Making Goat Cheese-Fromage Blanc Part 1

Making Goat Cheese-Fromage Blanc Part 1

I'm so excited to have access to raw goat milk once again. The products you are able to create, is more valuable than most realize. This led me to blog on my experiences. Though my expertise is limited, I look forward to sharing these with you.

As you see in the first picture, you will need one gallon of fresh goat milk. Always use stainless steel pans and utensils.

In the picture above, I am heating the milk to a temperature of 86 degrees. This happens quickly so be sure to stay close to the stove.

Add one packet of culture (I used C20) and stir. You can buy these cultures from Caprine Supply or Hoegger Farmyard. They are fairly inexpensive. If you store your cultures in the freezer, they should last up to five years.

The next step is to allow it to sit covered for at least six hours.


Part 2 of this blog is coming soon. 

Bringing Home Your New Piglets Part 1

                                                           

Pigs make a great asset to the small homestead. They can be used to produce meat with little investment in feed, time, or labor if managed correctly.  They are also able to provide additional income through piglet sales.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when considering your purchase.  

1. Are you raising them solely for meat production or also for breeding? You can purchase a mixed breed piglet reasonably cheap. However if you are seeking an outstanding quality in taste, try a heritage breed or mix thereof. These breeds excel in their red meat, and flavor unlike commodity pork. 

Another consideration is choosing between a lean or fatty meat type. The lean meat is touted as being healthier yet with less lard. Many people mistakenly believe lean meat doesn't contain marbling. Marbling contributes to flavor. These lean meat breeds provide some the best tasting pork available. Lard breeds provide a more fatty type meat product, as well as their lard which is used in baking and cooking. In recent years, utilizing lard has regained popularity. 

When considering adding a breeding program to your small homestead, be sure to invest in quality stock. Anything less is not contributing to the genetic poll of that particular breed. To be sure of what you are selling, we recommend purchasing registered piglets. While it is important to know the farm your stock originates from, records speak for themselves. Without registrations, you do not know the lineage of your stock. Due to bio security reasons, we do not recommend visiting pig farms. Taking the precautions necessary to keep your livestock safe is vital to maintaining healthy livestock. Instead, we recommend utilizing registration records and recommendations from previous buyers in selecting which farm to purchase your breeding piglets from. 

                                                 

                                                             

2. What breed? Choosing a breed is dependent upon the reason you are raising them. If you are showing in the fair, most commercial breeds such as the Hampshire, Yorkshire and Duroc dominate that market. However if you are raising them for your family and considering breeding, we suggest raising an endangered heritage breed. http://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/conservation-priority-list#Pigs

These are breeds that excelled on small homesteads back in the day of our forefathers. Heritage breed pigs are hardy, adaptable, easily manageable and better foragers. Be sure to take their temperament into consideration. While most pigs are fairly friendly, some are more docile than others. While there are few heritage breeds not listed on this conservancy list, many of them have been "improved" in their genetics resulting in more of a commercial pig than those of past. These changes were made to adapt to the intense indoor farming practices of today's large pig farms. 

                                                                   

3. How will you raise them? Raising pigs in a small pen or barn is quite different than raising them out on your land. Pigs need ample space or they become bored, and destructive. One mistake we made when purchasing one of our pigs is that we did not make sure he was raised in the way we planned to raise him. In other words, he was raised in a barn. We brought him home, put him out to pasture and he did not fare well. We had to bring him into our barns and adjust him slowly to life outside. It would have been much easier to purchase a pig that had been raised outdoors. 

If raising your pigs outside, they will need shade and water. Since pigs do not sweat, they need access to a mud hole or pond in the summer. They also need protection from the wind in the winter. A small shelter filled with straw during the coldest part of winter will suffice. 

Pigs make a big mess when allowed to free-range. Therefore fencing is another must. Electric is the less expensive option however it is higher maintenance and will not always work with smaller pigs or piglets. Though they can be trained to the electric, one strand will not be enough for them. Woven wire is another option though a strand of electric must be added. Pig panels are yet another option though costly, work well for smaller (feed out) type pens. 

In our next blog, we will talk a bit more in depth about fencing, maintenance, spacing and rotational grazing of pigs. 

-Jim and Steph Pauley

It all starts with YOU- the consumer.

Cheap Food is not the Answer

While I was on Facebook today, I came across a friend's post that linked to the Mercy for Animals ButterBall abuse video on YouTube. 

                                          
                                                                                           This is the video.

I have a similar video linked on my website. I don't particularly care to watch most of these as the one I viewed years ago was enough for me. I do appreciate those working to expose these types of animal cruelty and believe it is important to educate consumers, however I do not agree with the organization's answer in addressing this issue.  

My case in point as I read the comments listed below the friend's post. One commenter wrote she would never eat turkey and chicken again. That my friend is the problem. 

Our turkeys 2012

Abstaining from eating turkey and chicken is not the solution. There are many small farmers such as myself that raise their poultry humanely. My turkeys and chickens are happy, healthy and living their life as turkeys should. They free-range, fly and reproduce naturally. It is a way of life many never experience. 

Our turkeys 2013

The real problem lies with the consumer. Everyone wants cheap, cheap food. The mass production of cheap food leads to abuses as evidenced in the video. If you want the inhumane methods of which they raise livestock to cease, start supporting your local, small farmers and be prepared to spend more on quality, humanely raised foods.

Busy, Busy Spring Happenings

Time is a Blur

I don't have to tell you how busy spring is...especially if you're a farmer. The to-do list from last year is still lingering over our head much less adding tasks for this one. 

Farmer hubby picking up trash around the farm

Our goat kidding season is over. We were blessed to have uneventful births. Five doelings and one buckling. We attempted to bottle feed this year. It did not work for us or the dams. In our case, we felt it was better to let nature be. Our does raised their kids last year and are excellent mothers. Our kids are friendly and easy to manage. I find the most challenging aspect of kidding is deciding who to keep. I want them all! 

Laura's doelings

Turkeys have finally hatched. This is the first year we are hatching all of our own turkeys. The hens have been laying since February. We thought we would get an early start. But after testing them, we found the eggs weren't fertile. Our first set of eggs hatched yesterday. There were seven out of ten. One had problems pipping out of the shell and he didn't make it. I say he as though I knew the sex. The bator is full again and the hens are still laying. 

Some of the Bronze and White turkey poults

Last but not least, Millie's piglets are coming earlier than expected. She's due in May. There are some things we can't wait for...even if it means more busyness. 

A very bred Millie in her muddy glory

Pig Power

Makin' Pasture

When we bought our property in May 2011, it had never been farmed. Most of the thirty acres contained smaller trees and thorny brush. Without the proper equipment to work with, we had no idea how to begin improving it for pastures. 

Farmer hubby burning a few small branches to finish cleanup of this pen.

Then it came to us. Utilizing nature's best foragers..pigs. By no means were pigs new to us. Farmer hubby had grown up showing them in his local county fair and working on pig farms as a teenager and young adult. Together we raised them on our farm in Michigan as well. But this time, we wanted to do it differently. 

One of the woven wire pens the pigs have cleared. 

After researching which breed of pig would be best for us, we decided on the Tamworths. We based this on several traits including the most aggressive foraging abilities, hardiness, tameness, conservation needs and lean meat qualities. In December 2011, we brought home our first Tam gilt piglets.

This was another area we pastured them in. Ready for a water line. 

To this day we have not been dissapointed. As you can see from the photos, they have had a major contribution in clearing the thorny bush out of our fields. We continue cleaning up and seeding these areas. 

All in a day's work

Expanding your Taste

                      GOAT MILK TASTES GOOD...HUH?

  As I do my daily chores, my thoughts went back to a time when I would not have remotely considered owning a dairy goat, much less drink their milk. 

I did not grow up on a farm and experience fresh milk. Therefore was not exposed to anything different than my own family traditions of eating, and drinking. Locally grown foods were not something I ever heard of, much less ate. 

                                                            

                                                                                   

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Homemade Cajeta (Caramel Sauce)

As an adult, I have opened my mind, and tastes in terms of consuming a variety of foods. Anyone can change their eating habits. It is a conscious choice made daily when you open that refrigerator or cabinet. One that is also made when planning your meals and shopping for groceries.

Goat milk is one among many of those healthy foods. We have raised our dairy goats for almost five years now. It is one of the best decisions we've ever made, for our family and our farm. I had no idea of what I was missing! 

                                                              

Chocolate Goat Milk Fudge

The homegrown, and or local foods are something that I did not have as a child, but will dutifully and gratefully provide to mine.


                                                                                      

Various goat cheeses I've made

Always an Adventure

This morning we woke at what seemed the crack of dawn with the time change to meet a buyer. A farmer from Maryland drove the distance to purchase the last of our remaining piglets. I find it intriguing to have conversations with others that have the same interests and goals. Many of our customers do, so it's always a pleasant time. 

After he left I was able to drag farmer hubby away from the farm for a trip to Tractor Supply.  I guess it was the place for farmers to be early on a Sunday morning as the store was busy. Of course we don't just get what we need and get out of there. We strolled through the store to check out the chicks, homesteading magazines and newly stocked spring items. 

While there, we ran into a man and his daughter that are members in our 4-H Horse Club. I had spoken to them at our meetings a few times, my son showed with them at the fair and I had seen them both at the school. We got talking about horses and the kids. He mentioned a horse for sale that would be a good barrel racing candidate for our son. His daughter had ridden the horse and leased another there. She rode horses at this farm daily. Then he asked if we wanted to go. Sure, why not?

We followed him out to a magnificent horse farm. My definition of magnificent comes with the requirement of a quality built barn on the premises... I'm kind of a barn snob. The farm had hundreds of acres with a few rental houses.  

After showing us the cute little mare, he took us out on the gator so we could find the other horses. 

My view from the back of the gator.

Found them at one of the far pastures.

Getting closer

And here they are. 

We spent two hours there and could have easily stayed longer. But the work back at the farm was calling.

It's true what they say about this area...you never meet a stranger.