What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

You heat the milk then cool it a bit

Heat the milk to about 185 F. Cool to UNDER 120F.
The 185 changes the structure of the milk protein, is what I've read. The under 120 F is critical, as much over that, you'll kill the yogurt culture.

How much milk makes how much yogurt?

1:1, unless you want to drain out some of the whey. If you do that, you can lose up to half the volume, but you'll end up with thick, Greek-style yogurt.

The whey has lots of uses! If nothing else, pour it on blueberry or strawberry plants, or on the compost pile.

Other uses:
The liquid in a bread recipe
Liquid to cook rice or lentils or to make soup
Give it to the chickens mixed in their feed to make a mash

 

[Sally PB]

Well, my jalapenos are just weird shaped small green peppers.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

How much milk makes how much yogurt?
I was thinking about it but I would have to use store bought goat milk $5.89/32oz vs store goat yogurt$5.99/24oz.

I used a 1/2 gallon of whole cow’s milk. That was 64 ounces. I measured 50 ounces of yogurt. The regular grocery store cows milk was $1.79. That comes to about $.035 cents per ounce or about 28 cents per 8 ounce cup. You can’t but yogurt for that.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

My yogurt was reasonably thick and I did drain some of the whey from about 2 cups of the yogurt. Very little whey came out. The recipe I used called for heating the milk up to 180 to 200F. I went to 185F. Then cooled that down to 115F before whisking in the yogurt. It is very much cheaper than grocery store yogurt and the taste is immensely better. Thw whey you get from straining it is loaded with protein. And like @Sally PB said you can use in bread making or add to just about anything. You can make it with goat milk, however I have no idea what the yield would be. It is quick and easy to do and saves you a lot of money if you eat a lot of yogurt. I ordered a yogurt cheese strainer to make cream cheese-like yogurt spread.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

One last post then it’s lunch time. I had a lot of radishes (store bought) in my refrigerator and I did’t want them to go to waste so I combined them with a seedless cucumber and a shallot originally to make quick overnight pickles. When I realized I had a little over a pound of sliced vegetables I decided to use them in my bread and butter pickle recipe. The yield was 3 1/2 pints.

Just for you @igorsMistress!

 

[igorsMistress]

One last post then it’s lunch time. I had a lot of radishes (store bought) in my refrigerator and I did’t want them to go to waste so I combined them with a seedless cucumber and a shallot originally to make quick overnight pickles. When I realized I had a little over a pound of sliced vegetables I decided to use them in my bread and butter pickle recipe. The yield was 3 1/2 pints.
View attachment 3904468View attachment 3904467
Just for you @igorsMistress!

Yes please! I am definitely going to give that a try, thanks Sarah.

 

[igorsMistress]

Woo it’s already gross outside and it’s only a little after 9 here. The cantaloupe has grown outside the wire fence and what sticks out has been stripped of leaves and the end of the vine is shredded. Not sure if the chickens or ducks did that, but apparently it’s quite delisherous. Hubs cut the grass over the weekend, he had to go over it three times, lowering the blade each time, because it’s so thick. I’ve been flooding it only twice a week and it works so much better than a sprinkler. Got the duck pool drained and refilled, added a brick inside and out since the baby can’t get in/out very easily. That’s all for me today. Temps are going to climb all week as our rain chances decrease. We’ve had a tiny amount of rain so far this year, hoping as the season goes we start to get more.

 

[DemeterAD9]

I would be very interested in hearing about other game you've eaten, and how you prepared it.

When I was in 6th grade, there was a boy in my class who ate a lot of game at home. I think I remember him saying his mom knew how to cook skunk.

It didn't occur to me at the time that that was what they had to eat; game their dad got, or not much at all.

He won the prize for finding the most morels when the class went out into the woods to look for them. He had a lot of experience foraging, I'd bet.

Prep is the same for any creature, skin, gut, trim and if you wish soak in salted water.

There really isn’t much to the cooking, if you cook anything like a roast it will become tender. Seasoning is up to the individual. Once I have an understanding of the general taste of a critter then I’ll start seeing how it tastes in other ways. I’m not a fancy cook, crockpot and dutch oven are my preferred methods but deep frying and stir frying is fun too. In winter a good old fashioned stew hits the spot.

So far I’ve eaten the normal wild game that is readily available, deer, squirrel, rabbit, goose, duck, turkey. Then I’ve eaten some “odd” stuff like porcupine, badger, coon, opossum, muskrat, beaver, wood chuck, snapping turtle, crow, sandhill crane. On the bucket list is moose, elk, bear, pigeon, wild boar, bob cat and fox. Those are the only MI wild game animals I have not hunted. Though I probably never will get to hunt a moose or wild hog unless I go out of state.

So far the tastiest weird game is beaver, porcupine and badger. Beaver and porcupine is pretty beefy in flavor, the badger was incredibly mild and had a surprisingly lighter meat.

As far as “trash” fish goes, to me there is no such thing. Bullhead, catfish, crayfish, bowfin, carp, freshwater drum, creek chubs... If I can catch it and legally keep it, I’ll eat it if I can’t catch what I was initially after.

My dad says people wouldn’t believe all the things I (26 female) do, that was when I had my arms inside a beaver carcass ripping out the organs. My grandpa got me a dog tag that says “Killer” on it when I shot my first deer. Funny how things turn out, as a kid I would cry when my dad killed anything.

 

[jerryse]

1 1/2 of rain. I have been planting hollyhock starts today. My own seed from pink.

 

[TJAnonymous]

my dogs would eat them. it would be much healthier than dog's food I feed them. we don't have coons here but about a month ago my dogs caught a marten and ate him, lol. a big, fat rat as well. they also get out of my property and chase predators so I don't know what they catch and eat at night.

Didn't you lose your entire flock to a marten last year?