A Little About Meat Rabbits

 

So, a little about rabbits, better known to me as rabids. (More about that later)

Rabids have decent sized litters (mine have 5-11) and they grow quickly. I like to process them at 5 lbs so about 12 weeks old. That gives me the greater number of choices in how to prepare them. There are some really delicious recipes online. I have yet to try one we haven’t liked. Our rabids replace chicken in our menus. They are cheaper to raise, easier to process and taste very similar. Babies are cute. Housing requirements are pretty basic and easy. Cleaning is also pretty easy, just rake it up and dump in your garden. Unlike chicken manure, rabbit poop is a cold fertilizer so can go directly on your plants without harming them and it has LOTS of nutrients for the soil. Every part of our rabbits are used, except the pelts, as young rabbit’s skin is too thin to process, although it can be sliced up and dried for dog treats. I will be harvesting a couple of older rabbits and hope to try my hand at processing those hides.

My dogs love the rabbit heads, ears, feet, livers, kidneys, hearts, etc. The flaps are supposed to make good jerky, otherwise they go to dogs as they are rather tough and chewy to eat.

Those are the “pros” of raising rabbits. Now for the “cons”

They can and will try to eviscerate you, given the opportunity, and their claws are deadly sharp, like a cat’s. It is important to wear sleeves (I have special sleeves just for rabids) and know how to properly pick up and hold them (Like a football, but that is no guarantee of safety)

One of my does was suffering from the heat this morning, because her litter insisted on climbing and laying all over her. I was going to be nice and give her some relief by putting her in a cage by herself, under a nice, cool, vine covered arch, and just put her with the kits at night when it is cool.

She decided I should have a mastectomy instead, leaving my arm sored, and my breast and stomach bleeding.

Guess who is going to be the first of those older rabids being harvested soon?

BEWARE

Rolling in Dough

As a follow up to prior blog, the rock tumbling was successful. A few of the rocks I gathered here at the ranch proved worthy, and many of my granddaughter's rocks, mostly quartz, from the ranch her Daddy works on were very pretty. Unfortunately the pictures don't do them justice and a few of them could have stood to be tumbled longer to get all the scratches off of them, but it was a great learning experience and I hope to do better. Meanwhile, I learned how to drill holes in the smaller ones to use them up.

As everyone has been home bound lately, I assume many are getting to the point they might decide this is the time to be a tad more self sufficient. Having lived 4 hours from town for the past 13 years, I’ve got that nailed down pretty well.

 So today, we will talk about making bread.

There are so many choices and recipes to choose from, all equally delicious.

Let’s start with a basic white bread.

There are different kinds of flour. All purpose flour is fine, but bread flour is nice for loaves as it has a bit more gluten and rises better, making for a lighter loaf. If you have a grain mill, you can also make your own flour out of various things, wheat, almond, rice, etc. I prefer wheat. I usually buy #25-#50 of wheat berries at a time. I have soft white, (for cakes, pastry, etc) hard white (for white bread) and hard red (for stronger flavored wheat breads, great in waffles) on hand. However, if you are milling your own flour you are probably already an expert and don't need to read this blog. So lets stick with all purpose, bread flour, or commercial wheat flour which is nothing like the flour that is ground at home as both the hull and the wheat germ have been removed, along with much of their nutrition.

Yeast comes in different forms as well. You can buy it in packets, jars or bricks. It can be kept indefinitely in a freezer and for a good long time in the fridge. You will find Active Dry, Instant Dry and Rapid Rise Yeast. I use the Active dry as I buy it in big bricks so I always proof it. The only difference is that Active Dry requires activation by proofing in warm water while Instant Dry does not. The Rapid Rise is usually used in bread machines, which I don't really care for myself.

Keep your yeast tightly sealed. Mine is kept in a little crock with a rubber seal.
Yeast is a living organism. Baker's yeast began to be made and used in 1857 or so, making leavening bread faster and more reliable, but at some cost to both the. nutrition and flavor of the bread itself. But, I digress. We are talking first about bread made with commercial yeast, so...
let’s assume your yeast is good.

Most bread recipes have sugar or honey in them. Primarily, sugar is food for the yeast and speeds up the yeast breaking down the starch in the flour. Honey does the same but also adds a nice flavor to wheat bread.

Salt regulates the yeast activity, helping the yeast to ferment more evenly. It also assists in shelf life and gives the dough body as well as enhancing flavor.

Oil/Lard/Crisco also helps keep the bread from drying out and going stale as quickly as it would without.

You will need something to cook your bread in. Bread pans are the most popular, but different recipes can be cooked in a dutch oven, in baguette pan or even free form. Some require a brotform which is a type of basket the bread rises in then is quickly dumped onto parchment paper on a hot stone.

You will need a serrated bread knife or slicer. I use both.

 The first two recipes will only need a pair of bread pans as they make 2 loaves.

The first thing I do, is to “proof my yeast” in a bit of warm water. You don't want the water too hot or it will kill the yeast. If the recipe uses milk and egg, like most white bread and other recipes, you will use less water to proof the yeast and usually scald the milk on the stove before adding the fat, sugar and salt to it. Let those cool before adding to the proofed yeast.

It will look sort of poofy-ish on the top of the water if it is still good.
If it doesn’t, you need fresher yeast.

Yeast is a living organism. Baker's yeast began to be made and used in 1857 or so, making leavening bread faster and more reliable, but at some cost to both the. nutrition and flavor of the bread itself. We are talking first about bread made with commercial yeast, so...
let’s assume your yeast is good.

Add your salt and about 2-3 cups of your flour to start making your dough. I use a stand mixer, but used to do it all by hand.

I have both a KitchenAid and a Bosch Mixer. The KA can make 2 loaves nicely, but my Bosch makes 4 and is easier both to use and to clean up. Trust me, if you are looking to purchase a mixer, go for the Bosch. It can do SO much more! It also has an 850 watt motor as opposed to KA's 250watt. I made bread for decades without a mixer, so it's not a deal breaker. But with RA and PsA, my hands can no longer do the work without great cost. I can make 4 loaves at a time in the Bosch, then I slice, wrap and freeze it and have a month's worth of homemade bread done in an afternoon, for pennies.

The Bosch isn't pretty but its worth its weight in gold

 By hand, use a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the rest of the flour until the dough is rather stiff and not too sticky.

If using a mixer, do the same on low power using the dough hook and after adding all but the last cup of the remainder of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, start adding the last cup of flour a couple of TBL at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Too much flour will make the bread heavy. Too little and it will be too sticky to work with. The weather can affect your bread making, so that's why I recommend adding the flour in this way. It may take a little more or a little less than the recipe calls for.  I made many brick loaves in the beginning before I figured this out.

Once the dough is not too sticky (a little bit sticky is good) flour your hands and dump it on a lightly floured surface and begin kneading. The more you knead the bread, the less sticky it will be. Flour your hands rather than adding flour to the dough as the latter will make for a dry, heavy bread.
Using the heels of your hands push down on the dough, fold it over on itself, turn it 1/4 turn and repeat over, and over until it “pushes back”. Kneading not only mixes the ingredients well, but develops the gluten which allows the dough to become elastic and rise without the strands breaking. Without the gluten strands developed, your bread will be hard and flat. You cannot over develop it kneading by hand, but you can by machine, so be careful not to overmix once the dough pulls away from the sides of your mixer bowl. I like to dump it out like when I hand knead and see if the dough is, indeed springing back to my hand. The kneading is a crucial step of breadmaking. If the gluten strands are not developed enough, your bread won't be very good.

Once the dough is elastic and springy, silky (it will feel both smooth an HAPPY) grease a bowl, dump it in, turning it once, and cover, setting it in a warm place to rise. I like to use a cotton cloth, like an old fashioned diaper, that has been soaked in warm water and well squeezed out, to cover my bread. You can also put a bowl of hot water in your oven and set the dough inside to rise. When yeast acts on flour, it converts natural grain sugars and starches into carbon dioxide, which creates air pockets that make the dough rise.

Let it rise til double. You can push a finger into the dough and if it leaves an indent it's ready to dump it out again on your pastry cloth or floured counter top. Punch down, cover and let rest for about 10 minutes.

finger print after second rise

I then fold it all up and cut it down the middle with a dough scraper.

Using my hands, I flatten out the dough into a rectangle, making sure there are no big gas pockets. I then roll it up, pinching the bottom together and folding the ends and pinching under before setting in well greased pan to be covered and rise again until double. Using the finger print method again, I check to see if it’s ready.

Then into the oven it goes.

so let's condense this...

WHITE BREAD

Ingredients:

2  1/4 tsp or 1 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups milk, scalded
2 Tbl sugar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbl fat (butter, crisco or lard)
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups flour

Directions:

Proof yeast in water in large bowl or mixer bowl
Combine hot milk, sugar, fat, and salt, cool to lukewarm
Stir in 2 cups of flour, beat well, then add to yeast mixture
Add flour to make moderately stiff dough.
On lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and springy, 8-10 minutes
Set in greased bowl, turning once, cover and let rise (about 1 hr)
Punch dough down, dump out on counter and cover. Let rest 10 minutes.
Divide dough in half, press down into rectangle with hands, popping any
gas bubbles.
Roll into loaf, pinching bottom together and tucking ends underneath.
Put in greased loaf pans, cover and let rise second time (about 40 min)
Bake @400 for 35 min. Loaf should sound hollow when tapped.
Take loaf out of pan on rack or wooden cutting board. Immediately
rub a cube of butter over tops of loaves and let cool before cutting.

RANDY'S FAVORITE HONEY WHEAT BREAD

Ingredients:

3 cups WW flour
3 cups Bread flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup buttermilk

next day:
4 1/2 tsp yeast
1/4-1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup butter (or oil, lard)
1 TBL salt

Directions:
Mix flours and liquids and let soak overnight or up to 24 hours
Next day proof yeast in water, add remaining ingredients, then mix with flour mix

As with White Bread recipe above, knead, rise, shape into loaves rise, bake 45 min @ 375

Let me know how it goes. The Honey Wheat bread recipe uses what is known as a "levain" which is a bit like a sourdough starter as it captures wild yeast out of the air, adding to both the rising and flavor of the bread.

Let me know what you think, and how it goes!! And any of you experts, if you have something to add or a super special commercial yeast recipe, please chirp in, to help out my readers who are here trying to learn a new skill!

Next blog will be no-knead bread and sourdough.

Happy baking, from our range to yours!

Me & Heath

1.  

Goodbye to The Alvord

We’ve spent the past 11 years living and working for an enormous working cattle ranch, which covers 250,000 acres of deeded and permitted land. It’s a 4 hour trip to the closest town of any size and 2 hours to the small town of Burns Oregon, which has a Safeway and one other supermarket, a ranch store and a Dairy Queen. There’s not much else, so we tend most often to take the 4 hour drive to Idaho. Because of the time involved and cost of fuel, we manage to make these trips only 4x a year. We coordinate groceries, Dr appt’s, errands and animal feed into one trip every 3 months. We often use the large livestock trailer to fit everything in. 

Cashiers at Costco used to raise their eyebrows at the amount of food we would buy but have since grown accustomed to us. Since there is sadly no pizza delivery, all 3 meals have to be made at home. Hardly any prepared or processed foods are purchased as it takes up too much valuable space. We have 3 upright freezers, 2 refrigerators and a large pantry. We buy flour in 50 lb sacks (for those days I want to save time and not have to mill flour to make bread), as well as sugar, brown sugar, rice and wheat berries (to be made into flour). I had dairy goats, a couple of Jersey cows, chickens, ducks, sheep, rabbits and a garden, much of our food was raised at home. I did a lot of canning which saved a lot of freezer space as well as for those nights I was too tired from riding and needed a quick meal at hand. I can soups, chili, shredded Mexican beef, beef and pulled pork for sandwiches, chicken and rabbit for casseroles, beef and chicken stock, vegetables, pie filling etc. It’s amazing the difference in flavor and texture between home canned foods and the stuff you buy in the store. The first 50 years of my life, I didn’t mind cooking when I had to, but it wasn’t something I looked forward to. Having all fresh ingredients actually made it fun and I surfed the internet always looking for great new recipes. And boy did I find some!

garden bounty

nothing beats homemade bread and apple pie

Jack Cheese

homemade butter pats

home raised chicken

I made all of our dairy products. Cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, whipped cream, ricotta, butter, ghee, etc. My Jersey cow gave amazingly rich creamy milk, and I actually had to use a spoon to scoop the heavy cream off of the top, as it was that thick.

I spent my days riding with the cowboys (up here they are buckaroos) and cowgirls (who are every bit as capable and rugged as the men). The ranch owner has 5 kids who were all homeschooled and have worked since they could stretch their toddler legs across the back of a pony saddle. It warmed my heart to see this small microcosm of what used to be typical America, where the family works, eats and plays together. The kids learn to rely on one another and instead of competition, there is camaraderie. They learned the convictions of their parents without the outside interference of peer pressure and societal corruption. They appreciate their family, friends, the value of hard work, the blessings of God and their place in the world. They are strong and capable, prepared to handle whatever life deals to them because they have support, encouragement, and the knowledge that their contribution makes a difference.

We gathered cattle out of pastures that were thousands of acres, sorted and separated pairs, gathered them into corrals for doctoring, branding or whatever else needed to be done. Some days were long, 11 hours or more in the saddle. It was beautiful out on the range, with deer, antelope, pheasant, coyotes, even a cougar, the occasional badger and other wildlife. From the reverence felt watching a bald eagle soar on the wind currents, to the delight of the song of meadowlarks, I never wished to be anywhere else.

When I’d get back I’d call in my sweet Jersey cow, and rest my head in her flank, relaxing to the sound of her chewing her grain and hay, the pleasant grassy, cowy smell of her and startling from the occasional swat of her tail. I’d strain the milk into jars and chill it, and fix dinner and do whatever other chores I had around the house before bedtime.

I had opportunity to do things I would not otherwise have been able to do. Helping to gather, brand, separate cattle day after day in a spectacularly beautiful setting. Enjoying my little flock of sheep and their Livestock Guardian Dogs, my chickens, Jersey cows, bottle raising up to 30 orphan calves a season, growing huge gardens, making soap, putting the rest of the world on hold.

break in!

Identity crisis?

The polar bears counting calves

 It was truly an idyllic life, but like all things, it must come to an end and the seasons are changing. God is calling me to something new. I will treasure this time and these memories as I step into the next chapter.

A Raw Deal

Lately I haven’t been doing much. The title of this blog was originally Range to Range, because I was sick and spending less time out on the ranch riding and helping move cattle to being instead in the kitchen, cooking meals.

homemade fettucini pasta

homegrown chicken

canning

from the garden

homemade pepper jack cheese

butter pats

fresh eggs

fresh milk with heavy cream

ghee

homemade sour cream and butter

making cream cheese

making mozzarella

That went pretty well for a long time as I learned many, many, many new dishes, acquired some wonderful gadgets that made it all worthwhile and thoroughly enjoyed making bread, homemade dairy and cheese, and processing our own meats. I have always missed riding though, I guess that will never go away.

Anyway, as things have progressed, I am now doing less cooking as well. Not to say we have given up completely…I am still hoping and praying for deliverance from this condition, even if it is only in the form of some much needed assistance.
Hopefully, from some folks in particular.

Meanwhile, the biggest change we have gone through lately has been changing Heath (and the other dogs as I am able) over from store bought kibble (which often has recalls and deaths due to bad ingredients usually from China) to raw food. Raising extra chickens, rabbits and an occasional lamb, deer or whatever may become available makes it possible. Heath however is a bit of a critic. (His breeder calls him “the Prince” bahaha) We’ve had to suffer a few fasts until he decided that eating chicken is not beneath him…or duck. Now that he is enjoying his meals with gusto (which he never, ever did on any kind of kibble) I am making his treats as well.

Because originally feeding him chicken parts, such as a drumstick or thigh, he would actually remove the meat and eat only the bones (raw bones are ok for dogs to eat, but never, ever, ever bones that have been cooked or smoked as they will splinter and damage their intestines) we had to buy a heavy duty meat grinder and feed him ground meat, with the bone ground in as well. Rule of thumb, as I understand it, is a raw fed dog needs percentages of meat, bone and organ in order to eat a balanced diet. There is a lot of information on the internet if you need more detail.

The grinder easily grinds up all the chicken, duck and rabbit meat with bones so that problem is solved. Heath doesn’t like liver though. So making use of the food processor and dehydrator, we solved that problem. He loves dried liver treats!! I also dehydrated some of his duck to make treats, so now instead of ordering expensive dog food rolls to cut up and use for training, I can use healthy food for him which is much less expensive and has no additives.
I dried some sweet potatoes for him as well, but Heath is not a fan.

Since we have the grinder, and the grinder came with a sausage stuffing attachment, we decided to pull the 18 lb. pork shoulder out of the freezer and make some sausage. With a “kit” that had all the spices and casings, we made 5 lb of Italian, 5 lb of cheddar bratwurst and 5 lb of brat. It was a little bit of a learning process to stuff the casings, but we nailed it and it all came out pretty well. So well, in fact, that we just purchased a large bucket of casings and plan to make some other sausages from scratch, saving more money and having more flavor. It ought to be fun.

IN between, I keep trying to get stronger, Heath keeps trying to keep me going. He wakes me up daily between 6:30 and 7, by first gently touching his nose to my face, then softly placing a paw on my arm. He waits patiently until I either get up, or turn away from him. He knows if I turn away, I absolutely, positively need more rest and he gives me another hour or so. On the days I am very poor, he stays close enough to always be touching me, sleeping against my legs or alongside me. Other days, he engages me with play, bringing me toys to throw, or tug for him. If that isn't enough, he brings me his treat bucket for either a free treat or a game of “click”.

He is there for me daily, handing me things I drop, or cannot reach on the ground, putting away his own toys, helping with laundry, opening the back door, dragging me a blanket or pillow and various other little things I used to take for granted. He is my only company and companion each long day while TheMan is at work, 7 days a week. I’m not sure I could do without him. We’ve been working lately on getting him to accept riding on the 4 wheeler. Being trapped in a house all the time starts to feel pretty awful, especially when there is so much beauty outside here. Being able to take the 4 wheeler on my better days would be a huge relief but Heath has to agree to ride with me, as he can’t run all the way or we’d never get anywhere. He’s getting there slowly, but surely.

And we keep on….

The Duck Whisperer

It seems as though we are going to town every month right now, which is WAY too often to suit me. But, the upside is, we get to listen to a book tape, eat in a fancy restaurant and...bring home DUCKS! My online friends keep telling me how duck eggs are superior to chicken eggs, as far as being larger, richer and making amazingly fluffy baked goods, so I broke down and decided to try some, Our egg laying flock is getting geriatric and this might be their last year so we had to replace them with SOMEthing. The good news is, ducks don’t crow, they don’t eat much commercial feed as they love to forage on grasses and bugs and can be very friendly. The downside is, they are pretty dirty. I picked up 4 Khaki Campbells as they are supposed to be good egg layers, 2 Indian Runner ducks just for fun, because it cracks me up to look at them with their upright stance and long necks, and 2 Roeuns which are supposed to be superior meat birds and great mosquitoe eaters. We shall see. 

The first night home, a moth got in while we were dragging a water trough in to use as a brooder. It was flitting around their heat light and 2 of them JUMPED UP IN THE AIR. One successfully snatched it and the 8 of them went to feasting. It was nearly as big as they were. I found it impressive.

One of the ranch mechanics who works with TheMan came by last night. He likes EmmaLouMoo’s milk so we have worked out a deal whereby he will milk her a couple of times a week for me and we will split the milk. I guess he drinks a gallon a day all by himself. I throw a loaf of fresh bread at him now and then also, and in return he occasionally prods TheMan to help with some chores around here, by pitching in himself. I really do appreciate it.

 Last night he came in to see the ducklings. He picked up every single one and held it until they were mesmerized. Who knew there was such a thing as a “Duck Whisperer”? 

Today, they were all much calmer. Now I will admit I have been handling them every day to help them get used to us, but I haven’t had half the response he had. I guess some folks just have a gift. My Grampa was like that. People would lose pets and they would all wind up at our house, in his room out back. Parakeets and pigeons would fly in his open glass door and perch on his chair or shoulder. It was just weird, but I, of course, loved it. He was quite a guy.

I had a couple of red letter days last week and went riding. Mister is losing weight out with the cavvy, so he gets to come in for supplements. He’s the only horse I know that can lose weight on 200 acres of grass. During one of our treks we saw no less than 6 coyotes cross our path, one of which was enormous. I think it is the biggest coyote I’ve ever seen.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I got  3 heads of iceburg and 6 heads of romaine lettuce torn up and jarred for salads for the next couple of months. I have mentioned in past blogs that using an attachment for the vacuum sealer will keep the lettuce fresh for 6-8 weeks this way, as long as you reseal the jar if you don’t use it all up. We eat pretty good when we first get back from town as we get to feast on all the stuff that won’t last so long. Today was fresh avocado and bacon sandwiches on homemade sourdough bread with salad on the side. It was delish.

The next order of business will be to get the rest of the radio fence up so the Maremmas can be back out with their sheep. It won't be soon enough for me. Meanwhile, they've taken over the house.

Never a dull moment.

Two Steps Forward and One Step Back…It's Still Progress

We decided it was time to take the goats into town to their new home. As providence would have it, my new medicine arrived the night before and I needed to see the nurse in town about administering the shot to myself, as I do real good with injector pens, but this only comes in a needle and syringe, and being quite needle-shy, I have a nasty little habit of passing out when something pierces my skin. Yeah, go figure. I could break colts and bust a leg or ribs or whatever, but a little thing like a shot or piercing my ears knocks me flat. Just one of my idiosyncracies, I guess. At any rate, this was a very good thing, as town is nearly 4 hours away and we don't like to go there often. The timing was impeccable and knowing what I do about Him, it was no accident.

We figured that if we left at 6 am, we would have time to stop for breakfast, before heading to the hospital. All we had to do was grab Annie and lead her to the long horse trailer we pull around with us. Patch and Shugar always follow her so there were no worries there….

Morning came (too early) and after throwing on some clothes, grabbing a few things we would need for the trip (which always takes about 20 hours or so, to get there and back) such as the Ipod with the booktapes on it, a grocery and errands list, a couple of big coolers and the house dogs, TheMan fed MissEmmaLouMoo who how has 3 calves on her as I have been unable to milk lately and she needs to have all the milk she is producing used up, to prevent mastitis.

We headed for the goats.

 With Annie and Patch in hand, we marched confidently across the sheep pasture, through the Maremmas and toward the front gate. My confidence didn't waiver until I looked back and saw Shugar (the only one who is pretty wild yet, due to holding a grudge about her early horn disbudding) was firmly planted at the other end of the pasture hiding behind the crazy ram. After much cajoling and pleading we made no headway so chose instead to push all the sheep and goats into the little area where the dogs eat, in order to capture Shugar. With a little sweat on our part, we had success and dragged everyone to the horse trailer…one hour late. Mr Cider got out and that slowed things down as well because in his advancing age, he can't jump back in. I know how he feels.

I decided to comfort myself with the thought of over indulging in Maple Bars which they usually have fresh at a little gas station store in Jordan Valley, a couple of hours away. It's the only town between us and civilization and it's pretty much a one blink experience. After an interminably long drive through the chapparal of South Eastern Oregon, enjoying the varied scenery of sagebrush and mesquite, mesas and hills, gullys and small streams we made it to Jordon Valley. Mouth watering, I ran in to find they only had 3 Maple Bars, so I opted to eat one and split one with TheMan. They are tasty, but not very filling.

I suppose because you drive for hours in SE Oregon without passing a town, that a building by the side of the road merits the sign above. After all, there might be another truck on the road somewhere.

Also, SE Oregon is famous for having pretend towns. This is the booming town of Rome, Oregon. The whole thing. One little gas station/cafe kinda thing.

We made it to the hospital and the decision was made that TheMan would have to learn to give me the injections as the passing out thing just isn't feasible these days. I don't get up as easy as I used to, and I could just visualize the damage I could do falling forward with a needle in my gut. He did an admirable job, despite my squeaking and complaining and we took off for the goats' new home.

The people were super nice, had goats, sheep, llamas and some calves, but mostly, they had 6 kids and that is what the goats need is someone to play with them. Annie and Patch are people lovers and Shugar just needs to learn that not everyone wants to hurt her. We left with a dozen of THE BEST cupcakes we have ever tasted. We'll be back for both more cupcakes and goats milk in the future.

Back home only 16 hours later we hit the sack. Next morning, we woke up to this.

Good thing we brought the tomato starts back in the house. Looking forward to some warmer weather coming and a visit from a brother in law who has never yet been here.

Mother's Day was wonderful. Cold, but I had recieved a beautiful email from one son and the next day, a phone call from the other. Even though I don't hear well, and usually discourage phone calls, it was great to hear his voice. I'm so grateful for the time I had with them, and for the beautiful wives and mothers they both married. Our girls are doing well too, one moves her family into a new house this week and the other is having another baby.

This week I'll be making more Whipped Tallow for the store. It sells on Etsy, if you click the link, or at my webstore at Ranch Rustics. A few new fragrances of wax tarts and candles might be in order too, along with making some more super rich, amazing ice cream.

Just because it's so amazing, I am going to share the recipe.

First off, I separate the yolks from 16 ranch eggs. I break them into a bowl, so if there is a spot on one, or if a yolk breaks into the white, it doesn't ruin the whites, which can be used later for either a pavlova or angel food cake. Even a speck of yolk in it would inhibit the whites from whipping properly. So yolks in one little container, whites into another, then the yolk is plopped into the measure cup with the rest.

Combine your 16 yolks with 2 cups of castor or Bakers sugar. It is a much finer sugar that will more easily blend. I run it in the Bosch mixer until it thickens. Meantime, a quart of milk heats on the stove until it is scalded. Luckily I got several gallons of milk from Emma before I had to quit milking her.

Next is the tricky part. You have to 'temper' the eggs. Pour a small stream of hot milk into the egg mixture while the mixer is running. Just a bit at a time. You want to slowly bring the temperature of the eggs up, otherwise you will wind up with scrambled egg instead of ice cream. Once you have blended enough of the hot milk into the egg mix, pour the egg mixture into the pan and put it back on the burner. Heat until the mixture thickens up and coats the back of a spoon. DON'T let it come to a boil or it will curdle your eggs. Once it is thickened, pour it all into your ice cream container and chill it over night.

The next day, add a quart of heavy cream (EmmaLou's heavy cream is divine, btw) and 8 tsp of vanilla. (In our case it is homemade with vodka and vanilla beans infusing for months) Add the ice and salt to the ice cream freezer according to directions and churn it.

This ice cream was so rich, with all the homegrown and homemade ingredients it was actually YELLOW.

It was also really good. We've had it every night so far. Sometimes in a bowl, sometimes on a cone, sometimes with homemade Dulce de Leche caramel poured over the top…Oh My Heavens! It's some radically good stuff.

THE Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

Ingredients:

16 egg yolks

2 cups castor sugar

4 cups milk

4 cups heavy cream

8 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Beat yolks and sugar until thickened.

Pour quart of milk in sauce pan and scald. 

Pour some of hot milk into egg mixture while beating, to temper eggs.

Pour egg mix back into pan and heat until mixture thickens enough to coat back of a spoon.

DO NOT BRING TO BOIL OR MIXTURE WILL CURDLE

Pour into container and chill over night

Right before churning, add 

4 cups heavy cream

8 tsp vanilla.

Churn according to freezer directions.

for soaps, candles or whipped tallow butter, here is a link to the Etsy store:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/RanchRusticSoaps?ref=ss_profile