Milk Kefir Troubles

Over the past months I hadn't made milk kefir.  I simply left my grains in the fridge and changed the milk every once in a while in hopes the grains would survive until life settled down and I had time to make it daily.  When left in the fridge the kefir grains go into a type of hibernation.  If left in the cold too long they will lose this ability to culture properly and will eventually die.  I finally got around to wanting to make my milk kefir on a regular basis but my grains didn't seem to want to come back to life.  I had taken them in and out of the fridge a few too many times and so my milk kept spoiling.  Rather than the sweet smell of kefir it would smell like horrid sour milk.  It wouldn't thicken properly and simply separated rather than becoming thickened first.  It also would have a yellowish colour on the top.  I pitched my grains and got some more that I had given my Mom.  SHe had also left hers in the fridge but had never taken them in and out as I had.  At first the grains didn't want to culture properly.  I decided it might help them activate if I added some existing healthy kefir.  So I purchased some from the local store, which is what I had been doing while they sat in the fridge all those months (what a waste of money).  I added my grains to the store bought kefir and also added milk.  My measurements were approx 2tsp grains (3 average size grains) to 1/3c store bought kefir and 1/3c organic milk.  Within a few batches it smelled beautiful!!  It was thickening nicely and tasted as it should.  I am now getting about 2c of milk kefir every 24hrs.  I do believe that the store bough kefir helped the grains get back to their regular culture.  They are growing rapidly and I am back into full swing!

The beginning of a new Era

I purchased my home which is on a small lot but with a decent about of gardening space.  I moved in at the beginning of march 2013 and was able to get my gardens growing in spite of how crazy things were in my life.  Gardening brings me peace of mind and I find it very cathartic.  Here are just a few pics of my gardens from last year.  I won't go into much detail about things because it was last year and I am currently in full swing with my seedlings and planting for this year!  

Cukes, Zucchini, tomatoes, mint

lettuce on the rise.

 Strawberries (which over winter were destroyed by the dog.  :(

 Pease and Beans

2 varieties of spinach

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs!

A few of our first chicken eggs!

Our birds started laying between 18-20 weeks old.  It started with a few eggs a day and quickly escalated to around a dozen a day at least.  As usual, the first few eggs were smaller and often misshapen.  Duck eggs didn't appear until 25 weeks or so.  The duck eggs were beautiful!!  About the size of 1.5 regular size chicken eggs and speckled.

Here is a duck egg between 2 chicken eggs.

To compare duck eggs to chicken eggs in flavour, for me duck yolks were far superior in flavour.  Duck yolks seemed to have a much richer flavour.   Duck eggs are also higher in Omega-3's and last longer.  But… when it comes to the whites, I actually prefer chicken egg whites.  The duck whites have a different texture which was a bit tougher than chicken whites and they just seemed to have less flavour to me.  In a nutshell, if I want dippy eggs for bacon I'll go with duck eggs.  If I'm wanting scrambled eggs or omelette I'll have chicken eggs.

Here is the nutritional breakdown of Duck eggs vs. Chicken eggs (Source):

Chicken Egg, Large, Raw

Chicken Egg Caloric Ration

Chicken eggs (large egg, 50g):

• Calories: 71
• Total Fat: 5g
• Cholesterol: 211mg
• Sodium: 70mg
• Total Carbohydratge: 0g
• Protein: 6g

Duck Egg, Raw

Duck Egg Caloric Ratio

Duck eggs (70g):

• Calories: 130
• Total Fat: 10g
• Cholesterol: 619mg
• Sodium: 102mg
•  Total Carbohydrate: 1g
• Protein: 9g

Now, here are some photos of the flock once they were all laying:

One of our Columbian Rocks… tied with Barred Rocks as my favourite!  The were so sweet and every time I would bend over in the run they would take the opportunity to roost on my back!

A Poisonous mushroom was growing rampant in the yard.
I made sure to remove any that were growing in the birds run, although through instinct, they knew not to eat them.
I believe it to be a:  Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria

The Fly Agaric is a common white mushroom with an orangish to red cap. This is the species illustrated in many fairy tales (it occurs both in North America and Europe). Many mushrooms in this genus are extremely poisonous.

Some yummy snacks from the kitchen.  Chickens really do make the best garbage disposals.

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Sam The Clock

"Sam The Clock" named by our son.   He was boss of the chickens but certainly not the ducks.  

Sam was the Rooster and he was a Barred Rock.  He was the keeper of the flock and the wakeup call in the morning…. and the afternoon…. and sometimes even in the middle of the night.  He was boss of the chickens, indeed, but certainly not the ducks.
As he grew he became a bit aggressive.  We loved taking the kids into the run to pet the birds and chase them around.  Once Sam started getting aggressive we stopped bringing the kids into the run.  He liked to jump at us and try to get our legs with his claws.  When he decided to attack my leg and give me a nasty cut it was decided that he would have to become dinner.  He was a decent weight so one night Aaron, for the first time, harvested a bird.  I'm a bit of a softy so I wasn't present until the bird looked more like food.  I helped with some of the plucking and cleaning and we ended up with Sam on our table.  Surprisingly, the kids were very ok with this process.  Megan was a bit young and may not have fully understood but Owen certainly did and was not bothered by it at all.

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Fly By Summer

As much work as a garden can be, it is well worth the reward! We got a late start this year due to the move but we have managed to get a decent yield so far considering! 

   

              

   

We recently harvested some radishes and plan to make a radish relish. We have harvested a bunch of zucchini so far and had a surplus which we pickled and canned.  We also had a bunch of garlic scopes from our CSA and pickled them as well. 

I haven't done much critter maintenance other than sprinkling some diatomaceous earth, an herb mixture (mint, thyme and sage) along with my garlic pepper spray around the plants and beds. So far damage has been minimal.

We have had a few storms with pretty gusty wind and our trellises have held up to the challenge. Although, my yellow brandywine tomatoes have been struggling this year for some unknown reason.  As for the other varieties, they are doing well and producing many tomatoes which are almost ready for eating; can't wait!    

Tomato Trellis

Cucumber Trellis

The CSA we purchase from at our local farmers market has been wonderful.  We go every Saturday morning and pick up our share and shop at some of the other local venders.  My only complaint is that there has been many repeats and many boxes contain much of the same things in them.  I would love it if there were a bit more variety which I know is available since there is a large share which often contains produce which we have yet to receive in our small share.  Aside form that, I have been quite pleased with the quality and amount given with regards to the cost.

It is just about time now for some second planting to happen!  There is a few spaces around the garden that are just waiting for something to be planted.  In the next week or so I hope to get some beets in the ground and possibly some mustard greens.  

Garden Works.

The gardens are a slow work in progress for us here at the new house.  We have now put in 2 flat beds for our squash, zucchini, watermelon and cantaloupe.  

The existing 2 raised beds have both been weeded and planting has been done in both, although neither bed is full.  We are trying out the square foot gardening method for the raised beds.  We are also trying to follow some companion planting.   I put up a small trellis for the eggplants and we have the large trellis for the tomatoes (trellis netting yet to be installed for tomatoes).  So far our carrots are up and I have thinned them out to 16 per square foot.  Our onions (4/spft) are also starting to come up but not ready to be thinned out yet.  I also have some more lettuce shooting up (4/sqft) and the 2 large plants are ready for us to begin the continual harvest.
 

Our raised beds are old and the wood edging in riddled with ants and we will likely have to reinforce the beds or simply build a new outer edge and allow the current wood to rot.  Because of all the ants I decided to whip up some ant be gone!  Our companion book says to mix up some water with garlic and white pepper; ants hate garlic and white pepper kills them.  I didn't measure out the ratios but simply added 3 crushed garlic cloves to 3 cups water and sprinkled in some white pepper.  I left it to brew on the counter for a few days and then strained it into a spray bottle and began spraying!  It has definitely helped with the ants.  It has not eliminated them but has definitely helped us control their population.  This garlic pepper brew is also good to spray right on your plants (not flowers-bees won't come to pollinate) to keep flies, butterflies and moths away.  I spray it every few days and after rainfall on the plants and around the beds.  

I have also used Diatomaceous Earth around the beds and on the leafy plants.  this kills the bugs by dehydration... but this will also kill helpful bugs so avoid flowers and use with caution.  I only use it where I see significant leaf damage.  I certainly don't want to kill the spiders and bees that are in and around the gardens.      

We have put all but one of our berry bushes in the ground and Aaron even built me a strawberry planter from an idea I found from this pin on pinterest using some pallet wood.  We have bird netting for the berries but have yet to install it.

After planting our raspberry bushes we also discovered this on the side of our backyard fence:

I guess we could have simply taken some clippings from this old bush and transplanted them!

On top of the work around our house we are still members of the CSA Farm.  I have been doing some work out there as well; not as much as I would like but I am trying.  I have weeded one of our beds and did some plating.  I direct sowed some royal burgundy beans-which have sprouted nicely, swiss chard, onions, nasturtiums and plated some squash and zucchini started at home.  I need to get out and weed our second bed which is full of massive thistles!  UGH!!!  What a pain that will be but it is our fault for not getting on top of it sooner.

 It has been so very much work but in the end we will receive a great payoff.  Soon enough we will be eating fresh, home grown, pesticide free fruits and vegetables.  Sounds like a bargain to me!