Ricardo Rooster

I'd been avoiding getting a rooster for a long time even though I wanted one. Their crowing reminds me of my first visit to Alle Meria in Volos Greece, a small village on a mountain. Roosters there crowed every morning, and there were a lot of them.

The other day I was visiting with the neighbors who live closest to where I have my animals and asked if they would mind if I got a rooster as they would be most affected by his crowing. They said they didn't mind at all since they get up very early anyway. They also said they liked that my geese sound the alarm so they can let their mastiff out to chase away any intruders like coyotes.

So, I thought about it for all of two hours as I did the restaurants' weekly Costco shopping and decided to stop by the feed store for my first rooster. I was really hoping for a big, beautiful, ornate bird to woo my hen ladies like a Phoenix or a Serama, or maybe even a Polish Crested, but alas, there was a markdown on the overload of bantam roosters they had. And that was the only kind they had. And they were ALL crowing over and over. It was cute because they're small.

So I told the guy to catch me the prettiest rooster he could net.

Meet Ricardo Rooster.

He's small. He's colorful. He walks alone in the chickenyard. He needs no one. He knows already that he is king. King of all he oversees. King of twenty assorted hens. King of the massive mesquite tree and the creepy coop.

He looks on as the hens scrabble for food. He's supervises Tsica, Canella, and Vanilla as they do their goatly duties.

He does not need to be petted or held. (We hold him anyway despite his squawks of disapproval).

He checks on the nestboxes to be sure the ladies are doing their job. He especially like Broody Red Hen who makes a hideous henly noise whenever I show up for egg collection.

He is at least half her size, maybe smaller. But size does not matter to him. He left a pen with over fifty other roosters where he was pecked and pushed around to become king of this small ranch. And so he is...

Broody Red Hen

Our itty-bitty King Ricardo

Love is in the Air

Image Copyright Sunin Dreamstime.com

This morning, something strange was happening at the ranch. I went alone to do the chores (the mini-farmers had a late night) and I noticed that my broody hen was dreamily eyeing the new rooster and squishing in beside him in a nest box (more on Ricardo Rooster later). Lil G, our baby Nigerian buck, was eying Star's and Princess' rear ends with utter fascination, almost buckly moanings, and a waggling tongue. Mojo was giving off his magical buckly 'stench of awesomeness' more so than ever. Even Lucky the Ram and Teenager Sheep were cudding up and smelling each other's backdoors.

But that was not the strangest of all...

Jorge, the last goat we bought from our beloved and helpful 4-H neighbor girl, was sticking his tongue out at Ms. Cow. And Ms. Cow was leaning on the fence by him giving him her best bedroom eyes.

Jorge has been in isolation since having a twig lodged between his left hoof and limping and generally looking pitiful. The twig was promptly removed same day and his ankle bandaged to keep it stable. He was totally milking the attention and freely offering his foreleg for twice daily exams when I came in to check him.

Anyways, back to bedroom eyes and tongue boy.

Bear in mind Jorge, who is still just a young guy, is almost as big as Ms. Cow. They were snuggling up against the fence so sweetly that despite Ms. Cow's prior violent past of ramming the heck out of Jorge, I decided they ought to spend some time alone together.

I'd have taken pics but I accidentally left my cell phone at home.

There was dancing, cuddles, sniffs, rubs, and the wild mambo. Well, he tried to dance the wild mambo but he doesn't really quite know how to do the right moves. I'd done all my chores, so I figured Ms. Cow could handle teaching him the steps as she'd danced the wild mambo before...

The Littlest King

Some days you are king of the mountain...or at least you think you are.
Lil G was taught this fabulous trick by the mini farmers.
I'm not so sure it will be as fun when he grows up!

We officially have...

Okra!
At last!
We finally have some okra happening on a regular basis.
I have to check it daily or else it grows too big. Mmm okra.

Some days...

Some days...
if you're very quiet
and careful
and slow
you can get close enough
to a butterfly
with your cell phone.

Happy Sheep

Today I moved the sheep to the first pasture area.

It was an astoundingly hilarious, action packed event. Thank goodness there was no one there to video-tape it and place it on You-Tube. There are rules to lassoing mostly wild Barbados sheep that can jump six feet in the air without even having to propel themselves. They have magic jet packs they keep in their hooves--I swear!

Rule #1. Wear proper shoes. (I wore flip-flops. Those are not proper, btw. Do as I say, not as I do.)
Rule #2. Have experienced human or canine helpers to herd them for you. (I had Pepper and Star. They're goats. Um, yeah, they can totally herd sheep. I know you don't believe me, but they did.)
Rule #3. When all else fails, just grab them midair when they jump. (It works.)

Anyways, I moved my sheep today to a pastured area about ten times larger than where they were. They were so happy they didn't even eat this morning's hay ration. They had yummier stuff to keep them busy.

I have a lot more areas I need to fence off and gate in. Summer needs to stop now.

Mozzarella

When you have goats in milk you will almost always have more milk than you and your family can use up in a day. We freeze our excess in canning jars (leave space for expansion or you will have explosions). We save up enough for a cheesemaking party. The first cheese I learned to make was Chevre which you can read about here. The second cheese I learned to make was mozzarella. The recipe I first used came from The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company website and I modified it slightly to suit my needs. I'm not a fan of hunting down citric acid or waiting for it to come in the mail, so I substitute lemon juice. Here is the original recipe: Mozzarella in 30 Minutes

Here is my version:

Easy Mozzarella
Ingredients:
1 gallon of raw milk (I use goat's)
juice of 2 large lemons, strained so you don't get seedy cheese (ew)
1/4 cup DISTILLED water (don't use tap or the recipe will FAIL)
1/4 tsp rennet
1 teaspoon salt

Tools:
A Stainless Steel Pot and lid large enough to accomodate your milk
Measuring cups and spoons
Ladle
Microwavable bowl
Container to store your cheese in the fridge

Place your raw milk and lemon juice in a large stainless steel pot. Stir. Heat to 90 degrees fahrenheit. The lemon juice is what creates the acidity and make the cheese stretchy later.

At 90 degrees, remove your pot from the burner. Mix your rennet with the distilled water and then pour that slowly into the milk and juice mixture. Stir with a ladle for about 30 seconds. Place a lid on top. Let set up for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes touch the edge of the milk and it should be thick like custard and separate from the edge of the pot. If it doesn't, let it set up longer.

If it has reached custard consistency, slice it with a long knife in a checkerboard pattern. Return the pot to the burner and heat to 105 degrees fahrenheit, slowly stirring. Your cheese may drop or glob together.

After the cheese reaches 105 degrees, remove it from the burner and continue to stir at least five minutes. I like my cheese fairly dry so it's the consistency of the packaged mozarella from the grocery store, so I let it set up about 5 minutes longer.

Remove your cheese curds from the pot with a ladle or your cleans hands if you're fairly heat tolerant and place them in a microwavable container. I prefer a Pyrex casserole dish. Drain off the excess whey.

Place in the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute. Take it out and knead the curds like bread dough. Drain any excess whey.

Microwave again on high for 35 seconds. Knead again. Drain excess whey.

Add salt to desired taste. Sprinkle it around. About 1/4 teaspoon does it for me. Knead it in good. You can taste your cheese at this point to see if you have enough salt. Add more if you like.

Microwave on high a final 35 seconds.

Knead, Stretch like taffy and then roll it into a ball.

I place mine in a screw top platic Ball brand container and put it in the fridge to cool and harden. The container gives it a uniform shape that makes it easy to slice later on. You can also shred it or just eat it as is! We like to make homemade thin crust pizza weekly with ours as well as fresh basil from the garden.