Herford Cattle After A Long Winter

4/19/2013

You can tell the grass is greening up and the cattle held their weight and thrived through the winter.  Our fall calves developed and will be weaned the First of May. Our weather is damp and chilly but I am sure summer will arrive eventually.

I am not too concerned about getting our garden planted, the ground is wet and cold and more rain is in this weeks forecast.   The river bottoms have flooded, receded, and flooded more so all we can do is wait it out.  Farmers have been working fields, but nothing is planted.

At least we are not buried under snow like the northern states.  Winter 2012-2013  has been extremely interesting.

Did Your Dog Get Skunked? Use Hydorgen Peroxide!!!

Plain old hydrogen peroxide really does work to rid your dog of that nasty skunk smell.  Unfortunately I found out yesterday this does work.  Our spoiled rotten Irish Setter was skunked again, for the third time in her life.

It seems she is either territorial or just fascinated with skunks.  When she went to the farm to help feed the cattle yesterday morning, she returned in less than stellar condition.  She reeked. 

Well I have previously used the tomato juice bath, the white vinegar bath, and have not been pleased with the results.

I did have on hand 4 large bottles of peroxide, so we tried that. We poured all four on her and soaked her collar thoroughly.  Of course she had to stay outside for an hour and a half then she received a through warm bath with mild dish soap.  The peroxide neutralizes the effects of the skunk and even when I rinsed her down to apply shampoo the odor did not return.  After a through bath she smelled fresh as a daisy.

I do hope she has finally learned the difference between a skunk and a cat(she is buddies with our cats).

Spring is Finally Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been so nice out the last few days, I have been out and enjoying it.  April has been busy so far, Easter and 2 birthdays.  We have two more this month and then none till June. 

So far this month I have cleaned my kitchen, trimmed my Roses and Russian Sage, repaired my bird feeding station a raccoon decided to vandalize, and cleaned one of the buildings.  It is a 30 x 60 pole barn that we use year round.  It is heated (our outside wood burning stove) and air conditioned.  It is mainly used by my husband but I have a small area that I use.  My work shop was cleaned and reorganized in March so I feel like I am ready for gardening season.  There is still more housecleaning to do but I will keep going and get every thing done.

We have one cow to calve this spring then the rest will be born in the fall.  We still have to have the vet in.  Yes they get check ups also, banding and shots. 

My garden has been ripped and plowed so we are getting closer to my time of the year.  I haven't drug out my flip flops yet but that is not to far off. 

When the sun is shinning and it is warm, it is so much easier to get tons of chores done.  Hopefully we will have a good garden year.  

Is it Spring or Winter?

What a start to spring!!!  Saturday was a warm spring day, yesterday was gray and rainy until 4PM then the temperature starting dropping and snow started.  We did not yet that much maybe 2 inches. 

Today is cold and gray.  This weekend is supposed to be in the fifties so that will really feel good.  This year is just going to be one of those years spring will be here when Mother Nature thinks it is appropriate.

I just got a call from our heating and air repair company wanting to come tomorrow to check out our air conditioner.  I asked them to call back when it is warmer here.  I don't think it is that important yet.  I rally don't want to drag our garden hoses out for them to wash the air conditioners down.

At least this weather gives everyone something to talk about.  We have been very fortunate not to have had any severe rain storms or heavy snows week after week. In short we are just counting our blessings.

Spring Thaw on the Way

Our little household is so excited with the weather forecast this coming weekend 60 degrees is predicted.  Our winter has been harsh compared to the last few winters.  Long, cold, and snowy.  Granted we have not had the harsh winters of our northern neighbors, but it has been nasty here.  We did need to rotate into a normal winter, but I am glad the end is in sight.

Pastures will be greening up, gardening is that much closers, and we won't have to layer up just to function outdoors. All the baby animals will also start showing up for visits and baby anythings are cute. I am anxious to get windows open and get fresh air into the houses and start cleaning and organizing, buildings, the house, and cleaning out vehicles. 

Our grandchildren are really anxious for spring to get here, they will be out this weekend trudging through mud and keeping their Mom's busy with laundry at the end of the day. 

How to Make (Shagbark) Hickory Nut Syrup

Use Shagbark Hickory nuts(the whole nut shell and all),  they are larger than your regular Hickory Nut, hard to crack, but worth the effort.   

Wash the nuts: just soak for 30 minutes in water and drain, and rinse again.  You do not have to let them dry. Crush enough nuts to fill your dutch oven about 3/4 full, leave room for water.

Crush the nuts one at a time in a vise. You are going to use the whole nut to make Hickory Nut Milk.

Make Hickory Nut Milk: (Use an old heavy dutch oven the nuts will discolor it). Cover crushed nuts with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Strain the nuts using a fine strainer.  Reserve the liquid (now Hickory Nut Milk) for your syrup. Discard the nuts and shells or freeze for use in your smoker.

Mix Hickory Nut Milk with white granulated sugar or dark brown sugar.  Use 1 cup sugar to 2 cups of Hickory Nut Milk. Bring to a rolling boil on high heat, reduce heat to Medium and continue to cook uncovered for 45 to 50 Minutes.  Remove from heat and put into sterilized canning jar. 

I used 8 cups of Hickory Nut Milk and 4 cups of white granulated sugar.  I ended up with 2 pints of syrup and an additional 12 ounce container. (total yield--44 ounces)

The finished product is dark and flavorful.  This is not hard to do just time consuming. 

Making A Rich Broth

Making a rich broth is easy.  It will work with Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, or even fish.  If you prefer you can just use vegetables and make vegetable broth.

Cook your meat and save the bones.  Freeze them for later and make a large amount of broth or make it right away.  The bones you save are the ones that are left from carving(from cooked or uncooked meat), not the ones someone has nibbled on. 

The best way I have found to make broth, is to bake it overnight in a slow 200 degree oven (at least 12 hours) and the end result is a really rich broth.  Add water, bones, celery, onion, garlic, and carrots or whatever kind of vegetable you prefer, season with salt or not.  Then cool the broth and strain it.  Next refrigerate it, when it is cooled and it will be congealed you will see a layer of fat the has accumulated at the top.  I remove that(just carefully spoon it off) and discard it.  Now you can use the broth immediately or break it down into smaller amounts and freeze.  Use freezer containers, or zip lock freezer bags.  Broth can also be canned.  I keep large quantities of broth in the freezer to use to can meat.  I recently started canning meat, to have on hand in case of power outages.  I did intend to have this done before winter, so far we have not lost power this winter, we have been very fortunate.

Use for soups, stews, pasta, gravies, there are several uses for this.  It is handy and flavorful.