NoobieChickenLady's Journal - SS Score and Mah Kitteh is HOME!! Yay!

I have blackberry envy. I am hopeing I have enough to make a few jars of jam. If not I will try those cute little fruit jar pies.
DH bush hogged all my blackberry bushes 2 years ago. (He didn't know any better until I cried and also cussed and fussed). So this is the first berry year. Next year will be better.
 
I keep finding wild stands on public property. I did get a bunch off the wild ones on my lot (3 gallons or so), but this stand puts mine to shame!!! We could pick for days and we'd get tired of picking before we even made a dent in it. And there don't seem to be any deer bothering it. People drop off trash, junk & sometimes deer carcasses relatively near the stand. I guess those keep the buggers away. I don't pick near them, that's for sure. :sick

I still need to make a trip just to meet you one weekend. It's hard to get away unless its a planned trip.
 
My life these days are so - UP IN THE AIR- its hard to make plans. I keep saying the same thing about heading your way but never make it. I would love to visit your place and see the goats and bees - oh, and swipe a few blackberries. Maybe even leave with some fresh goats milk.
 
Thanks for keeping up with me. We will make it through this. I have a good enough attitude for both of us.

On the corn: I did not keep my seed in the freezer. I just stored it in an air tight jar. Some of it was 2 years old and still came up.
 
Yes Ma'am! I understand completely. I know how hard it is for us to make future plans that involve a lot of time away from home.

Thanks for the info on the corn! *scurries off to Bakercreek to see if they still have stock in Rainbow Inca* NOOOOOO! They're out! Ah well, I'll get some True Gold sweet corn. Or wait... Sandhill might have some. And they do! Yay!
And I would totally send you home with some goodies!
 
Baby bunnies are looking great. Well, 6 of them are, the 7th is a little runty.
Dixie is still addicted to crack. I mean corn. I may be able to train her to do tricks using single kernels if I got busy with it. Nah, she does enough tricks by giving me milk :lol:

More of my hens are doing the squat. I don't think I got very many EE hens, boooo. The rir are about half & half. At least 2 will go in the fridge this weekend to chill and then roast on Monday or Tuesday.

Planning on making another batch of soap this weekend. I'm really looking forward to using my new mold. I have everything I need, I just need to get to it. Next weekend we will try the feta again. I left it in the dang brine too long and it got rather mushy. Anyways, I let it drain as much as it could and tossed it with some tomatoes, fresh basil and pepper. That was really, really good.

Went to pick blackberries again with my friend Jen. While we were there, I browsed through some of the bushes and found several pieces of good lumber that I am going to bring home today.So yeah, I hate to keep harping on the blackberries, but jeepers!
Take a look at the load on these bushes. And this is a just a very, very small portion of the overall patch. I also think there are some chokecherry trees around the bend from these. I'll have to go back & check, I was too soaked & bug bitten to care about it much yesterday. At least I remembered my boots so I don't have scratches on my toes :P We're going to a u-pick blueberry farm this weekend, after I go to the farmer's market to see what they have.
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How long did you leave in the brine? It should get harder in the brine as the salt draws more whey out. I'm thinking that you did not get enough whey out before you put it in the brine. Did you turn it and rub it with salt every day for a few days before brining it? My last batch was a little softer than usual, so I turned it and salted it for a few extra days before brining it. It needs to be pretty firm and have a bit of a rind before brining.
 
That's probably where I went wrong, free. I thought it was pretty firm, but I don't think it actually had a rind on it. I let it sit on a strainer in a bowl & rubbed it with salt twice a day. I poured off the whey that collected. But, I only let it sit like that for 3 days. I bet if I had gone 5 or 6, it would have been fine. Oh well, first time doing it, I'll get better :)

I want to quick jumping all over the place with my cheeses tho. I need to pick one & master it before I try something new.

The flavor was off the charts after it had drained; rich, salty and tangy.

ETA: I left it in the brine for about a week. Nope, I'm a goofball, it was about 2 weeks in the brine, then 4 days straining.
 
Tanks, I can take absolutely no credit for the bushes. I'm just glad I found them. Now if I could just find a stand of garlic mustard or wild garlic that big... :lol:
 
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