Baby steps to better foods #1

[barleychown]

Very much so...A cow produces WAY too much for family consumption, but a smaller one like that would be easier to keep up with.

Normal cow = 6 gallons/day

Normal size goat = almost a gallon a day

[Tina]

You are right, a regular cow would give me way too much. I'd have trouble keeping up with a goat's output. I'd have to make cheese.

[barleychown]

You'd be suprised what you can make...the longer I go, the more uses I find.  Homemade ricotta from whole milk is crazy good...and nothing like storebought.

[Jessica]

Including chocolate, we go through about 3 gallons a week at our house.  I couldn't keep up with all that milk.

[bestofour]

Sarah, what do you think about having a cow.  Will 1 be lonely? 

So 1 cow gives 6 gallons of milk a day? 

[barleychown]

Jessica, having 2 gallons a week here has forced me to find things to do with it. Kinda like the veggies...have to use them.

Sheri, cows are herd animals, so I think it would need friends of SOME type, if not another cow. And yes, 6 gallons a day, every day, roughly 10 months out of the year. Must be milked twice a day, every day during that time. Now you see why I'm more than happy to buy milk right now...letting my hens out and locking them up is a bear enough some days, and when we vacation the poor housesitters.

[landofoz]

I'm talking about a milk cow.  I would never be able to kill one and eat it.

No one is asking YOU to kill it and then eat it, Sheri.  That's what the butcher is for, and he'll put it in plate-sized pieces for you too!!      Okay, sorry, I just had to pick on you.  Sorry. 

[bestofour]

Well Sarah, I thought if we are all going the natural way we should all  start raising and butchering our own livestock, which will then be deadstock.

We've heard that the man who lived in our house before us had goats.  Maybe I should think about that.

[Dianna]

Sheri, please don't let them run up and down your new stairs...

[Tina]

I know that I do not want livestock. I am so afraid they would suffer under my care because of lack of knowledge. I don't have good, safe places to keep them. But I will continue to look for sources for real food here.

[bestofour]

he did keep them inside in the winter.  At least that's what we heard.

[barleychown]

Chickens are a good place to start...easy, hardy, few health issues.

[bestofour]

I've never milked a chicken.

[barleychown]

 

Finding uses for eggs was quite a challenge sometimes...finding uses for milk is harder. Baby steps.

[barleychown]

I'll post three baby steps at a time, and we can all work on them together and post our comments, progress and questions.

The first three baby steps:


1. Switch the fats you use to a more traditional fat- coconut oil, lard, butter, tallow, ghee, palm oil, olive oil.

2. Eat fruits and vegetables that are in season for this month.

3. Move to consuming the best quality dairy that you can find &/or afford. This includes kefir, yogurt and other cultured products.

Last night we had tacos with shredded chicken and sprouted beans, on corn tortillas than have only corn, water and lime as ingredients. The teen refused to try the beans, but did put a fair amount of veggies on each taco.

Today for lunch it was just the teen and I , so I did two baked potatoes, and topped them with the beans, chicken, corn and cheese, then leftover veggies. She ate the beans without complaint. She was busy complaining that the salt is red. 

Moral of the story...different presentation is sometimes the ticket.

[bestofour]

tell me why to sprout the beans again.

I bought oiko greek yogurt with strawberries at the bottom.  It's 0% fat though.  All the yogurt is either 0 fat, low fat, less fat or fatless.  I didn't see any Nancy's.  I also bought buttermilk to soak the stone cut oats.

Why is your salt red?

I'm exhausted.  I haven't slept since Friday night and I  can't take it anymore.

[Jessica]

Let us know what you think, Sheri.

I, too, am wondering why your salt is red?

[barleychown]

tell me why to sprout the beans again.

I sprout the beans to add different enzymes to my diet, along with changing the nutritional profile. I don't do it evey time, just when I'm thinking about it. Things like pinto beans require serious pre-planning.

I bought oiko greek yogurt with strawberries at the bottom.  It's 0% fat though.  All the yogurt is either 0 fat, low fat, less fat or fatless.  I didn't see any Nancy's.  I also bought buttermilk to soak the stone cut oats.

In this case the good of the bacteria outweights the fact that it's fat free.

[barleychown]

Why is your salt red?

This particular one is a hawaiian salt... http://www.saltworks.us/shop/product.asp?idProduct=56

I'm exhausted.  I haven't slept since Friday night and I  can't take it anymore.

Do you take a pain pill before bed? That's what I did with my knee...I can't stand to take them during the day, but if I took one before bed it had worn off before I had to get up in the morning.

[bestofour]

I went to Harris Teeter and they had 1 kind of buttermilk and just a few kinds of yogurt and I think they are all without fat in some way.  Not a great selection.

I don't have pain pills.  They make me weird.  I've been taking Motrin.

[barleychown]

What you have is a great start.  I started with whatever I could find and worked up from there.

Okay, if no pain pills, could you maybe take a couple benydryl at bedtime?

[bayou girl]

those little cows look manageable and doable.  i'd like 4 chickens and one of those cows.  how much land would you need for one of those?

[Penny]

Those are so cute.

[barleychown]

Here's a good starter article on mini cows:

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/raising-small-cows-15001.aspx

I personally have avoided cattle, and will likely continue to do so even if I move out of town, because you have a LOT of money invested in a living thing. Even my goats have set me back a pretty penny...or a whole heap of them.   I consider my set-up for the goats to be nearly ideal, and so does my vet, and yet I had a goat get pneumonia last year.   That added several pennies right there, AND I am experienced/comfortable enough to tube feed and give meds. If I had had to pay the vet to do that, too...holy smokes.   Trying to convice a 60 pound goat that I was NOT, in fact, trying to kill her was hard enough. And Mike, my big tough fireman? Yeah...not so much help. 

[barleychown]

Carrot recipes:

http://www.pikeletandpie.com/2010/02/carrots-moroccan-style/

http://myfeasts.blogspot.com/2010/02/maple-roasted-carrots.html