Milking Stand / Stanchion

Building a Stanchion or Milking Stand.
Our goddaughter Shelby and her husband Dave gave us three baby goats last November.

Miss Claudia Milk Mouth, Gretel Buckleberry and Fetus

They are now grown and my youngest goat, the beautiful Miss Claudia Milk Mouth is going to have a baby!

We’re in the middle of a kitchen remodel along with all the other zillion chores around the farm so I just haven’t gotten around to building a milking stand. 
A milking stand is used to immobile a goat for milking and for hoof trimming and vet visits.  The same type of stand can also be used for sheep and sheep sheering.

Salvaging Barn Wood

Our Mud Room Is Born:
We sold our subdivision home in the city in June 2011 and purchased our small farm in August, 2011.
But even before we closed the deal, my husband Bill was on the look out,  collecting things for our little farm.

One day, while driving by our not-yet-house just to look at it again, (we did that often) Bill happened upon a yard sale. 
What's really strange about that is, he usually doesn't stop at yard sales.  Me?  I will wear the brakes out, screeching to a halt for a yard sale!
That day he found and purchased a load of old barn wood.  Enough to fill the bed of our pickup truck.
We didn't know what we would use it for at the new house, but he said he just could not pass up all that weathered wood for only $25.00 .
After purchasing our little farm, Bill decided to use the barn wood on one wall in our lower level family room (The Man Cave).

Saturday Waffle Breakfast

Easy Waffle Recipe with Homemade Maple Syrup 


My homemade syrup
from the maple trees in the back ground

Making all that homemade syrup got me thinking about recipes using fresh maple syrup! Waffles and pancakes are always a hit at our house, but I have never been a big fan of waffles.

And listen, I am guilty. Until recently, if you searched my pantry, you would find a box of Hungry Jack Instant Pancake and Waffle mix. That may be the cause of my attitude towards pancakes and waffles, the coming from a box taste.

I admit, I've never really read the ingredients on instant pancake and waffle mixes except the directions.
I had no idea what the ingredients even were!
We have been trying to eat healthier in the last few years and reading more and more labels of the food we buy. The fewer the ingredients (and ingredients I can actually pronounce) is at the top of the list for me.

Sugaring or Tapping Maple Trees

Making Syrup From Maple Trees
I am so excited about having the baby chicks, that the other morning I decided to walk across the street and tell our neighbors. Rachel and Tad have 5 beautiful children they are home schooling, so I thought seeing and holding the chicks would be fun and educational for them.

After inviting Rachel and the kids over to see the chicks and then staying to talk for a few minutes, Rachel said” oh, I have something for you, homemade maple syrup.”
Rachel handed me a pint of golden brown syrup and she and the kids took me outside to see the maple tree taps and to watch the sap dripping into buckets.
I got really excited because I realized we have many maple trees in our own yard!



I hurried home and after scouting out which trees I was sure were maple trees, I started doing an internet search.
I goggled how to tap the trees, where to purchase the spiles (tree taps) and the whole process of making maple syrup.  I learned that Ohio is ranked in the top 5 states in maple syrup production.

Starting a Chicken Flock

Saturday February 18, 2012

Chickens!

The Day I Finally Got Chickens

The big day had arrived. Today was the day to go to a farm in Johnstown, Ohio to pick out chicks to start our flock!

I was up by 6am, but I had barely slept the night before. I woke up thinking I should use the old sink base cabinet left over from our bath remodel to keep the new baby chicks in, instead of the small cage my husband Bill and I worked on all evening, converting it into a brooder.
Brooders are used to confine chicks with their feed and water and keep them warm, until they are 6 - 8 weeks old and ready to go outside

I decided I would use the cabinet because it is larger, and I could use old storm windows to cover the top. The old storm windows would not only help keep heat in and keep the cat out, but would also allow me to have a clear view of my chicks.
Bill helped carry the cabinet into the mudroom where I planned to keep the chicks, then we set the storm windows in place and hung the heat lamp.

Growing Green Onions In Winter

Green Onions 

One of the things I miss most about my summer garden is picking fresh off the vine tomatoes and pulling a few leaves of lettuce to make a fresh salad for lunch or dinner.

Having a little mini garden in the winter appeals to me.

I read somewhere that if I planted the white bulb end part of a green onion (after chopping and adding the green part to whatever it is I'm cooking, of course) it would grow!

Building a Pumpkin Arbor

Pumpkin Arbor (July 2010)

My side garden before trellis was finished

I love pumpkins. They are just a beautiful fruit, can be used in many ways and are edible. The bright orange color of pumpkin is a dead giveaway that pumpkin is loaded with an important antioxidant, beta-carotene.

Native Americans dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. They also roasted long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and ate them.

The origin of pumpkin pie occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and filled the insides with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in hot ashes.

Pumpkins are cucurbits, the fruit of a herbaceous annual plant of the gourd family that thrives in hot, dry conditions and includes squash, melons, watermelons and cucumbers.

This year I decided to construct an arbor for
pumpkins and gourd vines to climb over.  (Photo above right is before arbor was finished)

I first saw an arbor similar to the one I had in mind while visiting a farm market outside Chillicothe, Ohio last fall.

Choosing a Farm Market and Making Jam

I have been going to the same farm for strawberries for years, but the last couple of years, the farm was unkempt, strawberries were bad, little or non-existent, and the people running the farm store were not very helpful and a little unfriendly.

I decided this was the year to find a new farm! so started to look for a "Pick Your Own" type farm.
   

My son Daniel and my mid 1990's cow motif kitchen

I started canning (or preserving food) when my son Daniel was little,in the early 1990's.  The photo above shows him at about 2 1/2 years old. And yea, I had a "cow" decorated kitchen, yikes!

January, Thinking of Spring

Well it’s January

We had a huge amount of snow dumped on us here in central Ohio, and although I love snow, January and February always make me long for spring.

This time of year, I begin to look longing at gardening magazines.  I sketch my raised vegetable beds on graph paper to make sure I am making the most of my space.

I daydream about the seed packets and start making lists of supplies I will need to germinate the seeds indoors.

I stand for long periods of time looking out my window at my bare cold garden, trying to image it with vines full of tomatoes or onions pushing though the soil and wondering what I did with the longer handled shovel I love best, not the one with the thicker handle that just doesn't seem to fit my hands as well.