Cobwebs in my eyes

This weekend some friends voluntarily came over to help put in fence posts. Yes, you read that right, voluntarily! It was nice to see an Irish boy working with a Scotch. 

Well, until that moment when things went terribly wrong. Small,  medium, myself and Irish boy's wife ( should give her a nickname as they might be appearing in the blog regularly) headed into town to grab some lamb at the shop and a couple of ingredients for dinner at the grocery. On our return, Husband's head was bleeding, and Irish boy smugly walked up to the truck. "I beat the crud out of him." Irish Boy's wife and I sat there, our eyes as round as saucers. Husband says "he took the tamping round and swung it at me like a bat." For those of you that don't know, a tamping rod is a 6' pole of heavy gauge metal, (aka pike, sucker rod or spud bar) with a flattend end for tamping down dirt, and a spaded end for breaking rock

Photo is of the next day. Big ole knot!

Suddenly they both start laughing. Husband with a knot and blood in his right eye, giggled. "No, I pulled a stupid, did it to myself." It was that moment that I realized that these two were not only going to give me trouble, but they are fast becoming thick as thieves.  Needless to say relief flooded us both. Silly boys.

They managed to get all the posts into the ground. My job today will be to use that tamping rod to secure the posts. Once that is done I can soon start on the barbed wire. I am actually looking forward to it. I have missed being able to do so much physical labor. The last few years, with the leg issue and all, had basically put a stop to many of the things I use to do. I still do not have full flexibility nor strength, and some days it aches so much that I do resort to using my cane. But I am alive, I can use it much more than I did a year ago, and for that, I am grateful.

Update (even though this isn't yet published) I tamped down the poles and set kickers. Barbed wire is now being placed. Come-along is a girl's best friend. As I was tamping, eyes wide open, I would literally get cobwebs in my eyes! It was a disturbing feeling. 

 I made dinner for our new friends. (Told you I would be back with mutton recipes). They happened to crash here, so I made two mutton dinners. The first night I decided to go traditional Autumn.

Let's call it Fall of the Mutton

2 sweet potatoes (the call them Southern Yams here)

1 medium sized butternut squash

1lbs mutton meat

2 cups chicken broth (plain)

4 red apples

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Sage

Peel and dice up sweet potatoes. Place them in a pot with the chicken broth. As that heat over a medium heat, peel and cut the butternut squash into larger, yet manageable pieces than the sweet potatoes. You do not want your squash to get too mushy. Add to the pot. Dice up the mutton into bite sized pieces, add salt and pepper to taste and place into the pot. Cover and reduce heat. Cook until your squash is just tender. Remove from heat and drain.

Peel and dice the apples. Add 1 Tbls butter to your pot, stir in the apples. Over a medium high heat, slightly brown the apple pieces. Add the cream, and fresh sage (2 mince leaves fresh, or 4 crumbled pieces dry). Stir until it begins to thicken, reduce heat to low. Add 4 Tbls butter and the mutton/squash mixture back into the pot with the apples. Stir well. The sweet potatoes will purée itself as you stir. It should not be the texture of soup. If it is, slow cook uncovered until the cream sauce thickens.

Salt  to taste, and serve hot with fresh bread.

Mutton and Fall Rice

I was cooking for 7 people.

You will need, 1 cup rice for every 2 cups chicken broth

1 small butternut squash

1 lbs mutton meat

Spinach

Butter

Grated Parmesan cheese

Mushrooms (we used puff ball shrooms)

Fresh garlic

Salt

Pepper

8oz cubed cheddar cheese

Sage

Parsley 

Place broth in a pot and bring to a boil. Add 2 fresh sprigs on minced sage (4 crumbled if dry) and as much parsley as you like. Peel and dice up the butternut squash, add to the broth. Pour in the rice and return to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook until rice is tender. 

Slice the mushrooms and mince 1 clove of garlic. On a skillet, melt 1 Tbls butter and begin to brown the garlic. Once golden in color, add the mushrooms, and lightly brown.  Add the lamb, and cook for a few moments. Remove from heat.

Add as much butter and Parmesan as you prefer to the rice, tear up the spinach and stir. Add salt to taste. Stir in the cubed cheese then serve before the cheese fully melts. Add the mushroom and lamb to the top, serve with fresh bread. 

Irish Boy's wife caught the mushroom hunting bug. She left here with 2 grocery sacks full of wild mushrooms. She was the one that found the wonderfully sweet puff mushrooms.  All in all it was a productive weekend with some really good people. Only spoiler was that someone had tried to break into their car that sat at the top of the driveway. Nothing stolen at least. 

Mutton Awesomeness

The last few days I have been offline. Instead spending some time with Husband. I won't be seeing him very much over the next month, or so.

I have been experimenting with food. I miss doing that. But with the windfall of lamb and mutton at my fingertips, something has to be done to keep everyone's palates happy.

Unfortunately I do not have photos.

However I do have two awesome mutton recipes. (For now)

My sheep were a bit over two years old. Ideally mutton is preferred over 3 years old. I don't like mutton.  It can be too tough and too flavorful. Yet my 2 year olds came out perfectly flavored. I know that the image above says Dorper, my sheep were Black Belly Barbadoes and Desert Paint mixes. The lack of laniolin tends to help keep the meat from being "greasy" flavored. Similar to Spring lamb (3 months of age) that you tend to find in American Supermarkets. 

Lemon Pepper Mutton

Leg cuts

Dried lemon zest

Butter

Pepper Jack cheese

Salt

I took about a 1 lbs leg cut, and sliced it into bite size pieces. Melt 1Tbs butter in a cast iron skillet. Over medium high heat, add the mutton cuts, around 2 tsp dried lemon zest, and a sprinkle of salt. Stir. The butter and the juices from the meat will rehydrate the zest. You can use fresh lemon zest if you want. Once the meat is about medium rare (takes only a few minutes) reduce heat and crumble the pepper jack cheese over top. Do not strain the juice. Mix together and allow the cheese to melt. Serve hot. 

(I served it with fried potatoes with lots of fresh onion and garlic, and scrambles eggs.)

Mutton Roast

Roast

Mushroom gravy

Very simple, place your roast into a pot or slow cooker, add gravy and allow to cook all day. I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Homemade mushroom gravy

3 Tbls unsalted butter

6 oz fresh mushrooms (I actually used the dried wild mushrooms. Because the flavor intensifies once dried, I did not use as much)

Salt

Ground pepper

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 cups beef broth (or stock)

Over a medium heat, melt butter until it foams. If using fresh mushrooms, add. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Stir occasionally, allowing the mushrooms to "brown" a bit. About 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms, stirring as you do so. Toast the flour for 3 minutes. Pour in the wine, scrapping up any bits stuck to the pot. Mix for 30 seconds. Slowly add the broth, using a whisk. 

If adding to a roast, stop now and pour into your slow cooker. (Add the dried mushrooms here if using)  You do not want it to thicken up just yet. While cooking, add a bit of wine or broth (whisking around the roast) to keep it from firming up too much.

If wanting to use as a gravy only, bring to a boil, stirring constantly for two minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream. Salt and pepper to taste. 

More recipes to come.

Still here

We finished tearing up the soil for the garden, by hand. A Maddox and a garden claw can do wonders.

And my cool weather veggies are sprouting. This in itself makes me feel better. Of course it helps that word of Husband's genius has gotten out, and the V-twin guys are starting to show up at the shop. It's still a struggle, but things are looking brighter. 

The boys enjoyed their first swim of the season. Of course the water was freezing, and I should know, I went in. There is another small waterfall down stream. husband and I walked down here to bathe. I could lay at the top of the fall, hang my head off the ridge, and wash my hair with abandonment. It was wonderfully awesome. Only words to describe it. I felt so much cleaner in the creak than I have in the tub. Chilly, but blissful.

Miss Buckets even joined in.

Watermelon seeds that were spit out last fall are starting to sprout. As well as many windflowers and wild onion.

I chased sheep around, trying to get a photo of the lamb. Turns out it is a girl.

I still am unable to run, however I did manage to get into a skip without my knee hurting.

This is Pail. She was dumped at the top of our hill. We found her during the coldest part of the winter, and I just couldn't have her freeze to death.

At least she smiles.

That's the extent of what is happening here. Besides I think I am going to change the name of the holler. The garden has taken up most of our time. Once that is in, other things can start.

Oh, and. Husband named the bull calf, Bullbo. (We had a Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit marathon)

First born in Kentucky

We have had our first lamb born at the new homestead.

If we can ever catch it, I will let you know the details. It looks like. . . A lamb.

If you have forgotten what my lambs look like, here is one born in Kansas.

The newest addition is a darker brown with white socks and tail, and a black belly. Or so it seems from a distance. 

Ah well, still a happy sign.

You have great advice.

Please don't take this as your advice isn't welcomed, it is, and it has always been.

I am rather an old hat when it comes to dealing with dogs attacking livestock. I have stood out in blizzard topless, using my shirt to staunch the blood of a goat. I have buried the remains of massacres, and shot several dogs.

My question about bringing baked goods, was a dark joke. I have met the family before this, and they seem to be reasonable people, a nice family. Etiquette in Kansas dictated that you got a warning. After that one could get the county involved if you for some reason wanted to save that dog. But most the time county would do nothing unless it bit a person and that person ended up in ER. 

This isn't sheep country here. I believe I am the only one with sheep right now. I could be wrong as I can't see down into other hollers. There are a few head of cattle besides mine and Small Farm Girl's. Mainly chickens. And I guess these dogs have been a problem for those birds. 

If I had caught those dogs, or if Large had been at the house rather than walking down the hill, they would have been shot then and there. No questions, no talking, nothing. 

Sprocket went missing a few months after arriving here. The puppies came into our life after the wreck. So as of right now there are no guardians for the sheep. I wasn't able to work with the puppies due to not being able to walk and all. They make good alarms, but they bark at anything that makes a noise in the woods. Hopefully we can find guardianship sooner rather than later. 

The ram is also too young still to protect his women, um errr woman. It will be another year before he will have the bulk.

Unfortunately, this last sheep to die was my last Painted Desert. The ram is a mix and the ewe is a black belly. My breeding herd is gone. 

For now I will wait on rebuilding that herd.

And thank you guys again for the dog and driveway advice. And glad to know I am not alone.

The sheep

The sheep love the hills and the ferns. Overjoyed one might say.

Things were going well, until the polar vortex and I lost the smallest of the four. Then yesterday the boys ran off three dogs. They had torn up the smallest of the three remaining sheep.

Now I get to go talk to the neighbor about her dogs. Does one bring baked goods when bringing news that you will have to shoot their dogs? Or chocolate?

We will have to kill the sheep they attacked. Don't want her to suffer. But that means I am down to two sheep. Wonder how long they will survive.

Certified Veterinarian Inspection

I really don't have a whole lot to tell you on this subject. However it is all part of the moving project.

A CVI varies from State to State. You need to find the laws for the State you are moving to, and follow those. 

For us, Kansas is a TB free State, therefore Kentucky says all I need to have is a signed certificate that says a visual inspection was made and that there are no visible signs of disease. 

No blood work, no touching. Just a looky lou. 

What a morning!

Good neighbor calls, my sheep are in his yard, headed across the street to bad dog neighbor's (aka one of the men I caught trying to steal my sheep) yard. I tell him I am sending Large after them.

As soon as I hang up, I get a text from horse neighbor. There is a lamb in their back field! Sigh.

I get Small on that one.

Phone rings, it's good neighbor, bad dog neighbor says they are his sheep, so I had better check the flock. My goodness I am a mess! I can't go chasing things all over the place! And why are they all suddenly out?

Here comes Large, all our sheep are in our field, sans the one lamb. Deep breath and a wave of calm. I have to call good neighbor back to let him know. Large is now chasing the lamb through two neighbors fields, Medium is in hiding, waiting for the lamb to get stuck in the fence. And Small, poor Small, the turkey and Winston the bull ganged up on him. He got knocked in the arm while trying to kick the Tom in self defense. Small was done.

Luckily horse neighbor came out and helped Large. But all the running around got tiring, so he went and retrieved his lasso. Didn't work out so well. Horse neighbor wife kept texting me with all the hilarity. Finally the lamb was plume warn out, they scooped him up and placed him back into our felid.

Now for the rest of the day to stay calm.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how much you try

Did you know that rabies and thiamin deficiency are scarily similar in lambs. So many of you probably didn't want to know that, and are now looking at house lambs differently. It isn't common for a lamb to get rabies, but I just thought I would throw it out there, as Bobbert bit me the other day. I was clearing out the dog food he had snaked. Molars are vicious, as you can see in the picture below. (Welcome new readers, I do indeed post bloody pictures here. And I tend to get injured a bit often)

Bobbert was an interesting case. He was dong great, then bam! Down. But then the next morning he was up and fine again. But last night was not the case. He just slowly faded. It was so hard watching it. Husband held him, petting him and talking to him. We tried everything sans a blood transfusion to keep him with us. Husband even preformed mouth to mouth when he stopped breathing.

We had to give him a B complex shot, to attempt to perk him up yesterday. It only worked for a few minutes. He wasn't processing nutrients correctly. A saltine and a bottle of sugar water had perked him up better than the B complex shot.

It's difficult to lose a little one, whose mother rejected them and you worked so hard to keep. But it does happen on occasion.

We enjoyed Bobbert while he was with us. He received lots of love in his short time. He was smug and self centered, but very personable when he wanted attention.

For those of you new to this life, remember its ok when we lose one. The homestead must roll on. Give yourself a moment to grieve, as death is a part of the simple life.

Bloat in Lambs equals a terrifying experience

Bobbert began coughing, mucus bubbled from the side of his mouth. His back teeth made a grinding noise. Symptoms fitting that of chocking. His stomach not hard or distended.

With in moments he was struggling for breath and falling to the ground. Husband jumped into action, sticking his finger down Bobbert's mouth in attempts to dislodge whatever it is he was chocking on. Husband got bit for his efforts. Blood was drawn and Husband worries about becoming a weresheep now. But nothing blocking the lamb's airway.

His stomach still not showing signs of bloat. But I am now at a loss. Bobbert is at this point having seizure like symptoms, thrashing and struggling to baa in Husband's lap.

I have never dealt with bloat in any of my animals before. This was a new, and terrifying experience for us. However I do research, and suddenly was recalling some of the things I learned. I quickly drenched Bobbert with 1/4 tablespoon veggie oil and 1/2 teaspoon water. Followed by some watered down pepto. Husband yelled at me that I was drowning him. He of little faith! Suddenly Bobbert's heart rate was no longer race car levels, and standing with balance. Of course I get to be smug now.

All this happened in less than a five minute time frame. If I hadn't known what to do, Bobbert would have been dead within a few moments. Suffocating.

His breathing is no longer labored. He is standing and staring. For now he will be ok. But for us, this is yet another drama involving this little ram. We almost lost him a few days ago because of the formula we had for him. After a saltine and sugar water, his system was cleared of that poisonous swill and he was back to his normal self. And now the bloat. He will have a stricter diet for the next few days, reduced amounts of everything. And we will slowly increase it over the week. I should have paid a bit more attention, but after the formula debacle, he had stopped eating for almost 48 hours, only taking water. I was thrilled he was eating again. But it was too much too fast.

He might be the death of me.

Lesson for the neophyte 'steaders, do lots of research because you never know when you might need it. Don't wait until the last minute to google it.

Are you my Mommy?

I will admit I didn't actually look to see what sex the lamb was before I started talking about it. It just didn't really cross my mind to look at it's junk while trying to save its life. We have a boy. A little ram that has decided Husband is mommy. Harrumph. Doesn't seem to matter that I saved his life, oh no. He has formed an attachment to Husband. He just tolerates me and the dogs during the day.

However, because of this development, he has earned himself a reprieve from future execution. He might even end up with his own set of goggles and a sidecar. But we will have to wait and see on that one. He is currently being treated like a puppy.

The plan is to band him, and then train him to pull a cart. Lead rope training starts today. If we wait too long, these rams tend to get thick in muscle and in head, and training will become difficult. Right now he sleeps with the dogs and jumps up on human laps for a snuggle. And boy is he super affectionate! He leans his head in for scratches and everything. Such a change from the other sheep that want absolutely nothing to do with you if you don't have a treat for them.

This is the second time I have had a lamb in the house, and the first one I was able to save. I have had many a goat kid in my home, those super destructive buggers. Lambs are just as bad. They aren't as jumpy, yet they will chew on everything. And I mean everything.

His name is Bobbert, being the last of BobDole's legacy. He steals the bones from the dogs, snagged a cracker out of my hand, and rips up the carpet. He bit Small's finger so hard it bled. But he doesn't jump on sleeping children's faces. See, bright side.

He took his first truck ride yesterday, securely curled up on Husband's lap. I foresee driving down the highway, scaring the bejeebers out of other drivers as a hugely horned ram stares at them from the passengers side window. This might be fun.

I placed him on the ground outside to see what decision he would make. Apparently he knows that he has it good in the house. He stuck right next to my foot and paced me into the house. As soon as we hit the bunker/fire room, he flew up the steps and perched himself on the couch. He completely ignored the bleating of the other sheep. He is a house ram.

Sheep vs goat: a test

Today I got into a conversation about sheep vs goats, and how one tells the difference. There are so many pictures and videos labeled incorrectly it can get confusing. So I took it upon myself to do a bit of research and discovered that one person wrote an article long ago and people treat it as gospel, regurgitating that same false statements over and over. No one seems to have corrected it. Cut and paste cut and paste.

I posted a little test on Facebook to see if people knew the difference when looking. The results were interesting, and slightly predictable. My homesteaders were correct 100% of the time. My wonderful city dwelling friends were wrong 100% of the time. (I love you guys, but you need to spend more time in the country) Most people seems to believe that you don't shear goats, and you don't milk sheep. We need to change that.

But first, here is the test. I know, it's simple for some of you. But go ahead and try. Later I will tell you the answers and try to fix the sheep/goat misnomers.

Can you tell which is the goats and which the sheep?

It's a good morning

Besides the inch of snow that has already fallen. They claim three inches by morning, but if it keeps snowing like it has, I wouldn't be surprised to see more.

Lamb is on the move. She has settled in nicely. Started baaing, which she hadn't done all day yesterday. She still eats very little, but it seems to suffice. Doesn't have suckling down, luckily you just have to squeeze the nipple and milk comes shooting out. So she has been chewing on it.

No death for you today

Large went out to do his morning rounds and found a lamb laying close to death. She is three days old, and we are unsure what happened.

He scooped her up, bundling her under his flannel and brought her into me. Such a compassionate boy for a meat eater. He was on top of pulling out bottles and nipples, getting the formula set out. As I sat with her in my lap warming her. She wouldn't fight.

Young critters sometimes resist you in a way that is very, scarily, similar to death throes. As she started to warm, her body would tense, and her neck would stretch, her head touching her spine. Her eyes were hazy, as her face twitched. So close to death.

I used a syringe to force feed her some warm formula. Our sheep have never been milked, so I keep supplements for all my critters around. She did swallow. That was a great sign, and my heart ached a bit less.

It took hours to get her to stop shivering. But when she did, she stood and peed. But immediately laid back down. This time though, she wasn't on her side. She got all four legs curled up under her. My heart ached a bit less.

She still wouldn't suckle, so I forced fed her some more. The twitchy abated, and she watched us with suspicious glances. Finally she stood again, I set her on the floor, because it is easier for me to deal with critters on my couch; I am the reason we can't have nice things. She had a sticky bowel movement and peed. Then she boldly walked up to the dogs, checking them out. My heart leaped for joy as she leapt in a spook away from me. I placed her back up on the couch, on the blanket I had warmed her with. She took a moment to smell and taste it, then curled up. She looked up at me, her eyes finally cleared. I covered her up, and she fell fast asleep. She is behaving spoiled already.

Today has been good.

The Best of 2012 in pictures