Reclaiming the Barn

I have taken on a huge, daunting project...converting our barn back to being a barn. Yes, from the outside it does look like a barn and it does on the inside, too. But somehow we have turned our barn into a very large storage unit and a mouse housing project.

When we first purchased our place we used the barn for what it was purchased for. We housed our two goats and a guard llama in it. I could never coax any of our steers into it though, I think because of the concrete floor but I left the big door open just in case they overcame their fear.

Then in 1999 we converted the barn to a serigraph studio and printed my husband's art work. After the arrival of our daughter in 2002 we decided to contract out to have the art prints made. We sold all the printing equipment and just started using the barn for storage mostly. I did raise meat chickens in the barn and raise chicks out there but that has been about it.

We have three sheds converted to poultry houses which has worked great for our free-ranging poultry. Now I would like to have a nice place to raise some purebred chickens like the silkies that we are hatching.

Here are some pictures of the poultry housing that we have set up already.

The barn is huge and heated, too. As you can see it needs a new roof in the worst way. We are hoping to roof it with metal this year or at least purchase the material since the bottom fell out on a lot of building materials right along with real estate prices.
I'm currently going through all the stuff right now and finding things we forgot we even had. To start we are building three poultry pens in the south end of the barn. An area we actually have kept clear of stuff. I will post some interior pictures once we have those built out. It's too embarrassing to post interior pics right now :)

Go Silkies Go!

As you all know I do enjoy our chickens. We have a mixed laying flock made up the of typical large fowl breeds you pick up at the local feed store. Also, we have a trio of Cuckoo Marans that are production stock which we hatched from shipped eggs last year.

This year we are trying something completely new for us. Emma has joined the poultry group of her 4H club. The leader has recommended that the kids show bantams because the smaller birds are easier for small hands to handle. We love silkies so it was easy to pick which bantam chicken breed we wanted to go with. But I wasn't having any luck finding some nice ones locally.

It's still a little chilly to ship chicks or young birds so I started looking for silkie hatching eggs. Of course I went hunting on the web for eggs and found Josh's Bantams, a breeder of lovely blue and splash bearded silkies. We purchased 16 silkie hatchings eggs.
Josh packaged the eggs wonderfully but one egg was cracked. No matter how carefully packaged, the postal service can be very hard on eggs. Even if eggs are not obviously cracked they can be exposed to extreme temperatures or just handled roughly.

We placed the 15 undamaged eggs into our Hovabator 1588. I candled the eggs at day 7 of the incubation. Three were developing but the other ones had nothing growing in them. All a testimony of just how rough their trip in the mail had been.
There's my three little silkie eggs in the incubator. Though I wished that the other eggs had fared better, I'm just as excited for these little guys as ever. If all continues to go well, they should hatch on 2/13. I'll keep you all posted!

Easy Cheesy! Let's Make Some Mozzarella!

This last Christmas my friend Deb from the Bradley forum sent me a wonderful gift box containing cheesemaking supplies, a cheesemaking cookbook and a even some gifts for Emma, too. What a sweet lady! She gave me everything I need to start a new hobby and another "If I Can Do it Myself..." to share with you all.

The book is entitled Home Cheesemaking by Ricki Carroll and it is all you need to get yourself starting in making your own cheese. Ricki's recipe for 30 Minute Mozzarella is posted at the New England Cheese Making Supply Company. The cheesemaking supplies sent to me by Deb were purchased there.
Here's what you will need:

• 1 gallon milk (not ultra-pasteurized!) We used 2% fat milk
• 1 1/4 cup cool water (chlorine free)
• 1 1/2 tsp citric acid
• 1/4 tsp liquid rennet (or 1/4 of a rennet tablet)
• 1 tsp cheese salt

Dissolve the rennet in 1/4 cup of cool water and set aside.Dissolve the citric acid in 1 cup cool water.Pour 1 gallon of milk in a stainless steel or glass pot. (no aluminum or cast iron). Add the citric acid solution to the milk while stirring.

Heat the milk to 90F while stirring.Remove from heat then slowly stir in the rennet and water mixture. Stir with an up and down motion for 30 seconds. Then cover the pot and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Check to see if a curd has formed. It will be like custard and there will be a clear delineation between the soft solid curd and the watery whey. The whey should be pretty transparent when the curd has formed. If the curd has not separated completely the whey will still look a little milky. If this is the case let it rest for a few more minutes.Cut the curd with a knife that is long enough to reach the bottom of the pot. Slice the curd, all the way to the bottom of the pot in a checker board pattern. The cut again another checker board pattern but this time with the knife at a 45 degree angle with the surface of the curd. This will cut the curd into little chunks.Now return the pot to the stove and heat to 105F all the while gently stirring the curds with a spoon. The goal is to break the curds as little as possible. Once it reaches 105F remove it from the heat and continue to stir it gently for 2-5 minutes. The longer the time you stir, the firmer your cheese will be. I wanted a softer cheese so I only stirred for 3 minutes.Now pour off the whey that is on top. Now you should see these lovely curds at the bottom of your pot.Using a slotted spoon transfer your curds to a microwaveable bowl. Gently drain off more of the whey but do not press or squeeze it out of the curds.

Place the bowl in the microwave on "high" for 1 minute. This is when you might want to put some gloves on or if you have very clean hands that are used to handling hot stuff you can do this bare-handed.

After microwaving it take drain the last bit of whey and add the 1 tsp of cheese salt to the curds. Gently fold in the salt. Return it to the microwave cook it on "high" for another 30 seconds.

Drain the curds again and start stretching the curd. It needs to be 135F to stretch properly. If it's not at this temperature put it back in the microwave on "high" for another 30 seconds.

Stretch and pull the cheese like taffy until it is smooth with a shiny surface. The more the cheese is worked the firmer it will end up.

Form the cheese into a ball or any shape you like. A log, oval or even a braid...from what the recipe says!

Once it's shaped the way you like it, place it in a bath of ice water.Once chilled, it is ready to do what ever you wish with...like eat it!!! I was really pleased at how our cheese turned out. Though it was a low fat cheese it had a wonderful taste and texture.

We're looking forward to trying out more cheese recipes and we promise we will share it with you all!

Here's the Beef!

Remember my little steers that arrived in the Spring of 2009?

Well, they grew beautifully into nicely finished animals. Their hanging weights ended up at 633lbs and 728lbs. I sold the larger one to a family and split the smaller one with another family. Every year there is something new to be learned about growing steers as big as possible in the time frame and doing it as inexpensively as possibly without compromising the quality or sustainability.

The steers are pastured here from when they arrive in the spring into early fall. Every day they are fed a little grain not only to put on weight but to also train them to come when called. I call it "Grain Train". They are not expected to be pets by any stretch but it does come in handy to have them come running when you want to check on them or when one finds a hole in the fence. Shake that bucket of grain and they usually come a running.

Our 20 acres is all pasture of varying quality with the best 5 acres surrounding the house. It is sloping and spring-fed thus stays green from spring into fall. We generally do not have to supplement this forage with hay until mid to late September.

September is when the real graining begins. This is increased every month until the first week of January when the steers are slaughter. Usually the steers are fed a good quality grass hay but this season the hay farmer I purchase from lost his lease on his grass fields and only had alfalfa available.

The great thing about cattle is that you can feed them a lower quality of hay than require for horses. I do not mean lowsy forage that was bailed into hay but good hay that may be at the bottom of the stack and be dirty or slightly moldy on one side. The only shortcomings should be cosmetic and only "skin deep". My hay supplier will generally sell this hay to me at a discount of a third off the price. This year he had beautiful second cutting alfalfa hay that he was selling for $150 a ton and let us have it for $100 a ton.

One ton of hay per steer is usually what is required to feed the animals until their January slaughter dates. Sometimes it's more sometimes less depending on when the pasture gives out.

Slaughter dates have to be made somewhat in advance depending on the time of year. I used to have the steers slaughter in November or December but now we moved it out to the first week of January. This way we are past the hunting season rush at the processors and past the crazy holiday time for us.

The "meat guys" , as my daughter calls them, are always the harshest critics of how well we did finishing the steers. They are kind of like the final exam in the school of beef raising for me and there's no way to cheat to get a better grade. (Not that I would cheat! LOL) But this year I got an A+! The steers were covered with just the right amount of fat and the meat is beautifully marbled.

I have been raising beef every year since 1997 and I think I finally have it figured out. I think! ;)

Oh, Deer!

Deer season in North Idaho has come to a close and what a season it as been! It started out very slowly and ended with a bang....literally.

My husband hunted almost daily from the beginning of the season and saw a lot of bucks but mostly young spikes and forkies...even a few elk. Luckily at the peak of the rut a nice mature 9-point buck showed just long enough for him to get a good shot at it.
Not to be out done, my dad came up and got this beautiful 8 point buck with only two days left in the season. Way to go dad!
Greg removed the back straps and tenderloins from the deer. The remaining meat was taken to the local processors to be hung, cut and wrapped. We're all looking forward to next year but in the mean time we'll be enjoying all this wonderful meat. Yum!!

Do You Know How to Salsa???

Well, after today I believe I now can say that I know how to make salsa. Never before had I made salsa of any kind, either fresh or canned. With all the tomatoes that I had ripening down in the basement, most of which are destined to be frozen, bagged and eventually cooked into my favorite homemade V8 juice, it seemed a shame not to make a batch of canned salsa from some fresh tomatoes. Once frozen, tomatoes become little red sacks of mush and do not lend themselves to more than juice or sauce.

The recipe I decided to try is from the Ball Blue Book and is called Spicy Tomato Salsa. I know it sounds like I'm El Cheapo (which I am!) but I decided on this recipe because a lot ingredients I already had on hand and what I had to buy for it was not expensive. Here are the ingredients:

Spicy Tomato Salsa
(makes 6 pints)

• 6 pounds of tomatoes, washed, drained, peeled, seeded and chopped to 1/4" dice
• 3 cups diced red onions
• 15 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, packed tightly
• 6 jalapeno peppers seeded and diced
• 9 dried hot red chilies, seeded
• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 TBS pickling salt
• 3/4 tps red pepper flakes
• water

To peel the skin off the tomatoes you need to blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute and immediately plunge them into cold water. The skins will be very easy to remove.
The preparation of all the ingredients is pretty straight forward except for the 9 dried hot red chillies. Remove the seeds and place the chilies in a bowl. Add boiling water to the chilies just enough to cover them. Tightly cover over the top of the bowl with a plastic wrap such as Saran Wrap and let this steep for 15 minutes. After this, discard of approximately half of the infused water and place the remaining water, along with the chilies in a food processor and blend for a minute.
Now place all of the ingredients, along with chopped chili water mixture, in a large sauce pan or Dutch oven and heat over high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure it's not scorching near the bottom. Ladle the hot salsa into hot, sterilized pint jars and fill with 1/4" head space remaining. Seal with two-piece lids.
Place in a boiling water canner and boil gently for 15 minutes. Adjust processing time you the altitude you are at.
I was please with how they turned out. After tasting a bit of the salsa before canning it, I would say it's a medium heat. I love the amount of tomato and the cilantro flavor but I am expecting a "maturing" of flavors after sitting on the shelf for a few weeks.

Green Enchiladas Stuffed with Spicy Grilled Zucchinis, Pork Sausage and Tots

Here's an Iron Chef Bradley entry from the past that did get voted the winner.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds spicy pork sausage
2 med zucchini
10 large corn tortillas
2/3 cup chopped onion
3 TBS chopped fresh parsley
2 cups tatortots thawed and crushed
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 large can of green enchilada sauce
1 cup sour cream
Penzeys Southwest Seasoning (salt, ancho pepper, garlic, black pepper,oregano, cayenne, cumin, chipotle, cilantro)
Canola oil

Heat up the grill to hot.
Slice zucchini lengthwise 1/4" thick.
Brush both sides with oil and season generously with Southwest Seasoning
Grill about 3-4 mins on each side.
Once cool enough to handle, chop.

Still over a hot grill.
Brown sausage in a skillet, then drain
Saute in oil the tator tots and chopped onions.

To make the filling, mix together sour cream, chopped parsley and 1 3/4 cups of the shredded cheese.
Add to this the browned sausage, sauted tots and onions and chopped grilled zucchini and mix until just blended.

Soften corn tortillas in hot oil for 5 seconds on each size.
Dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce
Then generously fill with the filling
Roll and place seam side down in a roasting pan.
Once all your enchiladas are built, pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

Cook in a 350F preheated grill over indirect heat for 25 minutes or until bubbling.
Close the grill while cooking.

Enjoy!