NH Homesteader's journal

[sumi]

That's a good idea, hand feeding him. Hopefully he'll get over the grabbing issues quickly, especially now he's learning to associate hands with food.

 

[Mini Horses]

Turkeys -- I have three HUGE wild toms frequenting the lower fields of the farm. I'd say an easy 35# each. I've been seeing them every day for a few weeks. They live in the woods a edge of fields.

Lot of wild turkey around here. Flocks of 20-25 not rare.

 

[NH Homesteader]

His sire is shy also, so I do wonder if it's genetic too. I don't mind if he stays a little shy, it's the does that get handled twice a day that I want to be friendly! I actually do have a doe that is kind of standoffish who is amazing on the milking stand. It's fine with me, one less attacker when I walk in the pen!

No more chicks here, I have some untalented broodies. Next year I'll be more hands-on and we should have better luck. I still have 6 birds in the freezer from last summer, 4-6 cockerels from this year (I lied, it's 5 minimum), 2 turkeys and maybe 4 stew birds so we'll be ok for poultry anyway. Plus nearly 3 pigs, we won't starve this winter! Lol

I never managed to plant cucumbers this year. I kind of forgot about them. Thank goodness my mother always has a ton of extra cukes! I also don't bother with zucchini or summer squash because she has so many. She never grows beans, I always have a ton. It works out well!

We also have a ton of wild turkeys. Unfortunately we have enough that like to attack ours, so we can't free range them and they have to be penned. We've had toms injured through the fences before. Darn wild birds are aggressive! One attacked my husband when he tried to scare it off!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Geeze, attack turkeys? That's scary!

Sounds like you and your mom have a good garden exchange going on!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yeah that and she always gets tomatoes but my stepdad doesn't eat tomatoes so she eats a few BLT's and lets me have the rest. I am tomato obsessed. I have no idea why, but it is my #1 priority in my garden. We are big pizza eaters, so I want homemade sauce!

My daughter told me tonight she wants a meat goat so we can make goat meat pepperoni. Hmm, can't argue with that! Weird and random thought though...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

LOL - never heard of goat meat pepperoni! But, sounds good to me! I have a little buckling out there that I thought about keeping - but I darn sure don't need another buck. Probably wether him when DH gets back to hold him. Maybe he'll make good pepperoni?!

 

[baymule]

@NH Homesteader do ya'll make bacon from your pigs and do you cure/smoke it? I have bacon slabs in my refrigerator soaking in brown sugar and salt. I'll smoke it in a few days. Question, do I wash off the brown sugar and salt before smoking it? It would make sense to, at least to me, but I just want to make sure.

 

[NH Homesteader]

We use a liquid brine, but all the recipes I've seen for dry curing says to rinse it off. We haven't made bacon at home because we don't have a good smoker setup, so I just know what DH used to do when he processed with a guy he used to work with some. We have a ton of pork belly in the freezer though, waiting for us to do something with it!

 

[baymule]

We bought a barrel type pit with an offset smoker box for $99 at Walmart. Not fancy, but I think it will get the job done. We're going to put it under the carport today and stack up/spilt some dry oak to keep it dry. I have a bucket of small hickory branches all cut into small lengths in the shed that is nice and dry too. Cross your fingers for me!

 

[baymule]

What is your liquid brine?