What Plastics Are Safe?

 I was visiting with my daughter-in-law and she commented that she had changed out all of her drink containers to BPA free ones and felt her family was much safer now. I had just recently done some research into BPA and plastics and had some bad news for her.  I want to share with you, my friends what I found since plastics have come to the forefront of my mind recently. Our daughter was diagnoses with two cases of breast cancer and they are further investigating to see whether she has cancer elsewhere also. Her cancers are estrogen and progesterone fed and a source of imitation hormones is plastics.

 "We know that, "BPA causes hormone disruption, reproduction harm, increased risk of certain cancers, malformation of organs in children, risk of miscarriage, sperm defects, and increased risk of mental disabilities in babies. 93% of 2517 urine samples from people older than six years old showed detectable levels of BPA." A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control  

The research is conclusive in the area of BPA and simply put, it is toxic. But what most don't know is that most companies have replaced BPA with BPS, which is just another bisphenol.

{In the case of BPS, there's reason to believe it is just as dangerous to human health, and possibly more so, than BPA, although the research is not nearly as abundant just yet. Writing in the journal Toxicology In Vitro, researchers stated:ⁱⁱ

"In 2011, the European Commission has restricted the use of Bisphenol A in plastic infant feeding bottles. In a response to this restriction, Bisphenol S is now often used as a component of plastic substitutes for the production of babybottles. One of the major concerns leading to the restriction of Bisphenol A was its weak estrogenic activity. By using two highly standardised transactivation assays, we could demonstrate that the estrogenic activity of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S is of a comparable potency."

Not only does BPS appear to have similar hormone-mimicking characteristics to BPA, but research suggests it is actually significantly less biodegradable, and more heat-stable and photo-resistant, than BPA. GreenMedInfo reports:

"... while regulators wait for manufacturers who promote their products with "BPA-Free!" stickers at the same moment that they infuse them with BPS to voluntarily reformulate,there isevidence now that BPS may actually have worse effects to environmental and human health, alike..

"... BPS' relative inability to biodegrade indicates: 1) once it is absorbed into the human body, it may accumulate there for longer periods of time. 2) it is more likely to persist in the environment, making external exposures to it, and its many metabolites, much more likely than the faster degrading BPA. In other words, its potential to do harm will worsen along the axis of time, not lessen, which is a common argument made for the purported "safety" of BPA."}http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/06/20/bpa-free-plastic-still-toxic.aspx}

So what we have here is a switcheroo. One bad guy in exchange for another bad guy probably worse than the first. The whole BPA free campaign has millions of Americans making the switch but are we are no safer than before. Disturbing isn't it?

So once again here is an example of where we have to protect ourselves because no one else is going to do it. But how? How does one tell for sure if they have a BPA containing plastic?
This is what Mayo's says:

{A resin code of 7 appearing on plastic containers indicates that the container may be made of a BPA-containing plastic.  It is a rounded triangle with a seven inside.
Some exploratory scientific studies have appeared in the public literature that have raised questions about the safety of ingesting the low levels of BPA that can migrate into food from food contact materials. To address these questions the National Toxicology Program, partnering with FDA’s NCTR, is carrying out in-depth studies to answer key questions and clarify uncertainties about BPA

The testing showed that more than 70 percent of the products released chemicals that acted like estrogen. And that was before they exposed the stuff to real-world conditions: simulated sunlight, dishwashing and microwaving, Bittner says.  Then, you greatly increase the probability that you're going to get chemicals having estrogenic activity released," he says, adding that more than 95 percent
of the products tested positive after undergoing this sort of stress.The team concentrated on BPA-free baby bottles and water bottles, Bittner says, "and all of them released chemicals having estrogenic activity." Sometimes the BPA-free products had even more activity than products known to contain BPA.
"We've long cautioned consumers to avoid extreme heat and cooling for plastics, to discard scratched and worn plastics and we feel like this [study] validates one of our many concerns," she says.}
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/bpa/faq-20058331

#5 Rubbermaid storage containers. Love these as the lids fit multiple sizes and they stack so nicely. I found the idea of Pinterest to use a tension rod to hold things in place in a drawer. LOVE IT!!

Here is a hint to whether a plastic may contain BPA. Hard plastic containers have a triangle with a number inside. If it is #3 or #7, it probably is made with BPA. Remember that heat, sunlight, or very cold temperatures causes greater release of BPA's in plastic so don't freeze or put plastics in the dishwasher.

The Green Guide, owned by The National Geographic Society devoted to greener living recommends plastics with the numbers #2, #4, and #5. I've just started checking in my own kitchen to see what numbers are lurking in my cupboards.

Another bad guy is Styrofoam.

This is what Green Guide has to say about it:
{Containers made of polystyrene (PS, or plastic #6, also known as Styrofoam) can also be dangerous, as its base component, styrene, has been associated with skin, eye and respiratory irritation, depression, fatigue, compromised kidney function, and central nervous system damage. Take-out restaurant orders often come in polystyrene containers, which also should be emptied into safer containers once you get them home.}

Once again a tension rod used to hold things in place. This idea is especially nice with drink containers.
There is no way to eliminate plastics from our society and why should we? I think a more sensible approach is to limit where and how we use them. The next blog talks a bit more about this and I will show you another place where food manufacturers are hiding BPA. But meanwhile tell me, how many of you were surprised by this information? I sure was.

The Birthing Process

Fresh milk!!! I am so excited. I can finally quit using frozen. Good thing because I'm about out. Yes, indeed Belle gave birth last Wednesday. Those of you who follow Easy Living the Hard Way Facebook page know this and have seen the photos but since this is an informational post, I've got lots to teach some of you. The rest of you can tell me if indeed this has been your experience. 

 But first let me introduce the oldest, a lovely young doe with great potential. She was born around two in the afternoon. The hour in which Belle had her first set of twins, five kidding seasons ago. Yes, a doe will normally have her kids within a three hour window of the first time she gives birth. If you know the day your doe bred and how many days that particular doe's gestation is, then you know when to head for the barn and keep a close eye out for possible complications. This has become more and more important as the years go by and my energy level keeps taking vacations. Getting up in the night for nothing makes getting up in the early morning to get grandkids off to school much more difficult than when I was young.

That means I have a tendency when possible to cull the night kidders. Two o'clock in the afternoon is perfect and that is just when Belle's had her first lovely little brown doe.

I was a little late for her arrival but hey, she was still all wet and slimy so it could not have been by more than a few minutes. I ran back for towels and the Betadine to do my job. I waited as mom and baby greeted each other and kept looking for the tell tale signs of the next arrival -- nothing. 'Well, this was getting ridiculous', I thought so I slipped under Belle and filled a baby bottle with colostrum. You can see there is no shortage of it. Look at that udder. I always make sure each kid gets as much colostrum as possible in them even if I am going to leave them to nurse their mother.  The only way to accurately gauge that is to bottle feed them the first time. After that I can teach them to nurse or let nature take its course. Yeah, like I've ever really done that. LOL "What if they get too weak or one of the other kids pushes them aside." See, I just can't take the pressure so I interfere. No one seems to mind.


This particular doe I leave her to mother the little ones but she is not keen on nursing. She was not taught to by her first owner and it did not come natural to her. In fact she would not even mother her kids until she came to my house. I started to teach her to suckle her little ones but then I thought I would like to keep some of her offspring and bottle feeding alleviates weaning problems. My does will nurse forever if given a chance and the kids can slip through the tiniest holes to get their moms so no, I don't let any little ones I want to keep nurse.  The other reason I bottle feed most of my kids is that they can go to new homes right away since feeding them does not require their mother.  This gives me the milk I need for the kitchen.


As I gauged whether I was going to keep this little one, I kept looking for sign of Belle being uncomfortable and pawing the ground but she was relaxed and happy. Relaxed and happy is not what I needed. You don't have this size of an udder and sides sticking wa... y out for nothing on a hay diet. There had to more kids inside. Each of our does will follow a certain pattern year after year that is characteristic of her as an individual when she gives birth. There are odd years of course when the doe refuses to follow her set pattern but for the most part she will do the same thing year after year.

I decided to just watch and wait. I would on a younger doe pull the rest of the kids I knew were inside if she was in hard labor and they failed to appear within twenty or thirty minutes. That or labor was not progressing along meaning a possible breach birth or two kids who's legs were tangled near the opening. The reason is if you wait too long the kids will be dead. But Belle was comfortable and relaxed and this was not her first kidding season. Experience has taught me after thirty one years of delivering kids and a gut feeling born of, been there done that's. This felt right and so I bent down and filled a bottle as she stood licking her baby. Milking stimulates uterus contractions. Sneaky aren't I?

 I've learned that with older does they often have a longer labor. More light labor in the beginning and a period of rest in between kids is common. More so between the first and second kid. The third follows shortly after. Patience is a virtue with these older girls. Sure enough, a little under an hour later Belle acted agitated and pawed the ground a few times and just three pushes later I saw.....

 The water bag with two feed inside. They are the dark mass just below her tail. Three pushes and out came a strapping buck. Most of the time a water bag appears first and then the feet but not with this doe. Five minutes later and three pushes, out came a little doe looking like her mother. Belle was done, she had her triplets.

How did I know she was done? Three kids is the normal max for a dairy goat. I've only had one doe have four. Four is too many since a doe rarely has enough milk for that many. Besides there are the pushier kids that hog all the milk. If left alone one or two of them will die.You don't want four. I did not expect four and besides, Belle's sides were sunk in in an empty look.

Some does take a while to pass their after birth but Belle's began to appear shortly after. This is what it looks like. No water bag, and no feet sticking out. Nope -- notice the fibrous texture though. This is the placenta and it has little buttons inside. No, not buttons like the ones on your coat but round dark red solid tissue masses that they call buttons. When I would be in charge of a mare foaling for our neighbors, I was required to count the buttons to make sure the mare had not retained part of her placenta. 

I admit, I never count the buttons in a goat's placenta. I have no idea how many there are suppose to be so how would I know if they are all there? The only thing I make sure of is that the goat does pass her placenta and hopefully in one long connected mass. It should of course be in proportion in size to the amount of kids it held. If it does not come out it putrefies. Big time infection. If ;your doe fails to pass hers within twelve hours I'd head to the vet for a Lutalyce shot. It will put the doe back into labor. She'll hate you but it is for her own good.  How do I know this -- experience.

Don't be alarmed, when your doe bleeds a light amount after giving birth. This can last for a few days and sometimes slightly longer in goats that had a tough delivery. To slow and stop the flow on a doe who is in my opinion bleeding more than I'd lie, I milk more frequently. This naturally tightens back up the uterus, stopping the flow. The larger the uterus size due to multiple kids, the longer it takes for the uterus to shrink back to pre-pregnancy size. If there is an infection, the bloody discharge after birth will become a more maroon color, not a red blood color. It will be thicker, and have a nasty smell to it. Then she needs a penicillin shot, a few of them.

I've taught my does to hold still without restraint in the pen and I bend over at will to fill baby bottles right from the tap. Since I bottle feed four times a day, 6 am, 12 noon, 6 pm, and 10 pm, this is plenty enough to get things cramping. With triplets, for the first few days where there is only colostrum being produced, this method empties my doe's utter each feeding. If there is extra like there was with Belle, I freeze it just in case I need it for kids born to another doe. At night I am sure to drain the doe fully before heading to bed.

 At five years of age, Belle was in light labor for several days after giving birth. She did not eat a great deal or drink much. Then on the third day, it abated and her milk began to come in. By the next day she was crying for relief in the morning. "Please milk me!!" 

She gave 3/4 a gallon this morning and the same amount tonight. Impressive for a Nubian on her first day of her milk coming in. Her supply will steady increase for a while before leveling off. The second morning, this morning, she gave the same amount. 

Remember, the more demand for milk, the more the doe will produce, within reason of course. This means milking three times a day produces more milk than milking twice a day and of course once a day. Milking frequently will up production but if sustained over a long period of time, this will decrease the longevity of your doe. Since I was gone much of yesterday, I only milked twice. Today, I will milk three times and give this poor girl some relief as her production should be greater yet.

I've Discovered Cutting Celery

Photo from Jonny's Seeds , one of the seed companies I order from.

Our goal to grow as much as possible of what we consume is challenging here where the growing season is short and cool. I'm finding this challenge quite often involves doing without or finding substitutes. One area I'm working on is celery. We do not use very much and though I've come up with better ways of storing it in the refrigerator, it still wants to go bad before we've consume it. Out to the rabbits it goes. Sadly this long storage time means the celery is depleted of nutrition and so it is rather wasted. So what is the solution since there are a few dishes I really like celery in?

Photo from Johnny's Seeds -- Celeriac

As I debated this question, I looked into growing celery in our garden, since we had a friend growing it about 25 miles from us. Alas, the weather and elevation are just different enough from there to here that it is not possible without a greenhouse. Yet it did not seem wise to take up our future greenhouse space to a plant that was only edible during the harvest time. Dried celery stalks to me are hard and woody. I've tried it.

Could there be another plant that tastes like celery but would grow here? I discovered Celeriac in a seed catalogue and gave it a try a couple summers ago. Nope, the tops were lovely but there was no bulbous root by the time Jack Frost came to end the gardening season. The seed packet said 90 days to harvest but our summers are not terribly warm and the sun goes down early being next to the mountains. Those two things put together equate to needing more days than the packet recommends. I'm not completely ready to give up on Celeriac though. Whether it be this year or next I will start plants indoors first and then transplant. Maybe that will work. 

As I contemplated the what shall I substitute for celery dilemma once again, I happened to find Cutting Celery in a seed catalogue. (It is not a common thing offered.) The idea intrigued me. A celery that was grew more like parsley but had thicker stalks and an abundance of leaves. I decided to try this variety in the house under grow lights this winter. AWESOME!!! Though the stalks were smaller than the photo in the seed catalogue, it tastes wonderful. Then again the catalogues plant was grown outside and I think I spread the seeds too thick causing over crowding. I've divided the pot into two and I'm watering a little less as the leaves have brown spots. (I have a tendency to over water.)

Beware if you want to try this variety that the flavor of Cutting Celery is a slight bit stronger than traditional celery but not unpleasantly. I rather like the more intense taste. The ability to have it fresh, full of nutrition, and within reach of my kitchen counter makes this a permanent addition to our indoor gardening project. I can't wait to dry some and create ways to use it that way. I've got some ideas already. Celery salt comes to mind. I really like that stuff in potato salad, deviled eggs, and sandwich spreads. What if I dried Cutting Celery and added salt. The kind of salt that does not cause my tastes buds to disappear off my tongue leaving a sore spot. Yes, I'm allergic to the chemicals in highly processed salts.

If this works I can eliminated two things I presently buy, celery, and celery salt. A win, win!


Oh and by the way I'm still waiting on comments on what you want from my blogs in the future. Talk to me please.

When do Hens Turn into Roosters?

I know that the blogs have been mostly about chickens but keep in mind that I'm Autistic. We have a tendency to fixate so please be patient. I'm still fixated. It won't last forever since I have ADD also. You just don't get the full effect as I'm not showing you an eighth of what I'm doing. In fact, today I started a new shampoo experiment. On day one I'm already impressed so we shall see how that plays out. Rest assured that soon the posts will be changing subjects frequently as it is time to order garden seeds. The goats will begin kidding in March and I'm on the look out for a buck rabbit to well, you know. I'm going to hatch out a batch of chicks I think in April. Oh, yeah, that's chickens again.

*******

But though I have parts of other blogs written and some of them are not about chickens, I have something I just have to share. Have you ever heard of a hen that transforms into a rooster?  It got my attention too. We had a goat once who was born with both sets of sexual organs but this is a "a horse of a different color." or rather a chicken. This is a hen who is all girly and feminine laying eggs who up and quits and becomes a rooster, or rather sort of. She grows spurs, a large comb, and her nice round feathers on her neck transform into hackle. Maybe not the fly tying quality but definitely hackle. To top it off, some of these hens who transform   crow. You heard me, crow. That, I'd like to hear. I've raised a number of chickens over the years and I have to wonder. Do they sound really roostery or is the noise more like a strangled chicken? You know the one immature roosters make when they are just learning. It is kind of like a 12 or 13 year old boy's voice which breaks off in mid word or rather crow and squawks and squeaks.


I stumbled across this little side show while researching one night. At first I thought it was a hoax. But no..., the information was from a reputable university agriculture website. I checked further and indeed this is possible -- but rare.


The hen does not really turn into a rooster since she still has all her feminine parts but the hormones get mixed up. For you young'uns, I will explain the birds and the bees of the thing so those of you too young to hear this part put your fingers in your ears and say, "Nuh, nuh, nuh.", really loud. I'll holler when I'm done. A hen has two ovaries. Most female animals do but what is different about a chicken is that the right ovary stops developing when the female chick hatches. The left ovary continues to mature and produce eggs. I can't help but think what would happen if both ovaries went to town producing. "Wow!!" I can't believe a scientist hasn't worked on this project.


The cause of this strange hen turning into a rooster phenomenon is a damaged left ovary. Chicken ovaries produce the hormones oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Read that sentence again. It is oestrogen, not estrogen. I'm really resisting heading off and learning about the difference between estrogen and oestrogen but my to do list today is reining me in. I admit, I did check to see if a hen goes through menopause. You know when the ovaries cease to function anymore on a woman. Why not a chicken? There is a debate out on that one.


It is ridiculous! I think it's a disease. My brain won't shut down with questions that scream, "I want answers!!!"


 I have a theory about this strange rooster look for hens. I can't help but think the oestrogen  and progesterone levels go down in the damaged ovary and the testosterone remains strong. Hence, the roostery look but not the full effect because the testosterone level is not full force like if there were testes. My question though is why does the right ovary not develop at this time? You know how the brain can in part rewire itself if damaged. If it isn't a spare then what is its function? See, the brain won't shut down. I would have loved being a research scientist.


To get the whole scoop from the horses mouth try some further reading in the link below.

http://extension.psu.edu/animals/poultry/topics/general-educational-material/avian-anatomy-and-physiology/the-reproductive-system-and-fertilization/the-hen


See I tried to not make the post all about chickens. Note the horse references thrown in here and there.




YOU CAN PULL YOUR FINGERS OUT OF YOUR EARS NOW!!! I'm done.

How Many Roosters are Needed?

After determining what our chicken set up would allow and what our needs were, we set goals. Ideally we should have 10 to 12 hens per rooster for breeding purposes of course. You do not need a rooster for the hens to lay eggs. But a side note - Did you know roosters like big combed hens? No, not big breasted or ones with a large booty. Nope, a large comb turns them on. And yes, rooster do have favorites. Sir Gallop has already chosen amongst the young pullets, though he does not do so at the exclusion of the others. Now I want to watch to see if he prefers big combed hens like the research study concluded.


Sorry, squirrel there. My mind darts like crazy. Back to the story. We had 2 roosters and 19 hens. The young rooster got along as well with the older rooster in their winter facilities with hens, as the 2 buck goats did in theirs with the does - not well! The young rooster was the easy choice to put in the stew pot but which hens? I can't decide. I chose 3 easy picks but I need charts just like I made for the goats to choose more. I rank each goat in varying categories which meet specific criteria for the perfect specimen for our needs. Some categories are worth more points and there importance is greater. This has moved the cloud of emotions out of the equation. This has cleared the confusion.


Through careful thought, I've just completed the list for chickens. Interesting, our needs have changed from the previous location to here. We have more people to feed. We have different facilities and now the ability to use free range; but we have more predators and lots more snow. Time will tell which of these young pullets born last summer will make the grade. Some look great in one category but not in another. They need scored in order or me to decide who stays and who goes. The bottom number of hens needs to be 12. Maybe that was why some of the eggs last summer were not fertile.


We know we need to lower production costs. But with some molting, some not producing yet, and a couple that were injured and had to be put in the stew pot, (which happens), what is the magical number? We need to find out. We need to chart each hen and know how many eggs she produces. Are they of the quality needed? How long is her molt? Is she broody and if she is, does she begin laying eggs when the chicks are young or does she go straight into a molt? We had a variety last summer.  We need records. The information we need will take time but waiting won't get it for us so we had better begin. 


 Increase costs in the care of the hens means we need to produce more with less. We need to search out ways to save money on feed. We need chickens that better fit our needs for meat and egg production. We need to do this within the facilities we presently have. We need to do it within budget. The we needs are awfully long. I think and I emphasize, I think, we need to use the incubator once a year to produce more meat and not simply allow the hens to set on their eggs like we did last summer in hopes we will get what we need. When to use our incubator is what I'm contemplating now. Timing is the key to success. Anyone have any ideas?


Our home canned broth has almost completely eliminated the use of store bouillon and of course we don't use store broth. Home canned chicken is used more and more over store bought frozen. As I use more of home grown, it creates a higher demand. A demand I did not meet last summer and which means we will run out this winter.  


We are working on a more plant based diet that will help lower the need for meat but that takes time. It means more garden space needs to be established. Meanwhile, with our needs high, we need to figure out how to do more with the limited space we have available. A new, larger chicken coop is not going to happen and the one we have has to house the rabbits and chickens in the winter time. A new summer rabbit loafing shed is in the planning stage and maybe it will work for winter but the question is out on that.


Simply put, we need to do more with less. It will require timing. It will require a better dual purpose chicken. How to do that, I'm not completely sure. I'm researching genetics, reproduction, and more. Lots of changes are in the wind and they include the garden, beef, goats, and rabbits.

How Do Chickens Stay Warm?

This young pullet is saying, "Baby it's cold outside!" Note the fluffed up feathers.  She isn't kidding as the temperature was -13 F. when I got out of bed this morning. I wait to do chores in weather like this until it warms a bit for there has been a breeze of late if not a gale wind that plunges the temperature further to a wind chill of 38 below zero. Hubby went to work in a white out this morning. It lasted for four miles. We live in the worst weather spot for 20 some miles either direction. I tell the grandkids that all the lights for our exit off of the interstate, our exit only, is because we are so special but they know better. It's for the cameras that allow people to see the not so lovely weather we have in the winter time. Our spot is often the reason for road closures. Of course that means we have the greenest spot in the summer too because the snow piles so high. Our little beauty spot is nicknamed, hurricane, flats. Not as bad as where we lived before moving here but it does get breezy at times.

 My lungs protest are protesting this polar weather. They are difficult to treat. Found that out two years ago when in January I spent some time in the hospital. The smart thing is to just not get my lungs mad, so I wait until the temperature is above zero, if possible, before going out. It works out best for the animals too as they don't like coming out of their sheds to drink if it is above zero either. The water freezes almost immediately while the animals try to convince me to bring it to them with insistent bellers. Hauling water twice in a row is not my idea of fun. They prefer to eat when it is a bit more toasty too. The chickens usually don't come out at all except on rare occasion to bask in the sun that beats against the side of the barn. They think it is only worth it if the wind is not blowing. Don't blame them really. The minute I opened the door they feel the frigid cold and hustle to the roost, fluff their feathers out, and tuck their legs up under to keep them warm. Those warm cushions of air between the fluffed up feathers are a nice insulator against the cold.

Even the rooster, Sir Gallop, has his hackle spread out wide. He tucks one foot in his feathers and then switches the supporting leg to tuck it up under where it is warm. That is why they like the roost so both legs stay warm.

 The first thing to freeze on a chicken is the comb. Note Sir Gallop's. The black is the part that froze and it is dead now. It will drop off in a few months. Frost bite is not unusual up north where we live. I've had mild cases of it a number of times myself. For roosters in the winter, it is not so big a deal. Don't know if it lowers their sperm count or not but that is not a concern for who wants to hatch chicks now anyway? It is a problem if a hen's comb freezes. They will stop laying eggs until the injury has healed. The remedy is to create a warm insulated coop. With 22 chickens and six rabbits inside, it stays pretty warm. Yes, we brought home three baby bunnies. I'll have to tell you the story. It is rather funny but that is another blog post. None of the other chicken's combs have frozen but then none of them are as large as the roosters.

We've raised chickens for about 28 years and though we've become pretty good chicken herders, sometimes there is just nothing you can do to get one or two back inside. Sometimes you will get one that just wants to be free-range day and night. Usually it is because they are being bullied but not always. Most chickens are smart enough to head for cover. A couple Wyandotte roosters ended up living with the goats or sheep. They rode  on their backs out from the shed to get a drink or eat with them at the hay feeder, then hitched a ride back. Their feet never touched the ground except to get a drink and up they'd go again to the shed once more. They shared warmth in the insulated shed and did fine through the winter. But we had three chickens that paid the price for not finding a good place to weather the storm and their combs froze along with their toes. One froze both feet so badly we had to kill it because it could not walk. Chickens are just not meant to live outside in the winter.

If you look carefully, you can see a tiny black dot on the comb of this Wyandotte hen. It has been an exceptionally cold winter so far. It has not stopped her from laying or I don't think it has. I've now studied two different scientific studies about how to tell if a hen is a good layer or not. I have my suspicions now about her but we'll talk about that later. I have raised Wyandotte chickens for many year but I may end that as I've found the fox and coyotes here seem to really like them.  This girl is the only one left. They are a gentle, sweet breed, even the roosters.

To Ghee Once Again

It has been a few years since I made ghee. Time is so constrained with so much to do. I am trying to figure out ways to save on our grocery bill and I do have lots of cream. I have made ghee each week from freshly made butter but now I can see the next batch will come from the freezer. I was wise and froze quite a bit. The goats are quickly drying up as the low temperatures drain their bodies. Calories are being spent on keeping warm, not producing milk especially since they are pregnant.

The plan is to have enough separated milk to keep buttermilk, and yogurt going. I usually use whole milk but not during this time of year. I will use separated milk and hopefully have enough to drink also since we don't drink much milk. I  put away some canned milk for cooking earlier this fall and hopefully that will help ease the need for frozen milk. The cream I froze will become sour cream of which I have not started culturing. It will probably have to wait until Christmas gifts are done. I also will make ghee and cook with cream. It will be interesting to see if I have frozen enough. What would have been better is if I had already made my ghee and canned it as I wish to eliminate one of the three chest freezers we have. I also want to play with making cultured butter. The butter I make now is not as flavorful as I like so I buy less expensive butter to cook with and Amish cultured butter to eat.

Someday I hope to be making all my own butter and ice cream but energy, time and enough cream is a problem.  Problem is winter is when I have the time to do the most things with our milk and it is at its lowest supply. I could make lots of butter and pack it away in the freezer. I could make lots of ghee and can it for the rest of the year in the winter IF there was more milk. 

 It is impossible to do everything all year long. Winter I could also try my hand at cheese and freeze some. Maybe dear little Ellie can fill that winter void. I hope to calve her in September of 2018 allowing her to raise her calf for five months. She would produce more milk than the calf needs so the extra would supply us with milk during the winter along with the plethora of things that it can be made into. I know how to make Feta and mozzarella, and want to start making Monterey Jack. The last being a cow's milk cheese. I would continue to milk the goats fall and into December and hopefully this would help create that freezer surplus along with milk from Ellie.

One of winters tasks this year will be trying to figure out when different tasks can be done and how to push others into a season when the tasks can more easily be done  because things are just a hair bit slower.We need a cellar I can see to help with the vegetable side of this.

Ghee lately has been substituted for most of the olive oil we once used. That is definitely saving us some money. Ghee is now what we fry with since it has a higher smoke point. It is what I use in bread making too. It is not the best in pie crusts and cookies - rather greasy. It would be good if it was except I would never be able to keep up making the stuff because unfortunately we love our sweets. We want to use ghee because it is even more nutritious than olive oil. We don't use it because it is cheap. It is only less expensive for us because the base (whole as in cream and all milk) is something we already have.

The children who dislike the smell of it cooking don't dislike the taste. Some of the children think it smells like buttered popcorn, others think it stinks.

What I learned is that ghee comes at a price. These two half pint jars that I figure is equal to a wide mouth pint jar is what is left after cream is separated from over two gallons of milk. I get about three quarts of heavy cream from 2 gallons of milk this time of year. This cream is then made into butter. The butter is then cooked down removing the dairy part. The dairy forms a clump on the top of the oil and sticks to the bottom of the saucepan.What remains is this pint of ghee. I saw one person feeds the butter cast off to her dog. I think I will start feeding it to our barn cats. An area I am working on saving money too is buying less cat food.

If you wonder why ghee is so expensive at the store. Over two gallons of milk down to just one pint is the reason. The health benefits make it worth the effort but I don't recommend that you go to the store and buy organic butter to make ghee from except as an experiment to learn how. I have been going through about a pint and a half a week - pricey indeed. But this is all a part of self-sufficiency. What I have not done yet is use this oil for light. Yes, that is possible. Ghee is indeed nutritious and versatile.