Whats Butter got to do with Steak?

I am making butter. Flys seem to love butter making. The one, two or three that have magically appeared during butter making won’t go in the traps, don’t stick themselves to the fly strips they want to land on the blender. I am grateful for the extra blender my mother thought to send me. I scavenged its top for my blender. Would a butter churn make butter making better? Absolutely, but I need a big one, like the 2.5 gallon one that Hamby’s supply has for, um, $379? So here I sit on butter days for several hours with my poor ancient blender(an old real stainless steel behive type), it does a great job. It’s just a tedious one. The horses call, they know I am here, not out in the barn working with them and I have a hard time ‘butter sitting’ but it still must be done. It’s interesting that with all the butter I make we still have to buy butter at the store.
Steak, its time. Whether Pearl is bred or not, it’s his time. I will miss him, he is so freekin sweet, for a 1400lb Jersey bull. He still gives me kisses, thanks me for his daily clean tub of water, loves his pets and scratches and is too happy to get his meals. I have had to be very forceful with DH about attention to him. DH goes to pet/scratch him and he gets too excited. Jumping and bucking around in his barn stall. He doesn’t seem to realize he can pick up his stall (and everyone else stalls, they are all connected) and let himself out. He is happy there, in his stall. We cannot really lead him anymore to go turnout. He sort of leads, he starts out really well (he was really good when he was smaller) then gets excited, get going too fast and pulls away from DH, bucks around the barn and makes a bee line for his stall if called and offered a flake of alfalfa. He and Sofi (a young Iberian stallion next to him) have been best buddies all winter, Sofi play bites his top knot and they ‘stallion/bull bicker’ across their respective gates. I am awed that they don’t hurt each other but it’s never mean/aggressive like two stallions that don’t like each other, it is defiantly play, just blowing off steam. I think it’s helped Sofi through a rough patch in 2013 when I was down for so long to have someone his own ‘speed’ to play with and get activity with. Someone who can give as good as he gets without truly injuring each other, they may give themselves a black eye or fat lip, but no rips, tears or otherwise serious injuries.
I have a riding student that comes with her colt to our barn during inclement weather and for a change of working conditions for their lessons. We have lots of distractions here for young horses. Her colt is coming on well. She uses a block to mount that is, for some reason, exactly in front of Steak’s stall. Every time she goes to mount her colt he growls at her as if to ask ‘ride me, paleeeeeease’. He is most attentive to lessons. He watches the horses being worked, and I’d bet he would ride. But, I have watched his rodeo moves, I don’t have it in me anymore. Maybe if I was still 20 and a motor vehicle accident ago, but not now. My mother used to ride her steers when I was young. She would book out all her lesson horses for group lessons and even sometimes her own personal riding horses and have nothing left to ride while teaching. So in a long line of horses dressed for lessons often stood a beef steer, dressed in her Stubben Imperador all purpose dressage saddle tied to the rail waiting for lessons to start. My mother, in her custom made and tailored burnt orange riding breeches, polished black tall riding boots, white ratcatcher, black velvet hunt cap, and riding whip… I can still see her, sitting atop her freezer beef teaching English Equitation.
I sure will be relieved when I see Sofi is ready to ride. He has been waiting for me for too long and that’s a different story. But, alas, Sunday is the day for Steak to attend freezer camp. He must attend freezer camp before something really bad happens. He will be missed but he leaves his son Burger for breeding our future milker and perhaps a future milker that Pearl is now carrying in her.
The geese started laying eggs today. I guess I will incubate all the eggs this year and hand raise the goslings. Last year the kids didn’t fare will with the predator birds. I want the geese to live in the orchard, tend the grass there and turn out to the pasture during the day when the cows are out. We kept all the girls we raised last year, there weren’t any boys so we didn’t offer any for the holiday tables of our members. Perhaps this year we will have some boys to offer?
I brought Faith (a 5 yr Iberian mare) up from pasture with me today. Poor gal, she is waiting for me in the round pen. I gave her a lunch and came in to make butter before working with her. She loads in the trailer fairly well now and travels up to the barn for work and back down in the trailer. Gone are the days of walking to and from the mare pastures to feed or bring in mares for work/trims/ breeding. Every day this winter I carried feed in the truck and drove down to the mare pastures. Oops, back to Faith. She is lovely. An elegant girl with knock your socks off movement. I didn’t send her to the sale a few years ago when I had to clean house. No sense in keeping horses, no matter how wonderful, if you are unable to do the work they need. As I have pleaded with attorneys and judges to understand, they are living breathing beings. They are not ‘shelf stable’, therefore if I am unable to do the work we were doing they must find other lives before they are not useable anymore. When I had everyone brought in individually for assessment she was a gangly, half ugly black filly with a breathtaking trot. She went back to pasture until I could manage to work her. Even if I never recovered enough to get on her she would make fabulous babies. It is my intention to get on her this year, as well as Sofi and Galen, they are just wasting. I will give it all I can to make them great citizens and even better rides. I was able to some ground work with faith in 2012 and had her lunging well in sircingle and light side reins. I know she will work but has been with the mares so long she is a bit timid as to what is expected of her. In so many ways it is easier to work an aggressive horse than a timid one. They are never sure ‘that’s’ what you want. At least an aggressive (attitude, not mean) horse is willing to put themselves out there and make mistakes, I would suppose it would be better to say self confident. Sofi is not lacking in self confidence, in any way.
Butter is almost done. I have been washing milk jars and cleaning as I go and in between writing. So the next step is to wash it and package it. I won’t have spaces of time in between so this will be it for today. I suppose I should just make butter on Fridays and keep my mind busy writing the week’s events. We will see. I still don’t think there is anyone out there that gives a hoot what I think, feel or do. Unless of course it’s to use my judgment calls against me or to criticize, which has been my experience. Always judged by 20/20 hindsight. The spoken word can be so many things when the emotion behind it is heard and facial gestures are seen. The written word can often be WAY misunderstood. Also, once written, cannot be taken back. As we grow, develop personal character and learn life’s lessons we often change our mind, view points and the things we believe in and may have been so sure about years before. So, when written down for all to see, it can be scary, because time can change the person that wrote those words. They may not be the same person 10 years from the writing. I know I have changed dramatically in the last ten years. I have been reading Sylvia Jorrin’s journal and her book Sylvia’s Farm The Journal of an improbable shepherd. Now she is a braver man than I. she talks straightforward about the death of animal, failures and fears of living alone on her farm. Kudos, Sylvia, you remind me so very much of my mother.

Disclaimer

Well, I just had a very important thought. I should better warn people that may stumble across my ramblings. I am a farmer, among other things, and I can be blunt. This blog will probably be explicit about farming and the rearing of animals for their products as well as the training and conditioning of the farm animals. So there may be talk of dehorning, castration, milk production, birth, death, and EVERYTHING that can and will happen during the daily chores of farming. That said… I will continue on with my day. BTW the orchard was still on, it needed a good soak, I need to get more drippers into the main line this year. And, I need a broom!

First original post

Well, this will be my first official post. I have been thinking of doing something like this for years, but thought no one would give 2 bits for my thoughts, feelings, doings, happenings… but so many are blogging and I’m not too keen on having a static website, so I thought I’d give this a try, an ever changing and updating journal (more my style). Today is Sunday May 20 and I am getting ready to send in our farm ad to Wise Traditions the quarterly journal published by the Weston A. Price Foundation.

The new group (of 4) calves are fed and comfortable, Pearl is laying with them chewing her cud quietly, and now ‘Steak’ (of Steak and Shake, our first 2 jersey calves we are raising for grass fed ‘buttered’ beef) has escaped the hot wire fence to come and see why he is being weaned. The cotton Patch geese are out foraging in the paddock and orchard with the ducks and chickens with ‘Roo’ standing guard always ready to plump out his chest and give a good crow.
Our 2 Border Collie, Ruff and Tumble, pups are sleeping here on the milk room floor waiting for me get done here so they can go play (supervised). There is a Gymkana today I’d like to go to for a short time (just to watch), but we still have more digging to do on the foundation for our house, I would sure like to get it done so I can start on the next phase and get closer to ‘living’ here full time. I wonder if the water is still on to the orchard? Humm must go check… Talk to you all later… but of course no one is really listening (reading J)

Katies First Visit

StableFood Weekly News
StableFood@gmail.com
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Monday, March 24, 2014

Happenings at The Ranch:
Redbud, pear, plum and cherry trees, along with daffodils and poppies are all in bloom. Spring is in full swing around the county and StableFood is making use of the good weather. Our vegetable garden is planned and preparation for planting begins this week. The orchard is blooming and the wisteria that covers the fences is beginning to bloom. It’s certainly a lovely sight. The chickens have been laying eggs for more than a month now and as the days get longer and warmer their production gradually increases. Pearl, our Jersey dairy cow, is able to bask in the warm sun as she happily munches on spring pastures. As we know this classy cow is given as complete and healthy a diet as possible which includes, but is not limited to, sprouted barley and whole wheat, beet pulp, organic molasses and daily vitamin supplement. However, nothing tops fresh pastures in the eyes of a cow. As Pearl comes into her peak milking, we hope that you are enjoying her bounty.
With spring flowers also comes spring beef. This past Sunday one of the beef stock was harvested. This means beef will be ready for The Stablefood Farm Buyers Club approximately April 7th. An inventory list will also be available at this time at the barn and in the next Newsletter. Rest assured, if you have already placed an order it will be reserved and available by the same date. Simply call (707) 279-1299 or email stablefood@gmail.com to reserve beef if you are worried about availability of certain cuts or quantities and leave a deposit.

About the Writer
If you are reading this news letter there is a good chance you have already had the pleasure of meeting Desiree and Don. Which means, you know the ranch sits on 60+ acres of cross fenced pastures and is bustling with Pearl (the Jersey cow that feeds everyone), beef cattle, chickens, ducks, geese, and the Iberian horses that D&D raise and breed. Their vegetable garden and mixed fruit orchard make up close to 2 acres of land. Also by now you are probably wondering who this is writing to you on behalf of StableFood.
My name is Katie and I am addicted to raw milk.
This past Monday my husband and I had the honor of joining The Stablefood Farm Buyers Club and purchased one dairy herdshare. I would not say I’d do anything for raw milk; but I am hoping an enjoyable and useful weekly news letter will help me with my new habit. With intentions of absorbing as much knowledge as possible and to appreciate any informational scraps thrown my way while working with the ranch and this news letter.
My quest for a raw milk source began after reading the introduction to Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. This book is based on the research of Weston A. Price and is full of food facts, references and recipes. If you are not already familiar with these names I encourage you to explore the Real Milk website.

Long story short, last July we found a great source in Hopland and right away I was hooked. I no longer feared the white liquid that had always given me a stomach ache as a child. It was not until after the first glass that I realized, maybe I’m not lactose intolerant. My body is simply intolerant to dead milk. My biggest raw milk health effect would have to be getting off prescription medication. In the past I have asked doctors and nutritionists how to get off my hypothyroid medication. All of which said the task was overall impossible, once your on the thyroid pill train there is no getting off. I have been off this medication since September. Among other “nourishing traditions,” I blame my freedom from a daily pill on the daily consumption of raw milk. I also believe I lost weight, have less frequent allergy attacks and heartburn. I do not have a medical background; and not everyone notices instant health benefits of raw milk and some are simply allergic to lactose, even from raw milk. However, I believe it is important for families to be aware of the potential positive health benefits of raw milk.
To sum it all up, my husband and I were introduced to StableFood by our last herd share Agister. It was a sense of relief to pick up our first half gallon last Monday; more so after sipping that first glass as soon as we arrived home. In our house, having a secure source of raw milk is now like having a secure source of prescription/OTC drugs.
Have you experienced positive health effects related to raw milk consumption and would like to share with the herd? Feel free to pass on your story via e-mail or leave a written note in an envelope at the barn and we will share your experience via our weekly news letter. Also feel free to ask any questions about the farm, gardening advice, how to prepare certain vegetables or beef. Feel free to ask anything else pertaining to farming and livestock. We will do our best to answer you directly and share with the herd in a news letter some time after that.

Weekly Farm Q & A
Starting next week we will have a question and answer forum. Once a week we will choose a Question that has been asked and answer it for everyone’s information. Then we will keep a compiled list of them for reference here on the Ranch’s Blog site.

Another Week on the Ranch
In these weekly news letters I hope to bring you closer to your food and make you more knowledgeable about your share. Also, please be confident that these news letters are pre-approved by the knowledgeable and always hard working, Desiree. Although she would love to be the one writing to you all, there just isn’t enough time and energy in a week to run a ranch and write about it too.
I look forward not only to fresh and delicious milk, beef, fruit and vegetables in the upcoming weeks, but also to gaining knowledge about my food and sharing it with the rest of the herd. On behalf of StableFood, please enjoy your share.

Sincerely,
Katie Finn