Butt Roast

   We had my mother and one of her friends over for dinner recently, and wanted to cook up some of our fresh pork. We decided to use the butt roast, even though most people use this cut to turn into pulled pork, we cooked like a regular roast.
   What we did was, heat up a pan with some oil in it and seared each side of the roast for about a minute per side. Then cut slots in the roast and put pieces of garlic and rosemary inside it. Sprinkled salt, pepper, and some more rosemary on the top, and put it in the oven at 325 degrees for about two and halve hours. Once it hit 140 degrees inside the pork it was done.

   We served it up with some roasted vegetables from our garden and some leftover rice from Thanksgiving, someone has to eat the leftovers, and it turn out to be a awesome meal. The pork came out great, even though the butt roast is considered one of the cheaper cuts, it tasted like one of the best roast I ever had, and we're excited to continue eating our own homegrown food.

Lard

   We've been eating our pigs now for a couple of weeks, and to say they are delicious would be an understatement. The pork chops, which I've always considered the cheapest of the cuts, tasted like lamp chops, or a nice steak. When I put them on the grill, they were falling apart when I picked them up with the fork, they were that tender. Even the kids get a kick out of it, they always want to know which pig we are eating. We’ll defiantly be raising the Duroc breed again next year.

  





 Along with all the meat, we also saved all the lard to use in soap making. This Thanksgiving, I was asked to make some apple pies, and I decided to use some of the lard in the pie crust. Lard comes from a big piece of fatty tissue that surrounds the kidneys. It’s different than the fat everywhere else on the pig, in that it doesn't have any bacon taste or color to it. First thing I had to do was render the big pieces of lard into cooking lard. I did that by cutting up the lard into small pieces and putting them into a crockpot.  I then put a ¼ cup of water in there, and left it on overnight. I made sure to stir it up every now and then. In the morning, when it was all melted, I poured it through a strainer lined with cheese cloth. I then poured it into a glass jar and put it in the refrigerator until I was ready for it. I didn't get right to it in the morning and left it on a little too long, that's why it's not completely clear.

   










When it came to making the pie crust I went in a little different direction. I normally just use the standard flour, salt, water, and shortening. This time I took 3 ½ cups of flour, a teaspoon of salt, and 1 ¼ cups of the lard and mixed them together until it turned into a coarse meal. In a separate bowl I mixed together an egg, 6 Tablespoons of cold water, and a teaspoon of vinegar. Then I mixed the two together, just until the dough came together in a ball. I then divided the dough into four balls, wrapped in saran wrap, and put them in the fridge for about a half hour. Then I rolled them out and filled them with my apple filling. Before baking them, I brushed them with an egg white for a glazed look. I was very happy with the results, and so were all of the guests at Thanksgiving. The crust came out very flaky. As long as my wife doesn't use up all the lard in soap making, we will continue to try using lard in other things we cook.

Another Goat

   We were planning  on keeping one of the babies from our does this year to bring our herd to three, but when we found out that the breeder we got the goats from was getting out of the goat business the offer to get another one was to hard to pass up. Her  name is Meadow Sweet and she is four years old, she is actual Goldie's mother. She has a easy going temperament and easy to milk we're told, this will come in handy when we're learning how to milk a goat. Before we picked her up, she was bread to a different buck then the one we have and will be the first doe to kid. By having two different bucks genes in our herd, it opens up different possibilities down the road.

  With all these different animals running around, the family is learning a lot about what makes them work. Like just the other day my wife asked me " Why does the buck have an udder between his legs?". I simply  replied " Those aren't his udder".

Man of the Hour

   The breeder that we got our goats from was nice enough to let as use one of her bucks this year. His name is Atreus, and he is a registered pure bred Nigerian Dwarf just like our other goats are.  If all goes well with him mating the two does then we should have little baby goats running around the farm in spring, along with producing milk, which is what we're doing this for. I'm able to tell when Montana goes into heat, which should be next week, but haven't been able to tell when Aspen goes into heat. Nigerian Dwarfs cycle about every 21 days. We'll keep him for about four weeks to make sure he can be around for Montana's second cycle, in case the first one doesn't take. If Aspen doesn't bred in that time frame, we'll just deal with it next year. The girls weren't to excited when I put him in the pen with them, but when the time is right they will be.

Moving Day

     The original plan was to make our own custom rabbit cages or hutches for the new rabbits but life has been quite a bit more hectic than we had anticipated lately! Mr. J has been working overtime almost every day and on the weekends, alternating between 1st and 2nd shift, so he has been just barely skating by on sleep and I just haven't had the heart to ask him to do one more thing, so...
   







     I have been checking on Craigslist and Uncle Henry's daily since we got Hazel an Ivy hoping to find exactly what I envisioned for exactly the right price and I finally found a deal I just could not pass up. It is not exactly what we would have built but the price was right and now the girls can get out of the basement and outside near the other farm animals where they belong.

 
      I had to do some scrubbing, but we got 3 hutches, 4 water bottles, 2 heated water bowls, 4 misc. hook on dishes, almost an entire bag of feed,  2 gravity feeders, and 2 hay holders (?) all for about half of what the price of the supplies would have been, not including the hutches!!! I'd say that's a pretty good deal, and the best part is that all Mr. J had to do was help me pick them up, wait for the kids and I to clean them, and then move them to the back yard near the goat pen/shelter. Now I don't have to feel quite as guilty for adding rabbits to the farm, and one more thing to his "To Do List!"
  Right now we only need to use one hutch for the two girls but in a few months when I breed them, we will need a place for the buck, as well as a way to separate the mothers while they're nesting and tending to their babies.

 

     As you can see, the goats were just a little bit curious about their new neighbors' house. Aspen thought the hutch was for her and climbed right in! She did the very same thing all summer with the temporary duck/chick house. Any chance she had, she would jump right in!

     Even though Mr. J had to work overtime today, we had a bit of family fun carting the hutches and rabbit supplies to the back yard with the tractor in the morning before he had to leave. We even took the scenic route back through the woods a few times, which was just as much fun for me as it was for the kids, I think.

     As for the rabbits, I don't think they're all too impressed with their new digs. I'm sure it will just take a little time for them to get used to the hutch, fresh air, and noisy neighbors. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the hutch is well protected from the elements under the lean-to part of Mr. J's shop, and will only be more protected from drafts and cold once the goat shelter renovations are completed in the next few days or so.

A little Halloween Cuteness

     I'ts hard to imagine our lives without these three little people. I have been lucky enough to stay home with them since they were born and although there have been times when I've toyed with going back to work (I am a teacher,) I really wouldn't have it any other way.
     As we went trick or treating through our small neighborhood on Halloween and I watched my three little angels hold hands, look out for, and enjoy one another's company, my heart was just swelling with pride. I just kept pinching myself thinking "are these really my three beautiful children, or am I dreaming?"
     Being a Mommy really is a dream come true for me. In fact, one year for Halloween I actually dressed up like a "Mommy," not a mummy.
   

     We became parents of three so quickly (from April 2007-August 2010) that it's almost as if it sneaked up on us. I somehow just realized that WE HAVE THREE KIDS!!! The girls are now 5 and 4 and Mr. T is already 2! I have so many wonderful memories of them as babies; rocking, reading, singing, NURSING them all until they weaned themselves. I feel so blessed to have been able to slow life down a bit by being at home with them. In fact, I think that being home with them has taught me to focus on what really matters and it has definitely been instrumental in leading us to this homesteading lifestyle. I thank God each and every day for these three beautiful miracles He has blessed us with and I just had to share a few pictures of them.

 



















   

Mrs. J dressed up as a "Mommy" for Halloween in 1984

Happy Halloween!
Mrs. J