Will the real soggy doggy stand up ?

Little did I know what was waiting for me OUTSIDE this morning, suffice it to say the morning has been less than dull!!! I challenge any other Granny to put in such a morning !!!

Where to begin, yes I know, I have two pairs of work shoes (mainly because I need to toss out the old pair) but this morning the “newer” (already they need to be replaced) ones were still soggy from yesterdays adventuresome chores, thus I chose to put on the drier though not as comfy ones. I think that’s where I made my first mistake !!! Out the door I went and oh my goodness, not only was the river no longer contained in the banks, it was up close and personal ( umm try right up to the drive) well I was down in the mouth and mumbling and rather depressed and complaining to myself about how one “neighbor” had diked up his side of the river and all the agencies I’d called seemed rather ho hum about it or no one could "see" anything ???(how can you miss dump truck loads of broken concrete,still in mounds?)

The stage is now set, and work to be done. First I do my quick walk through checking on “everyone, letting the little girls (ponies) out.. Ginger did not want to leave the barn, little did I blame her as their “lane’ to the paddock was flooded,since it wasn’t currently raining I thought OK I’ll still turn her and Tina out and put their hay out at the end of the lane so they would walk around some before being put up for the night. On to feed the koi and water water everywhere !! I managed to find enough high ground to walk out to the koi tank and feed them, but the water was high enough I thought I’d better put the pump and some electrical cords up on something high, That was rather “shocking” hmmmm. Next I feed Frosty (our remaining goat gal)and the Alpaca “gang”. Somehow one of the gates hadn’t been locked and Sancho was merrily running around in Malahara’s paddock, with her snorting around that she didn’t welcome the “intrusion”. Thankfully Sancho came back through the gate when I put out their grain. I had to take the wheelbarrow through water to get to the car ,as I still had the new bag of feed in there. That’s makes two “circuit loops” and I’d already noticed I had major rescuing to do for things in the front yard ,but felt it was best to clean paddocks first, as I knew I’d get wet on my walk-a-bout rescue efforts and thought at least I could stay dry a bit longer. Hopefully the water wouldn’t rise enough in that amount of time and float things away.

Next I needed to put hay out for the horses beginning with the little girls, packing it all the way down there for them I found they’d decided to wade to their paddock, I do hope the water doesn’t come up much higher so they will wade back. (wow with the water so high the train(about 1/2 mile away) sounds just like it’s outside the window !!)MR.&Mrs. Quacky are happy as bugs in a rug ,swimming in their flooded pen, the pheasants and silky banties who share the pen with them are not, I decide they are ok ,sitting on high perches until I can clean paddocks and rescue “things”.

Paddocks cleaned and on to the stalls, just as I finished Malahara’s and Tina’s and ducked under the half door to move on to Gingers…CRACK !!! like a rifle shot and boom, remember when I wrote this am and said I thought the loud noises were trees falling ? Well now I know they fall faster than lightening and consequently they do not fly when they take off !!! You’ll never guess which tree decided to try it’s “wings”, I certainly wouldn’t have, and I have been keeping an eye on about 3 or 4 that are close to either the house, horse barn or pheasant pens. The humongous oak in the back yard (the one Grandpa put a cage in trying to catch the lost pet monkey they saw,years ago)

And of course the oak landed across a whole flower bed I’d been working hard to have look nice, and also it took with it our bees (well, they were a swarm from our new hive , I saw them swarm this summer and tried everything to catch them, even running water from a hose into the hole they thought looked cozy, tut tut it looks like rain, naw it’s just grandma trying to trick us into moving !!! Do you like that “house” she has to offer, not me, looks just like the one we left, ya and I so like the view from up here, I’m staying how ‘bout it queenie, hmm wonder if they are regretting not moving into the little abode I offered, I do feel sorry for them. Well, I was a bit leery of the oaks “neighbor, the one I watch by the pheasants. But on to the rescue walk-a-bout.

Entering the water, thus no more do I have dry shoes, I rescued a wadding pool down by the barn ,that had floated from the front yard , and was threatening to cause the gate to break, some coiled water hoses and a bit of cut wood, Roo rather enjoys this new “game” and then on to the front yard.

Thankfully the picnic table was rather light, it was just beginning to float, so I pull it across the deeper part of the yard and move on to the next rescue, about 15 trips in all, now one would think that’s not very far, so no biggie…. WRONG !!! It is slow going, especially when you step in an unseen gopher hole and nearly lurch forward while loaded down or sink another foot deeper into the front yard. I am thinking of the fun you kids had rafting in the yard, umm but this isn’t fun ,however I am pleasantly remembering you kids enjoying your rafting days. while I drag or carry stuff across the yard, or should I say lake. Oh and cold, after a while, as this takes a bit of time, one forgets about how cold it is, but I discovered (again, funny I’d forgotten this from past “experiences”) the ground outside in winter is rather warm, when your shoe happens to come off. Yay for very warm Epson salts bath, and so goes another day in the life of your mom !!!!! (can you tell I didn’t want to start a new project until I was finished getting toasty and letting my legs rest a bit OH,yes and two pairs of wet shoes are not worth one pair of dry ones in the “bush”. Love to all, Mom

Casein free cottage cheese for Grandchildren

(casein free recipie below story )

Holy cow! as our youngest grandchild often says

it looks like this is what Hershey Tyee is thinking too,,(or or perhaps that he's neither a "guurl "nor a cow)

What is a farm grandma to do when one of her Grandchildren wants some cottage cheese?

A few years ago,that was relatively easy (if you live on a farm)

Rise and shine early, say 5 ish in the morning, put on your boots and a warm coat over your nightie,for most of the year that is. (well unless you decided to dress for the day first, which is highly recommended,as generally something will need your attention,that a nightie just isn't sufficient to endure whatever the demand happens to be. Of course you city slickers,would just stick a carton of cottage cheese into your shopping cart on your next shopping trip and head for home. The hardest part would be getting the lid off. What I can't believe is the number of times I've seen someone in their jammies at the store ????, Perhaps occasionally in the outback or boonies, one would not be surprised.

In a real town, where people are to be expected ???? And I thought us farmers were a bit unconventional, or informal (at least in the wee hours of the morning)..........

Okay , ready???we have one of the gals contentedly munching on her grain, you take a brush and dust her off a bit (your milk bucket is hanging high on a nail to keep it clean) next the warm water , you brought with you in the milk bucket is used to clean off her udder(cold does not work, believe me !!, then you wipe her dry. You milk the first few strains onto the ground or in a waiting mouser's mouth.

And with a prayer,or a song you have some nice quiet time for about the next 15 minutes as you fill your bucket. Hopefully ol' bess doesn't swat you or worse swing her tail and get it into the milk,then all is for nothing (well there is always a waiting mouth for any milk ,be it left over or "contaminated" the worst contamination I ever experience was from one old cow named Maude, that we were taking care of for someone on vacation (what is that ? )(adjisting is the proper term). Ol' Maude was as good as gold ..UNTIL the last few streams of milk were in the bucket, and very quietly she would lift up a hind foot and set it down right into your bucket, this was a comtemplated manuver as she would do it everytime your mind was wandering onto something besides her,as you finished. Now if you work very much with animals, especially the larger four footed variety, it is not easy to get them to put a foot in a bucket ,on those times they may need to soak it or be medicated, generally what happens is near panic and you become covered with the contents of the said bucket...this is the least of what can happen to you....

So far so good, as this morning our milk is beautiful, all has gone well. You hang the bucket back up, until you turn the cows out for the day, and then pour a bit in a large pan for your faithful mouse patrol. You go to the kitchen and pour the milk through a strainer into a clean sterile jar and set it into the fridge. You clean your strainer and bucket for the next milking. The next step depends on what you plan to do with your milk. Do you want milk to drink ? Well if your "girls" are of the deer eyed Jersey variety, you might skim off the thickest cream for butter and ice cream. If you have a Holstein then you may leave it all intact.

This morning we have a gallon jar from yesterday morning and we have decided to make butter and cottage cheese. So we take off as much cream as we can,placing it in another jar until there is enough to make a decent amount of butter.. (you can shake it or even whip it with a beater, or churn it in a butter churn, from this you will get clumps of butter ,you pour off the buttermilk,which can be used for some good breakfast pancakes or biscuits. The clumps that remain, you rinse with cold water and gently squeeze and work it until the water runs clear then you can add a bit of salt and press into a mold or a butter bell ( I love making ceramic ones)

Now we have a gallon of skim milk, so we add some rennet (or junket,found in the canning section of your store) and we follow the directions to that , draining off the whey (you can use the whey for many things, we generally fed ours to the chickens) mash with a fork , viola cottage cheese, I salt and pepper mine and add a bit of cream back to it for a creamy cottage cheese. So far so good....

Now in lies the quandary... one of our grandchildren loves cheese, but is extremely allergic to wheat and we think milk casein as well, Grandma said she would try to find a way to make cottage cheese AND so I did, yum

While I do feel a bit like I'm betraying my ,grow it ,hunt/catch it, raise it , clean it,cook it,grind it yourself and cow "heritage" . I do feel some accomplishment in "tracking" down a fairly good facsimile of cottage cheese.

CASEIN FREE COTTAGE CHEESE RECIPIE

Here is my version.....yum....

get on a comfortable pair of walking shoes, drive to your favorite grocery store, track down some "rare" tofu

For cottage cheese we will "capture" a firm variety

when you get home open the box and drain off all the liquid.

place the square in good sized bowl, cut it into 1-2 " squares

Then with a potato masher (one with little squares) mash this into the curd size you like.

At this point add about 1/2-1 tsp of garlic powder depending on your taste,

3 tblsp of olive oil about 1/2 tsp of butter flavoring and 1/2-1 tsp of salt.

Stir well and refrigerate, I found this rather tasty as is ,but next time will take out about 1/4 and blend it in the blender to add a creamy texture. I did add a bit of melted margarine and this also added some "creaminess" but it didn't get into the fridge to see how it would work when chilled the test batch was too yummy....

This gave me a oh thank you grandma!!! and the biggest hug you can imagine, yay !

Now if you use the same process with a med firm tofu you get a ricotta type texture, and if you were to blend or process this and add your favorite dip flavorings, I think you would have a rather good dip...

enjoy Love, Grandma :-)

While this may not be the "personal" gift from one of our cows, she would sure give her "stamp" of approval.....(my next attempt will be something without soy) stay tuned till then