The Cream Separator

Over a year ago now, I bought an old DeLeval Junior cream separator at an auction. At the time I didn't have access to cows, fresh milk or a farm - but now I do and that's why Ive finally had the opportunity to try out the machine! The separator was kept in wonderful shape throughout its life and wasn't rusty. I gave it a thorough washing before taking it up to the farm. There was a fair bit of assembling required, but fortunately the separator instruction manual came with the machine! That alone is an antique Im sure, but I appreciated it. We milked fast, excited to try out the separator! We had about 10L whole milk to put through. We got the handle turning, because its a bit stiff, then we poured the milk in, opened the release and let er' fly! Before you knew it there was a beautiful yellow stream of cream coming out the top and a bright white stream of milk coming out the bottom. It took about 3 minutes for it to process the 10L, which I would say is fast! Then we had 8L skim milk (which is probably still richer than anything you'd buy at the store) and 2L of rich rich cream. All the parts of the separator had to be disassembled and washed ,including the discs. I only used water, not soap (don't want your hard earned cream tasting like soap!). The next couple of days were filled with dairy experiments - including: skim milk yogurt, butter, crème brulee, the list goes on. We eat well with the cream separator at our disposal!

Produce Overload: Dehydrating Blueberries

You can only do so much with blueberries in terms of preserving. Ive done as much blueberry jam as I like, Ive frozen over 30L and that left me with one other unexplored method - to dehydrate them! Im fortunate to have a dehydrator, but I haven't had the opportunity to use it much. I read online that they take a long time to dry (and a takes a lot of berried if you want something as an end result)! So I spread the berries on the trays (with the "roll-up" tray at the bottom - to catch the ones that slip through), I stacked the trays and set the dehydrator to 115oF. Then I left it about 2 days. I checked it periodically, taking out the berries that were completely hardened. It seemed that the berry skin held moisture in, which took that much longer for them to dry. When they were all hard, I put them into glass jars to enjoy this winter.  Im hoping that they keep well and won't mould. It would be a shame to lose any. They turn out sweet and chewy - and make a wonderful snack. Almost beats candy!

Produce Overload: Raspberry Jam (Pectin Free!)

Well the raspberries yielded more than you can imagine, I think Ive figured it to about 1L berries per foot of plants - giving me about 75L of raspberries! And that's a low guess. Ive told about 15 people to come pick my berries for free, yet everyday I still find myself having to pick my patch. Ive given away a lot, Ive froze as many as my freezer is willing to accommodate and Ive made jam, and I will continue to make jam now as long as the berries hold out. Ive tried a couple variations of the recipe below, using raspberries and blueberries at different ratios (since the wild blueberries are even more plentiful than the raspberries!). The raspberries seem to be high in natural pectin and that's why you don't need to use powdered pectin. (Pectin is the gelling agent by the way). So heres my favorite popular recipe!

Raspberry Jam

Clean 8c. of raspberries
In a large pot, mash the berries and boil them for 15 minutes.
Add 6c. sugar and return to a full rolling boil.

Meanwhile, sterilize your jars and rings (either with boiling water or in the oven at 215oF for 10 minutes).
Also heat your snap lids.

When your jam has got to that really hard boil, where you cant stir it down and its spitting all over your clean kitchen floor, pour the jam into your jars, seal and ring them and let them cool. Youll hear the enjoyable "pop!" "pop!" of the jars sealing (or else you didn't so it right). The next day check that the jars are sealed by bouncing a spoon on the jar lids - if it makes a hollow sound its sealed, if the sounds spongy it hasn't sealed, so refrigerate it and use it first.

Ive found that this jam keeps well for 1-2 years, longer than that - I don't know, because its long gone before it gets the chance!

Back to Dairying: Butter the Easy Way

Why make things complicated? If the hydro was out, how would you make butter? Simple answer - shake!! shake!! I discovered last week that you don't need a kitchen aid mixer, a food processer or an old fashioned butter churn to make butter. I cut my butter making time in half by using the two hands that Im well equipped with, a mason jar and a 1/2 L of cream. Simple recipe: put your cream in the jar, put on the lid and the ring, shake the life out of it for 10 minutes and you will find a lovely lump of butter in your jar! Scoop out the butter (make sure the butter particles are well compacted, if you aren't sure, shake longer), rinse it under cold water, squeezing it gently to get all the whey out, salt it down and enjoy! Youll yield about a 1/4c. butter and about a cup of buttermilk (so don't throw the leftover liquid out by any means)!

 Butter lump formed

 Salting it down

 Enjoying!!

The Great Chicken Adventure: Week 15

The flock is down one chicken - to 32 birds. But don't worry, the skunk didn't get it, the chopping block did. The much famed Bernie is now happily residing in our deep freeze. He was fighting really bad with the others, he had ripped a piece of another roosters comb right off, and it was bleeding badly. So I said enough of that, I caged him up without food or water (in order for the bowels to be empty at butchering time). The next night we did him in. A chicken doesn't take long to butcher, probably 1/2hr of work then it has to chill for a couple of hours. We were lucky that he didn't have any pin feathers, it was easy plucking. Someday Ill make a post on butchering chickens, but Im by no means an expert. Ive done them before which helped it go quicker. I guess I was emotionally detached from the situation since Bernie was fighting with the others and he really needed to go. Ive got the others almost off their grower feed, Id rather have them just on scratch when we butcher. They still have a 25% grower diet until the feed is gone, which should be this week. They have been enjoying all the garden scraps I give them. Usually a good scoop of grass and the scraps from whatever produce Im processing in the day. Berry culls, bean ends, etc. I can probably expect to start getting eggs from the hens in about a month, which is incredibly exciting for me! I haven't been playing with the chickens much, but the day Bernie had taken a piece out of the other roosters head, I took that poor victim to the garden with me and he was the best companion. He sat under the shade of the beans for a good 15 minutes, then he came right close to me and helped me with the weeding. He would take little snips off the pigweeds. He came when I called him and he didn't leave the garden at all. Maybe he'll be the one I keep to service the flock, he's so nice. But I suppose Rob was nice too - not anymore. Yesterday I caught him with a mouth full of feathers - I guess he'll be the next to go..

 Chicken in the garden

 Racing stripe taking flight

 The nest boxes

Losses

Life of a homesteader/farmer/gardener - whatever you may be, is not accurate without some losses. Unfortunately some are hit worse than others. My turn came around last week. I was doing my morning chores, and when I got to the Banty house, I found my poor little May and June massacred in the worst way. A skunk had been hanging around the place for the last couple weeks, and that was the varmint that did the dastardly deed. He had dug under the cage, took what he wanted and left. So I buried my little chickens, feeling horribly responsible for their death. Some improvements were made around the place after the loss, the rabbit cages were given a bottom, and lifted off the ground. And now I carry them grass instead of them being able to graze. But better that way than to have dead rabbits too. Also I close both chicken doors at night now, so it stays a bit stuffy but nothing could get inside. Its a sad loss, but it could have been a lot worse. I heard about a lady that had 25 pheasants ready for slaughter the next day, and that night a fox got in and killed every last one of them! I will leave a live trap set for the rest of the summer, hoping for no more preventable losses around here.

"Farmer, Farmer, Soil Charmer - How does your garden grow?"

With the perfect balance of rain and sun, the omission of natural disaster, the application of well rotted manure and faithfulness to picking weeds and bugs - the garden does indeed grow!

Its exciting to taste the "first fruits" of the garden. To see the reward of planting and waiting. After my cucumber beetle epidemic, I try to keep a close eye on the vine-type plants. Every once in a while I have to squish the odd straggler (that didn't get the memo to stay out of my garden)! But overall I couldn't be more pleased with how well the garden is doing. The plants are bushy and vibrantly green. Everything seems to be blooming early, and fruit is already setting on my cukes, zukes, melons and squash. Ive harvested kale, lettuce, spinach and radishes. I even snuck a carrot that was about 3 inches long, and Ive enjoyed having to thin the beet greens. My peas are heavy laden and ready to be picked this week. Beans and tomatoes are blossoming. Outside of the garden the raspberries are doing exceptional! So far Ive picked about 12 L off the patch and they still have LOTS to ripen. Before ya know it, Ill be into canning beans, corn and tomatoes! Until then, youll find me weeding...

 

The Great Chicken Adventure: Week 13

There hasn't be much to report on the chickens over the last couple weeks. They continue to grow steadily and their feathers are filling out in a most beautiful way. They have been wonderful little composting machines for me - I take them treats very often. They enjoy weeds from the garden, bread crusts, cull berries and fruit and veggie ends. They also thoroughly enjoy burnt cookies (at least someone can enjoy them)! I've started switching them off their grower feed and right now theyre eating a diet of 50% scratch grain and 50% grower. I wanted to do this so that any medication from the grower feed will be (hopefully) out of their system at butchering time and when the hens start laying eggs. I started them onto the scratch grain at 25% the first week, now 50% the second week and next week they will have 75%, until the grower feed is gone. The nest boxes are finally in the hen house, but nobody has so much as tried going inside the boxes. Perhaps when they start laying they will make use of the boxes. They do however, enjoy sitting ontop of the next boxes, and 6 have ditched the roosting poles at night and choose to roost ontop on the next boxes. As the garden work increases, I haven't been socializing the birds as much. They are still friendly, but they only swarm me now if Im bringing them treats, not if Im whistling a song to them, haha.

<--Racing stripe and his coat of many colours.

Produce Overload: Canning Strawberries

For my quest to have freezer space left at butchering time, I am trying to dry and can as much produce as possible. Im much more partial to raspberry and blueberry jams, as opposed to strawberry jam, but I like to have some strawberries on hand over winter. So this year, I made canned strawberries for the first time.
I started by washing and topping 11 litres of strawberries (you can do however many you like, this is just what I had).

Now the ratio for canning strawberries is 1/4c. sugar to each cup of berries.

Mix the sugar in with the berries and let sit for several hours. The sugar and berry juice will make a sauce. Try to stir the berries every hour or so.

I opted to use my pressure cooker for the project. So while my water was heating in the pressure cooker (lid NOT on), I washed my jars and sterilized them in the oven at 215oF. I left the jars in until I was ready to fill them. I had my lids heating in hot water as well.

When the pressure cooker's water was hot, I started filling my jars with the berries (the berries and sugar are not cooked). Make sure to leave a 1/2" air space at the top of the jars. Put lids and rings on jars. Place on rack in pressure cooker. Put lid on pressure cooker, according to manufacturers instructions and with the petcock open, wait for steam to blow thickly from the petcock. Then, shut the petcock, and wait for the pressure to rise to 5 lb (will show on gage). When pressure is reached, set timer for 5 minutes. When time is up, turn off heat and wait for pressure to decrease to zero. When no steam hisses from the petcock, open lid and remove jars from cooker. Cool on wire rack. After jars are cool, check that they have sealed. Tap a spoon on the jar lid, if it sounds spongy, instead of having a clear ring, it hasn't sealed. Refrigerate unsealed jars immediately and use first. Sealed jars should be kept in a cool dark place.

When your craving some strawberries in the winter, instead of buying those abominable red water berries from the store, pop out a jar of flavour filled "just-like-fresh-picked" strawberries and enjoy!

The Yellow Striped Cucumber Beetle

If you've had this varmint in your garden, youll "mmhmm" when I mention it. The *yellow striped cucumber beetle* whom I might add is quite partial to zucchini, squash and cantaloupe plants as well. The bug does this: he chews through the foliage of your vines and will eventually destroy the entire plant. My experience with these was about two weeks ago now. I was checking out my garden and I saw hoardes of these on my vine plants (and noticeable foliage damage). I had seen the bug before, and my first instinct was to kill the bugs! So I crawled along, squishing every bug that I could get my hands on. I was probably at it for 15 minutes or so. Now, I was able to squish them because they were all busy mating (and conspiring to destroy my garden), and cannot fly when theyre doing that. The next night I went bug squishing again, and several flew off on me. I still got quite a few and believe it or not, that looked after the problem. In between my evenings of squishing bugs, I did a bit of research, to find solutions like: heavy pesticide use, sticky traps, trap crops on the border of your garden etc. I was pleased to find an alternative solution to that though, just with a little extra time and labour. So for cucumber beetles, nip them in the bud and hopefully that will put an end to them.

***I did hear that a rinsing your plants with sunlight dishsoap and water will look after bugs. I don't know if it works though..

 (Photo credit Google Images)