I’ve been meaning to write an update about our herd and general goings-on in farmland, and today seems appropriate, given that our herd lost one more member today. We’ve said goodbye to Tippi, Sunny and Hinimoa, and today we said goodbye to Luka, sadly.

i’ve been inside for most of the time over the last couple of days. Winter has made a surprise re entry onto the weather scene, and i’ve been attempting to keep warm. I’ve also had a couple of little projects on the boil, both of which necessitate hours at the screen, so perhaps i haven’t been as tuned into the daily events in our animals lives as i normally would be.

This morning seemed normal, little friends Luka and Willy in the home paddock, Willy waiting for his feed from mum, post-milking… Luka always nearby. Luka has always been a strange little calf, not readily accepted by the herd, and has required special feeding attention just in order that she gets food in her belly and isn’t steamrollered by the bigger cows. None of the cows seemed to take on the role of grooming or mothering her, as you see them so often doing to each other, so she was a bit of an outcast.

We bought Luka at a farm outside of Mullumbimby some 8 months ago I guess. She was sold as a Murray Grey Galloway cross, i’m not sure how old at the time. Since that day she has barely grown! Willy is bigger than her! Willy was born but a moment ago. We long ago came to the conclusion that she was a miniature breed, and, while we have a philosophy of each herd cow having a purpose, she was really just our pet, given her delicate constitution and sweet nature. Kids loved her.

Shes been quite sickly pretty much all her life until recently, when she seemed to have become much more lively and active, getting leaner and (marginally) taller. We’ve pulled her through many situations which seemed life threatening, none of which we have been able to diagnose. It’s notoriously difficult to diagnose disease in cattle as many of the symptoms are the same - stiff back legs, awkward gait, bloated belly, and often they will go down, either part way or completely prone. They can die quite quickly, but if you catch them in time you can often turn them around as quickly as they wen down. Epsom salts mixed with apple cider vinegar is a bit of a cure-all, and it has worked for Luka on more than one occasion. If they go down and are completely prone, legs out stiff, for too long, then breathing becomes labored and they can’t get themselves up. They will probably die if they don’t get assistance. You can roll them over if they are completely prone and prop them so they can breathe properly and administer some kind of treatment. Their systems can’t work properly is they are completely prone, so they can’t chew cud, ruminate, belch and so on, and that is vital to a cow. In most cases I know what’s going on, I’m quite attuned to where the animals are and if one has been missing for some time. Not today, sadly.

I went out to feed the animals and put out the bucket which Willy and Luka share, but only Willy was to be found. Luka loves her food so this was unusual. Bek, our farm family cottage grrl was with me, helping out, and she thought there was a big rock just the other side of the fence. The side of the fence that is’t our side of the fence. I knew it was Luka, and I knew she was dead. I ran down, and she was still warm. We sat with her for a while and stroked her (she had such beautifully soft fur) and I thought that if I had just been a little more attuned I’d have been able to save her.  She had such delicate little hoofs, shiny little high heeled boots, tiny, not cow sized, and such long eyelashes. Charlene isn’t back from work yet, but i know she’ll be sad. I don’t quite know how to manage the disposal, I guess we burn her. I don’t know how or why she died, I would just be guessing, but I don’t like to think of her suffering when I could have helped her, I’m sure.

This happens on the eve of picking up a new little calf from Charlene’s work, a lovely little black angus cross called rabbit.

 A little reminder of the sweetness that was Luka…

 
Luka and me

Happier post next time

Vx

 

 So I mentioned in the last post that Charlene has a new job. She’s still a dairylad, just changed venues. It was not a choice she would have made given different circumstances, and it was certainly nothing to do with dissatisfaction at Briarose dairy. Charlene drove the equivalent of a trip to Sydney every 3 days in her travels to and from work, 2 shifts a day. Petrol is at a premium and i’m sure she’s not the only person who is having to make decisions based on the cost of commuting, especially in regional areas where the distances are long and public transport is light on, ok, nonexistent… She loved her workmates at Briarose, she learned alot, loved the cows (they’re so pretty!) and especially will miss Alan who she worked alongside most days. In her words, he’s the best guy she’s ever met. What is so beautiful about this family (not just Brian and Rosie, but Flo and Roy, Brian’s parents also) and the workers at Briarose is that they accepted Charlene for exactly who she is, no judgment, open hearted and open minds, knowing she came fresh from the city with no experience, but what they could see was her desire to learn, her love for the cows and a sharp intelligence.

She started her new job today, with Trevor and his wife Alyssa at Dan Springs. Dan Springs is a 300 acre property just 10 minutes walk from home. They run Illawarra cattle and some fresians. Illawarras are big reddish brown and white cows that are big boned and very docile. They have long serious faces, not the cute upturned pixie noses of the jerseys.

The Illawarra

She will be their sole employee, so she will learn everything about the farm and Trevor has already learned all he needs to know about Charlene on the dairy grapevine (this is a phenomena we are just beginning to understand…) and seems well pleased… They produce alot of milk, quite high in protein but nowhere near the creaminess of the jersey. She came home well pleased with books underarm, having spent a day hooning around on quad bikes, riding shotgun on the tractor, learning about silage, communing with calves, and having eaten lunch with the family (including a delicious thai desert of coconut jelly!) AND an afternoon tea of scones. Her hours will be sane - every second day she starts at 5.10am, and on the other day she starts at the totally civilised hour of 8.30am… and she’ll be able to walk home for lunch! minus coconut jelly… unless i get inspired!

So to use a totally meaningless piece of verbiage… it’s all good!

I wanted some pictures of our herd as it is now, since the small ones have grown so much and, while it might look like a raggletaggle bunch of cows, I think we have a really nice herd. Every cow has it’s place. Little Girl will be our second housecow (so i’d better get that cheesemaking paraphernalia happening quick smart…), Frenchie is our prime beef breeder. Tippi is Mum to Sunny, and is growing her into a lovely little beef cow through mother’s milk (nothing better to grow a calf on…). Sunny and Willy will be grown freely and stay with their mums and will provide food for us and others when they are big enough (it’s not awful, it’s self sufficiency folks). Luka is a freak of nature albeit a cuddly little bear of a freak, and her job is just to be adorable. Tippi will go to market eventually. Rosie will be our housecow for always.

Little Girl, like a princess wearing a tiara

There’s something tasty down there

legs and udders

hiding behind mum

the family

One of the problems we are having at the moment is how dry it is, and the consequent lack of nutritious feed for our herd. A couple of days ago we sent Hinimoa away on a truck to the marketplace. There was just not enough feed to go around. Hinimoa is one of Michael’s original Dexter herd, and was born on the property, so it was hard to send her away. I hope she went to join a herd of Dexters, but we cannot know her fate. A fact of life is bills, and the sale of Hinimoa will enable us to get a piece of machinery fixed. She was a crazy, rotund, bolshy cow and we’ve all had our moments of terror with her as she bore down upon us shaking her head and horns like a wild thing but she’d always pull up short just as you were about to make a run for it… i’ve seen the looks of terror in the eyes of visitors…which often made me laugh, cruel as that may seem!

 The other problem we are having with pasture at the moment is fireweed… fireweed is evil… it spreads, as its name suggests, like wildfire, and carpets te ground so that no groundcover can grow… When one looks out over a field of fireweed te sunny yellow flowers look deceptively uplifting, like little buttercups in spring and so on…

 

…but the thirteen petalled flower is noxious, inedible by livestock, poisonous and difficult to eradicate. My mission… eradicate fireweed! So today I spent some hours pulling acres of fireweed by hand and carting it to the burn pile. Thankfull I’m a little bit obsessive compulsive, so tasks that require a singleminded dedication and repetition and stamina are right up my alley. I *will* eradicate the fireweed! The reason for its existence is a deficiency in the soil (I need to know more about this), but if one can establish ground cover, then the fireweed will retreat. Hopefully by hand weeding, and if some rain comes, there might be some hope for the pasture to reestablish… Then there are the thistles and the tobacco weed and the farmer’s friend and the alien weed with its evil pods… I would rather weed acres and acres by hand though than use any chemical eradicator…

It seems I’m making a habit of including recipes in my posts lately. The one I’m going to include today is the one that I won the very local bakeoff with! Well, i think me and the baklava kind of won it together, and maybe the baklava just pipped me at the post, but the judges, being ever so fair, made 2 prizes for the baked goods. My prize was a fridge magnet bearing the slogan, overlayed over a 1950’s kitchen and its’ 1950’s housewife, * a clean house is the sign of a wasted life* Ah, how ironic, me being a pedant about domestic duty and all that… most people laughed, some looked at me with pity - those who *knew*. Anyway, dammit I won, and I’m all about competition.

Oh yes, so what did i bake? Well, it was a gluten free lemon curd tart with almond and hazlenut base with chocolate ganache topping. Yes. Well you might drool. It’s damn fine… and here’s the recipe, cannibalised bits and pieces from a number of recipes… I’ll have to try and dig up a photo of this one from somewhere…

Gluten Free Pastry:
6 tbsp butter
3 tbsp caster sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 free range egg
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup of almond meal

Now I find that sometimes this makes quite a wet dough and i tend to add more almond meal and so on, up to 1 cup of each to make it more workable. It does harden up when it rests in the fridge. You can also add hazelnut meal, or whatever you fancy.

Spring form tin, greased and floured.

. Preheat the oven to 200C
. Briefly mix butter, sugar and grated lemon zest in a food processor or similar
. Add the egg and beat for a moment or 2
. Mix in the flours and add extra if you need until the dough comes together
. Make a ball of the pastry, wrap it in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour
. Roll out the dough on a floured surface in the shape of the tin, cut enough for the sides and the base. This is more of a press into the pan dough, because of its consistency.
. Prick all over the base with a fork.
. Line the pastry with baking paper and fill it with rice or ceramic baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes.
. Remove paper and grains and cook in the oven for a further 5 minutes or until it seems well cooked.
. Set aside to cool

Lemon Curd Filling:
4 lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 lb unsalted butter
4 large free range eggs
pinch salt

. Remove the zest of the lemons
. Squeeze 1/2 cup of juice and set aside
. Process the zest and the sugar in a blender or some such
. In a mixer, cream the butter with the sugar zest mixture
. Add the eggs one at a time, the add the lime juice until all is combined. the mixture will separate, and this is normal. Once you heat it, it will emulsify.
. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and heat over a low heat until thickened. The curd will thicken at about 175F
. Set aside to cool
. Pour into shell and allow to set at room temperature.

Chocolate Ganache
Some full cream, maybe a cup
About 3/4 block of dark bitter chocolate (I use the 85% lindt or green and black), cut up into small pieces
I tend to just estimate this bit, the quantities aren’t fixed.

. Heat the cream to a simmer. Do not boil
. Take the cream off the heat and drop the chocolate in. Stir until the chocolate melts into the cream, smoothly.
. Set aside. Put in the fridge if you like
. When the curd is set and the ganache is cool and slightly thick, you can pour the ganache over the curd.
. Another use for the ganache in this recipe is to line the pie case with ganache, base and sides before you pour in the cooled curd.

 Eat! I wish i had a photo of this, but I will take one next time I make it.

Time passes, its cold today and we’ll be needing a fire, the cows are bellowing and the ducks are telling me to get them some food, and make it snappy…

Thanks for dropping by

farmhousewife xx

 

I’ve been to Sydney for a few days having city time, which I enjoy so much more now that I don’t live there. I had developed a weariness about Sydney before I made the sea/tree change to this place, become estranged from all the things I loved about the gritty city, and strangely unable to access it socially, too tired from working or commuting or just having general existential battles. Now that I go back on occasion I am learning to love Sydney again, love the inner city, and probably see my friends more than I did when I lived there… They come here for respite, and I go there… I’m always glad to come home, though, and a couple of days away is pretty much the limit when there are only 2 of you to manage the animals and so on…

 I stayed here:

 

(photo courtesy of Shellfiche’s Flickrstream, taken by our sweet friend Neha who you will have met in an earlier post)

This is the nunnery, in Newtown, so called because of its’ history of female habitation, from catholic presbytry to finishing school to brothel I believe! Now it’s full of wild and free queer grrls who work with machines of all sorts and make art and dumpster dive and build community and get active, politically and do karate and build bikes and bake and garden and live an interesting, moving towards sustainable, inner city life. They party alot too. It’s a wonderfully chaotic household, like it contains its own vortex of energy within its walls. Often the nunnery grrls make the trek north and imbibe the farm energetic, ali most especially, making the most of the earth and the animals and the fabulous stove and oven in the kitchen! Ali always leaves us with jars of lemon curd, or chocolate coated orange peel or marmalade or pickled things… Other fabulous friends get out the mattock and chip thistles, or help us with fencing, or preparing garden beds, or building something or other. Visitors help us to see our life afresh… for the blessing that it is…

I have been meaning to put up a cheesemaking post, and I have pics, so here we go.

Currently the products that I have made most are butter, yoghurt (previous posts) and ricotta, or paneer. Since I have few cheesemaking utensils, I’ve been only able to make cheese that doesn’t require rennet. I have since tracked down a great all-things-cheese site called cheeselinks, and I can order all sorts of utensils and other requirements through them including vegetarian rennet… so as soon as cash flow allows, I’ll be getting myself kitted out…

So here’s my version of ricotta making, using Marja Fitzgerald’s all purpose Healthy Housecow book as a guide (it’s well loved, now, this book, with pages falling out and bits of our life smeared over them)…

You will need:

1 heavy bottomed pot that will hold 4 litres of milk
1 cooking thermometer
1 slotted spoon
6 tablespoons of lemon juice
4 tablespoons of hot water
1 colander
cheesecloth
salt and herbs (if desired)

Pour 4 litres of milk into a pot and heat over a gentle heat until the milk reaches a temperature of between 88 and 92C, not boiling, but with small bubbles forming and rising.

Take off the heat immediately and stir in 6 tbsp of lemon juice diluted with 6 tbsp of hot water (you can substitute apple cider vinegar for lemon juice)

Stir for 2 or 3 seconds maximum. You will see curds beginning to form.

curds forming

Cover for a minute or 2.

Strain the curds into a cheesecloth lined colander, or ladle out with a slotted spoon.

curds are firm enough to ladle out

curds draining and being stirred

Leave the curds to drain for 15 minutes or so, stirring every now and again. 

Add a bit of salt or some chopped herbs at this stage if you so desire.

After draining, tie the cheesecloth around the ball of cheese and tie it off tightly.

tie off the cheese with the cloth

Hang it somewhere to drain.

ricotta hanging from our pots’n'pans ladder. i just put a bowl underneath to catch the drainings.

After about 3 hours retie the cloth tightly.

Leave for about 12 hours or overnight. You should have then a fairly firm ball of cheese.

You can make a softer cheese by adding cream to the curds after they have drained, or a firmer cheese by refrigerating or aging in a cool spot for about 5 days. The firm cheese you can grate or cut into cubes and eaten like traditional paneer.

Oh yes, what’s left in the pot is whey. It can be used in cooking. I feed it to the chooks and ducks. They love it!

In other news, Sunny has gone across to the Other Side. She fell in love with a little calf on the neighbour’s property and just walked through the barbed wire fence and we watch her from afar, feeling anxious that she won’t come back (she didn’t last night) and Tippi cries for her. We’ll probably go on a reconnaisance mission this afternoon to see if we can find her. She must be hungry, unless one of the other cows is allowing her to feed from her.

 I have some lovely pictures Charlene took of the herd, and I’ll put them in the next post.

Also - Charlene has a new job, Hinimoa is no longer wth us, fireweed is evil, and spring planting time is upon us. Working holiday anyone???

All this and more in the next post.

Must go and commune with the animals now. They are hungry.

Much cheesy love, Dairygrrl xx