Waste Not Want Not...

I recently read an article in Whole Living magazine that informed me that the average American household wastes 14% of total food purchased, about $1600 worth for the average family! Waste of any sort is one of my pet peeves, but even my family is not immune. Of course having dogs, chickens, and our buddy Frank the tortoise helps. Between the lot of them, not much goes uneaten, including scraps that would normally go in the garbage. One item that regularly goes bad before it gets used is milk. It is shamefully common for an unopened carton of milk to pass it's expiration date here at the homestead. Milk is good for several days past the date stamp, but I could tell my family that until I am blue in the face and nobody would touch it. But luckily, I've got a solution for that. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade and when you get expired milk, make cheese. (Since it has no rennet, it's technically not cheese, but that what we're calling it.)

First, you gotta prep. You need milk and either vinegar or lemon juice, about a quarter cup per half gallon of milk. You also need cheesecloth or a very thin towel, a strainer, and a bowl to catch the whey. A thermometer is nice, but I bet you can get by without it.  Make sure everything is very clean. I usually wet the towel and then microwave it for 30 seconds or so to kill any cooties, but I'm kind of a germaphobe. Heat the milk in a heavy non-stick saucepan to about 180 degrees, stirring occasionally. Some recipes will tell you to stir constantly so the milk won't burn on the bottom, but since I hate standing at the stove and my chickens love the browned milk that forms a skin on the bottom of the pan, I don't hassle with it. It's easier to remove if you spray the pan with Pam before you start, but as long as you soak the pan a little, it will be no problem.

When the milk comes to temperature, pour in the vinegar and turn off the heat. I wait a few seconds before stirring gently to mix the milk and vinegar. You will see curds almost immediately. Carefully pour into the cheesecloth lined strainer. I put the strainer over a large bowl to catch the whey, but if you are not interested in saving the whey, just do it in the (very clean) sink. Bundle up the cheesecloth into a pouch and gently squeeze out some of the liquid, simultaneously shaping your cheese into a ball. Let it sit and drain for an hour or so. You can place something heavy on top to speed the process if you wish.

I cannot tell you how much chickens love this cheese. Even Elsa, who is Mother of the Year, has a hard time feeding this to her babies before she herself gobbles it up. You can tell she feels bad about it but she just can't help herself.

You can also make this cheese for humans, and you can use milk that's fresh. You may want to season it though with a little salt. It's very good, bland and creamy like ricotta. And there you have it. Never pour milk down the drain again!

Moving to bigger and better quarters...

The Showgirl babies have outgrown the nursery coop, and so this weekend was spent coming up with the best solution to their housing problem. They needed a bigger home, somewhere safe and warm, with a small yard for scratching and dust bathing. It would also need to be easily accessible to me because I want the chicks to be very tame, and that means I have to interact with them daily. The big bird coop fit the bill perfectly. A minor remodel and they were good to go. Since I have to haul Esther's big ass out of a tree every night and place her into a coop anyway, the nursery coop works out just fine. Lucky for me, Coco is smart and adaptable and figured it out the first night.

Everything is fine, until something happens...

Are you up do date with your tetanus booster shots? I am, now. I stepped on a nail in the backyard while trying to get Esther out of a tree and I didn't really think that much of it until I started reading about tetanus on WebMD. (Also, you should never go to WebMD to diagnose a possible illness unless you want to get the crap scared out of you. They put the most dire spin on every medical situation.)

Esther normally does not roost in trees, but some weird stuff happened at the old homestead recently. My family spent the weekend before New Year's at my Aunt & Uncle's little cabin in the mountains.  I moved the big birds' feeder to a safe & dry place and filled up the water trough and they were good to go, as they are free range birds and have dutifully put themselves to bed every night for nearly three years.  And I wasn't that concerned for the baby chicks because I knew as long as they had plenty of food & water, their Mama Elsa would take care of the rest.

When we arrived back home late Monday afternoon it was already getting dark, so the first thing I did was to go outside & check on my babies. They were, safe & sound, & just as cute as ever. I headed back to the house to help unload from our trip when I noticed Esther roosting on the fence by the quail cage. "Hmmm, why is she not inside?" Well, a piece of lumber I'd leaned against the coop had fallen over and even though it was not blocking the birds access, chickens are strange creatures who are easily spooked by inanimate objects. I picked Esther up & put her inside the coop. Coco saw me,  jumped down from her perch on top of the quail cage & put herself to bed. I looked all over for Nickie and Stella, but couldn't find them. My yard is big and has a million hiding places, so I figured they were sleeping somewhere together & went to finish unpacking.

Esther, the Easter-Egger, taking a dust bath.

The next morning when I went out to do my "bird chores", only Esther & Coco were there to greet me. That was not a good sign, since Nickie was always the first one to come running as soon as she heard the back door. I looked everywhere for the missing birds, but the most I could find was a small patch of black & white striped feathers near the side fence. Never found any trace of Stella. It is still a mystery to me. These birds slept in a coop that was left open day and night for almost 3 years, and then the very weekend we go away, something bad happens. Was some crafty raccoon casing the joint?  Esther still will not go into the coop by herself, so I have to go hoist her giant ass out of a tree every night and risk stepping on nails.

Bottom line, your birds are perfectly safe in your backyard, until they are not. And get your tetanus booster.

Hi, I'm back...

In my last post, I had just gotten a job after 2 years of trying. Nearly two years since that last post and I am again unemployed, this time by choice. A lot has changed, but mostly it's stayed about the same. I've still got my loving and patient husband, selflessly supporting me and my dreams, and our two 20something kids. Still got my chickens, my dogs, and Frank, my Etsy shop, and my blog devoted to living artfully. Still trying to be creative every day & spread the joy of simple living. It is a wonderful mission.

So let's all move forward into the New Year and make it the best one yet. I will leave you with a picture of my current project, a newly hatched flock of Showgirl Silkie chicks.

Happy New Year, Everyone!