt. It can often be used as a substitute also. Vanilla works pretty good in pancakes but use plain for things you don't want the vanilla flavor in.

The thing I have NOT done in many years is substitute a cup of milk with a Tablespoon of lemon juice or you can use a Tablespoon of vinegar as a substitute for buttermilk. It's bland though, lacking the flavor pizzas of buttermilk. That is why I've gone to using sour cream, cottages cheese, and enough milk to create the correct consistency.

Yogurt can be substituted in equal amounts for buttermilk but the store version is a bit dull if just plain - no flavor - in comparison to home made buttermilk's richness when made from fresh milk. That's where the sour cream or cottage cheese comes in. Better yet use home made yogurt from fresh milk as a substitute.

Nope, I don't run to the store if I don't have something. I reach into the fridge or cupboard and get creative for I can't go shopping and get just one thing and the one need explodes into a cart full of things. So I stay out of stores when possible. I am a born bulk shopper. If one bottle of Ranch dressing is good then three more has to be better especially if it is on sale. LOL

For more details on substitutes for buttermilk you might try this informative website.
 http://www.buzzle.com/articles/buttermilk-substitute.html

Trapping, My Latest Skill of Necessity

I LOVE Wyoming but if you aren't fond of traveling like I'm not fond of traveling, the wide open spaces have a large draw back. You have to travel to get anything. I needed fabric and foo foos for Halloween costumes so off our daughter and I went between the hours of school time. That was Monday. Tuesday off I went to get supplies for the window wells hubby is building. 

Wednesday storytime and ballet with the three year old while the six month old was in arms and early school release at 1:00 followed by library afterschool specials with the older grand kids, younger ones in tow. Thankfully that was in our small community.

Then Thursday was a whirlwind to get anything done before Friday. It began at 4:30 a.m. as we hurried to do chores and travel five hours to pick up Gracie, our sole remaining yak. Then home again to do chores and set traps before picking up the four grand kids to spend the night.

Oh did I fail to mention that I'm now adding trapping to my resume? Not by choice but necessity which has been the mother of most all our acquired skills. Just like window well building has become my hubbies newest skill since we priced ready made metal ones. We'll talk about how later. 

It was necessity that sent me to borrow live traps once more from the town Animal Control Officer, in other words the dog catcher. The same kind of live trap that I caught the skunk under the shed at the house.

Warm winter, nice spring and the population has exploded. Now after a summer drought, their are too many for the available feed supply. In they move to terrorize my poor chickens, sucking eggs, and possibly killing one hen. Possibly because this is what we found in one of my traps Saturday morning, a raccoon. Now I didn't scout out no raccoon trails. Nope, I had been going to the corrals just after dark to watch for skunks to see what direction they came from and try and figure out where they denned up.  I concluded they were in a small culvert since the grass was pressed down at the entrance and that proved to be true. 

Since coons love chicken dinner, I'm not so sure the missing hen wasn't its doing. I trapped this one over in our neighbors pen by their now empty chicken coop. The coop that once was full of chickens which all became varmit dinner.

As I asked permission to set traps in neighboring club member's pens, I discovered that chickens were going missing elsewhere too. Others may tolerate annihilation of their girls but you mess with my girls and you mess with me.

No more of MY girls is going to make anyone but us people a chicken dinner and nothing sucks MY eggs for free without asking as the two skunks who were caught in the act can attest if only they were alive to do so.

Though the skunks to my knowledge are not longer trespassing in the chicken coop, I'm left with a bad case of  PTSD  hens. Think I'm kidding? What would you call 1 to 4, at the most, eggs a day from 8 hens if not a bad case of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome? Can't blame them, bullets flying over head and nightly invasions by threatening marauders. I might have it too if I weren't at the other end of the gun.

You might think just secure your pen tighter, well you have to do that too but our neighbors thought they had, a year old coop with buried wire underneath but still, they lost all their chickens. If something is hungry enough, they are going to find a way in. It is why population control in the animal kingdom is so... important. We do it or mother nature does. That is what the EHD that killed Jasmine was doing. I say was because cold weather has killed the flies.

 Mother Nature sent EHD to lower the deer population since we have a bad drought and no food. And wow,  has it wiped out a huge population of white-tails in particular along with some mule deer and antelope. She sends starvation, rabies and other nasty diseases to control skunks, racoons, and rabbits when needed. But for all you softies who say let Mother Nature take care of things, I want you to weigh the difference between a quick death by bullet or Jasmines death which did end by bullet but not before her organs turned to mush and she hemoraged out every orfice.

 I say population control by bullet is far kinder than disease and starvation so forgive me but since I've seen many forms of Mother Nature's population control, I favor the bullet and I favor trapping to control over population.

So for two nights, I timed my entry into the corrals to just after dark to attempt to discover if indeed skunks were lurking in the small culvert under the road. FWI, Skunks hole up together in the late fall for warmth and sure enough on the second night I saw two skunks tottering down our lane. This was after we had already gotten rid of two that got into the chicken coop.

 

As I told you the last time, skunks LOVE cat food and so it makes a great bait. What I didn't know is how unnearving it is carrying the crate with them inside. Luckily, the two trips we've made, no perfume has been donated.

More unnerving yet than carrying the cages is putting my hands in the front to slide the metal rings upward and opening the trap door.  So far nothing has tried to bite or scratch.  Not true if you accidently catch a kitty cat in a trap.  Five skunks and a racoon so far has left me wondering if we've got them all. I hope so. We go this morning once more to check, then on the road again. I've got to go help the folks at a business meeting.  

 

Oh yeah, got to have the educational part. I called a friend whos son's job is trapping for the goverment and he said fish oil and marshmellows is the best bait for racoons. Also, just keep setting the traps in the same spot you caught a varmit the last time for their friends will just keep coming until they are all gone. Then move on to another area and try there if need be.

 

Yes indeed, a woman of many talents, master of none, that's me.