Since our Farmer Feed Thyself Challenge has been indefinitely postponed due to underwhelming garden production, I've decided to take on a different challenge for the month of August. I'm going to try to knit 30 newborn baby hats in a month.
Why, oh why would I want to knit my ever-loving booty off in the middle of summer, you ask?
I'm knitting hats as part of a newborn hat drive for an educational campaign called The Period of Purple Crying.
The organization's goal is to educate new parents and caregivers of infants about a normal developmental stage (from about 2 weeks of age to 4 months) in which babies cry more often and more intensely, which they refer to as "Purple Crying". Knowing that this is a normal behavior, and knowing how to properly cope with the frustration that a wailing baby can cause is a critical step in reducing instances of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma in infants.
The little purple hats will go home with newborns, along with information on identifying and coping with Purple Crying. The idea is to have a reminder right there on your sweet baby's noggin that his or her crying is ok, and like all developmental hurdles, shall pass in time.
Knitting is my therapy anyway, so knitting to save a life is practically nirvana in my book. ;) I encourage you to join me in making as many wee little hats as you have time to make - knitted, sewn or crocheted. The guidelines for the hats are as follows -
•Caps should be made using clean and NEW YARN any shade of PURPLE yarn. Other colors of yarn may be incorporated into the cap, but a shade of PURPLE should encompass at least 50 percent of the cap.
•Yarn and thread labeled, as "baby friendly" should be used for caps.
•Infant heads come in a variety of sizes. As a general rule, caps should have a circumference between 10.5 - 13.5 in. and a height of 5-6 in.
•Please refrain from including “pom poms” or any type of strap to secure caps to baby’s heads. These pose a potential choking and/or strangling hazard to babies.
You can find patterns for PURPLE Caps at www.clickforbabies.org under the Knit Section.
Finished hats can sent to any of the hospitals listed on the clickforbabies.org website. Mine will be divvied up between Legacy Emanuel in Portland, where a family member works, and Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, where my oldest was born. Please knit, crochet and sew along with me and use your creative energy to change lives!
FYI - I'm starting early. 3/4 of a hat done so far. 29 1/4 to go! :)))
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Cue the Banjos
Guess what the girls found today?
MORE BUNNIES!
Five (we think) teeny, little, incredibly inbred bunnies. Unless Prince Charming's neutering didn't take (how could it not? His huevos are gone), these are the children of Cinderella and Leap, her son that we'd thought was a daughter. Keeping in mind that Cinderella and Prince Charming are brother and sister, and that Leap is the product of their "union", with Leap then going on to father babies with his mother/aunt Cinderella, well... I guess that I shouldn't be surprised if the bunnies hop backwards or have horns or something. Good gravy!
So we're looking to re-home our sweet Mr. Leap, as we cannot afford another $120 rabbit vasectomy. He's extremely tame, since being handled practically from birth. He's also obviously not your average aggressive buck, as he masqueraded successfully as a girl all this time, and he's been the picture of sweetness with these new babies, bringing Cinny mouthsful of hay and his own hair to help her build her nest. Any takers? ;)
In another 6-8 weeks we'll also have the babies up for grabs. Their gender and coloration are still unknown, but if you're interested in a sweet little backwoods bunny with an "interesting" family history, give me a shout.
7/23/11 Update: The babies didn't make it. We're not sure what went wrong. :( We are still trying to re-home Leap, if anyone is interested.
MORE BUNNIES!
Five (we think) teeny, little, incredibly inbred bunnies. Unless Prince Charming's neutering didn't take (how could it not? His huevos are gone), these are the children of Cinderella and Leap, her son that we'd thought was a daughter. Keeping in mind that Cinderella and Prince Charming are brother and sister, and that Leap is the product of their "union", with Leap then going on to father babies with his mother/aunt Cinderella, well... I guess that I shouldn't be surprised if the bunnies hop backwards or have horns or something. Good gravy!
So we're looking to re-home our sweet Mr. Leap, as we cannot afford another $120 rabbit vasectomy. He's extremely tame, since being handled practically from birth. He's also obviously not your average aggressive buck, as he masqueraded successfully as a girl all this time, and he's been the picture of sweetness with these new babies, bringing Cinny mouthsful of hay and his own hair to help her build her nest. Any takers? ;)
In another 6-8 weeks we'll also have the babies up for grabs. Their gender and coloration are still unknown, but if you're interested in a sweet little backwoods bunny with an "interesting" family history, give me a shout.
7/23/11 Update: The babies didn't make it. We're not sure what went wrong. :( We are still trying to re-home Leap, if anyone is interested.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Garden Woes
Garden-wise this year, not much has been happening, let alone on the scale on which we'd imagined it. It's a huge bummer, because a) we're used to having an abundance of organic, homegrown produce at this time of year for eating and canning, which isn't going to happen, and b) because we don't get to try again for another 9 months.
We were foiled on a couple of fronts, mainly, that this Spring and Summer were both slow to arrive and then failed to dazzle weather-wise. This is the second ho-hum summer in a row here, and it's bumming me out.
Our other failing was our soil. We saw it's richness and deep black color, and foolishly assumed that it would be adequately fertile, as it had not been gardened for nearly a decade. Wrong-o! We amended with goat poop, bunny poop and a worm casting/bat guano liquid fertilizer, but everything except the weeds seems to be growing in slow-mo.
This sorry state of affairs leaves me to wonder if there will be any way at all for Bill and I to carry on with our Farmer, Feed Thyself challenge. There's just nothing there to eat yet! The pumpkins look promising, and the lettuce is kicking, but most everything else is still in it's infancy. So our planned FFT start date of August 1st is looking quite unlikely. :(
We were foiled on a couple of fronts, mainly, that this Spring and Summer were both slow to arrive and then failed to dazzle weather-wise. This is the second ho-hum summer in a row here, and it's bumming me out.
Our other failing was our soil. We saw it's richness and deep black color, and foolishly assumed that it would be adequately fertile, as it had not been gardened for nearly a decade. Wrong-o! We amended with goat poop, bunny poop and a worm casting/bat guano liquid fertilizer, but everything except the weeds seems to be growing in slow-mo.
This sorry state of affairs leaves me to wonder if there will be any way at all for Bill and I to carry on with our Farmer, Feed Thyself challenge. There's just nothing there to eat yet! The pumpkins look promising, and the lettuce is kicking, but most everything else is still in it's infancy. So our planned FFT start date of August 1st is looking quite unlikely. :(
Friday, July 8, 2011
Recipe: Homemade Cajeta (Goat Milk Dulce de Leche)
-1 Quart fresh goat's milk
-1 cup sugar
-1/2 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise
-1/2 cinnamon stick
-1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1/2-1 tsp of water
Heat the milk, sugar, vanilla bean and cinnamon stick over medium heat, in a heavy pot. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to boil gently.
Remove from heat, still stirring, and add your dissolved baking soda. The mixture will froth/foam up a bit, but can be stirred down fairly easily.
Return the pot to the heat. Reduce heat slightly (I change the setting from 5 to 4). Continue stirring until you feel like your arm is going to fall off, about 45 minutes to an hour.
At some point during your endless stirring, you should notice your milk mixture beginning to deepen in color. The intensity of flavor increases with cooking time/darkness, so you can decide when the color, flavor and consistency look right to you. I stopped mine at the point where it coated the back of my spoon, and was a butterscotch pudding color.
Pour your finished cajeta into a glass container - you DON'T want to put molten-hot liquid candy into plastic, trust me. The cajeta will keep in the fridge for about a week. Let me know if yours ever lasts that long. ;) You'll also want to get your pan soaking in hot soapy water ASAP, as the caramel is like hardened epoxy once it has cooled completely.
Your quart of milk should have reduced down to about one pint of caramel. Cajeta can be used as a topping (try it with coffee ice cream!), a little sweetness in your coffee, or as my friend Libi says, poured straight down your throat. Enjoy!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Product Review: The Henry Milker
Hand milking, for me, is an exercise in frustration. Maybe it's because I have mini breeds of goats, with corresponding mini ta-tas, or maybe it's because I'm just an awkward klutz. Either way, I was getting pretty discouraged about our prospects of ever getting milk from our goats. Then, one day while perusing a copy of Dairy Goat Journal (do I know how to have a good time or what?!) I saw it (cue angels singing) - The Henry Milker.
In my more desperate moments of failed hand milking, I'd dreamt of getting my hands on an electric milker. But they are:
a) HUGE - big time overkill for three little goats,
b) Expensive! Three and four figures expensive. Do you know how long I'd have to milk my goats to get $700 worth of milk out of them?
c) Complicated as all get-out. Pulsators, tubes, compressors, yada yada. Too many things to break. And, if you have to have a degree in mechanical engineering to assemble the thing fresh each day, well... it's not for me.
Which is why a Henry Milker was so appealing to me. It has seven parts total - a hand pump, teat cup, two tubes, a quart mason jar, modified jar lid and ring. C'est tout. Now, what they charge you for this simple little set up is a bit hard to swallow at $139, but I used the code "DAIRYGOAT" at checkout and got $10 off and a spare jar, lid, ring, size small teat cup & pair of tubes, which lessened the sting of the price tag a bit.
Setting up and using the milker were both a piece of cake. Even I can't mangle it too badly when there are only seven parts involved.
The quart jar comes with a lid that has had two hollow plastic spike-like fixtures set into it (I can't, for the life of me, think of the proper word for these things). You set the lid on the clean jar, then tighten it down with the ring. You affix one tube to each of the spike/receivers. One of your affixed tubes will now hook up to the hand pump, the other tube, to the teat cup (a large, blunt syringe with the plunger removed), and then you're ready to milk!
Fritzen, our mini LaMancha herd queen, giving up the goods.
The good stuff!
As far as using the milker, the advice that I have to offer is:
a)After cleaning the udder/teats, you'll need to clear the teat by hand milking once or twice before attaching the milker. This will not only clear any old/funky milk and debris from the orifice, but also encourage your goat to let down her milk. (I also massage the udder a little while washing her up. If all else fails, you can give her a little bump like the baby kids do to get the milk to let down.)
b) You need to be sure to get your teat cup straight on. A bad approach can lead to pinching, which can lead to a kick in the head.
c) Watch the pressure! The literature that comes with the milker advises that you not go above 10 on the gauge (I don't know what the unit of measurement is. PSI?). I've noticed that my does require between 5-7 to flow well. The lower that you can get away with, the better.
d) Let the pressure fluctuate. Once you have the milk going well, letting the pressure fall (and consequently, the milk flow) will not hurt your overall output. In fact, keeping the pressure constantly high without a break can damage the teat over time. I pump mine up until it begins to flow, maintain that pressure level for 10 seconds or so, then take a break from pumping to let the pressure fall gradually. When it hits a point where the flow is down to drips, I pump it back up.
Besides the relative affordability of this milker versus others, and it's idiot-proof operation, the Henry Milker has one additional benefit - cleanliness. I am a germaphobe, and the idea of milking by hand, allowing hair and straw and God-knows-what-else to fall into the bucket while milking really grossed me out. There's also the issue of the doe either stepping in and spoiling, or knocking over the bucket of milk. These are all non-issues with this milker.
I do still filter my milk, because you never know, but I'm far less concerned about contaminants when using this contained system.
So overall, I would recommend this milker for folks who have just a few goats to milk and are slow or inefficient at hand milking. It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, which seems like a reasonable length of time for a farmer and goat to determine whether or not this sort of set-up is for them. We're using the heck out of it over here, and the does like it a lot better than my clumsy, endless hand milking, so we'll be keeping ours. ;)
In my more desperate moments of failed hand milking, I'd dreamt of getting my hands on an electric milker. But they are:
a) HUGE - big time overkill for three little goats,
b) Expensive! Three and four figures expensive. Do you know how long I'd have to milk my goats to get $700 worth of milk out of them?
c) Complicated as all get-out. Pulsators, tubes, compressors, yada yada. Too many things to break. And, if you have to have a degree in mechanical engineering to assemble the thing fresh each day, well... it's not for me.
Which is why a Henry Milker was so appealing to me. It has seven parts total - a hand pump, teat cup, two tubes, a quart mason jar, modified jar lid and ring. C'est tout. Now, what they charge you for this simple little set up is a bit hard to swallow at $139, but I used the code "DAIRYGOAT" at checkout and got $10 off and a spare jar, lid, ring, size small teat cup & pair of tubes, which lessened the sting of the price tag a bit.
Setting up and using the milker were both a piece of cake. Even I can't mangle it too badly when there are only seven parts involved.
The quart jar comes with a lid that has had two hollow plastic spike-like fixtures set into it (I can't, for the life of me, think of the proper word for these things). You set the lid on the clean jar, then tighten it down with the ring. You affix one tube to each of the spike/receivers. One of your affixed tubes will now hook up to the hand pump, the other tube, to the teat cup (a large, blunt syringe with the plunger removed), and then you're ready to milk!
As far as using the milker, the advice that I have to offer is:
a)After cleaning the udder/teats, you'll need to clear the teat by hand milking once or twice before attaching the milker. This will not only clear any old/funky milk and debris from the orifice, but also encourage your goat to let down her milk. (I also massage the udder a little while washing her up. If all else fails, you can give her a little bump like the baby kids do to get the milk to let down.)
b) You need to be sure to get your teat cup straight on. A bad approach can lead to pinching, which can lead to a kick in the head.
c) Watch the pressure! The literature that comes with the milker advises that you not go above 10 on the gauge (I don't know what the unit of measurement is. PSI?). I've noticed that my does require between 5-7 to flow well. The lower that you can get away with, the better.
d) Let the pressure fluctuate. Once you have the milk going well, letting the pressure fall (and consequently, the milk flow) will not hurt your overall output. In fact, keeping the pressure constantly high without a break can damage the teat over time. I pump mine up until it begins to flow, maintain that pressure level for 10 seconds or so, then take a break from pumping to let the pressure fall gradually. When it hits a point where the flow is down to drips, I pump it back up.
Besides the relative affordability of this milker versus others, and it's idiot-proof operation, the Henry Milker has one additional benefit - cleanliness. I am a germaphobe, and the idea of milking by hand, allowing hair and straw and God-knows-what-else to fall into the bucket while milking really grossed me out. There's also the issue of the doe either stepping in and spoiling, or knocking over the bucket of milk. These are all non-issues with this milker.
I do still filter my milk, because you never know, but I'm far less concerned about contaminants when using this contained system.
So overall, I would recommend this milker for folks who have just a few goats to milk and are slow or inefficient at hand milking. It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, which seems like a reasonable length of time for a farmer and goat to determine whether or not this sort of set-up is for them. We're using the heck out of it over here, and the does like it a lot better than my clumsy, endless hand milking, so we'll be keeping ours. ;)
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Cheese Advice?
I'm looking for a fairly easy cheese recipe in which I can use a mixture of goat and cows milk. I'm leaning towards Romano or Parmesan, but the whole idea of waiting a year to try my first cheese makes for a rather lame start to my cheesy adventures. I could go for some more instant gratification-style cheese products. Maybe feta??? Does anyone have a recipe to recommend?
We only have about a quart of goat milk right now, so first things first, I'm going to make some cajeta. Cajeta is a Mexican caramel sauce, akin to Dulce de leche. I foresee it having a starring role in my goat milk lattes during our Farmer Feed Thyself challenge next month. If I have to go cold turkey off of chocolate, I hope that I can at least appease my sweet tooth with a down-home caramel macchiato.
Come on out of the woodwork, cheese people. What's a good beginning cheese making recipe that works well with some goat milk in the mix?
We only have about a quart of goat milk right now, so first things first, I'm going to make some cajeta. Cajeta is a Mexican caramel sauce, akin to Dulce de leche. I foresee it having a starring role in my goat milk lattes during our Farmer Feed Thyself challenge next month. If I have to go cold turkey off of chocolate, I hope that I can at least appease my sweet tooth with a down-home caramel macchiato.
Come on out of the woodwork, cheese people. What's a good beginning cheese making recipe that works well with some goat milk in the mix?
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Six Ounces of Triumph...
...look just like this!
Yes, it's only 6 ounces. Six very hard-earned ounces! In fact I can honestly say that I haven't sweated and sworn over an amount of milk this bitty since I was the one lactating.
I would have taken pictures of our inaugural use of the Henry Milker, but even with my three assistant goat wranglers, things were hectic. Gertie was the least willing milker, Chardonnay the least fruitful (I seriously think she shut her milk ducts DOWN) and Fritzen the easiest and best producer. Considering her long history of pig-headedness, who'd have thought?
Our does' milk supply is beginning to wane, so this milker got here just in the nick of time. Now, if I can train my goats (and myself) to be up for using it twice per day, we might just be in business.
My fellow milk maids, enjoying a post-milking water balloon fight.
Yes, it's only 6 ounces. Six very hard-earned ounces! In fact I can honestly say that I haven't sweated and sworn over an amount of milk this bitty since I was the one lactating.
I would have taken pictures of our inaugural use of the Henry Milker, but even with my three assistant goat wranglers, things were hectic. Gertie was the least willing milker, Chardonnay the least fruitful (I seriously think she shut her milk ducts DOWN) and Fritzen the easiest and best producer. Considering her long history of pig-headedness, who'd have thought?
Our does' milk supply is beginning to wane, so this milker got here just in the nick of time. Now, if I can train my goats (and myself) to be up for using it twice per day, we might just be in business.
My fellow milk maids, enjoying a post-milking water balloon fight.
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