Woolly sheep make me feel warm and fuzzy!

Hair sheep are all the rage here, primarily because they don't have to be sheared (they are covered in a different kind of wool that naturally sheds as the weather gets warmer), but also because they have a little better resistance to the nefarious worms that can be so hard on sheep.

We still like the looks of woolly ewes, especially on cold winter days. Watching them makes me want to wrap up in a cozy wool sweater myself. We have snow covering the ground, but thankfully nothing like last year at this time. The ewes are all back in one group. The rams are now back at home and back to their bachelor group. They all seem to be getting along quite well, and keeping them in a single group will be so much easier than having to keep them separated. We sold the first group of this year's lambs on Saturday; 12 nice-looking lambs that averaged about 94 pounds live weight. With less competition and a little more feed, we hope the smaller lambs will keep right on growing and be marketable size in 6 to 8 weeks.

Here are a few photos of a chilly sunset and some warm woollies in New Hope over the weekend.

And just for comparison, here's what it looked like last year on December 20.

That's right, 17 inches of snow.

So I'm not complaining about the little dusting we have right now!

We got about 5 inches here; over in New Hope it was a bit less as you can see in the photos. 



Bacon update

Bacon from our pigs, cured and smoked by us.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

(In case it didn't translate for you, this photo only needs one word: YUM!) 

Bacon

I am happy to report that the first bacon experiment ended with a very delicious product. Today Brian and I sliced and packaged the bacon he made from a pork belly we've had in the freezer since our last batch of hogs. This was a dry cure recipe and was smoked using hickory sawdust. He still has two or three bellies to go and several other recipes to try.

The ham from our most recent pigs is currently in its second week of curing in an extra refrigerator in the basement (yay Craigslist!).

Between the freezing temperatures and all this food, there is no doubt it is winter!

Chicken stock

Convert chicken carcasses into chicken stock. Check.

I had to clear space out of the freezer to fit our recently butchered pigs, and the most obvious thing taking up space was the bags and bags of chicken parts that I saved for making stock. It took several days and several batches, but I am happy to report that there are no more "parts for stock" in the freezer.

The following pictures illustrate the process I use, sorry you can't smell the delicious aroma!

Ingredients:

4 pounds of chicken parts, mostly backs, necks, and wing tips

1 large onion, quartered

4 carrots, peeled and cut in half

4 ribs of celery, cut in half, use leaves too if they are healthy

10 sprigs fresh thyme

10 sprigs fresh parsley, stems too

2 bay leaves

10 whole peppercorns

2 whole cloves of garlic, peeled

2 gallons cold water

Put all of the ingredients into a large stock pot, and pour water over the top. I usually double or triple this batch, and often end up only having room for half of the water in the pot.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours, adding water as needed to keep everything submerged.

Strain stock and discard all bones, meat, and vegetable matter (I bury all the leftover material in the compost pile). Strain a second time through a tight mesh to remove tiny particles. Place strained stock in stock pot in a sink full of ice water to quickly cool it.

The fresh stock chilling in the sink. After it cools, place stock pot in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours to allow the fat to form a nice, firm layer on top.

Skim the fat off of the surface. You can then store it for a couple of days in the refrigerator or a few months in the freezer. I prefer to can it, because I need the freezer space for other stuff! I heat the stock to a rolling boil and then ladle the hot liquid into jars, leaving a generous head space (at least 1 inch). Process at 11 pounds of pressure, 20 minutes for pints or 25 minutes for quarts.

The finished product! I do not usually have room for all the water the recipe calls for, so my stock is double-strength. When I use it, I usually dilute it one to one with water. I love the rich brown color and full flavor of this stock!

All these days of work yielded 25 quarts of concentrated stock, 50 quarts once it's diluted. That seems to be about right compared to previous years, approximately 1 quart of stock per chicken that we butcher.