Making Cheese!

Okay, I have been putting this off for quite awhile now but I finally got my cheese made! I just started out with a basic mozarella kit from Lerners.com. I made the mozarella and then made some ricotta with the leftover whey so that I can use it in homemade lasagna tommorrow! I will post how we make the noodles for that tommorrow hopefully. Everything is going really well and the chickens are getting so BIG! One of the silkies is so big I am thinking she may be a he?? Buster trying crowing Sunday morning around 7 I couldn't help but giggle cause he sounded like a drowning chicken! So funny! I haven't heard him since though at first I thought it was Ty snoring but it wasn't. The vegetables are growing like crazy and I transplanted a bunch of broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, sunflowers and nasturtiums, from the seeds that I had started awhile ago, today. Hopefully, they will take root and grow into full blown plants. I am also putting together a plan for my mini orchard and bramble area (this will have cherry, pear, nectarine, apple, plum, raspberry, blackberry and blueberries). Very excited for this to come into play. Fresh fruit for pies, jams, smoothies, pancakes and just eating plain! I know it takes a couple of years for the fruit to come in but I know it will be worth the wait! Anyway, back to the cheese it was fun and easy to make and I will be making lots more for us to eat and for our pizza!!

Garden Update 7 26 08

Hey, my garden has just started taking off and fruiting like crazy! I planted some more peas and beans hoping that I could get some this season so hopefully it will work. We have already started enjoying the cucumbers, lettuce, swiss chard and beet greens. I also have a small watermelon starting! It is so cute. I hope it tastes as good as everything else has. Tyler is anxious for the cantaloupe to get going so I am excited for those to come in. We have plenty of cantaloupe blooms. Getting more green tomatoes just waiting for them to ripen and even the peppers are starting to do better. I think it has to do with the fact that I put in drip hoses to water the plants so the water goes right to the roots. I am planning next years garden and will be adding at least 3 more boxes and some fruit trees and more berry bushes. I can't wait.

No more ducks:(

Well, after talking with DH about his beloved lawn I have taken it upon myself to find a new home for the ducks. They are just tearing up our grass and it is starting to look pretty crappy so we found a home for them here in Vernal. The lady that is going to take them already has 3 ducks and 5 acres for them to roam. I think they will be very happy. I am pretty bummed but when we get more land I WILL be getting ducks again. They are just to cute and so much fun. Anyway, just thought I would post an update on them.

My duck fence

I am posting this video on how I made my duck fence so that you can see how it was constructed. I used 3/8" by 18" rebar and pounded them into the ground about 4' apart. I then cut the 10' sections of 3/4" PVC pipe in half and put one on each of the pieces of rebar. I then attached the tops of the PVC together with PVC T-joints on the straight pieces and elbows on the corners. After constructing the frame I attached plastic fencing with zip ties to the horizontal and vertical pieces of PVC pipe. I don't know if that is clear enough but hopefully between the description and the video it will make sense.

Update on Animals

Okay, I know I talked about the animals but here is an updated video on how they are doing and looking. I know the duck pen looks like a mess but they are just messy animals and they had fresh food and water about 3 hours before I shot the video and Ivy is molting so there are a lot of feathers that wouldn't normally be there. Anyway, they are all doing really great and the chickens are actually in the garden right now eating all the baby grasshoppers I saw in there today while I was picking some lettuce for my lunch. I will post more tommorrow, I will be making fresh pizza and hopefully some mozarella and ricotta cheese.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Allrighty, here is a recipe I found for a sugar free whole wheat banana bread on Allrecipes.com, this recipe makes two loaves of bread.

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 c. vegetable oil

1 c. honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 c. mashed bananas

3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 c. hot water

1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F



2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs, and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chopped nuts. Divide batter into two greased bread pans, evenly.



3. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.

And that is it. I made some fresh butter this morning and put it into my butter bell so that it stays soft. It is DELICIOUS!!!

Hope you try this recipe it is well worth the work.

Giving Rex a Haircut

Okay here is a short video of how I give Rex a hair cut. I have had to do a little each day just so he can learn to trust me where he came from such a harsh background and it seems to be paying off because he will stay put a little bit longer each time I work with him. I only have his stomach and hind legs left to cut. He is a very lovey bunny. He gets right up in my face when I lay down on my stomach to cut his hair. I love having him and I can't wait to spin his fur!!

So much to do So Little Time

I sat down yesterday and made out a schedule for myself so that I can make sure I get all the things done that I want to do. Boy is there a lot but I have a routine with all the animals now and that really helps. I can get them taken care of in about 15 minutes and then I water the plants. I have included a clip of my garden to date and it is looking really great. We have already had quite a bit of the swiss chard and lettuce. The beans and peas kind of flopped so I ordered more seeds and will be starting those when I get them and will plant more per box and maybe that will help protect them from the sun more. The chickens are doing a great job of eating all the bugs in the garden, I hardly have any lettuce with bug bites on them anymore. The ducks are great and I figured out why the females weren't laying- they are molting- how do I know that? I have TONS of white and brown feathers all over my yard! But no fear, I have been collecting them and will be sending them to my BIL so that he can use them in his primitive crafts that he makes. I have also been joking that I will save all the down to make myself a down pillow!! Not really going to happen. That would take forever. Rex is doing great I have been cutting his hair a little bit each day and he is really starting to relax while I am doing it although he still won't hold still for longer than 10 min. All I have left is his stomach and hind legs. The fiber is SOOOOO Soft!! I can't wait to spin it. I got my pasta maker and will be attaching a video the next time I make pasta with it. It is really good and very good for us. All it has in it are eggs, flour and salt. Brant really likes to help me make the pasta. I also ground some wheat and made whole wheat banana bread which I will also be attaching a video of a little later. I purchased a butter bell which is supposed to keep my butter soft and fresh, out of the fridge, for 30 days. I don't think it will last that long though. So I made a bunch of butter today so we could have it on the banana bread. All in all, things are going great and I am more excited to learn new things like making CHEESE!

Duck House

So, I built a duck house for my ducks out of some pallets I got from DH's work for FREE! I also had some plywood just laying around that I used for the sides and roof. I will post a picture of it a little later I am just in the middle of organizing my house and wanted to take a break. I put them in last night and set up a temporary to door to cage them in or so I thought. I went out this morning and discovered that they were not in their cage, they squeezed through the one side pallet I didnt have covered! They did make their way to the shed were they had originally been put though but now I have a huge mess of duck poo and pine shavings I will need to go clean out tonight. The ducks are doing great and the dogs have gotten used to them and even the chickens! We can let them out all at once and the dogs do really well leaving them alone, they still need supervision though. The garden, with the exception of the peas and beans, is growing really well! I will post more on that later. Anyway, I just need to finish the 2 sides and door for the duck pen and all will be well! TTFN!

I Concede

Okay, I haven't even gotten through one 25 lb bag of wheat and I am already bowing out of grinding by hand! We just use to much flour I can't keep up! So my solution is I bought a Kitchenaid Mixer and I am just waiting for the grain mill attachment. I got this instead of just a wheat grinder because of the versatility and it will take up less space. I can not only grind wheat but I can make bread, pasta, sausage, fruit puree, cakes, cookies, ice cream and so much more. It seemed the obvious choice. I have been informed that the grain mill is noisy but I figure it couldn't be much worse than my hand grinder. I didn't buy the pasta attachment though because it was $130!!!! So I just bought a hand operated one with a pasta drying rack and a cookbook for only $80. I will post some videos later on the different things I am trying to make. The animals are doing great although the ducks have not laid one egg since that first one. The chickens are getting much bigger and are almost completely feathered out. Rex is good his hair is finally long enough so I am starting to trim a little every day, he looks kind of funny cause in the middle of all his fluff he has a big "bald" spot! The vegetables are doing good as well. I wish they were doing better but there is only so much I can do! The chickens got a little to excited with the lettuce so I planted some more in the bare spots of the garden. All in all things are going great on the Deveraux Homestead.