Category Archives: Farm

Processing peppers

Figured I’d finally get some harvesting posts up since I couldn’t find the time to do it “live”. As we get loads of green peppers, what I don’t eat raw (my favorite), we chop and freeze. When we have large batches at once, after washing & removing the stem/seeds, we send chunks through the chopper blade of our food processor. We freeze them in 2 cup and 4 cup freezer bags.

We have a stuffed pepper soup recipe that calls for 4 cups of chopped peppers, and we use 2 cups in our chili recipe – hence storing those sizes. I think last year we froze enough that we could make 8 batches of our soup and another 8 batches of our chili. We also like to make a bunch of barley-stuffed peppers which we freeze individually so we can just take out what we want. I place them side-by-side in a covered container until fully frozen, and then stack them in gallon sized freezer bags.

That’s pretty much how we calculate what we need for a year… When it’s time to cook, I like to grab what I need in the size that I need – kinda like our very own grocery store, lol! It really works great for the type of lifestyle we live. Ideally, someday we’d like to use less plastic, but we are not there yet. For now, being able to create a filling meal in a shorter amount of time is a higher priority. 🙂

Many of our hot peppers, we just wash & freeze whole. We like to throw a couple whole peppers into pots of “whatever”, just for flavor. We’ve learned to taste test while recipes simmer – because it doesn’t take too long for the “heat” to take over, lol…

Every year, my 3 boys try to make their own hot sauce. Found a recipe for a lacto-fermented hot sauce online, so they tried it last season. They sorted their peppers by “hotness” and made 3 different batches. They are still undecided if they really like it or not…(which in my opinion, means they must not like it, lol)

We froze the hot sauce in half pint jars, but didn’t have enough lids for them. Used foil & set them into sandwhich ziplock baggies in an effort to NOT stink up our freezer, but that didn’t work. Next season, we will have metal lids, lol. 🙂

Rags instead

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Several years ago, we began the transition toward buying less of the “disposable” paper stuff. Needed to lower our expenses, so we could pay our bills + work on paying down our debt. At this same time, we cancelled our weekly trash pickup, too.

Everything we used to “throw away” was now separated into recycle, burn, or trash piles. When we first started, we’d have enough trash stuff for Mike to load up the truck and drive to the dump every 3 months. Then it was every 6 months. And now it is once a year! This was a huge blessing on two counts: 1) the price per truckload at the dump has risen EACH TIME, and 2) Mike DESPISES going to the dump, lol. Both of these were big motivators for us to remain diligent in reducing the “trash” pile. 🙂

Decided to cut up our old t-shirts…the ones with stains & holes – and use them for the same thing we used to do with kleenex and paper-towels. (Yeah, this is the same girl who just did a post about admiring old hankies – but that was TO LOOK AT, not keep one in my pocket all day, lol…) I wasn’t real keen on the thought of old-fashioned handkerchiefs (AT FIRST). In fact, they kind of grossed me out a little. So, the idea was born about making single-use but re-usable rags. Fashioned one of our kitchen drawers to be a “rag drawer”, and filled it with squares of t-shirt pieces.

Attached a basket to the wall in our basement stairwell where we throw our dirty rags and they get thrown in the wash with our other laundry.

Once we got into the new routine, it has been smooth sailing! 🙂

My goodness, I know we’ve saved a TON of money by not buying kleenex – we used to go through a box a week, easy! And, the rags are soooo much softer than tissues. In fact, we often DO carry our rags in our pockets now – yeah, JUST LIKE HANDKERCHIEFS, lol! Hmmm, what a good idea… 🙂

They are also great for kitchen clean-up. If there’s a spill or something I don’t want to use my crocheted dishcloth on, I just use a rag or two or three… If it’s something super yucky, I don’t feel guilty at all about throwing the rag in the burn pile, because I know we are blessed with an overabundance of future t-shirt rags – even plenty to share! 🙂

Do we still have rolls of paper towels? Yes, but that’s only because my dad bought us two packs of 15 rolls three years ago. According to my estimates, we use not quite 2 rolls A YEAR! His gift oughta last us another 8 years, minimum, lol. 🙂

The dark-colored rags usually go next door to be used in our dairy. (Makes it easy to tell which rags go where once they’ve been washed. (Or is that more of my control freakishness shining through…?) When we have enough dirty rags for a load, we wash them with homemade lye soap. Works great! 🙂

Our old, holey socks are also cut-up & have functions post foot-life. Top half works great for general cleaning & for a cotton ball substitute.

Bottom half, which never lies flat, gets thrown in a shoebox for the 3 boys to use in the garage. These are “disposable” rags for stuff like wiping up oil, paint, or other outside messes. They end up in the burn pile. 🙂

This paperless oddity has led to some funny conversations when new friends visit with us. “Where’s your trash can?” is answered, “Um, what kind is it – burnable, recyclable, or trash?” And “Could I have a kleenex?” leads to strange-but-polite-looks as we explain our single use/re-usable rags… 🙂

My 3 boys like to tease me about how much MORE money we could save by not buying toilet paper anymore, lol – but unless someone else takes over laundry duty, this lady’s gotta draw the line somewhere!! 🙂

One month until 2013 calves!

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First due date of our dairy girls is March 23rd – one month from today! 🙂

Name brainstorming has begun – thought I’d post our tentative list…

Just a refresher on how we do names: Each mama is assigned a name category for her daughters. Then her daughter’s last name is her mama’s first name. Soooo, when I enter the animal (+ picture) as a contact in my phone, it is easy to see all the daughters of a particular cow, since they all have the same last name. Also makes it easier to remember who is a part of which family when the first names fit in a particular category. I (especially) need to have some kind of “system” to help my brain process a bunch of new additions in a quick span of time, lol! 🙂

Boys are named a bit differently. In 2010 we started with using the “aviator’s alphabet”. (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.) Last year, we ended with Romeo, so this year we begin with “S”. Technically, our first bull then should be named Sierra. But since we have a personal (female) friend with that name, we are gonna go with Sahara instead. 🙂

Of course, all of these brainstorms are “subject to change” once we meet the calf, but at least we have something to start with! 🙂

Frozen whipped cream dollops

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Since we rely on our frozen dairy to get us through the winter, we don’t have the luxury of “fresh cream” like we do when we are milking. [Click here for more details about our seasonal dairy.]

I. Love. Fresh. Cream… Especially in my two cups of coffee each morning. 🙂

I was excited when I stumbled on the idea of whipping fresh cream and then freezing dollops of it on parchment paper, in my internet searching last fall. I tried it, and it has been a success! Sadly, I didn’t freeze enough for EVERY cup of coffee this winter, but it will definitely be my goal to freeze enough for next year! 🙂

Frozen dairy

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We are a seasonal dairy. At about the second week of December, we dry our herd up & they are on “vacation” – preparing to have their calves beginning mid-March. They “chill” in a nice big field (Mordor), where there are hills & trees for shelter.

We enjoy the break, too. A time to really buckle down on our homeschooling and attempt to catch up on all the chores we let slack during the milking season. 🙂

During this “dry” season, we obviously don’t have “fresh” milk. To compensate for that, we prepare for our “dry period” during the previous “fresh period”…frozen milk, butter, cottage & ricotta cheeses, and NEW this year: frozen whipped cream dollops! With our thawed frozen dairy, we still make daily kefir & weekly yogurt.

There have been MANY learning curves in freezing our milk. One of the biggest lessons was the importance of not allowing the cream to separate from the milk before it’s frozen. On the days I am freezing milk, I set a timer to go off every hour so I remember to shake every jug & rotate them in our freezers. It is a burden at first, but once I’m in “my routine”, it’s not that big a deal. Normally, it’s 4-6 hours of shaking, because we don’t do super-huge batches at once. 🙂

In our opinion, thawed frozen milk (if shaken properly) does not taste much different than fresh. It is not exactly the same, but a change we are ok with so we can have our break, and not have to purchase any dairy off-farm. 🙂

We place the bull in with the cows in June for about 6-8 weeks. This puts our girls’ due dates to be about mid-March to the beginning of May. Our goal is to be able to begin weekly pickups for our herd-share owners by the beginning of April. It’s a chaotic “rush” as we jolt into calving & baseball season at the same time, but with deliberate, make-ahead meal planning & lots of anticipatory prayer, a very rewarding season! 🙂

Even this?

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Funny story. As I was washing the umpteenth sinkful of dishes yesterday, I saw this:

First, I admired how pretty our tiny flock of chickens was: 2 hens + 1 rooster. I love their colors, that they are descendants from one of our original roosters, that our friends hatched them, and that they gave them to us to raise.

Then I thought it was cute that my view of them in that moment from the kitchen sink also included a hand-carved twig rooster that Mike made, and my chicken suncatcher…

Then I thought how funny it was that here I am admiring chickens, both real & decorative, when I have a fear of the flapping wings of birds… Through glass, I can admire live ones, just don’t ask me to catch/touch one, lol…

Then I thought of how much I enjoy watching these birds free-ranging in our yard. Being thankful the snow was gone so I could watch them forage… and see them with a green backdrop, instead of a white one.

Let’s zoom in a bit now:

Then I remembered what the boys told me just a few days before – about those light-colored flecks you see in the grass… No, those weren’t bits of unfrozen snow or small leaves like I so naively believed, lol. I was informed these flecks were left from flocks of starlings that have been landing in our yard. Yeah. That’s right. Bird poop. Yuck. Starting to ruin my moment of admiration here…

And then I couldn’t help but LAUGH! Wasn’t I just complaining about how our 2 hens have stopped laying eggs for us?

You know, I’m not too upset they aren’t making eggs right now, considering their current food choice, lol. But I am thankful for all the friends we have who surprise us with fresh eggs… ‘Cause, surely, their birds don’t eat stuff like ours, right? Ha! 🙂

Oh Lord, You never cease to amaze me. Thanks for showing me how to be thankful in all things, even this… Amen.

A podcast – oh my…

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Last week, the boys & I had fun recording a podcast with Brian & Susy for “Cultivate Simple”. Enjoyed talking with them about our dairying journey, for Episode 18: The Family Cow. It has been a blessing to get to know them over the past 6 years, and sure do appreciate being able to glean from the research they do & so willingly share.

Must say, it’s WEIRD hearing your own voice over the airwaves, lol.

Click here to go to their site & download the podcast from there.

Or you can click here to find Cultivate Simple on iTunes & download it from there. (Hopefully this link will work – I’m not 100% sure I did it correctly…)

Apple trees – major trim Jan 2013

Christmas reflections 2012

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What a whirlwind of a season! Started preparing this post weeks ago – and am thankful I’m finally getting it posted! 🙂

Enjoyed a wonderful time of preparation for Christmas, and despite some challenges during the actual week of Christmas, had a great time visiting with family and cherishing T-I-M-E. That would be “time” for building relationships, “time” for leaning on the Lord for strength, “time” for creating memories, “time” for resting, “time” for practicing thanksgiving, and “time” for adoration of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ – the REAL reason for this season. 🙂

I took a lot of pictures as our homemade gifts came into fruition, and hopefully I can get them posted before January is over…

Christmas Eve began with our tiny service in the barn next door. This year we read through the familiar passages in Luke & Matthew, plus some from Genesis & Hebrews. We chose “The Message” translation to read from, and I so loved the sentence from Hebrews 10:14… (regarding Jesus Christ’s SINGLE sacrifice for sins) “It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people.” 🙂 We sang Christmas hymns as the cats harmonized with their purring, lol… It was a simple, but beautiful time of worship. 🙂

A funny story about Christmas morning… one of my gifts to the boys was for them to wake up to the smell of “fresh bread”. Since all our bread is sourdough, and requires a 2-day process to complete it, that meant I had to begin the “end phase” before bed, get up at 3am to separate the dough into loaves, and bake it around 5:30am. Not too big of a deal for the 5:30 part, because that’s about when Mike & I roll out of bed anyway… All worked without a hitch – UNTIL I REMEMBERED I HAD TOLD MIKE’S DAD I WOULD COOK THE SHRIMP HE PURCHASED for the “appetizer brunch” planned at his house for Christmas Day… LESSON LEARNED: the smell of shrimp boiling TRUMPS any fresh-bread smell, lol! Fortunately some friends had made us a lovely scented candle for a gift – it worked well to at least get rid of the “fishy” smell! (Thanks Ben & Brittany!) 🙂

After enjoying Christmas morning here, mid-day next door and then the afternoon/evening up in Cleveland with my side of the family, we looked forward to picking up Mike’s brother & his wife, our 2 nieces + new nephew at the Cleveland Airport at 10:19pm. Well 10:19pm actually turned into 3 something am… It was a very stressful night as we watched a terrible winter storm creeping up from the south & our Nebraska family was stuck in Chicago! Thankfully, they all landed in Cleveland ok and made it back down here around 5am – about four hours before the storm hit!! Praise the Lord… 🙂

So after TWO NIGHTS of sleep deprivation for me, it was quite the challenge to complete the last minute gift wrapping/assembling. Emotions for me were very quick to surface – be it a snappy tongue or tears… Not exactly how I had envisioned that day to be. 😦

My morning devotions were such a blessing during this time – led to lots of journalling that I am slowly adding to my “raw ramble page”… 🙂 It was so wonderful to finally get to meet our nephew, Sawyer! And bless his heart – he was so patient with his Aunt Dawn…after MONTHS of waiting (& whining) about being able to hold him, I didn’t do a thing but PASS OUT when we sat down together, lol…

Fortunately, I caught up on my sleep after that, so I had other opportunities to make up for my heavy eyes… 🙂

It was great to spend time with our nieces, too – always fun watching the boys entertaining their cousins!

Played “bring-every-stuffed-animal-we-have-to-see-Baby-Jesus-in-the manger” over here, at our house…

The winter storm brought over 6 inches of snow, so sled-riding made the agenda…

With some snowballs being thrown, of course! Paul got Uncle Ben pretty good, lol… (Fortunately, his glasses were not broken!) 🙂

Got up to the “big hill”, and Michael & Paul had fun blazing trails.

And this pic hurts my knees just looking at it! Here’s Paul getting a running/jumping start…

And of course, a time outside wouldn’t be complete without Michael on the ground… At his request, he got buried in the snow, lol… 🙂

Another day, more family made the couple hour drive up, so our crew had fun playing with more cousins!

The “younger” ones went sled-riding between our two houses. I took these pics from the comfort of a nice, warm kitchen, lol… 🙂

Funny how little boys naturally gravitate toward a snowball fight! If you squint, you’ll see cousin Joe aiming for Ben… 🙂

Alyssa found time to work on a craft she got as a gift…

Uncle Mike with Sawyer…

Addi & Sawyer both got some cuddle time with Grandma…

Aunt Jenny with Sawyer…

And Michael with Sawyer…

And then the poor guy had to put up with his crazy aunts dressing him up…

Thought this pic was hilarious with his fist up – boys think he looks like Thor, lol! 🙂

Sadly, we were not immune to sickness during the week. It hit Grandma first, then Paul, then Mike… Nothing major, just annoying. They were all pretty tired for a good 4-5 days, and Mike’s seemed to end up as soreness in his back. Again, for us it was more spiritual warfare – an open door for the devil to attempt to steal some joy, and it led me to more “<a href="http://“>journal rambles“…

On January 4th, I was led to 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 from one of my devotions. It went along perfectly with my reflections of Christmas – where we battled exhaustion, prolonged sickness, irritations, hurting bodies, and even boredom in recovery. It’s fascinating to witness how evil can work on our physical bodies to affect (attempt to affect) our Light! Father, strengthen us to battle these circumstances today – each our own hurdle… As these bodies heal, keep the memories fresh in our minds so we can’t help but to overflow with thanksgiving as we speak of Your amazing love and provisions. Thank You for fresh perspectives and encouraging passages from Your Living Word! Amen.

Roberts' Farm Blog

Ramblings of a remade remnant…

Category Archives: Farm

Processing peppers

Rags instead

One month until 2013 calves!

Frozen whipped cream dollops

Frozen dairy

Even this?

A podcast – oh my…

Apple trees – major trim Jan 2013

Christmas reflections 2012

Beef broth yield 2013