More Goat Pics And A Dog Picture

Since we are a family farm, that means that family members are involved in what we do.  This post is designed and written by our 10 year old son, Daniel.   He thought the goat pictures are out of date and wanted to share new pictures.  The goats are 4-H projects for the boys.  More pictures of our goats are on the Rusty R Ranch website Daniel designed.

Rayne is the white NIGERIAN DWARF . Pudding is the pregnant black Nigerian dwarf . 

Rayne is1 in April .  Pudding will be 5 in May.  Rayne is my goat. Pudding is Jacob's goat.

Look at that udder on Pudding.  Her udder is big because she is going to have kids.   I hope she has girls because boys we have to sell. We get to keep girls.

             Rayne wants me to get out the way .                                Pudding is looking at me wanting grain . 

                                          Missy is a border collie mutt . She wanted her picture too.

Compost additions from a local food pantry

Yesterday afternoon we received a call to see if we were in need of pig food.  We aren't currently raising pigs.  But thinking of bags of grain, I decided to follow up.  Some grain products can be fed to other animals, depending on what the content is.  Well, this wasn't grain, instead it was about 20 plastic tubs of rotting food.from a local food pantry.  The food was so far decayed that it wouldn't have been safe to feed to any animals.  And, just in case you are wondering why there was so much decayed food at a food pantry, we took about a 2 month+ accumulation.  Overall, it was a small percentage of waste.  We still took it to add to our compost pile.  I will spare you the pictures.  It was a gross experience.  But, if you choose farm life, you will have many gross experiences.  It comes with the territory.   In 6 months, that will no longer be a pile of decaying vegetables.  Instead it will be beautiful black wonderful compost!  For more information on composting, email me or check out The Green Zone for more information about composting.

Oh golly, Goats!

We are now owners of two Nigerian Dwarf does (female goats).  I can honestly say that I never thought we would be goat owners.  Jayme and I are cattle people. We know and understand cattle.  Not goats...

But, cattle get a little larger than goats.  So, the goats are better projects for our kids right now.  Each boys is the proud owner of one goat.  Jacob's goat is named Pudding and she is 4 years old, just like Jacob.  Pudding is hopefully bred to have babies in February.  Daniel's goat is Rayne (the white one) and she was just born in March of 2011.

Daniel is starting 4-H this year with his goat.  Jacob can't start 4-H until he is older.  However, the boys have their goats because Jacob loves animals so much.  Jacob spent so much time at the petting zoo with the goats that his grandparents wanted to get him a goat of his own.  Thanks grandparents!

So, you can expect to hear more about goat adventures in the future.  And, if you live near us, you may have to come see them!

Totally Tomatoes!!!

Ripe tomatoes are finally here.  I made salsa and canned tomatoes this past week.  I was able to make 20 pints of salsa using only ingredients from my garden - onions, peppers, and tomatoes.  The salsa turned out great!

This is an example of "don't do what I did".  I canned the last bit of salsa into quart jars.  I've actually canned salsa into quart jars for years not knowing that it is a "no-no".

Here is the salsa recipe that I used:

Chili Salsa (Hot Tomato - Pepper Sauce)




Now that we have enough salsa for the next year, all future tomatoes that we don't eat fresh will be canned.  I use a quart of canned tomatoes in spaghetti sauces, chili, and pretty much any recipe where you would use canned tomatoes.  Here are instruction on how to can tomatoes.

Start with tomatoes.  Like those burgundy/green tomatoes?  Those are an heirloom variety called Cherokee Purple.  They taste great!  And look cool...

I pressure canned these tomatoes.  You can also process them using a water bath.  The processing time is longer and I was in a hurry this day.

The most annoying part about pressure canning (in my opinion) is having to watch the pressure gauge constantly to make sure it is right where it is supposed to be.  I have to adjust my burner heat up and down a little to keep the needle where it needs to be.  I forgot how much I dislike standing and watching to make sure the needle stays at 12 pounds of pressure.  I will be water bath processing future batches.  It takes longer, but I can at least clean my kitchen while I wait.


But, in the end when I add all the jars of tomatoes and salsa to my basement storage, it is all worth the time and effort.