Fresh milk starts with.....

.....boy meets girl!  Meet Charm, our new buckling.  He has a very important job starting in a couple of weeks.  He is the envy of boy goats everywhere for landing this great job.  I'll let you use your imagination as to exactly what his duties will be.

More cute than studly at just over 6 months old!

You may have noticed that his ears, one eye, and his left hind toes are green.  This is because, as a registered Oberhasli, he got his ears tatooed just before his arrival here.  He has a series of identifying numbers and letters permanently inked into his ears.  The green on his eye and toe are from being wiggly during the process.  It should wear off, hopefully before he starts his new job.  Green is one of my favorite colors, but I don't really want it all over my girls and all over my barn clothes!

Oberhaslis are a smallish breed of dairy goat, and Charm is young, so we have a ramp so that he can.....er.....get the job done.  Even Lily, only a week or so older than Charm, looks to be about twice his weight and significantly taller.  I'm not too concerned....where there is a will, there is a way, and all the goats here have already indicated willingness!  So....

Cover your eyes.....

Orange alert

 Carefully slice the pumpkin in half from top to bottom with a sharp knife.

It is time to get those pumpkins into the freezer for winter cooking projects!  Although any pumpkin is usable as food, I far prefer the small "sugar" pumpkins for this purpose.  You can do the same with large squashes, such as hubbard.  I get the leftover pumpkins from a nearby farm for my pigs and goats on November 1 when the farmstand closes for two or three weeks to prepare for the next major holiday decorating season.  Although this year they will be selling the rest of the sugar pumpkins, I took the ones that were developing "spots" and wouldn't make it until they reopened the farm store.

Scrub the dirt off the outside of your pumpkin before cutting it in half.

Grease a pan generously with lard, tallow, duck or goose fat, bacon drippings, or butter.  Scoop out the seeds with your fingers, removing the biggest chunks of orange pulp, but don't wash them.  The little bits of pulp add a nice flavor.  Roast the seeds at 375 F, stirring every few minutes, until they start to brown.  Use plenty of your chosen fat, enough to coat the seeds.  This will help the salt to cling to them.  Enjoy while hot!

Use the edge of a spoon to scrape the "guts" out.

Roast at 325 F for about an hour and a half.  Use caution taking the pan out of the oven, as the pumpkins will have released some water and it will be very hot.

When it cools enough to handle, slice it into thin wedges, and peel the skin off with your paring knife.

Put the pared pumpkin into a bowl and store it in your fridge for processing later if you don't have time to do so right away.  I actually prefer to do this, as more water will be released from the slices and can be poured off, making a much thicker puree.

Puree the slices a few at a time in the food processor, or by hand with a food mill or as our great-great-great grandmothers would, press it through a sieve.  I love my food processor!

Bag it in amounts suitable for recipes.  I do 1.5 cups (pie sized) and 1 cup (soups and stews) bags.  I put the smaller bags into a gallon ziploc freezer bag.

I mostly use this puree in soups and stews.  A small amount of roasted pumpkin or squash puree will disappear into a chicken soup, for example, but will add such a wonderful flavor that even seasoned cooks that you might serve it to won't be able to guess its source.  It is also a great way to sneak one more vegetable into your families' meals, and for many, it is a free source of veggies.  

Most people who decorate their yards or doorsteps with pumpkins simply toss them in the trash later.  Let people know that you'd like their pumpkins....there is no shame in not wasting perfectly good food! 

Vanilla extract

This is just one of many ways to make your own vanilla extract.  This is not the cheapest way, but it makes a strong extract, which is what I am going for....lots of flavor!

The only way to make this project worthwhile is to buy vanilla beans in bulk online, at least a pound at a time.  You can buy less, for sure, but you'll pay more per bean.  Maybe split an order with a few friends?  If stored properly, the beans will retain their flavor for a long time....well wrapped in several layers of sturdy plastic, placed in a glass jar, and hidden in the dark recesses of your spice cabinet.

I use a quarter pound per quart, or four ounces of beans.

Cut them into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces with a very sharp knife or scissors.

If you can still find it, use 95% alcohol, or 190 proof.  It is no longer legal here but the stores are allowed to sell out their stock, so we buy some whenever we can find it.  It makes the best extracts and tinctures.  You can use the highest proof vodka you can find, too, with great results.  Cheaper, too.

Toss the beans in a quart jar and cover them with the alcohol.  Use a jar with a very tight fitting lid so it doesn't evaporate.  The jar on the left is already extracting, in the time it took me to prepare the other jar!

Strained and ready to use.

After a month you can use it, but I leave it for 6 months or more, until I need it.  I like my vanilla like my man, strong and dark!  Then I use a tea strainer and a funnel to bottle it in dark swingtop bottles.  The two smaller, labelled bottles are for keeping in my spice cupboard.  I've been using those two bottles for about two decades now.  I originally bought vanilla in them, and then just started refilling them with my home made version.  The extract above has a date of 2009 on the tag.  I still have a quart of that vanilla.  This isn't a project I have to think about very often!

I use the same method to make other extracts, a favorite being peppermint extract for use in my favorite ice cream, mint chocolate chip. Recipe here.  With other extracts, you need to pack the jar with the leaves very tightly, weight them down with a rock, and strain it in a month.  You can also make orange extract with orange zest from organic oranges this way.

Not too many projects are this simple....if you make it as gifts, your friends will be VERY impressed.  Be sure not to tell them how easy it was!

Another chard casserole....eat your veggies!

I'm often asked how I get everything done.  Those who know me well know that I take a lot on, my to-do list is never ending.  I'm also asked how we eat so well on a budget.  Here is one small example, with principles that apply every single day.  This is an update of the chard stem experiment that I did a few weeks ago.

1.  Plan in advance (time efficiency.)  We both work, and on some days, we both work at the same time and at the same place.  On this particular day, we were both teaching classes.  Before we left for work, I took a few minutes to get a little water boiling in two pots, and I dumped a frozen pound of chard stems in one pot and a frozen pound of chard leaves in another.  I let them simmer just until hot, then turned the heat off and let it sit, covered, on the stove until we got home hours later.  I'm sure I spent less than five minutes on this, as I did other things in the kitchen to get ready for work.

Was I worried about food safety?  No. These two pots had just boiled, and the lid was left on.  I started with clean, organic produce that:

2.  I grew myself in my garden (money saving.)  That is the best way to get cheap organic produce, but not everyone has the land to do so.  Don't give up on the idea, though.  When I was a kid, my folks owned a small house in a tightly packed suburban neighborhood north of Boston, and there was not enough sunlight for enough hours to effectively grow even a tiny garden in that teensy yard.  So they teamed up with an older gentleman a town over and we spent a few hours once a week at his house, working alongside him in his huge garden that was now a bit much for him.  My two siblings and I were rather young during these years, and we were not with a sitter or in daycare.  We were in that garden, or playing nearby on the grass.

I strongly recommend this.  You will learn how to grow stuff much more successfully with the help of an older, experienced local gardener.  I discovered this when we lived in an apartment and had a small garden....and an older Sicilian neighbor named Santa Malta.  She was so tactful in offering suggestions.... she'd often start with, "I was reading an article in the paper on...."  There was no article in the paper.  She was just trying to help me avoid gardening disasters but in a way that was oh, so gentle.  I miss her.

Back to the casserole....while the chard was simmering, I put a hunk of raw corned beef brined myself, recipe here, from our side of beef....saved hundreds of grocery dollars!) in a crock pot and turned it on high and left it for several hours while we taught our classes.  I also put a casserole dish on the counter, ready and waiting to be filled.   Here is what I did when I got home, in just a few minutes:

I wrung out the chard leaves with my hands and patted them into the bottom of the dish.

I set the stems to drain over their pot.

I trimmed the excess fat from half the corned beef, shredded it, and stored the other half for another meal.

I topped the chard with some "failed" goat gouda from the freezer, and then the meat.  There is no such thing as a failed cheese....this one was simply left in the brine too long and was overly salty.  I saved it to use to salt and flavor soups and casseroles.

 

 I topped the meat with a layer of good, sharp provolone, half of an 8 oz block.

Next, the chard stems.

The rest of the shredded provolone.

Baked for about a half hour at 375 F, or until lightly browned.

While it was baking, I got my animals fed and the goats milked, and came in to a delicious supper.  Next time, I may caramelize some onions and add a layer, but it was rather delicious this way.  You can layer anything you think will taste good, and use any type of cheese that you like.  The possible combinations are endless....and cheese makes any vegetable taste divine!

Beef shanks.....a worthwhile cheaper cut

Looking for a way to have grass-finished beef on a budget?  Ask around for beef shanks.  They are often cheaper than other cuts but oh, so worthwhile.  I think they should be much more expensive (shhh, don't tell any farmer that I said that!) because you get meaty soup bones, marrow bones, and plenty of meat for several meals, all in one package.

Simply place the shanks in a shallow roasting pan.

Roast in a hot oven (400 F maybe?) until nicely browned, about a half hour or so.

Place them in a large stock bot and cover with filtered water (or well water if not on city water) and a glug of raw, organic apple cider vinegar.

I simmered them for a full day (24 hours) and then shut off the heat.  The shanks were carefully fished out and put onto plates to cool, and the broth was strained into another pot.

After carefully removing all the meat to a bowl and refrigerating it, I poked the marrow out of the bones and added it to the broth.  This will make the broth cloudy but marrow is very nutritious and not to be wasted.  Some people like to eat it as is, or spread it on crusty bread, but I prefer it mixed back into the broth.  It is a texture thing for me.

Now I had enough meat and broth to make a large stew that served us both generously for 4 meals, plus some meat to use in a fifth meal along with more of the broth.  There is still a bit of broth left over for another use, even just for cooking veggies...but if you do, be sure to drink the broth afterwards, as it is rather nutrient dense and very, very good for you.

For more ideas on how to use beef shanks, look for recipes for Osso Bucco, Italian for bone with hole.  It is another simple, yet elegant dish, perfect for fall and winter.

Run right out and find yourself some beef shanks!  They are a great way to stretch your budget and still have the best food.

Fall egg basket

New colors in our egg basket!  Some of our young pullets (female chickens that are not quite grown up yet) have started to lay eggs, and we are getting some new and lovey shades of brown.

The skinny white egg is Icelandic, and the giant tan egg is from an older mixed breed hen.

I love the different sizes and shapes.  So different from the cartons from the grocery store, with all twelve eggs lined up in rows, all exactly the same.  Isn't this more fun?

Liquid soap success

I've been wanting to make liquid soap for a long time now.  I finally ordered the stuff to make it and found a recipe that looked reasonable....and promised to be pretty fool-proof. 

This is my first batch.

Ain't it purty?

Unlike the goat's milk soap I make, liquid soap doesn't use lye, which is sodium hydroxide.  It uses potassium hydroxide.  The only way to buy this (either, really, for the most part.....I used to buy Red Devil lye for soapmaking in the grocery store, in with the drain openers) is online.  It is toxic and caustic, but completely neutralized in the soapmaking process.  Both of those chemicals are what turn fats and oils into soap.

I used this recipe from this wonderful blog.  I used the household cleaning soap and dish soap recipe.

In the article, she says to use distilled water, and every liquid soap recipe I could find said the same thing.  Why not use tap water, I wondered?  I just could not find the answer online, so I did a little experiment.  I diluted half of my soap paste with distilled water, and the second half with tap water.  We have pretty hard water.  This was the result, and later I stumbled across a note by the above mentioned blogger that said the soap would be clear with distilled water, and cloudy with hard water.  Yup.

Look at all that soap!

I figure cloudy soap cleans as well as pretty soap, so my plan is to make clear soap for containers that are clear or for gifting, and just use tap water for our everyday soap.  This first batch was on the thin side, and I chose not to thicken it.  I am now on a search for foaming pump dispensers to use with this.....I think those will be PERFECT.  And they conserve soap.  Meanwhile, I put a few drops of essential oils into some of it (notice the missing pint jar of clear soap in the photo) and it is in a regular pump dispenser by our kitchen sink.  I used lemongrass, tangerine, and a bit of lavender.  It smells heavenly.  

My next attempt will include my favorite soapmaking fats, tallow, lard (both pastured and pure) and extra virgin olive oil.  I'll be going for a less harsh soap for washing hands and for the shower.  Later.....shampoo?  Commercial versions of all these soaps are so full of toxic ingredients, very easily absorbed through our skin.  Soapmaking is surprisingly easy and very satisfying.  Let the experimenting begin!