Jerky update, wall hanging, and butter failure

We woke up to more snow that came down until 9am.  We battled the wind, again, all day!

My only goal today was to make butter. Who knew it would take half of the day to get the temperature of the milk up to 72*. The book says to put in the food processor and whiz for about eight minutes.

After whizzing that bad-boy for 30 minutes, I gave up! Not sure what I did wrong but I plan on consulting my cheese-making friends for some much needed HELP on this one.

It only got to the frothy stage with minimal separation of buttermilk from butter.

Noontime I took out Dude's second batch of beef jerky that came out perfect !

I did finished the wall-hanging I started during the blizzard.  Maybe it's time  to start something that represents springtime!

 Sunny here but snowing in Denver.

More snow and making beef jerky

 It got really cold today after a nice spring morning...and then the hail arrived...again. I can't complain. It wasn't harsh or an angry hail, just small size wanna-be hail.  Then the wind decide it didn't want to be left out.  The wind was a bit angry. The house was quiet with me reading or napping most of the day and the wind kind of freaked out the dog who barked at it off and on all morning. I did take some time out to run get the mail, get some parsley to dry from the greenhouse, and check on my birds. The mail was junk, the parsley was few and the birds were cold. The vent in the greenhouse was open and the glass on the screen door was as well.  For some reason Dude thought it would be a warm day...what??? I closed it all up and scampered back to the house.  Brrr

The outdoor/coop birds are kind of stupid. I know, I hate to say it about any of my birds but these will stand out in the snow like little kids not wanting to go to bed early. They won't go to the coop until evening...goodness gracious!

Dude is home early today! It was snowing where he was  and by the time he got home at 3pm it is snowing here too.

Sorry the picture is blurry. I was being pursued by the sleet.

The sleet was fierce on the way out to milk the goats.  Dude still won't let me milk since I have to sit and lean in until the 6week doctor appointment. He is such a gentleman despite the cold.

We are getting a gallon a day.

Angelo is a wee bit jealous of all the girls attention.

Peppy has to be leashed as she loves to jump and balance on everyone!

Last night Dude stayed up to marinate beef for jerky. He had gone over to Hudson Meat Locker over the weekend where he usually buys his jerky to ask them how they make theirs.  They were generous with their time and recipe! We  bought round steak from them that they had sliced the way they have theirs. Today he is putting in the dehydrator.

**side note ** Dude loaded the dishwasher last night before heading to bed and after he marinated the beef. This morning while unloading the dishes I found my sewing scissors in the silverware basket. Dear God! Please tell me he did not use them on the beef !!!!

I will let you know tomorrow how it turns out. The house smells insanely wonderful!

Goats update and making ice cream

The baby kids are now safely snug in their new homes in TX.  Peppy, aka Sally, is the only goat we kept.  She is a handful, jumping on everything and everyone she can find.  Running Water, the mom to the goats that left has been in mourning and cries off and on all day... Peppy takes advantage and jumps on her when she can.  I go out and sit in a lawn chair part for meditation and part to soothe Running Water.  As long as I go  out to show her some love and pet her head neck while telling her she is okay.  She eventually saw her sister in the field and went off to be with her. It is all part of homesteading but it is hard to see. 

Before they left, my sister and her husband got a quick lesson on medicating the goats, hoof trimming, and overall maintenance for good health.  Hoof trimming is always a chore with our big boy Angelo. We did not give the  mom's any meds since we are drinking their milk at this time.

Today I made ice cream from goat's milk.  It is a simple recipe I found here and then added all of Dude's favorites.  Definitely not something I can eat but I know he will enjoy it !

I can see many variations of this ice cream in the future.  No more store bought for us....Sorry Blue Bunny.

Oops... maybe I put too many goodies in it?

Next up queso blanco cheese.

Goodbye to baby kids to a very good home

My sister was here for a few weeks to help me after surgery. Her giving spirit was amazing. She worked hard and helped us in every way. While here she fell in love with goats and took 3 of them home with her today.  They too have fallen in love with her. They were orderly and lined up for her this morning and patiently waited for their lift into the back of the Durango. 

This is her with them during the week. They definitely thought she was a human jungle gym.

Lined up and ready to go!

The Three Amigos

So far , so good.

On to Texas and green green grass of home!

Lessons learned from the blizzard, turkey update and other stuff

The blizzard this week gave us some valuable insights that we can use for the next storm.  Generally we are prepared and ready for storms.  We have firewood ready, food prepped but we were caught off guard this time with water.  You use water for everything, especially with farm animals.  We had to make sure the goats and all the chickens had water.  No electricity means no water to flush toilets and you need a lot there.  Drinking water, cooking water, and water to clean with.  Water and heat are number one for us. The wood stove went constantly.  Do you have enough wood or fuel?

Other stuff:
Gas stove.  Even though we had no power, if you have a gas stove you can light it.  We ate well as long as we didn't need water... such as for pasta.

Instant coffee for the caffeine heads.  If you don't have a camp coffee pot to put on the stove, instant coffee is very handy.

Salad kits.  These were great and quick to prepare.

Candles and kerosene lamps...otherwise you are going to bed very early.  We make mason jar candles each year and Dude collects kerosene lamps. The only problem is the lamps are antiques and he refuses to use them. I bought two cheap ones to use.

Amp Charger. These come in very handy to keep phones charged.

Have something thawed or easily accessible to make for dinner, such as canned meats.  We had thaw hamburger and made meatballs to go with the salad.

Paper plates, the kind you can burn. It keeps your mess down and you use less water.

Stuff to do.  My sister and I made cards and started new quilted wall hanging (will post this weekend).  Books to read, cards, and games to play. The men took naps.

Wine.  We found a bottle of wine someone gave us for Christmas and for those who partake, well, they enjoyed it.

Turkey update. Only one baby turkey chick ended up surviving the night. Chicks need a heat lamp and when the power went out we brought them in and put them by the fire. We thought two would live but in the end only one is still alive out of three.

All the other chickens in the greenhouse survived and will be moved to the yard as laying hens or to be butchered in a week.

Layers -

 Meat hens -

The yard birds, aka the layers, did fine as well in the chicken coop.

Faith:  Tradition in our family for Holy Thursday is to have the complete Seder Meal. My mom usually makes the lamb and puts out the fine china.  The oldest and the youngest have their parts in reciting why we have the meal and what Passover is.  The blizzard put a damper on that one this year. The last one we had at my mom's house we had a baby goat on our lap during the meal - we gotten when her mom died giving birth to her.  Very memorable time.

Good Friday and Holy Saturday - Good Friday we won't eat meat tonight but will traditionally eat fish.  We also shutdown all electronics - computers, phones for texting and computers, television and radios all off starting at 3pm and continue off until Easter morning out of respect from when Jesus was crucified.

The plan today is to dry potatoes, bake bread, sew and work in the greenhouse for Dude. May you all have a nice Good Friday.

Blizzard Day

We woke up around 430 am to no electricity.  The rain was turning to snow and I remembered I left the vents open in the greenhouse...where over half our chicks are.  Dude got up and made sure they were closed.  He figured the power would come back on with no issues.  It didn't. When we got up later our concern were our animals.  The goats were fine but we had to get our brand new turkey chicks in the house.  One was dead and the other two were well on their way to expiring. We brought them in the house and my brother-in-law set to work on bringing them back to life.

We have a gas stove so while they babysat chicks, my sister and I cooked breakfast.  The woodstove was started up and went all day keeping us toasty-warm.

Pat cooking up a wonderful breakfast!

Someone perked up.

We made good of the day playing in the snow or making cards and started a quilted wall hanging.

Yes, the snow is that high!

Later we went out to see how deep the snow was ...and it was the drifts that were high.  The drifts are four foot high.

But on top of all that snow was ice.

Dude made his way to the goat barn.

He was able to get to the baby goats but never did make it to the boys - Angelo and Skippy are snowed in until tomorrow.

All in all it was a good day. We were all at home. We had some great meals, heat from the wood stove and great company. I am glad we did not have to go anywhere and all our families were safe and sound as well.

Round two of snow due on Saturday.