Milking Goats Using The Henry Milker

   I've been milking our goats now for about six weeks, and the whole time I've been using the Henry Milker. After a week of milking with the milker, I made some changes to it. I first made a box for the quart jars and the pressure gun to sit in, and made a special notch on the box and the milking stand so that it can be easily lifted off and put back on. I also added on longer tubes, giving me plenty of slack to get to the goat's udder.

   I wake up every morning at 7, and fill up a pail of cold water. I then get out of the freezer two old sour cream containers that I filled with water the night before and add them to the pail. I also grab a half gallon mason jar and head out to the barn. I start by assembling the Henry Milker, putting on the lids and then hooking up the tubes. I try to remember to turn the valves to close and pump the pressure to make sure it holds the vacuum. I then go get one of the goats. They know which one is first, which is Montana. She runs into the barn, and then runs up to the milk stand but doesn't jump on. She'll then do a lap around the barn and then wait for me to lift her on. I use a seat for them to jump on and then jump onto the milk stand but she doesn't like using it. I need to make a lower seat so she'll jump on. Once she's on, she digs into her grain which gives me time to milk. I start by hand milking four or five squirts into a separate cup to get the old milk out and check for mastitis. After that I take a warm cloth and wipe her udder clean, I also massage the udder with the cloth to get the milk to flow. I then make sure the pressure is a little bit less than 10 on the dial of the pressure gun and then attach one of the cups to the first tit. I slowly turn the valve to allow the vacuum to hold the cup onto the udder and start the flow of milk. I then attach the other cup and do the same thing. I hold one of the cups between my index finger and middle finger and the other one between my ring finger and pinky finger. Even though the vacuum makes them stay on, if the goat starts to move too much she can kick one of them off. As the milk flows, I make sure to keep the pressure between 5 and 10. As the milk flow starts to slow down, I use my thumb to push against the udder trying to squeeze out any milk left behind. If the goat is still nursing kids I don't worry too much about leaving a little milk behind, but if there is no kids then I milk out the last five squirts or so by hand into one of the cups. Once done, I put the cups back on the box and then lift the box out of the way. The whole milking process takes less than five minutes and I usually have to wait for the goat to finish up her grain. Before I let the goat down, I spray her with some udder spray to help stop mastitis from happening . I let Montana down and put her in the run and then grab Sally.

She runs right in and then jumps on the milk stand. She's a good little goat. I do the same process with her making sure to get out all the milk. Once I'm done with Sally I pour the milk into the mason jar and put the jar into the ice water to rapidly bring the temperature down. I rinse out the cups and tubes with warm water and do the same to the lids and jars. I also spray everything with mixture of water and bleach and then rinse again. I can usually do all this while Sally finishes up her grain. I let her down and put her with the rest of the goats. I then grab Montana's kids, which spend the night in their own stall in the barn, and give them to her to take care of during the day.

   



   The whole process takes about twenty minutes for start to finish. Between the two goats, which are both first freshners,  we get about half a gallon of milk a day only milking once a day. Everyone in the family loves the milk and the Henry Milker makes milking a whole lot easier.

Montana five weeks fresh

All Purpose Citrus Cleaner

     In an effort to cut back on buying chemicals to clean our home I have started making my own citrus all purpose cleaner. So far I have made 2 batches and I have three more "aging" under the kitchen sink. I am pleased with how well this simple recipe works and like it's disinfecting properties the best. I can use it on the kitchen counters and I know that it is leaving behind a clean and safe work surface.

     With all of the cooking, baking, preserving and raw food preparation that goes on in our kitchen on a daily basis, I feel like wiping the counters in our kitchen is my full time job.

     We have three cats that like to jump up onto the counters, and dozens of dirty chicken and duck eggs, pet dishes, and water bottles that need washing. Needless to say, a thorough wipe down is A MUST before making anything in this kitchen!!!

     What's nice about this recipe is that I always have everything I need to make it on hand. All I do is fill a quart mason jar at least 1/2 way full with lemon, lime, or orange peels. I then pour distilled white vinegar over the rinds and let it sit for a minimum of two weeks in the back of the cupboard under the kitchen sink.

(Tip: I write the date I set it aside on the lid so I know how long it's been there.) 

     When the two weeks is up, I simply strain out the rinds, and add equal parts water and citrus mixture to a reusable spray bottle. I did add lemon extract to my latest batch just because I had it on hand, but I did not really notice any difference from the batches that I did not add it to.                                                 

Mrs. J :)

Rhubarb Marmalade

     I have always LOVED rhubarb! When I was a little girl my friend and I used to pick it at her farm and eat it raw. Her mother would give us bowls of sugar and we would dip and much away! My mom always made a strawberry rhubarb pie when she could get her hands on some rhubarb of her own, but my absolute favorite was when she would make stewed rhubarb. It is delicious on french vanilla ice cream, but it is also pretty darn good straight up!

     We do not have any rhubarb growing here on the farm, but I do know a few people who have some and I am shameless about begging for it! My brother's fiance gave me a handful last week and over the weekend I decided to try something new. I was pressed for time and did not really want to stew up 6 cups of rhubarb for only me to eat so I used this recipe to make rhubarb marmalade. This way I can enjoy the taste of rhubarb all year round and since I am the only one in my family who seems to like rhubarb, I'll even have some to use as gifts. I have already broken into the first 1/2 pint and I must say that it is quite delicious! It reminds me a lot of stewed rhubarb and is the perfect topping for my toast in the morning.

Rhubarb Marmalade Recipe  (Yields 8-1/2 pints)          

                                                                                                           

6 cups chopped rhubarb

6 cups sugar

2 whole oranges, pulsed in the food processor

1. Combine chopped rhubarb, sugar and processed oranges in a dutch oven.

2. Bring to a boil and then simmer until it sheets on a spoon. 

3. Pour into clean 1/2 pint mason jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. 

4. Process jars for 10 minutes in a hot water bath.

I hope you have some rhubarb or can track some down

 so you too can make this simple, yet ever so yummy recipe while rhubarb is in season. 

Mrs J :)

Farm Girl Birthday Party!

     Miss E has always been quite the farm girl. From the moment she could pull herself up and peer into the brooder at our new chicks at eight months old she has been obsessed! So naturally now that we have a "real farm" with spring babies, I felt that a farm party was in order. Miss E has always been pretty easy to sway as far as party themes go. Her requests are typically quite reasonable and non-specific. For her fourth birthday party she wanted lots and lots of balloons. For her fifth birthday party she wanted to invite only people who like cats, and this year all she wanted was to have a red cake. She also requested that the color scheme be red and pink.

     I always plan my children's parties MONTHS in advance so I have lots of lead time to make the invites and as many of the decorations that I can by hand. I used to scrapbook before I became a mom, so I am able to tap into the creativity that I miss using in that way by hand making these items. I also used to be an elementary school teacher and I must admit that I LOVED putting together units and lesson plans equally as much as I loved to teach them! There is just something so energizing about the planning stage; brainstorming, writing lists, googling images (of course now I have Pintrest!,) making invites, decorations, favors, planning a menu, games and/or activities... I just love it!   

     In fact, I am constantly on the lookout for items for my "party closet" and on some level I am always planning at least one or two of my children's parties in the way back of my head. I have been known to go WAY OVER THE TOP, especially for all three of our childrens' first birthday parties! I have been slowly simplifying things as we simplify our daily lives, so with that in mind I really tried to keep that part of the theme as well. I have also learned that if I do too much I don't get to enjoy the day with my family and friends which is supposed the be the entire point, right?!

One of our four new piglets.

Our first batch of home hatched chicks.

      Before I even began my Pintrest search I had the whole thing pictured in my head. I knew I had an old chalkboard in the garage that used to be in my pretend classroom in the basement when I was a kid, and I wanted to use it for the welcome sign. I also knew I wanted to use our driveway cones (that just happened to be pink) to mark each pen of baby animals, and I pictured simple animal silhouette's to label each pen. I used a couple google searches for inspiration and just free handed pictures onto contact paper to make patterns for the petting zoo signs.

Two of Meadow's Kids, born 3-13-13.

The female kits from Hazel and Ivy's first litters, born 3-3-13.

     I also made a simple garland out of twine, mini clothespins and pink and red bandanna scrapbook paper that I had on hand. I cut the flags using pinking shears and fastened them to the twine with little wooden clothespins from my craft stash. We bought balloons from the dollar store and tied them on strategically placed  bales of hay in and around the garage. This worked out nicely since Mr. J had recently purchased several bales and we hadn't yet gotten around to putting them away. My favorite decoration was the wreath that I made using leftover paper, candy canes, and clothespins from the invites and favors. There were 7 hearts, so I put a newborn picture as well as a picture of Miss E at ages 1-6. We still have this hanging in our dining room and it will most likely make it's way into miss E's bedroom eventually.

     Miss E helped to make the favors. We made bandannas for guests to wear upon arrival and Candy Cane ornaments for them to take home. I had been on the lookout for pink and red stuff and I scored almost all of our paper goods on sale after Valentine's Day. My best find was the pink and white candy canes that we used for the favors on sale for 90% off at Big Lots! you can't beat $.20/ package! Using lace and pink paper from my stash we came up with a cute heart ornament that was easy replicate and put together with the glue gun in one sitting.
To make the bandannas, we used cloths that I had on hand, stuck the contact paper animal silhouette's on them, and used empty spray bottles to spray paint Rit dye onto them. They dye colors were supposed to be red and pink but came out looking more like pale and light pink to me. They still looked pretty cute on our guests who would dare to wear them!

     For the cake I loosely followed the plans for this  Barn Cake and animal cupcakes. I used gluten free graham crackers and candies that I already had on hand to make the cupcakes. I just had to add a goat and a bunny! I also used one of my favorite cake recipes from Gluten Free Goddess instead of a box. YUM!!!

          The party was at 2pm so we served snacks, cake and ice cream. I made Muddy Buddies, Bunny Berries (muddy buddies with Kix cereal instead of Chex,) Chicken Feed (Chex mix,) Farm fresh Eggs (deviled eggs,) and had a "Farm Stand" of fresh fruit and vegetables with hummus and my homemade ranch dressing. Mr. J made the Hay Bales (Rice Krispy Treats,) and Hay Stacks (Cornflake Treats.) My grandmother brought chips and salsa and my mom brought chips and dip. For drinks we had soda, iced water, fruit punch, chocolate milk, coffee and tea.

     My favorite part about the drink station was the cups that I made out of jelly sized mason jars and plastic lids. Mr. J simply drilled a hole in the center of each lid for a straw and I adorned them all with different combinations of lace, twine, and ribbon so that they would be easily identifiable without having to label them with names (think wine glass tags.)

On a whim I set up a rice table to keep the kiddos occupied while we finished getting set up.

Our kiddos greeting guests in the driveway.

Guests of all ages really seemed to enjoy the animals.

Our Farm girls in their element.

Classic "Miss E!"

Mr. J and Mr. T enjoying the party.

     All in all I think this may have been one of the best parties we have thrown for Miss E! It was easy to plan, fun for almost everyone who came (except my poor mom who is allergic to hay and animals,) and ended up being something that truly reflected who Miss E is. She is a true "Farm Girl" at heart and feels right at home on this little farm of ours. 

Mrs. J :)