Just One Gallon of Raw Cows Milk

I bought a gallon of raw cows milk and this is what I ended up with :)

I put the gallon in two 1/2 gallon, large mouth mason jars and let it sit for two days.

I skimmed the cream off and I churned it and got almost a pound of fresh butter - the buttermilk that I poured off was a little over a cup and this is what I made from the buttermilk:

And of course what was left was our drinking milk for the week YUM!!!!!

Buttermilk Pie

1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3 eggs, beaten

1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 deep dish pie shell (either your own recipe or storebought)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until light.
3. Add the eggs and beat; then beat in vanilla.
4. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the batter alternatively with the buttermilk; beat until smooth.
5. Pour into a deep dish pie shell and bake at 400F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and bake for 50-60 additional minutes.
6. Pie should turn a nice golden brown and a knife inserted should come out clean.

World’s Easiest Boiled Eggs

World’s Easiest Boiled Eggs

Enter and Win a Chicken Garden Kit

What about beautiful plants for our gardens that are chicken-resistant? Chickens simply avoid many ornamental plants. Of course, there will always be exceptions with animals, because they have different taste preferences and attitudes.      Chickens usually do much more damage with their feet than with their beaks, and often they ignore plants altogether. As we do with our children and dogs, we need to supervise our chickens, especially when they are new to our garden.

Sure, we published a book with everything you need to know to start your own chicken garden. But one lucky person will also win a complete chicken garden start-up kit, including:

• $50 gift card for chicken feed or supplies from McMurray Hatchery
• One chicken coop plan from The Garden Coop (a $20 value)
• 1 lb. of organic chicken forage blend and seeds for chicken-friendly plants from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply (a $20 value)A copy of Free-Range Chicken Gardens

All you need to enter is an email address. The contest ends February 17!http://www.timberpress.com/chickens/

      

 

 

Maine's State Bird - "The Black Fly"

Well for the people that don't live in the State of Maine our State Bird is the dreaded "Black Fly" and it comes in swarms every year. The only thing I can compare it too is a smaller version of New Jersey's Green headed fly. These little guys bite something fierce and draw blood.Anything and everything is fair game, goats, chickens rabbits, dogs and especially people -  you name it! I put out those bagged fly baits and within a week they are half full of those nasty flies. I feel so bad for the goats all ya see is running back and forth. The problem is topical sprays don't work on these little suckers!!!! On people they just love going to the roots of your hair and around your ears. It makes it worse due to the fact our weather has been rainy for at least 2 weeks now, what we need is a good stretch of hot sunny days - Here's Hoping!!  If anyone has a good idea how to deal, let me know.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I always feel so guilty not getting to blog, So much going on since March - We know have 15 babies running around and playing, so full of energy. The make me laugh, such characters! We have 12 does and just  3 bucks, these little guys think the died and went to Heaven!
We also have added 20 more chicks to the farm, all brown egg layers and heavy egg laying ( Lets hope so) We have alot of egg customers knocking on our door - It is nice to know where your food comes from.
Here's some pics of some of the babies:

Houston Blue eyed Buck



Amelia Blue eyed Doe



Blue eyed Buck

Chasity

Exploring babies

Zoe and Zena (Sables)

Saving a little

I was at the dollar store the other day and came across some baby wipes - my brain went Hmmmmmmm.
I bought about six packs, a dollar a piece - how can you go wrong.
This is what I did - I opened one of the packs (80 count) and added a little more water, took the cleaning solution that I use and added a wee bit and now I have disposable cleaning pads. You also can rinse the pads and use it some more since the cleaning solution is full strength.
Another Idea is to put (2) of the pads on something like a swifer wet mop - the pads are just as strong (for baby bottoms) and also have an anti - bacterial. Try it - All your losing is a Dollar.

Time almost here!

Well we have been very busy around here lately - Its almost kidding time (about a week from now). We have been preparing pens, cleaning feeders, buckets etc. And of course, giving all the Mamas to be (6) a little extra attention :) Mud season has arrived, not always a bad thing, at least we know spring is just around the corner.
Also a Spring thing - We just placed an order for chicks, this year we ordered Barred Rock Hens, Plymouth Rock Hens ( New England breed :) ) and some Easter eggers which we thought would be cute for the little kids that visit the farm.
Happy Spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!