Pure Gotlands ~ Mary Ellen & Jim Bob
Pure Gotlands ~ Mum Clover with Mary Ellen
Ester is 5/8 Gotland with Leicester & Merino
Elizabeth is my favourite baby for obvious reasons! She is 3/4 gotland
Tags: Gotland, Lambs, Sheep breeding
Lambs Have Arrived
Dec 25th, 2010 by stoney acres
We have been blessed with 7 gorgeous lambs this month. The little 7 month old Gotland ram we borrowed worked very efficiently.. we have 4 girls & 3 boys. We did lose 1 baby boy who was a twin born a little too early in the morning for us .. not sure if he was still born or the result an inexperienced mother.
I spent some nights worrying & watching over a couple of mothers who had very long labours but in the end I didnt need to help any out. We had one mother who rejected her baby at around a week old & refused to feed him but with a bit of encouragement (& force) we got them back together. She had a lot of milk, I suspect had the beginnings of mastitis, & was finding it painful to feed. Once she got the milk production under control all was well & now the babies are growing like mushrooms.
It was a very anxious time here in early December, worrying what we were going to feed all these new mouths, given the weeks of drought we’d had & that our paddocks were looking very dry & brown. Then we got 3 days of magic rain.. it really was.. Im sure I could see the grass growing & it is back to a lovely green again. With more rain forecast within the week.. all is well on the farm!
Rhubarb Season
Sep 13th, 2010 by stoney acres
My Rhubarb Bed
When I was a teenager, I had a friend who regularly used the expression “I’m not waiting until the rhubarb season”. My dad never grew rhubarb so I didn’t understand just when this ‘rhubarb season’ was… well.. I can tell you.. it is now!
Yes - That Is Donkey Do You Can See
Having given my rhubarb bed a very generous dressing of sheep & donkey poop a month or so ago (rhubarb likes to be fed) it has grown huge & luxuriant.
"Rhubarb & Berry Jam"
Today I felt a domestic goddess day come over me & decided it was time to use some of that rhubarb. It coincided with my MIL giving me some frozen berries & so, after an internet search (as I do) I have made Rhubarb Berry Jam. The recipe came from the Food.Com site & was quick, easy, initial spoon lick tastes great, the colour is a gorgeous purple & the house smells wonderful.
Last rhubarb season I made Rhubarb Jam with just rhubarb & strawberry jelly but it wasn’t a big hit with the boys. I’m feeling confident todays jam will go down well. It is not nearly as sweet & I put the fruit through the mouli to remove all signs of lumps & seeds which they complain about.
Definitely going to be Jam on Toast for breakfast tomorrow & then I might try the Ginger Rhubarb Jam recipe I also found.
Tags: berries, domestic goddess, jam, preserves, rhubarb
Feeling Better Friday
Sep 10th, 2010 by stoney acres
Well, we are coming to terms with ZhaZha’s loss earlier this week & are now looking forward to choosing a new member of our animal family. I’ve been talking to some lovely local goat breeding folk, learnt a bit more, & there are several girls for us to inspect over the next few days so I’ll post pics when we bring one home.
Today we had the paddocks Limed. The local (& very helpful) horse supply shop suggested it would sweeten our ground after all the manure the animals add & help the grass grow so lets hope the $170 investment was worthwhile. Really hoping for some rain tomorrow to wash it in.
We also went out to purchase a special new apple tree to plant on ZhaZha & came home with 4! Winter Banana, Hetlina, Dayton & Sir Prize. They are heritage varieties & supposed to be disease resistant. We’ll whip out & replace the 4 Jazz trees we’d grown as grafts 2 years ago because we discovered they are very prone to black spot.. not good when we prefer to spray as little as possible.
A Sad Day
Sep 7th, 2010 by stoney acres
Well, doesnt look like we are going to be having any beautiful coloured baby goats as I’d hoped. Lulu looked to be in season earlier this week .. she was bleating & rubbing up to Andy, our male donkey, so guess the 6 weeks she had with the buck was unsuccessful AND she’s come into milk! I googled it & seems to be precocious udder, so, we will milk her once a day to relieve the pressure & see what happens.
The really sad part is that, yesterday morning, we discovered our other young goat, ZhaZha, dead in the shed. We are so shocked.. she was happy & playing with our little boys the day before. She looked very healthy & I can find nothing in the paddock that she may have eaten to poison her so a real mystery… & very very sad. My dad (raised on a dairy farm) says “when you have livestock you get deadstock” but this is absolutely no consolation to me. I would never make a real farmer.. These things hit me so hard, & every time I lose another ‘best friend’ I stop to analyze why we are doing this & consider how easy & stress free life might be on a town section.
~ Zha Zha 22 November 2008 – 6 September 2010 ~
Spring ~ Broody Hens, Rams and Bucks
Aug 31st, 2010 by stoney acres
Things have been busy around here…
We’ve had a nice (but smelly) buck visit our 2 young goats, ZhaZha ( Saanen/ Nubian) & Lulu (Toggenburg/Saanen). Im hoping for some coloured babies.
Our old Saanen goat, Rosie, who came from the SPCA at an unknown age, we decided was too old to be mated again. She struggled producing her twins last year but she is still giving us a little milk.
And, we’ve had a lovely little Gotland ram visiting with our 5 sheep.. 2 of which are purebred Gotland, the other 3 are gotland cross. All our sheep are kept for their wool & I particularly love the gotlands.. lovely fleece & lovely natures too. We used to have all pure gotlands but their one downfall is they tend to have trouble with their feet.
Now, you are right in thinking that we are very late getting in the boys. There are already lambs being born. We are late for several reasons..
1) I hate lying awake worrying about babies getting cold. Our first couple of years we had lambs during frosts & it was too stressful for me.. we have great sheds but not all mothers are sensible enough to birth or take their babies into them
2) 1 year I had to sit up most of a freezing cold night looking after a mother who was having trouble giving birth
3) I wasnt sure I wanted to go through all the drama & stress that we seem to have with lambs & kids. I cant believe how much trouble we’ve had with so few animals. In the end hubby decided we needed some more lambs for the freezer (which sounds awful but is all part of the self sufficient lifestyle) &, of course, we cant get milk from our goats unless they kid.
The chooks are back into laying after their winter moult/rest & plenty are going broody. In the past I have bred lots of chicks to sell but this year Im going to ‘try’ not to breed too many (folk who know me laugh when I say that). Chicks are quite a bit of work.. & breeding can be frought with sadness.. but chicks are lovely so I’ve let 2 of my girls sit.. a silkie & an orpington are on a mix of eggs. At least I will know if the boys are working, then I can sell some eggs to others to hatch.
Sunday Scones Again
Aug 2nd, 2010 by stoney acres
Adorable Knitted Baby Hat
May 19th, 2010 by stoney acres
My niece has had a baby girl & babies always bring out my knitting needles. I’m not really a knitter but it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to whip up something small.
After hours of internet scouring I settled on the pattern at http://larissmix.typepad.com/stitch_marker/2005/09/a_little_hat.html as it combined my urge to knit with my new passion of making crochet flowers (which I taught myself watching utube).
The first hat, knitted in mohair, & then felted didnt look like it would actually stay on a babies head so this is Mk2. Im pleased with it.. hope my niece is too.
Tags: crochet, knitting, newborn hat, pattern
Pumpkin Scones .. ’tis the season
May 11th, 2010 by stoney acres
Well, I have to add a note about the Crab Apple Jelly post.. it needs to be kept in the fridge once opened as we found it grew fur very quickly in the pantry.
The jelly was wonderful on pumpkin scones.. thought my boys were going to burst they ate so many! Hmm.. should probably post the recipe for the scones too.. they’re very quick & easy & there’s plenty of cheap pumpkins around at the moment. If you’re not a pumpkin fan I should tell you that you cannot taste pumpkin at all in these
.
60g Butter or Marg
2 T Caster Sugar
1 t finely grated lemon rind (sounds odd but adds a lovely flavour)
1 cup cold cooked mashed Pumpkin
1 Egg, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups self raising Flour
1/2 t Mixed Spice
1/4 cup Milk (approx)
Preheat oven to 200. Cream butter with sugar & lemon. Add mashed pumpkin & beat well.
Stir in egg, sifted flour & spice & add sufficient milk to make a soft dough.
Turn dough on to floured surface & knead lightly. Press out to 2cm thickness & cut into rounds (I use a glass dipped in flour for this but you can just cut into squares if you prefer)
Place on baking paper lined oven tray, brush tops with milk & bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown
.
I make scones for lunch most Sundays & this week I attempted to turn these into savoury pumpkin scones.. didnt work so well.. stick to them plain & top with yummy jam (& cream if you’re going all out).
Tags: baking, crabapple jelly, pumpkin, recipe, scones, vegetables
Rain! :D
Apr 30th, 2010 by stoney acres
Rain wonderful rain today. Thank goodness. I think I can see the grass growing already.
This has definitely been the driest summer in the 8 years we’ve been here.. never had to feed out so much before. The animals look better for a wash too.. with the exception of the white silkies which insist on bathing in mud if theres no dust.
Crab Apple Jelly … mmm
Apr 19th, 2010 by stoney acres
There were a few specimen trees on our property when we arrived. They had been planted quickly before sale to make the place look a bit more appealing. 2 of them are crab apple trees. We moved them in their second year, digging out a good size hole for them & putting lots of donkey pooh under them. Our property had been a log yard so was very compressed by the trucks that had driven over it & any digging (even a bulb hole) had to be done by hubby with a heavy metal bar. These days, after years of mulch, I can dig the garden myself & the soil looks great. The worms have worked wonders.
Anyway, back to the crab apples… they are gorgeous trees with lovely blossom followed by pretty fruits that look good into winter when the wax eyes come & eat them. I usually just enjoy this cycle but this year a decided to make crabapple jelly. I bought a second hand copy of Alison Holst ‘Recipes To Remember’ from trade me this week &, as I flicked through it, I saw the recipe & thought ‘yes, I’ll try it this year’. What a great success. Im not a good jam maker. Most times its so hard we struggle to get it out of the jar but this jelly is perfection (if I do say so myself). It filled the house with a devine smell as it cooked too. 1.5kgs of crabapples which resulted in about 3 cups of jelly. I have plenty more on the tree to admire still but this year the wasps seem to be making a meal of them, as they do our orchard apples. Anyone with ideas on how to keep them away.. please share.
Here is how I made the Crabapple Jelly:
1.5kg washed crab apples, sliced in half then processed till fine in the food processor
Quickly tip into 5 cups of hot water & boil about 15 minutes until fruit is tender, stirring regularly
Pour through a sieve, roll & bang pulp to extract as much liquid as possible then discard pulp (I gave it to the chooks but they werent fussed)
Wash the sieve, cover it with 2 layers of a (clean) old tea towel & strain the juice, waiting for it to run through, do not squish or squeeze pulp.
Measure liquid & add 3/4 cup of sugar for each cup of juice.
Cook 20 minutes. The recipe said until a little sets on a plate but I’ve never mastered that trick so it was a guesstimate.
Sterilise jars & their lids by boiling in water. I recycle small or cute shaped jars that supermarket jams, pasta sauce, baby food etc have come in – they must have a screw top lid with rubbery stuff on the inside so they can reseal.
Pour the hot jelly syrup into the hot jars (lift them out of the boiling water with tongs & drain upside down quickly) then screw the lid on tightly. If you are lucky the centre of the lid with pop down as the contents cools & your jar will be sealed. If that doesnt happen keep jelly in the fridge.
Tags: crab apples, fruit, jelly, recipe, recycle jars
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