The year in review.

Once again, we enter that season of waiting, anticipation, dreams.  In this region, we are blessed with actual seasons, seasons that are usually of such stark differentiation that we either find ourselves coming to a stark awareness, as in "I don't think it is summer anymore", or a long-awaited relief, as in "wow, the air doesn't bite my lungs anymore!" While, at times, we may be tempted to curse the extremes that accompany either winter or summer here in the upper Great Plains, we also seem to develop just enough amnesia each year to allow us the courage and resolve to stay.

This is the season of remembering.  It is the season of beginnings, as well, of hopes and dreams and plans for the future.  A local television channel posed a question recently:  What was your best Christmas present ever?  Oddly, that question didn't so much bring a particular gift to mind as it brought recollections of Christmases passed, memories of good times and hard times.  I have narrowed my answers regarding the gifts to either that magnificent black plastic horse, complete with saddle and bridle, that I received from my grandparents before I was allowed the real thing, or that stand mixer that my husband was so proud of cleverly sneaking past me back about twenty-five years ago.

This past year has been full of excitement and adventures for us.  It has also held its share of sadness, too.  We were blessed with an "open winter" last year, so we didn't have to cope with the terrors of blizzards and closed roads as much as we do in "normal" winters.  We have finally carved in stone that we DO NOT LAMB TILL SPRING.  We were also able to successfully contain those new young bucks long enough to make this a reality.  Our lambs hit the ground running, for the most part, with only three little waifs that needed our assistance.  Our younger goat doe, Daisy, gifted us with triplets this year!  She is an amazing little mother and had no problems keeping all three little bucklings well-fed and still having milk to share with us.  We left them with her full-time and made sure that she didn't become stressed.  It was a very sad day, however, when we had to release our dear Petal from the pain of birth complications.  She taught us so much and gave us so much joy.  She will be remembered by many.

In the very depths of winter, we hovered over our seed catalogues, knowing which seeds were necessaries and which would just be "fun".  We finally placed our order and realized that this was going to be the Year of the Bean.  We tried seven different varieties of dry beans this year and were very pleased with most of them.  We also have learned that posting our tomato plants is the most successful method yet.  We put steel posts between the tomato plants and then wove twine around them as they grew, supporting the plants and keeping most of the fruit from touching the ground at all.  It certainly alleviated the callisthenics we used to endure as we tried to harvest the tomatoes without stomping on the vines.  Edith planted a squash bed in a separate area to avoid the usual take-over of vined plants.  It worked beautifully!  She, of course, immediately made plans to enlarge that bed and get it thoroughly fertilized for Spring 2013! Oddly, settling on a maximum size of planting bed about five years ago has become a rather fuzzy, dim memory.

As spring moved into summer, we became frighteningly aware that rain was perhaps NOT going to come for us.  In our gardens, we plan for watering by burying seeper hoses as we plant.  The farmers around us do not have that option.  The corn was well past knee-high by the Fourth of July, but no one was sure how long that would progress.  By August, each day of hot, dry winds made the corn stalks whiter.  Beautiful lush fields lost their deep green and didn't even look as if they would produce cattle feed for winter.  The pastures dried and dwindled everywhere, the short grass and weeds crunching beneath one's feet.  Hay for the winter looked to be a tough and expensive prospect.  I gave away six horses.

Edith's mum, Jenny, had cataract surgery last winter and didn't feel that the process would be fully completed in time for her to make a spring visit as she has done the two prior years.  It meant, we said, that she would be able to experience the harvest part of the season, rather than the planting part.  She arrived in early September, in time to join Mom's and my birthday celebration.  In fact, since we hadn't been able to help celebrate Jenny's 80th, we included her in the party in that way, as well.  Shortly after her arrival, my youngest son, Jon, his wife Nancy, and their 4 year old daughter, Addison came from Denver to take part in the fun.  Addie had great fun getting re-acquainted with her old friends, the dogs and cats.  She also helped with milking Daisy and was able to take a ride on Lady, too.  She and her Daddy were pleased to see the hollyhocks they had planted two years ago and decided to help plant some more for next year.  After their return to Denver, Jenny was with us until almost the end of the month.  She was able to join us at a real barn dance at the home of Vikki Kingslien.  She was able to see some of the work Edith and I had done there five years ago. She also joined in the toe-tapping that went on in the haymow where at least fifty friends and neighbors had joined for the fun.

On October 11th, my eldest son, Michael, married his lovely bride Veronica.  It was a simple ceremony in Watertown with his grandmothers and Veronica's aunt, Theresa in attendance.  I had talked with my new daughter-in-law on the phone several times, but this was my first opportunity to meet her in person. She is delightful! They live in Chicago and find that their work schedules at Ford and Greyhound don't always allow travel for holidays. Michael's cousin Kelly was his witness, so that gave them a brief opportunity to reunite.  Those two were quite a handful as kids and nothing much has changed!  They weren't with us very long, but it was long enough for us to find that we have been blessed with a lovely addition to our family.  Only a few weeks later, all three brothers, including Brian from South Carolina, were again here in South Dakota to attend the funeral of their birth father.  A sad time of sharing, but they always love a chance to see each other.  These are rare and precious times.

The little chicks we ordered from Murray McMurray last May have grown into big girls now and are producing ever more eggs each day.  We are happy to have a few 'clients' that we supply with eggs each week.  They and we are thrilled to have such large eggs with the beautiful yellow yolks.  We had ordered straight-run chicks, so a point came where the boys were left in the brooder in the barn and the girls were transported to the hen house.  Mom came out to help us butcher some of the roosters.  I wonder if she will think twice before commenting on how much fun it is when we decide to do this another year! They aren't broiler-type birds, they are considered heavy layers, though.  We are finding them to be very tasty, with plenty of meat and much longer legs than broilers.

This will be the first year that none of my boys will be able to be with us for the Christmas holiday.  They each have pretty solid reasons, though, as Veronica's work with Greyhound Bus Lines is especially busy over holidays, Jon and Nancy are awaiting the birth of a new daughter shortly before New Year, and Brian decided not to risk getting snowed in in Watertown again!  They all hope to come see us in the spring and we have to agree that it will be much more pleasant not to have the stress of hazardous weather.  We, on the other hand, have to finish all our gift preparations earlier so that they can be shipped and arrive at a decent time for the holiday!  This challenge has been the bain of my existence for as long as I can remember. When a gift actually does arrive in time, the recipient usually is shocked enough to need resuscitation before he or she even sees what it is.

For now, a light covering of snow has obliterated all the evidence of the past summer's drought.  It holds a taste of the long-sought moisture the soil so craves. The geese have headed south, fattened by all the feeding on corn stubble.  Edith has plowed up yet another garden where we hope to see flourishing vegetables that perhaps will be the start of a local farmers' market. The freezers are full.  The hay is in the yard for the horses, sheep, and goats. Wood cutting goes on and on.  There are quilts begging to be sewn.

We live in the hush that waits new birth.

Why did the Chicken cross the road?

According to the National Chicken Council, more than 1.25 Billion Chicken wing portions (more than 100 million pounds) were consumed on Super Bowl weekend in 2012. That being said, this may well be called 'Beef Country' but I know for a fact, folks like their chickens; if not we wouldn't still be receiving phone calls asking if we have chickens for sale, four years after we raised our last batch of 700 broilers.

So you like your chicken to eat and many of you will enjoy raising a few for eggs. So lets see how you fare with chicken trivia!

When a chicken starts to eat her eggs, what is deficient in her diet?

a) vitamin b

b) attention

c) food

d) calcium

Calcium!  And what many hobbyists may not know is that a layer hen’s calcium needs actually go up in hot weather and as she gets older!  Common calcium deficiency symptoms in layer chickens include thin, weak eggshells and even eggs laid without a shell. Sources of calcium are limestone and/or ground oyster shell both available at your local farm store. If you recycle your egg shells and feed them back to the chickens as a source of calcium, remember to crush them up, you don't want to provoke the hens into free feeding on freshly laid eggs.

What do chickens store in their gizzard to help them chew?

a) small teeth

b) acid

c) husks and shells

d) grit

Grit! It may surprise you, or not, that chickens do not have teeth, the function of the gizzard is to grind up their food. While it is a tough muscular structure, that alone cannot achieve the powerful action needed to break down their food. They need grit to accomplish the grinding action. Free ranging birds will generally find their own, ours head to the gravel driveway, but if you lock your birds up for the winter (or any other time) you will need to feed them grit to aid their digestion. It can be bought at your local feed or farm store.

Which of these is NOT a breed of chicken?

a) Wyandotte

b) Toulouse

c) Old English

d) Hamburgh

Toulouse is a breed of goose. While next year we may well raise ducks, we will not be raising geese, we have dogs that will guard us we don't need geese.

What is the most common fowl on Earth?

a) White Leghorn

b) Rhode Island Red

c) Foghorn Leghorn

d) Old English Game

White leghorn! Beautiful bird that lays white eggs. We have a similar looking bird, the White giant, that is larger and lays brown eggs.

What colour are all of the Australian Breeds?

a) Black

b) white

c) orange

d) grey

Interestingly, they are all Black, the most famous here being the Australorp. The other Australian breeds are the Australian Langshaan, Australian Pit Game and Australian Game.

Australorp.

If you think this love of chickens is strange, then you have never walked into a chicken house after dark and heard the wonderful soothing noise chickens make as they sleep. If you wonder at so many people wanting to keep a few hens, then you have never experienced the wonder of finding a warm egg laid just for you. If, for some reason, you cannot keep your own chickens, we encourage you to find someone local to supply you with farm fresh eggs from pasture fed chickens, you will never enjoy a supermarket egg again. 

I leave you with some last facts for today:

With 25 billion chickens in the world, there are more of them than any other bird species.

Roosters perform a little dance called ‘tidbitting’ in which they make sounds (food calls) and move their head up and down, picking up and dropping a bit of food. Researchers have found that females prefer males that often perform tidbitting and have larger, brighter combs on top of their heads. Why roosters have wattles

Sad day in Small town America

Today is a very sad day in our little town with a population of 1,150. The Hometown Variety Store will be closing its doors after selling off the last of its inventory at 75%. Opened 4 years ago using local peoples' investments it sold all the things you might expect to find and then more. It was a local store, staffed and managed by local people that also sold many locally made products.  It sold our goatmilk soap, sold locally made jewelry, handbags, candles and ornaments. They had the best selection of quilting fabric for many miles and at half the price of most quilting shops within a 100 mile radius.The ladies that managed the store saw a need and  started a section for children's consignment clothing. If you wanted something not found on the shelves, they did their best to find it for you. Those ladies poured their heart and soul into making the store a success and they are the last people this town should blame for the store's demise.

We still have a few locally owned businesses - a hardware store, a florist, a butcher, a store with handmade goods, a few bars, restaurants and hairdressers. They all try to serve this small community in a way that allows them to remain a financially viable business. I am sure that as each owner looks at the Hometown Variety Store the thought must pass through their heads "There but for the grace of the locals....".

If anyone is to blame for the demise of the Variety store it is the locals. We all buy Office supplies, we all buy soap, we all buy small gifts for friends and family but we chose not to buy them locally. We can complain that they cost a few cents more locally but the closest Walmart/ Target, Big Box Store is 45 miles away and saving those few cents didn't make up for the gas we used getting there. The local stores don't expect us to spend thousands in their stores, they don't ask us to give up our monthly/weekly shop in the large stores. They just needed our support.....sadly this particular store didn't get it.

I doubt this story is unique to our little town, I am sure it is being repeated all around the country. It is something those of us living in small towns can do something about by choosing to buy some of our goods locally. They may not be able to compete with the prices in Big Box Stores but they win hands down with Customer Service. These small stores change lives, keep communities alive....they make a difference. Look around and see if you can make a difference by supporting them.

Keeping up egg production.

Summer is undeniably over; the autumnal equinox is behind us and the days are getting noticeably shorter. Since late spring our older hens have averaged 16-20 eggs per day, I am sure there have been some eggs that we didn't find, but that is the price we pay for pasture-feeding our free ranging hens. They are locked up at night for their own safety but all summer long they rota-tilled the old manure heap and the composting mounds that were the sites where we fed the sheep their hay all winter. They ate bugs, scratched and did what chickens do naturally. When we re-located the younger hens from the brooder house to the hen house we had to restrict movement to the fenced-in chicken yard until the young ones came home to roost in the hen house by choice. Now as winter approaches, they are restricted to the chicken yard, both to protect them from predators anxious to eat all they can before winter restricts their diet, but also to encourage them to eat all the left overs from the garden we toss their way. Some left overs are for sheep, some for hens and it is easier to keep them separated by keeping the chickens in their yard.

The last week we have noticed egg production decline. It always does as winter approaches but this year we decided that we wanted a little more return on our investment, especially as we now have almost 70 hens with the majority maturing to egg laying by the end of this month. We went to the DIY store and invested in a shop lamp and a timer. Not a large investment by any means. Like most sane people, neither of us has any intention of getting out of bed at 4 am to turn on a light for chickens, so the timer is as necessary a piece of equipment as the light.

Dusk is an important time of the day for chickens. It gives the warning of approaching darkness so they can hurry home and find their roost. Not a ritual you want to play with. If  darkness were to come at the click of a switch the birds would not be able to settle for the night, they wouldn't even know where to go to settle safely. We want their day to be longer than their night and set the timer accordingly. I hate repetitive tasks so right away I have our lights set to go on at 4 am and out by 8:30am, I may have to adjust it a couple more times before spring but we should be good to go for a while now. Within 48 hours egg production has increased again. 

We have regular egg customers so we are happy to be able to tell them we can continue to keep them supplied all winter but we are also happy to get some return on the extra feed they use as we move into our white world of winter when the chickens are unable to roam free. The light ( fluorescent) seems a small price to pay for happy and productive chickies.

Till Next Year....

It is a quiet morning, but most of our mornings are quiet...unless the Dakota wind is blowing yet again.

It is the little things, isn't it?  It is shuffling into the kitchen to start the kettle for tea...and finding it is cold.  It isn't still warm from the cup of coffee she likes to take back to bed with her.  The dogs are still indoors.  She didn't send them outdoors to romp and 'do their business' while waiting for the coffee water to boil.  As I started to fill the sink with last night's dishes, I recalled that the main reason she insisted on using a 'bowl' for the dishes was that she had no patience whatsoever with the crotchety stopper in my sink.  I also realized that I am once again responsible for doing our dishes because I don't (and never will, sorry!) have a dish washer.

When I check the clock, I realize that, by now, she is already back in her own home.  That home seems so far away, though I know we will chat with her today sometime via Skype (did I say Spyke?).  I know she was ready to be home, though.  She was ready to see for herself that her loved ones are doing well and involved with fun and exciting things.  She was ready to see how her garden was doing after having been in her son's care.  She was ready to be home.

I am still puttering though the morning quiet.  I don't hear stirrings  upstairs.  I don't see the hem of her dressing gown on the stairs.  I don't hear her perky morning greeting...adjusted to whether both of us are awake or not. The pillow she used as cushion on the loveseat is still there.  I wash the porcelain teacup, saucer and lunch plate that she has used and enjoyed several times each day.  I return her tray to its place with the others.  It is very quiet here this morning.

By now, she has probably had late Elevenses after reclaiming her luggage.  She has pressies in there for her grandson, but he is in school today, I think, so they will have to wait.

You are missed already, Jenny, by each and every one of us.  Even the dogs and the cats feel that it is strange that you aren't still here with us.  Thank you for the joy of your visit, your enthusiasm and your quiet smiles. We love you.  We will now start to speak of "next year"...

Moving Along....Again

I think I was born with a need for horses in my life.  Their magic, their regal power and loyalty, the sheer wonder of how beautifully they are put together, all of this has truly captivated me ever since I can remember. I remember the time they were going to give a pony to the kid who came up with the perfect name for the new bowling alley.  I didn't enter, but I would have committed heinous crimes to get that pony.  My dreams had horses galloping through them, and, though I could feel the silky coat and the warm breath of them, somehow, before I could get on a horse's back to ride it, I would wake up. I remember feeling somehow cheated when that happened.  All I ever wanted was a horse.
Then my dad surprised me with a horse...I saw it, just like in one of my dreams, standing tied to the fence in the pen by the barn, the first thing I saw when I turned up the driveway on my walk home from school.  I was seven that year, the horse was black, she was beautiful, she was real...and she was very, very young.  Way too much horse for a little girl, but she was indeed a dream come true.  I was never really able to ride her because we just weren't ready for each other.
Then there was a pony; he wasn't new, and I wasn't as young then, but he could certainly be a heathen curse from hell if he chose to be.  He was cute with his arched neck and his shiny coat and his four white socks that neatly came to his knees.  He was also able to evade almost any kind of ploy to catch him, though he would allow himself to be caught by a hind leg. It was as if that approach didn't cause him to lose face.  We respected each other and spent many hours walking, playing, exploring and sharing our deepest thoughts. That pony taught me more than words can say.
Time passed and life got serious.  People, little people, counted on me.  There was little time for those friends who had given me so much joy when I had been only a few years younger.  I had to move along and give my thoughts and time to my family.
More time passed.  Children moved along into their own lives.  Suddenly, it seemed like it was 'my time' for the first time in my life, and miraculously, there was again a horse! She was tall, she was black, she had a devious sense of humor, and we were told that she had what they called a 'cold back'.  This seemed to mean that she would have a tendency to explode into twisting bucks that were designed to launch a rider into another galaxy if she was asked to perform any duties before she had gotten her mind right for it.  This usually meant that I was first in line to ride her before anyone else...just to get the kinks out.  She never did buck with me.
Then, there came Phylleigh.  She was indeed the horse that had appeared in all my dreams.  She was, and still is, the classiest ride in all my experience.  She has grace and power and a way of knowing my mind almost before I do myself. Every moment on her back has always been filled with joy and challenge. She was the ultimate gift of a lifetime.
Phylleigh gave us a handsome horse colt who was a beginning in himself.  I remember waiting so impatiently for Jack to be born, wondering if he would be red like his mama or pitch black like his pa.   We drove into the yard that afternoon, looking, as always, toward the little pasture where Phylleigh was serving out her maternity leave and seeing what seemed to be a heap of laundry laying in front of the grain bin.  Then, suddenly, that heap of rags had a head...and ears!  Through Jack, I discovered that horses have rubbery toothless gums when they are born.  I also discovered that horses with a strong thoroughbred background have very weak-looking saggy ankles when they are newborns. Jack brought out a maternal side of Phylleigh that meant that she would ever after have a special warm spot in her heart for all young things, even young humans.
Jack sired several colts for us and for others.  Each of them seemed to enjoy the company of human beings.  They didn't always agree with what the humans expected of them, but they each learned to respond to the reward of low-voiced "Good boy" or "Good girl" in a way that lasted throughout their lives. Some of his sons and daughters found lives away from us immediately, others stayed with us for several years.  I have had the joy of riding some of those colts and the pride of knowing that I had been a part of almost every moment of their lives.
I have had the joy of watching them all come to water and jostle for place in the pecking order. I instinctively look to the pasture searching and counting noses. I have been blessed to realize that a mare was actually helping her son or daughter to understand was I wanted from it.  I have rejoiced to hear one or another of them greet me with a nicker and perked ears.  I have been humbled to realize that, to them,  my voice has always held reassurance and a sense of safety. These glorious creatures have given me so many gifts that no amount of money could ever buy.
I can't afford to do it anymore.  Reality has again become stronger than the dream.  It is time to move along again. I know it and have known it for some time.  I have been a coward and have not wanted to look directly into those eyes and say 'goodbye'.
But I have done just that.
Gone?  Well, yes.  But those gifts and those joys will live with me for the rest of my life.
And I am grateful, humbly grateful.

jalapeño heaven

Previous years we have planted habanero peppers (Scottish bonnets) but this year we went for variety and flavour, anticipating a variety of ways to preserve our harvest. We grew jalapeños, chilli peppers, Anaheim peppers and, of course, sweet bell peppers. I dried one batch of chilli peppers and ground them into flakes, enough to fill a pint jar and this will be enough to flavour many a dish until next year, and I intend to freeze another batch so as to keep their pretty shape and colour for adding to stir fries and tofu dishes. (Oh how I wish we could grow our own ginger!) The Anaheims are getting charcoal grilled, the skin gently removed and then frozen to keep the sweet, gentle, smoky heat for use in winter.

Then we have the jalapeños! Six plants and I never anticipated such a harvest, in fact I wasn't sure what to do with so many. I had heard of Cowboy Candy down in Oklahoma and, believe me, if you like it hot and sweet this recipe is a killer. If you prefer it a little milder just remove the seeds and inner membrane before you start on the menu.

Cowboy Candy:

1 lb fresh  jalapeños

2/3 cup cider vinegar

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons mustard seed

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon celery seed

1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 cloves of garlic

Slice jalapenos. (remove seeds and membrane for a milder flavour)

Mix cider vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seed, garlic powder and cayenne and bring to boil.

Reduce for 5 minutes to a simmer.

Add jalapenos at the simmer for 5 minutes more.

Load sterilized jars with jalapenos first ( add a couple of cloves of garlic to each jar at the halfway point) and add liquid filling the jars leaving a 1/4” headspace.

Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. ( I found that the jars sealed without the water bath but if you want to be sure, or plan on long-term storage, include this step)

Makes 2 pints

Enjoy with cream cheese or on a hamburger, or any other way you enjoy a bit of heat.

Garden produce

For weeks we have been jealous of our southern friends and their bountiful harvests, now our turn has come. 

We had a brief period of snow peas, most of which never reached the kitchen but were delicious snacks as we sweated our way through the garden. Cool weather crops such as spinach and radishes have long gone and even the warm weather alternatives of Rat's tail radishes have been and gone with the extreme heat we have been experiencing for weeks. If you like radishes so much that you also find the growing season painfully short, the rat's tail radish sold by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is a wonderful plant to add to your garden. An edible podded radish variety, be careful how many you raise at it produces an abundance of pods delicious in salads and stir fries. The pods can also be pickled but we learned of this too late to take advantage of the recipe this year.

We drooled over photos from the south as we watched our tomato plants grow and begin to blossom. Then we carefully watched that first green tomato ripen on the vine, hoping against hope that the bugs and critters would leave the fruit for us. We mulched and hoped that the drought would not stress the plants too much, destroying our fruits with blossom end rot. Then the moment came when we were able to share the first tomato, still warm from the sun, deliciously sweet and full of flavour. Store bought tomatoes are not even closely related to the delicious varieties available to anyone growing their own. We went from watching, to eating them twice and even three times a day, gorging on our new found wealth. Finally we have reached that next stage in the process of growing, where we fill a large bowl every day and start planning ways to preserve the bounty for the rest of the year. Tomato juice, paste, sauce, salsa and pasta sauce. Sharing recipes and using old time favourites because gardeners are a generous bunch when asked to share their experiences and knowledge.

This has been our best year ever for growing cabbages. We controlled the cabbage loopers using bT and thankfully we had no hail to damage the growing plants. The cabbages were huge coming in at around 6lbs after we cleaned them. Half our crop has been turned into sauerkraut and we plan to try making kimchi with a couple of others. 

We have 21 jars of pickled red beets standing on the kitchen counter, waiting to see that all the lids have sealed before transporting them to the basement. I love pickled beets and over the years have been delighted and disappointed with the recipes I have tasted. This particular recipe is worth sharing and I believe the superior quality can be attributed to using the beet water in the pickling recipe.

Mom's Beet Pickles

1 1/2 cups of beet juice ( from cooking the beets)

1/2 cup of sugar

Bag of mixed pickling spices

1/2 cup vinegar

Boil ingredients together, pour over cooked beets in jars and process.

It doesn't get much simpler!

Bare butts

I should apologize for being absent without leave, all I can blame is a busy month of June and a heat induced apathy during the month of July. We spent weeks fencing; repairing, renewing, dividing into smaller lots and herding sheep and goats from what we considered the wrong side of the fence back to where we felt they should be. Lambs creeping through small gaps encouraged mothers to  rub and poke at fence clips till they could join their offspring in a daily walk around the boundary fence. They could escape but they seemed to need a gate to return from whence they came, which of course, required a bipod with opposing thumbs to manipulate the chains. 

We built the bachelor pad for all the boys and relocated them in June. Nigel and Fred, the sheep, seem appreciative of the rest and luxurious surroundings but helped prove, yet again, that sheep in no way resemble goats. Randy missed his family, he was lost without Daisy to tell him when and what to eat. Four foot cattle panels and electric fence were no problem for him, by next morning we found him laying in the arms of his women folk! We decided we can cope with two kidding goats in winter and gave in to his demand to stay.....I agree we followed the path of least resistance and demonstrated our total lack of moral fibre! 

The last post was about our newly arrived chicks and I have attached a short slide show. They have passed the ugly stage and are beginning to show signs of their gender, some time in October we should start seeing their first eggs.

  

This blog is titled Bare butts, so I should start talking about our mature chickens; they suffer from bare rear ends. It isn't due to mites as we give our chickens wood ash to dust themselves and we see no signs of mites or other parasites. The girls are healthy and happy. They lay plenty of eggs which are large and have a sturdy shell and rich colourful yolk. They free range and alter their own diet as they move from the pasture to the barn and out into the front yard. They are not pecking at each other and we do not have too high a ratio of roosters to hens. Other than their bare butts there is nothing wrong with them and truly, it seems to be more of a problem for us than it is for them.

Apparently this is a more common problem than we had first thought. Online chicken forums, homesteading sites, vet sites all have questions from small flock owners about this problem and it seems there are all sorts of views on how to deal with it. We have researched extensively and eliminated what we considered silly, unlikely or illogical remedies. Even in the first week of us taking action the chickens are starting to get fluffy areas rather than bald red patches.

We now give four separate feeds, allowing them to decide for themselves just what they need, rather like a chicken buffet.

1. 20% protein hog feed from our local grain elevator. They mix it for us but I think you could use high protein layer feed in bags if you can't get hold of healthy hog feed.
2. Cracked grain. We use cracked corn but you could use wheat if that is cheaper
3. Oyster shell
4. Grit

Effectively their buffet gives the chickens a choice of high protein/ low energy food (Higher cost) or high energy/ low protein food (lower cost). They ration themselves, also free feeding on oyster shell and grit as they need it. Of course, while they free range at this time of year they also eat whatever bugs they may find, which also reduces our feed bill. In winter our chickens stay cooped up and we anticipate that the new style of feeding will reduce our overall costs as well as cover their butts.

The new Chickies arrived

Take a look at the video below:

New Baby chick video

26 Black Australorps, 26 Buff Orpington, 26 Giant Whites and 26 Barred Rocks........ as well as one Exotic Mystery chick!

So You Want To Make Caramel Rolls? Guilt is no object!!

In recognition of my younger sister Deb's 60th birthday (tomorrow on the 6th of May), AND in response to popular demand, I am so pleased to share my recipe for the caramel rolls that Edith taunted and teased you with a few days ago.
 I mention Deb simply because she shared the recipe for the dough with me so many years ago.  I am not exactly sure just how long ago it was, but I do know that I was still living in Florence and that, since we moved from there back in 1977, I have been using this recipe for more than just a couple of years.  It is called "Two Hour Rolls" and it is, literally, that.  You may certainly use the dough for other things than caramel rolls, but it is a sweet, gentle dough more suited for a sweet roll than for a more 'bread-type' roll. I think that Debbie told me she herself had received the recipe from a member of the 'other side of the family' but I am sure she will forgive me for having forgotten exactly who it was!  I am not ashamed to say that I love knowing the 'history' behind recipes, as well.

Two Hour Caramel Rolls

Dissolve 2 packages (or 3 tsp.) yeast in 1 cup of WARM water (about body temperature).  Set aside. 

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. shortening (Crisco or other vegetable fat like Spry) 

2 eggs

 In a large bowl, cream sugar and shortening together, add eggs and beat well.

Add 1 cup of boiling water to above mixture.

Mix 1 Tbsp of salt with 6 cups of flour. 

Add flour mixture and yeast mixture to sugar/shortening mixture and mix very well.  You will have a rather sticky dough.

Cover the bowl with a light towel and set in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, melt 2 sticks (1/2 lb or 1 cup) of butter or oleo in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 lb of brown sugar to the melted butter and stir in well.  When the mixture is starting to bubble, pour in a few tablespoons of either half-and-half or milk.  This will serve to loosen up the caramel, but also to give it the creaminess that makes it SO good!  Set aside.

Beat down the dough, and form your rolls.  This dough will be quite soft, so you will want to make sure you have your counter-top well floured.  There will be no rolling this dough!  You will need to gently push the dough into a long oblong shape that is about 8-9" wide.  Gently (again!) and generously dot the dough with soft butter.  Sprinkle the dough generously with either white or brown sugar and then top with cinnamon to taste.  Roll the dough length-wise by gently turning a portion the full length and then again until it is all in a roll.  Seal the edge by pinching it to the roll along the full length.  

You may choose to use either a 9x13 pan or several smaller pans to make your rolls.  I advise against anything much bigger as the rolls tend not to bake well in the center.  I like to use smaller pans so that I can wrap and freeze rolls for later.  Since the caramel has so much butter in it, you won't need to grease the pans much....if at all!  Pour a nice layer of caramel in the bottoms of the pans.  It doesn't need to be too thick as it is going to want to run off later anyway!

Slice your rolls approximately 1'' thick and arrange them in the pans so that there is space between them for rising.  Let rise for 1 hour.  

Bake no more than 2 pans at a time at 350 F. for about 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven, let set for about 5 minutes and then turn out on cooling racks.  Be sure to use a rubber scraper to get every bit of the caramel out of each pan and onto the rolls!  Yes, the caramel will be running off, but again, feel free to use that rubber scraper to return it to its rightful spot on the rolls.  

You may also choose to simply bake the rolls without caramel and frost them with a powdered sugar icing..I'm not sure of any really good reason for this, though!

This recipe will make about 18 rolls.  They freeze nicely..just wrap in foil when they are completely cool.  After you defrost them, they warm up so nicely in the microwave that you would almost think they were fresh!  These rolls are NEVER dry or 'bready'...they are the most delicious I have ever made, so I see no reason to try any other recipe!  I think you will agree!

They're Back!!

Two years ago we found one of our much loved red-headed woodpeckers dead on the road out front. There was a burst of young ones and we were hopeful, but the numbers of European starlings have been steadily increasing and last year, we didn't see or hear a single woodpecker. It is one of my favourite sounds in summer and I loved to watch them catch their meals on our electricity poles in front of the house. They were sorely missed. Once a fairly common bird for this area, they are slowly being driven out of their natural habitat by the starlings. For several weeks now I have heard a woodpecker but hadn't yet seen them. A few days ago I recognised the sound of a woodpecker working away on the electricity pole, the regular sound is accompanied by a slight metallic echo as the pecking builds up a rhythm that vibrates  the transformer case. Excited, I walked around the base of the pole only to see a small black and white woodpecker...no red head! I didn't recognise the species so went online to look it up......... I am thrilled to say it was an immature red-headed woodpecker. Their return enriches our lives in a simple but meaningful way.

I am not a bird watching enthusiast but different species of birds illicit different emotions and they play a role in marking the phases of our daily lives. There is the first sighting of robins each spring that is the forerunner of all the signs that winter is over, followed by the long lines of geese migrating north again as the waterways thaw and open up opportunities for them. The raucous sounds of yellow headed blackbirds remind me of my Mother's first attempts with her new camera and her impressive photo:

 

Raptors that are a wonder to watch also threaten our chickens, but our sheepdog, Jake, is immediately alert at the sharp shrieking sound of the hawks and chases their shadows, never allowing them to focus on the chicken yard. Starlings chatter in the tree grove, geese couples strut across the road as they prepare for their babies, later to be followed by a line of goslings eager to keep up. When we mow the lawn, blackbirds follow us, when we work in the garden robins keep an eye on us waiting their turn to catch a juicy worm or steal a young onion. The birds that share our corner of Paradise are a source of pleasure, an indicator of weather, give us clues as to the health of our tree grove, add colour to a landscape that is full of hidden treasures. The woodpecker may be one of my favourites but we derive just as much pleasure when we are visited by Blue jays, more often we hear the jays as they protest the presence of hawks but since we have been planting bushes, the jaybirds will leave the safety of the tree grove and strut around the shrubs.

I can't talk about our birds without mentioning the swallows. There is even a swallow's nest in the chicken house. They line up on the wires that carry our electricity as the afternoon turns to evening, waiting for the mosquitoes. Sitting and relaxing watching them swoop and swipe at the bugs is doubly sweet as we count the bugs unable to bite us. As we watch the swallows it is easy to forget the killdeer also feeding on the bugs, yet there would be something missing if we removed the sound of the killdeer from our landscape. Their comical behaviour draws our eye out to the pasture as they attempt to draw attention away from their nests. As we look out to the pasture we may see the mourning doves out on the roof of the granary, or the flocks of wrens or sparrows leaving the barn where they have been feasting on the goat feed! One year we had a female wild turkey help herself to chicken feed then as winter gripped the chicken yard she moved to the barn and helped herself to the goat feed. We didn't begrudge her the feed, she was a welcome addition to our homestead and we wish she would return.

Many of the birds we see I am unable to identify, many I haven't even mentioned, such as the meadowlarks or the owls that watch us and whose sounds accompany us to the barn in the evenings. Many of our plantings have been to encourage the, as yet, unseen hummingbirds. 

Birds are an important part of our daily smiles here! 

Easter weekend

The blog has been sadly neglected and I have no excuse other than the weather having kept us busier than usual at this time of year.
Compare the following photos:
End of March 2011

2012:

Hard to believe that the beginning of April can be so very different. The first of the tulips are blooming:

The rhubarb is growing enthusiastically:

 The trees are turning green

Average temperatures for this time of year are upper 40s- mid 50s ( 9-13C) yet, this year, we have already seen 85F (30C), allowing us to start fencing where normally the ground would still be frozen solid. In the vegetable garden, normally one of the last places to rid itself of snow drifts, garlic is already 6" high and someone has been busy planting weeds! We have not been tempted to start anything yet as we are all to aware of the fact that there will still be night time freezes and snow is not unknown in April in South Dakota. This may be the first year that we are able to plant potatoes by Easter, though.

We expected lambing to be a slow and leisurely experience this year as we have young first time bucks. Combined with several first time ewes we are quite happy to let them take their time. Nigel and Fred were obviously up to the job because at the earliest possible date our first lambs arrived. It is a worrying and exciting time of year to see the babies doing well and to see other problems arise. First time mothers can be a problem and a couple forgot about their first born by the time they had cleaned and cared for their second born. We always put the ewe and her lambs in a small pen so they can spend 3 days bonding peacefully. One ewe had already trodden on one of her lambs before we could get to her, and Dorothy became our first bottle lamb of the season, needing extra care with her broken leg. Other than the leg she is a feisty little thing and is doing well with her splint. Two of our ewes sadly died and gave us 2 other bottle lambs, Toto and Fred. Eight other lambs are healthy and running round with their mothers.

We developed a slightly different system for lambing this year that seems to be working well. At the back of the barn we have set up the small individual pens. Halfway down the barn we have set up another barrier that includes one side of the automatic waterer and one side of the creep feeder. When the ewes are released from their small pens, we band the lambs and leave them in this new large  pen. They can get to water without us having to fill buckets for them, the babies are encouraged to find the creep feeder, yet they are all in the safety and calmness of this larger pen. Babies learn to find their mothers amongst several ewes but none have to compete with the crowd the other side of the barrier, and we can keep an eye on them without having to peer through 128 legs. When we are sure that mother and babies are doing well they are released back to the flock, a flock that is looking very healthy after such a mild winter:.

Each year we worry about keeping our male animals away from the females until the beginning of November, a real concern for us as we have no desire and no adequate facilities for lambing in the middle of winter. We no longer have a stud horse and, as we will have no more foals, we have no need to use the pen to the west of the house as a maternity ward for the mares. Next to the pen there is an old granary, still in good shape as well as an entire area of grass and shrub that we have never put to use. We have started pulling down the old fencing and will expand the pen to include the granary as our new Bachelor Pad. The existing fencing was in bad shape and barbed wire is not necessarily the best way to keep in headstrong, testosterone- strong sheep or goats, so we will replace it all with electric fence. There is no electricity out to that part of the property so we have invested in a nice new solar powered fencer that was made to power much larger areas than our pen, so we will have no problem keeping this sized area zapping powerfully! When this horrendous wind subsides we will be able to finish the fencing and move the boys out to their new area. We are thinking of moving Anita's old mare out with them for a while as there is so much good grass and she has been responding well to the extra care and attention she received all winter.

Last year we planted gooseberry bushes and currant bushes, the early spring weather has each of them budding and we are happy that not one has died. In a few years time our harvest of fruit should be bountiful and varied as all the blackberry bushes and elderberries are are also doing well. We will have to keep an eye on them as the weather forecast predicts freezing night time temps this coming week. Hopefully the apple and cherry trees will hold off blossoming till after the freeze.

Spring has sprung, even in South Dakota and whether you believe in Easter or Eostra, the oldest pagan symbol of fertility,we have much to be thankful for. Healthy babies, healthy soil ready to produce and, importantly, our health that allows us to do so much outdoors. However you celebrate this weekend, we hope you will take the time to count your blessings and enjoy your friends and family. Life is often better than we realise!

From left to right Toto, Fred and Dorothy, all managing to eat from the bucket!

 Fred is much pushier than Toto, but nobody seems to knock Dorothy off the nipple:

Feeding time for the bottle lambs but everyone else follows, don't want to miss anything!

Toby, the ultimate opportunist uses his time wisely to eat hay attached to Phylleigh's tail

Trying to get the bottle lambs curious about solid food

Toto finally gets a turn at the bucket

The other lambs are getting more playfully independent

they still hop skip and jump when Mama calls

Spring and sheep!

We may well be three days short of spring when looking at the calender, we may well be three weeks short of spring as far as recorded averages for this area will tell us, but all the signs are here. Yesterday we hit 80F (26C) and, for the last week, night time temperatures have stayed above freezing point. The geese have returned, the chickens have started laying eggs with vigour, the grass is turning green and, most importantly, the sheep need a haircut. We like to have them sheared a few weeks before we start lambing but that sometimes proves to be a challenge. Last year with too much snow, we were faced with a barn that the shearers were unable to reach with their vehicles, first because of 4ft snow drifts and then later because of knee deep mud. As it turned out last year was a bad year for us, with only seven of our sheep bred. Not to go into details, it was a mini disaster for us that meant lambing paid for none of the usual bills, like paying for all the winter hay. These things happen, every farmer will tell you woeful tales of bad years but the only real solution is to look forward to better times (or to give up, which is not in either of our natures!).

We do not have sheep that are bred for their wool, such as merinos or Wensleydales, we breed meat sheep. Wool is not our prime object in shearing. We shear for clean sheep during lambing, so we can see what is happening as the delivery time approaches, and so the lambs do not have to fight dirty wool in order to get to their food source. We shear so that our sheep do not get too warm in summer and die on us. We shear to avoid nasty things like fly strike, when flies will lay their eggs in damp wool and a little while later maggots appear and do gross things to your sheep.

I have been to sheep shearing competitions in the northern counties of England and Wales, I have read books about Australian and New Zealand shearers and all have convinced me that shearers are a breed apart! It came as no surprise that Anita used to use a local man who I can best describe as "a sullen man of few words". He sheared all the local sheep, gave a fair price and was reliable, which is about as much as anyone can expect or want. When we decided to have sheep, we used this same man except, by then, he was into his 70's and slowing down. The year he retired we decided to use the same man as our neighbour was using. It made sense that he would do our sheep after the neighbour's, thus making a full day's work for himself. He arrived and within five minutes he was arguing with Anita, shouting at her, upsetting her to the point that I was ready to go to the house for the shotgun. His visit lasted 15 minutes and we have neither seen nor heard of him since. We still giggle at the way Anita stood up to him and ran him of the property.

Imagine our relief when the old shearer recommended some young men from just across the Minnesota border. The first year they came there were three of them and they did a wonderful job, last year we made an appointment with them that we had to cancel because of the weather and the inability to keep the sheep completely dry. This year Luke came on his own. We put up panels to restrain the flock and another 2 to enclose the shearing area that housed six sheep at a time. Jake helped with the sorting, Luke sheared, Anita de-wormed and vaccinated and I bagged the wool. It took us less than 4 hours to finish up with 32 sheep. We laughed, we joked, we shared stories and both Anita and I were impressed with the young man. He was knowledgeable, well versed in all subjects that we broached, respectful and did a wonderful job with the sheep. In fact we felt honoured to have gotten to know him a little better! He broke the stereotype I had in my mind of sheep shearers!

We are happy, about 60% of our ewes look as though they are 2-4 weeks away from lambing and all the rest bar one look pregnant. If the weather holds, this may be a good year! If, if, if! The sunshine has brought the kids outdoors, too. They spend their days playing and eating, and as they have started eating hay and weeds, we think we will start milking Daisy next week. I can't wait to taste the first goatmilk ice cream of the year and to start the first batch of cheese. Spring holds so much promise.