*zy·mol·o·gy

Cabbages grow so beautifully in the garden.  The grandness of the outer leaves are just beautiful, actually quite ornamental.  Of course, the outer leaves are very useful here as rabbit food and do not go to waste.  

This year we planted 15 or more heads of cabbage over a course of a month, so we have some coming ready at different times.   Our first 5 heads were harvested just a few days go in order that we could make our attempt at sauerkraut!

You not only need cabbage to make sauerkraut, but you also need a crock. OK, so you don't NEED a crock, you can make the kraut in a glass container, a food grade plastic pail but not in reactive metal containers.   We found this 3 gallon crock at an awesome hardware store ( Halls Hardware of Milton, Fl) in a neighboring town in our area.  Hall's had crock as large as 5 gallons available as well, but I felt like the 3 gallon was sufficient. 

We  ended up using only 3 of the large cabbages that we picked before the crock was full.  The other two heads of cabbage will go in a gift basket for two of our neighbors along with other veggies and some fresh eggs as an early Christmas gift.

Shredding with a knife as fine as we were able, then layering half of each cabbage head with a sprinkling of salt and caraway seeds until we reached the top.  We also added some onion about mid way through the crock. 

Now we just wait.  I hope to be able to report back to you on how delicious our kraut turned out!  We will likely freeze some of the finished kraut as well as can some.   We visited many different websites before we proceeded with this exciting venture. Yes, I said exciting. It seems anytime I have something new to embark upon, I feel excitement.  

 Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin is actually an excellent book on fermenting foods. 





zy·mol·o·gy (Source: Dictionary.com)
[zahy-mol-uh-jee] –noun Biochemistry.
(formerly) the science dealing with fermentation and the action of enzymes; enzymology.


 

*my knight

Years ago we lived across the street from a very sweet young family. Some families are DIY families, some aren't. It doesn't make one better or worse than the next. Ang herself use to say, "we are the family who buys the service agreement with each purchase." (this post is all about how awesome my husband is.. just sayin) My dear husband grew up in a home with a father who was and still is, a fixer of most anything! He didn't fall far from the tree!

We stay pretty busy around here, don't get me wrong - we have ample down time as well for leisure too.  It does seem like there is always something that needs to be done with this blessed property whether it be tree maintenance, fence mending or building animal shelter of sorts.

There isn't much that my dear husband can't do and for that I am truly grateful!  He really amazes me more often than not.  If we were to add money back into our budget based on the repairs, work etc he does for our homestead, it would be huge.  This ability to do most things or to research to find out how to do things and have the precision to carry it out really is a gift that has been instilled in him.  Trust me. I have built tried to build a nesting box for our rabbits in the past. I measured. Marked. Cut carefully but somehow I just don't have what it takes to produce a nice looking end product.

Whatever it is that your dearly beloved excels in, praise him for it. It may be that he is the chief handler of your finances for the family or perhaps he is a great help around the inner working of how your household operates, or maybe he is the master gardener, whatever it is make sure you don't take him for granted.  When you are reading folks blogs, looking at their FB or the old fashioned talking to a friends who are sharing about their husbands strong points, don't compare.  I think comparing is a huge NO-NO, this only leaves us with a feeling of coming up short when that is not the case at all.  Unfortunately I did it for years because I wanted my husband to "look" like other husbands and fathers "in the church", this was not productive for either of us. Shame on me. Bottom line is those people you are comparing to aren't who and what you think they are. While they are probably fine people, they too have flaws - some you may not see.  I couldn't be less concerned with what other people think of my husband now because most don't "know" him, so shame on those who judge him.  It isn't that my husband has developed into a different person although as time has passed he has grown and changed, it really is more about me having changed.  Whatever it is your husband lacks, or is bad at there must be a number of redeeming qualities you can put your focus on, so you can see your knight in shinning armor through a different pair of lenses.

 He is not perfect, but he is perfect for me. The Lord has really blessed our marriage and we make a great team!

 

*getting to the root of it

When you buy a property with a large number of beautiful old trees like the ones that have grown here, you are going to have to prune, trim and cut down at some point. Since moving here a few years ago, we have had several trees to loose LARGE limbs and there are others that have needed to come down due to the dangers they pose to surrounding buildings.  Back in the hot summer months we  cut down a number of different trees but we were left with the stumps here and there. 

One of Henry's projects around the property has been to work at getting some of the stumps out.  Some of them were easier than others and he did successfully get two uprooted with the help of his pick ax and several other tools. However, there were some that weren't coming up with elbow grease alone.

No more root, no more stump!  Now on to the next one...

And so it begins...

Eric and Henry has been working on this one for a while. They first used the tiller to cut the top layer of small roots up in order to get down below.  There was one other root prior to this one that Eric was able to put a chain around the base of it and pull it out with the truck once he had the roots cut away. 

So grateful for helping hands, shower will be provided!

Aren't good neighbors like gold?  After noticing that Eric was working at getting this root out, our neighbor came over with his front end loader and helped him get it finished!  I however didn't get any pictures of that because I was on the road that day!  After getting the stump out and the dirt back in, there was quite a bit of settling, so Eric borrowed our neighbors front end loader to move more earth back to where it had settled so that area would be leveled out.  Job well done!

Frayja is disgusted by all this root pulling, wood burning, nasty mess. She likes it better when her owner's hands are free, free to pet her and throw her toys!



“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  -Jeremiah 17:7-8


 

*one day soon

One day soon we will have a little kid! Since we do not know the projected week of delivery we are continuing to keep close watch on Bodie.  She is really growing and changing almost daily it seems.

She gets her grain up on the milking stand every morning and then again in the evening in order to help her get into the habit without any problems. It is amazing what you can get a goat to do for grains!  I am so blessed to be able to raise these animals, they are the sweetest.

Before the clip...

After the clip...  Rudy didn't want to get left out of this photo session. 

This week she got her pregnancy trim. I can't say she enjoyed the clipping but she was a good girl about it.   She has some skirting on her front and back legs so it was necessary to get that clipped so it will be easier for her to stay clean during the birthing process.  Her udders and teats are not that hairy and for that I am grateful, because I had read where it is recommended to shave those as well so hair does not fall into your milk bucket when milking.  We should be fine on that front and Bodie couldn't be happier!

 

*humiliation at Chick-Inn

Thanksgiving marked the third year of our family living in paradise, aka Florida.  Our first January of living here we bought some chicks, we bought some again the second year and so the story goes... Some of our girls molted the fall of their first year, which I found strange based on everything I have read about chickens molting. 

Some how I don't hear that song, "This girl is on fiiiire!" playing in the background...  My dear husband was looking at the flock today and noticed her and commented that he didn't know if she was going to make it or not.  I thought it was funny, I informed him (for her) that she was simply molting.  She is completely humiliated at this point.

 Isn't this the cutest little egg ya ever seen?! We haven't a clue as to which one of our sweet chickens laid this one.  Normally you might see an egg this size from a young pullet who has just started laying, but, we don't have any young ones that have just started laying.  It is a mystery egg.

 Getting ready to head out to deliver, one day a couple of weeks ago. We are so glad to be able to provide our eggs to others who want to add as much wholesome foods to their table as they can. It is so rewarding to hear how delicious the eggs are, or how tasty and juicy the turkey was on Thanksgiving.  Thanks Ashley, Jeremy, Yvonne, Bonnie, Lee & Shannon!

 Our flock is doing well or should I say much better since we butchered 6 of our turkeys.   The turkeys act like PIGS when we treated the flock with scratch and the poor chickens are left scrambling around trying to get a few crumbs!   We are still selling our eggs on a regular basis to committed happy customers.  The chickens are continuing to earn their keep and pay for the upkeep of their coops, pay for treats and supply our garden with some rich fertilizer. 

 

*meet the survivors

We hope your Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful, ours was. This year's Thanksgiving looked a lot different than last year for sure!  We had a much smaller gathering this holiday and I must say I did miss all the hum of the large group that was here a year ago, but simple was good this year. I would love it if we could have Thanksgiving here every year, all my sisters with their families and our parents, as well as some friends but that is just not realistic. We celebrated and gave thanks with Robert, Henry and my mom. It was nice to have Mom here cooking alongside her on this traditional feasting day!

Over the past 7 months or so we have been raising heritage breed turkeys for the holiday season.  We were blessed to sell three of our healthy free ranged heritage breed turkeys to families this Thanksgiving. We have kept a pair of each breed so we can continue to breed and provide good clean meat for our table and others.  I was delighted to get emails and text telling me how delicious and clean the meat of their turkeys were on T-day!  That my friends was so rewarding.  That is the reason we do what we do!    We have a few more available for the Christmas holiday as well.

This year we cooked half, yes HALF of our 40 lb turkey for or feast and we processed the other half as ground turkey meat for tasty dishes that will be cooked up in the coming months. Mom and I  were able to get 11 pounds of ground turkey packaged and into the freezer.   We have one other turkey (Spanish Black Heritage) that we butchered which is set aside for ground turkey as well.  This is one more food item I don't have to buy from the food industry and that makes me happy! 

Is your mouth watering? I know mine is! These two pics of this beautifully smoked turkey is one that we raised!  One of our customers was kind enough to send us pics of this beaut that adorned their Thanksgiving table.