Storms

 

    Last night my dog Bubba came in to my bedroom. He stuck his nose in my face. He was shaking. We had another night time storm. With thunder and fireworks. The power went out for a little bit. And he was nervous. He isn't usually this way. But it was pretty intense. Stella and Sophie are in crates. And Sophie can hardly hear anymore. But the silly dog started yipping like she wanted to go outside. So I let her. And she stayed out. It was about 1 am. The storm finally went away and we all went back to sleep. But we have had several night time storms lately. I know we need this rain so much. But the thunder and lightening sure do make animals nervous.

    There are other kinds of storms in my life as well. Family storms. Money storms. Worry storms. Big storms and little storms. Some I can deal with and fix and they go away. But others seem to stick around and get bigger and bigger. And worse and worse. And I let them.

    But I know that there is someone who can help me. Someone who can make the winds stop and the thunder and lightening go away. Someone I can go to and stick my nose in His face. And He will comfort me and tell me it will all be ok. That things will get better and the sun will come up again. And shine bright. And things will keep on growing. And I will be ok. And my family will be ok. And we will have enough money to get by. We always have. Because of Him. My Protector and Counselor and Provider. My Friend and Father. I am so thankful I have someone I can run to when I am afraid. And He will never turn me away. Ever. 

I think I need to relocate the clothes line to the front yard.

Goats and Clothes Lines

 Those 2 things don't go together too well. Things happen while you're away and they don't look the same way as when you left.

                                             
                                               BAD GOAT!                       

                                         
                                     Even the girls are telling him he's a bad goat. Shame on you, John Henry!

  And he hangs his head in shame. He's also been jumping up on the back door ripping the screen to pieces.

       But I do love the bog bad buck. He's pretty good most of the time. And he'll have company soon again.                        

The Rams

I took my 3 ram lambs to my friend's place to eat down her garden area. That was 2 weeks ago this Thursday. It looked like a jungle then. Not now. They have eaten all the bamboo. All the weeds. All the little bushes. All that's left is the middle area with tough grass and English ivy. And those clumps of weedy grass even horses won't eat. We were thinking they were going to stay there at least a month or so. I am thinking I may need to get them back home sooner.


Abraham, the black ram, is always like this. With his head through the fence posts. I called him several times and he never even looked at me. I miss these guys. When I bring them back I'll put them in the back yard with John Henry, the buck. He's a bit lonely back there by himself. He was getting a little too fresh with the little does so he had to go to the back yard til Fall. He can still see and talk to the girls. Just can't be in woth them anymore. So this will be the buck and ram yard for awhile. Til we're all ready to breed.

I need a trailer bad.

What's wrong with this picture?

                                       

                                          And this one?

 

                                           And this one?

  

                                           And this one?

I'm sure you've all figured it out by now. There is a loose chickie. Yes, another loose chickie. Well, it hasn't happened in quite awhile. And I don't want it to happen again. I THINK I found her spot. And I fixed it. But she got out twice today. I will see if she's out again tomorrow and check more thoroughly. She's a sweetie though.

Corn On The Cob

This is probably all the corn I'll get. But isn't it pretty? It had come up here and there so I mowed all but these few stalks down. They aren't full yet so I'll wait a little longer. It's Silver Queen. I can still see my grandmother sitting at her little kitchen table with a pile of shucked corn and a sharp knife. She'd cut off the kernels from each ear then scrape the cob. I loved that. I'd get splashed with corn milk every time! Such good memories. I think of that every time I do corn.

Making Marinated Feta Cheese

Wednesday I made a batch of goat's milk feta cheese. It's about the easiest cheese to make.  You just take a gallon of fresh milk, heat to 86 degrees, add 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Let sit an hour. Then add 1/2 teaspoon of rennet to a 1/4 cup of cool water. Add to milk, cover and let sit another hour. Then cut the huge pot of curds that have formed. I use a long serrated knife and cut down the middle and then the other way, then sideways. You want about 1" cubes. Let it rest 5 minutes. Then get the milk back to 86 degrees and stir gently for 15 minutes. That's the hardest part for me. I usually go sit down to do this. It's very boring. Then you line a colander with cheesecloth and pour curds and whey in. That's what the first picture is.

Then you hang the cheese for 4-6 hours. After it's hung and drained real good, toy take it out of the cheesecloth and cut the ball in half. Put in a bowl. Then I use kosher salt to sprinkle all over the cheese. Cover it with a thin cloth and let sit on counter for 24 hours at room temp. After 24 hours, sprinkle with more salt and let sit another 2 hours. Then refrigerate for 5 days. After that you can eat it like this or do the next step.

Go out to your herb garden and cut some fresh herbs. I love rosemary, basil, thyme and oregano. So I cut some of those. How do you like my cattle feeder herb garden? It's so pretty and so easy to get to.

 Wash them good and lay on a paper towel. Put another one over the herbs and kind of crush them to let out all the goodness.

 Then get your little jars, olive oil and cheese ready.

I cut my cheese into nice little cubes. Then put a layer in each jar, then a layer of herbs and a head of crushed garlic. Add another layer and more herbs.

 When done, add olive oil to cover cheese. There, all done! As long as cheese is covered in oil, it can sit out on the counter as long as you have some. It really doesn't last very long.

 I have some cute little labels someone gave me so I write down what is in that particular cheese jar and add that. And the date. And there ya go. Marinated feta cheese with fresh herbs in olive oil.

Now y'all go make some for yourselves while I have an omelet with feta cheese and yummy roasted garlic bruschetta poured all over it!