The first ham is now in its final stage - aging. Can't wait to try it. For now it is in the basement, but Brian is working on a temperature and humidity controlled box that it will go into soon.
I was inspired by St. Patrick's day last week and corned some venison roasts we'd had in the freezer. We are going to eat some in the corned form with cabbage, hopefully tomorrow. The other half is already gone. Saturday we took it out of the corning brine, added a dry rub, and then smoked it to make pastrami. Oh my goodness, you can not believe how incredible this was. We ate it with mashed potatoes and string beans, and that was good. But, spread a little coarse mustard on a thin slice, add some pickled string beans, and roll up for an out of this world appetizer. We will definitely be doing this again!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Lambs
The count is now at 11 ewes lambed, 13 lambs living. Losing 3 lambs in 24 hours was a rough way to start lambing season. That little one I had been helping to nurse did not make it and two others were lost to random, rare events. But since then, things have been better. Here's to a good week ahead!
A set of twins snuggling in the sun.
309 with her lamb.
Close up of 309's lamb; I love the brown edges on her ears.
1165, a cutie out of Dalton. We had to bottle feed him for a little while until his mama's milk came in so now he comes up to see us every time we go into the pen. He's getting milk from the ewe now, but that doesn't stop him from trying to use his cuteness to persuade me for a drink!
All this laying around in the sun is tiring.
312 and her very newborn lamb.
That's all for now!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Lambing season has officially begun
Lambing season kicked off Sunday with 311, who had a nice set of twins, both boys. When I went to feed in the morning, I found 311 in labor. So I prepared her lambing jug - a cozy little pen piled high with straw and outfitted with a hay bag and water bucket where the ewe and her lambs can bond and we can access everyone easily if there are any problems - fed everyone else, and waited for her to deliver the lambs. Both arrived with no problems (yay!). As it turns out, it will be easy to remember who the oldest lamb is this year. Because of the way we number lambs, these guys will be numbers 1111-1 and 1111-2 (eleven for the year, eleven for the dam, and -1 meaning ram-lamb 1 and 2). No way I'll forget who was first!
When we got back from church I took the camera out and got a few photos of the newbies.
Mama ewes are very protective, and she wasn't thrilled about me sticking my camera in her safe little world.
A job well done! This ewe is a great mama, so no surprise there. It is hard to get cute photos of lambs this early, but they are out of the jug and into the mixing pen now, so I'll have lots of cute poses to pick from in the next few days.
As is often the case, there wasn't much of a lull in the lambing. Last night while I was filling up the water trough I noticed a ewe "nesting," which is one of the earliest signs she is getting really close to lambing. Only one problem - she wasn't in our close up pen; she was out in the main field. I have been down that road and I know that it is no fun to try to catch a ewe when she has an acre to run around, trees to duck behind, and numerous obstacles she can put between you and her (oh and none of this is on flat ground either). So we've been using a small pen where we can easily observe the ewes that are closest to lambing and relativley easily catch those that need assistance. This ewe was not in the right place, and we didn't have any luck trying to get her there. So we went inside and made supper. Lambing season is a delicate balance of waiting and interveneing quickly, but only when needed.
We went back out a couple of hours later and she was lying quietly with one lamb that was making pitiful cries and another tiny one that didn't make it. This ewe was 11 days early, and both lambs were small. The largest one weighed just over 5 pounds and the other was about 4. We got them all up to the barn, and placed them in a jug. I worked with the lamb to get it some colostrum. He had good suckling strength, but his back legs weren't very strong so he had quite a bit of trouble staying upright. Once he'd had colostrum and a dose of a mineral and energy drink, we tucked them in and went to sleep. I prayed he'd still be alive come morning. Thankfully, he was! I've been helping him nurse and he's much stronger today, but still not super-steady on his feet.
There was also a brand new set of twins this morning out of our new ram Dalton. Both are good sized and have the cutest speckles. Last I checked they and their mama are doing well. So that's 6 lambs born already, and the first due date is officially tomorrow...
Sunday was a gorgeous, spring-like day with beautiful clear blue skies and temperatures in the 60s. Several of my daffodils are blooming now, and with a break in the rain, I finally got some cheery photos.
Seed starting is also progressing. Friday night I transferred the broccoli and cabbage seedlings to the second stage of my system, little cups made of newspaper. They are so green and healthy, and are off to a great start.
When we got back from church I took the camera out and got a few photos of the newbies.
Lots of licking and nuzzling to get these little guys cleaned off, on their feet, and nursing.
As is often the case, there wasn't much of a lull in the lambing. Last night while I was filling up the water trough I noticed a ewe "nesting," which is one of the earliest signs she is getting really close to lambing. Only one problem - she wasn't in our close up pen; she was out in the main field. I have been down that road and I know that it is no fun to try to catch a ewe when she has an acre to run around, trees to duck behind, and numerous obstacles she can put between you and her (oh and none of this is on flat ground either). So we've been using a small pen where we can easily observe the ewes that are closest to lambing and relativley easily catch those that need assistance. This ewe was not in the right place, and we didn't have any luck trying to get her there. So we went inside and made supper. Lambing season is a delicate balance of waiting and interveneing quickly, but only when needed.
We went back out a couple of hours later and she was lying quietly with one lamb that was making pitiful cries and another tiny one that didn't make it. This ewe was 11 days early, and both lambs were small. The largest one weighed just over 5 pounds and the other was about 4. We got them all up to the barn, and placed them in a jug. I worked with the lamb to get it some colostrum. He had good suckling strength, but his back legs weren't very strong so he had quite a bit of trouble staying upright. Once he'd had colostrum and a dose of a mineral and energy drink, we tucked them in and went to sleep. I prayed he'd still be alive come morning. Thankfully, he was! I've been helping him nurse and he's much stronger today, but still not super-steady on his feet.
There was also a brand new set of twins this morning out of our new ram Dalton. Both are good sized and have the cutest speckles. Last I checked they and their mama are doing well. So that's 6 lambs born already, and the first due date is officially tomorrow...
Sunday was a gorgeous, spring-like day with beautiful clear blue skies and temperatures in the 60s. Several of my daffodils are blooming now, and with a break in the rain, I finally got some cheery photos.
Seed starting is also progressing. Friday night I transferred the broccoli and cabbage seedlings to the second stage of my system, little cups made of newspaper. They are so green and healthy, and are off to a great start.
Broccoli, looking up into the lights.
Cabbage seedlings.
Black eyed susan seedlings - lots of sprouts. I'm not sure how I will separate these when it comes time to put them in the newspaper pots...I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Cherry Brandy rudbeckia seedlings - I am very pleased with how many of these sprouted.
The ham project is on-going. Finally they are fully cured and ready to be smoked. Yesterday they both went in the cold smoker, only they were so heavy the dowel rod broke. Brian took one out and we are currently smoking it. Between tending the hickory chips and checking on lambs, we're keeping busy!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
First daffodil blooming!
The first daffodil here bloomed yesterday. This is way ahead of normal blooming times, but behind other folks in the county. I haven't been able to get a picture because it has been raining steadily for about 36 hours. This has really made the grass green, but it's also made a soupy mess behind the barn. I think we've had enough for a while.
In other happy news, we sold our hunk of junk farm truck! It has been nearly a year since we bought a decent full sized truck and the hunk of junk has been parked in the driveway for at least two years. I am so glad to have it gone. Even after being warned against it, the guy who bought the truck drove it out of here. We stopped using it because the brakes were unreliable and every time we fixed one line another would break. I hope he made it home safely.
Here's to small victories: cheerful daffs and clean driveways!
In other happy news, we sold our hunk of junk farm truck! It has been nearly a year since we bought a decent full sized truck and the hunk of junk has been parked in the driveway for at least two years. I am so glad to have it gone. Even after being warned against it, the guy who bought the truck drove it out of here. We stopped using it because the brakes were unreliable and every time we fixed one line another would break. I hope he made it home safely.
Here's to small victories: cheerful daffs and clean driveways!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Slimming down for Spring
Shorn sheep sure are skinny. And funny looking! We got all the sheep sheared this weekend and completed one of our major annual tasks. There was a bit of juggling the schedule to get them done before the rain came, but the shearing is finished. Even if they do look a bit odd with their suddenly disproportionately large heads and stick-figure necks, it is great to be able to see what kind of condition the ewes are in and and how much udder development they have. Their condition is great, which was good to see, especially because we've been relying on stockpiled grass. I also noticed at least three more ewes that had a little more udder development and do appear to be bred. So that brings us up to 46 that are due to lamb and time will tell if there are a few more.
Thursday night we built a wool bag stand. My job during shearing is to catch sheep, clean up the shearing area, gather up fleeces, and pack the wool in bags. The packing part has been exhausting in years past because I had to put it in the bag and then use my fists to punch down the wool and pack it as tightly as possible. So I had lobbied pretty hard for a bag stand. We finally got that accomplished this year, and while it did take some adjustment, it worked really well. Climbing up the ladder carrying the fleeces was a bit tricky, especially for the larger ones, but packing was so much easier. I just dropped the wool in and when it got close enough to the top I could step into the bag and press the wool down using my foot and most of my body weight, plus gravity was on my side. This was so much less work than using my upper body!
Shearing is hard work and from what I can tell you have to be flexible and strong to get it done. Brian got the shearing bug out of his system on Friday by doing 16, so Saturday he caught sheep, I packed wool, and our friend Tom did the shearing. Tom sheared a total of 49 sheep and Brian did 5 more. In all, these 70 sheep filled three standard wool bags plus three large garbage bags with wool.
Pictures from the weekend activities:
The before picture. Still wooly.
The rams before shearing. As you can see the grass is starting to green up; even more so after the nearly 2 inches of rain we had this weekend. This is about 3 or 4 weeks ahead of normal, but you won't hear me complaining!
Our new wool bag stand. There's a frame on the top that fits over the bag to hold it in place.
Brian shearing.
Tom finishing up the belly and inside of the back legs.
The wool bag filling up.
Freeee! The sheep always seem to be pleased with their new, lighter selves. The first thing they do after being shorn is a full-body shake. Then there's sniffing and licking and re-establishing their social order. Right after we finished shearing the rain started. Although we had quite a bit of rain and even a little snow, everyone seemed just fine. It's amazing how much body heat these little ruminants generate!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Udder update
Tuesday we got our first good look at how the ewes' udders are developing. Because of all their wool, it is hard to see what's going on "down there" when the ewes are standing. But Tuesday everyone got a pedicure, a vaccination, and a dose of wormer. To give a sheep a shot under their skin, you first have to find a spot with no wool. We flip them and set them up on their rumps so we can access the wool-less patch of skin under the front leg. Sheep in this position are quite docile and if you keep them at just the right angle, they are not able to get up, which makes it much easier to do whatever you need to do. This position also makes their feet accessible for a quick hoof trim. And, it provides a sneak peak of the developing mammary system. I love dairy cows, but just try doing that to an 1800-lb Holstein! Or a crazy Angus....that's one reason we have stuck with sheep!
I counted 43 ewes that had good udders. I'm not thrilled with that, it's only 81% of the ewes that were marked by the rams, but it's better than last year when we had a lot of yearlings and not a lot of lambs. And there's still a chance that some of the ewes that have never lambed and are due later will still end up being bred. The most disturbing thing is that the ewes that aren't showing any udder development yet are about evenly split between the groups that were with Thorne and with Bruce and Dalton (oh yeah, I decided to call the new Suffolk ram Dalton). That disturbs me because Thorne is usually very effective, typically 100% of his marks lead to lambs. I will have to see if I can think of any other explanations, but right now I suspect that Thorne is going to have to be replaced. He is 7 years old and may be past his prime. Bruce has not been as effective, and he's on my black list too, he's a young ram who should be at his peak. So we may be making some changes in our ram battery this year (can you call 3 rams a battery?).
Still, 43 ewes due to lamb means we're looking at nearly 80 lambs this year, so that's exciting!
I counted 43 ewes that had good udders. I'm not thrilled with that, it's only 81% of the ewes that were marked by the rams, but it's better than last year when we had a lot of yearlings and not a lot of lambs. And there's still a chance that some of the ewes that have never lambed and are due later will still end up being bred. The most disturbing thing is that the ewes that aren't showing any udder development yet are about evenly split between the groups that were with Thorne and with Bruce and Dalton (oh yeah, I decided to call the new Suffolk ram Dalton). That disturbs me because Thorne is usually very effective, typically 100% of his marks lead to lambs. I will have to see if I can think of any other explanations, but right now I suspect that Thorne is going to have to be replaced. He is 7 years old and may be past his prime. Bruce has not been as effective, and he's on my black list too, he's a young ram who should be at his peak. So we may be making some changes in our ram battery this year (can you call 3 rams a battery?).
Still, 43 ewes due to lamb means we're looking at nearly 80 lambs this year, so that's exciting!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Smokin'
I love that Eric Church song, Smoke a Little Smoke (or as my adorable nephew Eric sings, 'moke a little 'moke). But we're not in to that kind of smoking. This is the kind of smoking we do here...
Over the weekend, Brian and Matt built a cold smoking contraption. The first use for it will be cold smoking the hams that are currently finishing the cure phase.
Cold smoking is used to flavor and preserve the meat, not to cook it. So there is a heat source that burns the wood to produce smoke (this all happens in the red part of our contraption), then that smoke is piped to another chamber (fancy word for trash can). The long pipe allows the smoke to cool, and it is less than 90 degrees by the time it enters the cold smoking chamber where the meat is hanging.
64 degrees inside the cold smoking chamber. Convection currents cause the smoke to rise up out of the chimney cap.
Seedlings
February 20th I planted my first seeds for the garden. Now, before my Mom totally freaks out... they were in the basement in seed trays. Broccoli and cabbage seeds, hopefully started early enough that we will have plants ready to transplant by early April. Five days later the broccoli sprouted and the cabbage weren't far behind. There's a lot of work ahead, but the early gardening season is always full of excitement and promise!
Lots of systems work for starting seed. Mine involves placing small plastic trays inside a plastic bag. The bag seals in moisture and heat and seems to work really well for reliable sprouting. Once the seeds have sprouted, I transfer them to individual pots. I used to use peat pots, but they were expensive. So two years ago I switched to making pots out of newspaper. They work great! Easy to make and still biodegradable, which means less stress for the plants during transplanting. All of my trays are placed on a stand Brian made years ago that has a combination of grow lights and florescent lights, which are on a timer. The plants stay in the basement (at about 60 degrees) for a while and when they are ready, I transfer them to a cold frame outside. Last year I had so many pepper plants that I had to put them outside earlier than usual. It actually was the best they've ever done, so I will be trying that again. To protect the ones that wouldn't fit in the cold frame, I used Rubbermaid containers with lids. I took the lids off during the day, but sealed them up at night.
Since I am not starting all kinds of peppers this year, I am trying some perennials again. I have had varying degrees of success with them, so I am only cautiously optimistic. But I started Cherry Brandy rudbeckia, regular Black Eyed Susan rudbeckia, and purple coneflowers on Saturday. I had Black Eyed Susan envy after seeing my sister's and my sister-in-law's beds last year, and I'm really excited about this new Cherry Brandy variety.
Lots of systems work for starting seed. Mine involves placing small plastic trays inside a plastic bag. The bag seals in moisture and heat and seems to work really well for reliable sprouting. Once the seeds have sprouted, I transfer them to individual pots. I used to use peat pots, but they were expensive. So two years ago I switched to making pots out of newspaper. They work great! Easy to make and still biodegradable, which means less stress for the plants during transplanting. All of my trays are placed on a stand Brian made years ago that has a combination of grow lights and florescent lights, which are on a timer. The plants stay in the basement (at about 60 degrees) for a while and when they are ready, I transfer them to a cold frame outside. Last year I had so many pepper plants that I had to put them outside earlier than usual. It actually was the best they've ever done, so I will be trying that again. To protect the ones that wouldn't fit in the cold frame, I used Rubbermaid containers with lids. I took the lids off during the day, but sealed them up at night.
Since I am not starting all kinds of peppers this year, I am trying some perennials again. I have had varying degrees of success with them, so I am only cautiously optimistic. But I started Cherry Brandy rudbeckia, regular Black Eyed Susan rudbeckia, and purple coneflowers on Saturday. I had Black Eyed Susan envy after seeing my sister's and my sister-in-law's beds last year, and I'm really excited about this new Cherry Brandy variety.
The Cherry Brandy seed tray in a plastic bag. This was taken on planting day, so there's no humidity yet, but within 24 hours, the area above the tray will be completely fogged up with condensation, my sign that I put enough water in the tray. It's a delicate balance to get enough, but not too much.
Broccoli seedlings one week after sowing the seed.
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