Chicama Run Family Farm

Well the kids are thrilled with the water kefir drinks mixed with a fruit juice.  Who am I to argue with kids drinking something that has more healthy bacteria in it than a cup of yogurt!?

So today I mixed up more..... it will go in the fridge tomorrow morning and be ready by tomorrow evening to start drinking.  My experiment of the week was to put milk kefir grains into juice and let it ferment.  SUPER FIZZY this morning!  I went ahead and bottled it and stuck them straight in the fridge.  I think I let them sit a day too long as those are a little strong - but it was my first super fizzy one that I have made.  Interesting!  So I'm doing it again.... just won't let it sit that long and today I put it in 100% grape juice.  It's not organic - but it was on sale and for an experiment, I'll try it out.  Next will be apple juice once my milk kefir grains multiply again (another day or so).

If you see my kids drinking out of what LOOKS like beer bottles - ummmm..... I used what we had to bottle these drinks up.  I bought some bottles.... but I really need to get these sodas going and bottled - so I'm using Joe's beer bottles.  We are working on getting beer that I can at least peel the label off of - unfortunately we can't do that with Corona - and that didn't occur to me until later..... so we'll have to deal with that a little bit.

This weekend I'll be making yogurt and possibly some more cheese....the yogurt is a new culture (villi I think) where I can leave it at "room temp" over night and it gets really thick - so I'll try it out.

Today Joe is getting everything ready and starting to plan strawberries - which will be ready next year to pick.  We have 500 plants to get in the ground and there just isn't enough time in the day some weeks - then when it rains we can't usually do garden work either because it just becomes a mud-pit.

Off to milk the goats so they stop yelling at me!!

What does it mean to "east seasonally"?  It means that tomatoes are NOT grown year round in Virginia unless there is a hot-house involved.  Sorry - you will not be able to get tomatoes, cucumbers, and other yummies just yet at the market.  What is in season then?  Think cold stuff - lettuce, cabbage, asparagus, things like that.

So we have the Nubian dairy goats now.  I'm milking 1 of them.... last night the one that we thought wasn't due until April 16th decided to have triplets..... and later this morning I head out to go and get the 3rd one who we left there because she was so close to giving birth we didn't want to move her (she had the baby the day after we left - good call!!)....

Right now with just milking the 1 goat we are getting almost 1 gallon of milk per day.  We have 1 official "goat herd share" member (we just started and are really working on that) - but that's only 1/2 gallon gone per week!!  Then we have a couple of people pick up a quart here or there throughout the week.

I made 1 GALLON of yogurt the day we got back.  I made it in my Excalibur Dehydrator (very cool machine BTW) and I used Stonyfield Farms organic plain yogurt as a starter.  I'm getting Viilli starter to try making it on the counter without a machine - I'll let you know how that works out!  We've made cheese, Paneer, which is just a plain white cheese which will take on the taste of what you put in it - plus you just use white vinegar so it's pretty darn simple.  That can be used as a meat replacer as well!

Now, thanks to my friend, I have milk kefir grains going - dang.... people weren't kidding when they said they multiply like crazy!!!  We might be offering these by the weekend at the rate they are going!

Then we are freezing some of the milk for later use - things like bottle babies, dry season for the goats, etc.

What am I learning through all this?  It's actually amazing.  I feel like I am going into a completely different world to be honest.  For the past 4 years we've sat on the edges, we offer incredible meat (I'm allowed to say that because I still get amazed when I don't even have to drain my ground PORK) but what about eating healthier and taking it to another level?

I'm learning right now about "Lacto-fermentation".  Am I an expert on it?  No way!!  I'm wading through it - and honestly I can't wait to make sauerkraut with some cabbage soon! Or pickle some carrots.  

Then - I'm working on building up everyone's "pro-biotic" level.  Alexis was diagnosed with probable Lyme's Disease.  I did choose to put her on the anti-biotics for it because I have seen what can happen if you "let it go" - serious changes in the person.  So, I let her drink water kefir.  This drink is SOOO simple and it's replacing my personal soda fixation.  Plus - I spent the money on the grains... and now I let nature do it's thing and I don't need to keep buying soda!  1 glass gives her some serious pro-biotic kick.  Since I know you will ask - here is my recipe:

2 quarts water (we have a well and it's really good water)
Water Kefir Grains (purchased from http://www.culturesforhealth.com)
1/2 cup Dehydrated Cane Sugar (organic stuff - found even at Giant or Bloom)

Let sit for 24 hours - then drain.  I then add 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 1 TBSP Bee Pollen to the water.  Tastes like Lemonade!!

There is a ton about this stuff and ways to go about it.  I'm working up to making 1 gallon per day and letting everyone in the family drink it as they want.

Here's a cool website about it: http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

I'm planning on working on Kombucha tea as well (waiting for that stuff to come in)... so the final drink choices in the house will be: Raw Goat Milk, Milk Kefir (think thin yogurt), Water Kefir, & Kombucha tea.  Mix that with some of the healthier food choices - including organ meat - I think we'll be better for it!

Now come on Cabbage!!  GROW GROW GROW!!!!!

Lambs are jumping - kids and running themselves exhausted by the end of the day (the human and goat kind as well!) and all is good..... ok GREAT!!!

Over the next few weeks, I'm planning on doing some reviews of some books.  Since we opened our Goat Herd Share program, a lot of people have been asking about eating healthier, raw advantages/disadvantages, goat vs cow, etc etc etc.  So I am going to do some research on some of the most popular books out there about these things and let you know what I find out - which ones are worth the $$ and which ones you can bypass.

First out the door will be "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon.  This book was recommended to me by my friend from high school - Barbara who spent the day hanging out with me.  I'm still working on the book and I need to make some of the recipes before I review (my family gets to be some serious guinea pigs for this one - just don't tell them!)....

But - if you've read the reviews and heard of the book....



There's the link for the book.  It has a gorgeous cover BTW - it's not that plain black and white you see at Amazon.

Off to continue reading and opening up the farm and enjoying all that spring has to offer!