Sunnydew Farm

{ IMPORTANT!! } Blog Transfer!

!! IMPORTANT !!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi everyone! Our farm name has changed and now I have to transfer blogs. The name is now "7 Thunders Ranch". Please go to this blog and follow it instead as I am pulling this one down: http://7thundersranch.blogspot.com/

Plus, you guys will find that one WAY more interesting! Here's what I'm planning on having on it:

-Due Dates

-WAY more updates

-Buck and Doe pages

-Weekly pictures

And alot more!

Sorry for the inconvenience, but you're gonna like it :)

-Hannah

Cheese 101!

Before I post anything, I need to say sorry to all of my followers! I haven't posted anything for a while as you can see :)

Anyway, I decided to make some soft cheese the other night and thought I'd post some directions on how to do it.

Soft Goat Cheese (EASY to make!)

1. Pour 1 gallon of milk in a good size pot

2. Turn the stove top on High

3. Set your thermometer to 180 degrees

4. Stir milk (Don't let it burn!)

5. While you're waiting for the temp. to reach 180, get out your Apple Cider Vinegar and put some into a 1/2 cup measure (DO NOT POUR IN POT YET!)

6. Also get out your Cheese Cloth (also called Plyban) P.S. You can also use a flour sack, but the Plyban comes clean easier.

7. Get a metal or plastic strainer. I prefer the ones with the little hook thing on the edge (see picture). It just makes it so the strainer doesn't slip while you are pouring.

8. Get another pot out (This will be used to strain the whey from the cheese)

9. Get your pot that you are going to strain the milk in, ready.

! IMPORTANT !

10. Once your milk reaches 180, turn the burner off right away and stir it in a little bit

11. Pour Apple Cider Vinegar in the pot of milk! Stir it in just a tad bit. P.S. It's better to take the milk off the burner after pouring the vinegar in!

12. Set your timer for 10 Minutes and let the pot sit still (NO STURING!)

13. Pour pot into the other pot with strainer and cheese cloth. (The 2 pics above the last one are showing what your cheese should look like before straining it)

14 (Optional). Now, once you've poured the cheese from the pot into the cheese cloth, scrunch up the cloth and run it under cold water for about 50 seconds. Keep squeezing the cloth after rinsing and make sure it is fully drained. (Careful, cheese will be HOT!)

15. And this is what your finished soft cheese should look like! And you should be DONE!!

I'll try hard to post more often :)

~Hannah

Crazy Kidding Story! ---- 04/02/10 ----

I know it's kinda late to post this...........but I'll do it anyway :)

Cloudy, one of our does had a very complicated delivery on 04/02/10, Sat night. We thought we were going to lose her and her kids for sure! Her cervix was tilted off to the side & the uterus was tilted or twisted, so we were sure she wouldn't make it. I called some friends & we posted the situation to all kinds of goat boards & got responses from all over the country! It was amazing.

After going in 4 times & manipulating things around, somehow the uterus straightened out & the cervix just appeared, right where it was supposed to be....but it wasn't dialated (it was about the size of the tip of your index finger)! We gave her a shot of Lutalyse, which causes dialation, & it still took 26 hours for her to deliver. Finally at 2:30 am on Sunday morning, she had two very cute doelings! They came out PERFECT and it was a happy ending! It was a great learning experience, but I hope we never have to go through anything like that again! :)

Here are some pics of the 2 CUTE doelings!

-Hannah

What we've been up to......

Well, we've been working on some stuff around here this week. Me and my younger brother (Josiah) built 3 raised garden beds and made a mound of dirt for the corn. Here are some pics of it

During the building of the first corn mound

Me covering the sides of the mounds with Cypress mulch. That helps the mounds stay together after it rains

Josiah sifting the dirt (it's SUPER rocky)

Here are some cool pics around the "farm" ;-)

One of our hens up close!

Zion being curious

Judah & Zion running towards

Some bamboo that we plan to make trellises out of

The Last Couple of Weeks.......

Our new puppies!

3 weeks ago, we got 2 Anatolian/Pyreneese puppies. They are 10 weeks old, male and female. Here's a picture of them sleeping :) I'll try to post more pics of them.

BTW: The male's name is Judah and the females name is Zion.

-Hannah

Sunshine the new goat

Well, we got 2 new goats, Sunshine (a Mini Mancha Doe that's pregnant) and a LaMancha Buck. Here are some pics:

Here's Sunshine: She's pregnant in this pic

Here's the Buck. He's an Experimental Mini Mancha:

We got them on the 20th of January, 2010. On the 27th, Sunshine went into labor. She was very quiet during the whole birth and just grunted. She usually throws bucks, and very few does. Here are some pics after the birth, as we were too excited to take pics during the birth, haha! She threw 2 very cute LaMancha bucklings!

(here's Night right after birth)

(here's Day right after birth)

I know that they are kinda weird names, but we are selling them and won't be keeping those names for long, haha! We sold the kids on 01/03/10! The buck is still for sale! I am taking offers for him!

Here are some misc pics around "the farm" and some winter pics from today:

Ice on the cable above the fence