Many of the animals here at Piscataway Acres enjoy the cooler temperatures.  The sheep are in their element, the goats love the falling leaves to munch on, the chickens are taking a break from laying.  The pigs however are not happy with the change, not happy at all.  Most of their routine is left unchanged with the cold weather, although, they sometimes have a hard time deciding whether they want to be inside or outside during the day.  When I am home, I allow them to come in and wrap up in their blankets.  But when I am at work, they must try to keep warm out in the barn.  For this, I have provided a bale of hay for them to build a cozy fort.  They both crawl into their hay house and huddle their until they hear the car pull into the driveway.  Then they run for the warmth of the house.  On mildly cool days, their blankets do just fine.  On these days, they prefer the couch in the TV room.  They particularly enjoy watching some of their favorite TV shows as they sit bundled on the couch.  But on days where the temps struggle to break 50, a fire is a necessity.  When the fire is heating the house, they drag their blankets over to the hearth and fight over which pig will lay closest to the stove.  It is a toss up on who gets it.  Tonight, it was Finnemore, but this may change at any moment.  Sleeping on their blankets, warming themselves by the fire is a very idyllic scene.  A cup of hot cider, a good book, and the view of two peaceful pigs sleeping at the feet of a warm fire, who needs a TV?

Home Grown Carved Pumpkins

There are a lot of positive aspects to living in a more isolated area, not having Trick-or-Treaters is not one of them.  Every year I get myself ready for kids seeking candy, but so far, none have ever come.  It is understandable, but still…  If they only knew what good candy I got to hand out!

This Halloween, as with previous ones, I carve a few home grown pumpkins.  The animals love carving pumpkins.  They get to eat the gooy insides, as well as the carved out pieces.  The pigs, sheep, and goats all sit around in anticipation as I scrape out the guts and carve the faces.  Chesapeake in particular is a pumpkin fan.  If I am feeling real motivated, I may make pumpkin pies tomorrow.  But then again, I have enough sweet Halloween candy to finish.

Chesapeake Comes When He is Called

Animals are a lot smarter than we humans like to think.  They also respond to people more than one may think.  This morning, I had to scold Finnemore for pushing his brother out of the way.  In a “mean” tone I said “Bad Finnemore”.  He responded with a sad grunt and corrected his behavior.  I have also noticed that pigs wag their tails when you speak to them in loving ways.  For example, while Juniper eats her dinner, I like to talk to her about her day.  (I know it is silly.)  But she really likes it.  The more I talk, the more her tail wags.  If I stop talking, her tail stops wagging.  If I talk to someone else while she is eating, her tail doesn’t wag.  But the moment I go back to talking to her, the wagging starts up.  This is always nice to see.

Although pigs are smart, goats and sheep also respond well talking.  Brie can get a little skittish when I want her to do something.  But talking to her puts her at ease and I notice that she is much calmer when I talk to her.  When I speak nice words to Kit, she will stand there and look deeply at me.  My voice is almost hypnotic to her as she will stand looking me in the eye. 

I am sure that some of their responses are in my head.  But others can not be mistaken as an actual response to my voice.  I am glad they enjoy listening to me ramble as much as I enjoy rambling to them.

Napoleon Bonaparte: Our New Buck

Things have been very hectic of late and I apologize for those few of you who keep checking in to see what is going on.  Updates will start coming again.

A lot has been going on.  The fall is approaching and we all can feel it.  The nights are getting cool, fruit and fall veggies are ready for harvest, and the animals are getting frisky.  To this end, I want to welcome Napoleon Bonaparte to Piscataway Acres.  Bonaparte is a registered Nigerian Dwarf Buck.  Eliza and Brie have been looking forward to getting a man they would be interested in on the property, and now they have one.  Bonaparte comes from a very nice farm in Virginia.  Although his name officially is “Cocoa”, I didn’t feel it a very dignified name for such a majestic buck.  I thought he might need some time to adjust to his new home before he got down to business, but I was wrong.  Both Brie and Eliza are bred with goat kids expected the middle of February.

Keeping a buck was a hard decision for me.  They eat a lot, are disorderly, stink, and are otherwise not something I would normally want to keep around.  But the idea of driving Brie and Eliza two hours in the back of a Toyota to visit a “service farm” just seemed a bit daunting.  So despite the added chaos of a buck, I think he will make life easier in the long run.  Plus, later next month I will be getting my new ram.  The buck and the ram will need companionship when they are not allowed to hang out with the ladies, so I hope they will become friends.

Clockwise from the top: Ricotta, Chevre, Feta, and Mozzarella

Since the lambs have been sold, I have been getting a lot of sheep’s milk.  I milk the sheep twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.  Both Kit and Kaboodle do a great job of producing milk.  Kaboodle is very well behaved on the milking stand and I never have any problems with her.  Kit on the other hand can be a mess.  She frequently fights me about being milked.  However, once you get the milk flowing, she settles down.

I have been having fun trying to figure out what to do with all the sheep’s milk I get.  Sheep’s milk ice cream is delicious.  Also, I have been using it on cereal, to make batters, and drinking straight with a cookie!  I have also been enjoying sheep’s milk cheese.  Today I made Mozzarella, Chevre (but from sheep’s milk), Feta, and Ricotta.  Mozzarella is the easiest.  It doesn’t take that much time at all to make.  Chevre has to be started about a day earlier to let the milk ferment a bit.  Feta is started and has to sit for four days to ripen.  Ricotta is made from the whey from all the cheese and doesn’t take long to make. 

Sheep’s milk is ideal for cheese making.  It has a lot more fat and dissolved solids than cows or goats milk.  So you get a lot more cheese from the same amount of milk.  It is also creamy and easy to work with.  It is a little creamier when you drink it straight, however, I do not notice any additional taste to the milk. 

After taking out everything I can from the milk, I am left with a deep yellow liquid.  For every gallon of milk, I get a little less than half a gallon of this yellow whey.  I feed it to the pigs and the chickens.  I have not tasted it as the yellow color kind of grosses me out, however, I can say that the chickens and pigs seem to love the stuff.  They drink it real quick.

But for those raising fruit trees, and gardens, these stinging insects are beneficial.  Honey bees not only provide honey (which a coworker and friend brought a jar of fresh honey to me from her hive), they also are excellent pollinators.  They ensure that the flower develops into healthy, tasty fruit.  Hornets and wasps are also helpful critters.  They kill pests that eat leaves and fruit from the garden.  I love to find a Tomato Horn Worm that is all shriveled up, knowing that a wasp got to him before he could eat another tomato!  So despite their potential sting, they provide benefits to the gardener.

But their sting can’t be overlooked.  Just recently I was putting some tree spikes in the ground around the apple trees.  Enjoying the beautiful day and not really paying attention, I hammered a thick spike near the tree.  Without realizing what was happening, I had the feeling that  my hands were on fire.  Looking down, I was mortified to see my hands and arms covered with wasps.  They had built a nest in the ground near where I was hammering.  The stinging was unrelenting.  I ran to the house, being stung on my hands and arms.  But I only then realizee they were also all over my back.  As I started to strip the shirt off my back, I was stung several more times in the back.  For most, a bee sting is unpleasant and should be avoided at all costs.  But for me, it is a near death sentence.  I am very allergic to stings.  By the time I made it to the house, things started to go dark and my breathing became difficult.  At this point, crawling to the phone, I hit speed dial and phoned a friend.  But unable to talk, I just lay on the floor.  Thankfully my friend knew something was terribly wrong and got help for me.  Minutes later, I was in the hospital where they worked to save me, which, thankfully, they did.

Now comes the decision.  Do I keep the helpful flying lethal weapons, or do I kill them all?  Despite the fact that they are helpful, I decided I can’t keep them in the garden.  If they wish to make a hive out in the woods, or even in the pasture, they are welcome to.  But in my yard and garden, I am afraid they can’t stay.  A friend of mine waited until nightfall, crept up to the hole in the ground where the wasps unleashed their horror on me, and sprayed wasp spray down the hole.  He then sealed the hole up with an insectacide powder.  So far, I have seen no signs of the little stingers. 

It will take me some time to fully get my confidence back.  Although I still love to go out to the garden, I have to admit that my heart beats a little faster as I enter it and I don’t stay nearly as long as I used to.  Despite their benefits, some help just isn’t worth it!

Fritz and Ella Exploring Their New Home

Today was a big day.  I woke up early to take care of the animals and prep Fritz and Ella for their two hour car ride to their new home.  As normal, when I am pressed to get anything done, the animals are all very uncooperative.  It was a difficult morning with the goats running off into the woods playing hide and go seek.  But despite a few setbacks, I was able to head out just about on time with Fritz and Ella in the back seat of my Toyota. 

To transport animals in the back seat of a car, I first put a tarp down, covering as best as I can the seat, the back, and the floor.  I also put a few newspapers on top of that and then an old blanket on top of them.  I take a sheet and drape it across the front seats to make a “barrier”, hopefully preventing a curious little lamb from jumping into the drivers seat!

The preparations went well and the little lambs seemed happy enough.  It was an uneventful trip.  Except, they were a bit loud…

Their new home is located right near the Delaware/Maryland border on the Eastern Shore.  It is beautiful.  Their new home has plenty of fresh grass and playmates.  Chickens, ducks, cows, and pigs.  The animals were all very happy and I was glad that they were going to a place where I knew they would be well taken care of.

The farm where they are now at specializes in pasture raised pork.  I brought half a pig back with me.  Currently there was a group of piglets running around being very adorable with their mom keeping a close eye on them.  I have expressed my philosophy on this blog before that if you are going to eat animals, try to eat happy animals.  These were happy! 

Upon returning home, Kit and Kaboodle seemed a little down.  I assume they miss their little ones.  I gave them a few extra treats and milked them.  Right before I sat down to write this blog, I went out to check on them and they were asleep in the barn.  I am glad most animals get over things quickly!

Fresh Picked Tomatoes

I always hear fellow gardeners lament about what to do with all their tomatoes.  This time of year, most people that grow these delicious, vine ripened veggies have more than they think they can handle.   However, I find tomatoes to be a very versatile item that can be used for a number of tasty treats.  One easy thing to do with tomatoes is to slice them and sprinkle a little basil, salt, and pepper on top.  Another option is to make a salad.  Cut up the tomatoes into pieces and add basil, feta cheese, and olive oil.  Making fried tomatoes is easy.  Simply cut them into large slices, dip them in a mix of flour, salt, pepper, and if you wish a little old bay seasoning. Fry them in vegetable oil.  Fried green tomatoes are done just like that except use green tomatoes instead of the ripe ones.  I find this to be good for two reasons.  First, green tomatoes fried don’t taste that different than red ones, perhaps a little less acidic. Second, green tomatoes don’t get “mushy” when fried as red ones tend to do.  There are other things that you can do that take a bit more work, but that will help preserve the tomatoes for future use. I spend part of my weekend preparing some of my favorite preserved tomato items.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes

First, sun dried tomatoes.  This is an excellent way to store them and the taste of dried tomatoes can’t be beat.  To do this, slice the tomatoes fairly thick, as if you were going to fry them, and put them in a fruit dehydrator until they are dry and leathery.  If you don’t have a dehydrator as I didn’t until just a few years ago, you can use your oven set on the lowest setting.  Put the sliced tomatoes on a cookie sheet in the oven and check on them often.  This process will take the whole day, so start them in the morning.  Once they are dry, I cut them up into quarters and then you can either pack them in a air tight container and put them in the refrigerator, or, as I like to do, put them in a jar and coat them with olive oil.  They will keep for many, many months in the refrigerator.  They go great in pastas.  I like to cook mine with some olive oil, onion, garlic, summer squash, and then toss it with some pasta. 

Pasta Sauce

Speaking of pasta, you can make tomato sauce.  My way is easy and doesn’t require any special utensils.  I first cut the tomatoes up into quarters, then put them in a large pot and cook them until they are very tender.  Around 15 minutes or so.   Then I pour as many as I can manage into a strainer.  The strainer sits in another pot.  I stir the tomatoes until I have most of the easy liquid out.  Then I take a cup or something else with a flat surface and I begin to smash and stir the tomatoes in the strainer.  I do this until all that is left is the skins of the tomato.  I repeat this process until all the cooked tomatoes go through the strainer.  I let that sit and fry some onions and garlic in olive oil.  I also add a little oregano from the garden.  After this cooks until the onions are tender, I add the tomato liquid, a good portion of salt and some pepper.  I cook this for up to an hour on low heat, reducing the liquid until it is thick.  Right before it is done, I add a generous portion of cut up basil.  Then I can the sauce.

Salsa

Another fun thing to make is salsa.  I chop up the tomatoes and let them drain in a strainer while I prepare the other items.  Save the juice, it is delicious and healthy! Cut up some onion, hot peppers (or sweet peppers), and cilantro.  Because I only grow vietnamese cilantro, I use this and it is perfect.  I add a good amount of salt and pepper.  I then add ground cumin and a little ground coriander.  I put in a lot of ground cumin as I think it gives the salsa a great flavor.  You can also squeeze a lime in for that extra something.  Stir it all together with the tomatoes and then drain it again. (Mix the stained juices from the first and second straining together, you will be pleasantly surprised.)  You can can the salsa too, but I find it doesn’t last too long, even when I make huge portions. 

There are many, many more things that can be done with tomatoes.  I hope that after reading this, you won’t be one of those gardeners who don’t know what to do with all their tomatoes!

Plotting...

They look innocent enough, but my Icelandic Sheep are anything but.  For two days in a row, they have figured out how to cross the creek in two different locations and get on the other side of the fence surrounding Piscataway Acres.  Yesterday evening, they made a break for it.  This evening, after I got home from work, I thought I would give them another chance to see if they could redeem themselves.  To my shock, they made a straight line for the very back of the property, crossed the creek, went down stream another 100 yards or so, then crossed back to find themselves free of any fence. 

This is a problem for three reasons.  First, they are no longer on my property.  Second, they could potentially work themselves up to the front and get injured on the road.  And third, they can’t figure out how to get back into the yard.  They are smart enough to remember how to break out, but have no clue as to how to get back in…

You might think that they are just going to greener pastures on the other side of the fence.  Nope.  The other side of the creek, where they are allowed to go, is a couple miles squared of woods and fields.  It is sheep heaven and they can eat as much as they want over there.  They have an easy way to cross the creek and into the lush and spacious feeding area.  They have plenty of good things to eat over there and they aren’ t starving in their large pen (where they get hay pellets, hay, grain, and a lot of yummy garden treats). 

I suppose this is a case of “The grass is greener on the other side.”  For now, they will remain locked in their pen for a few days.  Perhaps this will break them of this worrisome habit.