May 18, 2009

Last night I moved the rams into the smaller stall next door to get their old stall ready for a new occupant. We're getting a Jersey heifer this week. Her name is Sugar and she is due to freshen in the next few weeks. She was pasture-bred so we're not sure of the due date.

Jennifer's uncle is giving us the cow but we'll be giving him the calf after it's weaned. We're going to get a bull calf from our herdshare dairy for Sugar to nurse. That way we'll have beef for ourselves. We probably won't milk her until the calves are weaned.

Irish Bangers

All measurements are approximate:
2# ground lamb (at least 20% fat)
1/2 cup Guinness Stout
1 cup fresh sourdough breadcrumbs
2 tsp good sea salt
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp mace
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp rubbed sage

Blend all ingredients thoroughly with fingers. Stuff into natural hog casings and twist into links. This is the first time I've made these so I'll have to let you know how they taste.

Ike!

Ike huffed and he puffed and he blew our hoophouse down!

Wet...finally

Two days of rain here with more likely. We're supposed to get the remnants of Ike on Monday.

This is the time of year when near panic sets in over all the things I should've gotten done over the summer and with the rain not much is getting done here this weekend. I can't complain though because we're coming out of our usual summer drought and really needed the rain.

I'm having trouble finding hay for the winter. My usual (and closest) source may not have any this year and another source tells me it will come down to his third cutting this month. I really don't want to have to buy it at auction but it may come to that.

Mobile blogging

This is my first blog post from my new smartphone. Hopefully this method of blogging will result in more activity here on the Liberty Farm blog. Now, if I'm in the barn or pasture and have something to blog about, I can just whip out my phone and blog!

Look for frequent short posts (if I can get the hang of this tiny keyboard).

I have a few happenings this summer to write more about later.

Home from vacation

We arrived home from our trip to New Orleans and Orange Beach, Alabama. The 2nd annual retreat of the Society of Saint Polycarp was June 10-12 in NOLA and we took a side trip to the Gulf before coming home. What a wonderful trip.

Thanks so much to Father Larry, Miss Grace and Leo Beane for hosting us. It was wonderful to see Latif Gaba again and get to know Mike and Amy Green.

My dad kept watch over the farm while we were gone (thanks, Dad!).

Here are some photos.

Great Article.

Against Monoculture