Catching up

Things are moving right along here at Allelon. Here's a smattering of what's been happening:

As stated in a previous post, Clarabelle calved on August 10. The former bull-calf is now a steer. We call him Chuck. (Take your pick: Ground Chuck or Chuck Roast)

Chuck and Clarabelle

We've been milking Clarabelle for a couple of weeks, now, sharing that responsibility with Chuck. This works out well; there is plenty of milk to go around (for now). We're also able to fellowship longer on Sundays with our church family.

The gardens have pretty well played out. The extreme heat and drought hastened the end of the summer crops, and greatly reduced our normal harvest. We have put up some green beans, tomatoes, and a bit of tomato sauce, as well as squash relish. We also froze some corn, but that was bought at the market. The only corn we harvested was eaten immediately (which is when it's best, anyway!). The corn is quite a target for critters--they love it! I don't think we have as much food put up as we usually do. Oh, yes, we also froze a few butter beans and some purple hull peas, but again, not as many as I'd like.

We processed 46 chickens this past Saturday. The freezers are quite full of chicken and beef. We also processed one turkey--18.75 lbs! Keith is planning on processing the other three this Saturday, I believe. And here I'll put in another plug for the Whizbang chicken plucker--wonderful; awesome!!

The pigs are growing like weeds. They should make some good meat; just think of those ribs!!! However, I'm not sure where we're going to put the meat, at this point, with the freezers approaching capacity.

One of the Angus cows calved last week. Amazing difference between the Angus calf and Chuck the first couple of days. Chuck was so much weaker (seems more normal, really!), and had a difficult time standing for a day or so. The Angus calf, however, was jumping around three or four hours after birth. This one is a heifer.

I'm busy trying my hand at making different dairy products. Thus far, I have made kefir (from powder, though, so I have no grains to continue this), lots of yogurt, creme fraiche, and cottage cheese, and everything has turned out great. We've not yet needed buttermilk or butter (had a lot of this on hand when Clarabelle calved), but making those will be a normal part of our routine soon.

And of course, we've had a number of batches of ice cream. One batch had so much butter fat that it had chunks of butter in the ice cream--quite good!

We officially "started school" last week, and that's going surprisingly well--generally expect bumps the first few days, but we've not experienced any, although I think I'm going to need to tweak some schedules.

The oven/microwave combo our pastor's family got didn't fit in the cabinet they had, so Keith and the boys made them a new one. They (Keith and the boys) are now working on a large table for their (the pastor and his family's) dining area. Keith also painted a bit last week on our kitchen backsplashes, which he's been installing.

Guess that's about it.

Blessings to all!

Mary Susan

...Also This Weekend...

While 12yo son and I were awaiting Clarabelle's new calf Friday, the other members of our immediate family--Keith, 16yo daughter, 14yo daughter, and 4yo son--were helping these folks and a number of other friends process around 240 chickens. (And yes, a 4yo can be helpful with this--and he does have experience.) Everyone was worn out after all the work, which wrapped up around 1:30 p.m.

Sounds like it was a good time of accomplishment, teamwork, and fellowship.

Our lovely daughters after chicken processing.

Mary Susan

Clarabelle...Finally!

Clarabelle has finally calved! She gave birth to a bull calf this afternoon, we're guessing around 3:30 p.m.

I went to check on her at about 3:45, and she proudly presented me with an adorable, wet calf. He still can't stand, but keeps trying. We're keeping a close eye on mother and son, to make sure he is able to eat well (once he can stand, of course) and that she doesn't experience any difficulties following the birthing process. 12yo son and I managed to get a tube of calcium down her just now, and will watch to make sure she doesn't need more. We may go ahead and give her a second tube tomorrow morning, assuming it is not needed before then.

The birth of a Jersey calf is totally different than that of any of our Angus calves. The Angus cow (those at our place, at least) is much closer to a wild animal, and the protective mother-instinct becomes a danger to us humans when a newborn calf is present. Clarabelle, however, didn't flinch when we came near, and we have been busy petting her and the calf with no cause for alarm from her. Way different from the Angus cows!

We'd love to post pics of the fawn-like calf, but the rest of the family took the digicam with them this weekend to this farm, where they helped process about 230 chickens today. They will be there all weekend, helping with other projects and enjoying great fellowship, so pics won't be available until Monday, at the earliest.

This evening, 12yo son and I are taking the Mule (the kind with an engine) "downtown" to the annual tractor pull for a short while, between Clarabelle-checks.

We're looking forward to some good milk again soon!

Mary Susan

Tomato Sauce Is On the Way!

We got a new food mill! It is making a somewhat dreaded task SOOOOO much quicker and simpler! Even 4yo son can use the mill.

(Thanks, Trish, for your advice concerning types of mills. I don't think we got the same brand, since we were in a hurry and purchased this somewhat locally, rather than ordering it, but it is the same style you recommended to Keith, and it's great!)

Mary Susan