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Metal Decadence - 13 février 2025 - Décadences Normandes #4 Nos invités : - Florian et Jacques de LHDC L'Heure Du Crime; - Jean René Les liens: - LHDC : www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559031363446 - le jeu concours : https://ouest-track.com/jeuxconcours/2-places-a-gagner-pour-le-concert-noise-on-stage-du-22-mars-2025-285 [Sommaire]> Interview Steel Razor par Bob > La redécouverte de JHell = W.A.S.P. > Auditeur programmateur [Barzuk] au tel. > Balançe ta promo LHDC > Rubrique du soir : Instant Bisou > Rock'n Quizz de Pascal > Live Decadence, l'agenda concert > Pour Aller plus Loin [L'ÉMISSION, la Tracklist]SCORPIONS - Love of My Life (Live)GHOST - Dance Macabre STEEL RAZOR - Light up the flameDISSECTION - No Dreams Breed In Breathless SleepGUNS N' ROSES - Sweet Child O' Mine BLACK SABBITCH - A National AcrobatBLACK SABBATH - N.I.B. MISANTHROPE - At 666 Days LHDC - Today you Die TYPE O NEGATIVE - Love You to DeathYES - SoonW.A.S.P. - I Wanna Be SomebodyW.A.S.P. - Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)KATI RAN - Nymånen PORCUPINE TREE - Of the New Day [AUDITEUR PROGRAMMATEUR] DEATH - Cosmic Sea [ROCK'N QUIZZ] URIAH HEEP - Sunrise [LIVE DECADENCE] BASTET - Reckless THIN LIZZY - Jailbreak (Live At The Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, 1977) [POUR ALLER PLUS LOIN]STEEL RAZOR - Only one DIVISION ALPHA - No AnswR BLACK SABBATH - Jack the Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots DEATH - Misanthrope MISANTHROPE - 1666... Théâtre Bizarre SCORPIONS - Still Loving You FREEDOM FOR KING KONG - Phénomène W.A.S.P. - Sleeping (In the Fire) RAMMSTEIN - Frühling in Paris JOURNEY - Live and Breathe CARBONIC FIELDS - C'est Toi Que Je t'Aime DISSECTION - Chaosophia BON JOVI - Livin On A Prayer TYPE O NEGATIVE - Dead Again YES - Hold On KATI RAN - SÁLA (feat. Karl Seglem, Gaahls WYRD, Gealdýr, Umbra, Emilie Lorentzen) PORCUPINE TREE - Rats Return THIN LIZZY - Dublin (Acoustic Version)
Émission du jeudi 16 decembre 2025 - Metal Decadence #187 - Décadences Normandes #3 Nos invités: Fatal www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063679654463 [Tracklist]FATAL - Devoration SILENT INJURY - Silent Injury ANNIHILATOR - Road to Ruin Classique de Charl, Fatal - BEETHOVEN RETROMORPHOSIS - The Tree SMITH/KOTZEN - White Noise GIBSON BAND - I Can Breathe LHDC L'Heure Du Crime - Les étiquettes FATAL - L'Émissaire FATAL - Fascination FATAL - Anakhendavia FATAL - Killed in Captivity STATUS QUO - Down Down DADABOVIC - Dark Father SLEAZY TOWN - Insane Call for Love DISTILLERY - Forbidden Addiction [Pour Aller Plus Loin]INNER LIGHT - As One ICE CHEMICALS - Primal HERETIK - Deathtabilizaton CARNIVAL IN COAL - Ohlala 6:33, ARNO STROBL - I Like It FREITOT - Yoko ARCHITECT OF SETH - Transhumance astrale BESTIAL DEVASTATION - Cursing All Godz (Cerviacal Edit.) CORROSIVE ELEMENTS - Warpath DAWN OF DYSTOPIA - The Circle of Life DEVOUR THE FETUS - I Puked A Fetus EVOLUTION ZERO - Ignorance Is a BlissGATE OF MIND - Release the Fall HERKAINN - Idiocracy HOOKS & BONES - Intro / Play In Vain HOPES OF FREEDOM - Lost HumanityIN OTHER CLIMES - Sick
Émission du 07 novembre 2024 - Metal Decadence #187 - Décadences Normandes #2 [Classique]01 Iron Maiden - Prowler [Wacken Open Air 2024]++ Guten Morgen Sonnenschein 02 THUS Incorporeal [Auditeur-programmateur] Pierric 03 TEXTURES Awake [Nouveautés]04 SEETHER Lost All Control 05 THE NEW ROSES Attracted To Danger [Balance ta promo (1)] Alexandre de Progress Metal www.facebook.com/Progressmetal 06 PROGRESS Moneypulation [La re-découverte de JHell] Ronnie James DIO 07 DIO Ozzy Osbourne - Forever [Live Decadence (1)]08 INDICIBLE Melted [Balance ta promo (2)] Jérémy de Stabwound www.facebook.com/stabwound.rouen 09 STABWOUND Angel of Lust [Live Decadence (2)]10 SILENT INJURY Parallel Heighs [Rock'n Quizz]11 Scorpions - Top Of The Bill [Nouveautés]12 D-A-D God Prays To Man 13 BLACK STONE CHERRY American Horse [Jeu Concours]https://ouest-track.com/jeuxconcours/deux-places-a-gagner-pour-la-soiree-tres-rock-au-feminin-265 Lien vers l'évènement: www.facebook.com/events/685543640384826 [Pour aller plus loin]IRON MAIDEN Murders In The Rue Morgue CARBONIC FIELDS Punishment by Fire EON Legacy of Shame BABYLON PRESSION La France A Peur BLIND GUARDIAN Valhalla OBITUARY Slowly We Rot BLOOD INCANTATION The Stargate (Tablet 1) AMARANTHE Fading Like A Flower Ronnie James DIO BLACK SABBATH Falling Off The Edge Of The World Ronnie James DIO DIO Holy Diver BLIND GARDIAN - Thé Tifes Of War - The Bard Songs (Version live) SONATE ARTICA - Clear Cold Beyond - The Best Things STRATOVARIUS - Destiny (Remastered 2016)
Émission du jeudi 17 octobre 2024 [Thème] Décadences Normandes #1 [Tracklist](morceau pré-émission)00 Silmarils - Au Paradis Le Classique 01 Supuration - The Cleansing 02 Malemort - L'Eau des Fossés https://malemort.bandcamp.com/merch 03 Ultra Vomit - Doigts de Metal Le Clip : https://youtu.be/_HtXHReDaTI?si=SSSqKeljHysW-iaw 04 Xandria - No Time To Live Forever "Balance ta promo" 05 Black Dharma - When God Ends Here Live Decadence (1) 06 Underlying Wrath - Light In The Sky Micro-trottoir v.2 du tremplin de l'Apocalyspe Metal Fest Live Decadence (2) 07 Getting Low - Getting Low "Le choix de l'auditeur" 08 Doorshan - Knife Edge "Rock'n Quiz" 09 Motörhead - Stay Clean 10 Lofofora - Apocalypse 11 Dream Theater - Night Terror (Radio Edit) 12 Empreinte - Ice Cold Knives 13 (bonus) Indicible - Melted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeBPqnwvKfs [Deux nouveaux jeux concours]Deux places à gagner pour le concert de Empreinte au Mc Daids : https://ouest-track.com/jeuxconcours/deux-places-a-gagner-pour-le-concert-de-empreinte-au-mc-daids-266 Deux places pour le concert des Babylon Pression au Mc Daids : https://ouest-track.com/jeuxconcours/deux-places-pour-le-concert-des-babylon-pression-au-mc-daids-267
Place à la vie de Château !Direction Gaillon, pour vivre à travers les époques ! Léa a joué la princesse puis est allée visiter les geôles Normandes !Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
Laurent Saigre raconte l'un des événements qui a fait ou qui va faire l'actualité.
durée : 00:53:15 - Les relations entre la Manche et les Iles Anglos Normandes avec Christine Bonhomme , Directrice de Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche
durée : 00:52:25 - Le mal être agricole avec Suzanne Piedagnel, Vice-présidente de la MSA Côtes Normandes, et M. Olivier Ouin, sous directeur en charge de la protection sociale
durée : 00:03:20 - Rencontres normandes Effraie des clochers le 23 mars dans l'Eure
Les jeux d'Eve : Quizz, les noms des villes normandes dans les chansons poulaires On retrouve Eve pour un quizz riche en rebondissement et en humour. Qui pensait que la normandie n'était pas dans les chansons populaires ? Autour de la table Corentin, Fabien et Eulalie qui vont s'affronter corps et âmes pour gagner !
Nouvelle escale dans notre série de voyages sur les chemins de la mémoire de l'esclavage, direction la cité portuaire du Havre ; car on le sait peu mais la région normande, et la ville du Havre en tête, ont joué un rôle primordial dans le commerce triangulaire et la traite négrière. Du 10 mai 2023 au 10 novembre 2023, entre Le Havre, Honfleur et Rouen, se déploie la grande exposition « Esclavage : mémoires normandes ». Et pour la première fois, cette exposition reconnue d'intérêt national, vient mettre en lumière à quel point la région normande s'est bâtie et enrichie sur ce « commerce du crime », comment le bassin normand a formé le 2è espace français de commerce esclavagiste après Nantes ; et comment cette histoire commune, demeurée longtemps méconnue, doit se raconter, s'étudier et se partager. Il faut dire que dans l'Hexagone, on a souvent eu tendance à associer les ports négriers aux seuls ports de la façade atlantique, comme ceux de Nantes, Bordeaux ou La Rochelle, oubliant que les Normands, ses officiers, ses armateurs et ses négociants de la côte comme ses artisans ou ses fileuses de coton de l'arrière-pays ont participé directement ou indirectement à ce commerce et à la traite d'êtres humains de l'Afrique aux Amériques. Au XVIIIè siècle au Havre, des figures de la ville ont longtemps résisté et lutté contre l'abolition à travers de puissants lobbys esclavagistes ou en pratiquant même des campagnes de traite illégale. Ainsi, bien après l'abolition de l'esclavage en 1848, le navire « Le Don Juan » sera armé en 1860 par le Havrais Jules Masurier, ce qui ferait de ce navire le dernier bateau de traite français. Malgré de crapuleuses manœuvres (il va brûler le navire intercepté par les Anglais après un calamiteux voyage qui fera des centaines de victimes parmi les captifs), Jules Masurier deviendra maire de la ville du Havre.Jusqu'à cette grande exposition, les plus polis parlaient au Havre de mémoire discrète quand d'autres reconnaissaient une mémoire occultée, passée sous silence, comme enfouie dans les décombres des bombardements qui ont frappé la ville en 1944. Mais aujourd'hui, des rues de la vieille ville à la Maison de l'armateur en passant par les salles de l'exposition havraise « Fortunes et servitudes », à la rencontre d'historiens, de conservateurs et de militants de la mémoire, on découvre bel et bien que « le temps du silence est terminé ».Un reportage de Céline Develay-Mazurelle et Laure Allary. En savoir plus :- Sur l'exposition « Esclavage : Mémoires Normandes » qui se tient entre Le Havre, Rouen et Honfleur jusqu'au 10 mai 2023- Sur l'association Le Havre Mémoires et partages qui propose notamment des visites du Havre négrier- Sur le volet havrais de cette exposition, qui s'intitule « Fortunes et servitudes. Ici le catalogue et programme- Sur la lente émergence de cette mémoire au Havre : un article de 2009 d'Eric Saunier, historien et commissaire scientifique de l'exposition- Sur les deux ouvrages de référence publiés aux Éditions Silvana Éditoriale, à l'occasion de l'exposition : le catalogue et la première grande monographie sur l'esclavage et la région normande- Sur le travail de l'historien Tom Hugo Couvet, auteur de « L'Alligator : l'odyssée d'un navire négrier havrais », publié aux Éditions Hémisphères- Sur nos autres voyages sonores sur les chemins de la mémoire de l'esclavage à La Rochelle, à Nantes, en Guadeloupe, entre Liverpool et la Louisiane.
Bienvenue dans le podcast Terres d'Avenir, un voyage immersif à travers les régions françaises, à la rencontre des producteurs qui les cultivent. Dans cet épisode, on part à la rencontre de Régis, 53 ans, éleveur de vaches normandes, installé entre Yvetot et Le Havre, et issu d'une famille d'éleveurs-agriculteurs depuis 3 générations. L'histoire de Régis est celle d'un entrepreneur de la terre, aux idées visionnaires. Si cet épisode vous a plu, n'hésitez pas à laisser des commentaires et à le partager !À bientôt pour un nouveau voyage … en Terres d'avenir ! Ce podcast est proposé par Lidl France, produit par La Toile. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
Nous prenons l'A29 sortie 8 Fécamp pour découvrir ce qu'il se cache derrière le grand panneau marron « Hautes falaises : Fécamp ». Des paysages à couper le souffle que Laurine Desfargeas nous fait découvrir !
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Comment peut-on anticiper le changement climatique ? Comment mieux le représenter et le comprendre ? Tous les territoires sont-ils concernés de la même manière ? A quoi ressemblera la géographie française dans 50 ans ? Dans cet épisode, Kenza Benrhamous a rendu visite à Vincent Dubreuil dans son bureau à l'Université Rennes 2. Il est professeur et chercheur en géographie. Ensemble, ils échangent autour des prédictions climatiques, des futurs climats et températures bretons et de la manière dont les scientifiques prévoient les évolutions climatiques auxquelles nous pourrions faire face, ainsi que les différents leviers activer pour agir en conséquence. Ce podcast est produit par le studio nantais Alvéole Créations Il est écrit et animé par Kenza Benrhamous Pensé et produit avec Marine Raut-Guillerme Mixé au studio Alvéole Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
Have I mentioned that knitting is my favorite winter activity? Things have slowed down and I can have some time to catch up on my knitting projects. The garden has been put to bed. I'm still making cheese, butter and yogurt, but canning is done for the season. I have even gotten all the frozen fruit out of the freezer from this past spring and made the promised cherry and blueberry jams. For the first time, I made brandied figs. This and so much more coming up in this podcast episode. But first . . . Welcome to all the new listeners and a hearty holiday season welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate you all so much. Let's get on with some homestead updates. Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates Let's talk about the animals first. We love all of our animals. What would our homestead be without our animals? Pretty boring, don't you think? Cows Finally, we have good news on the bovine front. We believe that all of the cows are now bred. Glory Be to God. Natural breeding is superior by far. We have one calf scheduled for birth on March 5th 2023. Then the next two will be around the 16th of July. Then the bull comes along and we have six that will give birth between August 4th and September 4th. Here is the run down. Princess Princess is a lovely purebred A2A2 Jersey heifer, soon to be cow, giving birth to that first calf around the 5th of March. We used sexed AI semen for her so her calf will be 50% Jersey and 50% Normande and likely a girl, a heifer. She looks great and we are anticipating great genetics in her calf. She is small and so is her mom. Not quite miniature Jerseys, but close. Rosie is her mom and in her first lactation cycle she was giving us about three gallons of milk per day. We will expect a similar amount from Princess. We plan on selling her in the future as we move to a 100% registered Normande herd. Keep your ears open about when she comes up for sale as she will make a fantastic milk cow for some lucky family. Rosie Speaking of Rosie, she is in the second group of two giving birth in near the middle of July. Rosie is also a registered A2A2 Jersey. She was bred via AI to the bull Fullblood French bull Jacaranda. The semen was unsexed so the gender of her calf will be a surprise. This calf will also be 50% Jersey and 50% Normande. We will be keeping heifer calves that are 50% Normande, but like her daughter, Rosie will come up for sale sometime in the near future. Ginger Ginger is the second animal giving birth in mid-July. She is 75% percent Normande. That means she is not recognized as purebred, but her offspring will be as their percentage will be high enough to meet the minimum standard. The sire is also the Fullblood French bull Jacaranda. Ferdinand's Offspring The last group of six are all bred via Ferdinand. You will recall that he is the Guernsey bull that we purchased a couple of months ago. He did his job well. In one month, two hormonal cycles, he has impregnated all of our remaining cows and heifers. At least it appears so as of this recording. I'm not sure if we will be able to registered his offspring as 50% Normande. I'll have to check on that. Violet, Virginia and Wanda are all purebred Normandes but it may not be enough for proper registration. We shall see. Butter is a registered A2A2 Jersey. And the last two, Molly and Cookie are mostly but not registered Jersey cows. Though they are also A2A2. We will be keeping Molly as she does have 25% Normande genetics, but Butter and Cookie will also be moving on to another family. In the end, four of our cows will be up for sale in the next year or two. They are all great animals, but again, we are building a 100% Normande herd. Each year we will probably move out a couple more as we slowly inch toward our preferred genetic goals. Nickel We have Nickel waiting in the wings to get big enough to be our breeding bull. Ferdinand will have one more round of breeding our cows and then we will also sell him. As you can tell, he is a great bull and will be a wonderful addition to someone's herd. After that, Nickel will be our herd bull for a couple of years. And we will continue using AI as we can to improve the herd genetics. Scott is coming on board as our primary AI technician. Scott's AI Training This is a really great piece of news that I have to share. I mentioned in the last podcst that the idea was for Scott to be able attend an AI workshop and learn to do the procedure himself. Hallelujah, he was able to attend an AI tech training session just a couple of weeks ago. It was literally only an hour away and we made it happen so he could attend. He now knows the basics of how it is done and what challenges he may face. And we have lots of cows for him to practice on as he builds his skill. The first day he came home a little frustrated with his lack of skill. According to him, it is much harder than it looks from the outside. On the second day of the training session, he got the hang of it and all that is left now is for him to practice. The very next time that any of our cows get bred, Scott will be trying out his new skills. That is months and months from now but we are both excited about the prospects of being able to use AI much more effectively. We will share how that goes when we get there. The timing of this training session was truly a Blessing from God. Mack, Finn and Charlotte Now on to the livestock guardian dogs. There is not much to say here. I am still feeling so blessed that Finn returned after six months of roaming the countryside. We are still treating an infection in his left eye. It is a stubborn infection. Sometimes his eye is clear and then it will cloud up again. Just today we aggressively upped the amount of antibiotic cream we are using in that eye to see if we can knock out that infection once and for all. Otherwise, he is putting on weight and is very happy to be home. There was an early escape and one a day or so ago that was my fault for letting him loose with an open gate, but he is still with us. Charlotte is going along just fine. Sometimes she tolerates me petting her and sometimes still she won't let me near her. I just go along and pet her when I can. She is a great dog and I love her so much. Both Finn and Charlotte are currently with the sheep and the goat doelings. There are a couple of calves in there as well. I forgot to talk about Jill and Penny. Jill is currently up for sale if you know of anyone looking for a young heifer calf. We will be keeping Penny. She is 50% Jersey and 50% Normande. All is well in that pasture for the moment. Mack is with the cows. They don't really need him, but what else are we going to do with him. At some point, I would like to see all of the dogs and animals together. I'm not sure that will ever happen. We will always have heifer calves that need to be kept away from the bull and/or vise versa, but bull is kept away from the cows/heifer calves. And then there are ewe lambs and doelings that need to be kept away from the breeding ram and buck. I'm pretty sure we will always have two groups of animals. The best I can hope for is that all the of animals and dogs will eventually become interchangeable. At the moment I don't trust the large animals with Finn and Charlotte and I don't trust the small animals with Mack. So, there you have it. This may be our standard operating procedure going forward. I'll keep you posted. Kiko Goats Now for a little update on the goats. Things are going fairly well in that area. I have managed to tame all of the goats a fair bit. They will follow me anywhere if they think there might be a treat at the end of the road. All are growing nicely. It will be another two months before the girls can meet up with the boy. Lian and Amys are with the sheep and Rhuarc is right next door in the lower garden with a ram lamb as a companion. As soon as the girls are old enough, these two boys will be able to join the main group of sheep and goat girls. Sheep Several ewes are looking quite plump. I expect that we will have lambs in January or February. Not the best time of year, but I have found that these Katahdin sheep are really good moms and the lambs are generally hardy even in winter. If the weather is particularly bad, we can take them to shelter. Otherwise, this breed is very used to giving birth out in the pasture, even in the winter. I have heard of several breeders that specifically breed for birthing in January and February as they are looking for their lambs to reach market size by the time November rolls around and the various religious groups are looking for lamb and goat for their feasts. We may look at that market as well. Otherwise, we like to keep ours all the way up to the 12th month of growth. I'll keep you posted, but the sheep have dogs protecting them at the moment and I expect that we will actually have lambs soon and that we will be able to raise them to market weight without predators running off with them. At least that is the current expectation. Chickens The last animals to discuss are the chickens. Last time I mentioned that Mack had made mincemeat of one of the hens. We still have all of the rest of the hens and roosters. Just a few days ago, we added six new hens to the flock. One of our herd share members had more chickens than she wanted and she gifted us these hens. We are not sure whether they are Cinnamon queens or Rhode Island reds. Either way, they are providing us a couple more eggs a day. Of the eleven others that we have, we were getting 2 or 3 eggs per day. We added half as many hens but doubled our egg production. Now we are getting 5 or 6 eggs per day. Go figure. I don't know if I mentioned that I am looking at perhaps changing my mind of what breed of chickens that we raise. There are always good logical reasons for the breeds we choose for any given animal. However, the literature seems to be flawed on the chicken breeds I chose. I expected way more eggs from the American Bresse and Black Copper Marans. And it seems that the traditional Rhode Island reds are just better at producing eggs. I'll have to look it up. It may be that they are primarily egg producers and not a dual breed chicken. In the end, I may just give up on the whole dual breed idea for chickens. I'm really in it for the eggs. We just don't eat that much chicken so the meat is not a really big deal. That's for another day. In the spring we will do some incubations and hatch out some birds and see where we go from there. In the end, we may just have mutt chickens and forget about trying to raise specific breeds. Right now, as long as they lay lots of eggs, I don't really care. Creamery Let's move on that huge creamery project. Where do we stand with that? All of the floors are complete. As I mentioned in the last podcast, Scott was racing the clock to get that done. The temperature-sensitive nature of the glue and grout were driving that carriage. He made it. There were a few cold days where he had to wait, but in the end, he got it done. There are a few details he is working on for the pull box covers, but other than that, the floors are complete. Next up is the electrical. And of course, the plumbing. That is still looming large in my mind. I don't know how he will do it, but I do know that he will make it happen. It's just who he is as a person. At the moment he is moving his attention to fixing fences in the back fields. There is a good bit of standing hay back there but trees on the fences need to be cleared and those fences repaired. Another task on his calendar is gathering up pine wood for the wood stove this winter. For the past two winters we have not used the wood stove as other priorities and factors interfered with the collecting of wood. This year should be the time that we get back on track with using wood for fuel in the winter and getting that electric bill back down to a reasonable cost. Especially at this time in our economy when prices are rising. These tasks will take away from the time he has in the creamery. But I'm pretty sure we are still on track for USDA certification sometime in the spring or summer. Knitting, Cheesemaking, and Other Milk Products I want to talk a little bit about cheesemaking and other milk products before getting into my knitting projects. Cheesemaking Because we have had so much problem getting cows pregnant, we are currently planning to milk the cows as long as we can before drying them up for birthing their calves. Normally, that would be about a one-year cycle. This time, it's going to be nearly a year-and-a-half. Their milk production will continue to decline over time. And the cold of winter will also decrease milk production. These are additional days of learning and having new trials of which we have yet to have. Currently, the cows are still producing enough for herd share milk and for me to make cheese. I'm perfecting my techniques in cheesemaking and trying a couple of new ideas to improve flavor. We shall see in a few months if my efforts have paid off. Additionally, I'm still making yogurt a couple of times per week and butter every other week or so. It's a bit of a different winter experience to still be dealing with milk after the end of November, but it seems to be working out great for both Scott and myself. So far. I'm happy to continue the creative art of dealing with dairy products. Knitting My favorite winter pastime is knitting. In the summer it's all about the garden – planting, weeding, harvesting, canning and so on. But in the winter, things slow down and I get to take a break. What do I do with all that free time? Well, to be honest, there isn't that much free time. I just do a lot of stuff that was put off because I was in the garden and in the kitchen for every hour of every day in the summer. It's so funny that I have these knitting projects that sit for months on end without any progress whatsoever. Then winter comes and I can work on them. Do I get them finished? I guess it depends on the project. Victorian Newborn Set Knitting Pattern The one I'm going to talk about today is a really beautiful baby layette. It has a blanket, bonnet, booties and sweater. I've been working on the blanket for some time. It is a Victorian themed pattern. Lacy edges and cream or off-white base color. The contrast color is burgundy. I'll put a picture on the Locals platform and maybe I can work one in on the website. Perhaps I'll make it the featured photo on this podcast. Yeah, that could work. I started working on this at least two years ago. It is the most difficult project that I have ever done. First it was all about getting the pattern correct. I must have started over at least four times. That was the first year. The second year (and when I speak of years, remember that it is a few months in the winter) – The second year, it was all about starting the lacy edge. I have taken out that part at least six times. It was late last winter when I discovered that the pattern I was trying to use was flawed. Recreating the Pattern Here's that little story. As I get older, it is harder for me to read small print. And the pattern that I was using was already a year or more old and the pages stuck together and the print was mangled. So, what did I do? Well, I searched on line to try and find a “clean” copy of that pattern. I did find one. It was great for the “rosebud pattern”. It is the main theme in all of the pieces. But when it came to putting the rest of the pieces together, that pattern was a disaster. So, what do I do now? On the evening that I made the discovery that it was the pattern that was flawed and not my knitting skills, I set out to recreate the pattern from the original. And so I did. I spent about an hour in Microsoft Word. (Okay, it may have been more than an hour. At this point, I have no idea. I just know I needed the pattern to work.) I typed out every single instruction, every detail. Then I proof-read what I had typed. It all seemed to make sense. I still have the original just in case I made a mistake. I can go back with my magnifying glass and see if I can decipher what the actual instruction is supposed to be. However, I am pretty confident that I got it right. There is a pattern to patterns and I could see it clearly. After all, I had created it over and over again, incorrectly. So when I saw the correct instruction it made perfect sense. My Greatest Achievement Now to my greatest achievement so far. I've never been successful in making joins look natural. My work has always looked sloppy. But not this time. As I got started once again on this new adventure, I could clearly see the pattern this time. I could clearly see that it was working. I finished the first end of the blanket using a stitch I had never done before. But the instructions were clear and it worked the very first time. Yippee!! That's not the greatest achievement. No the greatest achievement was picking up the stitches on the starting edge of that blanket. YouTube helped me out. I watched a couple of videos on how it is done. In the past I just did the best I could with the instructions which read “pick up and knit X number of stitches. I don't know why it never occurred to me that there was an actual method to make it work smoothly. So, I watched these videos and gave their suggestions a try. Lo and behold, I created a seam that looks unbelievable. The top is just a continuation of the knitting. The bottom has to be created as if it is a continuation. Finishing the First Piece of the Project I never knew I could do such good work. I can't wait to start up the sides. I've already watched that video and I will watch it again before I start on the sides. First, I have to finish the bottom. And I have every confidence that I will make it look just as awesome as the top. Take a look at the picture to see what I am creating. This will be the most awesome knitting project I have ever done. Did I mention it was the hardest thing I have ever attempted? It is going to give me confidence to make the other really complicated pieces. That sweater, hat and booties are waiting in the wings. Now, in closing, I must mention that once I finish these difficult pieces that I already have in progress, I'm going to switch to making hat, scarf, mitten sets to give to the homeless. It's going to be my new mission for quite some time. These are simpler projects, but with a great deal more purpose. I have all of this yarn and patterns for Afghans and such that I have collected over the years. If you are a knitter, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Large Afghans are a lot of work and, when finished, I can only give it to one person. For the same amount of time and yarn, I can make something useful for those in need, several somethings in fact. I don't really know how many hats, mittens and scarves will come out of the vast amount of yarn in my closet. But I'm going to find out. There you have it and that is the end of my knitting story for this podcast. Take a look at the pictures of my current project on our Locals platform. That's peaceful heart farm DOT locals DOT com. Final Thoughts Well, that concludes this podcast. There is always something going on the with animals and I love sharing our stories with you. I hope you have your own dreams going and adventures going on. It may be the trials and tribulations of your children, your career or your family. Please share with us on our Locals platform. We'd love to hear from you. I hope you enjoyed my knitting story. I'm so excited to be getting back into the groove and feeding that creative impulse. What do you like to create? Let me know. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. It really does help. If you like this type of content and want to help us out, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it on all of your social media platforms. Share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast. And come on over to our Locals community. Subscribe at peacefulheartfarm.locals.com. We'd love to have your support and input in the community. And we'd love to help you out by answering your questions. See you there! Thank you so much for stopping by our homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. To learn about herd shares: Visit our website Herd Share page To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and all your social media If you are a paid subscriber, meet up with us on Locals. To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Become a community member on Locals Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Locals peacefulheartfarm.locals.com Rumble https://rumble.com/user/peacefulheartfarm YouTube youtube.com/peacefulheartfarm Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm
"Fac News" est parti en reportage cette semaine ! En première partie d'émission, direction l'ESAM pour participer à la journée d'étude Hypothèse, qui questionne la relation entre la BD et le numérique, l'art et la science-fiction. Rencontres avec les auteurs de la BD "Alt-life" Thomas Cadène et Joseph Falzon, puis François Millet directeur du projet “Sciences et sociétés”. L'occasion de parler du but de cette journée autour de la science-fiction. On reste toujours à l'ESAM avec Benjamin Hochart, qui expose son travail “N+1 N+2” jusqu'au 8 décembre dans la Grande Galerie de l'ESAM. Parcours, œuvre et recherche, une discussion sur le milieu artistique. On passera de l'autre côté des rives de l'orne dans la suite de l'émission pour nous rendre au Moho. L'ANBDD, l'agence normande de la biodiversité et du développement durable organisait mardi 15 novembre les rencontres normandes du développement durable. Le réseau des éco responsables normands de l'Enseignement agricole y était pour parler de l'engagement des jeunes dans le milieu de l'écologie. Enfin Emmanuel de Radio Phénix est venu nous présenter les journées SMS, Sciences Médias et Société qui auront lieu du 24 au 25 novembre. Pauses musicale : BIBIO - FOOLS BEAU BANDIT - THE BIG KABOOM Crédit Photo : Unidivers.fr
Pour 4 Ingrédients 8 Filets de sole Des champignons 1 échalote 9 cl de vin blanc sec 15 cl de crème fraiche liquide 70 g de beurre 1 c à s de persil ciselé Sel, poivre Du riz ou une bonne purée Recettes Coupez le pied terreux des champignons, rincez-les et émincez-les. Pelez et émincez l'échalote. Faites chauffer 30 g de beurre dans une casserole et laissez fondre l'échalote sans coloration. Ajoutez les champignons et laissez suer 5 min sur feu très doux. Salez, poivrez et réservez. Placez les filets de sole dans une sauteuse et recouvrez-les avec le vin blanc sec et le fumet de poisson. Salez légèrement, couvrez et portez doucement à ébullition. Laissez frémir 2 min. Égouttez les filets et réservez-les au chaud. Faites réduire aux trois quarts le bouillon de cuisson des filets, puis ajoutez la... • La suite sur https://www.radiomelodie.com/podcasts/10201-soles-normandes-aux-champignons.html
durée : 00:26:30 - Les Nuits de France Culture - Peinture ancienne : un musée un chef-d'oeuvre - Le nouveau Musée des Beaux-Arts du Havre : "Plages normandes" d'Eugène Boudin (1ère diffusion : 19/08/1977)
Mes invités du jour étaient Florine Lemarchand et Camille Langlais. Elles nous ont présenté le programme de Pint of Science : le festival qui sort les sciences de leurs labo pour s'installer dans les bars ! À Caen ça se déroule au Dôme et au WarpZone. Nous étions aussi en ligne avec Anaïs Darenes, responsable projets au RESES. Nous nous sommes intéressés aux Assises Étudiantes Normandes de la Transition Écologique, les 27 et 28 avril à l'Université du Havre. Et enfin dans le dossier de la semaine, zoom sur Gevo, un projet d'application de mise en relation de services étudiants. Steven est venu nous parler de cette initiative entrepreneuriale. Pauses musicales : Monica Rypma - Let Love Flow Porridge Radio - The Rip Pongo - Começa Crédit photo : Pint of Science
durée : 00:03:15 - Eau Douce France Bleu Normandie (Rouen)
durée : 00:02:45 - Fiers d'être Normands FB Normandie (Rouen)
Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour et bienvenue dans ce nouvel entretien historique avec Jonathan Fruoco, médiéviste et professeur agrégé d'anglais. Son travail de recherche porte sur l'évolution culturelle et linguistique de l'Angleterre médiévale, avec un intérêt particulier pour l'œuvre de Geoffrey Chaucer. Avec lui, nous allons revenir dans cet épisode sur un épisode marquant de l'Histoire anglaise : les invasions normandes ! Comment Guillaume le Conquérant va transformer en profondeur le visage de l'Angleterre ? Comment vont évoluer les structures sociales, la religion, la langue, la littérature ? Nous aborderons ces sujets et bien d'autres avec en bonus un focus particulier sur la figure de Robin des bois ! C'est parti pour ce nouvel entretien sur Nota Bene, bonne écoute ! Voir Acast.com/privacy pour les informations sur la vie privée et l'opt-out. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/notabenemovies.
durée : 00:48:16 - Circuit Bleu : Côté Saveur - France Bleu Cotentin
C'est bientôt la rentrée ! Dans cet épisode, on vous fait un focus sur l'ensilage de maïs, pour bien optimiser vos chantiers. Entre deux chantiers, vous aurez peut-être le temps d'aller au Space, à Rennes. Vous verrez alors les Normandes de deux jeunes agricultrices motivées et passionnées. Nous les avons rencontré pour vous ! Solution possible pour alléger le travail et le budget : le partage de salariés ! Céline vous en dit l'essentiel. Et pour finir, Pauline revient à nouveau sur la question du changement climatique, en particulier sur ce que prévoit la filière céréalière pour y faire face.
Cet été, direction les plus belles stations balnéraires avec Chrystopher Barolin. Entre terre et mer, cap sur Fécamp. Un ancien port morutier installé sur le littoral du pays de Caux.
Cet été, direction les plus belles stations balnéraires avec Chrystopher Barolin. Entre terre et mer, cap sur Fécamp. Un ancien port morutier installé sur le littoral du pays de Caux.
durée : 00:01:56 - Secrets Normands FB Cotentin
So much going on with spring births on the homestead. And abandoned lamb was the immediate task to take care of today. A quick trip to town to get supplies and now I’m late getting to this podcast. That’s what it’s all about on the homestead. I have so much to share with you today and most of it is so much fun!! I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the homestead this week. As I said there is a lot of it and all relates to spring births. Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates Before getting to that abandoned lamb, let’s start with the garden and the birthing of new plants. Spring Garden If you are new to gardening perhaps you are not familiar with the terms spring garden, summer garden, and fall garden. Spring is the time of year to plant crops that thrive in cool weather. Some can thrive in the heat, like maybe potatoes. But most spring garden plants require cool temperatures. Things like lettuce and spinach will simply give up and go to seed if it gets too hot. Other things like root crops will just not grow in the heat. Their growth stalls and there is nothing to do for it but try again in the fall when the weather cools off again. This spring we are planting two kinds of peas, snap peas and shelling peas. Shelling peas are those green peas that you buy frozen or canned. Snap peas are best for salads and such. They are eaten pod and all, though they can be shelled as well. But the pods are sweet and crisp. I’m not going to plant potatoes this spring although Scott did dig up the potatoes that we had left in the ground over the winter. They were just starting to sprout and grow again. Really, we should have had them out of the ground a week or so ago before they sprouted. Fortunately, there are not tons of them. We will be able to eat them before they get soft. In the normal course of planting, I would have planted some of them for a new crop. I have enough potatoes and will forgo them this spring. Perhaps in the fall. I have yellow, red and white onion sets to plant. Onions make bulbs according to the amount of light they need. There are short season, mid-season and long season varieties. Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and other northern states can grow those long season varieties. During the height of summer, the hours of daylight are significantly higher than we get in Southern Virginia. And farther south from us, only the short season varieties will grow. The farther south you get, the more equal the day and night hours become. While far in the northern States like Alaska, they have sunlight nearly 24 hours at the height of summer. Of course, it is dark for nearly 24 hours in the winter also. Strange place, Alaska. I was there twice. Once near the spring equinox and the days and nights were fairly equal. But the second time I was there in July, just past the summer solstice. The sun was still up at midnight. It dipped below the horizon for about 3 hours and then daylight began to show once again. It happened in Germany also. I was there in August and it was daylight past 11:00 pm and the sun was back up long before I got up in the morning. So that’s the story of onions. The rest of the garden will get planted in May. That will be the green beans, herbs and crowder peas. The 500 strawberry roots are all planted and looking great. Leaves are visible on almost all of them. The beds look fantastic. Scott did a great job there. That bank of strawberries will also have four sections of culinary herbs. I already have a good stand of thyme and oregano. Inside I have started more rosemary as it didn’t do so well last year and I just let it go over the winter. It can survive the winter but needs protection. It did so poorly that I just decided to start over this year. And just today I got some garden sage seeds to fill in that fourth section in between the strawberries. The blueberries and blackberries are leafing out. The blueberries will bloom soon and we will have berries around the first or second week of June. The blackberries will be ready in mid-July. On to the cows. Cows and Calves Last time I talked with you, we had one calf. Now we have three. Rosie, our new Jersey heifer gave birth to Princess. Then Cloud gave birth to Winston. And finally, Claire gave to birth to a, yet unnamed, bull calf. No one has had any trouble so far, knock on wood. Butter and Violet have a bit of time to go before giving birth, Late May and early June respectively. Now to the fun part of the cow story. Rosie, though she is her first calf, was giving about 2 ½ gallons of milk per day. We were estimating in the beginning because Princess was getting her share so we guessed about how much she was drinking. We were getting about a gallon and a half in the beginning and guessed Princess was getting about a gallon a day. Well, it didn’t take long and we were getting a gallon a day – and then a few days later, a half-gallon or even less. Princess was getting it all. At this point, we would normally separate momma and baby and control the amount of milk baby is getting. Calves need about a gallon or so of milk to grow strongly. Certainly not two gallons. But they will drink everything they can if you let them. Take a beef cow for instance. Those calves are never going to get more than a gallon or so a day because that is all momma is going to make. But the dairy cows make lots and lots of milk and the calves simply don’t need that much. So what were we to do. We came up with a very good plan. During this time when the milk volume we were getting was diminishing rapidly, Cloud had given birth. We cannot milk Cloud anymore. About mid-season last year, something spooked her and she began kicking the milking inflations off. Then she began kicking more and Scott got quite a few bruises and even a really badly sprained thumb from her kicks. We had to stop milking her. We thought we might try again this year if she perhaps had calmed down a bit. No luck there. We had her walking into the stanchion before she even gave birth, just getting her used to coming in and getting a little treat. They all get this training. It makes it easy to work with them for just about any vet treatment. Anyway, she got startled again by something and started kicking and we weren’t even trying to touch her udders. That answered that question. Cloud would not be milked this year either. This is also a dilemma on a homestead. Every animal needs to have a purpose. Her purpose was to have a calf every year and to be milked. Now half of her purpose was eliminated. That means she has become more of a cost than a benefit. And even though we love all of our milk cows, we simply cannot afford to have any of them as pets. They must cover their own expenses at the very least. And of course, we really need them to provide some income. Otherwise, we are using our precious time to maintain a cow that is not giving much in return. This year, she got a reprieve. We figured out how she could pull her own weight. She could become a nurse cow. Separating a calf from mom is normally a loud experience for three days. However, we separated Princess from Rosie and began grafting her onto Cloud. Princess was happy with the arrangement. Rosie was not. She still moos at Princess all the time. Princess ignores her and has since the second day. A cow will sometimes easily take on another calf. In fact, we have had issues in the past with calves nursing on any cow in the area. Our Normande cows are pretty willing to let anyone nurse. Cloud was not quite so willing as Claire and Buttercup, but we were confident she would eventually accept Princess as her own. We put Princess in with Cloud and Winston. And we had them separate from the rest of the crew for the exact reason I just described. We didn’t want Winston browsing around and finding milk beyond Cloud. Anyway, each day we bring all three up to the milking shed. Cloud goes in the stanchion and her head is locked in. She can still see who is back there nursing and the first day, she kicked Princess off repeatedly. Princess is quite resourceful and persistent. She was hungry after all. It didn’t take long for her to figure out how to position herself so that Cloud could not reach her with her kicking. She would get almost right up underneath Cloud with her butt close up next to Cloud’s front legs and her body nearly underneath Cloud’s belly. Cloud is locked in the stanchion and can’t walk away. The first two days, Princess was voracious in nursing. We were relieved and confident that she would be fine. She was filling her belly at least once a day. The third day or fourth day, Princess did not persistently try to nurse. In fact, she was rather disinterested in nursing at all. That told us that she was getting at least some nursing in earlier in the day. As of yesterday, I did not see Cloud even push her away. At all. Princess was getting some milk with persistence in previous days. Now she is nursing whenever she wants. It’s a done deal. Cloud now has two calves. And we now have that full two and a half gallons of milk. A yesterday and today’s bonus is that Rosie all of a sudden started producing even more milk. We believe it is the warmer weather. She now gives us over three gallons every day. That is fantastic for a first year Jersey cow of her size. Remember, she is still quite small in stature. I can’t wait to see how Butter does this year. We are expecting in excess of five gallons a day from her as she is now a seasoned Jersey cow. Butter is as tall as any of the Normandes. She looked like a mini cow when we first got her, but she is definitely full grown now. That’s it for the cow stories. Now on to the quail. Quail Babies Just a brief tale here. We had 68 eggs in the incubator. There were 40 of those eggs that hatched. We lost three babies in the first day or so and now have 37 quail babies in the brooder. They are about 10 days old now and have nearly all of their feathers. In about 8 days, they will be fully feathered and strong enough to go out on their own. We will do our semi-annual deep cleaning of all of the quail cages just before we turn them out into the grow out cages. The breeder cages also get a deep cleaning during this time. We will sterilize and treat the cages for mites. They will all get fresh new sand in which to take baths and the automatic watering system will be started up again. The automatic waterers don’t work well in winter as the lines and water cups freeze over. Instead, I take fresh water out to the birds every day from late fall to late spring. So, the cycle of birds is in motion. I’ll keep you updated on each new batch of cute quail chicks. Sheep and Lambs The biggest spring birth story is the lambs. It would have been nice to have a 100% success rate like we achieved last year, but alas, we knew it was not likely. Lambs are delicate animals in the beginning. The first ewe’s lamb was born without a hitch. He is strong and healthy. The second ewe, not so much. She had a big beautiful boy and a very, very tiny girl. The girl was born an hour or so later and we suspect that she was in the birth canal too long and was oxygen deprived. She passed within a couple of hours. She was never able to get up. We only have four ewes giving birth this year and I thought perhaps that would be the only issue. Unfortunately, that was not the case. This story has a better ending. I had to rush into town to get colostrum for an abandoned lamb. In all of our 11 years of raising sheep and lambs, this was the first abandoned lamb that we had. Well, Lambert was close to being abandoned. That was two years ago. He was small and one of three. The other two were getting all the milk and we ended up bottle feeding him. Today’s spring birth of lambs was, again, twins. But the ewe never touched the second lamb. Right after milking this morning I went out to check on the ewe because I could tell she had given birth. I had looked out the window and I could see the one up and running around. He was already dry. But she was laying down and straining again, so I thought another was on the way. And perhaps she was having an issue as the other was already standing up quite strongly and dried off. I feared a repeat of the previous situation where the lamb was damaged in the long birthing process. Nope, not this time. When I got out there the lamb was born and was actually standing up. She was significantly smaller than her brother, but still quite strong. She was as wet as she could be and still standing strong. I could tell that mom had not licked her at all. Who knows why it happens? But it does happen. Mom just rejects one of the lambs, usually the second or third one. As I said, we have had lots of issues with lambing but this was first time we had experienced the complete abandoning of a lamb. I tried rubbing the birthing fluid that was still on the new one onto the older one. Perhaps I could fool mom into accepting both as hers. No luck. She simply ignored the other lamb. What to do? What to do? We quickly put all three in a smaller enclosure. We tied up mom and put baby girl underneath her and showed her where to nurse. While this little girl was strong, she seemed to have no clue as to how to nurse. Finding the correct location was no issue, but latching on was not going well. We fiddled with her for about an hour before giving up and deciding that we were just not going to be able to get her to nurse. And even if we did, mom was going to push her away, or walk away and leave her behind. She had already done that. When I first arrived, she took her boy and moved away from me. I brought the girl up to the boy and laid them together. Mom approached as a I walked away. She sniffed and licked the boy and completely ignored the girl. Then she walked away again with her boy in tow, abandoning the girl. So, what happens when a lamb is abandoned? Well, we have to get colostrum into her within 24 hours. If you ladies out there have children you know what I mean when I say colostrum. Or if you have your own homestead you will know what I’m talking about here. For those of you still considering and learning, colostrum, not milk, is created for about three days or so. In sheep it contains lots of protein and a higher amount of fat than other species. The fat is important for lambs. The other really, really important part of colostrum is it contains the antibodies for common ruminant diseases. Lambs, kids, and calves can survive without it, but their chances of getting sick and dying due to lack of the antibodies to fight the infection is very, very high. All newly birthed ruminant animals need that colostrum for survival. On top of that, the ability to absorb the antibodies declines quickly after 24 hours. Therefore, it is imperative that the newborns get that colostrum immediately. Once we made the decision to bottle feed the new lamb, we now needed the supplies. We have never really kept lamb colostrum on hand since we reduced our flock to a half dozen ewes. We picked the best moms and we’ve never had an abandoned lamb, as I said. I was aware that this stuff can be hard to come by for lambs. All kinds of calf colostrum which will do in a pinch. But the lambs really need the extra fat. That means I had to get on the phone and find some ASAP. The closest Tractor Supply that had some was an hour away. No problem, put everything else on hold, get in the car and make the trip. I got back with the goods, fixed up a bottle for her and she drank it down in a couple of minutes. She is a really strong lamb and I think she will do fine. The other thing I needed to find was lamb milk replacer. Again, this formula needs to be made for lambs. The fat content of ewe’s milk is very high compared to cows or even goats. Fortunately, the Tractor Supply store that had the colostrum also had the lamb milk replacer. Phew. I got it all done. I feel pretty good about this little girl’s chances of survival. It was as flurry of activity, but that’s pretty normal for homestead life in the spring. There is one more ewe still to give birth. Praying all goes well for her. Final Thoughts That’s about all I have time for in this podcast. It’s time to go bring up Cloud and make sure once again that Princess is being fed properly and we need to give Cloud some calorie treats daily as she needs to supply milk for two calves. I’ll feed and water the baby quail and get another bottle of colostrum ready for the ewe lamb. She will get fed at least three times a day for a few days. Then it will drop to twice a day for at least two months. It’s all in a days work on the homestead. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast. Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. To learn about herd shares: Visit our website Herd Share page To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm Locals Peacefulheartfarm.locals.com
Fun facts about milk. Anybody up for some trivia. “Fun facts about milk” is my topic for today. We have fresh milk again and it is always a treat. There isn’t much milk at this point because Rosie is quite a small cow and it’s her first calf. I’ll talk more about that fun fact in a bit. I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week. Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but spring is starting up here. We can still expect some colder days and our last frost date according to the USDA is April 15th. That’s more than a month away. Still, it is in the upper 60’s today and sunny. In short, it’s a beautiful spring day. Reblochon Cheese Before I get into the animal updates, I want to let you know that I just made a brand new cheese that I have never made before. It is still in progress. When I finish this podcast, it will be just about time to put it in the brine solution. Brining is a common method for adding salt to cheese. I’m so excited about this cheese. It is a semi-soft, washed rind cheese. Making it to the point of getting the curds in the molds was very quick and easy. Now the hard part begins. I have never made a rind with this much complexity. If I am successful, I will have created a creamy, buttery cheese that will ooze and melt at room temperature similar to the way that a brie or camembert will ooze out of the skin. The difference is that there isn’t that skin – and that bloomy rind, mushroomy scent and flavor. This cheese will have a much firmer rind. We shall see how it goes. It’s a new adventure. Sheep The sheep are out there milling about looking for every new blade of grass. And there is some out there. Sheep will eat hay, but they prefer fresh grass. It’s not readily available in the winter and they persevere with the hay. But any day you will find them out there seeking at least one blade of fresh grass. Well today they are finding a bit. Granted the blades of grass are few and far between, but there is a bit here and there. As far as lambs, these beautiful ewes have less than three weeks left before they start giving birth. We anticipate this event every single year. You just can’t not love those little lambs bouncing around, jumping straight up and down in the early evening. Praying for this year to be as good as the last. We are looking for about 6 to 8 healthy lambs. Cows A couple of our cow girls are nearing the end of their gestation as well. We could see the next calf as early as two and a half weeks from now. In the coming days, we will begin to start walking the girls up to the milking shed every day. That reminds them of the path and what they need to do to cooperate with the process. Well, they also get a little treat while they are standing there, so that is probably their incentive as they have no care for the process. Walking them up every day also gives us the opportunity to more closely monitor their progress and general health. Any issues are easily spotted and we can respond quickly. I don’t remember if I talked about this the last time, but we are looking at adding a couple of bred heifers or young cows that are bred and ready to deliver in April or May. That would help us out so much. We are trying to build a specific genetic makeup in all of our cows. We need the A2A2 genetics for our fresh milk herd share members. If you are not familiar with A2A2 milk, I did a podcast on the topic called “What is A2A2 Milk? You’ll find it on our website. We also need the genetic trait for BB Kappa casein for making cheese. We have lots of A2A2 cows but we are missing the BB kappa casein trait. I believe the only one who has that genetic trait is also not A2A2. As we move forward, there will be significant changes in our herd. It will take the next five years or so for us to reach our goal of 100% A2A2 and 100% BB kappa casein. Quail I’m saving eggs to put in the incubator. I think I mentioned that we are giving the quail one more year to pay for themselves. So far so good. I actually have new customers that are buying the quail meat. That helps a lot. The eggs sell fairly well, but there is little profit in eggs. Just sayin . . . Today I got the incubator down out of the storage area above the creamery. Tomorrow or the next day I will crank it up and the process of hatching those cute little quail babies will begin again. Garden Preparing the garden for spring is now on the agenda. There is quite a bit to do out there and these wonderful spring days are just the time to do it. I think beginning the tasks will be delayed a few days due to another project I will talk about in a moment. Did I mention that I have 500 bare root strawberry plants coming soon? That’s right 500 strawberry plants. Scott loves jam in his yogurt and I’ve been out of strawberry jam for over a year. This year I plan to remedy that problem. And I’ll have some yummy jam for you guys as well. I have lots of tomato plant starts already sprouting. Also, the basil and thyme are sprouting. It’s so good to be growing stuff again. I have five different herbs, two tomato varieties and eight varieties of pepper plants that I’ve got seeded. Again, only the tomatoes and a couple of herbs have sprouted so far. But I’m actually amazed that those seeds sprouted so quickly. I’ve never seen any of my seeds sprout before 6 or 7 days. These came up in 3 days. Something is going on right now in my growing area this year. I have an amaryllis – actually there are three in that pot. They are all over 13 years old. They have moved with me a couple of times and have nearly died a couple of times. For the first time in 13 years, one of them bloomed. And she bloomed big. There were three primary blossoms and one that was a little late in coming out. That one is the only one left of the four. I watched that stalk grow for days and days and days. Then as it started to open, I realized that it had been so long that I had no idea what color the bloom would be. I thought for sure it would be a deep red. Nope. It was white. At this point I’m thinking that the bulbs might be even more than 13 years old as I’m pretty sure that the last one I bought was red. Well, we shall see if any of the others bloom in the future. Bees A short note on the bees. I don’t talk about them much. We don’t give them a lot of attention. We have never robbed the honey. For quite a few years they have simply gone on with their business of keeping up their hive all on their own. However, it’s not looking good this time. We don’t know for sure yet, but we may have lost the hive this winter. It was a particularly long and cold winter and they may have not survived. We shall see. It was plenty warm enough today for them to be out and about. There are always a few guarding the door. There was nothing when I went out a little while ago. But maybe it is still too cold inside there. I’ll be very sad if we lose our bees. They pollinate our orchard trees and vegetable garden. Creamery On a much happier note, the stairs to the storage area above the kitchen and creamery are currently under construction. What a blessing that will be when it is complete. It was quite the ordeal getting stuff up there. Scott attached a palette to the front forks on the tractor. We loaded it up with stuff and lifted the palette up to the door. A really, really, tall ladder was placed at the other door over the barn. Scott went in that door and came through the storage area to the door over the kitchen and creamery and started unloading the stuff off of the palette. It was a little disturbing seeing him stand on that palette while it was suspended in the air. But it held up just fine. Getting stuff back down got a little easier a few days ago as Scott set up the scaffolding just under the door. A ladder to the scaffold and another ladder to the door made getting stuff down easier than getting it up there. However, the stairs will make it perfect. Fun Facts About Milk Let’s talk about milk. Let’s talk about fun facts about milk. The first thing is following up on what I said a little bit ago about Rosie being small and this being her first calf. Even had she been two years old which is the youngest target age of any cow to have her first calf, she still would not have reached her full size. Amount of Milk All cows generally have a bit of growing to do even after having their first calf. They produce significantly less milk with that first calf because their udder is still smaller than it will be when they reach their full height and size. So, when you are planning your milk needs, keep that in mind. The first year, she will produce perhaps 25% less milk than in her second and subsequent years. The amount of milk produced by her with her second calf is much more of an indication of how much milk she will produce on a regular basis. A huge factor for us regarding how much milk we can expect to be able to use is that the calves need to get their share. Any milk cow will produce far more milk than a calf needs, but that doesn’t stop the calf from trying to drink absolutely as much as they can when given the chance. Every homestead and small dairy will have to manage how much milk the calves get. Think about beef cattle. They nurse their calves as well but they don’t produce near as much milk. I think I read that beef cows produce about 1½ gallons of milk per day. A dairy cow is going to produce three to six gallons per day. Unless they are Holsteins and those cows are pushed to the limit producing 10 to 20 gallons per day. Anyway, we feed our calves 1 gallon of milk per day to start and then bump that up to 2 gallons per day as they get a little bigger. Planning Milk Distribution We do separate our calves from the moms and then bottle feed them. It is a rough three days but then everyone adjusts and all are happy and content once again. Another method that we may try at some point is separating the calves from their moms overnight. We milk in the morning and then the calves get everything else after that. I’m hesitant to try that method as it is important for the cows to be milked out completely twice a day for the proper balance in the milk for cheesemaking. I won’t go into the scientific details, but making cheese is best done with a real consistency in the milk. These are all choices you make when you choose the homestead or small dairy lifestyle. I hope to help educate also that anthropomorphizing cows is not useful. They do not have anything remotely like human thoughts and emotions. In know we tend to feel for them as if they were human but they are not. The separating of the calf from the cow does not cause any lasting damage to the psyche of either the cow or the calf. It just doesn’t. Man was created to have dominion over the animals and plants and the land. We must care for our plants, animals and their living environment. We must be kind to them. We must nurture them. But in the end, plants, animals and the environment are not human and human emotions are not applicable. That is a little bit of a deviation from the topic, but it is an important point to make. Often, I let my emotions get in the way and I feel bad for the animals on their behalf. In the end, it’s a useless pursuit. My method for dealing with this tendency is to allow myself to acknowledge it, feel it and then grasp the reality of it. Removing a calf from its mother does not leave the same kind of deep and perpetual emotional scar for the cow and calf that losing a human child produces in us human beings. It just doesn’t. Okay, moving on from that topic. Amount of milk – the curve When a cow comes into milk, there is a production curve that is pretty consistent. There are four phases in a milking cow’s cycle. There is an early, mid and late lactation period and then there is the dry period. In the early part of the cycle, her milk production will increase, reaching its peak in 60 days or so. Then the milk production begins to drop off ending up just about where it started. Then we “dry” them up. Basically. we systematically stop milking the cow and she produces less and less milk. We don’t use this milk for making cheese. It can cause some really strange things to occur in an otherwise stable cheesemaking plan. Amount of Cream The amount of cream will change during the lactation cycle. I tried to get some reliable information on the cycle of cream and could not find any. I surmise the reason is the same reason that standardization was instituted and now no one even thinks about it. Milk was standardized to have a specific amount of cream content. Standardized whole milk in the grocery is 3.5% milk fat. The milk is homogenized and that process keeps the cream suspended in the milk. In fresh milk from your cow, the cream will rise to the top and separate from the milk. You can see the exact place in the jar where the cream stops and the milk begins. This is known as the “cream line”. It goes up and down during the lactation cycle. Mom can control cream somewhat and even hold some back for her calf. Nutrition will affect the amount of cream but the biggest factor in determining how much cream your fresh milk has is the breed of animal you are milking. Before standardization, customers were getting varying cream lines in their delivered to their door. I’m actually old enough to remember the milk truck coming at 4:30 or so in the morning and delivering fresh milk to the door. We lived in Michigan and, in the winter, if you didn’t get up and get the milk, it would freeze and break the glass jars. This happened at least once in my childhood. Anyway, to promote customer satisfaction, standards were introduced to ensure that everyone got their fair share of cream. Homogenization removed the cream line from memory and it has become a distant memory. Normande and Jersey Cow Cream Jersey cows are a favorite in lots of small dairies and homestead settings. They have a very deep cream line, far exceeding that 3.5% fat content on your store-bought, pasteurized, homogenized milk. I’ve seen our Normande cows produce a cream line that was about 2 cups out of an 8-cup half-gallon mason jar. Even for the jersey and our Normandes, sometimes there is more cream and sometimes less. But there will always be more cream in the jar of milk from our Normande and Jersey cows than any Holstein cow. Holsteins are the black and white cows we associate with milk these days. It seems that every picture of a milk cow is one of the black and white Holstein variety. Perhaps some of you are as old as me and remember Elsie the cow. She was the cartoon brand image for Borden from the 1930s all the way up to the 1990s when Borden was bought by JM Smucker Company and the milk was rebranded, Eagle Brand. Elsie was a brown cow. When they decided to have a live “Elsie” appear at the world’s fair in 1939, the cow chosen was from a Jersey herd. She even had horns just like the picture. You don’t see many modern pictures of milk cows with horns. They do still exist all over the place – Holsteins, Jerseys and our Normandes all can have horns. It’s all about branding. Holstein cows produce the majority of milk in the United States and the pictures of milk cows reflect that change. But I still love Elsie. Flavors in Milk Throughout the Lactation Cycle The last fun fact about milk that I want to bring up is the unique tastes that pastured dairy cows bring to their milk. I can always taste the grass in fresh milk from our cows. Well, not so much right now as they are eating hay. But when the grass comes in, there can be a definite “grassy” taste to the milk. It is very refreshing in the spring when we are starved for green things. I really, really crave salad this time of year. It’s the only time of year that I crave salad. I’m not a big salad eater. But late winter brings out that craving in my body for fresh green things. Another fun thing that grows in the spring that cows love to eat is wild onions. We actually have some growing out there right now. Our property does not have a lot of wild onions and I am thankful for that. Unlike the grassy taste, the onion taste simply does not go well with milk in my opinion. However, it does make an interesting cheese. So, there is that. The grasses that cows eat change throughout the year. There are spring grasses, summer grasses and fall grasses. Then there is dried grass or hay in the winter. Each of these types of grass affect the taste of our fresh milk and our handmade cheeses. The milk you get in the grocery store doesn’t have that wonderful bouquet of aromas and flavors as those cows are fed a very regulated grain diet. They don’t get to eat grass. Nope. They eat various grains and what is called silage. All of this produces a specific milk flavor that is consistent. There are no seasonal changes in the taste of the milk. And then there is that distinct cooked flavor of pasteurized milk. If that is all you drink, you will never notice it. However, if you drink fresh milk for a period of time and then take a sip of store-bought pasteurized milk, you will definitely notice the difference. Final Thoughts Well, that is it for today’s podcast. We are eagerly anticipating the spring birthing of plants and animals. It is a wonderful time of year. My favorite time of year is spring. I know, I know. We are still 10 days away from spring. But I’m there. I’m so ready. Let me know if you enjoyed the milk trivia. And drop me a line if you have questions or if I can answer any other questions for you about milk, cheese or any other dairy product. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast. Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. To learn about herd shares: Visit our website Herd Share page To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm Locals Peacefulheartfarm.locals.com
Je suis un pommier dans un pré bien exposé et je me sens bien. J’ai souvent la compagnie des vaches Normandes du propriétaire de la parcelle. J’adore leurs bouses, une véritable cure d’engrais déposés juste... L’article Le pommier qui vivait dans un pré Normand est apparu en premier sur Marchand histoires.
Avec frère Pascal Pradié, moine de l’abbaye de Saint-Wandrille, et Quitterie de Vial, chargée de mission à « Abbayes de Normandie, route historique ».
Normandives vous propose une série de chroniques présentées par Suzanne Palasti : "Les personnalités normandes". Hommes ou femmes de lettres, architectes, artistes, hommes ou femmes de pouvoir, écoutez en quelques minutes chrono, la vie d'une personnalité normande.
durée : 00:01:22 - Le Web Normand France Bleu Normandie (Rouen)
Normandives vous propose une série de chroniques présentées par Suzanne Palasti : "Les personnalités normandes". Hommes ou femmes de lettres, architectes, artistes, hommes ou femmes de pouvoir, écoutez en quelques minutes chrono, la vie d'une personnalité normande.
Tous les samedis et dimanches, Vanessa Zhâ et Marion Sauveur nous font découvrir quelques pépites du patrimoine français. Aujourd'hui, elles nous emmènent en balade sur le littoral normand.
durée : 00:01:58 - Le Web Normand France Bleu Normandie (Rouen)
Fall is in the air here in southwest Virginia. For us, that means the air is much cooler. The leaves are still quite green, but that will be changing soon. Fall in the Appalachian Mountains is the height of the tourist season. What will it be like this year? Who knows? But the leaves don’t care. They will do their thing and it will be beautiful. Let me take a brief minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. Thank you all so much for your patronage. I appreciate you all so much. This show is for you. So where have I been and what’s going on at the homestead? Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates You might have noticed I haven’t published a FarmCast episode in a couple of weeks. The first time I missed because I simply did not have the time. And last week I was in tremendous pain. I still am in fact. It’s nothing serious but it is painful. Somewhere in my spine about the level of the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th rib I have some arthritic impingement on a nerve. I’m not sure which one but I am sure that it really, really hurts. Pain can really drag you down. It’s exhausting. My ability to think clearly is diminished and so on. This morning I got up determined to go on with my life and so here I am. Let’s talk about what’s happening on the homestead. Cows The biggest news I think is that we have added yet another animal to our homestead. She is a beautiful bred heifer named Rosie. We needed another milk cow for the spring and so the search began for a Normande bred heifer. The bad news is that there were none to be found. The good news is we never give up and just moved on to looking for another breed that had A2A2 and good milking genetics. We found Rosie. Rosie is a Jersey so now we have two of them. I know, I know. We were going to sell Butter at some point so we would end up with only Normandes. So how did we come to add another one that we will also sell in the future? Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. We need milk in the spring. That means we had to get whatever was available. Rosie is adorable and a great addition to our homestead. Who knows, maybe one of you will buy her when we have built up our Normande stock. You will definitely know everything about her life and health if you listen to every episode. The rest of the girls are doing fine. Violet and Buttercup came into heat yet again. So we know they were still not bred. The best option at this point was to put the bull that we have in with them and see if he can do the job that the AI is not accomplishing. We shall see in a few weeks if he was successful. So far it looks like Cloud, Claire and Butter are all bred but we won’t know for sure until the vet checks them. That will happen next month. We were going to do it this month but now that we have Rosie, we decided to wait a little longer to make sure we can check her as well. I must say it has been a very frustrating breeding season for us. But that is just another day on the homestead. Challenges abound. Quail The last batch of baby quail chicks are doing well. They are in the penthouse now and getting bigger every day. We are going to keep all of the hens and maybe a rooster or two from this batch. Yes fall is in the air and this winter we will be experimenting a little bit more with adding more light to their cages so that they might lay an egg or two throughout the winter. Last winter, once they stopped laying, they didn’t give one single egg until later in March. Then the egg production bounced back to full capacity within a week. With the added hens and a little more light, we might just get a few eggs. We shall see. Donkeys I know the donkeys are going to need another manicure soon. That’s always an unpleasant task but needs to be done nonetheless. It’s not so much that it is unpleasant as it is that Scott has to get into very uncomfortable positions for extended periods of time in order to get the job done. But like so many tasks on the homestead, it must be done whether it is comfortable or not. Now that I think about it, that’s not so different than cleaning house. Some of those tasks are much less pleasant than others. Cleaning the bathtub comes to mind. The donkeys had a good time a couple of weeks ago when a customer brought two of her children along when picking up her beef. I put together a spontaneous homestead tour and the donkeys were central to that. The young lady was the most interested in the animals. She even walked out into the field and braved the various moon pies to get a close up encounter with Virginia, Luna and Wendell. She only got a very brief time to lay hands on the calves before they decided to be elsewhere. But the donkeys – that’s a different story. Donkeys are very, very friendly beasts. They love human attention. Once they got over the strangeness of a person they had never seen before, they were grooving on the affection coming their way. Sheep and Goats The sheep and goats are doing well. We got yet another call from a neighbor a week or so ago that one of the goats was out on the road. I think I’ve mentioned that one doe that goes in and out whenever she chooses. So far, she hasn’t gotten herself run over and she’s back with the herd again. The breeding ram that we have is a bottled-fed lamb from last year. He has four companions that were born this year. All of them are now in the field with the calves. That means I get to see them every day, twice a day when I go out to give the calves their bottles of milk. It’s such a pleasure to see that Lambert grew up to be such a great ram. His dad just keeled over and died last winter. We have no idea why. It happens. But Lambert will pick up the slack beginning in just over a month. Did I mention that fall is in the air? That means sheep breeding is closing in fast. Now that I think about it, I’m going to have to decide which ewes get bred and which not. Those chosen for breeding will need to be separated from the rest. Should we do six or eight this year? Last year it was eight, though the plan is for six. Eight worked out pretty well though. We shall see. Garden I had a friend come over and pick a whole bunch of tomatoes to take home and make sauce. I gave her everything I had and got some great blueberry jam in exchange. We are both very happy. It is likely that I will not even grow tomatoes next year. I have canned 35 quarts of diced tomatoes and a couple dozen jars of tomato sauce. What will I grow if I don’t grow tomatoes? What will I grow in their place? Potatoes The potatoes were apparently planted too late to make a fall crop. I’ll remember that for next year. When it pops up on the calendar, get it done. Don’t wait another four weeks or more before getting them in the ground. Out of about 85 or 90 potato starts, less than 10 have peeked their little leaves above the ground. The cooler days are great for growing good potatoes, but it also means the frost is coming soon. Oh well, there is always next year. Sunflowers We harvested all of the sunflowers and they are currently hanging up in the attic over the commercial kitchen and cheesemake rooms. I keep thinking about going up there to see how they are doing. But if I do that, it means that I will then have yet another task on my To-Do list that will need to get done. If I procrastinate, they will still be there and the tasks will still need to be done but I can keep my list shorter for just a little while longer. The illusion of being caught up with all of my tasks is maintained. That’s right. I can fool myself with the best of them. Peas The crowder peas are finally slowing down. I will likely plant even more of these gems next year. They are so easy to grow and we love them. It looks like next year the garden may be really heavy on beans and peas. I also plan to grow English peas. Perhaps even two crops of them. Green peas must be started early, before it gets hot. And likewise, this cooler weather is ideal for growing a second crop. Beans I’m pleased with the black, red, and white beans that I grew this year. The red and white beans put on bumper crops that are just now getting ready to complete their cycle. The black beans put on one crop and then died back. The other two died back some but then came back strong with a second, somewhat smaller, crop of great beans. I only had two beds of green beans and could have used many more. This is the one thing that people ask for at the farmer’s market. I’ve heard that there is no money in them at the market but I will grow some extra next year to see why that is so. Celery One thing that I have in the garden that I have rarely talked about is the celery. It’s coming along now and I’m getting excited about harvesting some of it. This is another crop that looks like it won’t produce very much income, but I will bring a few to the market anyway. Mostly I just love to share the fruits of my labor. I will have plenty for myself as well. These lovely plants will get chopped up and put in the dehydrator. I’ve already used up everything I had from last year. There was a little mishap just about harvest time last year when the calves got the garden and ate most of the celery. This year, I’m looking forward to building up my stores of dried celery. Culinary Herbs This was my first year to grow a significant amount of culinary herbs. It has been a success for the most part. I’ve had lots of extras to sell at market and I certainly have plenty of fresh herbs for cooking and lots of herbs to dry and store for later. This is an area that I want to expand on in the future. However, the next step there is to create a permanent location. So many of them are perennials or annuals and biennials that will reseed themselves. They need a permanent location and, dare I say, an aesthetically pleasing area known as my herb garden. But where? Where is the perfect permanent location? We shall see. Peppers The last thing I’m going to talk about is the peppers. I love growing peppers. The problem with peppers is that just a couple of plants can produce so many peppers. I’m thinking of the hot ones right now. What do I do with so many serrano peppers? Anyone got suggestions? Canning, Drying, Selling at Market Some of the things I’m doing with all of them so far is canning, drying and selling a few at the market. I’ve canned some of those great banana papers that go so well on sandwiches. And the jalapenos are also great on sandwiches. And what about a mixed pepper with a blend of hot and mild peppers. That one didn’t come out as hot as I would have liked. I’m going to do another batch of those and add more serrano peppers to the recipe. After all, I have a ton of them. Cayenne Hanging up in my kitchen are three strings of cayenne peppers, about 2 or 3-feet each. They are gorgeous. I simply threaded a sewing needle and threaded them one after another on the string, put a fancy knot on each end so they won’t slip off and hung them up to dry. One strand is already pretty dry and the other two are well on their way. I don’t know if I will ever use that much cayenne pepper, but they sure make great kitchen decorations. I smile every time I look at them. Pepper Jam Another experiment I am doing this year is making pepper jam. I have all the ingredients and I have the task popping up on my calendar for a couple of weeks now. Alas, I haven’t gotten around to completing the task. But soon, very soon, that’s going to happen. I’ll let you know how that turns out. Final Thoughts That’s it for today’s podcast. I didn’t get to the creamery and the updates there. That will have to wait until next time. There is some great progress going on there. I hope fall is in the air for you as well and you enjoyed the virtual farm tour this week. The trials and tribulations of raising animals and vegetables are so worth it for us. We left the corporate world nearly four full years ago and have never looked back. Thank you so much for joining me as we make our journey. I hope you got a few ideas for yourself and how you might add a little bit of the homestead feel to your life. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. To learn about herd shares: Visit our website Herd Share page To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm/
durée : 00:30:00 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Philippe Garbit, Albane Penaranda, Mathilde Wagman - Par François Leyritz - Réalisation Didier Gervais - réalisation : Virginie Mourthé
Barbara, 25 ans, vient de reprendre la centaine de vaches Normandes de ses parents et la ferme qui va avec. La foi en l’avenir chevillée au corps, elle travaille d’arrache-pied à entretenir, développer et améliorer son troupeau. De l’hiver à l’été en passant par la chevauchée fantastique du printemps, quand les vaches redécouvrent la liberté des pâturages et le plaisir de l’herbe tendre, le film avance au rythme de la nature, au rythme de la vie de la ferme et d’une agriculture encore artisanale.
Sessão de Enroscos, por Paula Quintão Enrosco da Vez, “quando usamos a astrologia como uma bengala para justificar nossa incapacidade de fazer o que tem que ser feito”.
In today’s podcast “Best Animals for a Homestead” is the topic. We have tried many animals and plan to try a few more. The best animals for a homestead will depend on your goals and land situation. I’ll talk about our thought processes and how we came to choose our animals and specific breeds. Let me take a minute to say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. If it were not for you, this show would not exist. I appreciate you all and hope you and your families are doing well. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week. Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates Because this podcast is generally about the best animals for a homestead, I’ll keep the garden and fruit portion relatively short. Garden The garden is amazing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We love this ground cover. The plants are thriving like they never have before. Even with the harsh heat we have been experiencing, everything is thriving. Tomatoes The tomatoes are coming on strong. There seemed to be only a few tomatoes for a while, but now when I go out there, I see every plant has many, many tomatoes. It won’t be long now. The only type of tomato I am growing this year is a paste tomato. I will get my slicing tomatoes from other vendors at the farmer’s market. My tomato crop is specifically designed to produce lots of tomatoes to be used in making tomato sauce and barbecue sauce. Peppers Peppers are up next. You can’t have tomato plants without pepper plants. They are all doing so well. The sweet banana peppers starting bearing first, then the jalapeno and cayenne started ripening. I’ve harvested only one green bell pepper but many more are in the near future. The plants are strong and bearing lots of fruit. They just need to get a bit bigger. It’s going to be a fabulous year for peppers. That green bell pepper was out of this world. I like to cut up a banana pepper and sprinkle it over my eggs while they are cooking. The peppers get cooked just enough to add their fabulous flavor to the eggs. Potatoes All of the potatoes have been harvested. We had about 75 square feet of red potatoes and 25 square feet of Yukon Gold potatoes. Most of them were quite small but also quite healthy. They are the size of new potatoes, about two to three inches in diameter, and I am treating them as such. Rather than curing and firming the skins, I’m letting them be with their thin skins so perfect for boiling and roasting. In the past we have lost many potatoes before getting them out of the ground due to rotting with fungus. Again, this time all healthy. I’m ready to plant again. Crowder Peas I started picking the crowder peas a few days ago. And then again last night I picked them again. I will wait another day or two and give them another go. I have great luck with crowder peas every year. It appears this year will be a bumper crop year. Basil and Other Culinary Herbs This is my first year for really growing basil. I am really pleased with how easy it was to grow this herb. I’m packaging up 2 cup bags to take to the farmer’s market. Come see me on Saturdays in Wytheville, VA 8 am to noon. I’m including a fresh Basil Pesto recipe with every purchase. If you’re not in my area and want the recipe, I’ll put a link in the show notes. Or just hop over to our website at Peaceful Heart Farm dot com and select “recipes” from the menu. It will be at the top of the list. The Oregano and Thyme are also doing well. The parsley and cilantro don’t look so good. I’ll have to investigate how to do better with those two. I think the Rosemary will also do well, but it grows much slower. Because we have lamb, we use a lot of rosemary. And I love it when it’s fresh. Dried works okay. But fresh is the best. I have a little bit of mint growing here and there also. I want to try a mint sauce recipe with our lamb. I haven’t had the opportunity to do that so far and am looking forward to it. I may make some mint jelly as well. Sometimes mint sauce recipes use mint jelly or offer it as a substitute ingredient. Fruit The blackberry bushes are producing lots of fruit. However, it is such a jungle down there I’m not really able to harvest it. We have been doing other tasks and have let them get overgrown. Blackberry canes are very prolific. Perhaps you’ve had some wild ones invade your space. They can be a real pain. Most of ours are thornless, but there are many wild volunteers that make picking the berries a greater challenge. Certainly not as much of a challenge as picking from a patch that is entirely wild with an abundance of thorns, but a hindrance just the same. I really enjoy picking berries when there are no thorns. Well, I guess we need to just take a day to go in there with hedge trimmers and cut out the overgrowth and clear out the wild ones. I’m pretty sure they already have a pretty good foot hold and are solidly mixed in with the thornless ones, but with diligent effort we can keep them under control. It’s just one of those homestead jobs that is not really fun. Some things on the homestead are wonderful and other things are really unpleasant. Getting my ankles ripped up by blackberry thorns is unpleasant. I guess I could wear thick socks. But it’s ssssoooo hot out there. Is it hot where you are? Moving on to the animals. Animals I’ll give a health and wellness update and then some information on how we came to have these particular animals. After I cover what we have, I’ll go into some that we want to have but don’t have yet. Sheep Sheep were the first animals that we added to the homestead in 2010. We started with a dozen pregnant ewes. We added a breeding ram, grew the flock to over 70, then scaled back to our present flock of six to eight ewes and one ram. This year we had eight ewes and have now added 9 lambs. All doing well and keeping together for the most. The health of our flock has steadily improved over the years. We chose katahdin sheep. It is a meat breed as opposed to a fiber breed. They are referred to as hair sheep. That means that they shed their wool every spring. We do not need to keep up with having them sheared every year. There are other hair sheep, but after research we decided on katahdin due to their excellent mothering instincts and their ability to thrive on pasture. They have internal parasite issues comparable to other breeds. I don’t think there is any way to get around that issue. Breeding for parasite resistance and managing our pastures has improved our flock health tremendously. If we knew in the beginning what we know now, we would have asked a few more pertinent questions before purchasing. We would have looked at the eyelids of a few of the ewes before we bought them. The flock we purchased came with a heavy worm load. They literally needed to be wormed every 3 or 4 months just to keep them and their lambs alive. Indeed, we lost a few ewes and lots or lambs before we got it under control. Naïve as we were, we did not even know it would be a problem. Oftentimes we as humans go into a situation thinking everyone thinks and acts as we do; that is a great illusion. They would of course be caring for their animals in a manner similar to our plan. Not true. Anyway, over the years we have learned how to tell when they are stressed with parasites and act quickly to bring it under control. Because of this kind of husbandry, we no longer have what I would call real issues with parasites. We may go an entire year or more without using chemical wormer at all. In other years, it may only one or two animals that get treatment. In the past four or five years we have not had to use much at all. This spring, not one single animal needed treatment. Oh, they still have the parasites and have to be monitored. But they are able to handle it effectively. A healthy flock can be maintained without chemicals. Pasture maintenance and management is the key. Well, good genetics are also important. But even the best genetics will fail if the pastures are not managed well. Donkeys Donkeys were the next animal to be added to the homestead. We chose miniature donkeys. Working with small animals was what we were comfortable with and these beauties fit the bill. Daisy was pregnant with Sweet Pea when we purchased her. Both are still on the homestead and both are doing very well. Sweet Pea ended up being bigger than her mom. I’m not sure she would even qualify as a miniature. They must be 36” or less at the shoulder. A few years later we added Johnny. He produced several foals for us including Cocoa whom we still have. He produced so prolifically that we decided that enough was enough. We wanted to keep him so we enlisted the vet to change him from a Jack to a John. It is fitting is it not? A John is a gelded Jack. Johnny is a John. He will no longer produce Jennys. There is another term for Jenny before they have their first foal, but I can’t remember it right now. Johnny and Cocoa are also doing well. The problem we have with the donkeys right now is we simply don’t need four. Eventually, we will be selling Johnny and Sweet Pea. Daisy has always been a favorite and Cocoa is my next favorite. They are just friendly and loving. Sweet Pea is an attention hog. She is so friendly she will keep pushing and nudging you from behind for more attention. Johnny is quite shy but if he lets you get close, he really enjoys a good scratch as much as the girls. We chose donkeys as guard animals for the sheep and lambs. And ours are very good at it. They have kept the coyotes away. We only had one bad incident with coyotes. Spring lambing was in full swing. It rained heavily one night and the pond flooded out into the field. The donkeys were on one side and the sheep and lambs on the other side. We came out to find three lambs destroyed by the coyotes. But again, that was the only incident. We’ve lost a lamb here and there to other predators. But the coyotes stay away. That was and is always the main concern I have with sheep and lambs. Coyotes can be devastating to a flock of sheep. Cows and Calves I’ll start out with saying that all of the cows and calves are doing very well. I have started using a natural fly spray and it is working. I’m am very pleased. Flies are a real problem when you have cattle. It’s the poop, you see. Flies love to use it as a breeding ground. And cows make a lot of poop. But with a few squirts of my special fly spray twice a day, we are keeping them at bay. We did have that issue with Luna and pink eye that I talked about last time, but I am keeping a close watch on her and making sure she gets her fly spray twice a day. The spray does not diminish the fly population. Later, we will have chickens to help keep the fly population down. More on that later. As I have mentioned before, we have Normande cows. For you guys that are new, there is a whole podcast on why we chose Normandes. I’ll put a link in the show notes. I’ll just summarize it here. It started off with me wanting to have a family cow for milk, butter and cheese. Quickly that grew to wanting a small herd to make handmade farmstead cheese. We chose the Normande breed to one main reason along with a few more major/minor reasons. The main reason is they are a dual breed cow. We needed to have a calf every year to have milk. The calf would be grown out for meat. That was the original plan. The dual breed was perfect for that. The calf would produce excellent meat and the cow would produce excellent milk. Usually a cow is either excellent at producing beef or prolific in making milk. The Normande does both. There are other breeds that are considered dual breeds but we settled on the Normande because of the other major/minor characteristics that were important to us. I did want to make cheese and the Normande, as well as being a dual breed, was genetically bred in France to produce the finest cheese. They were also bred to sustain themselves on grass. We did not know how great a boon that was until we purchased that Jersey and saw how much supplemental grain she required just to maintain her weight. The Normandes have no such requirement and still produce similar amounts of milk. Other great things are that they have extremely beautiful coats. They are docile, very docile. Here again, the Jersey cow gave us the true contrast there. Sure, the Jersey has those beautiful and gentle eyes. But let me tell you, they can be quite aggressive. Mostly with the other cows, but she has certainly challenged us from time to time as well. We will eventually sell her and stay with our Normandes. She is a lovely cow and we have learned a lot. But the Normande is the cow for us. We purchased Claire and Buttercup in 2011. Claire was bred to an angus bull and gave birth to a lovely calf. Willis has been gone for many years but I still remember the joy of that first calf being born. Buttercup is a full sister to Claire and one year younger. The next year we added Cloud, Violet and Lilly. We also purchased a bull, Teddy, with that lot. Teddy was sold a few years back. Cloud was a bred heifer and gave birth to Dora who we lost last year. Dora had complications following a breech calf. Well, the complications likely happened before the birth began. She was two weeks early, hence the breech position and subsequent infection that took her down. We purchased Butter, a Jersey cow, last year for her A2A2 milk. She was our seed for starting our herd share program. At that time, our cows had not been tested for the A2A2 genetic trait and we wanted to offer A2A2 milk to our herd share customers. Our current herd consists of the matriarch, Claire, and her sister, Buttercup along with Cloud, Violet and Butter. That’s five cows for the moment. We also have two heifers. Cloud gave birth to Luna in November last year and Buttercup gave us Virginia just five weeks ago. It will still be a while before the two heifers add milk to our supply. Luna will be bred summer 2021 and will give birth to her first calf in spring 2022. Virginia will follow the year after. Or we could breed her in September or later in 2021 for a calf in the summer or fall of 2022. We shall see. It takes a while to build a herd. Goats There is way too much information on various goats for my information here to be of much use. I wanted Cashmere for my knitting projects. There is no registered cashmere breed, though there is an American Cashmere Goat Association. With cashmere it’s all about the fiber. Lots of goat breeds produce cashmere. A cashmere goat herd is simply one where selective breeding has produced the finest fiber. That was my only criteria for a goat breed – other than we needed pasture maintenance. They are great at keeping those wild blackberries down. I can’t turn them loose in the blackberries we are growing on purpose. They will not distinguish between wild thorny, thorny blackberries and our lovely thornless ones. They will simple eat everything in sight. They eat the briars and wild roses as well. Goats eat lots of plants that the cows and sheep won’t touch. They keep small trees and bushes under control as well. Left alone the pastures would be filled with all kinds of bushes and young trees, especially pine trees. They can really take over the edges of a pasture quickly. Future plans include thinning out the cashmere goats to nothing and then bringing in some meat goats. Right now, Kiko is the breed at the top of my list, with Spanish waiting in the wings. They are both meat goats with low parasite loads and little hoof maintenance. That’s another reason for my change of heart with the goats. Our current herd requires regular hoof trimming. If I can shop well, the next one will not. That’s all I’m going to say about the goats. You may be thinking of milking goats or meat goats, but I really don’t have a lot of information in those areas to add to your knowledge. Quail The quail chicks are hatched. We have 52 in the brooders and 4 more still in the incubator. Two of those in the incubator will live, one other is a maybe will live and the fourth is not going to make it. There is a problem with its legs and it cannot stand. Let me back up a little bit. There is a lot to this story. Most of them hatched on Saturday. They stay in the incubator for up to three days. They need to dry off and get some strength in their legs and they need to be kept consistently warm. The incubator provides that environment. They were scheduled to go into the brooders on Tuesday. That date changed to Monday based on a couple of different incidents. Power Outage So much has happened that it is a little bit of a blur. I can’t recall whether it was Saturday evening or Sunday evening when we were blessed with rain and I thought, “great, I don’t have to water the garden”. Watering the garden had become nearly a daily activity. It was a tremendous thunderstorm. So tremendous that the power went out. The incubator was off and those 50 plus babies were now in danger. A call to the power company revealed that the power was guaranteed to be back on by 3:00 am. Good to know, but without the incubator or some other source of heat, those newly hatched quail would not survive. Scott came to the rescue and hooked up the generator and selectively turned on breakers so the incubator was functional. It was quite the balancing act. The cows still needed to be milked so he also turned on the breaker that would provide power to the portable milker. After that, the circuit breaker for the portable milker was turned off and the one for the water pump was turned on so we could clean up the milking equipment and get showers. That one was turned off and the circuits for the freezers were turned on. Thankfully, the power was back on long before 3:00 am. Stabilizing the Incubator The problem with the power going on and off and the incubator is stabilizing the heat and humidity. While they are just eggs, this has not really been a problem. But the last two hatchings required me to vent the humidity and temperature just a little to keep from suffocating the babies. For whatever reason, when there are so many baby birds in there, the humidity goes off the scale and the machine has trouble maintaining the proper temperature. It tends to get too hot. To get to the point, the next night I barely got any sleep at all. Somewhere between trying to stabilize the humidity and temperature, I let it run out of water in the middle of the night. Now the humidity was way too low. I added the water back to the tray and closed the lid completely to wait for the humidity to come back up. That, of course, caused the temperature to get too high and the incessant beeping began again. I vented that and went back to bed. And another hour later, the humidity was now too high again. So I get up again and vent the humidity and then leave the lid just a tiny bit open. Early Move to the Brooder Between the power outage and the constant struggle to maintain the proper temperature and humidity, I was very ready to put in the little guys into the brooder a day early. That meant that some of the eggs may not be finished hatching and it might cause them to die. I took the risk, and as quickly as I could I got the babies out and put the lid back on the incubator. More issues last night with the humidity and temperature. Scott wanted to turn it off but I wanted to wait. One more bird had hatched out after I took out the original 52 and there could be others. Today I waited as long as I could and then opened the top to check out the eggs. I found a very healthy bird, the bird that could not use its legs and two more that were not out of their egg shell yet. I helped them most of the way out and waited. One of those looks pretty good but the other, I don’t know. He may not make it. There were two others that died in their shell. Likely all that fiddling around with the temperature and humidity hurt them. It’s all good. I was not sure we would have very many eggs hatch at all. I am very pleased with 53 very healthy birds and perhaps one or two more. So why do we have quail? Why not chickens? That’s the next topic. Other Animals We Want Chickens Chickens are a natural as a “best animals for a homestead” in general and especially if you plan to make cheese. They can drink the whey and it is a great protein supplement. Another great advantage I mentioned earlier. We can use them to eat the fly larvae. Again, a great protein supplement. Less purchased feed. Of course, the best thing about chickens is they provide both meat and/or eggs, depending on the breed you choose. We will be choosing a dual-purpose bird herd as we chose a dual-purpose breed of cow. We eat lots of eggs and of course we love eating chicken. Chickens are a great first animal to have on a homestead. They are small, easy to learn about and fairly quickly provide food for your family. They do need a good shelter. Therein lies the reason that we don’t have them yet. Scott is putting all of his time into building the creamery. No time for building additional animal shelters. Well, except for the quail. He built their hutches in about a day. To build the chicken facilities would take maybe up to a couple of weeks. It also means learning and studying a new animal. No matter how many animals you have experience with, a new one requires additional education and experience. Sometimes just figuring out how to accomplish a needed task is a trial and error experience over days, weeks, or months. Don’t get me wrong. I love learning about new animals and how to care for them properly to get the best result for them and for us. But it does take time and effort that we are currently investing in other areas. Perhaps next year we will add chickens. Pigs And perhaps next year we will add pigs. Pigs are truly one of the best animals for a homestead. Rumor has it they are easy to grow. Starting out with growing out small pigs purchased from someone nearby is the best way to start. Their growing season also intersects with our cheesemaking. Pigs also like that high protein whey. They are a natural addition to a cheesemaking operation such as ours. I can’t wait to give them a try. There is a breed call Idaho Pastured pigs in which I am very interested. We shall see if I can find any in our area when the time comes. We will be raising pigs for meat. And rumor also has it that pigs raised on whey make some very tasty bacon. Rabbits I just want to add one more that is a maybe. Rabbits. I think rabbits would just be fun. But I also thought I would have fun with the fiber goats. We shall see. You can only do so much. There is only so much time in a day. The best animals for a homestead list sometimes needs to be narrowed down to what is actually manageable. Final Thoughts That’s it for today’s podcast. There are lots of animals to choose from and many breeds within each species. You will have to do a lot of research on what will work for your goals. We prefer dual purpose animals. We prefer heritage breed animals. These both fit with our goals to raise animals sustainably and with as many natural husbandry techniques as possible. Each of our animals has a purpose on the homestead. They all contribute to the health of our homestead environment. Fertilizer, pest control, weed control, parasite control and so on. All done with animals and some natural products such as apple cider vinegar and essential oils. What do you think are the best animals for a homestead? What are your goals? What are your values? The last two questions define and support the first question. The system you put in place will be unique to you. I hope I’ve given you some ideas about how it might be done. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. References: Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe Why Normande Cows To learn about herd shares: Visit our website Herd Share page To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm/
En direct des halles du Havre, RTL vous régale vous fait découvrir les spécialités normandes. La Normandie est une région d'une richesse incroyable : on y voit des vaches qui broutent sous des pommiers dans des champs verdoyants, des chaumières à colombages, des fromages crémeux et des plages historiques. En Normandie on trouve des produits agricole de qualité, mais également une architecture exceptionnelle et inscrite au patrimoine mondial de l'humanité. Aujourd'hui on part à la rencontre des producteurs et des artisans qui font cette région. Fromage, poisson, cidre, café... Il y a en a pour tous les goûts et vous découvrirez toutes les astuces pour bien choisir et consommer ces produits. Pour célébrer la saison de pêche, Luana nous a concocté de délicieux filets de bar rôtis aux asperges vertes et à la vanille. Un délice !
Dans cet épisode, deux Normandes de cœur au parcours bien différent vont vous raconter leur amour pour leur région d’adoption. Roxanna, peintre ouzbek, s’est installée « par hasard » dans la Manche, en 1997. Et malgré toutes ces années, elle garde encore un vrai lien avec son pays natal, notamment à travers l’association « La chaîne d’or » pour les échanges culturels avec les pays de l’Est, dont elle est présidente.
Normand'ailleurs, c'est une série de podcasts réalisée par Marie Zinck pour Paris-Normandie, en partenariat avec Normandie Attractivité, dans laquelle on vous parle expatriation, voyages et découvertes ! Les Normandes Alice et Charlotte ne se connaissent pas, mais peuvent se targuer d’avoir plusieurs points communs. Il y a quelques mois, elles ont toutes les deux vécu une expérience inédite : celle d’une expatriation courte mais très intense. L’une s’est intallée en Pologne, pour ses études. L’autre, en Irlande. Aujourd’hui, alors qu’elles sont de retour en France, elles imaginent déjà l’après. L’objectif : s’expatrier pour de bon.
Salut les amis ! Aujourd'hui je vous emmène en voyage ! Nous allons prendre le train de Paris à Saint-Malo, en Bretagne, puis nous allons prendre le bateau en direction de l'île de Jersey ! A quelques kilomètres seulement des côtes françaises, nous serons en Angleterre ! Nous allons visiter un château, un dolmen, visiter de charmants petits villages, aller à la plage et faire une incroyable randonnée... Alors, vous venez avec moi ? Vous trouverez la transcription sur mon site ainsi qu'une liste de vocabulaire et un quiz http://parisoclock.com/podcast/
Normand'ailleurs, c'est une série de podcasts réalisée par Marie Zinck pour Paris-Normandie, en partenariat avec Normandie Attractivité, dans laquelle on vous parle expatriation, voyages et découvertes ! Nous allons apprendre à connaître les Normandes Emilie et Ambre, toutes les deux parties s’établir en Espagne. L’une a choisi la capitale, avec sa famille, l’autre Barcelone, en Catalogne. Vous l’entendrez, ce choix d’expatriation s’est imposé à elles, mais aujourd’hui, elles se réjouissent de cette aventure et profitent de la douce qualité de vie espagnole.
Découvrez ce nouvel épisode de « La culture, c’est comme la confiture », le podcast de Paris-Normandie réalisé en partenariat avec la Région, qui répond aux questions (pas si bêtes) sur la Normandie. On s’intéresse cette semaine aux vaches normandes qui... portent des lunettes !
durée : 00:11:21 - Au coeur de la Normandie FB Normandie Caen
durée : 00:13:00 - Au coeur de la Normandie FB Normandie Caen
durée : 00:12:03 - Au coeur de la Normandie FB Normandie Caen
durée : 00:11:57 - Au coeur de la Normandie FB Normandie Caen - Intervenant : Yvon DAVY directeur de l'association
Have you asked yourself the question, “How long should raw milk last?” It’s a good question and I’ll address it today, and provide a great ice cream base recipe. You won’t have to worry about the cream lasting a long time. Your cream won’t last long because the ice cream recipe uses it up. Homemade ice cream is the perfect complement to an early autumn day that feels like summer is still hanging on. Welcome new listeners and welcome back veteran homestead-loving regulars. I appreciate you stopping by the FarmCast every week. There wouldn’t be a show without you. Are you ready to get to it? Let’s go. Today’s Show Homestead Life Updates How Long Should Raw Milk Last? Ice Cream Base Recipe Homestead Life Updates Garden The garden is done. Well, there are a few sweet potatoes to be dug up, but other than that, it’s all gone. Whew. Now we can rest until the spring. Well, not quite. There are clean up tasks and winter preparation of the beds, adding compost to improve the soil over the winter and covering the beds to keep the moisture in and the weeds out. Quail We are ready for another batch of quail eggs in the incubator. Not so many as last time. Due to the reduction of daylight, they are laying much fewer eggs. Last time it was 47. This time less than 30. Whatever comes in today will be the last of this period of collection. Eggs can be collected for 7 to 10 days and kept in a cool environment but not in the refrigerator. Most of our quail are brown coturnix. They are tan and brown with spotted plumage. We have one white one from the original batch of eggs that we purchased and one white one from that first batch that we hatched out about 2 months ago. They are already mature. The males are fertile and the females are old enough to begin laying eggs. We will take out enough females to fill out our breeding stock and the rest will go to freezer camp. Cows We are down to one bull from this year’s calves and we have just offered up Egwene for sale as well. She is our purebred Jersey heifer calf. Her mom is certified A2A2 and her sire is also certified A2A2. If you are interested please let us know. She is a lovely calf and quite affectionate if she thinks you have a bottle. We are weaning her and she has only a day or so left where she will get milk. At 5 ½ months old, she is developed enough to live on grass. Homesteading requires tough choices and letting go of favored animals is one of them. I will miss her but we have to be true to our plan. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) The cooler weather we have had recently has been such a blessing. I hope it has been for you as well. I’m not a fan of summer. I like it okay in the beginning but it just seems to drag on and on. I’m the same way about winter. My favorite season is a toss up between spring and fall. Right now, fall is my favorite season, but I can guarantee you that in March my favorite season will be spring. I tend to get seasonal affective disorder. Anyone familiar with that? As the winter drags on and there is less sun, vitamin D can be in short supply and depression may not be far behind. Usually by the end of January I’m feeling it and by the end of February I can be almost immobile. My level of motivation has fallen through the floor. These days I just accept what is and don’t try to fight it. I revel in my – shall I say – laziness and enjoy it while it lasts. Come spring the world will spin out of control with so much to do and no time to do it all. It’s a familiar cycle for me. I’ve learned to ride it like a roller coaster. Let’s get to today’s topic. How Long Does Raw Milk Last? The short answer is nearly forever. The only thing that will stop you from consuming it is an aversion to the taste. First it becomes sour. Next it will thicken into yogurt. However, it will be a very strong yogurt. That yogurt will last a month or more. Along that time line you can drink the milk, use it in cooking, make cultured butter and buttermilk, and so on. Contrast that with pasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk does not sour, it rots. It truly goes bad and is not safe for consumption. You do not want to put it in your mouth under any circumstances. On the other hand, when raw milk ages and starts to sour, this is good! Great, in fact. What Makes Milk Sour and What Do I Do with It? The reason raw milk starts to sour is because beneficial, probiotic bacteria amounts are increasing and using up the lactose sugar, making it taste sour, again, like a nice unsweetened yogurt. So, how long should your raw milk last when you get it home? Sandra Clark whose website is www.healthfoodnaturally.com, has this to say: “If you get the milk the day it is milked, it will stay fresh up to 2 weeks. If it sours, no worries, it will become yogurt with no help at all (with a little sour cream on top).” Without a starter, the sour cream on top usually bitters, so you can just scrape it off and compost it if you don’t like the taste.” As for the yogurt, when we have left over milk at the end of the week, we just throw it in a ball jar and leave it in the fridge for if we get low on milk (because it has an amazingly long shelf life after turning into yogurt.)” When we do run out of milk, we just throw some honey and fruit (usually berries) in and blend the yogurt into a tasty yogurt drink.” I have some jars in there as old as two months and the yogurt tastes fine (well not like store-bought yogurt – to get that particular flavor you need to manipulate it with a bacteria starter like for cheese making – but with honey and fruit added it tastes wonderful!).” So according to Sandra it should last up to 2 weeks in your fridge. In my experience, I have kept milk for nearly a month before it soured. Because in the spring we have tons of milk, this happens often. We just keep drinking it until the flavor goes off, then use it for other purposes. What’s our Secret? What is our secret to milk lasting so long? It’s two-fold. First, cooling it quickly. The faster it gets below 40 degrees, the longer it is going to last. The second key is keeping it very cold. The colder you keep the milk, the longer it will last. Our milk refrigerator is set to 34 degrees. The problem that people have these days is having access to this great raw milk. I will do another podcast on how we got to this point. Today, I’ll just talk about where we are. There are lots of scary stories out there about how dangerous it is to drink raw milk. I say it’s hogwash and propaganda put out by some people in power with lobbyists to placate. The human species would have died out long before the pasteurization process was invented in the previous century if it was so dangerous. There are dangers in every food we consume. There are risks in every aspect of life. Assess your comfort level with the risk and make your choice. Raw Milk Choice The problem today is that in many states, there is no available choice for raw milk products unless you own your own cow. That’s why we started our herd share program. You can own part of a cow herd and receive the benefits of what your cows produce. More on that later. It’s so amazing to me that you can buy unpasteurized milk in the grocery store in 12 states, but the rest restrict it in various ways. It has to be labeled as pet milk in 4 states. 15 states allow it to be sold directly from the farm but not in the store. And of course, the herd share program is available in Virginia and 10 other states. In 9 states all sales are illegal and so are herd shares. So, 12 states think it is okay to for us buy raw milk and to consume it freely and the others are so certain we are all going to die of horrible illnesses that it has to be restricted or illegal altogether. I just cannot fathom the logic in this. If people were dying right and left, it would have been outlawed in all of those states wouldn’t it? Who is telling the truth? Recent Studies Show Raw Milk Related Illnesses are Decreasing While Access is Increasing You have to make up your own mind of course. And I will say again, there is risk in consuming any food. To help you with that decision as it pertains to raw milk, here is an article from the US National Library of Medicine Department of the National Institutes of Health (link in the show notes). It is titled Recent Trends in Unpasteurized Fluid Milk Outbreaks, Legalization, and Consumption in the United States. There is a ton of really great information in this study. Lots of data, as you might expect, and lots of charts and graphs. It’s really good stuff. I’ll quote from the Abstract. “Introduction: Determining the potential risk of foodborne illness has become critical for informing policy decisions, due to the increasing availability and popularity of unpasteurized (raw) milk. Methods: Trends in foodborne illnesses reported to the Centers for Disease Control in the United States from 2005 to 2016 were analyzed, with comparison to state legal status and to consumption, as estimated by licensing records. Results: The rate of unpasteurized milk-associated outbreaks has been declining since 2010, despite increasing legal distribution. Controlling for growth in population and consumption, the outbreak rate has effectively decreased by 74% since 2005. Discussion: Studies of the role of on-farm food safety programs to promote the further reduction of unpasteurized milk outbreaks should be initiated, to investigate the efficacy of such risk management tools.” So, there you have it. This study was initiated because they were pretty sure that the incidence of raw milk illnesses would increase as access was increased. They were wrong. There is now a push toward finding out if on-farm food safety programs are helping. I don’t need a study to tell me that they most certainly are. I’ve learned a lot of what I know because we have been studying cheesemaking for years. Others are just starting out and need to know about how to keep the environment sanitary and the milk clean. They need to know that it is really important to cool the milk quickly. Many still don’t use bulk milk tanks and have other ingenious methods of cooling the milk. A favored method is putting it in a freezer for 2 hours and then transferring to the refrigerator. I’m glad we have a bulk tank else frozen milk in broken jars would be a regular disaster. I get busy and forget stuff. Heck, I can walk into another room and forget why I went in there. Ever done that? Raw Milk in Virginia In Virginia, the way to have access to raw milk is via the herd share. You support the business by buying a share of the herd and get a designated rate of return on your investment. It is a commitment to be sure. It’s kind of like that wine buying club. You are committing to a certain amount of product per month for as long as you are a member. If you’re looking for an affordable cow herd share program in southern Virginia or the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina that has quality, healthy, and long-lasting raw milk, cheese, butter and yogurt, this is it. We are situated in Patrick County, Virginia just northeast of Mount Airy, NC. Here are four reasons our cow herd share program is so good. We offer 100% heritage breed Normande and Jersey milk, cheese, yogurt, cream and butter from cows with certified A2A2 genetics. I have a podcast on what A2A2 genetics means and I’ll include the link in the show notes. Briefly, there was as genetic mutation that happened a while back that changed the structure of the milk. Most milk today is NOT A2A2 in nature. One of the reasons we chose our heritage breed Normande cows was the purity of the ancient genetics. We use antibiotics only at great need and absolutely NO growth hormones. Because we care for our pastures, our cows get only the best nutrition. Occasionally, there is a need for antibiotics. It’s no different than a human woman getting mastitis while breast feeding. Sometimes it happens and you take care of it. If it is necessary, that cow’s milk is harvested separately until the treatment and subsequent waiting period is long past. And the idea of forcing our cows to produce more milk with hormones is abhorrent to me. There is no regard for the health of the animal at all with hormones. There is only the focus on production. I don’t think those that use these artificial means of increasing milk even see that the cows are living beings. They treat them like machines. When they inevitably burn out due to over-taxing their bodies, they are shunted off to the sale barn and replaced with a younger model. It’s disgusting. Our cows are out on grass all the time, and only come in for milking. They receive a small amount of non-soy, non-GMO grain supplement. This has two purposes. First, to entice the cow into the milking parlor and second to make sure she maintains her body condition. Our Normande cows can get by with absolutely no supplemental feed and maintain their body condition until late in the season. We choose to make sure they maintain body condition from beginning to end. The Jersey cow requires a great deal more supplemental nutrition. It is very easy for her to lose condition. I recently did a podcast on this as well (Normande vs Jersey – the Cost). The Jersey cow breed is a wonderful choice for many. But they do come with problems that we have not experienced with our Normandes. I won’t go into other details but, the days of Jersey cows on our homestead are numbered. To join their herd share program, it only costs $60 AND one share is only $44 monthly! You can also purchase a half share for $30 and $22 per month or multiple shares if you have a larger family. The herd produces milk from the first week of May through the last week of October. Yogurt and sometimes cream is also available in that time frame. In the spring, there is always a glut of milk and we makes lots and lots of cheese with that. Our cheese are all raw milk cheeses. The legal requirement is that they be aged at least 60 days. However, none of our cheeses would be worth a darn at that young age. We age all of our cheeses well past that minimum. Some only come into their flavor after many, many months. And they get better and better with age. Our Herd Share Program Check out the Herd Share page on our website – www.peacefulheartfarm.com. Click or tap “herd share” on the menu to get more information. Or drop us a line via email or give us a call. We’d love to have a conversation with you. Fun fact about raw milk. Remember the old wives’ tale about drinking warm milk to get to sleep? That is likely due to the tryptophan in the milk. However, it doesn’t really work anymore unless you have a raw milk resource. Pasteurization destroys the tryptophan. And that’s it for today’s topic. Let’s finish up with a late summer recipe for home made ice cream. Ice Cream Base When it’s warm outside, a cold refreshing dish of ice cream can really hit the spot. This is a basic ice cream recipe that can be used as a base for many different flavors. I’ve included a download link to the flavorings. This silky, luscious and very classic custard can be used as the base for any ice cream flavor you can dream up. These particular proportions of milk and cream to egg yolk will give you a thick but not sticky ice cream that feels decadent but not heavy. For something a little lighter, use more milk and less cream, as long as the dairy adds up to 3 cups. You can also cut down on egg yolks for a thinner base, but don’t go below three. What You Need 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup whole milk ⅔cup sugar ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt 6 large egg yolks Your choice of flavoring What To Do In a small pot, simmer cream, milk, sugar and salt until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the hot cream into the yolks, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed. Notes Download the recipes for flavorings Final Thoughts I’m so glad that summer is winding down. It was a long, rough summer. And I missed about half of it because of the appendicitis. Again, not a huge fan of heat of summer. Remember to contact us if you are interested in a Normande bull to strengthen your herd genetics or if you are looking for that A2A2 Jersey heifer for yourself or to add to your herd. If you’re not into raising your own cow but still want the benefits of raw milk products, we are here to help you out with that. For us the benefits of raw milk and raw milk products far outweigh the small risk factor. I’ll do another podcast on the statistics for the number and percentage of illnesses attributed to raw milk consumption shown in the larger scope of food in general. Where does raw milk fall in the list of food born illnesses from food in general? I hope you try out some really great ice cream recipes in these last days of summer and the early autumn. Share your experiences in the comments on the recipe page. Link in the Show Notes. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. As always, I’m here to help you “taste the traditional touch.” Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. References US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health: Recent Trends in Unpasteurized Fluid Milk Outbreak, Legalization, and Consumption in the United States Peaceful Heart FarmCast: What is A2A2 Milk? Normande vs Jersey – the Cost Recipe Link Ice Cream Base with bonus flavoring recipes download To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show with your friends and family on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm/
We have made some really startling discoveries lately regarding the cost of milking cows and I want to share that with you today. Normande vs Jersey – the cost is the main topic for today. Both are traditional breeds. What’s the difference and how does that affect the cost of raising them. Today’s Show Homestead Life Updates Normande vs Jersey – The Cost Skillet Chicken with Neufchatel Spinach Artichoke Sauce Homestead Life Updates Life is getting back to normal on the homestead. I’m mending nicely and my energy level is back to where I can work all day and not be too tired. I still have to watch myself in the heat and doing too much in one day. While I’m active all day, I want to be cognizant of the strength and energy required to perform those activities. For instance, I might go to the garden for a little while, but not for the hours and hours I would put in before. I do more inside tasks. The Garden Speaking of the garden, putting in less hours is working out well as the garden is winding down. We have finished with the tomatoes. Not because they weren’t producing but because I simply have had enough of tomatoes. I planted way too many. If it weren’t for the drought we have been experiencing, I would have been even more overwhelmed. Most of the season the tomatoes were small due to lack of water and fertilizer. They were very good tomatoes, just not very big. Instead of a nice 3 ½ inch diameter, they were more like 2 ½ inches in diameter. Pretty small I know. But they were really, really good. The Many Ways of Preserving Tomatoes I’ve canned and canned and canned. Mostly tomato sauce, though I made a few jars of salsa and really like it. I have all of the remaining tomatoes on a shelf inside the house near a window. Those tomatoes will all go into salsa. Barbecue sauce is on the list as well. That concoction is just about ready to be canned. Even though I am using a traditional recipe it calls for more sugar than I want. I can leave out some of the sugar and start my own traditional barbeque sauce line as a much healthier product. IMO Animal Husbandry The animals are doing really well. We had a long discussion about where we are going to go with our animals. We currently have sheep, goats, cows, and donkeys. Which do we want to keep and which will go? We haven’t talked much about the donkeys, though we have discussed selling two of them as we don’t need that many. And after I talk about the sheep, we may not need any at all. That is another discussion. The Sheep Currently we have one breeding ram and 6 ewes. This year that combination produced 10 lambs that will go to market next year. We also have three lambs that are ready for market right now. Get your orders in now if you want a half or whole lamb. Again, there are only three. We had a good long discussion about the sheep a few days ago. They are wonderful animals and very easy to keep and manage. The flock has been genetically improved so they have little to no problems with parasites. That was a big problem for us in the beginning. We lost many animals – especially small lambs – in the first year or two. The discussion revolved around time management. While they are easy to keep and raise, they also are one more marketing task that we have to take on to sell the lambs and meat each year. In our neck of the woods, lamb is actually quite popular. However, every minute I spend marketing lamb is a minute I don’t spend marketing cheese. These are business decisions that have to be considered. In the end, we decided to phase out our flock of sheep. We will not breed this year and will begin culling the older ewes a little at a time. Likely we will sell the breeding ram, but in the end, all sheep will be gone from our homestead. At least for the time being. We can revisit this after the creamery is completed and we have a good handle on making and marketing our cheese. For right now, the creamery, cheesemaking and marketing are our primary focus. The Purpose of Goats Unlike the sheep, the goats have a greater role to play in the maintenance of good pasture for our grass-fed operation. Sheep do eat different things than cows initially, but in the end, they both eat all of the grasses. The goats, on the other hand, like to eat woody stems such as small trees, briars, brambles, wild blackberries and so on. But still there will be changes. Again, relating to efficient time management on the homestead. We chose cashmere goats because I love to knit. It was a great idea to raise them, comb out the cashmere, then send it off to be processed and spun into roving and yarn. Then I was going to knit cute little baby stuff to sell at the market. In the end, I simply don’t have that kind of time. There is only so much I can do. This is a great life lesson. You can divide your focus between two things, but neither will ever get your full attention. The goats require constant hoof maintenance. The cashmere must be combed out at exactly the right time in late winter. There is a pre-cleaning that happens before sending it off to be cleaned, carded and made into roving and/or yarn. I once thought that I would have lots of time in the winter to sit and knit to my heart’s content. Didn’t happen. I spend a great deal of time in the winter laying out the marketing plans for the spring, summer and fall. Because once spring has sprung, everything else goes on hold. Cows are being milked, cheese is being made, and trips to the farmer’s market are happening a couple of times a week. I better have all of my marketing ducks in a row before the dam bursts. What To Do With Our Goats Back to the goats. We will still have a herd of goats. However, we are going to cull out all of the cashmere goats and eventually bring in some Kiko goats. Kikos were developed in New Zealand based on the needs of the local markets. They needed goats that did not require a lot of parasite control and certainly did not need hoof maintenance. Taking a feral breed and crossing it with domestic breeds, they were able to develop a great meat goat that requires little to no maintenance. That’s our kind of animal. We still have to sell the goat meat, but we will keep the herd small. We haven’t managed our goats nearly as well as the sheep. Unauthorized breeding is an ongoing problem with them. There seem to be goat kids popping out at the most inconvenient times. And of course, it makes the herd bigger when we don’t take the time to get them to market. Unlike the Kiko goat which was developed for efficient meat production, the cashmere goats take a long time to get to a good size for market. They are bred for their winter undercoat of cashmere with no regard for any other trait. The Donkeys As I mentioned, we haven’t discussed the donkeys and whether we will continue to keep them after the sheep are gone. They were purchased as livestock guardian animals for the sheep. They are also the only thing on the homestead that could properly be called a pet. They are very friendly animals and they crave human interaction. Likely we will keep them around. We want you guys to come visit us and I wouldn’t want you to miss them. AAANNNDDD I would miss them too. The Cows Finally, I get to the cows and this will lead into today’s topic. In fact, I’m going to skip right to the topic. Normande vs Jersey Cows – the Cost Analysis First, a short review of our choice for the Normande breed of cow. Second, how did we end up with a Jersey cow and heifer calf? Lastly, how has this experience changed the way we think about our herd? Why We Chose Normande Cows? I know you’ve heard me say this before, but I’ll say it again. I love our Normande cows. For more particulars about the breed, listen to my podcast “Why Normande Cows”. We bought our first girls in the fall of 2011. There was never any doubt in my mind that I would have a milk cow on our homestead. Making cheese, butter and yogurt along with that luscious fresh milk straight from the cow was on the top of my list of things I wanted in my life. We had plenty of time to research what kind of cow we wanted to have for our traditional family cow. As mentioned above, there are always offspring to deal with when raising animals. In order for a cow to produce milk, she needs to have a calf every year. She will produce milk for about a year before naturally drying up, but proper management requires us to stop milking her and “dry her off” a good three months before she gives birth again. That gives her the resources she needs to remain healthy and grow a healthy calf. So what kind of cow was going to give us a good calf for beef as well as produce a lot of milk for my enjoyment, cheesemaking and so on? Dual Breed Cows There are quite a few breeds that are listed as “dual breed”, meaning they produce lots of milk but also produce calves that grow out with well-marbled meat in a timely manner. Another requirement we had was a good healthy steer that could thrive on pasture and did not need to be grain finished to reach that well-marbled meat in a timely manner goal. Same for the milk. She needs to be able to maintain her weight and condition without being fed the customary 6 pounds of grain a day allowed for organic grass-fed dairies. Commercial dairies will feed their cows up to 30 pounds of grain per day. The trade off with not feeding grain is less milk. Grain definitely increases milk production. And while I am not opposed to feeding the 6 pounds of non-gmo, non-soy feed, if we need more production, our current model does not require this. Let me explain a little more. My first concern is the health of the cow. I’ve seen some pretty skinny milk cows. They were being pasture raised with absolutely no grain. It’s a fine goal, but if your cow is starving because so much of her energy is going into milk production that there is little left for her own needs, the goal is flawed. I prefer a system approach. My system is designed to keep healthy herd, produce enough milk for us to make our traditional, hand-made artisan cheese in sufficient quantity to support the homestead, and produce excellent beef, breeding and replacement stock with the annual calving. There are several breeds that advertise themselves as fitting those requirements. But the Normande stood out in my mind. Their milk production is on par with the Jersey. The fat and protein components are on par with the Jersey. The largest deciding factor was the composition of the milk as it relates to cheesemaking. Normande Cow Characteristics The Normande cow produces a milk with a protein structure that is the most conducive to cheesemaking. In France, Normande milk is prized and even required for some cheeses to carry a specific name. Camembert di Normande comes to mind. Neufchâtel is also made with milk from Normande cows. Neufchatel is a traditional, soft-white, table cheese, originating from the village of Neufchatel-en-Bray in northern Normandy. It is one of France’s oldest cheese, dating back as far as 1035. Often, it is heart-shaped. That shape came about during the Hundred Years’ War between England and France from 1337 to 1453. Tales are told about the French farm girls falling in love with English soldiers and making these heart-shaped cheese to show their love. One other characteristic we considered was docility. Cows are very large animals. I wanted a breed that was gentle and easy to work with and the Normande has exceeded my expectations in that area. Far exceeded my expectations. We love our Normandes so how did we come to own a couple of Jerseys? Why Did We Buy a Jersey Cow? I often referred to Jersey cows when talking about the Normande and other dairy breeds. It is the most popular choice for a family milk cow. Typically, they produce lots and lots of milk with higher butterfat and protein levels than other breeds. They are not, however, a dual breed. They are actually quite skinny in their natural state. Boney in fact. While our Normandes are flat across their rump with meat and fat, the Jersey cow’s hip bones are really prominent. It is how they are genetically built. Their energy primarily goes into making milk, not meat and fat. Jersey milk is highly prized for the highest butter fat content. That means you can make lots of butter. Cheese made from Jersey milk will also be higher in fat, and that means more flavor. They are a great milk cow. But again, not a dual breed. Though I do see a lot of marketing going on right now for Jersey beef. And I assure you, that it is only marketing. It is marketing with information put together by the American Jersey Cattle Association researchers. The studies they are conducting include the standard grain diet fed to beef cattle to grow out the Jersey steers. They are simply not going to get the proper level of fat on grass only. I think it might work for the commercial market, but would not be viable for the family homestead. I’m willing to change my mind if I’m wrong. Right now, my mind says that Jerseys are NOT a dual breed. So how did we end up with a bred Jersey cow? We needed some cash flow and herd shares were one way to provide it. A combination of the A2A2 certification of this cow and her calf along with the possibility of an existing customer base tipped the scale. When I was first approached, I simply wasn’t interested in another cow – and a Jersey to boot. But the idea of offering herd shares was intriguing. After a few days and lots of discussion, Scott and I decided to give it a try. It was a big financial risk but we decided to take the plunge. The current owner was offering herd shares and some of her customers would likely come to us after she stopped offering the service. That would help offset the initial cost of the cow. Additionally, I felt I could work it into my already busy marketing schedule as the herd shares contributed to our cheese centerpiece. Yes, we offer the fresh raw milk, but we also provide cheese, yogurt and butter to our herd share owners. Fast forward, Butter has her calf. A very beautiful deer-like heifer. Very boney and much smaller than our Normande calves. That’s just how they come. We started milking Butter and offering fresh A2A2 milk via our herd shares. The legal contracts are worded to include cheese, butter, yogurt and cream as part of the herd production. Here’s What We Found Out – the Good News The A2A2 milk is the real draw for both the milk and the cheese. We are in the process of getting our Normande cows tested for the A2A2 beta casein genetic trait. For more info on that, listen to my podcast, “What is A2A2 Milk?” Link in the show description. We are moving our herd genetics to 100% A2A2 beta casein and BB kappa casein. I haven’t talked about kappa casein yet. BB kappa casein is the genetic quality that makes the best cheese. That need its own podcast. Here’s What We Found Out – the Bad News First, the docility factor. Jerseys, and indeed most dairy cows, are fairly placid. What I see is that they are placid with humans. The Jersey cows are very aggressive with the other cows. Even Egwene, Butter’s calf, is aggressive with her bottle. She pushes and jerks on that bottle with ferocity. It’s not a problem for us at all. Just noted. As I said, the Jersey cows are very placid with humans. Second, that Jersey does produce some really good milk and cream. She also requires feed – expensive feed. While our Normande cows stay fat and healthy on pure grass, even when they are in milk, a Jersey requires feed to maintain body condition when in milk. We feed a little bit of a supplement to our Normandes purely to keep them interested in coming into the milking parlor. Violet in particular is quite fat and she never received any grain supplement until this year when we trained her to put her head into the milking stanchion. The Normande breed has been developed over centuries to thrive on a grass-based diet. Because we keep Butter’s milk separate so our herd share owners can have 100% A2A2 milk, we are able to keep track of which cow is giving how much milk. The results are in. Butter is getting about four pounds or so of non-gmo, non-soy dairy feed supplement. Her milking parlor mate, Violet, gets about two handfuls of sweet feed. Violet produces as much or more milk than Butter. That’s right. As much and sometimes more milk from Violet without the expense of lots of special feed. I believe that Butter is quite capable of producing quite a bit more milk than Violet. However, we would have to feed her more grain to accomplish it. We don’t need a lot of milk at this time. The herd shares are still building and I’m only making cheese intermittently due to limitations of aging space. We simply don’t need the extra milk. If you run a Jersey dairy, it’s probably worth the cost to have more milk. But for us, why spend the money if you don’t have to? If we wanted more milk production from our Normandes, we could feed them a dairy supplement. Who knows how much milk they would produce? I do know that the little bit of feed they do get increases their milk production significantly. And perhaps at some time in the future that will be the way to go. As our cheese business takes off, we may want to make more cheese than the original plan outlined. We may have many more herd shares available in the future. In that case, we may feed some grain to produce more milk. But for right now, the grass requires no cash flow. It’s free. Where Do We Go From Here? The bottom line is we are going to phase out the Jerseys. As soon as I can get at least one of my Normande cows certified as having A2A2 genetics, Butter goes up for sale. We are already talking about selling her calf, Egwene. Perhaps we will wait until we can sell her as a bred heifer. We shall see. In the end, the Normande ladies rule. Skillet Chicken with Neufchatel Spinach Artichoke Sauce You just can’t go wrong with skillet chicken and a good cheese sauce! Perfectly golden brown, tender pan seared chicken breasts are topped with an easy to make, rich and flavorful spinach artichoke sauce. It might remind you of my crab and artichoke dip recipe but much lighter. Recipe link in the show notes. What You Need 24 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts Salt and black pepper 4 Tbsp butter, divided 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbsp flour 3 ½ cups fresh baby spinach, chopped 1 (14 oz) can artichoke quarters, drained and chopped 1 ¼ cups milk 4 oz Neufchatel cheese, diced into small cubes 1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese ¼ cup sour cream What To Do Pound chicken to an even thickness using the flat side of a meat mallet. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 2 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until golden brown on bottom, about 5 - 6 minutes. Turn chicken to opposite side. Continue cooking until chicken is golden brown on bottom or center registers 165 on an instant read thermometer, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to a plate, cover and keep warm. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp butter in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and flour and cook 30 seconds then add in spinach and artichokes and sauté about 1 minute or until spinach has wilted. Pour in milk and scrape up browned bits from bottom. Add in Neufchatel cheese and parmesan, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook and stir until mixture has thickened slightly and cheeses have melted. Stir in sour cream then return chicken to skillet. Quick and easy, this recipe serves 4. Give yourself 15 minutes to prep the ingredients and about 18 minutes for cooking. In just about 33 minutes you’ve created a masterpiece. Final Thoughts We gave the Jersey breed a chance and ended up back in the same place we started. Normande is the breed for us. I hope you get a chance to visit the farm sometime in the near future. See these beautiful creatures close up and personal. And you’ll want to pet the donkeys as well. We love the homestead life. There is always something new coming along. The variety and number of animals may change according to our needs, but they will always be a central part of our life. Especially the milk cows. They are such peaceful creatures. And our traditional breed Normandes exemplify peace. Neufchatel cheese originated in Normandy, France. It’s a fantastic cheese. And even though the US version of it is a bit watered-down and rectangular rather than heart-shaped, give that skillet chicken with spinach artichoke sauce a try. You’ll be glad you did. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. As always, I’m here to help you “taste the traditional touch.” Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. Recipe Link Skillet Chicken with Neufchatel Spinach Artichoke Sauce To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm/
Is a peaceful heart and peaceful mind possible in this wacky world? I’m waxing philosophical today. I hope you find this podcast educational and entertaining at the very least. As always, I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast every week. I truly appreciate you all so much. Today’s Show Homestead Life Updates Peaceful Heart – Peaceful Mind Parmesan Peas Homestead Life Updates Herd Shares – When you purchase part of our herd you will benefit from fresh milk and yogurt in the summer with cheese and butter available year-round. Your cows graze each and every day on lush green pasture and freshly baled hay in the winter. They live a life a peace and tranquility in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Plan a trip to the farm to visit them and see how we care for and manage them. Go to www.peacefulheartfarm.com/virginia-herd-shares for more information. We have only three lambs this year. Speak up now and claim a half or a whole or forever hold your peace. Well at least until next year. Same with the beef. This may be your last chance for beef raise on our homestead. We are streamlining our cattle operation to be strictly dairy. In the future, you’ll have to purchase a young calf and raise it up for beef on your own. Choices, choices, choices. We are constantly faced with hard choices these days. Should we get more Jersey cows or stick with the Normandes? New opportunities seem to continually present themselves. I’m leaning more towards sticking with the Normandes. Sure, Butter, the Jersey, is giving more milk, but we can breed for higher milk production. It is the temperament of the Normande that is so compelling. And the dual milk/beef characteristics. We have the option of selling every single calf we birth on the farm. But we can also keep one as needed for our own use as beef. Normande beef is superb. Yeah, I’m leaning toward keeping the Normandes central and the two Jersey girls will be the cream on top. (That’s a dairy pun.) Corny, I know. Choices again. As we move forward at the farmer’s market, the interest in lamb is increasing. That’s another dilemma. I only have so much time in a day. At this point, my days are consumed with milking, making cheese and marketing milk and cheese. Scott and I have discussed significantly reducing the other animal populations. Specifically, the goats and sheep. It’s another task in my already overcrowded schedule to market those specialty meats. Who knew we would be faced with these kinds of choices? We love all of our animals. However, I have 10 lambs to sell next year. Will I have the time to do it effectively? Or will we fall into the trap that so many other small farmers do? Will we end up selling them at a loss just to make room for more that get sold at a loss again? Not likely. We are aware of the dilemma and are addressing it. But there it is. The choice is always before us of what we do with our time. How much garden is the right amount of garden? If I don’t have a garden at all, then I must spend money at the market to make up the difference. Part of the choice of living the homestead life is the simplicity and living on less. It becomes like drinking water, a necessary part of your life. Else you go back to the rat race of spending the hours you currently use to garden with working for someone else. Nah, I think I’ll pass on that. Yeah, the garden will likely endure. Not much in the way of updates there. We continually have choices to make, but for right now we have Normande cows, goats, sheep, donkey’s and quail – and a very large garden and orchard. Those will remain as they are and we will power through. Oh yeah, we can’t forget the bees. But we do. They are going fine on their own. One day we will rob some honey. But not today. I’ll bet you guys have similar choices. Should you move to the country and build a homestead or create peace in your life right where you are and visit us every chance you get? Either will bring peace to your life. It’s always your choice is it not? Peaceful Heart – Peaceful Mind How does one get a peaceful heart? That’s a deep subject. I’ve worked on it for years and I continue to work on it. Maintaining peace, both inner and outer, is a full-time job – a lifetime job. There are techniques that help. Different choices can be made that will help. Self-discipline with your thoughts and mind helps. There are lots of things that can be done. Here at Peaceful Heart Farm, we are constantly reminded of the desire for peace because of our name. What you think about becomes your life. We think about peace a lot. Living in the environment we do helps also. But it is not required. Not everyone can live the life we do – or even desires to live as we do. Having peaceful surroundings is not a prerequisite for experiencing peace. I must say, for us, it certainly helps. Whenever you get tired of the rat race and just want to escape to the country, you might have to make plans, drive a certain distance, hope that it is as you remembered, and so on. For Scott and me it is a matter of waking up in the morning and going outside to do morning chores and we are immersed in it – for the most part. We have awakened to disasters – animals we love may be ill and die. We lost Dora earlier this year. That was not pleasant and it disturbed my peace. But we move on. Technique and Practice One technique that I believe helps more than any other is maintaining a positive attitude. Looking on the bright side is another way to put it. I know it sounds trite and it is. The reason it is trite is it is ancient wisdom that works remarkably well. The idea has been passed down through the ages. Maintaining a positive attitude has endured because it works. With practice, it becomes more and more a daily routine. Something happens, you choose to the see the positive. I know, I know, it’s easy to get caught up in the negative. And truly there are some experiences that have no easily identifiable up-side. The loss of a loved one comes to mind. Sure, you can intellectually tell yourself over and over that they are in a better place. They are no longer in pain. The suffering is over and so on. But that does not take away the deep grief that grips your heart for quite a long time. But these are the exception to the rule. Most of our negative ideas about anything in our daily life are interpretations that we put on events. These interpretations are based on our beliefs, perception of the facts and past experiences. Yes. They are choices we are making. And you can get out of it. A key phrase I put in there is “perception of the facts”. Likely you believe that facts are facts. (And there is truth in that.) Yet there is so much that we accept as fact that in reality is based in false perceptions. Our senses can fool us but we believe them anyway. It can become a kind of mind-reading that we believe to be fact. We make our belief that something is true into absolute knowledge that something is true. Confirmation bias is the common way of identifying the resulting misinformation. Let’s say you are sure someone frowned at you because they don’t like you. Or you assume they are judging your weight, or your appearance, or your whatever. It is an illusion. One hundred percent of the time, it is an illusion. Truly, you have no idea what they think of you. In fact, they may not have even be truly aware of their surroundings and therefore are not thinking of you at all. Here’s an example. Many years ago, I was standing in line at a grocery store. At the young age of 20 something, I had very little self-awareness. My thoughts ran wild and I lived in my own little world, often completely unaware of those around me. Surrounded by people, I would be in my own bubble of thoughts, floating along like a bit of flotsam on a river. Rolling along merrily without a care in the world – or at least completely unaware of what I cared about. So, I’m in the grocery store checkout line and behind me a lady accidentally bumped into me. As a natural reaction, you would turn around, right? Just to see who it was. I turned around to look at her. I will never forget her reaction. She apologized profusely. Over and over she apologized. I frightened the bejesus out of her because of the look on my face. She said I looked so angry that she thought I was about to hit her. I apologized to her. To this day, I have no idea what I was thinking but it had absolutely nothing to do with her. Who knows what negative idea was roaming around in my head that day? Two things came to my awareness from that experience. Number one, I saw that I needed to pay attention to my thoughts and how I displayed them on my face. Open anger at the world displayed in an unconscious manner was not how I wanted to live my life. It was not how I wanted others to know me. And number two, I began to wonder how many times I had assumed I knew what someone was thinking based on the expression on their face as they looked at me – or looked in my direction. What if they were not even looking at me but at someone else, or simply staring blindly in my direction. What if I was the farthest thing from their thoughts? How many times had I judged myself based on an inaccurate perception? And today, I recognize how self-centered that idea actually is. In reality, the most normal thing in the world is for every person to be spending so much thought energy on worrying about what someone else thinks of them to even consider making a judgement about what to think of the person in their field of vision. One positive effect of that experience was that I purposefully trained myself to automatically smile at everyone I meet. It made an amazing difference in my life. I wanted to reflect to others that they are loved. No matter what they are thinking inside their very busy head. I wanted them to know that they are loved and that life is worth smiling about. Not everyone responds positively, but most do. Perhaps I made a small difference in their life. I can hope. Personal Responsibility and Judgement To make the transition to living a peaceful life, you have to stop thinking it’s somebody else’s fault. You have to stop thinking it is anyone else’s fault. There is no fault. Your life is a continuously playing video in your head. Whatever you think and believe shapes your reality. Think on something long enough and believe it hard enough and it becomes your reality. The good, the bad and the ugly. Take a care. The risks you take, the actions you perform, and your everyday experience of reality shape your life. If you spend your time judging everything negatively, your life will continually reflect that negativity back to you. Here’s an example. A small one. Let’s say you are having a wonderful day. You are optimistic. Life is going along as you planned and you are content and peaceful. Now you stub your toe. Not enough to break anything, but hard enough to make you yelp. Perhaps you will take a moment to sit down and examine the damage. No blood, but perhaps a bruise will arise later. In this circumstance, the pain will dissipate fairly rapidly. Now imagine you have that angry face that I just described. You are not even aware of the negativity that is boiling just under the surface. And you stub your toe in the same way. What is the result? Perhaps you start cursing to high heavens. Perhaps you scream loudly. You sit down and cradle your foot and begin to examine your toe. You howl and moan and curse because of the pain, your stupidity for not watching where you were going. Maybe someone left something in your path, you weren’t paying attention, and it caused you pain. But in your mind, it is the fault of the person who left it in your path. The pain, the wrath, the unhappiness, the negativity, the lack of peace can last a long time. Perhaps you feel a momentary jolt of happiness. Someone else did you wrong and that makes you right or righteous. But this is a very, very short-lived and fleeting experience. You may not even be aware of it, yet it is there. That brief experience – that split second of feeling good about yourself because you are better than someone else or they were wrong and you were right. Petty, egoic ideas that so often run wild in our minds. That guy is fat. Her dress is rumpled. This other person is really stupid and slow and so on. He or she is a loser. Who left that tricycle in the walkway right where someone might trip on it? The more you make these kinds of judgements, the more you are going to separate yourself, the less peace you will have. And yes. You will feel good for an instant, a split second, because you’ll feel good about yourself. You will think, “I’m better than that” or “I’m better than them.” But later you are going to feel lonely. Later you are going to continue to see negativity everywhere. Your world is constantly reflecting your own negativity about yourself back at you. It is a never-ending cycle until YOU change. Not the other person. YOU. Reality is neutral. Reality has no judgements. Reality simply is. To a tree or a chair or that door you stubbed your toe on, there is no concept of right or wrong. There is no good or bad. You are born. You embark on a journey of sensory experiences. There are lights, colors and sounds. And how you choose to interpret that is up to you. How you interpret them IS your life. You have that choice. Happiness is a Choice Peace and happiness are choices. Love is a choice. If you believe it’s a choice, then you can start working on it. You can affect your life. Life is peace because you choose to remain peaceful. Because reality is neutral, I can’t tell you how to find peace. It is your own conditionings, judgements and out of control thoughts that create the experience of unhappiness. You have to fix it for yourself. Start with believing it is possible. Just because you are miserable today, does not mean that you must be miserable for the rest of your life. Perhaps you have dreams that seem out of reach. You may believe you will never get what you want in life. Sure enough. You will never get what you want in life. Your life will continually reflect that negativity back to you. “See, I knew I would never get that job,” you say. While all the while you unconsciously presented yourself as a loser to the interviewer. After all, in order for you to fulfill your vision of negativity, the pieces must be in place. On the other hand, if you went to the interview with confidence (even if you were faking it), your chances of landing the job just improved 10-fold or a 100-fold. Let’s say you are looking for your dream property to live your idyllic life in the country. You have a specific budget in mind. There are specific activities you want to do on your homestead so infrastructure to support that ideal need to be in place. And then there are the optional things that you would like to have but they are not absolutely required. Once you have that idea in place, you set out on your journey to find the perfect place. You may look at fifty or a hundred or more properties. It’s easy to become discouraged. This one is the right price but no buildings. This one has buildings but they are not usable. The perfect one comes up and someone underbids you and steals it right out from under your nose. These things can lead to greater negativity and more feelings of “I’ll never get what I want.” The cards are stacked against me. And so on. But you have to believe it’s possible. For much of my life, I was miserable and now I’m happy. I’m content. For the most part, I’m peaceful. And it’s not just the homestead. I got most of the way there before moving here permanently. I think that on the outside, it didn’t look like it. There were so many challenges. Listen to my podcast “Our Virginia Life” where I talk about the crazy path we took to get here. Effecting Change How did I develop greater peace before the homestead? One thing was getting older. I just realized that life is short the time to live is now. Each step toward my ideal is where peace and happiness exist and nowhere else. I can see the future when I reflect, but I don’t focus there exclusively else I miss the wonder of today. Confucius has a great saying. “Every man has two lives and the second starts when he realizes he has just one.” It’s your unlimited desires that are clouding your peace and happiness. Have desires, of course. But be mindful of your life as it exists today. Marvel at it. Fill your mind with the wonder of this moment. Isn’t it truly amazing that you even made it this far? Change is gradual. It’s ongoing. It’s very personal. You have to decide it’s a priority. In everything that happens you can look at the bright side of things. Literally train yourself to think positively. There are always at least two ways you can see everything. As I mentioned earlier, there are some things that create acute suffering. Let’s put those aside for the moment and focus on every day experiences. You have the ability to slowly work through every negative judgement that you have until you see the positive in it. As you practice, it becomes second nature to you. A Clear Mind. What’s That? What you want to have is a clear mind. You want to let go of thoughts. Here’s an idea that you may not have noticed. Happy thoughts disappear out of your head automatically. It’s very easy to let go of them. On the other hand, negative thoughts linger. They play themselves out over and over and over. Normal daily experiences will trigger them and the record starts playing again. Over and over and over. We don’t let go. When you develop the skill to interpret the positive in everything – and you learn to do it quickly, you let it go. You let it go quickly and easily and you are on to the next joyful and positive thought. How do you do that? The usual stuff you have likely heard throughout your life. Get out in the sun. Spend more time in nature. Learn to smile more. Learn to hug more. Create outward representations of happiness. These actions are feedback loops. You are literally choosing to experience happiness and your world reflects it. Reality still contains every single aspect of negativity also. All you have to do is look for it. Reality contains it all, but it is your mind that is judging it all. Watch your mind. Watch your mind all day long as often as you think of it. Do not judge it. Do not try to control it. This is literally what it means to meditate 24/7. Watch your own thoughts like you would watch anything else in the outside world. Ask yourself, “why am I having that thought?” “Does that serve me anymore?” “Is that conditioning from when I was 10 years old?” Beware of “why am I having that thought? Is there something wrong with me? Should I be thinking something else?” And so on. That’s not the same thing. That kind of thinking is a disease that keeps you from being happy. Let’s say your mind is just running and running, imagining what you are going to say to this person or that person when next you Meet. Perhaps you start rehearsing what you will say to that person – you may even rehearse speaking to them about how your mind is running on and on imagining what you are going to say to them. This is kind of thinking indicates a habitual thought pattern. You may think it is out of your control. It is not. This line of thinking comes from the desire to sound smart. Not the desire to be smart. The desire to sound smart whether you know what you are talking about or not. It is a skill that was perfected at an earlier time in your life. That practiced skill hardwires you to always rehearse things to ensure you always sound smart. Literally, it’s a disease that keeps you from being happy. When you can see it – when you can realize that truth, when you understand it, your mind will naturally calm down. When you get there, you will stop rehearsing as much, though it will still be a trained habit. It will still clutter your mind from time to time. Keep at it. Note it. Be happy you noted it and it disappears. You don’t have to live out in the country on a lovely homestead to be peaceful and happy. I won’t deny it makes it much easier for me. It makes it much easier to maintain, though there are still many things that can disturb my peace. Scott and I chasing escaped goats comes to mind. We often disagree on the best approach to getting those guys back inside a fence. Afterwards, I choose to love him and he choose to love me – even though we both may have treated the other poorly during the crisis. Peace in our hearts is regained – re-established. Maybe someday peace will never elude us. I don’t know. Would we be bored then? Parmesan Peas Peas are not exactly peace but close. Especially peas straight out of the garden. And don’t forget that wonderful cheese. You can use frozen peas if you need to. However, this time of year, fresh peas make all the difference in the world. Here’s what you need. What you need: 2 tablespoons butter 3 small shallots, sliced 1-pound fresh peas, (14 oz bag of frozen, thawed) 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese black pepper to taste What to Do: Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and a pinch of the salt and cook until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the peas and remaining salt and cook until the peas are soft but still bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and toss. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan and black pepper. Serve hot. That’s it. Let that flavor of fresh peas bring peace to your tongue and tummy. Final Thoughts Life is about choice. We choose happiness. We choose peace. We choose love. I hope my words helped you gained some insight into how you can add just a little more peace to your life. And you’ll certainly want to add those lovely fresh peas to your life. Visit us at the Wytheville Farmer’s Market. We have dairy not peas, but others will be there with their lovingly grown products. Visit us and visit them. We look forward to meeting you. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. As always, I’m here to help you “taste the traditional touch.” Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. Recipe Link Parmesan Peas To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. 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You have heard me talk about A2A2 milk. Some of you may not know what that means. You may wonder if it really matters to you and your family. I’m going to fill you in on some of that information today. First let me say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to you veteran homestead loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast every week. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week, a little bit about A2A2 milk and a great and tasty recipe. Let’s just jump right in. Today’s Show Homestead Life Updates What is A2A2 Milk? Ice Cream Base Recipe – with downloadable document with flavoring ideas Homestead Life Updates Cows The cows are doing great. We have a new calf and the last one for a while. There is likely one more, but that cow is way behind the others. In fact, we are getting ready to breed some of them again in a few weeks. Cloud will deliver so late that she likely will not get bred back this year. We are selling all of our bulls. We have six. Yes six. There is 2-year-old Sam. He is 95% Normande genetics and the sire of this year’s crop of calves. Then we have 1-year-old Ray’s Rocket – mostly we call him Rocket Man. Lastly is the group of newlings born this year. All four are for sale. Some are currently being negotiated for but I’ll put a link in the show notes to the Facebook page where all of their information can be found. If you are looking to improve the genetics of your herd, this is the bull for you. Sheep/Goats Lambert is so fat right now. He will be receiving his bottle twice daily until nearly all of the milk replacer is gone. Then I will switch him to once a day for a week or maybe two before weaning him completely off. If you want to get a whole or half lamb, speak up now. It will be months yet before these are ready for your freezer. We have one lamb and/or 2 half lambs currently available. A whole lamb yields 30 to 35 pounds, sometimes more of meat. Half lambs, half that. You can see the cuts that come on a whole or half lamb on our website. www.peacefulheartfarm.com/shop/lamb-package. Orchard and Garden There is always so much going on around here that a lot of stuff gets pushed back. Thinks like birthing, gathering and storing milk, making cheese, taking care of animals all have the highest priority. The garden and the orchard, not so much. My garden is still overrun with weeds, though I was able to dig out my carrots and surprisingly there are lots that beat the grass. Watering the garden does have a priority or it would all simply die. Other stuff slows down or stunts growth. The bottom line is we will still get a crop, but perhaps not as large as if we had gotten the weeds out and fertilized more often. The peas are just such a crop. They are producing like mad and I will be picking them within the week, I think. Then they will have to be processed in some way. I’m scaring myself with all of that. There are just not enough hours in the week. I still don’t even have everything planted. The green beans need to be put in the ground. The peanuts need to be replanted; I have no idea why not a single one sprouted. And the eggplant is going to wither away to nothing if I don’t get it out there in the garden. Everything needs to be weeded. Everything needs to be fertilized. Scott is diligently digging out the orchard from the waist high grass. It would be great if we could graze some of the animals in there, but they all eat the trees. We are still investigating how to get the sheep in their without having them raise up on their back legs as high as they can and eating all of the leaves off the branches they can reach. The goats are a complete disaster anywhere near the orchard or the berries. They will eat the bark off of the trees, killing them. And because they like to eat woody stemmed plants, they will decimate blackberry vines and blueberry bushes. No, we don’t want them anywhere near the orchard. On the upside, they did a really great job of clearing out the wild blackberries on the island in the big pond. It is now quite pleasant to sit out there and enjoy being surrounded by water and nature. Quail We are newbies with the quail. It is unbelievable how quickly those quail grew. They outgrew their brooder box a good week before we had planned. Outside they went as we were having a warm spell. There were a couple of cool nights but these are wild birds and they faired very well. They are only barely over 2 weeks old and are fully feathered. The tiny birds that were barely the size of a gold ball are now the size of a baseball – perhaps even a softball. It’s amazing. They will begin laying eggs in as little as six weeks from now. Yum, yum, we look forward to it. Four eggs are required to equal one chicken egg. Our plan is to have about 30 laying hens and 6 roosters for breeding. We will need to continually hatch out new ones as their lives are actually quite short and they only lay for a year or two. Creamery The creamery – ah the creamery. So much still to do there and Scott has so little time to do it. We really need that building completed. However, as I mentioned earlier, there are priorities. First the animals, then the perishable milk and cheese, then the garden and orchard. The creamery, as an inanimate object comes in last place. There are even maintenance projects that take precedence. Fences, driveways, pathways, other infrastructure – all has to be kept up to ensure the safety of our animals. It’s a lot but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We work long hours every day – very long hours every day. Alarm goes off at 6:00 am and though 10:00 pm is bedtime, more often it is 11 or 11:30 before that happens. And every bit of it is worth it. There is never any lack of meaning in our lives. Boredom is something very distant in the past. The constant attention to the next task makes us know that we are alive in God’s wonderful creation. One thing that evolved through nature is the composition of milk in cows. Recently, some of the genetic content and protein structure of milk has changed. What is A2A2 Milk? There is a great deal of scientific gobbledygook about the proteins and how they are broken down or not. I’ll try to keep this layman friendly and skip most of the mumbo-jumbo lingo. By the way, did you know that gobbledygook is an actual word that my spell-checker knew? Who knew? Well, my spellchecker knew. A2 milk is cow's milk that mostly lacks a form of beta-casein proteins called A1 and instead has mostly the A2 form. A1 and A2 beta-casein are genetic variants of the beta-casein milk protein that differ by one amino acid. Casein is a family of related phosphoproteins. These proteins are commonly found in the milk of mammals, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow’s milk and between 20% and 45% of the proteins in human milk. Sheep and buffalo milk have a higher casein content than other types of milk with human milk having a particularly low casein content. Casein has a wide variety of uses one of which is being a major component of cheese. We respect our casein. A genetic test, developed by the a2 Milk Company, determines whether a cow produces A2 or A1 type protein in its milk. The test allows the company to certify milk producers as producing milk that does not metabolize to beta-casomorphin which is an opioid peptide or protein fragment derived from the digestion of the milk protein casein. I know, I’m getting too scientific with the lingo there. All that means is that the chemical composition of A2A2 milk may benefit our health because it is digested without inflammation that might arise from BCM-7 produced by A1 beta-casein. Consequently, A1 proteins may be detrimental to our health. That causes great push back from the gigantic dairy industry as A2A2 genetics is rare in Europe (except France) and the US. That would really disrupt their operation if their milk was found to be harmful – while others had milk that was beneficial. As with so many health-related topics, the science is divided on whether or not there is reason for concern regarding the A1 protein in milk – whether there are adverse health effects from its consumption. Personally, I’m erring on the side of caution, as I do with so many other foods. I’ll go with tradition as opposed to modern fads in nutrition. We are breeding our cows for the A2A2 genetic conformation. And when I say modern fads in nutrition, I mean everything that came pouring out of the 20th century and that continues to pour out in the 21st century. I’m talking about three square meals a day, the food pyramid, and the modified food pyramid. I’m talking about low fat diets, vegan and vegetarian diets, the Mediterranean diet, the South Beach diet and so on. All of these so-called nutrition experts are literally experimenting with our health as human beings. We evolved over thousands and thousands and thousands of years eating locally grown food, whatever it was. Historically, in the tropics the diet was heavy in fruits, nuts and greens, in Alaska fat predominated. In other regions protein was the main source of dietary sustenance. You must find what works for you. Which brings me back to A2A2 milk. History In the 1980s, some medical researchers began to explore whether some peptides (including peptides from casein) that are created during digestion might have negative or positive health effects. Interest in the distinction between A1 and A2 beta-casein proteins in milk began in the early 1990s via epidemiological research and animal studies initially conducted by scientists in New Zealand. The scientists found correlations between the prevalence of milk with A1 beta-casein proteins in some countries and the prevalence of various chronic diseases. The research generated interest in the media, as well as among the scientific community and entrepreneurs. If it were indeed true that BCM-7 created by A1 beta-casein is harming humans, this would be an important public health issue. Scientists believe the difference in genetics originated as a mutation that occurred between 5000 and 10,000 years ago—as cattle were being taken north into Europe with the mutation subsequently spreading widely throughout herds in the Western world through breeding. The percentage of the A1 and A2 beta-casein protein varies between herds of cattle, and also between countries and provinces. While African and Asian cattle continue to produce only A2 beta-casein, the A1 version of the protein is common among cattle in the western world. The A1 beta-casein type is the most common type found in cow's milk in Europe (excluding France where our Normandes with predominantly A2A2 genetics originate). It is also the most common type found in cow’s milk in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Let’s talk about the possible health benefits. Health Benefits Symptoms of stomach discomfort, such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea that occur after consuming dairy products, are typically attributed to lactose intolerance. However, some researchers believe that it is BCM-7, not lactose, that affects digestion and produces symptoms similar to lactose intolerance, in some people. A study on Chinese adults with self-reported milk intolerance compared the effects of drinking regular milk that contained A1 and A2 proteins with A2-only milk on intestinal function, stomach discomfort, and inflammation. The participants consumed 8 oz of milk twice a day for 2 weeks. They reported worse stomach pain after they consumed the regular milk but no change in symptoms after they drank the A2 milk. Participants also reported more frequent and looser-consistency stools while they drank the regular milk. These symptoms did not occur after they consumed the A2 milk. So, what MIGHT be happening on the other side of the coin? Potentially Harmful Effects of non A2A2 Milk Notice the words “might and “potentially” there. I’m not making any claims here. Some of the effects can include: Inflammation In the same study mentioned above, researchers also looked at markers of inflammation in the blood. They found the participants had higher levels of inflammatory markers after they drank the regular milk. Brain function The research showed that milk could impact brain function. Study participants took longer to process information and made more errors on a test after drinking regular milk compared to A2 milk. Type 1 diabetes The potential risks associated with milk containing A1 proteins include an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes. Some studies have shown that children who drink cow's milk protein at an earlier age than others have a higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes. However, other studies have not shown the same association. The research also suggests that the amount of milk a child consumes could influence their risk of developing type 1 diabetes, with higher milk consumption observed in children who develop the condition. At least one study showed a link between the consumption of A1 protein and incidence of type 1 diabetes, although this kind of study fails to prove that it is a direct cause. Some animal studies have shown associations between cow's milk consumption and a higher incidence of type 1 diabetes. One study in mice found that 47 percent of the mice that had A1 protein added to their diet developed diabetes, while none that had A2 protein added did so. However, other research does not support the hypothesis that there is any association between milk consumption and a higher incidence of type 1 diabetes. There are links in the show notes for both sides of this discussion. Debate about the potential health effects of A1 and A2 milk is ongoing. Research suggests that A1 beta-casein causes adverse digestive symptoms in certain individuals. But the evidence is still too weak for any solid conclusions to be made about the supposed links between A1 beta-casein and other conditions, such as type 1 diabetes and autism. That said, A2 milk could be worth a try if you struggle to digest regular milk. There you have it. The basics to the why of A2A2 milk. I’ll let you decide. Again, we like to err on the side of caution. We have two A2A2 certified cows and will be testing the rest of the herd as we move forward with our dairy operation. Go to the show notes for the links to the research I referenced. Speaking of milk, how about an ice cream recipe for your A2A2 milk and cream. Ice Cream Base Recipe (Download Flavorings) When it’s warm outside, a cold refreshing dish of ice cream can really hit the spot. This is a basic ice cream recipe that can be used as a base for many different flavors. I’ve included a download link to the flavorings. This silky, luscious and very classic custard can be used as the base for any ice cream flavor you can dream up. These particular proportions of milk and cream to egg yolk will give you a thick but not sticky ice cream that feels decadent but not heavy. For something a little lighter, use more milk and less cream, as long as the dairy adds up to 3 cups. You can also cut down on egg yolks for a thinner base, but don’t go below three. Time: 20 minutes plus several hours’ cooling, chilling and freezing Yield: about 1 ½ pints What You Need 2cups heavy cream 1cup whole milk ⅔ cup sugar ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt 6 large egg yolks Your choice of flavoring (download here) What To Do In a small pot, simmer cream, milk, sugar and salt until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the hot cream into the yolks, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed. Final Thoughts I hope your days are filled with as much love and joy as you can stand. We love our lives here. Yes, we are busy beyond belief. Yes, it’s a little stressful sometimes. I just find it so fulfilling. From the time I was a child I was told to work hard for what I wanted. I was also told that I was too smart to not be college educated and have a career. So, no physical work. That was for those not smart enough to get out of that poor and decrepit existence. Funny isn’t it? In the end, educated to the max, I prefer the hard work. And indeed, some of it is smart brain work. But the best and most enjoyable part involves sweat. Particularly, I love our cows and our dairy operation. Check out the references I provided for the research around A2 beta-casein. Then sign on to our herd share program with our A2A2 milk and value added products, go to www.peacefulheartfarm.com/virginia-herdshare. Read, ask questions, download the documents. We’d love to do business with you. And as this Memorial Day weekend stretches into Monday, I hope you’ll try that ice cream recipe. There is nothing more traditional than everyone taking turns operating that crank on the ice cream machine. Well, we use the electric method. Likely you do too, but the principle is still the same. Enjoy your time with your family and friends. If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, Subscribe and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. As always, I’m here to help you “taste the traditional touch.” Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. References Peaceful Heart Farm Bulls for Sale NIH published study Nutrition & Diabetes Study The A2 milk case: a critical review Recipe Link Ice Cream Base To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm Instagram www.instagram.com/peacefulheartfarm/
This week I want to share our dream with all of you. Perhaps you’ve been dreaming the dream as well and just don’t think you can get there. Sometimes it takes time—a lot of time. But it is so worth it. I encourage you to start today. Welcome new listeners. It’s so good to have you. And welcome back veteran homestead-loving regulars. Thank you for stopping by the farmcast every week. I appreciate you all so much. I’m super excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week and I’m super existed to share the history of our homestead dream with you. Today’s Show Homestead Life Updates Our Virginia Life Greek Spiced Ground Meat with (optional) Yogurt or Sour Cream Homestead Life Updates Garden Starting with the garden which seems to be at the end of our list of priorities at the moment. The strawberries are overwhelmed with wheat grass. I believe I mentioned that the straw we bought for mulch was full of seeds. I’ve never seen so much waste of wheat. Scott is working on that project today. The carrots are overrun with grass and weeds. I just looked at them. They seem to be holding their own for the moment. It will have to do until Tuesday. That is 3 days from now. Market is tomorrow. Church on Sunday and much needed rest in the afternoon. Cheesemaking on Monday. Hang in there, guys. I’ll save you. And the rest of the garden needs to be weeded and fertilized as well. I still need to get the green beans planted. The peanuts did not sprout and will need to be replanted. And the first harvests will be happening next week as well. I use flowers as pest control but I’m so far behind on my flower starts that the bugs may take over in June. Oh well, we do what we can and don’t sweat it. That’s not quite true is it? We will be sweating a lot come next week. Cows Cows are finally getting back into a routine. They really, really don’t like change. We added a new cow. We split up our girls and put one with Butter as a companion. Butter had a calf. All changes. The big one was we changed their feed. Once we changed their feed, all of a sudden the entire herd of Normandes no longer wanted to come into the milking shed and stick their head in the stanchion. I don’t mind so much the ones that we are not milking. But Claire and Buttercup are in milk and have to be milked twice a day. Anyway, we fooled them by putting a bit of sweet feed on top of their nutritional supplement and they are now eating it and getting better about coming into the shed without a lot of hassle. Still some work to do there, but we are making progress. We changed their dairy supplement from a garden variety from Southern States to a non-GMO, non-soy dairy supplement. It’s like a kid that is used to eating McDonald’s and then being switched to organic salad greens. They were pretty petulant. Butter is a different story. She will eat anything you put in front of her and beg for more. Lambs and Goats The lambs and goats are doing great. We couldn’t be more pleased with how this group of lambs is progressing. And the goats just keep on keeping on eating weeds and brush that the others won’t touch. They have cleaned up so much around here in the way of small trees that were sprouting, briars, wild blackberry bushes and so on. Good job!! Creamery The creamery project has been sitting idle for nearly two weeks. Scott had to fix the bush hog and then mow everything. He built the quail cages for when the little guys get out of the brooder and into their permanent digs. A load of gravel was delivered and he spent quite a bit of time spreading that in the places where erosion and mud was making our lives miserable. A day of digging a trench for drainage out of the milking shed took another day of his time. The days seems to slip by one after another. There is always so much to do and not enough hours in the day. That update was pretty intense with listing our setbacks on timing. But you know what? We love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. Our lives are filled with purpose and meaning. The geese are strutting around with their gaggles of goslings. The trees are leafing out. The garden is full of all kinds of plants. The calves are a joy to watch as they bask in the sun or galivant around their pasture. We have taken the moment to look at the stars at night in a while. But they are there, waiting for us to enjoy their magnificence. Our Virginia Life That brings me to today’s topic. Have you dreamed of living the homestead life? Do you think it is impossible? I want to give you inspiration and share a bit of our journey. It all started in the last century. The Beginning . . . Scott and I met in 1999 in western North Carolina. We were two people following similar paths who met and become life-long friends. We apprenticed together at a spiritual training center learning how to teach a meditation technique. This is where we reconnected to our hearts and desire to be close to the land. The dream of our homestead life was born. During our training we dreamed of a sustainable farm and communal living. We wanted to raise good food as close to nature’s intended way as possible. We knew that experiencing loving relationships with others and soaking up nourishing nature would ultimately help us remember our kinship with God and creation. Two souls had found each other. Our dream has changed and evolved over time. It continues to evolve. We just took a step and then another and another. Each step clarified our vision. Each step led to the next and sometimes our direction needed to change. So we changed. We continue to take steps and we continue to change. The first step began 16 years ago and we still don’t have that creamery built. But we love our homestead life and all it brings us. Buying Land Was the First Step In the summer of 2003, we bought our first piece of land in southwest Virginia. We rented a mobile home nearby. At this point in our lives we had a great deal of debt: credit cards, school loans, taxes, and now a mortgage. We set out to pay everything off in full. We would have our farm — but we would have it debt-free. We both took on lucrative jobs in Information Technology as the electronic medical records industry kicked off. Our jobs required extensive travel. We traveled all over the US and to a couple of European countries as well. Every other week we flew home to Virginia to visit our beautiful piece of land. In 2005 we bought our own mobile home and moved it onto our land. And in the fall, our wedding ceremony took place at the homestead. It was so beautiful. Even though it was November the weather had permitted the leaves to change very slowly. And with very little wind this particular fall, there were many leaves still on the trees. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect time. Learning to Produce Food Our first experience with livestock was raising chickens in the summer of 2006. The contract we had been working for a couple of years was done. I moved on to a different contract and continued traveling. Scott was done with traveling. He remained on the homestead and built a couple of chicken tractors ala Joel Salatin. He raised, and we processed, around 100 chickens. We ate a lot of them ourselves and gave a lot away to relatives and neighbors. This part of the journey was just a taste to get our feet wet. Twists and Turns and . . . Texas? Somewhere along that two-year time period we paid all of our debts in full. The next step along the path was making the money needed for infrastructure. February 2007 Scott went back to work . . . in Texas. I was now traveling to various places around the country every week instead of every other week. I lived in hotels and airports with a too quick Saturday and Sunday at home with Scott. What a far cry from the peaceful life we envisioned. We persevered and dreamed on. In 2008 we bought an additional 40 acres adjoining our property. We were in debt again. This time for more money than ever before. It’s a good thing that I got to walk around that property occasionally or I might have forgotten exactly why we went into debt again. The “why” had to do with dreaming bigger. We were learning about raising sheep. Still very much a dream at this point . . . we’re still living in Texas. The timeline to move permanently to the homestead kept getting longer. That can happen when you’re dreaming while making good coin. The constant travel and living out of a suitcase got really old, really fast for me. It was fine when I was traveling with my best friend and awesome life partner. Doing it alone was torture. Within a year I was insisting that Scott get a job closer to home. If I was going to fly home every weekend, I wanted it to be Virginia — not Texas. Scott made it happen. South Carolina is Closer Than Texas From the fall of 2008 until December 31, 2016 Scott traveled 6 hours every Sunday evening to Beaufort, South Carolina. A guy by himself doesn’t need much and a travel trailer we purchased for the task was sufficient housing. Every Friday evening, he returned to the homestead in Virginia. Six hours again. He did it alone for the first year and a half. Then I got a job offer . . . just outside of Savannah, Georgia. We moved the travel trailer to a park halfway between Savannah and Beaufort. It was an hour drive for me and 45 minutes for him. We were completely back together again as a couple. Then in 2010 I got a job offer at the same hospital where Scott had been working for over two years. I jumped on that like a duck on a June bug. We moved the travel trailer to Beaufort and cut our work commute down to 20 minutes. As we were still driving 6 hours each way, we were actually able to leave a little earlier on Friday as Scott no longer drive backwards 45 minutes to pick me up. We only buying gas for one vehicle. These were small but important steps on our journey. All of this unconventional living circumstance was worth the huge amount of stress that came with it. After all, we were now back together as a couple. That was great. We were at the homestead every single weekend. That was great. And it was only going to be for a couple of years . . . Five years later and nearly 12 years into the process, I was stressed beyond my capacity to remain sane. I needed a nest. For the final two years of working in Beaufort, we rented an apartment. Moving from 100 square feet to over 1,000 square feet of living space was just enough nesting happiness to get me through it. In the end, even that wasn’t enough and we decided to make the leap to full-time homesteaders. That was December 31, 2016. Over 13 years of tiny steps and a couple of giant steps. Getting that creamery built is the focus of our lives right now. We are over 2 years into that process. The dream keeps going. The dream keeps moving forward. From Chicken Tractors to Raw Milk Artisan Cheese Let me back up a little bit and fill in some details of how we grew the farm during this period of time. How did we go from pasture raised chickens to artisan cheese? What the heck happened there? Well, we tried a few different things over the years. In order to succeed as a small homestead farmer, diversity is important. You don’t want to have all of your eggs in one basket. However, having a central core enterprise is also important. So one big basket and lots of smaller baskets was our ideal. This also supports our ideal of living a traditional life where every farming family raised much of their own food in addition to their main crop or livestock enterprise. The weekend life allowed us to dabble a bit in a lot of areas. And we read a lot and studied a lot about many areas of interest. We did a lot of trial and error experiments on a small scale. There is so much that can be done on a homestead. Which was going to be the best fit for us? Like a lot of folks, we tried to do too many things at once. Having that central enterprise is the only way to make it. Early on we were clear that raising the chickens in 2006 was a great learning exercise but not where our hearts were. Having them for eggs and meat for personal use, yes. But not as our central farm enterprise. In 2009 we put in fruit trees. That’s a long-term project that continues to stretch over many years. Also, for personal use at this point, though the orchard will provide a small income at a later date. You know. The date we actually have time to give it attention.
durée : 00:01:50 - Curiosités de Normandie FB Normandie (Rouen) -
durée : 00:01:46 - Curiosités de Normandie FB Normandie (Rouen) -
In today’s show, we are going to talk about the milk cows that we have chosen for our central enterprise of cheesemaking – Normande Cows Today’s Show Topics Homestead Life Updates The Normande Cow Breed Crème Fraîche Recipe Homestead Life Updates Scott has been out pruning trees for a couple of days, but taking a nap now. It’s raining. AGAIN. Yesterday and the day before were filled with getting the trees in shape. There are 80 plus trees in our small orchard. Apples, peaches, cherries, plums, pears, mulberries, kiwis and elderberries are the fruit trees/bushes. Hazelnut, pecans, almonds are the nut trees. He got about 40% complete on the blueberries and blackberries before the rain hit. There are a few raspberry and grape plants around as well. I probably missed one or two in that list. The orchard is a favorite project for him. It’s a lot of work, but he loves it. We have a beehive back there also for pollination. Farmer’s Market We were at the Wytheville Farmer’s market this past Saturday. Got to meet lots of new people. A shout out and thanks for your patronage. March 9th is the next market date. We will have ground lamb and goat as well as some awesome soup bones. You get a free recipe card with each purchase. If you buy a whole or half lamb you get the All Lamb Cookbook. It contains recipes for every cut of lamb in your package. We want to make is easy for you to get the most out of your lamb. I will admit that the Indian Lamb Curry is my favorite. It’s made from the boneless shoulder roast cut into bite-sized pieces. March 23rd market we will have ground beef as well. Need More Freezer Space Tomorrow we are going to pick up a freezer we loaned out last year. We need it for the beef we are going to have soon. I’m a little bummed about the need that drove the event. Sometimes it’s hard to maintain peace when you have a homestead farm business. Here’s the story. We have a small herd of Normande cows. As I mentioned, I’ll be talking in great detail about that breed today. The purpose of the cows is to provide wonderfully nutritious milk so we can make wonderfully nutritious cheese. In order to make that happen, the cows need to have a calf every year. We milk them for about 9 months and the other 3 months we do not. With the birth of a calf in the spring, the milking process starts again. It’s a continuous life cycle. In order to tell this story properly I need to make a distinction between the cows, the goats, the sheep. Goats and sheep are cute, especially the kids and lambs, and we watch them play and enjoy their beauty. But they are not pets. We have very little hands-on daily interaction with them. The goats get their hooves trimmed regularly and, in the spring, we comb out the cashmere. Otherwise, the goats and sheep pretty much take care of themselves. As far as the cattle, we have the milk cows in one herd. Then there is another herd comprised of steers that resulted from the annual birthing of calves. We grow them out for beef. The bull hangs out there as well until we need him. The steers pretty much take care of themselves as well. We often watch them grazing peacefully but are not physically interacting with them so much. The Milk Cows The milk cows are unique. We interact with the milk cows – just about on a daily basis. These cows are not pets, but there is a special relationship or bond that develops with them. We pet them and hug them and talk to them. Cows are very peaceful animals. It is a pleasure to simply watch them graze. One of the reasons I wanted a milk cow was the experience of peace while sitting beside this beautiful creature and performing the action of milking. We bond with all of our animals. However, the bond with the milk cows is deeper. The difference is that the other animals are raised specifically for meat as food. The milk cows are raised for the luscious milk they make. They get extra-special attention. Today, for the first time in my experience on the farm, we had to cull one of our milk cows. She was gentle and calm as they all are. She had intelligent eyes and a beautiful coat. I’ll talk more about the Normande coloring in a bit. We put a halter on her and led her onto the trailer. She was only slightly adverse and it didn’t take long to get her on the trailer. When we arrived at the processing facility, she was lying on the floor of the trailer not seemingly traumatized at all. Once the door was opened, she got up and Scott led her off the trailer. She got a little antsy at that point when we wanted her to go to an unknown place, but she shortly cooperated. Upon beginning the return journey home, we were both quiet and introspective. It was hard. I think it is the hardest thing I have ever done so far. I’ve seen the aftermath of a coyote attack on our lambs. I found dead lambs and goat kids that perished for reasons unknown. Last year we lost our oldest breeding ewe and her lambs, likely triplets. This past fall we culled an older ewe that twice had issues birthing her triplets. Lilly So, what happened. Lilly was 7 years old. She had a calf in 2014 and she had a calf in 2015. She hasn’t had one since. After more than seven months with the bull this year, she was still cycling. We had to let her go. She was consuming massive amounts of grass and hay and not doing her part to ensure our small enterprise would continue. Perhaps there were extra steps we could have taken to get her to stand for the bull. Or perhaps she had ovarian cysts and could have been treated by the vet but that comes with the possibility of recurrence. I’m sure I will continue to doubt my decision to cull her from the herd. But I stand firm in that it was a decision that had to be made. I had no idea it would be so hard. I was in tears and indeed am tearing up now at the loss of this animal. We hold in our mind the purpose of every animal on our homestead. Each contributes to the whole process of sustainability and diversity on our farm. They must contribute or they must go. At this point I’m pretty sure I’m never going to get used to losing my milk cows. I can’t help but bond with them. And I will cry each time their life with us is over whatever the reason. I hope this isn’t too much of a downer but I feel it is important to honor her life and to share our feelings as we move forward on the homestead. It’s not always roses and butterflies. Thank you for your patience with me as I grieve a little. One way I want to honor her is to share the wonderfulness of her breed and why we chose these cows. The Normande Cow Breed It all started because I like to drink milk but did not want pasteurized milk. And cheesemaking has always been a passion of mine since I first learned how to make it back in 1993. The original plan was for one or two cows. So, we researched and researched. We wanted the milk but also knew to make that happen there would be a calf every year. That means we needed good beef as well. Because our values revolve around living close to and in harmony with nature, we wanted a breed that would do well on pasture without supplemental feed. Finally, we purchased our first cows in the fall of 2011. We bought two for milking and one for beef. I was already enamored with their unique coloring. And as we worked with them, I fell even more in love. Almost all cows have a deeply peaceful quality about them. This breed takes that quality to the next level. It was a defining moment for us in the evolution of our business aspirations. These cows were to become the centerpiece of our homestead. History As the name implies, the breed comes from Normandy, a North–Western region of France. Since Normandy is famous for its Viking influence, many people believe that the breed descended from the cattle the Vikings imported. For over 1,000 years these cattle evolved into a dual-purpose breed to meet the milk and meat needs of the residents of Northwestern France. During the Allied Invasion of Normandy beginning on June 6, 1944 through July 1944, the breed was nearly wiped out. But today they are alive and well. As of 5 years ago there were about 3 million Normande cattle grazing on French pastures, with large numbers in the regions of Normandy, Brittany, and Maine, as well as in the Ardennes and the Pyrenees. Although popular for their beef, they are primarily milk producers. The Colors Have I mentioned that these are gorgeous cows? They have distinctive eye patches. There are three characteristic coat colors sometimes referred to as the three Bs: Blanc (white), Blond (fawn or red) and Brindled (dark brown). It’s kind of hard to describe so I’ll put pictures in the post on the website. Please check them out. I believe I mentioned, they are gorgeous. The arrangements of colors are really varied: Blanc is mostly white, sometimes called quail. The coat is scattered with very small patches of color; The Blond coat has one big fawn or red patch covering almost the entire cow’s body. The belly and head are white and there are those circles around the eyes with all of these coats I’m describing. The brindle is similar to the blond but the large patch is dark brown to black. Normande Around the World The breed has been exported to many different countries, and has thrived in all of them. They adapt well to a wide range of climates. In South America, central Europe, Western Europe, Asia and North America the breed has shown its versatility. While having been exported worldwide, they received their greatest acceptance in South America where they were introduced in the 1890s. Total numbers there now exceed 4 million purebred plus countless Normandy cross breeds. Columbia alone has 1.6 million purebreds with the rest mainly in Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay. They are also growing in countries such as the US, Mexico, Madagascar, Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain and Ireland. Milk and Cheese Their milk has about 3.5% protein and 4.4% fat, with a 4.2% butterfat content. The reason their milk is so suitable for cheesemaking is because of high levels of Beta Casein and Kappa Casein. We’ll get into that more at a later date. In France, the Normande is associated with the production of famous cheeses such as Camembert de Normandie, Livarot and Pont Leveque (pone liveck). These are all moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cheeses. In France, to legally carry the official name the cheese must meet certain requirements for manufacturing location, type of cow, raw and/or pasteurized milk, and specific processes. The official Camembert de Normande is made entirely from raw milk from the Normande breed grazed in the Normandy region of Northwestern France. There are lots and lots of other cheeses from the Normandy region of France, but the three I mentioned require the use of milk from the Normande breed of cow. A Sustainable Breed for a Sustainable Agriculture. Since Normandy cattle have been raised on grass only for many centuries, their grazing ability is highly commended. Long, damp cold muddy French winters and simple forged diets have prepared Normandes for the worst. As I mentioned, today Normandes have spread from the Andes to the tropical coastlines of South America to Ireland and Canada. Because the Normande has not been selected solely on one character, it has retained exceptional qualities often lost by specialized breeding. Highly desirable qualities such as fertility, calving ease, excellent feet and legs and overall heartiness are prominent. Their thick, curly winter hair ensures good protection against the cold. The eye rings are effective against the sun in the summer. The breed also shows remarkable docility which makes the handling of bulls very easy, though you always watch your back. Finally, raised on grass for centuries, the Normandy shows outstanding grazing ability and that works for us. That’s it for your overview of this excellent breed of cow. I hope you enjoyed that little trip through French history. Learning new information is always a joy for me and I hope you were entertained as well. Crème Fraîche Recipe Crème fraîche is similar to sour cream. While sour cream and crème fraîche are both used to add richness and tangy flavor, they are not the same thing. And is it worth taking the extra time to make your own crème fraîche? I’m going to say absolutely, yes, depending on the use. How They’re Made Sour cream is made by adding lactic acid culture to heavy cream and sometimes milk to thicken and sour it. In France, crème fraîche was traditionally made from unpasteurized cream that naturally contained the right bacteria to thicken it. Since our cream is pasteurized here in the US, crème fraîche is now made by adding a fermenting agent with bacteria to heavy cream. So, today’s recipe will be the Americanized version of crème fraîche. The Differences Between Sour Cream & Crème Fraîche Sour cream has a fat content of about 20% and may include ingredients like gelatin, rennin, and vegetable enzymes to stabilize it and make it thicker. Crème fraîche has a fat content of about 30% and does not contain any added thickeners. Crème fraîche is thicker, has a richer flavor, and is less tangy than sour cream. When to Use Crème Fraîche? Use it anywhere you would use sour cream. Because sour cream has less fat but more protein, simmering or boiling it will result in curdling. Crème fraîche is a better choice for sauces or soups. If using in a salad or as a topping, they’re pretty much interchangeable and the choice is yours — some people like the tanginess of sour cream, while others like the richness of crème fraîche. What You Need 2 cups heavy cream 3 tablespoons cultured buttermilk What to Do In a glass jar, combine the buttermilk with the heavy cream. Cover the jar tightly with cheesecloth or other breathable material. Let sit at room temperature (70 to 75 degrees) for 24 hours. Remove cloth, stir. It will be thick but will get thicker. Screw on a lid, and refrigerate for another 24 hours before using. Enjoy! Get the recipe here!! Final Thoughts That’s it for another episode of the Peaceful Heart FarmCast. Work continues on all sorts of farm projects. There is still more to do in the orchard. The garden will be picking up soon. That always adds a bit of hurried activity in the spring. We are looking forward to it. I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane and through Normandy, France. We plan to visit one winter when we are not milking our beautiful and gentle cows. Visit us at http://peacefulheartfarm.com/recipes and download that creme fraîche recipe. It’s so fun and satisfying to make things with your own two hands. And in this case, so easy. As always, I’m here to help you “taste the traditional touch.” Thank you so much for listening and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on iTunes. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm
Today’s Peaceful Heart FarmCast is about how we came to live the homestead life and how we decided to create a small artisan cheese business. TODAY’S TOPICS: What happened last year, where did I go? Peaceful Heart FarmCast Updates on the farm and creamery Preview of upcoming topics Homestead Recipe What Happened Last Year, Where Did I Go? First, I want to address what happened last year and where I am at the present time. I was podcasting regularly, twice a month. And even though the recorded podcasts were 45 minutes to an hour, it took more than an entire day to make that happen. Once spring came on in full force, I was overwhelmed with caring for animals and the garden. There was no time left for anything that did not contribute to furthering of the farm enterprise. That included my podcast hobby. So, I just stopped it and took care of what was in front of me. I’ve spent the winter catching up and getting better organized. So here I am, back at it again, this time with a better plan for using my hobby as part of the farm business plan. I’ll talk about the topics I plan to cover a little bit later. For my current subscribers, I hope you’ll decide to stay with me, but if not, I appreciate our time together and wish you the best. You have an open invitation to revisit and rejoin anytime. Peaceful Heart FarmCast Now I’m pleased to launch the Peaceful Heart FarmCast. I’m excited about what I have lined up for you guys. If you are a regular subscriber, you may have noticed that the intro with the purpose of the podcast has changed. While I enjoyed talking about the crazy stuff that is going on in the world, it added little to my life goals on the farm. In fact, it is quite removed from my life on the farm. As I mentioned, publishing a podcast takes quite a lot of time and effort and I need to optimize my time. The farm pushes on and waits for no one. You better be ready. I’ll be sharing more stories about what that means as we go forward. Perhaps you’ve thought of making the rural life happen for you and your family – or perhaps you’re thinking about a homestead in suburban America. I hope to help you with ideas and encouragement. It truly is a fabulous lifestyle, filled with ups and downs, but well worth it. Or perhaps you don’t want to make that kind of commitment to gardens and animals yourself, but you want to partake of the benefits of what other land and animal caretakers produce. Perhaps you want to learn to cook from scratch or add variety to your current recipes using the great seasonal products you buy at your farmer’s market. That’s great too. Much of what I will talk about can be done in even the smallest household, the smallest kitchen, no land and animals required. Just a desire to learn how to care for your family with your own two hands. Technology is great. I’m using it right now. But there is something deeply satisfying in creating safe and wholesome food for your family. There is an inner peace that comes from personally crafting the dishes with ingredients you can trust. That’s why I’m focusing on tradition and traditional techniques that will enhance our lives and bring a deeper fulfillment to everyday life. The way that happens is creating and/or passing on a tradition. That entails knowing the words to convey to bring wisdom or having skill with a particular technique or method of creating an end product, and passing it on. But more importantly, it means knowing why we do it that way and passing that along as well. A tradition can turn into dogma without passing along the reason why it is done that way. Why did the tradition start? Is it still relevant for you today? If so, we learn it, do it, and pass it on. That is how tradition is built. There is a reason that things were done a certain way. And if circumstances change that require altering a tradition, it is important that changes are thought about deeply and then incorporated as necessary. These are difficult questions. Just because new technology comes along doesn’t mean it will replace a tradition. These are individual choices that you will all make based on your own set of core values. I hope to provide thought provoking ideas to help you with making some of those decisions. If you love trivia and history, this is going to be both educational and entertaining for you. If you are looking to live the homestead life or already are, I’ll be sharing my day-to-day learning experiences and ideas to help you with working through the long list of tasks, problems and solutions that you will encounter. At the end of each podcast I’ll give an overview and description of a recipe that may become part of your tradition. There will be corresponding download link to the recipe in the show notes. Updates on the Farm and Creamery Now I want to better introduce myself, my husband and a little bit about our history of how we came to be farm homesteaders after professional careers in medicine and information technology. Present Let’s start with the present time. We have 62 acres in the Blue Ridge mountains. We are building a creamery to make artisan farmstead cheese. Our cheese is handmade using traditional methods. That requires cows. We also have sheep for meat, goats for fiber and donkeys for livestock protection. We raise a traditional breed of cow. They are Normandes, bred and raised in the Normandy region of France. Normandes are a dual breed cow. That means they provide lots of milk but also make really, really good beef. I’m going to be talking much more about these cows as I talk about our cheese. That’s our homestead in a nutshell. But how did we get here? Scott spent 20 years as a chiropractor before entering into the electronic medical records IT field. I was an IT professional for just about my entire career. So again, how did we get here? I know you’re asking because you might want to get here someday as well. And why did we make that decision? I mean, isn’t having a successful career the be-all, end-all of life? Nope. It’s not. Or at least not for us. Our life experiences led us to a desire to get in touch with the land directly. It wasn’t enough to look at the mountains from afar. We needed to connect to the roots of our spirit. We wanted to go outside at night and gaze in awe at the Milky Way. After years of dreaming, planning, and saving we are here. We watch the birth of animals and are continually amazed at creation. Sure, there is loss and sadness when an animal dies. It happens often in nature, but there is also life and joy. Past We began our dream back in 1999 in Western North Carolina. That’s 20 years ago as of this publication. We met, became friends, and started talking about our dream life. We spent hours reading and talking and pouring over articles and books by Joel Salatin. I think he is the gateway for a lot of people. We began to dream our dream out loud with each other and with our friends and family. But like for most of you, I’m sure, life happens. It was a great dream, but we had to make money to live, right? It takes a lot to make a small farm profitable enough to support a family. So, the dreams were sidelined for a little while – but not forgotten. We kept talking about it. And we kept dreaming about it. We kept planning what we would do. And in 2003 we bought our first piece of land. In 2005 we married and moved onto that land. At this recording, that first purchase was 15 and a half years ago. During 13 of those years we continued to work for others. We were making really good money. We were determined to make the journey debt-free. We persevered in pretty radical circumstances. Perhaps I’ll talk about that at some point also. Buying additional land in 2008 set us back in our timeline to be full time homestead farmers, but in January 2016 we made our last payment on the land and in December 2016, we left working for someone else in the rearview mirrors. We Made It From 2003 to 2016 is 13 years. I know a lot of you plan to just sell the house in the city and move to the country and make a living off the land. And maybe you will. Maybe you’re one of those that risks it all and just dives in. You’ve got that entrepreneurial spirit strong and you go for it. Not for us. We took the longer road. Our priority was to be able to enjoy the life. We wanted to live without the threat of adverse weather or disease derailing our business plan. When the loan comes due, the bank wants its money. We didn’t want that hanging over our head every, lurking in the back of our minds every day. The delay provided us the opportunity to learn how to become farmers and homesteaders as well as to develop the entrepreneurial spirit. Did you know that could be learned? Well, we are still learning. It doesn’t come naturally. But if you have the dream and you want to make it work, you need to learn how to make money on your homestead. It’s the slow, sure path for us. I want to give a shout out to Tim Young at Small Farm Nation. He is offering his vast experience in marketing as well as the needed technological tools to help you build a profitable farm. Link in the show notes. Deciding to build the creamery also set us back in our time line goal to stop working for others. It is a great way to make the homestead profitable, but requires tremendous infrastructure and that means a lot of monetary investment. But like any dream you are committed to, you keep at it until it becomes your reality. All in all, as I mentioned, it was 13 years from first purchase to homestead living. And 17 years from conception of the idea. But we are here now. The last 2 years have been all that we imagined and more. I can’t convey in words how peaceful and contented we are now that we are fulltime homesteading. It’s a lot of work, no doubt. And it is worth every drop of sweat, every sore muscle, every exhausted night of sleep. There are a lot of those days. And there are a lot of other days filled with awe and wonder at, not just looking at nature from afar or from your house on the side of the mountain, but days filled with awe and wonder at being IN that life. That’s all I’m going to say about that for right now. Let me know if you have questions about how you might make that journey and what your plans are. I talked about our path but yours will be different. It’s unique for everyone. Preview of Upcoming Topics I’ll provide you with more information about our specific journey and the current homestead enterprises we manage in future podcasts. Updates on the status of the creamery will be front and center. There will be lots of information on cheese – and specifically the history and tradition around this artisan craft. I’ll also include other historical traditions related to living the homestead life. Some upcoming topics are: how did cheese get started in the first place? how a lot of the different cheeses were developed and where. What were the life conditions present that led to the development of that particular cheese in that area? Other topics I’ll touch on are: How was food cooked and preserved in the past? Today’s modern preservation – Food preservation is important. How women cooked at the founding of our country. Let’s talk about hearth cooking. Cooking with cheese on a wood stove. We have a wood stove that even has an oven. These things bring appreciation for what we have today, do they not? Podcast Recipe With each episode I’ll offer a new recipe. Either making cheese, cooking with cheese, or making some other homestead recipe from scratch. The link for the recipe is in the show notes. The recipe for today’s podcast is: how to make bone broth. We really need this winter to keep us warm. Health Benefits Let me first address some of the health benefits of bone broth. There are a lot of technical words out there like glycosaminoglycans, glucosamine and hyaluronic acid. What I want to talk about is the bottom line without big words. Bottom line, it’s highly nutritious. Bone broth soup is rich in nutrients. One word I will throw in here is collagen. It’s the basic building block of connective tissue. Bone broth is a source of collagen building gelatin. Think joint health. may protect the joints. may help fight osteoarthritis. may help reduce inflammation and heal the gut. may aid sleep. may support weight loss. It has a whole lot of benefits. Additionally, it’s really tasty and is easy to make. How Much Do I Drink? How much should you drink in a day. You might drink 8 ounces a day. But some people drink much more – 16 to 32 ounces daily. Usually that is for a short period of time, perhaps to halt the progression of inflammation. Typically, 8 to 12 ounces is a maintenance kind of program that you might try first. Or you may drink it only occasionally and use it mostly in soups and stews. Where Does One Get Bones and What Kind? Where can you find the bone ingredients? Your local farmers markets are the best resource assuming there are meat producers selling at your market. If you don’t see it on their price boards, ask. They will have them. What kind of bones should you use? I’ll be talking about lamb today, but any meat bones will do to make the recipe I am sharing today. Beef, chicken, lamb, and goat are examples. Go with whatever you like and what is available at the market. Bone Broth Now on to the recipe. This particular recipe has herbs added to it which is a little bit different than some other recipes I have used. I’m going to give you the instructions on how to make the broth, but some of the ingredients are not required. You can experiment with those. You can even leave them all out. You may drink it daily or only occasionally. You may use it in soups and stews. If you are drinking it heated right out of a jar or freezer container, you may want all the spices. I use mine a lot in soups and stews. Consequently, I season my stew rather than seasoning the broth. What You Need Let’s look at the ingredients in this recipe. A pound of bones of your choice, a tablespoon of olive oil, a large chopped onion, three medium carrots cut into chunks, and three sticks of celery roughly chopped. Three cloves of minced garlic, 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, and five sprigs of fresh thyme. You could use dried as well. In that case, I’d go with ½ tsp of the rosemary and a tsp of thyme. You’ll also need water. Approximately 1 to 3 gallons. The amount will vary depending on the bones you use and the time you simmer the broth. Salt to taste is an optional ingredient. Onion, garlic, carrots, and celery are a typical base for flavoring any soup or stew. Keep that in mind if you are just learning how to cook. There is so much about cooking that is not really complicated and is used over and over in various recipes. There are two ways that you can prepare the bones. 1. Thaw them out and throw them into the pot or 2. you can roast them in the oven prior to putting them in the water. I’ll give those instructions and feel free to leave off that second step as needed. What To Do Place the bones in a roasting pan and bake them for 30 to 40 minutes until they are browned. With either method, in a large stock pot add the oil and heat on medium. Next add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme and rosemary and sauté them for about five minutes. Add the bones and scrape any fat and juices from the roasting pan (if you did the roasting method) and put that into the pot. Add a gallon of water or enough to cover the bones. Allow it to come to boil before reducing the heat to low. Simmer anywhere from 8 to 24 hours uncovered. The longer you simmer, the more nutrients are extracted from the bones. Add more water as the water level drops. The amount of water you use will depend on how long you choose to cook it and how many bones you have in the pot. After the broth is cooked for your desired length of time, strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. You can use a tea towel or an old T-shirt. You are looking for that clear liquid that can be enjoyed hot or cold. Likely you will have more than you can use right away. It’s easy to freeze it. Or, if you’re skilled with pressure canning, that’s an excellent method of keeping a larger amount on hand. So, there you have it. That’s the basics of making a very healthy bone broth. I hope you’ll give that a try. Again, the recipe link is in the show notes. You can print it right from my website. I hope I’ve simplified it for you. Not only is it easy to make, but there’s a lot of variety and personal creativity you can incorporate as you gain confidence. Perhaps you will make a family tradition around bone broth. The entire family sitting around the fire in the living room on a cold winter evening, sharing what brought you peace on that day is a fine vision. SUMMARY: That’s it for this podcast. It really is all about the journey, the dream. Dream the dream. Talk the dream. Take baby steps everyday toward the dream. Our baby steps, over 15 years, brought us to where we are today. And don’t be afraid to try a new recipe or a new cooking method. Next week I’m going to talk about how the fermented food called cheese came about. If you’ve got a specific topic you’d like me to cover, please post on our Facebook page, @peacefulheartfarm. As always, I’m here to help you “taste the traditional touch.” Thank you so much for listening and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace. Recipe Link: Bone Broth with Herbs To share your thoughts: Leave a comment on our Facebook Page Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram To help the show: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on iTunes. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play Music, TuneIn or Spotify Donate on Patreon Website www.peacefulheartfarm.com Patreon www.patreon.com/peacefulheartfarm Facebook www.facebook.com/peacefulheartfarm
Une application savoureuse des crêpes comme nous l’avons vu dans l’épisode 19 qui traitait de la pâte à crêpes, ce sont les crêpes caramélisées de type crêpes normandes. Cette recette ne se fait quasiment plus dans les restaurants de nos jours, raison pour laquelle vous pourrez ravir vos invités en leur en préparant. Pour écouter […] L’article Épisode 20 : Les crêpes caramélisées et crêpes normandes est apparu en premier sur Parler Cuisine Podcast.