My favorite day of the week

Monday is my Saturday. Most weeks I work from Wednesday to Sunday and then on Monday when everyone else is getting back into gear, I relax. This is the day to set base camp in order or work on a project or read a book. I also get to be with my family who I miss when I am gone. I love to help with their school. I must admit, my occasional Saturday is much better because then everyone else is in slow/work-around-the-house mode too and Papa is home which likely means we will all be doing a project together.

The other day I asked Laura if I could retire from farming earlier than the start of my trips. It was a hard decision because I had wanted a cow for so long and I am the one who talked Papa into it. I love going to the barn and enjoyed it more than a year but for about a month now when milking time came I hated to leave. I think it is because I only have so much time at home and that took 3 hours out of my day. Anyway, milk cow Mocha now belongs to Laura. I think she will be great at farming.

The second piece of breaking news is that last night I put on Katie's flip-flops and they fit! My sisters are growing.

Baby Bunnies

La has some rabbits that recently had babies. They are really cute now that they have hair.

before

 after

I just came back from dropping Ann off to babysit cousins at the grandparents and I have to say this. One of my favorite things about Grandad is that when I meet him on our driveway or his no matter how far it is he will always back up for me. :)

How to Make Fried Potatoes as Good as Granddad's

No, I am not yet the expert he is and he may have a different process but this is the best I have figured out.

Rule #1: get the right kind of potatoes

 This is the one I haven't figured out yet. Some kinds are waxy, some are mealy, some keep their shape, some mush, some are dense or starchy and each one has a different flavor. I do know that even the right kinds turn out different each year. Our garden was all potatoes for the first time this summer and I think they turned out pretty good.

Rule #2: boil the potatoes the day before

Let them cool and put them in the fridge. Next morning is the easiest time to peal them if you want to. The kind of potato matters here too, some have thick or bitter peals, some taste ok. Cut them in small cubes which don't smush as much as slices.

Rule #3: use well seasoned cast iron

Non-stick can work but it won't give a good flavor. With steal or aluminum the crunchy, buttery part of fried potatoes will stick to the bottom unless you have a tall strong dad willing to stand there and scrape. Even then, you end up with crispies instead of hash browns.

Rule #4: don't crowd the potatoes

Use two pans if needed. You should not have more than a double layer. Less is better.

Rule #5: Use enough butter or oil

You can't see in the picture but it takes more than you think. If it starts sticking add more. A well seasoned skillet takes less. Salt and pepper to taste.

Rule #6: have patience!

This is the hardest one. You want them to be nicely browned before you flip them. I haven't counted but I would guess you don't need to flip more than 5 times. Flipping instead of stiring helps them not mush.

So there you have it. My favorite fried potatoes. They don't even need ketchup if done right and those of you who know me know that is saying something.

A House Flowing with Milk

One day we could not fit the morning's milking in the fridge so La got all the milk out and I started by skimming it all.

 Then I made farmer's cheese with 2 gal of it which took care of 4 jars.

With some of the cream I tried to make mascarpone but I didn't get it hot enough before I put the acid in so it did not separate too well.

Here is the farmer's cheese also called paneer in India, and queso blanco in Mexico.

 Farmer's Cheese

2 gal whole milk

4 cups water

4 t citric acid

Bring the milk to a boil or at least really hot. Mix water and citric acid.

Stir it into the milk. Drain and run under cold water. Press for several hours.

Notice the nice press that Laura made me.

Sometimes we call farmer's cheese fry cheese because it does not melt, it browns. This is probably the cheese that Heidi toasted. It is best hot off the griddle dipped in pizza sauce.

Next we took a quart of milk to Granddad...

...and made a bunch of chocolate milk.

Then Granddad requested some homemade cottage cheese for the Easter get together at his house the next day. We use the same recipe for this as for fry cheese but we do not press it. Instead we crumble with a fork and add cream. The only problem was that the citric acid was gone.

There was a lot of experimenting which used up some milk but eventually we got cottage cheese using tartaric acid.

So this is what our refrigerator looked like just before milking time that evening.

This is how full our sink was, even while constantly washing.

Beestings

Sorry for the long wait to find out what beestings is. I have been crazy busy.Beestings is colostrum especially from a cow. Many people just throw it out but in some times and places it is highly prized.

You can see here that the first day it was all colostrum, the next day separated some milk.

 The third day had milk, colostrum and cream in different layers.Our colostrum looked brown but a lot of other blogger farmers seem to get yellow like this.

Beestings has a lot of good stuff in it, not just for calves. webmd says:

 Some athletes use bovine colostrum to burn fat, build lean muscle, increase stamina and vitality, and improve athletic performance. Bovine colostrum is not on the banned drug list of the International Olympic Committee.

Bovine colostrum is also used for boosting the immune system, healing injuries, repairing nervous system damage, improving mood and sense of well being, slowing and reversing aging, and as an agent for killing bacteria and fungus.

 Sometimes colostrum is used to make pudding since it is so rich. My pudding did not exactly turn out because I cooked it too long but I think I found a good recipe (don't wait till it thickens).

2/3 cup white sugar 
1/3 cup all-purpose flour 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
3 eggs, beaten 
2 cups milk 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 tablespoons butter, softened 

DIRECTIONS 
In medium saucepan combine sugar, flour and salt. Add eggs and stir well. Stir in milk, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. When mixture begins to thicken, remove from heat and continue to stir, cooling slightly. Stir in vanilla and butter until smooth. 

 Then there was a recipe from Shoshana's Making Babies book with colostrum in it that was very good.

We froze some colostrum so that we can add little bits to things whenever we feel we need it. :)

Calf!!!

Meet Red Meat!

After lots of patient waiting

 we now have a calf, beestings, and soon milk!

 He is so cute! Unfortunately since he is a bull, he will probably become food for us when he gets bigger.

Do you know what beestings is? Watch for the next post.

Like Rebekah

You can tell that we are not experienced farmers because we did not plan for winter very well and so got stuck halling buckets of water for the cows.

 If you don't know the story of Rebekah watering the camels you can look it up in Genesis 24. She drew water for all 10 of Abraham's servant's camels. Do you know how much water a camel can drink?

 Camels can drink about 30 gal of water at a time. That's 300 gal. That is 60-five gallon buckets. 

our milk cow, Mocha, due to freshen next month

30 trips form the well to the trough and back. 80 lbs of water each time. 

shoveling out as much ice as we can

 Add to that the words "hastened" and "ran" and you have quite a girl. No wonder 

Abraham's servant thought she would make a good wife.

Between Laura and I we only carry 6 buckets a day at the most.

Old Red is one of Granddad's Herefords that he is probably going to take to the sale. She's the only cow down there right now besides Mocha and the calf.

Our barn Kitty that Zach named Summer

 getting grain