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Making Hay while the Sun Shines

Cutting Hay

The Bros have been doing this recently. What does that literally look like? First, you look for a 3-4 day stretch of dry, warm, sunny, windy weather.

  • Dry – the less rain you have falling the better your hay will cure.  You can have some rain at certain points in the process and still get decent hay.  No rain is best. 
  • The warmer the weather is the faster the hay will dry. 
  • Sun helps the hay to dry. 
  • Wind helps to pull the moisture out and to dry the hay.

Next, fresh grasses (orchardgrass, timothy) and legumes (alfalfa, clover) of the hay field are cut usually with a sicklebar mower or a disk or haybine after the dew has dried.  We use a sicklebar mower attached to an Allis Chalmers B. The grass is laid out and can dry. [A disk or haybine would put it more in a row. It might also have a crimper on it. Crimping cracks the stems so that they can dry faster. After a day, it would be tedded, which is spreading and fluffing it, to help it dry out. We don’t have a crimper or a tedder, so it can take longer for our hay to dry out.]

  • Cutting hay
  • Close up of cut clover
  • Cut field

After a day or two of drying, we use a rake attached to the John Deere Model M to turn the grasses so that the underside gets dry.  We usually turn it after the dew has dried on the top.  Then we rake the hay into rows so that the hay is all together for the baler to bale.

The baler, driven this year by a farmer friend/neighbor, comes through, picks up the hay, cuts it and packs it into slabs, strings them, and throws the resulting bale out the back into the hay wagon.  Finally we pull the wagon into the barn and stack the hay from the wagon onto pallets.

A load of hay for the barn
  • Raked field
  • Hay rake
  • Baling starting
  • Baling finishing
  • Finished product
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Summer Plans

We’ve planned our gardens and ordered our seeds. We watch the weather and the warmth of the ground and have planted the cold weather crops – potatoes, garlic, onions, pac choi, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, ….and have started the plants we want to transplant – eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers. We have watched the pastures and moved chickens, cows, and pigs out of the barn and into the fresh air and sunshine. Everything is growing as it can given the cold spring.

How can you get our items?

We use a weekly system in June – October.

  • You subscribe to our Currently Available email list and receive a weekly email about what we have available that week.
  • You let me know what you would like to purchase that week from veggies and/or meats.
  • You let me know where you want to pick them up –
    • Fayetteville Farmers market (June-October),
    • Westcott Community Center (July-October),
    • the farm (all the time).
  • If you are reluctant to be around the markets, we can do curbside pick up at all locations.
  • You pay for what you want in the quantity that you would like, based on what we have available.

So make us part of your summer plans! Sign up now!

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Serviceberry Shrub

The Serviceberry Shrub (also called the Juneberry) bloomed around May 3 this year. Folklore has it that once it blooms the ground is warm enough for the cold weather crops – potatoes, peas, cabbage, broccoli, Swiss chard, tatsoi, pac choi, winter lettuces, beets, carrots – those sorts of things. Once it stops blooming the ground is warm enough for the warm weather crops – beans, basil, squash, corn. Here we see it in April, not blooming, and then in May blooming. This is late, but we work with what we have. Happy planting!

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May’s Baby

This mama gave us a doeling. She has wattles and is white with a light brown background.

Mama and baby are doing well!

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Little Projects

  • Rudbekia
  • Sedum
  • Fescue

One of my little projects is adding perennials to my flower bed, specifically perennials that have a name similar to children. So far we have Black-eyed Susans, Sedum Autumn Joy, Elijah Fescue, Timothy grass, and Joe Pye-weed. Something to tend, something to smile at, something to enjoy.

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Rendering Beef Suet

Updated version – November 2024

Recently I processed some beef suet to make a useable fat. I took this chunk of fat, …

…let it thaw for about an hour, then chunked it up into small pieces. I did this with 2 pieces of fat…

…filling my 5-6 qt. crockpot about 3/4 full. I put a little bit of water in the bottom, covered it and set it to high heat for 2 hours. Once it was bubbling, I turned it to low and let it cook for 18 hours, stirring occasionally.

After 12-18 hours it cooked down. I turned it off and let it cool for about 30 minutes. Then I put a metal colander in a big bowl…

…and poured it all in, separating the cracklings…

…from the fat.

I carefully poured the hot fat into jars, put a lid on the jar, tightening it down, and let it cool.

Once the fat cooled, I took the rings off and stored it in the pantry.

After the cracklings cooled, we nibbled at them. I set them aside in a separate container that we could nibble from.

Notes: This is a very hot fat. BE CAREFUL!

Everything ends up with a layer of fat – the crockpot, the colander, the bowl, the spoons. To save the sink and pipes, wipe all the items off with a paper towel while still warm and throw the paper towels away. Otherwise you could end up with a clogged drain from the congealed fat.

Uses – you can use this in a fry pan OR to saute veggies, eggs, or meat OR to deep fry food. It is a fat that can be used in place of other fats. Suet will have a beefy taste. Lard will have a pork flavor.

The process would be similar for rendering lard. The unrendered pork lard bags are larger and so will probably result in more jars of fat.

This can be done in the oven on low heat. Put in a pan, cover, bake at 350 for 30 min to get it boiling, then reduce heat to 225-250, cooking for 12 hours, stirring occasionally.

Again, this is very hot. BE CAREFUL!

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Views from the Farm – April

Nuffield Tractor, vintage 1960s, manufactured in England, diesel, new to us
Serviceberry or Juneberry can be used as a planting indicator. It blooms before it leafs out. Its bloom indicates that the soil is warm enough for cool weather crops. And when its blooms are done, that indicates that the soil is warm enough for warm weather crops. It should bloom soon!
We have been mucking out pens to make our compost for the 2021 season.

Chicks are mostly feathered out and will head outdoors in the next week.
Goats enjoy their morning hay.
Bucks like fresh air and sunshine!
Malegra and her calf enjoy the morning sunshine.
Last year’s mucking out has mostly been distributed to various garden beds.
Garlic is up. Soil is protected by the mulch hay.
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Goat and Feta Sandwiches

Here is a recipe from The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook by Shannon Hayes with my adaptations.

Goat and Feta Sandwiches

Based on Lamb and Feta Sandwiches recipe from The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook by Shannon Hayes
Print Recipe
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, diced
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lb. ground goat
  • Salt & pepper, opt
  • 2 Tbsp dried oregano
  • 2 cups fresh spinach
  • 8 oz. feta cheese
  • Pitas, bread, or English muffins

Method
 

  1. Saute the onion, garlic, celery in olive oil in a large sauce pan until the veggies are soft.
  2. Add the ground goat, salt, pepper and oregano. Saute until the meat browns, 5-7 minutes.
  3. Add the spinach; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Stir in the feta cheese, sauteing another 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is fully incorporated and slightly melted.
  5. Serve in pitas or as sandwiches.

Notes

Any 2 cup combination of sauteed veggies can be used for the onions, celery, and garlic – peppers and grated carrots would be other things to include.
I tend to cook my meat first so that I know it is no longer pink and then add and saute my veggies second.
Any cooking green will work in place of spinach – tatsoi, pac choi, Swiss chard, spinach, arugula.
Any cheese will work in place of the feta.
And if ground goat meat isn’t to your liking, ground pork, ground beef, or sausage will also work.  The key parts are a ground meat, a cooking green, a cheese, sauteed veggies and oregano.
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Goat Curry

Here is the basic Jamaican goat curry recipe that I like to use. It was given to me by a dear Haitian friend. In discussing goat curries he told me that a Haitian curry would tend to have tomato paste and probably straight curry powder as part of the rue (sauce). A Jamaican curry tends to have allspice mixed with the curry powder. I have adapted this to satisfy my family’s mouths (mild) and tummies (a bit more veggies).

This will also work for lamb. A curry is a curry!

Goat Curry

Print Recipe
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • Olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3-4 garlic, minced
  • 3 lbs goat meat with bone, cubed (or lamb)
  • Salt & pepper, opt.
  • 3 Tbsp curry powder (2 Tbsp curry powder, 1 Tbsp allspice)
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 2 Tbsp cubed coconut milk block, opt.
  • 1 large potato cubed
  • ½ yam or sweet potato cubed, opt.

Method
 

  1. In large skillet or Dutch oven, heat oil, add onions, heat until they sweat 3-4 min. (do not fry onion). Add minced garlic, continue to cook 2 min. Remove onion and garlic, set aside.
  2. Add cubed goat to pan with a little more oil and brown all sides, 7-8 min over med heat. Add salt and pepper, if desired, during this process.
  3. Add back onion and garlic with 3 cups chicken stock. Add 2-3 TBS curry powder. Stir and bring to boil.
  4. Lower heat to minimum setting, cover with tight fitting lid and let simmer for 2 hours stirring occasionally every 20-30 minutes. After 1 ½ hours add cubed potato and yam and coconut. It is ready to eat after ½ hours or when the potatoes are soft.
  5. Serve over rice.

Notes

I use celery with or in place of onions and garlic.
I have used chicken along with the goat meat, if I didn’t have a full 3 lb. of meat. Lamb also works well with this recipe.
The curry cooks a long time, and the meat will fall off the bones, and bones and meat will separate really well on the plate.
I have used extra chicken broth and added more potatoes, yams, or carrots.  I put these in with the broth and let them cook the whole 2-3 hours.

Here is a link to another recipe to give a more Jamaican version. I would recommend reading this recipe as it has helpful instructions. Enjoy!