Siding a bit

Hello again,

Today it warmed up real nice and was sunny. In some places it felt too hot to even be wearing a sweatshirt but I'm sure it didn't get above 60. Andrew got sunburned on the neck!

Dad went to town for a few things this morning (about 11:30) so I rode along with to get dropped off at the church to vacuum. I got back around 2:30 and had a few slices of mom's fresh baked bread. It was worth waiting to eat lunch just for that!

Andrew and David stained siding all morning and most of the afternoon so they came in streaked with cedar colored pants and shirts. When I asked if those were their painting clothes they said, "They are now!"

This afternoon I finished a mineral feeder that can sit outside and be moved around to different pastures without letting the minerals get wet in the weather. It's not as nice as a molded plastic one that rotates in the wind, but at least it didn't cost me anything.
Sandy used the shingles as sandpaper to scratch her itchy neck.

Jonathan transplanted some of the seedling tomatoes into six-packs this afternoon so they have more room to grow.

In the picture above, Dad and David are standing in front of some newly placed siding boards munching on string cheese as a snack.

NEWS: We now have a regular pick-up schedule for customers in the Minot area. They will take turns coming to the farm to pick up milk for the rest of the group.

Let's see. There are 36,567 people in Minot, each of them probably could drink a half gallon a week, so 18,283.5 gallons of milk per week, so all I need to do is get about 610 more cows milking and I'd have the whole city supplied with fresh milk . . . . . maybe in a few years.

Peter

A Favorite Tune

Here's a short clip of my favorite tune. Playing music is like most anything else, you get tired of the same thing over and over again so this won't be my favorite forever.

It is nice that there is no end to the combinations of chords and melodies so you can't get tired of playing if you keep learning new songs!

The instrumental is called "Indigo Blue." I learned it from a CD recording by Tim Stafford.

In case you're wondering this is an example of flatpicking!

Peter

My Mozzarella Recipe - works every time!

Peter's Mozzarella Cheese

Two gallons whole milk (more cream makes the cheese whiter and more moist)

3 Tsp. citric acid (dissolved in 1 cup water)

3/16 Tsp. Lipase powder (dissolved in 1/4 cup water and let sit for at least 10 min.)

23 drops vegetable rennet (dissolved in 1/4 cup water)

1 1/2 - 2 Tsp. salt (cheese salt is preferred but kosher salt or sea salt works too)

1. Measure out 3/16 tsp. lipase powder and stir into 1/4 cup water (there is no 3/16 measure, but a heaping 1/8 or a little less than a 1/4 is close). Do this first so it can sit while the milk is warming.

2. If using cold milk, warm with low heat on stove. When temperature of milk is 55 degrees F, stir in dissolved citric acid and dissolved lipase.

3. Turn heat to medium or a bit higher. Add diluted rennet when milk reaches 90 degrees. Stir just enough to mix rennet into milk. Let sit without stirring until temperature reads 100-105 in center of curds. Thermometer may not read correct temperature when placed near edge of pot.

4. When curds are hot enough (100-105) take pot off stove and let sit until curds begin to pull away from sides of pot and whey is clear.

5. Gently scoop curds out of whey with a ladle and/or slotted spoon into colander. Do not dump as this will damage the curds and make the cheese tougher. Save the whey by setting a large bowl underneath the colander.

6. Remove whey from curds with your hand by pressing and folding. If you intend to to another batch, wash the dishes and start it now. You can leave the lump of cheese in a bowl out of the way until both are ready to dunk.

7. To dunk, take reserved whey and put back into large pot. Heat on high to 180 degrees stirring frequently to avoid burning the bottom.

8. When whey is 180 degrees, set cheese lump into hot whey and leave for 1 minute. Take out of whey and turn inside out with your hands.

9. Set in whey for 35 seconds. Take out and turn inside out, kneading the cheese to get the hot outside turned inside out to allow the uniform heat throughout the cheese. Set the cheese in again for 35 seconds (this time it will be very hot so expect your hands to get red!).

10. As the cheese is soft and workable, add the salt and knead into cheese evenly. A final 10 second dip will smoothen out the cheese so you can form it into a ball and package or you can eat it while warm. Wrap cheese in wax paper and set in refrigerator until cool, but not too long or the wax paper will stick to the cheese. After wax paper is removed, place in plastic bag to keep fresh.

Enjoy!

Swiss Milking Stool

Here's something I put together out in the shop. It just happens to work very well!

I turned the leg on the lathe and carved the top out slightly to make the seat a bit more comfortable. The leg is secured in place by a mortise and tenon joint with a wedge glued in.

The stool is strapped on, as you see above, so it moves with you. No more fumbling around to scoot the 5 gallon pail closer when the cow steps back.

Peter

P.S. Next post: my mozzarella recipe

Back to Normal - after a busy week

I would have blogged more this past few days except the camera was a few hundred miles away.
Well, we've had an interesting series of events that happened recently. I will try to fill you in on all that happened.

First of all, we were asked to play a few songs for the regional Marketplace for Kids event down in Bottineau last Tuesday. We chose a few gospel and a few instrumental songs songs to play there and practiced up for that. We were also asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner as the flags were presented in the morning.

It was a blessing for us to be able to pass the gospel message to more than 250 school children by singing songs like Dust on the Bible and I'll Put on a Crown and a few others. You could tell by the faces of some of the teachers there that they weren't too impressed by the topic.

We stayed there for a little while and then Dad, Mom, Andrew and David hopped into the previously packed car and headed off to Fargo for the homeschool convention. Jonathan and I took the truck home from there with the instruments and sound system.

I'll have to say, being home for a while without the rest of the family is not as much fun as it sounded like at first. Jonathan and I would have liked to go to the convention too, but there is so much to keep up on here that there was no way that we could find someone else to do it all.

I don't know a whole lot of what went on in Fargo as I wasn't there, but from what I heard from them when they got back (last night), it was a good convention. Kevin Swanson was the keynote speaker and along with other workshop speakers Buddy Davis was there. Yesterday morning they and our friends the Kenneys had a brunch with Buddy Davis and his wife. Dad had fun talking to him. He has done some exiting things such as participating in exploration trips in search of Noah's ark, digging up dinosaur bones, creating life-size model dinosaurs, working for Answers in Genesis, and lots more. He did some workshops on how he puts together a realistic dinosaur model that Andrew and David went to.

Andrew and David are busy reading some books they bought at the convention. I think they are all tired from the week. Dad and Mom visited with Mr. Swanson for a while also and heard some good things from him. We listen to his radio program quite frequently.

Another interesting thing that happened, was Dad flew to Washington D.C. for a Homeschool Legal Defence Association meeting that he attended. HSLDA payed for the flight and other expenses to get people from all over the country to learn from speakers there about the bills introduced in congress affecting homeschooling. All of the bills are, in some way or another, taking away the right for people to teach their children at home.

While there, Dad went to the capitol and sat in on some discussion in the House chamber about the "health care" bill and got to meet with some of the congressman's staff members about homeschooling. He also talked to Senator Dorgan (Senator from ND) briefly somewhere in the capitol. Dad took a few pictures but they haven't been developed yet. One was of the Supreme Court building as they drove by. He also saw the White House from a distance.

While Dad was out of town, Mom and the boys visited someone that used to be our neighbor

when we lived in Fargo. She is 103 years old! She even remembered David and Andrew's names after not seeing them for three years.

They also showed her our website and the pictures and she was really interested in all that was on there. Imagine what it was like 103 years ago! I think a lot has changed in her life time.

______________________________________________


That was all the interesting things that didn't happen here. Jonathan and I didn't get much time to do a lot of fun things (like playing music) while we were home. We had to keep up with all the little kids in the barn that needed tending to and just chores alone took all morning it seemed like. I spent a lot of time figuring out the mozzarella cheese and now I think I've got it down pretty well. We had been using milk that didn't have much cream on it for the cheese but now I know that it needs cream to be more moist. I wrote out the recipe that works for me for a reference. I quit using the microwave (thanks to Heather's note!) and got it to work just fine.


Mom made a whole bunch of food and muffins for us before she left so we were well fed. We did make pizza and bread sticks one evening and put more cheese than crust on the pizza. Delicious!


If you didn't read Jonathan's blog post about the coyote you had better check it out! If you're not tired of reading already.


There's another thing I'll be posting about soon - when I get around to taking a picture of it.

That's all for now.


Peter

All done kidding

This afternoon the last goat had two kids. We now have a herd of 22 goats, including the little guys. We had eight does that kidded within the last week and a half or so. None of them had triplets but a few of them only had one kid. We are a little disappointed in the male/female ratio. Nine bucks and three does. I guess there's some more chevon for the freezer!

We have not had any birthing problems (at least with does that are more than a year old) so we usually don't get up to check for kids in the night. At least not when it is this warm out! I think our mineral lick has also been helpful in preventing problems with birthing or worms. We use a recipe containing: Thorvin kelp, Redmond salt, diatomaceous earth, and copper sulfate, besides offering a sulfur lick on the side and adding Shaklee basic H in the water monthly just in case.

We finally took John (the buck) out of the main pen and stuck him all by his self on the other side of the fence. He was "blocking" the door into the barn so the cow couldn't get in to be milked.

I guess it's time to eat supper and then go milk. When that's over with I've got to finish making butter.

Peter

P.S. I made mozzarella again today with four gallons of milk and this time added lipase. It definitely made the cheese softer.

How many goats do you have? Ummm ahhhh hmmmmmm. . . I'll have to go check!

Yesterday a few of the goats kidded. The mothers were twins that were two years old. One of them had twins and the other had a single kid. One of the kids is not doing real well but is still alive so we have it in the house.

This morning when I went down to milk, I found the mother of the two previous mothers licking off her two kids that were born a few hours before. Those two are up and doing really well now. Just before lunch Jonathan went down to check on the goats and found another set of twins had been born by a different goat. I guess they all went into heat about the same time last fall. There is still four more goats that are expected to kid soon.

I haven't blogged for a while since I've been working on a handout for our cow-shares. If you want to see it, here is a link to the pdf: http://bartlettfarm.us/documents/whataboutcowsharesfinal.pdf

Let me know what you think of it, please!

Peter

I'm a Cheesemaker!

Hi everyone,

A few days ago Mom showed me how she makes mozzarella cheese. Yesterday she and I used up six gallons of milk in an afternoon making it. We started doing two gallons at a time (instead of one like the recipe calls for) in a bigger pot to save time and it seems to work just as well that way, not saying that it works well every time though. Now I'm looking forward to making other types of cheeses!


We do most of the heat treating in the microwave because it is faster and less messy but I did one double batch with the method of dipping it in the whey. The cheese turned out just as well for me that way as with the microwave but it took more time.


After I had done a few batches, Mom did one that turned out perfect! Really tasty. We've been keeping a record of how each batch turns out and what we did different so we can look back. There is still so many variables that it is hard to say what made the difference for sure, but Mom used less citric acid and one drop less rennet.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A neighbor stopped by this afternoon and talked with us for a while. He likes to talk, but he did have something interesting to show us.


He works out in the oil fields in western ND and had brought back a little bottle of oil straight from the ground. It was runny, not thick at all or lumpy, and he said it stays runny even at negative 30 degrees.


He said it takes a month and three million dollars to drill an oil well but after that the money just rolls in. Somebody he met was making $1200 dollars a day from just letting an oil company put three rigs on their land and pumping. He also said that there is so much pressure in the ground they don't really do any pumping it just sprays out of the pipe system into their tanks.

The sample he had brought, he said would run in some tractors straight without any treatment needed. That would be nice! North Dakota doesn't really refine much oil so we don't get any lower gas prices by all the pumping.


Time to go get ready to milk,



Peter

You drink RAW MILK!

Peter

Fun Projects for a Saturday

Hello again,

I just came over here from starting the wood stove so I am still keeping an eye on it as I write.  The air pressure is low so there is not a very good draft. 

Today it was really nice out.  A good day to get a bunch done outside and upstairs.  Dad and David taped some sheetrock on the upstairs kitchen wall this morning and in the afternoon Dad installed a second window in the kitchen.  I did a bit more sanding on another cabinet and stained the base of one of the wall cabinets.  Jonathan was in the shop for part of the day re-wiring an old chick brooder hood.

Of course David had to get us all to have a snowball fight.  The snow was just right for snowballs, and along with the warmth, the driveway got a little slick.  Paulette and another friend came over this afternoon but had to try three times to get up the muddy hill at the base of our driveway.  Hopefully we will be able to get the road shaped and graded this spring, soon!  We are going to have it run up on the crest of the hill instead of where it is now so that it is a little bit more level. 

I guess it will be time to start some seeds pretty soon.  I think we know pretty much how much of everything we are going to need so it won't be too hard to plant it all.  Some of it will need to be started later on so it doesn't get too big before the hoop house is warmed up.

Peter

Busy Evening

I guess it is time for another post.

Yesterday evening got to be a little busy over here. I had one cow-share customer scheduled to pick up some milk and cream later in the day so I went over to vacuum at Metigoshe Ministries after lunch. When I got back, I went upstairs and varnished the first coat of lacquer on a cabinet and got the milk and cream ready for the person coming. It ended up being about 6:00 before she arrived but I gave her the milk and she left.

A little later, Jonathan came out to the building where I was working and told me that we had gotten a call from someone from Minot saying he was going to come later on and pick up his milk and eggs. The man said he said he would try to get here about eight p.m. We got a few gallons ready for him to pick up and put them in the refrigerator upstairs.

Then, we got a call from someone that was on the road a few miles away saying that he was coming to pick up 4 quarts of cream for a friend of his. Thankfully we had all the cream ready and he picked it up and left. It was just about time to milk, so I had Jonathan get the milking stuff ready to go for me while I was out giving the man his cream.

Later on the other guy came and picked up milk and eggs and then left.

I sure am glad that we had enough milk and cream on hand to supply everybody!

Peter

How to keep a cat from thinking out-of-the-box

Hello, 

A few nights ago I woke up to the sound of little kittens crying for their mamma.  Our house cat, "Funny Face" had a litter of five kittens a few days before but we had kept her and her kittens in a cardboard box in the bathroom.  She had quietly carried them one at a time under my bed a few days before.  They hadn't made any noise for the first few nights so we left them where they were.  When they started making noise, we decided we should take them back to their box in the bathroom. 

The cat didn't like the idea very well and every time we would put them in the box she would drag them back under the bed.  We tried stacking different things in the path where she would have to go to get to her spot but she found other ways in--squeeze in between the potato sacks and boxes.

Andrew finally came up with the cure.  He set a battery powered radio tuned to static near where her nest was.  She decided it wasn't very pleasant any more and has stayed in the box ever since.

Peter

Oh wring

Hello,

Yesterday we finally got a few O rings in the mail for the cream separator. We tried looking in Minot for someone that had the right size but each place we looked at said to try a different store and we didn't find any the right size. Dad found one online at: http://www.superiorseals.com/. We had to have an order of more than five dollars so we ordered a few of each in different materials.

This morning I tried fitting them where they would go on the cream separator and one of the sizes fits perfectly. We had gotten two of that type so now we have a spare.  If you have a old DeLaval cream separator that needs a new seal for the cone shaped spinner, get this one: Buna-N 427 Size O-ring, product no: ob-70-427 from that website. It may not be a food-grade rubber material, but we will use it until we find a better one.

We got two different sizes and three different materials.  The set on the right was the size that fit best.

I poured water through to test if it leaked.  Thankfully it didn't!  When we have a few more gallons of milk to skim we'll try running it through and see how it works for real.

Peter

Fixing up cabinets

Hello!

This afternoon I went upstairs to glue in one of the side panels of a cabinet that I've been fixing up. We were given a set of oak-faced cabinets from some friends that live down near Bismarck a few years ago but until now they hadn't been fixed up or arranged to fit where we would like them. The carpenter that built them built them in place and glued them to the wall so there was a little bit of damage that happened when they were pried off the walls. We just need to replace a few broken boards and add a few sides to some of the cabinets and they turn out really nice!

We found a way to position the counters and cabinets so that we don't have to do much cutting of the sections and it works out pretty nice. There is also a nice sink that will go under the window in the kitchen, and a dish washer spot is already there so we can install the dishwasher that came with everything. I think that will be nice. It has been so long since we lived in town and had a dishwasher that I don't think I remember how to use one!

Jonathan has worked on a separate counter/cabinet and had to add two sides so he has practice with staining and varnishing. I'll have to ask him for help to show me how to finish the end wall on the cabinet I'm working on. The one I was working on is the side that is being clamped in the picture below. While we were working on the cabinets, Dad was working on sheet rocking the kitchen wall. We haven't tried our hand at mudding and taping sheet rock yet, but we are just about ready to start.

This afternoon a homeschool family stopped by to look at what goats we have for sale.  They just wanted to see what we have before they decide if they want to buy any from us.

Goodnight,

Peter

Quick post

This will be pretty short. I'm supposed to go get into bed right now...

On Saturday we played a 45 minute music program in Westhope at the nursing home there. It is a little less than a hour drive to get there from here. We are going to try to record a few of the songs from our program before we get out of practice again. It takes quite a while of practice before you can feel like you are reasonably good at a certain song. We still are a long way from sounding anything like the bands that we enjoy listening to!

I have been figuring out what we will need to do to fence some pasture for the animals in the spring. We will probably start with a 10 acre electric fence beside the driveway.  We are going to fence a few large paddocks that are partly in the woods for pasturing the pigs next year too.

Eventually I would like to expand our cattle herd and implement the rotational grazing ideas that Joel Salatin talks about that would make our land so much more productive!

Continued another time.

Peter

Guess what came in the mail today...

...our business cards! I think they turned out really nice. We came up with a few different versions of cards (Dad made one, Andrew made one and I made one) and then I combined a little of all three and came up with this one. We edited it and it looks real nice. We also ordered two small stainless steel carriers to keep them in so they don't get bent in your pocket. A bent business card is not very impressive.

Now I feel like giving one to everyone we see!

Peter

To Lansford!

We just got back a little bit ago from the annual Republican dinner held in Lansford ND.  We played a few songs for entertainment during the meal at noon.  We had to all pack into the car and fit all the instruments and the sound system into the trunk and cargo carrier.  We can fit the two speakers and two microphone stands on the the top of the car but we have to cram the 3/4 size bass and the other instruments in the trunk and the sound board with all the wires. 

Andrew and I played chess on the way over but had to start over a few times when we hit a bump and the pieces fell off the board!

Lansford is a pretty small town with not too many stores on main street.

We were going to play for a certain amount of time but the panel discussion lasted longer than expected so we played during the meal.  Nobody seemed to pay much attention but we played anyway. 

We had the usual meal: meat, potatoes, corn and gravy.  Whenever there is a meal offered somewhere, it is usually that same combination!

Governor Hoeven came for part of the meeting today and stayed for a while.



Just as we were ready to hop into the car to leave, I slammed the trunk door and felt my thumb pop.  I guess I sprained it again!  This is the fourth time this year.  Jonathan put a comfrey/slippery elm poultice on it and I have that on my hand right now.  Dad read out of one book we have that if you press on the most painful spot until you can't stand it any longer and hold onto it for a minute, then let off, you will feel less pain.  I tried it, but you only feel less pain afterward because you quit pressing on it!

Butter...

I just thought I'd say I made butter this morning and timed the churn to see how long it took. We got two and a quarter pounds of butter in 4 minutes and 45 seconds out of a gallon of cream. I think that is pretty fast but I'm not sure.

I don't think we are getting the water/buttermilk out of the butter very thoroughly. Does anyone have any hints? We have a butter paddle and a book that talks about pressing and folding but I'd like to have someone else show me how to do it right.

The kid is doing pretty good now. It is getting a little more playful and independent.

Peter

Adventures in the Turtle Mountains

It all started a couple days ago when we heard that we were going to get a change in weather. I needed to go vacuum on Monday (today) and there were some people coming to have a tour of our place in the afternoon Monday, so I decided that it would be better to get it over with as soon as possible. I don't usually go to vacuum on Sunday, but I think that God arranged everything to work out really well!


Yesterday morning I was not feeling like going over to work, but after thinking about it I figured that I'd just get it done so I wouldn't have to worry about getting snowed in. I am not licensed to drive alone yet so Jonathan rode with me in the truck. We thought we'd take the truck so we would be sure not to get stuck but I have only driven the truck on the road once before, even though I have had plenty of practice and can manage the gears pretty well. The truck tends to take a long time to warm up (choke needs adjusting) and so when we got to the mailbox it stalled and wouldn't start up again. Jonathan got out and propped the choke open with his Gerber and I started the truck again. We drove for a little ways further and then the truck died again. Jonathan got out and held the choke open again and we continued on. It didn't quit again until we got to the church. I told Jonathan I could call home and tell Mom he was on his way back and to check on him if he wasn't back soon. I have a routine that I follow each time and is doesn't include any phone calls until I'm all done, so by the time I walked inside and punched in my time card I forgot about calling!

Well, that was all I knew until I had finished vacuuming and washed the kitchen floor and called home for someone to come pick me up. Mom answered the phone and said, "They had to go pull him out again." "Who?" I asked. "Oh, you didn't hear about it I suppose. Dad and Andrew and David had to go help Jonathan pull a guy out of the ditch. Can you just hang on for a bit?" I said I could wait and then finished cleaning up. It took a while and then Dad came driving up in the car to pick me up. He said that I missed out on the adventure!

I wasn't there to see how it all happened but from what I gathered, Jonathan was on his way home (the truck didn't stall at all) and came upon an older looking man in a pickup truck with a plow on the front, stuck on the side of the road about 3/4 of a mile from our driveway. Earlier in the day, Andrew had stuck an extra grain scoop shovel in the back of the truck along with the other one that was already in there and so there was two good shovels for digging along with a logging chain and my cover-alls (that I brought in case we needed to dig ourselves out if we got stuck). Jonathan offered to help pull the guy's truck out of the ditch with our truck and so they hooked up. They dug out a lot of the snow that was around it using the two shovels and pulled on the truck. It was on a pretty steep ditch and the wheels of the truck that were off the road didn't want to come back up onto the road. By this time the brothers and Mom at home began to wonder about Jonathan so Dad took the car and Andrew and David and they drove down the road and found Jonathan shoveling. If I would have remembered to call, Jonathan would have had help sooner! With some more digging and pulling they got the truck out of the ditch.

Now the truck is out and Dad turns the car around and heads home with Andrew, leaving David with Jonathan. Jonathan pulls our truck over to the side of the road so the truck they pulled out (red colored truck) could get around him on the road. The red truck pulled out around our truck (the blue truck) and pulled too far to the side and slid into the ditch again on the other side of the road!

Now Dad is back at home and Jonathan is there shoveling again until it looks like he could pull the red truck out for the second time. The other guy (turns out to be maintenance man for the restaurant near by) offered to help but was already tired from shoveling so he needed to rest. So Jonathan began shoveling and cleaned a lot of the snow away from the red truck and hooked our logging chain to it. The tow belt that the other man had had broken because it was old and frayed so he used our chain. Then, to add to the excitement, Jonathan hooked the chain too short, so our truck was not on the middle of the road. With a jerk, (I am just guessing at this part) our truck strained backward and slid off into the ditch.

Now there are two trucks in the ditch and nobody to pull them out! Jonathan and David started digging and had to dig a path in the snow about 30 yards long in order to get our truck out. Now that our truck is out Jonathan headed home to get some help and loaded a bunch of big eighty-pound logs into the back of the truck for extra weight and went back out to the red truck. Dad took the car in case it would be needed but it wasn't. Now they dug out the snow and it was a simple matter to get the truck out of the ditch. The guy (I don't know his name) offered to buy the whole family a tenderloin dinner at the restaurant he works at with meat "THIS THICK!" he said holding out his fingers about an inch apart.

I wrote this story based on what Jonathan told me, so some parts might have happened a little differently than I wrote it.

Now there was a lot that could have made this not happen like it did. One would be if I had decided not to go vacuum on Sunday (which would have been easy to do), two would be if I had gone a bit earlier or later, three would be if I had called everything might have gotten done faster but I think God had had it all planned out just right!
Peter

She's doing fine now...

The goat kid is doing pretty well now... Her mother is only giving at most a pint of milk at a time but the kid is able to walk around and nurse off of it's mother. Yesterday afternoon I'd noticed that some of the goats looked like they were ready to kid but when I was heading down to the barn to milk last night I heard a kid crying. It had just been born and was wet and cold but it had already stood up. We brought it in the house to warm up and it was able to walk around. It's not much bigger than a cat right now!

Henry was happy to help clean the milk off of the kid's face after we had fed it.

Dad and David went to pick up the azure standard order this afternoon and I got the gallon jars for milk finally. You don't always know if what you order is going to come until you go to pick it up and we had tried to get those jars in last month's order but they were out of stock for some reason. Peter