So...We Have These Pregnant Animals.....

My days and nights have been busy watching over 5 pregnant goats and 2 pregnant alpacas.
First, the alpacas.
Ana gave birth about a week ago, but unfortunately her little cria (baby alpaca) died after only a few minutes. We have no idea what wrong.
Yesterday, I checked on Alice and all was well, everything calm.
A scant fifteen minutes later, my son went out to change the ducks water and SURPRISE!, Alice had a wee one! We quickly transferred her to our *nursery* pen with the wee one. My son had to carry the little one and we determined it is a male!
Say hello to ANGUS!

Is he not the cutest thing on four legs? I love his coloring. I know, solid white fleece brings the best price, but I think he looks so adorable!
Mama Alice and baby Angus doing well so far!
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Remember our hand raised duck, Daffy?
We assumed Daffy was a boy. Well, a couple of weeks ago she presented us with an egg...then another, then another!
That's MISS Daffy, thankyouverymuch!
She has a private pen and a private wading pool, so obviously, her eggs are not fertile. We have tried to put a drake in there with her, but she chases them out. However, when my son goes out to her pen, she makes lovey-dovey eyes at him and preens herself and then tries to cuddle up to him.
Imprint much?
Don't know how we are going to solve this little problem!
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The Darlin' Man's son got his Drivers License....YAY! That means that I no longer have to do the bulk of the driving around here. What a relief!
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Speaking of the Darlin' Man...he kept sending out those job applications, day after day, just hoping to get an interview for his *dream job* working for the railroad.
FINALLY, CSX called! But the interview was in Indiana! So, for his Christmas present, we agreed he would go to the interview. He went by bus and had to get a motel room (financial bite we were NOT expecting right now!) The interview went well.....very well! As soon as he passes the medical exam, he is hired! They offered him a job contract that he readily accepted. After the medical exam he will be given a date to report for training at their school in Atlanta. We are soooo happy! Yes, it means he will have to work away from home for a bit, but the pay/insurance/other benefits are so good we couldn't pass it up.
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Onto our move and all that. We plan to buy the house through an LLC  that we are currently forming. As soon as the LLC is registered and we have locked in everything, we will be buying the house in New Hampshire and moving. So....YAY!!!!!!! We have all the paperwork started, so it is a matter of waiting now.
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The goats are stubbornly refusing to kid. I think Champagne will be first, followed closely by Nola, then Lilac and Gabby and lastly, Nikki.
Going to be a wild and wacky Holiday season here, considering all the does will kid within a 2 week period (I think).
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Hope you and yours are having a fun Yuletide season!

Setting Hens

Look at the three pictures. All three are the females of their breed setting clutches of eggs. Heloise the goose, Rosie the hen and Daphne the duck (Tinkerbell the turkey is also setting a clutch, but turned her back on the camera). All three will defend their nests with their lives. When their little ones hatch, they will teach them to eat and drink and run back to the nest when danger threatens. They will teach their young everything they need to know to survive.
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Long ago, *setting hens* were considered extremely valuable. A good setting hen would ensure that your flock of chickens would grow bigger. More chickens meant more eggs and more meat on the table. Precious protein at a time when grains and greens made up a large part of peoples diets.
Then, in the past century or so, when commercial farms took over from family farms and more and more people bought their food at supermarkets, *broody* hens became a liability.
Egg farms didn't want them, they just wanted eggs...the more the better. Meat producers didn't want them either...incubators reduced losses and were more efficient.
Chicken breeds were bred to reduce the natural instinct to set clutches of eggs.
When a hen goes broody here, I let them set a clutch of eggs, protected from the other chickens. Rosie is in the old rabbit hutch where Nugget and her little ones used to be. (They now have their own coop)
But Rosie isn't setting her own eggs...she is setting peafowl, duck and turkey eggs. She went broody a couple of weeks before our new incubator arrived and after our old one was full.
So, I tucked a few eggs from our other fowl under her and removed the two eggs she had laid and was setting. Chicken eggs hatch faster, so, it will be a bit longer of a *set* for her with these eggs. I removed her eggs, because when the first chicks hatch, the setting hen will only wait a couple more days for the rest of the clutch to hatch.
Rosie (and Daphne and Heloise and Tinkerbell) are all doing their jobs well. Whether it is their eggs or eggs that suddenly appeared overnight beneath them (yes, that is how I snuck the other eggs under Rosie!), all are taking their jobs of setting seriously.
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As I read the blogs other people post, I realize that we are *setting hens* (doesn't matter if we are men or women!).
Our knowledge and experiences are the eggs we are setting on. Protecting this knowledge for a generation that may not even be here yet. We teach our own children and anyone else that wanders into our *nests*.
There may come a day when this knowledge is valuable again. When knowing how to garden or store food or milk a goat or any of a thousand skills bloggers post about will be the difference between life and death for some future generation. The more skills we pass along the more likelihood that someone out there that needs that knowledge will stumble across it....and then pass that knowledge along to another.

Still on the health kick here!

So, I cornered the fella and the kids last night and forced them to watch Chow Down on Hulu.
Then we had a family discussion.
The fella said he could give up anything EXCEPT: Real Butter and Salt.
Girl said she could give up everything except: Red Meat and Candy.
Boy said he would eat more salads, but wouldn't give up : Red Meat and Salt and Butter.
...sigh....
See what I am up against?
I have my weaknesses as well. Mine are bread and my beloved Dr. Pepper.
Soooo...no soda for me and we have finished up (last night) the last delicious loaf of crusty home baked bread. I used it to make meatball subs.
Since everyone prefers butter and I absolutely HATE nasty margarine (seriously, it is worse for your health than butter in equal amounts!), we will continue to use real butter.
I am real cautious with salt in my cooking, so I will try to stealthily banish the salt shaker from the table.
Red meat? Well, last night the meatball subs I made were (DON'T TELL THE KIDS!) 1/3 actual lean ground chuck. The other 2/3rds? Tofu, bread crumbs, an egg, chopped onion and celery and grated carrots!
And the fella and the kids LOVED them! (Sneaky sneaky me!)
I baked the meatballs (no fried food is the first major change here!), then soaked and simmered them in a lovely tomato sauce spiced with garlic, oregano, a bit of basil and a touch of cloves.Had a big salad with the subs.
Because I am a "leftover queen" as the fella says, tonight we will have duck wraps and a Korean soba noodle soup.
I have a duck carcass left over from Christmas that I wrapped up and put in the freezer. Took it out this morning and tossed it in the stockpot along with chopped celery, onion and garlic.Later, after it has simmered for a few hours, I will strain out the solids and have a beautiful soup stock to start my soup with. I will pick out the meat and bones, discard the bones and save the meat for my wraps.
Into the stock will go sliced leeks, sliced carrots and soba noodles. I will whirl the cooked celery, garlic and onion in a blender and stir that into the stock, along with some red bean paste and a touch of sesame oil.
The wraps will have duck meat, lettuce, green onion and avocado and a dressing I will make.
I am making the wraps this morning---whole wheat, so I won't have to deal with trying to make them at dinner time.
Here's the recipe I use:

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup warm water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking powder. Pour in water; stir to combine. Mix in additional water in 1 tablespoon increments, until a soft pliable dough is formed.
2. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
3. Flour each ball well, place between two pieces of wax paper and roll out to desired size and thickness.
4. Heat an ungreased skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat. Peel away wax paper and grill rounds until brown flecks appear underneath. Turn and cook other side. Serve warm or cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Back from Christmas Holiday!

I took a bit of a holiday from blogging as I just needed to focus on the *home front* here.
The days leading up to Yule were a bit frenzied here---as they usually are---and I barely had time to get all the things done that needed doing, so my blog fell by the wayside!

We baked cookies. LOTS of cookies. I am officially "cookied out"!

And, although I used fabric and reusable bags and such to wrap presents, others did not, so we did end up with a big bag of wrapping paper trash....sigh.

Christmas dinner was a HUGE amount of work....and s-o-o-o-o-o-o worth it!
We had ham and duck.
Let me pause to wax rhapsodic about duck......
Duck is the ambrosia of poultry. A food for the gods that we mere mortals can also enjoy.
Crisp succulent duck skin should be a food group all by itself.
I roasted two ducks. One was devoured within the first 20 minutes of dinner.
Preparing duck is easy.
Rinse the bird, including the interior. Sprinkle a little salt inside it. Cut up an apple into slices and stuff in the interior and add a sprig of rosemary. Rub butter on the exterior of the duck. Pop it in an oven at 325 and roast 1/2 hour for each pound.
Take out of oven and let rest 10 minutes before you carve.
Serve and devour.
I wrapped one picked clean carcass up in foil and tucked it in the freezer so that in a couple weeks I can make a lovely duck soup.
The other duck will be eaten today.
I saved the large amount of duck fat that cooked out during roasting the birds. I strained it well and it is now in the refrigerator.
Duck fat is fabulous for cooking and even for preserving.
Duck comfit anyone?
I simmered the gizzards and necks to make a broth and used that broth in my gravy and stuffing.
Best. Stuffing. Ever.
I made two kinds of stuffing (as I usually do). One was cornbread stuffing with apples and walnuts. The other was regular stuffing with sausage.
One of the most popular items I put on the table was also one of the simpliest.
I made a dip out of cream cheese and crushed pineapple and had sliced pears to dip in it.
Basically, half a package of cream cheese plus about 1/4 cup crushed pineapple mixed together real well.
It is also good on crackers and such.
Everyone waddled away from the table quite happy.

The best present I received was Boy and Girl2 cleaned my kitchen for me while I napped yesterday evening. My kitchen is absolutely SPOTLESS this morning! A more thoughtful gift than that I can't think of!

We have a bit of goats milk on the table now. Gabrielle had a little buck, now named Geordi, and though she has had kids before, she had never been milked before!
The first milking was quite the experience...for me and the goat!
She is getting more comfortable with milking, as am I. I give her a bit of sweet feed to encourage things along and make milking a more enjoyable time for her. I also put little Geordi where Mama can see him, so she doesn't get panic striken and think she has lost her baby.
Gabrielle is a very protective and attentive goat mama. Geordi is everything a baby goat should be. Cute, fuzzy, playful and a delight to watch as he scampers about.
Because he is a buck, we have only two choices.
Either we sell him when he is weaned....or we have him as dinner, perhaps for Easter.
Now, Girl 1 and Girl 2 and Boy are all highly distraught at the thought of us serving Geordi up as a main dish.
They think the fella and I are heartless and cruel for even considering doing that to cute little Geordi.
They have not yet gotten used to the reality of farm life.
We shall see what happens...maybe we will sell Geordi....maybe not!

Hope all of you had a great holiday...now it is back to the grind! (Not that I actually got a day off! Still had to feed the critters and milk the mama goat!)