Rainy Day Chicken & Dumplin's

Ok.  If you've seen some of my recipes posted on my blog or website, you know that I'm not much on measuring and exactedness (is that a word?!) when I'm cooking.  I grew up with a mother who said things like, "Just throw it in 'til it looks good."  Doesn't help much when you get to Home Economics in school.  The teacher doesn't have a sense of humor or appreciation for your ability to throw ingredients together until it looks to be the right consistency or color.

Anyhoo, based on that mentality, I cooked up a great pot of chicken & dumplin's on this very rainy day.  Normally, I like to take step by step photos, but didn't this time, so, you'll have to settle for the boring step by step instructions with only a finished product photo.

• Take a beautiful, grass-fed chicken, place in stock pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Cook for about an hour, until chicken is cooked through.  Allow to cool.
• Remove whole chicken from stockpot; I put it in a big pie pan, and pull all the meat off the bones and return to the stock pot.
• Turn on the heat to simmer.  Add quite a bit of raw milk to the stock pot--this will make a good batch of dumplin's.
• Add a generous amount (there's my exactedness!) of Helen's seasoning mix.  (This is another exactedness of mixed dried herbs made by my friend Helen with whatever was growing at the time.)
• Cut up a few carrots into bite-sized pieces and toss into the stock pot.  Celery, too.
• Allow to simmer for a while...until carrots are tender.
• To thicken, make a paste of flour or corn starch and water and add to the pot until desired consistency.

Ok.  Now here's the part where I cheated.  I didn't really make the dumplin's.  When I feel lazy, this is what I do.  After all, a rainy day is a lazy day, right?

• Take a refrigerated can of pizza dough out of the can but leave in it's round tube shape.
• Cut into slices, then quarter each slice.
• Add to the simmering pot of chicken.  Stir.
• Dumplin's will fluff up and taste like you spent hours slaving in the kitchen!

Enjoy!  And be comforted on your lazy, rainy day.

Easy as Pie Meatloaf

Just in case you didn't realize, a big part of what we do is sell premium meats.  Our Farmers' Markets have started up for the year and we are getting into that extremely busy season of going, delivering and marketing.  But, I wanted to let you all know of a new product we have this year and it is soooo good! 

Our Prepared Meatloaf is actually easier than pie to make, because all the prep has been done for you!  It is prepared with our Real Farm Beef and Real Farm Pork and full of yummy veggies and seasonings.  A great bargain for those busy nights when you need an easy meal!

First step is to turn the oven on to 350 degrees.  There's no need to wait until it's preheated.  Yea!

Take our Prepared Meatloaf in it's handy little package out of the freezer.  Don't you think the light in the freezer accents my milking muscles?

Remove the Prepared Meatloaf from it's handy plastic packaging and place on a cookie sheet or shallow pan.  Don't forget the paper instructions on the bottom of the meatloaf pan.  I always forget to remove it!

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and 45 minutes if straight from the freezer.  If you happen to thaw it out first, it will only take about an hour to cook.  Drain the grease (yes, there will be grease because of the pork sausage that's in the meatloaf, but, oh! how the grease flavors the meatloaf!)

Remove from oven, slice, add to mashed taters and cream gravy with a yummy veggie and voila!  Dinner is served!  Enjoy!

Cooking Grass-Fed Meats

We have lots of folks that have never had enough access to premium, grass-fed meats that often have trouble preparing them.  We get lots of questions at farmers' markets and delivery points on how to prepare their purchased product.  So, I have come up with a few pointers that we have available at markets for folks and I thought I would post them here for you, too. 

Grass-fed meats cannot always be cooked like conventional meats.  Grass-fed meats are lower in fat and more flavorful than traditional raised meats.  If cooked too long or over too high of a heat source, grass-fed meats can quickly become tough.  And, by using abundant seasonings, grass-fed meats can also quickly lose their distinctive flavor.  Cooking grass-fed meats is not hard, but requires a few basic principles when cooking.

1.  Use a lower temperature.  In other words, turn down the heat on your stove, oven or grill.  Grass-fed meats are generally lower in fat surrounding the muscle, as well as throughout the meat.  Cooking at high temperatures causes the fat and natural juices within the meat to melt away and evaporate, causing the proteins within the meat to toughen.  Although I'm a huge fan of searing things, totally cooking grass-fed meats at high temperatures can quickly lead to an undesirable meal.

 

2.  Learn which method of cooking is best for each different cut or type of cut of meat.  In general, there are two methods of cooking meats:  dry-heat and moist-heat.  In dry-heat methods, fat and water are cooked out of the meat to the desired doneness, producing a firm, yet still juicy, meat.  These meats include cuts from the rib, loin, and sirloin areas of the animal which produce the better cuts of meat.  Examples of these cuts are rib eye steaks, porterhouse steaks, t-bone steaks (Taylor's favorite!), chops and tenderloin cuts.  Types of dry-heat methods include pan-frying, broiling, roasting, stir-frying, grilling, and sauteing. 

Moist-heat methods are used for cuts of meat that come from the muscles that do a lot of work and are generally tougher cuts of meat.  Examples of these cuts would be from the shoulder and round parts of the animal:  hocks, roasts, shoulder steaks, round steaks, brisket, skirt and flank steaks, as well as ribs.  These parts of the animal that work hard develop collagen throughout the muscles, making them naturally tough.  When cooking, you want to break down the collagen in order to tenderize that cut of meat.  Moist-heat methods include crock-pot cooking, boiling, stewing or braising.

3.  Go easy on seasonings and sauces.  Grass-fed meats are typically full of natural, intense flavors.  Excess seasoning of grass-fed meats can cause them to lose their unique flavors.  Grass-fed meats should be seasoned subtly in order to enjoy the robust, natural flavors of the meat.  Keep in mind, though, that cuts of meat suited for moist-heat cooking are generally more robust in flavor and can sometimes handle more generous seasonings, though in moderation. 

4.  Toss the timer.  Because grass-fed meats are so much leaner than conventional store-bought meats, using a timer can be detrimental to cooking grass-fed meats.  Instead, get a good, digital (my preference) meat thermometer and be ready to put it to good use.  The only way to ensure that grass-fed meats are prepared to your taste is to toss the timer and use a meat thermometer.  My friend and grass-fed guru, Shannon Hayes, has a great magnet to aid in cooking grass-fed meats as the ideal internal temperatures are lower than the internal temperatures set forth by the USDA.  You can find her Don't Over-Do It! Magnet here.

5.  Butter it up!  Because grass-fed meats are so much lower in fat, it is a must that you grease the skillet.  My preference is butter.  Natural butter from unpasteurized raw milk from happy, grass-fed cows.  You get the idea.  I also use lard recklessly.  Lard from our acorn-finished pork.  But, as so many may not have access to either of these items, you probably want to keep a good, quality unrefined olive oil to lightly grease your cooking pans prior to cooking your grass-fed meats.  This mainly applies to the dry-heat methods of cooking.  If you don't, you'll be scraping it off the skillet.

Now that you've got your pointers, cooking your grass-fed meats should be easy as pie.  Or, steak!  Enjoy!

On Being a Milk Maid (or, The Family Cow)

I've been called everything from a hippie to a dork, but really never thought I'd bear the title of Milk Maid. Apparently there are those out there who don't refer to me as a hippie or dork who think I'm somewhat of a professional Milk Maid. Just this week I had two more folks ask about having a family milk cow. There's such a movement of folks concerned about their food and either moving to the country on several acres or homesteading a little piece of heaven just outside the city limits. Either way, the vision of the family milk cow somehow gets fixated in their minds and they envision adding that piece to their borderless puzzle. Picture Ma Ingalls, in a clean barn built by her husband with her gentle cow chewing her cud while Ma happily milks her by hand, joyfully bringing the fresh, warm milk into the house to her gleeful children awaiting a glass of warmth for their bellies. Ma skims the cream off the cooled milk, making butter, buttermilk and then using the milk to make wonderful cheeses and treats for the family.

Ok, it's not exactly like that, but it can be what you make of it.

There are really several things to consider in having a family milk cow. She's not a dog who will stay on the porch and chase her tail, though she may lick you when she sees you. (Come to think of it, I have had a cow find her way to stay on the back deck during a night time winter storm.) Having a cow means you really need to have a place big enough to keep a cow. And I'm not referring to barns or buildings. Preferably, you'll need lots of lush pastures with different kinds of forages to keep your cow happy and healthy. Keep in mind I'm a grazer. A hippiefied grazer. No chemicals, anti-biotics, no excessive inputs, equipment, etc. Just God-given natural stuff. In my opinion, cows are happiest when they have access to clean green pastures. By access, I mean that's where they live.

The first step is finding a cow. This is usually easier said than done. We've found the best way is just by talking to folks. Ask the farmers drinking coffee at the local cafe'. I found my last cow just by striking up a conversation with a fellow who had a Jersey steer in a stock trailer in the parking lot of a hardware store. Some folks use internet sales sites like Craigslist. I've recently seen cows on there going for anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. You can probably expect to pay something like this for a family milk cow. I would not recommend going to the local sale barn unless it's a complete dispersal sale, and even then I recommend using caution. Cows at the sale barn are cull cows. They've been cut out of the herd for reasons varying from ill-health to bad dispositions. There are also several breeds of milk cows to choose from. Jersey, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn, Holstein, or a crossbred of these breeds and others.
Another thing to consider is how you are going to milk. By hand is generally the most reasonable for one family milk cow. I recently just purchased a portable machine, only because I told Cowboy Cody that 4 cows was my limit to milk by hand! But, machines take electricity and can be costly. Mine cost as much as a really good milk cow. Yet another thing to consider is buildings. Barns can be overrated. For those 4 years of milking by hand, I milked my cows in the open pasture. The girls and I braved the elements together! You won't mind snuggling up next to your favorite cow in the dead of winter! I do appreciate my barn now on days when it's raining or sleeting!

This is one lazy calf.

Another thing to know is whether or not you will feed anything during milking. Most cows will stand more still if they have something to munch on. We feed alfalfa hay and a little powdered molasses in the barn. Sometimes I'll use an alfalfa pellet, but we choose to not feed any corn or grain products. We have studied where these products not only change the genetic make-up of the cow, but have an effect on the milk as well. Not feeding grains cuts down on the quantity of the milk we get, but we feel the quality is better. Another bonus to not feeding grains is it also cuts down on the amount of poop in the barn! Rarely do my cows poop while they're in the barn. But if they do, it's shovel time.

Having your own fresh milk to drink is unmatched by anything you can get from the local grocer. Unpasteurized and raw, milk is full of health benefits to help anything from a sniffle or allergy to the so-called uncurable diseases. And the products you can make for your family are fun and enjoyable, too.

Check out the amount of cream in this pitcher of milk. See the slightly darker shade at the top of the pitcher? That's all cream. It can be skimmed off the milk for coffee creamer or to make butter. A lot of folks just stir or shake it up and drink it in their milk.

Fresh butter, cheeses, yogurts, kefir, the list goes on and on of the products that can be made right in your little homestead kitchen from your raw milk. Likely, with even one family milk cow, you will have excess milk. Cows can give anywhere from two to five gallon in a day and most families, even with a lot of kids would have to work hard to consume that much in a week! You have to know your state's legislation whether you could sell your excess milk. It's allowed, sometimes with restrictions, in around half of the states. If not, it may be possible to make some product from your milk and sell it. Just be sure you know what your state's laws are concerning raw milk and raw milk products.

Another option, if you're truly homesteading a little piece of heaven, is to feed your excess milk (or whey, if you're making cheese) to a pig or backyard chickens. They both love the milk and you can fatten them both out to end up in your own freezer or sell the finished product to your friends.

Something else to consider if you're going to have a family milk cow is bull power. Your cow can't have a calf each year as she should without some sort of bull power.

If you want your own bull, there's the breed to decide upon. (As well as for your cows, too.) We prefer Jerseys. The cows are generally very gentle, will adopt an orphan calf within days, and the milk is high in butterfat, resulting in lots of cream. Now, I never trust a bull 100%, and Jersey bulls are no exception to that rule. But, my experience has not been that any of our Jersey bulls have turned mean, they are just so used to being in close contact with us that they don't think they have to listen and do what we want, but only what they want. Kind of like teenagers.

Another option is AI, or artificial insemination. Lots of commercial dairies use this practice. It's sometimes an easier way if you're concerned about having or keeping a registered herd of cattle, but can also be pricier and time consuming for you. Remember, I'm a hippie. I like things done naturally.

Either way, you should end up with one of these. A baby calf. Our preference is for the calf to be born naturally, without interference from us, out in the pasture. Generally, we don't even know our cows are calving unless we just happen to be in the right place at the right time. And when you get a calf, it's time to start milking! Don't take any away from the calf, though! But, you won't really want to drink the milk for a few days because it's all colostrum, which is the mother's way of passing all those natural antibodies and disease fighting good bacteria to the calf. Since we have more than 1,000 head of cattle on our ranch, we will milk out and freeze the excess colostrum that the calf doesn't suckle for those rare times when we have an orphan calf.

Then you have the dilemma of what to do with the calf. I consider myself a lazy milker. I allow my cows to raise their calves until they're weaning age, usually at least 9 months old. When they're newborn, they don't take all the milk the cow can give, so we share the cow. Once they hit the toddler stage, I start pulling the calf off at night (keeping the cow in a seperate paddock is easier than moving the calf), milking the cow in the morning and then turning her back in with her calf for the day. Once they hit adolescence, I have to pull the calf off earlier in the day, generally around noon. For the teenage stage, I usually keep the cow off for about 3 days in a row, still just milking once a day, and turning her back in with her calf for just a couple of hours once every 3 days. The calf still gets the benefits from the milk, but I can get the majority of the milk. And, if I have to be gone for overnight or longer, I can always turn the cow back in with the calf and no one suffers.

Which brings us to the dilemma of what to do with the calf once he's past the teenage and weaning stage. If it's a heifer calf, she can be added to your milk cow herd, expanding your work, but also your product. If it's a bull calf, he can be kept to breed back to your cow. Ok, I know I'll get slack for that one. Remember the hippie thing? We believe in linebreeding, too. I'm thinking that God implemented some sort of linebreeding a long time ago. There's always the option of the calf being raised for butcher. I know, I know, sounds so cruel. Wait 'til you see the next picture. But, it's a legitimate answer. We try to keep a rule that we never name anything we're going to eat.

Meet Beauregard. Even Taylor agrees that he was mighty tasty.

But think of the educational aspect of keeping a family milk cow. We have hosted thousands of school-age children on our ranch and it always amazes us, even though we are in a rural area and host lots of kids living in rural areas, that so many don't realize where their food comes from. It's great for us to be able to have those kids, and our own children and grandchildren here where they can learn what nature is all about.

This is our granddaughter, Isabel, when she was four years old, helping me milk Fancy Face. She's never forgotten that!

Another thing Isabel's never forgotten and another thing you have to consider is what to do with all that poop from your family milk cow. Being as we have oodles of acres, we ensure that our cows are spreading their droppings throughout the ranch. Since we use no chemical fertilizers, pesticides, anti-biotics, growth hormones, etc., we believe the cow's manure and urine is the absolute best fertilizer around. It's natural!

And where there's poop on organic soils, there's dung beetles! These little guys are amazing. But that's another blog.

I hope I've helped answer some of the questions of having your own family milk cow. I'm sure I've left details out, but there really could be an endless amount of details to be discussed.

Josie, my longest milker

Being a milk maid is a joy and is in essence, an out for me. I enjoy my time with my girls whether in the barn or lying in the field looking at the stars.

Annabelle

I was just chatting with my sister-in-law about our kids and telling her that I don't think anyone is ever truly ready for the blessings and trials of having kids. The same could be said of having cows. It's one of those experiences that you don't really get until you try it.

Pumpkin, my newest addition

Headbutt

Our sheep are Katahdins, a meat breed. They are very docile and lots of fun to be around. Like any other species, each has their own unique personality and traits. The ewes often have twins, sometimes triplets and are very good, attentive mothers.
Also, like any other species, they like to have a little fun. On this particular day, I was able to catch a few photos of the sheep butting heads.
Here they're picking their challenge.

A step forward--they don't run at each other, but the impact is still a big one!

Getting closer...and...

KABLAM! That would hurt any ordinary person. Especially me!

And the bounce off. Not sure if this indicates the victor or not.

Thinking about gearing up for another go at it.

When a third contender steps in!

Encore!

Meet Lurch

Dogs are an important part of ranching. And raising livestock. Here at the ranch we only have 3 dogs, but each has an important job.

This is Brutus. Brutus is a Blue Heeler stock dog. He's had his share of black eyes, sore jaws, and missing teeth from being kicked by cows. But Brutus has definitely earned his keep. At 14 years old (that's 98 in dog years!), he still REALLY wants to tag along when moving cattle, working calves, walking out to check the sheep or just a jaunt into town in the truck, although it's getting harder with old age creeping up on him. Brutus is considered a big dog breed. Not quite as tall as a German Shepard, but larger than the more common smaller Blue Heeler breeds. Notice the missing canines.

This is Lurch. He's one of our Great Pyranees sheep dogs. He was just 12 weeks old in this photo.

And, like Lurch on The Munsters, he's always eager to greet you!

This is Lurch in the early winter of 2009. Growing up a bit, he is!

And still eager to greet you!

But your really want to watch out for that nose! Often times there are huge drips of drool hanging around, too. You gotta be careful!

Just the other day, Lurch came for a visit. Generally, Lurch and Holly, our 4-year-old Great Pyranees, stay out in the pastures with the sheep protecting them and warding off predators. We go out to find them twice a day to check the sheep which are now lambing and feed the dogs.

On this day, Brutus met Lurch. Remember, Brutus is a big dog. Lurch is an elephant. Brutus is usually pretty defensive when it comes to meeting new dogs, but I think he realizes what the combination of his old age and the size of Lurch mean when they're added together.
Friendly enough banter.
Brutus is letting Lurch sniff around without too many defenses rising up. Although he wanted to get defensive! After all, this was HIS turf and Lurch was visiting.
Then, Lurch was ready to head back up the hill to his flock of sheep. Enough visiting for one day.
Eager little ball of fluff.