Coyote Ridge Blog
Home | Blog | About Us | Animals | For Sale | Photo Gallery | Recipes | Links & Services | Contact Us
About Our Blog
Here we plan on recording thoughts, projects, farm additions and other note-worthy happenings.
If you would like to comment on our blog or just say "Hi" feel free to do so on our SHOUT-BOX to the left. Just enter your name and a message, then click the 'submit' button.
Yahoo users: feel free to contact us...our profile is mn_nice_couple. Just because we don't appear online, doesn't mean we're not. When you send us an IM, please identify yourselves... and let us know why you're contacting us.
Put yourself on the map! CLICK HERE to show us where you are in the world.
The Blog
January 31, 2008 - What's the value of a barn?
A few days ago, Carol and I found a listing for a small barn for sale. The structure is 24'Wx36'Lx19'H. The owners are asking $3000 for it.
Today, after looking around the farm for a location to put such a building, I decided to give the number on the ad a call. I told the gentleman who answered the phone that we were interested in looking at the building. He's going to check with his wife as to when someone would be around to show us the barn and then give us a call back. At this point in time, the building is priced right. We're just a little worried that the moving costs are going to be the deal spoiler. We'll keep you informed. We'd appreciate your feedback.
January 30, 2008 - Trying to stay warm... I guess.
With a forecasted high temp of -4°F and a wind chill of -25°F, we're thinking we need to improve the warmth of the trailer. We insulated most of the windows last night, but thought it best if we continued the trend. While Carol was tending to Mary again (and nope, she still isn't in labor yet), I thought I would install plastic on the window above the kitchen sink, stuff the exhaust fan full and maybe drape a full sheet of the 3 mil. plastic over the entrance into the hallway. I also sealed-up the door into the north bedroom. So now, the only rooms we're heating is the kitchen and the living room. The trailer is feeling more and more like a cabin than a trailer house.
It seems that everything we need now is in the two main rooms. The rest of the rooms are closed off. The fact that we need to go outside to get water, wood and to go to the bathroom, doesn't hurt the roughing it like the Clampett's (before Jed found the bubbling crude... oil that is, black gold, Texas tea). It is truly amazing that folks lived this way for hundreds of years... pretty much until the early of the 1900's. Heck! We have neighbors down the road who still have an outhouse. To be honest, an outhouse (or a Mrs. Jones as my grandfather used to call it) would sound fairly comfy. Right now, if we need to take a dump, one brings a little butt-wipe with them to the old chickens house and squat on the bucket we have there. Of course on these really cold days, one never lets their butt touch the bucket... WAY TOO COLD!
Some of you are asking why my Grandpa called his outhouse Mrs. Jones. I'm not sure how it started, but I do know he would always tell my Grandma he was going outside to visit Mrs. Jones. I think he got a kick out of implying he had a mistress he went to see everyday.
Tonight, I'm going to go back to the farm. We know Mary is close to kidding... well, closer than she was yesterday, right? And if she isn't in labor, I'm going to try to install the glass doors on the fire place. We bought a set of doors that look pretty close to what we need. The company that built the fireplace we have in the trailer, is now out of business. I read through the instructions for the doors today. It appears that the fireplace that the doors are designed for have preinstalled hinge spring-clips on the unit already. The doors come without any hardware. They are suppose to simply clip into place... OK... YEAH RIGHT!
To solve this slight dilemma, I found two saws-all blades, cut them with a shears, drilled a couple of holes, made a few bends and called it good. We'll see how I did when I get to the farm. I'll let you know.
Rich
7:30PM
Other than the fact that Mary was not yet in the mood to give-up her
babies to the world when we were there, the only news I have is that
my homemade spring clips worked pretty good for the new fireplace
doors. I still need to do a little tweaking, since the doors
are 21½" and the opening is 22½"and
the fireplace opening is some-what of out square (making the doors
appear uneven), but some gentle persuading should give me the fix
I'm looking for that.
Oh yeah! The best news of the night... when we arrived at the trailer, the temperature inside was 64°F. Our insulating attempts from last night proved beneficial. I bet the living area would warm up nicely, once we built a fire in the fireplace.
January 29, 2008 - She ain't never going to have them babies.
I got to the farm a little after midnight. D-d-d-damn it was cold. High winds and dropping temps seemed to be Mother Nature's primary focus.
I first turned on the electric baseboards before heading to the barn to check on the goats. I figured the trailer would warm-up a little by the time I got back. Once at the barn, I stuck around Mary's pen as long as I could. I clipped a 2-way radio onto her pen gate, so I could monitor her sounds from inside the house. In the 15 minutes I stood there, I saw only one contraction. She arched her back for a few seconds and then stretched. Supposedly, mama goats stretch to help get the unborn babies into position for when it's time to birth. If that's true, our goat must be obsessive-compulsive, trying to get those babies in the prefect spot. She's been stretching like this for days now.
When I returned to the trailer, it was still cold... about 40°F. Granted, it was WAY warmer inside than it was outside. And by the looks of the moving blinds on the windows in the living room, a few mph were knocked-off the raging winds that were blasting the side of the trailer. I brought some window film with me from home, but never bothered to check the sizes. It appeared the insulating window film was meant for windows 2 inches narrower than what I had to work with tonight. Crap! Crap, crap, crap!
The only thing left to do was to start a fire in the fireplace and to turn-on the oven with the door open. Maybe the combination of the two (plus the elect. heat) could raise the temperature some. By 2AM, the temp. had risen to a hellish temp of only 50°F. I thought to myself, "welcome to Palm Springs you idiot". There's got to be a better way to comfortable in here. Maybe, if I go outside to check on the animals and then collect more firewood, I'll be cold enough to appreciate the temp. inside. Twenty minutes later and indoors, 50°F felt like heaven.
In my comfy state of mind, I called Carol to give her the scoop on the goat. Shortly there after, I went to bed, only to wake because I was very cold. It was 5AM. I crawled off of the couch, stoked the fire and put another log on. I quickly crawled back under the blankets and quilt until the fireplace produced enough heat to coax me from the warm covers. A few moments later, I was on my way to the barn again. WOW! It really got cold ever night. I checked on Mary. Yepper! She looked fine. Needless to say, I ran back to the house.
Later in the morning, while I was feeding the critters, Carol stopped out. She and I then headed to Willmar to get a few farm supplies and some groceries. I'll be going back to the farm after dinner.
Rich
9PM:
We just got back from the farm again. This time Carol, Madison
and I went with the intention of making it a quick trip there and
back... unless (as Carol says) Mary is going to give birth. If
that is the case, we're staying... all night if we have too.
OK, that's fine with me. That'll give me more time to work on
the trailer.
When the girls were futzing with the goat in the barn, I wanted to get some plastic on the windows in the living room. I tacked 3 mil. poly over the windows, then stapled strips of cardboard around the edges to secure it and to give it a nice air-tight seal. Before I had completed the west window, Carol and Madison were done in the barn. With their help, cutting cardboard strips, we were done with the two double windows in the living room and the single one near the kitchen table in no time. Ah.... another family project. Tomorrow, I'll work on getting the glass doors on the fireplace.
January 28, 2008 - I hope I don't die in my sleep.
Last night was chilly at times. It was the first time anybody had stayed overnight at the farm during the winter in 10-15 years... maybe longer. I had hooked-up a couple of electric baseboard style heaters, but only one of them worked. I got three baseboard units free off of the Internet's local FreeCycle Group. The 8' heater has a broken wire, so after a minor repair, I will have both working. All-in-all, between the one heater and fireplace, the living room and kitchen area stayed comfortable enough to get some shut-eye. When the fire went out, the room chilled and I would get up, stoke the coals and add more wood. While that was smoldering, I'd check on Mary. Sometimes she would have contractions, sometimes she wouldn't.
Earlier, I brought a radio out to the barn, thinking the constant noise would settle her if she was going into labor. But she never did go. I would watch her for 15-20 minute at a time. There is no clock in the barn, but I figured 3 songs and a few advertisements had to be approximately 15 minutes. By that time, the house had warmed-up... it was time to go in. Throughout the night, I went to check on her 5 times. Those darn kids aren't ever going to get here.
I started the morning off with an old-time cowboy breakfast, which consisted of nothing more than coffee and oatmeal. My version was a little more modern though... both were instant. Carol stopped-out to see how I was doing... more accurately, to see how Mary was doing. I regretfully informed her that nothing had changed.
After lunch, we caught-up on some necessary evils. We cleaned pens. Carol cleaned Mary's pen while I worked on the llama's area. Both pens were long over due, but with the weather being so cold recently, everything was frozen. Today and yesterday were the first days we had seen above freezing temps in a long time. It was nice to be able to spend a few hours outdoors without the worry of frozen fingers breaking off when one removes their gloves.
The weather today (calm & 43°F) will be a far cry from what this evening and tomorrow will bring. I guess I'll see if the trailer will be warm enough to survive, won't I? We're expecting sleet and snow, with a low temperature of near 0°F and winds picking up to 40+MPH. The next day is forecasted to be worse. Perhaps, I'll put some plastic on the windows and collect the firewood before it gets too terribly cold. I hope I have time to do both.
Right now, I'm back home for a few hours, but plan on heading to the farm, again, after 10PM. If I never blog on here again, it will be because a froze to death. Please Lord, let it be painless.
Except for the idea of possible death, the old place is starting to feel like a farm again.
Rich
January 27, 2008 - She's kidding, right?
It's 9:30 in the morning now and Carol quick ran out to the farm. It seems Mary is going into labor. Her contractions seem to be about 12 minutes apart or so it seems. Mary is doing something unusual. We are headed out there after we catch a bite to eat and re-check the situation. I'm going to get the fireplace started so we have a warm place to stay should we need it.
Rich
It's now 9:30 pm and no kids yet. I (Carol) left Rich at the farm in the toasty warm trailer about an hour or so ago. He decided to stay the night to see if Mary finally kids. Her contractions were sporadic all afternoon and at about 4:30, I noticed she was passing a small amount of mucus... all signs of the upcoming big event.. we just don't know when. I will update if/when I hear from Rich.
Carol
January 26, 2008 - Fire, fire, fire!
After fighting with Internet problems most of the night, we finally have it back... time to blog.
As most of you, who are near to us, know, Mary the goat is close to having her babies. Carol has been worried (or at least has had a feeling) that baby goats will be arriving very soon.
Around 10 AM, Carol, Madison and I went out to the farm, because Carol thought today was the day of the big event. She needed to satisfy her curiosity. Alas, no babies yet. Well, I had a feeling she wasn't too terribly close to kidding, so I brought out a handful of tools, in order to work on installing the fireplace. My thinking was simple - if it was cold out and Mary was having a hard time keeping the kids warm, we would need a place to warm them up. Since we don't have an adequate heat source in the trailer, I would need to provide one... and the sooner the better.
About twenty years ago, I bought a wood-burning fireplace for the residence we were living at before finding our present home [in town]. I was always too busy working my business, working on rental property... or just busy working on whatever. Long story short: I never got it installed.
Since then, we moved into a larger home, rented out the previous property, and after my motor cycle accident, we sold the property to pay for medical bills. Then last year, while dropping some junk off at our town's clean-up days location, the owners of the house we sold was dropping of some junk they had. It was as if angels parted the skies (at least parted piles of junk). There she stood... the old fire place I bought years and years ago. It seemed as if the new owners never got the thing installed either. So I loaded it on my trailer and brought it home. Some say, "one man's junk is another man's treasure." I say, "reduce, reuse and recycle." That's how I acquired the fireplace.
Back to the real story...
sorry...
Since the weather was so much more mild (above 10°F) than
before, I thought today was a good day to get started on getting the
fireplace installed. We had all the stainless Class A chimney
sections, the ceiling box (needed for trailer house ceilings),
flashing, rain caps, as well as other misc., but necessary hardware.
After about 45 minutes, I only needed to cut a hole in the roofing
tin and install the the parts. But before doing so, we needed
to get a little food in our bellies. So back home we went.
I came back later with tin shears, cut my hole in the roof and installed the chimney. It only took a ½ hour. That was simple. After double checking everything, I called it good. Good enough to test it with fire. So, after gathering some wood and locating a lighter... we had fire! Some of the wood must have been a little green, because in no time I had a nice warm, smoky fire creating a light blue haze throughout the trailer and embers 'popping' through the screen... onto the carpet. NOTE TO SELF: buy glass fireplace doors.
Before leaving the farm, I checked on Mary, but there was no change in her condition. I didn't think there would be.
Earlier in this blog, I mentioned Carol's 'feeling' about Mary. Well, towards bedtime, Carol changed from her jammies, back into some chore's clothes and headed back out to the farm. Why? I guess she needed to see if her intuition on goat-kidding was spot-on or a scooch-off. Let's say it was closer to scooch than it was to spot.
January 24, 2008 - Ancient Chinese secret.
Today was the day we finally used our Chinese Wok. When we got the wok some time ago, I was a bit preoccupied with it. I love simple things that work well and after reading a few internet articles about woks, I was pretty impressed by what was said. The wok is perhaps one of the oldest and most versatile cooking devices in the world. It can do it all, if you let it. It can be used to fry, steam, warm and bake... just to mention a few. It has more surface area for frying than your typical large frying pan. Try frying an 18" fish in a 14" pan. You'll soon see that if you had that same fish in the same size wok, you would be able to fry it quite easily. The genius of the wok is in it's shape.
One of the most important elements in cooking with a wok, not unlike most old cookware, is the process of seasoning it. You need to open the pores of the steel and then fill those pores with good quality cooking oil, peanut oil or lard. I believe his is true for cast iron pans and Dutch ovens as well.
A wok needs to have a light build-up of carbon before cooking in it. Without the carbon, food will stick. With that knowledge, I seasoned, re-seasoned, re-re-seasoned and even re-re-re-seasoned our wok. When it cooled for the final time, it was black and shiny, just like it said it should look, in many of the articles. In all honesty, our new wok looked like it had been used for decades. I was pretty proud.
Our noon meal today was delicious. The most notable part of the meal was that I made it. Sure, Carol and Madison did the prep-work of slicing and dicing, but I did the cooking. As most of my friends and family know, I don't cook. According to most of the wok websites, one needs to get the wok HOT before adding the oil for cooking. When smoke wafted from the pan, I added the oil. Then it is recommended to add the strong flavored veggies first and sauté them.
|
As advised, I sautéed the onions, then stirred in the pork, until brown. After the meat, the other raw vegetables went in. I let them fry shortly, then steam... only removing the cover to give it all a slight stir. The colors and smells were wonderful. Near the end of the process, when the carrots became tender, we added the canned baby corn and water chestnuts (which were cooked). We finished it all off with some mixed stir-fry seasoning and we were done. |
 click here to enlarge photo |
Damn that was easy. Again, I don't cook and this meal is hard to screw up. As hot as the wok was (I cooked on full high heat for the whole process), I was sure something would burn. Nothing did. Well. almost nothing. The hot pads I used to carry the wok to the table turned black and were starting to smoke.
We used chop-sticks to eat with and finished the meal with a few fortune cookies. It's always a good fortune when you end the message with the words "in bed". We will have many more meals like this one. I'm quite proud of this simple little device.
Rich
January 22, 2008 - How smart do these guys think I am?
My friend Mike invited me to tag along to a 'Biological Farming' seminar. It was sponsored by a regional bio-ag fertilizer company Midwestern Bio-Ag (I think they're based out of Wisc.). The way Mike described the meeting to me, I was under the impression it was some sort of organic farming thing. Don't get me [completely] wrong, it was that... and WAY more. And it wasn't just for organic farmers.
In a nut shell - I understood the point they were making, but had little clue to what they were specifically telling us. These fellows understood the why's and the how's to make your soil healthier. They discussed that there is more to getting fertile ground than simply adding fertilizer to it. It's a process of adding or stimulating the building blocks that are already there in order to naturally change the soil for the better. One thing the speaker stressed to us, as stewards of the land, is that our goal should be to make the soil better at the end of the growing season than it was at the beginning. That's one hell of a goal... and one that very few farmers could imagine achieving (or even think is possible).
These days, the school of thought for most conventional farmers is to condition the soil enough in the spring to get an acceptable fertilizer dollar to yield dollar ratio in the fall. Most merely want a return on their fertilizer investment. The seminar's presenter also eluded to the 'Moron Philosophy'...and many of us are guilty of adopting this philosophy when it comes to fertilizer. If what you use doesn't work, put "more on".
Here's the problem, what most of us are doing with fertilizer is truly anti-productive. To prove that, one only needs to look at their soil tests... I'm not talking about the simple N, P & K tests with pH results, but a thorough soil test. Something that shows the nutrients and minerals.
I'm no expert and probably shouldn't have gotten into it this deep, but what they said made sense, especially if you want your soil healthier than it was/is. Is fertilizer bad? Of course not. What is bad is the way we go about it and what we expect to accomplish by continuing to do what we are doing.
If I had to praise one type of farmer over another, it would have to be the small & medium sized dairy farmer. I'm not just saying this because I was raised on a dairy farm either. Trust me when I tell you that I hated it. Would I ever start or own a dairy farm? HELL NO!. Do I like dairy farms? Yes, very much... and here's why: Take a look at the operation. It is well rounded with a good assortment of crops in rotation (more than 2 or 3), a fairly tight rotation, natural fertilizers (cow manure), and most use the cellulose materials (straw, stubble and stalks) they get from the fields after harvest. Because of this, there is usually a minimal use of chemical fertilizers. A dairy farm today is the probably the best example of an environmental circle of life we have. Could it be better? Of course. But it's a pretty damn good little eco-system in today's world. Compare to most of the business out there, Mother Nature probably has the least complaints about this one.
Anyway, it is something to think
about. I hope you do.
And thanks Mike.
Rich
January 21, 2008 - Stupid goats.
You guessed it - the goats were in the feed-room again. It seems when the goat's 50 lbs bag of sweet feed is gone, they think the pot-bellied pig chow is a fine substitute. The only thing I'm thinking is, "this sucks." However, I did notice the barn door was open about two inches. It's likely that the last goat through it forgot to close it completely. Stupid goats.
I fixed the problem of goats in the feed-room. I just attached a rubber tie-down to the sliding barn door and hooked the other end to the door jam. "That was a simple enough fix," I thought as I patted myself on the back. But just incase my quick-fix doesn't hold, I put the feed sacks in the milk-house. I might be dumb, but I ain't as stupid as a goat. Not today anyway.
January 20, 2008 - Houdini who?
My sister Amber, who lives in Arkansas with her hubby, has a goat named Houdini. A few times, she has implied that the goat's name is fitting. It seems he has the ability to get out of just about anything he is penned into. This day I scoff at her and her goat Houdini.
I find that our goats are more clever and that her 'Houdini' (if that's his real name) is merely an under achiever with a very cool name. The question should not be what a goat can get out of, but what they (multiple goats) can get into. Today, I walked into the the milk-house, which is attached to the barn, and I could hear some rustling in the feed-room (down the hall from the milk-house). With the strong smell of skunk, I thought we might have one trapped. I opened the door into the hall to find a goat running into the feed-room. I followed the hall and peeked around the corner to find 6 well fed goats in the feed-room.
I looked at them and they at me. I then checked the doors... they were all tightly closed. When I looked at the goats again, I got a look like they were trying to tell me that the door was opened for them and they were right where they were suppose to be. That type of look might work on the average guy, but not me. Simply put, I know that dumb look. I'm proud to say that I use that very same look... and I use it quite often.
I tipped my hat as if to say "nice try." I opened the barn door and they quickly scurried out of the feed-room, back into the barn. Back to business as usual.
January 19, 2008 - Pig coop repair.
Today, Carol and Madison spent some time with Mary the goat, trying to predict when she was going to hatch. Just between me and you... I think they are more confused about it than before. I keep telling the two of them that goats are mammal. They will let you know when they are ready. Don't worry about it.
While they with busy with the goat, I repaired Wilbert's coop by stapling the chicken wire back to the 2x6's... this time I stapled the wire every two inches instead of the every foot as I had done when the chickens were staying there.
January 18, 2008 - Wilbert.
About the only thing worth mentioning today is that Wilbert (our pot-bellied pig) was out and running with the goats. That was no big deal. One nice thing about Wilbert is his size. If you don't like where he is, one can simply pick him up and move him. And we did. I then tacked the chicken wire back in place and hoped he would be there the next day.
Rich
January 17, 2008 - Recycling centers.
We have discovered that recycling centers are not only for those who have things to drop-off, but also for a few folks who practice the art of reducing, reusing and recycling. Every Wednesday, in our small town, the recycling center opens for part of the day (many larger towns and cities have theirs open daily). We, as home wine makers, love these places. Finding 3-5 cork-style wine bottles for our fermented creations, weekly, is not uncommon. In just a couple short months, we have collected quite a variety of bottles. When we eventually have a set of 5 matching bottles, I set them aside of the next gallon of wine that needs to be bottled.
Also, at our local recycling center, some business have been dropping off their shredded documents... bags and bags of them. Personally, I wouldn't leave my sensitive papers (shredded or otherwise) at a public place, but each to their own, right? Anyway, we saw these bags of shredded paper as alternative bedding material. So far, it has been working out quite nicely. And needless to say, we are limiting the exposure of these potentially sensitive documents from falling into the wrong hands.
January 16, 2008 - Mary, Mary quite contrary.
|
Well, no baby goats yet. Today was a little warmer and probably will be the warmest day of the week, so we were hoping Mary would have had her kids today. When we entered the barn, there was kind of a weird smell... we thought it might be the smell of little goats... again, not today. Mary sure is getting big though. It won't be long. Here she is with her birthing hutch in the background. Today we added cedar chips under her straw. It should keep her dryer at birthing time. |
 click here to enlarge photo |
January 15, 2008 - Girls will be boys.
Last night, Madison and I bottled our orange soda. The dozen clear Pepsi™ bottles looked so retro with the orange pop in them. Hopefully, they will carbonate quickly. If the taste is as expected, I'll post the recipe.
This morning, I got up early (the dog was yipping to go outside) so I decided to bottle the root beer Carol and I mixed-up last night. Tiny bubbles were forming on the sides of our clear two gallon container... that's how I know the yeast is working. I finished capping the bottles when Carol left the house to bring Ellie (our dog) to the vet for her spay. We use Buckingham Equine & Veterinary, north of Raymond, MN. As cute as puppies are, it's just too darn irresponsible not to help curb the population of unwanted pet.
Oh yeah! I nearly forgot. A few days ago, when we were at the farm, Carol and I noticed something peculiar about our llamas. The way they pee'd didn't seem to make sense to us. As with most of the animal kingdom, females squat and males do not.
When we bought our farm's llamas, we understood that the larger of the two animals was the mama and the smaller, being the adolescent son. Until the other day, we never paid attention to how they urinated. Ummm, errr... We are now faced with a dilemma, of sorts. Do we switch the names of the llamas? Or do we leave them as they are and just put up with the reminder that we misnamed them? It is clear that the girl is a boy and the boy is a girl.
Someone once told me, "pay attention, and you might learn something." Tis true, tis true.
In the evening...
We fought the urge to stay home because of the cold weather, but if
we don't tend to our animals at the farm... who will... right?
Everyone looked pretty comfy in the barn, despite the frigid temps outside. Carol brought out a heat lamp, blankets and the little kid sweaters she made sometime ago. She is now dreaming of goat babies. Carol told Madison and I that she dreamt Mary threw 4 kids, one of which was being delivered at the time of our arrival, the other 3 were alive, but barely. All of us were glad it was just a dream.
Mary didn't have her goats yet, nor was she in labor. She's got to be getting close though. Her udder is increasing in size and her belly is as tight and round as can be. Just incase she has them tonight, we set-up the heat lamp in her hutch and gave her more straw for bedding. Tomorrow, we'll bring some wood chips to place under the staw.
Oh yeah... Carol went out to the vet's clinic to pick-up Ellie. The dog seems a little uncomfortable, but doesn't appear to be in pain. The vet told Carol she had given her some pain meds, so she might be a little groggy. We're not sure if groggy is the right word for her behavior... clingy is more like it. She still wags her tail when she looks at us, so we're thinking that's a good sign.
Rich
January 14, 2008 - Brrrrr.
With a high temp. of around 5°F, it is a c-c-c-cold day today, to say the least.
After running to the farm to give the animals some extra straw for bedding, Carol and I decided that today would be a good day to make some more soda. It's to cold for anything else, right?
A one gallon batch of orange soda was made first, then our standard two gallons of root beer. Earlier today, we picked-up a case of 10oz. Pepsi™ bottles (like the ones that used to be in the old-style glass-bottle pop-machines). We thought these would work well for the orange pop. We found them at my grandmothers farm amongst some auction junk my dad must have purchased a few years back. We'll bottle the root beer in the time-honored brown glass bottles... it looks more traditional.
Some home-made soda recipes have you bottle immediately after mixing immediately after adding the yeast. I prefer to bottle a few hours after that point. My reasoning for that is simple... I want to make sure the yeast is working. I wait until I see tiny bubbles or a very, very fine foam starting to form on the surface (usually you can see it after a few hours) . Only then, will I bottle. I don't want to open all the caps, later on, to add a few grains of yeast to each bottle, just to save the soda I made.
January 11, 2008 - More wine being made.
I started another large (6 gallon) batch of Old Orchard Concord Wine. When the red wine must cooled, the Pasteur Red wine yeast was added. I had a specific gravity of 1.090 The wine recipe is one of the simplest I know. I have made several batches in the last 9 months. It is a quick, easy good tasting semi-sweet wine - if you are a wine slob... and not a wine snob. I'm sure a wine snob would tell me that there is no complexity to the wine, but the reason I make so much of it is because I seem to be in a constant short supply. Many, many of my friends have tasted it and so far I have had nothing but positive feedback.
I apologize for these blogs being short and seemingly very simple to read, but I have been feeling like crap; fighting with this cold I have is anything but fun.
Rich
January 10, 2008 - Mary's pen had goats.
My daughter Madison and I thought we would do the chores together today; not to mention Madison had a good feeling about Mary. She was hoping she had her babies and there was no way she was going to miss out on any new arrivals.
After arriving at the farm, we headed straight towards the barn where we could hear a bit of a ruckus. Could it be? Do we have little goat kids already? We opened the barn door and peaked around the corner... That's when we saw Mary with a little goat next to her... and two large ones as well. It seems a few individuals from the herd didn't think Mary should be getting the special treatment that she had been receiving. Somehow, they pushed the cattle-panel gate inward to get into the pen and to Mary's alfalfa and sweet-feed.
With Madison holding the gate and me holding Mary, we removed the other goats from the birthing pen. All the other animals in the barn seem quite content.
I started a 1 gallon batch of Apple-Raspberry Wine. It is basically the same recipe as my simple concord wine recipe. Before the evening came to a close, I added the yeast. Hopefully, it will turn out as well as my Concord and Niagara wines. The beginning specific gravity of the must was 1.095.
Rich
January 09, 2008 - Have a baby already.
Carol and I decide that today was the day we were going to put Mary (the goat) into her own pen. We will be boosting her calorie intake for her pending due date. Carol is afraid that there may be to much monkey business at birthing time if she was with the rest of the herd. I agree.
We already had a 16x6 pen made for her, but today we shoe-horned a calf hutch into the pen for her to stay warm and away from preying goat eyes when the moments arrives. As soon as we put her into her new birthing pen, we gave her a little extra feed and a pail of fresh water and she was instantly friendly, accepting pats and petting from Carol. Her udder is remains quite soft yet (the goat's.... not Carol's) so I think the due-date is a little ways off. I'm guessing a week or two.
January 08, 2008 - It must be a kid thing.
We didn't do much at the farm, with regards to anything noteworthy. We walked into the barn to find the buckling stuck once again. "Scotty! Beam us up. There's no intelligent life in this barn."
We needed to take care of this problem before this goat kid hurts himself. We wired a length of chicken-wire to the base of the panel. Problem solved? I hope so. It was simple, fast and cheap. The way I look at it, it has all the components of a perfect repair.
After a few moments of solace, we headed home. Carol had a meeting she needed to get ready for in Willmar. I decided I would tag along. I need to get the fireplace installed so we can get a little heat in the trailer. While Carol is at her meeting, I'll get the Class A chimney sections I need for the installation.
Rich
January 07, 2008 - Goat behavior.
It was another nice day... at least for January in MN. With that as my motivation, I decided to do a little clean-up around the area where we burned the old hog barn. Last spring, we dug up some nasty trees stumps and piled them with other scrap lumber and rotten branches. My plan today was to start them burning as I did some tree trimming.
Before playing with fire, I figured I'd make sure our little buckling didn't get his head stuck in the cattle panel again. But there he was, just inches from the llama feed-pan, with his little head stuck. I simply turned it's head and he was free.
Now, it was time to burn. After several attempts to get the pile of stumps ablaze, it seemed as though this fire needed encouragement. I tree-trimmed a bit, then fed the fire... stacked some logs for use in the fireplace later [once installed], then feed the fire again... stack some wooden posts, then, YOU GUESSED IT, feed the fire some more.
This went on for a few hours until it was time to feed the critters. Hmmm, let's see... anyone care to speculate which goat was caught in the cattle panel again? It was the same goat. Somewhere I read, that if a goat is going to give birth, she will go into labor at the worst possible time; choosing to throw kids on the coldest blizzard day of the year. I also read that if you have a goat that is going to get his head caught in fencing, he will find away to do it wherever he is. If you correct the problem area, the animal will find another place to get caught. Hopefully, this is not true. Hopefully, our goat has learned his lesson.
After freeing the goat from his peril, I did the chores and did a little more burning and cleaning. It was now time to go home.
Rich
January 06, 2008 - Little survivor.
 click here to enlarge photo |
Today we walked through the ashes again, trying to find more items of use. We located a lonely metal feed pale amongst the rubble, I think it was the same one Carol noticed during the burn last night. With a couple whacks against the concrete, it once again had a flat bottom and can now be set alongside the best of the used farm pails, without the fear of appearing worthless. |
On our way back from the farm, we get a call from my buddy Mike. He mentioned he was going to hook-up his draft horses to the sleigh... and if we weren't to close to home we were welcome to go for an old-fashion sleigh ride. I told him, since we were a few blocks from our home in Raymond, I will ask the girls (Carol and daughter Madison).
Long story short... I turned our car around and headed to Mike's house. Waiting for us were Mike, his beautiful horses and a two folks on horseback, which he quickly introduced as his neighbors. Carol mentioned that it must not be the correct season to be dressed like cowboys as the riders were dressed for snowmobiling. However they were dressed, they were pleasant to converse with.
Before leaving, Madison helped Mike lead the team back to the pasture... something she will not soon forget. She was a little intimidated by the size of the horses, but soon relaxed. The animal Madison lead was quite well behaved. After Mike filled a couple of our containers full of milk for us we thanked him for the sleigh ride. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.
January 05, 2008 - Ashes to ashes.
| We burnt the hog-barn and most of the brush and branches we had been piling there. It was kind of exciting to take care of such an eye-sore. Before lighting it, we searched for anything that resembled usable lumber. Other than a few 4x4 posts, we came-up empty handed. Soon after we put a flame to the pile of wood, we were imagining what we would put in it's place or if we simply rebuilt what was there - how we would use the building and what would the cost be. We figured the cost would be minimal, since the concrete floor and walls will remain in place after the fire devours the combustibles. |
 click here to enlarge photo |
| In a matter of hours, the building was gone and I was sifting though the warm ash and debris, looking for something salvageable. I found some simple items that we can use; two cement hog troughs, a shallow rubber pan, and a metal feed pan. The fire never did get super hot, so all the discovered items remain in good shape... the rubber pan must have been protected somehow. Whatever the case, these are items we won't have to buy later on. | |
Years before, I had raise hogs in that building. I think I was a junior in high-school when I purchased my first set of bred gilts. They were a set of five, purebred Chester Whites. After they had their litters, I purchased a fine looking Duroc boar to breed the sows to. The combination of the two breeds put out some great looking pigs. I only wish I was either more responsible or more motivated back then. Perhaps, I would already have been where I want to be - with regards to this small-time sustainable farming thing.
The building measured 26x44. With a simple roof, it would be a nice size to store some hay or straw in, if nothing else. But until we can afford a roof, it's nothing more than a slab with 3' walls. Speaking of which... we looked in the latest discount lumber super store's flyer, hoping to price a new roof and upper wall studs. If we did the work ourselves, I think it would cost approx. $4,000.ºº. Unfortunately for us, the crop failure this last fall, left us at with little to no cash for improvements... maybe next year will be better.
Rich
January 04, 2008 - Been a few days.
Yes, it's been a few day since my last blog entry. In fact, I just got a call from Carol (my wife) and she reminded me that she hasn't read anything new on the site. SAY WHAT???
It seems, she reads the blog everyday [online] in the morning. It's her way of catching-up on things 'we' do at the farm or around here. Hopefully, I'm not the only one who finds this behavior a wee bit odd.
Back to some real news. Carol and I plan on doing a little burning on Saturday. We'll be burning brush mainly, but we will also set ablaze what is left of the old hog-barn. The thing collapsed years and years ago, with most of the lumber either rotted or sun bleached so bad, it no longer has paint on it. There are trees and scrub brush where the building once stood. If we can get it lit, it should be a fairly clean burn. And yes, we got our burn permit. If you're in the area... and you know where the farm is, stop-in with some beer and hotdogs. We'll have a couple brews on hand and Carol mentioned she was going to make a batch of BBQ's in the slow cooker. With weather in the 30's tomorrow, it'll be a warm one.
Was there anything worth saving in the barn? I thought there was. Today, I retrieved the sliding door hardware and track from the west end... as well as the roof vents. The vents kind of look like miniature barn cupolas, they were part of the venting for the barn when I raised hogs, many years ago. I would like to reuse them an a new structure some day. Other than that... nothing.
Our burn will most likely start in the late afternoon. Prior to that, we will bring a new wood fireplace to set in the trailer. Once in place, I'll take a few measurements for the Class A chimney we will be installing later. We have plenty of cut wood at the farm so why not use it as fuel. Best of all, wood heats so quickly. On a cold day, once lit, the wood should warm the trailer in no time... but that will be for another time.
For some reason, I'm really stuck on this straw bale construction thing. Maybe that's why I want the hog barn area cleaned up... to see what we have to work with. The barn reconstruction would be a very exciting first straw project for us, but with the corn crop failure we had this last year, I doubt we will have a chance to rebuild it for several years. I think the walls will be cheap enough to build, but the roof is another story. We sure could use the building.
I found another straw bale link from earthgarden.com. It is a great set of pages. with an incredible overview of a the building process. http://www.earthgarden.com.au/strawbale/strawhome.html
January 01, 2008 - Another new start.
It's barely above 0°F (with a -25°F wind-chill) here in west-central Minnesota, on the first day of 2008, and already we are thinking of warmer weather and spring farm activities.
Actually, we have been researching the Boer goat industry, with regards to breed characteristics and U.S. 'red-meat' consumption trends. Statistically, beef consumption has grown very little, while the goat meat market has increased dramatically since the early-mid 90's. If Americans are moving in a healthy, sustainable dietary direction, we want to be part of the solution... not the problem.
| It seems we are expecting our first "kids" fairly soon. Despite the cold weather, our small goat herd looks quite good. They are on a diet of medication-free pellet feed and alfalfa hay. We thought the higher protein rations will help our expecting mother(s) to maintain good health... and the others should be able to add a little body fat to help stay warm. Which brings us to another little project of Carol's... she is making/crocheting little sweaters for the baby goats, with hopes of keeping them extra warm, during their first weeks of life. |
 click here to enlarge photo |
| She has two of them done already and is working on a third (just incase we have triplets). If only twins arrive, we can use the 3rd sweater for Ellie, our dog. (see photo of Ellie) | |
 click here to enlarge photo |
Our latest batch of root beer is doing fine. Last night, while waiting for New Year's, I made more root beer. I waited to make sure the yeast was active before bottling. Within hours, we had a few bubbles forming and being released in the 1 gallon container. Madison and I worked as a team while bottling. We ended-up with 10 bottles, including one 16oz plastic bottle... which we use to determine the carbonation. When the plastic bottle is hard, we put the newly made root beer into the fridge to cease further yeast activity. |
Afternoon...
The animals at the farm are just fine and seem to be coping with the
frigid temps without much stress. The llamas were quick to greet me
and the pig? Well...it was the first time since we got him, that he
didn't hump my leg. God bless his little heart.
In preparation for our goat Mary giving birth, Carol requested that I build a birthing pen.. As Carol was reared a town-kid, she is overly concerned that the other goats in the herd will bother Mary when it comes time to kid. Although I'm not too terribly worried, I thought it was a good enough idea in which to move forward with the project. Using an intact cattle panel, a 5½ foot piece of a salvaged panel, and a few fencing staples, I built something useful. We now have a 20'x6' pen for Mary to have her babies in, without being bothered by the others of the herd. Remember to reduce, reuse and recycle when possible.
Midnight or so...
I was surfing the net, as I usually do - looking for sustainable,
earth-friendly ways of doing things. For some reason, I thought
building with straw (like the 1st of the 3 little pigs). I
came across a couple of good sites, but two in particular got me quite
interested in the process... and the potential Please take a look
at
A House Of Straw
and
Strawbale.com.
Rich
Weather
|
All content is ©2007-2009 Coyote Ridge
Farms. All Rights Reserved. |
|
