Blackbird
Goat Whisperer
Pictures??
FarmerDenise's journal - full on harvest time = busy, busy, busy
- Thread starter FarmerDenise
- Start date
Pictures??
mlynd
Almost Self-Reliant
yea!!!! wish it was deer season here
justusnak
Almost Self-Reliant
Woohoo!! Congrats!!
- Thread starter
- #794
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
I am finally sitting down. I am pooped!!
We had a blast today!
SO couldn't stop smiling. He said he'd need to see a plastic surgeon to remove his smile.
SO, DSS and I worked on this thing all day. DSS's girlfriend came home around 2 pm and a friend came over around the same time and helped us butcher. The friend has done this many times, so his help was much appreciated. I kept telling SO there is no hurry to butcher, but he was so worried about the yellow jackets and the flies... His friend told him that he always leaves his deer hanging for at least a day, even if it is 100 degrees.
We still have lots of work to do on it, but we are calling it quits for today. I got all the critters fed for the night. We still need to lock the henhouse up and we ordered pizza.
My arms hurt, he!! everything hurts!!!
Wish I had some wine.
I took lots of pictures, but I'll have to post them tomorrow.
We had a blast today!
SO couldn't stop smiling. He said he'd need to see a plastic surgeon to remove his smile.
SO, DSS and I worked on this thing all day. DSS's girlfriend came home around 2 pm and a friend came over around the same time and helped us butcher. The friend has done this many times, so his help was much appreciated. I kept telling SO there is no hurry to butcher, but he was so worried about the yellow jackets and the flies... His friend told him that he always leaves his deer hanging for at least a day, even if it is 100 degrees.
We still have lots of work to do on it, but we are calling it quits for today. I got all the critters fed for the night. We still need to lock the henhouse up and we ordered pizza.
My arms hurt, he!! everything hurts!!!
Wish I had some wine.
I took lots of pictures, but I'll have to post them tomorrow.
justusnak
Almost Self-Reliant
Thats great! Sounds like you had a good bunch of helpers. Always makes the job go a little easier. Congrats again! I cant waite to see pics!!
- Thread starter
- #796
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
Here is a pic of the buck SO got
Yesterday the boys cut up some more meat off the bone, while I cut up green beans to can. I got 9 more quarts canned. I scraped the pelt clean of fat and meat. My arm hurts!!
Today SO, DSS and I cleaned and froze all the better cuts. We also had to get some more hay for the goats.
I put the pelt under water to soak. I am still not quite sure which method I'll use to tan it. I'll play it by ear and we'll see what happens. I would so love to make myself some moccasins and maybe some for my future grandchild too.
I put the little chicks in with the big chickens in the chicken yard today. It went pretty well. No blood. But in the evening I decided to give the little ones a break and put them back in their own pen for the night.
The goats have not gotten their afternoon walk for 3 days in a row, poor things. I promised them I'd do it tomorrow. I did put a wodden crate under the peach tree though, so they could reach some more branches. They appreciated that!
Yesterday the boys cut up some more meat off the bone, while I cut up green beans to can. I got 9 more quarts canned. I scraped the pelt clean of fat and meat. My arm hurts!!
Today SO, DSS and I cleaned and froze all the better cuts. We also had to get some more hay for the goats.
I put the pelt under water to soak. I am still not quite sure which method I'll use to tan it. I'll play it by ear and we'll see what happens. I would so love to make myself some moccasins and maybe some for my future grandchild too.
I put the little chicks in with the big chickens in the chicken yard today. It went pretty well. No blood. But in the evening I decided to give the little ones a break and put them back in their own pen for the night.
The goats have not gotten their afternoon walk for 3 days in a row, poor things. I promised them I'd do it tomorrow. I did put a wodden crate under the peach tree though, so they could reach some more branches. They appreciated that!
lorihadams
Always doing laundry
NICE!!!
I would love to tan the hide but I really don't know what I'd do with it once I did.... :/
I would love to tan the hide but I really don't know what I'd do with it once I did.... :/
- Thread starter
- #798
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
The day before SO got that deer, DSS's girlfriend and I had picked all our beans. After giving several bags to friends and neighbors we still had lots left. I had also picked a grocery bag overflowing with grapes. So not only did I have deer meat and stuff to process, but also beans and grapes 
SO had never done deer before and didn't get the part about aging meat. He was in a panic to get all that meat cut up and frozen.
While I had beans and grapes that urgently needed processing!!!
So I canned the beans, cut up venison, crushed grapes, cut up venison, told SO to save all the fat, cut up venison, crushed grapes, made dinner, told SO to save all the bones, decided how I would process the hide, scraped the hide, cut venison, crushed grapes, fed critters, etc....
We got all the meat frozen. I have 1 and 1/2 bag of fat. I bagged lots of little bags of yucky-for people-meat for the dog and cats, cut up the liver (for me, since no one else here likes it, not even the dog!!!)
I took most of the bones and baked them in a low oven, then put them in a big pot and covered them with water and let them simmer for 4 days. When I had the chance I added carrots, parsley, onions, garlic, cloves, red wine vinegar, thyme and parsley. I also added one legbone that I did not bake first per the recipe in NT. When I strained the broth this morning, I found that the bones were really brittle. I could crush them with my fingers. I took about half of the bones and crushed them for the chickens, I made up a good sized batch of dog food using the drained meat and vegetables and the chickens got the rest mixed with some left over brown rice and Molly's herbal wormer. I am saving the other half of the bones to give to the chickens at another time.
The dog also got to have one raw bone to do with as she pleases. And after taking off the meat, I don't know what she did with it. We'll probably find it next spring, when the field gets plowed.
I crushed the grapes and the first batch I crushed I just had time to put in the bucket and left it for 2 days. It took me two more days to finish crushing and straining the rest of the grapes. Then I couldn't figure out exactly what to do. so I again left the mixture sitting in the bucket. In the meantime fermentation really got going and I simply kept stirring the must with a wooden spoon. Today I did some more research and decided to try adding the wine yeast that I do have. The directions (in technical wine lingo german) said to start the yeast in some of the juice. So I did that and hopefully will be able to add it to my must tomorrow. It smells really good so far.
The deer hide took 3 days to scrape fairly clean of meat and fatty tissue. I soaked it in water for 3 days, changing it at least once a day. Then I checked our woodburning stove and was happy to find thst SO had not cleaned it yet!!
(he is a fanatic about cleaning stuff like that) I took out the ashes and covered the hide with them, rubbing them in. I wore heavy duty rubber gloves for this. I also put a bunch of ashes in a bucket with water and then put the hide into the ash-lye water. It has been in there three days so far. I need to check my books for the directions next.
I have so many different books open to different pages, since I was doing so many different projects for the first time these past few weeks.
Oh, and since I really don't have enough on my hands, the Humane Society called with an emergency. They desperately needed me to foster some kittens. These are teeny tiny bottle babies. They were in a litter of 7 and they did not want them to go to inexperienced people, they were high risk. So I naturally said, sure, I'd love to and rushed right over to pick these babies up.
Fortunatelyfor me, DSS's girlfriend loves cuddling and feeding and potty-ing these little ones, and she is good at it. So she spends about 2 hours a day doing just that
Another nice thing is that after the first night, they do sleep from about 1 am to about 9 am. So I can get a pretty good night's sleep in. I was even able to sleep outside last night. I have a microwavable heating pad, and simply used it for the kittens, and took them outside with me, covering them with a sleeping bag. They stayed nice and warm all night.
I got to enjoy the moon and see some stars and admired the beauty of the nightime field illuminated by the moon. I did a simple full moon and mabon ritual to honor the goddess and fell asleep with my dog at my feet. Throughout the night I could hear dogs barking, occasional cars driving by too fast, people talking, crickets chirping, peepers peeping, the construction crew working on widening the road several blocks away, the drone of the freeway, cats yowling at each other, roosters crowing, the goats rattling their plastic chain collars and mysterious rustlings. The air-mattress was too soft and the dog would make it shake every time she scratched an itch.
I think I'll go sleep outside again tonight.
We are having a heatwave. It got up to 100 at our house today. I had the sprinklers on the goats and the chickens. One of the goats got stuck in a plastic chair I keep in their pen. Fortunately the neighbor heard Flower yelling and checked. They knocked at our door, but we didn't hear them. So they rescued poor Flower. It is sooo nice to have good neighbors like them.
I am glad we gave them fresh sweet organic gmo free heirloom corn this morning
I am off to bed. DSS and his girlfriend are babysitting the kittens tonight. I'll be sleeping under the stars again, listening for the cricket's lullaby...
SO had never done deer before and didn't get the part about aging meat. He was in a panic to get all that meat cut up and frozen.
While I had beans and grapes that urgently needed processing!!!
So I canned the beans, cut up venison, crushed grapes, cut up venison, told SO to save all the fat, cut up venison, crushed grapes, made dinner, told SO to save all the bones, decided how I would process the hide, scraped the hide, cut venison, crushed grapes, fed critters, etc....
We got all the meat frozen. I have 1 and 1/2 bag of fat. I bagged lots of little bags of yucky-for people-meat for the dog and cats, cut up the liver (for me, since no one else here likes it, not even the dog!!!)
I took most of the bones and baked them in a low oven, then put them in a big pot and covered them with water and let them simmer for 4 days. When I had the chance I added carrots, parsley, onions, garlic, cloves, red wine vinegar, thyme and parsley. I also added one legbone that I did not bake first per the recipe in NT. When I strained the broth this morning, I found that the bones were really brittle. I could crush them with my fingers. I took about half of the bones and crushed them for the chickens, I made up a good sized batch of dog food using the drained meat and vegetables and the chickens got the rest mixed with some left over brown rice and Molly's herbal wormer. I am saving the other half of the bones to give to the chickens at another time.
The dog also got to have one raw bone to do with as she pleases. And after taking off the meat, I don't know what she did with it. We'll probably find it next spring, when the field gets plowed.
I crushed the grapes and the first batch I crushed I just had time to put in the bucket and left it for 2 days. It took me two more days to finish crushing and straining the rest of the grapes. Then I couldn't figure out exactly what to do. so I again left the mixture sitting in the bucket. In the meantime fermentation really got going and I simply kept stirring the must with a wooden spoon. Today I did some more research and decided to try adding the wine yeast that I do have. The directions (in technical wine lingo german) said to start the yeast in some of the juice. So I did that and hopefully will be able to add it to my must tomorrow. It smells really good so far.
The deer hide took 3 days to scrape fairly clean of meat and fatty tissue. I soaked it in water for 3 days, changing it at least once a day. Then I checked our woodburning stove and was happy to find thst SO had not cleaned it yet!!
(he is a fanatic about cleaning stuff like that) I took out the ashes and covered the hide with them, rubbing them in. I wore heavy duty rubber gloves for this. I also put a bunch of ashes in a bucket with water and then put the hide into the ash-lye water. It has been in there three days so far. I need to check my books for the directions next. I have so many different books open to different pages, since I was doing so many different projects for the first time these past few weeks.
Oh, and since I really don't have enough on my hands, the Humane Society called with an emergency. They desperately needed me to foster some kittens. These are teeny tiny bottle babies. They were in a litter of 7 and they did not want them to go to inexperienced people, they were high risk. So I naturally said, sure, I'd love to and rushed right over to pick these babies up.
Fortunatelyfor me, DSS's girlfriend loves cuddling and feeding and potty-ing these little ones, and she is good at it. So she spends about 2 hours a day doing just that
Another nice thing is that after the first night, they do sleep from about 1 am to about 9 am. So I can get a pretty good night's sleep in. I was even able to sleep outside last night. I have a microwavable heating pad, and simply used it for the kittens, and took them outside with me, covering them with a sleeping bag. They stayed nice and warm all night.
I got to enjoy the moon and see some stars and admired the beauty of the nightime field illuminated by the moon. I did a simple full moon and mabon ritual to honor the goddess and fell asleep with my dog at my feet. Throughout the night I could hear dogs barking, occasional cars driving by too fast, people talking, crickets chirping, peepers peeping, the construction crew working on widening the road several blocks away, the drone of the freeway, cats yowling at each other, roosters crowing, the goats rattling their plastic chain collars and mysterious rustlings. The air-mattress was too soft and the dog would make it shake every time she scratched an itch.
I think I'll go sleep outside again tonight.
We are having a heatwave. It got up to 100 at our house today. I had the sprinklers on the goats and the chickens. One of the goats got stuck in a plastic chair I keep in their pen. Fortunately the neighbor heard Flower yelling and checked. They knocked at our door, but we didn't hear them. So they rescued poor Flower. It is sooo nice to have good neighbors like them.
I am glad we gave them fresh sweet organic gmo free heirloom corn this morning
I am off to bed. DSS and his girlfriend are babysitting the kittens tonight. I'll be sleeping under the stars again, listening for the cricket's lullaby...
Blackbird
Goat Whisperer
2dream
Flibbertigibbet
Gracious me Denise.....I am exhausted just reading all that.
I so wish I could sleep outside. Well, I can but.....DH would probably have to either report me missing or take me to the hospital for a new batch of blood. The mosquitos would either take me back to their lair and hold me captive or drain me dry where I lay. LOL
I so wish I could sleep outside. Well, I can but.....DH would probably have to either report me missing or take me to the hospital for a new batch of blood. The mosquitos would either take me back to their lair and hold me captive or drain me dry where I lay. LOL
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