Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On......the holidays.

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy Holidays!  This can be a very hectic time of year.  Remember to slow down and ENJOY the holidays.  No one will remember how perfect the table was or how spotless the silverware was.....they will, however, remember and cherish the times spent together and the laughter and good times.  As Jimmy Buffet sings, "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On". 

Even the snow can be beautiful!  Yes, I know it can be a pain in the behind to drive in and it's cold as the dickens too......but forget all that for a few moments and just look at the beauty that Mother Nature has given us!!



Our home during a rare South Carolina snow!

Everyone around our farm gets in the holiday spirit!  Even the critters. 



Keyper of the Legacy on the left and Nick's Supreme Gold Bourbon on the right.  They were looking for Christmas cookies.

We are lucky that in our neck of the woods, we can usually enjoy outdoor winter activities without risking frost bite!  LOL  Even if you are in colder climates, put on the long underwear and get outside to enjoy the scenery!  Go pick out a fresh Christmas tree and have it cut down!  Enjoy some hot chocolate at the tree farm.  Snuggle down in a nest of warm straw and just listen to the animals in the barn having supper, after you've done evening chores.  Go for a drive and look at the Christmas lights displayed.  Wander through a park.  Lots of options.....you just have to slow down and take time to enjoy the smaller or quieter things the season has to offer!



Echo and our son Jess on the left, Joy and my husband Shaun on the right.  Great times and great memories!

Christmas 2012 we decided to add a small tree to the dining room too.  It was decorated with Flash and Annie's ribbons from the Pinto World Chamionship Show earlier that year.  It was a fun way to remember and give thanks for a fabulous show season!  This would be a good idea for a barn party too.....decorate the tree with everyone's ribbons from the year's show season!  Reminisce about the season and share the emotions together!

Christmas dinner 2012 with our Pinto World Championship Show Ribbon tree in the background.

So however you celebrate the season, remember to enjoy and hold loved ones, both human and animal, close.  For those that can't be with you, keep them near in your heart.  May God bless you all in the upcoming New Year!  Thank you for sharing some of your life with me here.



MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

See you all in mid-January for the next blog!

I hope you had a Happy Halloween!!

I'm not sure why my posts don't post as scheduled!  I had this set to post on Halloween Day.  It obviously didn't go out!  Oh well, it's still an interesting piece to share about our farm's history, so here you go (with revisions made to suit the timing).

Halloween seems like an appropriate time, to deviate from farm tales and tell you a bit about our 186 year old farm house that we live in!  Why an appropriate time?  It's Halloween season and yes, our house has it's share of odd events!  Haunted?  I guess that depends on your perspective.  There are many events that are definitely not explainable by logical avenues!

Here's a bit of the house's history.  It was built in 1830 by a gentleman that was engaged to be married.  He had to complete the house, before his marriage.  He accomplished that task.  It was a simple 2 story, antebellum farmhouse.  (When it was first built, it did not have the front porch and columns.  Those were added during a renovation in the 1960's.)  I believe it began life as a saltbox style house.  It was 1 and 1/2 stories with an additional single story at the back of the house for the kitchen and back porch.  During it's renovation in the mid 1900's, a covered front porch with columns was added to it, along with bathrooms, a laundry room and the back porch enclosed and incorporated into the living area of the house.  Then in the early 2000's, it had another addition made to it.  A garage was added on to the east side.  We since have turned the original garage into a storage area and dog kennel.  We've also added a new garage on further to the east and a new master living area onto the west side. 

The house resembled a modest plantation house in it's birth.  The farm was a large cotton farm with a share cropper's house on the property too (that house is now gone).  They also raised cattle and had work horses, so many barns were here too.  Over the years, the farm has dwindled down to 13+/- acres. 

There used to be a huge cedar tree, out by the main gate that goes to our barns now.  That tree came down during Hurricane Hugo, back in 1989.  Anyway, the significance of that tree and why it's stump has been left (and we will continue to leave it there), is that General Sherman's army is said to have camped under and around that tree!  They did not destroy the house or the barns, for which we are thankful all these years later!!  We only have hearsay to document this story though.  We have never found any artifacts from the army.

We HAVE found Indian artifacts though!  Every time it rains, our sandy soil offers up arrow heads, spear heads and other rocks that were used by the Indians.  This is reported to have been one of their camping sites.  Which tribe was here, we are not sure.  It could have been a hunting ground of the Catawba's, the Waxhaw's, the Cheraw's or even the Wateree's.  We're fairly certain it was not a permanent Indian Village site, but just a hunting camp area for them.

So as you can see, the land and house have a long and interesting history!  The farming families that have lived in the house, LOVED this house and land.  It's no wonder that they might wish to stay!

We've lived here for 7+ years.  We fell in love with the house, farm and general location the minute we saw it!  Right from the beginning though, odd things would happen.......

When I "met" the house for the first time, I felt as though I had been here before.  I knew my way around, without being told where to find doors or stairs, etc.  It was a comforting feeling, yet odd just the same.  In an upstairs bedroom, when I opened a closet door, little plastic BB balls came falling down across the floor.  On further inspection, there wasn't any shelf or ledge that they could have been located on, in order to fall like that!  A little different, but nothing to scare me.

We bought the house and moved in.  It had been empty for about a year.  While the house was in good repair, there was a lot of cleaning and things to be done.  We soon noticed that a particular light switch on the staircase would turn on by itself!  There was an upstairs bedroom that had a light switch and ceiling fan that had a mind of it's own as well (this was NOT the bedroom that had the plastic BB's fall).  The front doors would open on their own, if the deadbolt was not latched.  An upstairs window (same bedroom as the independent light switch) would open a few inches on it's own, as did a window in the downstairs living room! 

There were cold spots that would occur, mostly in the living room.  We had a house cat and he would act as though he saw something moving, that none of us could see!  We added a new puppy to our family that same year we moved in and he would "watch" something go from the front doors, down the center of the entry hall and then he would look up the stairs, as if he were watching something go upstairs! 

A couple of years later, we added another puppy to the family.  She, too, would look at the front doors and growl, with the hair on her back standing on end!  Then she would quite clearly watch something move down the center entry hall and up the stairs!  Only after "it" was at the top of the stairs, would she come back and lay down again in the living room!  After a month or so, she would still look at the front door at times, but then she would wag her tail and roll over for a belly rub to something unseen to us!!  Apparently whatever/whomever this was, was friendly and of no threat to us!!  It still made me sit up and take notice though, I can sure tell you that!  LOL

We've also heard voices or a conversation (2 voices) coming from outside, on the west side of the house.  That phenomenon continues now, even though we've added on to that west side and you can hear the voices inside the new hallway there!  It only happens a few times a year and one of the previous owners said they had the same experience.  He had even went outside to look for prowlers (as did we) and found no one, nor could he hear any voices carrying on the wind or echoing outside.

I believe the oddest thing I've witnessed here, was a fork move on it's own!  We have an island in the kitchen.  Three of us were sitting at the island eating breakfast.  The stove sits on the other side of the island and had a pan still sitting there.  We had placed a fork on the edge of the pan.  Two of us quite clearly saw the fork lift up and be placed down on the edge of the counter.  It didn't fall.  It lifted up and turned itself over to be sat down, just as it would look like if we were doing that ourselves!! 

We also used to smell bacon cooking in the kitchen quite often.  I would come in the back door and think "Oh good, Shaun (my husband) is making breakfast!"  Then I'd come on into the kitchen and NOTHING!  No cooking of any kind was going on or HAD gone on!!

A lot of our pictures seem to have "orbs" in them also.  This happens mostly around the baby animals, but can happen around the horses in the field too.  I know, people will say dust particles!  However with rapid sequence photography, there might be 1 or 2 pics out of 10 that have any abnormalities in them.  If it were dust in the air, I'd think there would be quite a bit more photos with those particles visible in them!  I think whoever it is, likes the animals and especially the babies.

Orb to the right of the pup's neck.

Large orb near the colt's front legs.

Orb located centrally, near the head of the middle black and white horse.

We certainly don't feel threatened at all.  I think there are a couple of "people" that have stayed around here, at least.  The main one seems to be the previous farm owner.  I think he loves the place as much as we do and just hasn't moved on yet. 

I hope you enjoyed the history on our house!  Enjoy the fall weather everyone.  Since the holidays are upon us, the next post will be the first week of December.  I wish you all an early Happy Thanksgiving!

Hurricane Matthew!

Well, once again Mother Nature had other plans for us!  The barn building is still on hold, while we clean up from Hurricane Matthew.  We were extremely lucky here.....just a lot of rain and wind.  Limbs down, wet everywhere, but no major damage (thank goodness!).  Animals and humans are all fine.  This blog would be a good time to review what to do for your animals in an extreme weather event, such as a hurricane.

When you are faced with a weather event, you have to weigh a lot of things, to see where your animals will be the most protected.  Do you leave them inside?  Do you leave them outside?  Do you evacuate them?  Etc, etc, etc. 

When you are considering your options, take into account the stability of your barn, if there are trees or potential debris that might come down (like electric wires) during high winds, is the shelter on high enough ground that it won't flood, what is the likelihood of flying debris that might hit them, etc. 

If you decide that the animals would be safer inside, be sure to give them plenty of water, hay and bedding, in case you can't make it back to the barn for a day.  If you decide to leave the animals outside, they will need the same access to water and hay or grass.  Be sure if you do leave them outside, that they have identification on them, in case fences come down and they get out.  If you leave a halter on them, be sure it is a break-away halter.  These halters are designed to give way, if the horse catches them on a tree branch or some such thing.  The halters are to break first, instead of injuring (or killing) the horse.  Perhaps put a fly mask on your outside horse as well, so it will help keep the wind from blowing dirt into the horse's eyes and/or ears.

You can also use a neck tag/strap for identification.  These are like the neck straps you would see on cattle....they work on horses too.  You can write on them with a permanent marker.  Put your name and phone number or your vet's phone number on the straps.  That way if your horses do get out, when someone finds them, they will hopefully still have the strap on, so you can be contacted.  Here's just one link to this type of product.  http://livestockconcepts.com/en/identification/2969-ritchey-15-neck-bands.html

If you have a well that supplies your water, be sure to fill up as many water tanks/buckets as you can, in case you loose power (wells won't work without electricity to them).  This way you can water your horses until the power comes back on.  Have plenty of hay on hand as well.  We've found if our horses have hay to munch on, that keeps them busy and they don't fret about high winds as much.

Make sure your emergency first aid kit for the animals is up-to-date and stocked.  Have blankets and towels on hand.  Better to be over prepared, than not prepared enough!

If you are thinking about evacuating your horses, have a plan on where you are going first.  Call ahead and find a stable that you can shelter in.  Make reservations for your horses, just as you will for yourself at a hotel.  If you have more horses than you can fit into your horse trailer at one time, take that into consideration as well.  Do you hire someone to haul them for you?  Remember, there may not be someone available to do this for you.  Can you make several trips to move the horses?  If so, start early and don't wait until the last minute to move them!  Better to have moved them early and end up not needing to evacuate, rather than waiting until the last minute and having a mess because you get stuck in traffic of others trying to leave or you need to make more than one trip and the weather turns too dangerous for you to haul a trailer, so you can't go back and get the 2nd load and so forth.

This brings up some other ideas you should have in place on a regular basis.  Check your truck and horse trailer tires regularly.  Check your horse trailer floors for safety.  Do normal maintenance on these vehicles, so they are ready in case of emergencies.  Keep a binder of current coggins tests for ALL of your horses, not just the horses that leave the farm routinely.  You never know when you may have to haul one to a vet in another state and would need a negative coggins to cross state lines.  In that same binder, keep printed out directions to the most frequently used horse emergency vet locations.  Your GPS may not work and having printed driving directions will take some of the tension out of an emergency situation.  Also keep a printed out version of your horse's health history, including vaccines, wormings, etc. in that binder.

Of course these ideas can be used for all livestock, not just horses.  Hopefully you will never need to implement any emergency responses.  We send our thoughts and prayers to all affected by hurricane Matthew. 

Next blog will be posted on Halloween Day.....Oct 31st.  That blog will give you an interesting look into our 186 year old house that we live in!!

A new arrival on the farm!

This blog was to continue with our barn building adventures.  Well, Mother Nature has had other ideas the last week or so here!  We've had rain for the majority of the week (much needed rain, I might add), so our barn build has been delayed.  There's never a lack of activity around here though.  I'll take this blog space to introduce you to our newest family member, instead.  Mini Gaits Midnight Wardance, aka Night, has arrived! 

He's a weanling miniature black and white pinto stud colt.  He will be one of our herd sires in the future.  He's registered both AMHA and AMHR.  I'll be getting him triple registered as a pinto also.  He is homozygous for tobiano pinto, meaning he will ALWAYS produce a pinto foal, no matter what color the mare is that he is bred to!  Yippee!!!!  We like our spots around here.  <big smile>

Night, shown at just 6 days old!

Night here on the farm, with his new best friend Rebel! 

We love, love, love his laid back attitude towards life!  He just takes things as they come and doesn't get upset about anything.  His turn-out buddy is our weanling colt Rebel.  We thought they would tear around the paddock and might need a babysitter.....not so, not so!  LOL  You lead them out, turn them loose and they settle right down to the task of eating grass!  No nonsense at all!  LOL

He has old, respected bloodlines that should compliment future daughters of our current stallion Little Kings Buckeroo Aladin.  Night is sired by Willow Creeks Thunder By Wardance, who is a direct son of Flying W Farms Little Wardance (who is the AMHA 1997 Amateur Senior Stallions National Champion and the AMHA 1998 Senior Stallions Open Over 32 to 34 National Champion).  Night's dam is Mini Gaits Night Angel, a double granddaughter of SC Rangers Nightrain.  SC Rangers Nightrain is a grandson of both Flying W Farms Little Blue Boy (He is the 1981 AMHA World Reserve Grand Champion Senior Stallion.  He was also the Leading AMHA sire at the time of his death and a true legendary sire.  He's also the sire of many AMHA World Champions.) and SC Rangers Nightrain is also a grandson of Roan Ranger (the Shetland pony who is a son of Gold Melody Boy).

                                                           View his full pedigree here.


Night is put together very well indeed!  Short backed, excellent legs, nice set on neck, pretty head, good bite, good tail set, nice croup, etc.  We are extremely happy with him and look forward to his future foals!  He'll stay at home to grow up for a few years, then he will go to our trainers to see what he can do in harness.  With his 4 flashy white stockings and black body coloration, coupled with his laid back personality, we think he will make a lovely parade candidate for us too!

Hopefully the next blog will continue on with our barn building, Mother Nature willing!  Enjoy the beginning weeks of fall everyone!!

Do you need more stall or storage space?

When you live on a farm, you can NEVER have too many barns, run-in sheds or storage areas.  We are at the place where we needed another small barn or run-in shed.  We've added another paddock this year near the main barn, where we turned out a mare and foal for exercise.  We thought it would have been very nice to have a shelter in that paddock for them, so if a sudden rain storm came up, they could get in without us worrying about them and running like crazy to the barn to get them inside!

So....we started out with the idea to just build a small 12 x 12 run-in shelter.  On reflecting about the use of that, we decided to make it a bit larger and go with a 12 x 30 small barn instead.  There will be room for 2 stalls of 12 x 12 size OR 4 stalls of 6 x 12 (mini horse) size OR 1 large run-in area of 12 x 24 size, OR a combination of those sizes, with a solid walled 6 x 12 feed room.  The stall area will be divided off by gates and/or round pen panels, so the entire stall area can be rearranged to meet whatever current need we have for it!  It will be perfect for weaning the mini foals in.  Perfect for 2 full sized horses to spend the nights in.  Perfect for storing shavings/sawdust in, etc.  The uses are numerous!

We also decided to tackle this build ourselves.  Since it was a small shelter, we figured it was within our abilities.  The blogs for the next few entries will reflect this building journey and I'll share the path that we chose to go down on putting up this addition!  Perhaps it may give you a few ideas for your own run-in shed or small barn!

The first thing you need to do, is check with your county and see if a building permit is needed.  In our county, if it is a barn/farm building, then no building permit is needed.  Then we drew out our planned building on paper, with lengths noted, post heights noted, etc.  This allowed us to make a shopping list for our supplies.

We began with marking and digging the holes for our support posts.  Since the internal stall structure will change with need, we opted for more posts than just the basic support posts.  We wanted extra posts to secure divider panels to, etc.  Before you dig, make sure there are no underground utilities in the area!  Often times people forget about where their electric or water lines to the barn are located!!  Make sure you are well clear of those areas before you dig your post holes!!  We put in the posts, made sure they were straight, tamped some dirt around the bottoms and then put in a bag of quickcrete in each hole.  We put the quickcrete in dry and added water to the mixture after it was in the hole.  We then let those posts stand quietly and the concrete dry for several days.

Posts set and concrete added.  Just waiting a few days for it all to set up and harden well.

After the concrete was dry, we put up our brace boards between all the posts.  This was a bit of a challenge!  We wanted the front posts to be 6 inches higher than our very back posts, to give us a 6 inch drop for water to run off the roof.  (That small of a drop is fine for our area....we get very, very little snow each year!  In snowy areas, you'll need to check with your local builders to see what they recommend for a roof slant.)  You would think that by leveling each brace board that goes between the posts, that you would have a square and even design.  Unfortunately, that did not happen for us!  I have a suspicion that it has to do with the fact that our ground is not perfectly level to begin with! 

So my best advice, would be to put your brace boards across the front posts at the height that you would like them to be at and then level each of those boards.  Then place a temporary board between the front post and the next post back.  Level it and mark the top of that brace board (for us, this was our middle post).  Measure down the correct distance and mark where the top of the board should be placed.  Then repeat that procedure for the next line of posts back, etc.  For instance, in our case, we had 3 lines of posts.  Front, middle and back.  Our front posts were 9 feet 6 inches high.  Our middle posts should have been 9 feet 3 inches high.  Our back posts should have been 9 feet even.  This would give us our 6 inch slope for our roof line.  You would think just measuring each post the correct height and then placing the brace boards at the top of each post, SHOULD have been the easiest way to achieve our slope!  It was NOT!!!  Again, I think the fact that the ground was not perfectly level, was the reason it didn't work the way we thought it would.  So....this alternate method worked and our roof slopes fine. 

Then we needed to cut off the posts to the correct heights.  You can do this before or after you place the brace boards up....it's up to you and how comfortable you are with your cutting device!  We opted to mark the posts with the brace boards held temporarily in place.  We placed them at the desired location and ran a marker across the post, along the top of the board.  This marked our post with the proper slope we needed to cut it at.  Then we used a chain saw to cut the tops off the posts.  It was pretty accurate and was a MUCH faster way than using a circular saw for this task! 

After the tops of the posts were cut off and the brace posts attached, it was time for the rafters.  We used 2 x 4 treated lumber.  We opted to lay them flat, with the 4 inch width against the brace posts, instead of having them on end.  We did this for 2 reasons:  we didn't want as much air/vent space at the top of the rafters and we wanted more of a surface to nail our OSB boards to.  We left a 3 foot overhang at the front of the barn and a 1 foot overhang at the back.  This will hopefully keep rain from blowing into the front of the stall and keep it from dripping directly down on the back of the barn.

Posts up, brace boards in place and rafters going up.

With all of the rafters in place, it was time for the OSB (like plywood) to go up.  We opted to put this up along with the metal roofing, in order to insulate the barn a little bit.  Having the wood underneath the metal roof will help to keep the barn a bit cooler and will also help to greatly reduce the noise when it rains!  Since there will be young horses kept in this barn often, we wanted it as quiet as we could get it during storms. 

We used 2 sheets of the OSB board to make up one row.  We placed it long way from front to back.  This gave us 16 feet of roof to cover.  (12 feet of stall area, plus 3 foot overhang in front and 1 foot overhang at the back.)  We did have to cut some off of the side, as it didn't come out to be a perfect fit that way.

Back row of the OSB boards going up on the roof.  About 3/4 of that row is finished here.  To get them on the roof, we backed the truck as close to the side of the building as we could.  Then we lifted up the 8 foot board and pushed it up onto the roof.  We used ladders to climb up to get it properly placed on the first few boards.  After that, one person sat on the roof to work and the other stood on a ladder to assist from the ground.

Once the OSB boards were all in place, we put on the black roof paper, to seal the roof against moisture.  We rolled it out across the roof going left to right (so going longways on the roof).  We overlapped each row by about 3 inches.  Each row was also stapled in place.  We opted for the stronger paper....so when we walked across it, it held up and wouldn't tear. 

On each end, we left about 2 or 3 inches hanging over and stapled that down also.



Roof covered in black roofing paper.  The wrinkles are because the roof sat overnight and the dew made it slightly bubbled like that.  As the sun came up, it went back down flat.

Black roof paper hanging over edges of roof a bit.  We stapled this down also.

 

 

 

Next step was to add the drip edges.  We used 10 feet long drip strips, letting them overlap slightly in the middle and used roofing nails to attach them to the topside of the roof.  On the ends, we bent the edges around the corners, to protect the corner boards as shown.

Drip edge (silver colored metal strip) going up.

Drip edge going in place.



The drip edge wrapping around the corner. 

Now it was time for the metal roofing to go up!  For easier handling, we chose to use an 8 foot piece of metal and a 10 foot piece of metal, to make up one row (front to back).  These smaller pieces were easier for us to transport and handle, rather than going with a 16 foot long solid piece!!

We did overlap the 2 pieces in each row by a couple of feet.  We also allowed the metal to slightly hang over the edges of the OSB board in the front and back by a couple of inches.  The screws we used to attach the metal sheets have a washer on them, to help seal the screw holes against water.

Metal roofing in place.

That completes phase 1!  Yeah!!  It's nice to have the barn under roof.  Next phase is putting up the metal sides.  That will be covered in the next blog, coming out on September 26th.  A word of caution....when you are working on a roof.....never do that alone!  Always have someone with you, even if they are on the ground, for safety!  Take care!!  Until next time.....

No post until September 12th!

We've been on the go the last couple of weeks and the travel will continue another week or so.  Due to this, the next blog on building a run-in shed will come out on September the 12th.  Sorry for the delay!

Sauce Maker Appliance makes quick work of tomatoes!

This year I updated some of my appliances for preserving food.  One of the purchases was the Ball FreshTech HarvestPro Sauce Maker.  This is the EASIEST thing to use and makes very quick work of skinning, de-seeding and juicing tomatoes!!  It is also easy to clean as well.  I can highly recommend adding this to your arsenal of kitchen appliances.

The HarvestPro Sauce Maker.  LOVE this kitchen appliance!

The sauce maker assembled.

I have no financial interest in this product or this company, I am just relating my wonderful experience with it.  I purchased it on sale at the beginning of the season (in May) for $99.99.  Regular price is $149.99.  Here's the website:

http://www.freshpreserving.com/ball-freshtech-harvestpro-sauce-maker-1034049VM.html#start=1

You simply wash the whole tomatoes, core and cut them into quarters and heat in a pan.  Once heated thoroughly, you put them into the sauce maker and process.  6 quarts of juice took me MAYBE 30 minutes to process!  That included heating the tomatoes to begin with!

Box of tomatoes bought from the local farmer's market for $10!

 

Sauce maker in action. 

The above photo shows the how easy this appliance is to operate!  You place the cut up, heated tomatoes into that top bin.  Place your "scraps" bowl (seed and skin bowl, which is my white bowl here) at the end, place another bowl under the juice "spout" as shown (glass bowl here) and turn on the sauce maker!  VERY quickly, you've got your juice ready to can or cook with!  The appliance also has a larger setting, for allowing chunks of tomatoes, onions, etc to come through.  I have not tried that setting yet, so can't comment on how well that works.

The left over scraps, I feed to our chickens.  They LOVE this stuff!  I'm sure pigs would like this too.

Scraps neatly contained and ready to carry out to the chickens!

I've found this addition to our kitchen to be very, very helpful and well worth the cost!  Canning season is slowing down for us here in the south.  Now it's beginning to cool off a bit.  Next blog will begin a series on putting up your own small barn or run-in shed.  That will come out August 29th.  I hope you are enjoying your summer and are having a great canning season!

A couple of quicker and easier ways to freeze sweet corn!

If you've ever had fresh sweet corn from the garden, you are probably hooked and willing to work to freeze it yourself for use this winter!  It tastes SO much better than the store bought cans of kernel corn.  Normally, most articles you read will tell you to blanch the corn first, before cutting it off the cob and freezing it.  Wouldn't it be nice to be able to just freeze it WITHOUT blanching??  Think of the time you would save!

Years ago, my mom tried freezing corn-on-the-cob without blanching and it worked just fine!  In fact, we enjoyed the texture of it better than blanched corn that was frozen.  The unblanched frozen corn (to us anyway) resembled the texture and taste of fresh corn more accurately than the blanched frozen corn did.  From everything I've been able to read and question, unblanched frozen corn does not seem to pose a safety concern either.

There are 2 methods that I've used myself.  The first is the absolute quickest and easiest.  Take your sweet corn, wrap it in aluminum foil to completely cover it (WITH the shuck still on!) and throw it in the freezer!  When you get ready to cook it, loosen one end of the foil and loosen the pointed tip of the shuck, run a little cool water into the end of the corn, then wrap the foil back up and place it on the grill to cook.  OR you can take the foil off, loosen the pointed end of the shuck and run the cool water in, wrap the corn in a paper towel and cook it in the microwave for about 5 minutes.  Be careful when you remove the shuck!  It will be HOT and steamy!

The other method I've tried of freezing corn without blanching is a bit more time consuming (because I cut it off the cob), but it tastes just as good!  Just shuck the corn, clean all the "hairs" off the corn, wash the cob in cool water, then cut the corn off the cob, spoon the corn kernels into a freezer container and freeze!

Corn-on-the-cob with it's shucks still on.

The "hairs" that need to be removed from the corn before cutting it off the cob.

If you've read my previous blogs, you'll remember that I have RA now (rheumatoid arthritis).  It's harder for me to use my hands in a physical way.  Cutting the corn off the cob is hard for me to do with just a knife.  I started looking around and I found THE best device to cut the kernels off the corn cob!  It's currently priced at $9.99 and comes from Carol Wright Gifts.  I know, you're thinking it won't be sturdy (it is made of mostly plastic).  Well, I've finished putting up our sweet corn this year and it held up just fine and is stored away now, waiting for use next season!  Here's the link to the corn cutter's page (they call it a corn stripper): 

http://www.carolwrightgifts.com/corn-stripper/80342.cfm?key=5G00236B&cm_mmc=PaidSearch-_-GooglePLA-_-FreeShip-_-80342&gclid=CJus7MXKh84CFdU6gQod6WEOAg

Here are some pictures of it.  It's EASY to use, easy to clean, keeps the kernels from going all over the place and works for both uncooked AND cooked corn on the cob!



The corn cutter/stripper assembled and ready to use.



Corn cob placed in the cylinder, getting ready to cut the corn off.

Before you place the cob into the cylinder, make sure the end is flat.  Otherwise, it won't seat itself properly and will make the process difficult (if not impossible).  Just take a knife and cut this end off.



Place the metal hollow "rod" over the end of the cob.



Push the plastic "prongs" down onto the top of the cylinder.  Then push down on the metal "rod" (which has cutting teeth on the end of it).  This will cut the kernels off the cob.  You can twist the metal rod as you push down or you can just push straight down (if you are strong enough).

After you remove the metal "rod", your cob will come out inside the "rod', leaving the kernels of corn in the cylinder.  Empty them out into a bowl (if you are freezing them) or empty them directly onto your plate if you have already cooked the corn!

You can see the cob sticking out the end of the metal "rod".  By placing the yellow "tamper" into the end of the rod, you can force the cob out the other end.

Left over cobs.  You can see just a tad bit of corn left on the cob (at the small end).  If you want to cut that off with a knife, you can.  It doesn't leave very much on there though.

We like to add red bell peppers to our sweet corn.  You can do that now, before you freeze it, or you can add them in later when you cook the corn.  Your choice and it works fine either way.

So now, you have left over husks and cobs with most of the corn cut off of them.  What do you do with this stuff?  If you live on a farm, feed it to your livestock!  Pigs LOVE this stuff, cows like it too and some horses like it, as well as your chickens!  You may need to cut up the cobs into smaller bites for the horses, chickens and pigs.  I feed it to the horses like a treat.  Most of them really like it, but there are a couple that turn their noses up at it!  For our full sized horses, I cut the cobs into pieces that are about 2 inches long.  For the miniature horses, I then cut that 2 inch long piece into halves (much easier for them to chew).  For the chickens, I then cut that 2 inch long half piece into half again.  As for the husks, I just put them out on the ground and let them forage through them.  Horses can be picky about the husks especially!  Our Saddlebreds won't eat them.  The Arabians love them.  The miniatures have to be in the mood to eat them!  LOL  It's safe for them to eat.  Just don't feed them too many husks or cobs at once.  I limit the full sized horses to 2 cobs each/per day.  The minis get less than that.  If you have a horse that has foundered, probably better to not give them any cobs at all.

**Important Reminder!**  If you save the cobs to feed to livestock later on (more than a day later), be sure to keep the cobs in the refrigerator.  They can (and will) mold if left at room temperature for over a day.  NEVER feed molded cobs to any livestock.  It can make them sick.

**Another important reminder!**  Never feed anything to someone else's animals, without their permission.  Meaning, if you live next to livestock, do NOT just throw this stuff over the fence.  You can make the animals very sick.  Some of them can be allergic to certain foods, just like you are!  ALWAYS ask the owner first, if it's OK to give something to their animals.  PLEASE, YOU MUST ALWAYS ASK FIRST!!

That's it for this blog's helpful, time saving hints!  Next blog will look at another new appliance I added to the food preserving line-up this summer, a sauce maker!  I love it too!  Until then, happy freezing and canning!  (Next blog due out Monday August 15th.)

New electric water bath canner is a great idea!!

I decided to add an electric water bath canner to my canning equipment this year.  I can't tell you enough, what a great idea this was!!  It is a HUGE time saver!  I purchased it at the end of May/first of June on sale for $99.99 (normally priced at $149.99).  I purchased it from Ball.  It's one of their FreshTech appliances.  Here's the website:

http://www.freshpreserving.com/ball-freshtech-electric-water-bath-canner-%2B-multicooker-1034047VM.html#start=2


I had always used the traditional stovetop water bath canner.  This took up so much room on my stovetop, that I honestly couldn't cook or work around it!  It also took FOREVER to heat up to boiling and I had to heat up my jars in another appliance. 

Traditional stovetop water bath canner.

The new electric canner sits by itself, on your countertop.  If you can place it near the sink, that makes clean up even that much faster and easier.  Just plug it in and you are ready to go! 

Electric water bath canner box.

The electric water bath canner out of the box.

You can see the thermostat on the front here.  To pre-heat your jars, you set it for medium-high.  At this setting, you place your water filled jars into the water bath and let them sit in there to heat up, with the glass lid in place on the canner.  When the jars are heated, you are ready to fill them.  While you are filling a jar, the others remain in the hot water to keep them heated.  When you are ready to fill a jar, you simply remove the jar from the hot water bath, empty the hot water out of the jar, fill the jar with your food item and place your lids on, then replace the filled jar into the water bath canner.  When all jars are filled, you turn the thermostat dial to "CANNING" to process the jars.  EASY and quick!!

Heated jars in the electric canner, that are in the process of being filled.  You can see the 3 empty jars in the foreground.

Once all jars are filled, you place this metal "plate" on top of the jars, then place the glass lid on top of the canner and turn the dial to CANNING.  Wait for the water to boil (easily seen through the glass lid) and at that time, set your timer for the correct processing time for your recipe.  Again, so easy and quick!

The metal "plate" that covers the jars while processing.  This helps to distribute the heat more evenly and quickly, plus helps keep your jars in place better during the boiling process.

When the processing time is complete, turn off the canner, remove the glass lid and metal plate and let the jars stand for 5 minutes.  When that time is up, remove the jars from the canner and place on a towel to cool.  Let the water cool down in the canner, then if you have placed the canner next to your sink, you simply open the spout on the side to drain the water!  Quick, easy and efficient!  I LOVE this canner!! 

It's hard to see the black spout on the side, over the edge of the sink, but it's there.  Just open it and drain the water into the sink!
 

Now I was sold on just these benefits alone.  However, it does SO much more!  You can also cook with this thing!!  Boil seafood, make big pots of soup, make hot holiday drinks (that are easily dispensed through the spout), etc, etc.  And no, I do not have any financial interest in either this company or this appliance.  I just honestly love this appliance that much!!  I am SO happy I found this and decided to try it out!!

Until next time, I hope your summer days are fun and not too hot!  Enjoy!!  (Next blog will be due out on Monday August 1st.  We will discuss freezing corn.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water bath canning.....

It's that time of season (at least in the south) to start harvesting and preserving those wonderful fresh foods for the upcoming year!  Sorry for the delayed post, but I've been covered over with this task lately!  Call me naïve if you will, but I've never taken the time to read the labels on salsa and spaghetti sauce bought at the store.  They both have sugar in them!!  I honestly did not realize that, as when we make our own from scratch, we don't put any sugar in it.  We eat a lot of salsa.  A LOT.  Another wonderful (insert sarcasm here) health issue I have to deal with now is diabetes.  So avoidance of sugar is a good thing to do.  In light of that, I have decided to can enough salsa to last us a year, plus have a few jars to give to family too.  That means at least 14 batches of salsa to can!  I've managed to get 11 batches finished so far.  I'll hopefully be finishing up the last 3 batches today.  Yeah! 

The recipe I'm using tastes VERY good, is a bit spicy but not too hot and contains NO sugar!  I use a prepared spice package called Mrs. Wages Hot Salsa.  I get it from TSC (Tractor Supply), however it is available at many places that sell canning supplies as well.

The complete list of ingredients I use are: 

6 1/2 to 7 lbs of fresh tomatoes
6 green onions
2 large jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar
2 TBLS (tablespoons) of lime juice

I begin by washing the tomatoes, onions and peppers.  Then I take the skins off the tomatoes.  To do this easily, I slice them in half.  Place them face down on a cookie sheet and place under the broiler in the oven until the skins start to crinkle and turn dark or blackish.  Take them out and place a towel over them for 10 minutes.  Then remove the towel and take a pair of tongs to lift the skins right off the tomatoes!  It's really that easy!  Let the tomatoes cool and then you can chop them up and remove seeds by hand.  (Removing the seeds is what takes the longest time for me.)

Tomato skins just starting to darken under the broiler.

Skins are dark enough and will lift right off with a pair of tongs!

When I say to cover with a dish towel, this is exactly what I do for 10 minutes!  By doing this, the skins continue to steam for a bit longer and it makes removing them even that much easier.
 

While the tomatoes are under the broiler, I chop up the green onions.  I chop and include in the salsa the green stems too.  I also cut the jalapeno peppers in half and take out the seeds, then chop up in small pieces to add to the salsa.  If your skin is sensitive, you may want to wear gloves to handle the jalapeno peppers.  Also remember, do NOT touch your face (especially your eyes) after handling the peppers.  It will burn if you do!!!  I have trouble with the air borne properties of the peppers, after I cut them open.  It makes me cough and makes it hard for me to breath while I am taking the seeds out.  So, I wear a "mask" over my nose and mouth during this part of the process.

The tomatoes should be ready to add to the mixture now.  Cut or dice them up, removing as many of the seeds as you can during this process.  Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Then place in a large cooking pot and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

During this 20 minutes, start getting your canning jars heated up.  Once the simmer is completed, ladle the salsa into heated jars, leaving 1/2 inch head room in the jars.  Put on lids and place in canner.  You'll process the jars for 40 minutes in a hot water bath canner.  Remove the canner from the heat source, remove the canner lid and let the jars sit in the hot water for another 5 minutes.  Then remove and sit the jars on a towel for 24 hours.  Leave 1-2 inches between jars, so they will cool easier.  After 24 hours, check the lids to be sure they've sealed properly.  (If not, repeat the canning process for them again with a fresh lid.)  This recipe makes between 4-5 pint jars of salsa.

More canning info in the next blog post, due out Monday July 18th!  Stay cool out there in this summer heat!

To breed, or not to breed!

There are as many opinions on this subject, as there are people in the world!  Some think that there are too many horses in rescues or going to auctions, so no more breeding should occur.  Others think if the mare has a uterus, you should breed her!  Then there are many other ideas in between these two extremes. 

My own opinion is that you should be a responsible breeder.  You should only breed to BETTER the breed.  Just because you have a mare, it doesn't mean she should be bred!  I also believe that there are a lot of good stallions that would make even better geldings!  You should also be prepared to care for those foals that you produce, until you can find them good homes.  That's why we only breed a very small number of foals each year.  I also feel that breeding in a responsible fashion is necessary.  How else will you ensure that the breed continues on?  How else can the breed improve?  How else will there be quality individuals for future generations to have and enjoy?  Breeding just needs to be done in a smaller quantity and with all of these things in mind.

Having said all of that, let's say that you've done some soul searching and have decided to breed your mare.  Please make sure that she is breeding sound, before you book your breeding to a stallion!  Those stud fees are not refundable (usually) and you want to be sure your mare is healthy from a breeding perspective and that she is breeding sound, before you book your breeding.

So, what does "breeding sound" mean exactly?  You'll want the vet to check her ovaries by ultrasound, to be sure she doesn't have any cysts or abnormalities.  You'll want her uterus checked too, again to be sure there are no abnormalities present.  She'll need a culture done, to be sure no infection is present.  Of course she'll need all of her vaccinations to be brought up-to-date, as well as a current negative coggins test if she is to travel to the stud farm for breeding.

Other factors to consider before breeding your mare......how old is she?  An older mare (late teens or even twenties) CAN have a foal, but if they haven't foaled for several years, it may be harder to get them pregnant.  Is the mare a maiden (never before foaled) mare?  If so, how old is she?  A maiden mare under 10 years old is not usually a problem.  A maiden mare that is over 10 may have trouble getting in foal.

These are not written in stone things of course, but they are things to consider.  Your vet may suggest other exams or tests to be done prior to breeding your mare.  You may have some extra vet expenses to get the mare bred or keep her pregnant if she gets in foal, to factor in to your breeding budget as well.  She may have to stay longer at the breeding farm to achieve a pregnancy or she may not be a good candidate for shipped or frozen semen breeding.  If she can't become pregnant or she can't sustain a pregnancy,  you may need to consider substitution of a different mare for your breeding and you may not be able to do that until the next spring (if you have already used up your breeding season time frame in the current year).  If you do get her in foal, she may need to have her progesterone level supplemented, in order to keep the pregnancy.  Some mares require Regumate to do this.  This is a costly medication that must be given with care daily.  Your vet will check your mare's progesterone level after she is in foal, to see if she needs Regumate or not. 

I think the more informed the mare owner is, the easier and more enjoyable the breeding experience will be for them.  Go in with eyes wide open!  The next blog will go out over the July 2nd weekend.  We will revisit gardening and canning in that blog.  Until next time, enjoy your summertime! 

Basic Color Genetics for Horses

We've begun our search for a second miniature stallion.  Our mini herd sire is 15 years old this year and we will eventually need a younger stallion.  While quality is the number one thing for us, we also breed for not-as-common colors.  Buckskin pintos are a favorite of ours.  Most of our miniature mares are homozygous for tobiano pinto, which means they will always produce a pinto colored foal, no matter what the color of the stallion is.  To give us a higher percentage chance of also producing buckskin, we would like to find another buckskin or even a perlino, show quality stallion.

I always find it interesting, that many people do not understand basic horse color genetics.  If you're breeding for color or selling a horse "of a different color", I think it's necessary to understand this.  If you are selling an animal, it's important to advertise that animal as honestly as you can, which includes providing the prospective buyer with the correct color genetics for that animal!

True story.....when we purchased our first mini driving mare, the seller advertised her as a buckskin.  Well of course, that was right up our alley, so we drove several hours to see her.  This lovely bay mare comes out and is nuzzling us and stealing her way into our hearts.  I ask where the buckskin is and the seller points to this little mare and says that's her!  Now folks, this mare is the most normal color of bay you'll ever hope to see!  How you could call her a buckskin, is beyond me!  The seller was an experienced horse person too.  She knew better.  I called her on the color and she sheepishly admitted that she knew the mare was a bay, but went on to say (and I quote), "Doesn't buckskin just sound better though?"

This is the mini mare we bought.....truly a bay, not a buckskin by any stretch of the imagination!

I think you'll now understand why the correct color is such a huge pet peeve of mine!  Now there CAN be various shades of both bay and buckskin, some being lighter, some being darker, some buckskins more cream based while others are more of a yellow base, but there is usually an obvious "cream" color of some nature, to the buckskin.  Here are a couple of our horses, to show a basic bay and a basic buckskin (the buckskin is also a pinto).



Basic bay.  Reddish-brownish body color with black points (mane, tail, lower legs black).

Basic, medium cream color, buckskin.  Cream (or yellow) colored body with black points (mane, tail, lower legs black).  He's also a pinto, which is what creates the white spots on his body/mane/tail and he has 4 white stockings, which is why his legs aren't black.



So let's go to the beginning of horse colors and genetics.  Every foal inherits one chromosome of a genetic pair, from each parent.  There are many different genetic pairs that are present, but the parent will only pass on ONE of the chromosomes from each pair to it's offspring.  A horse carries 32 genetic pairs.  You could easily make a lifetime study of genetics!  Here's a nice website to help start making sense of a lot of the color genetics for horses. 

https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/coatcolor.php


For a stripped down, basic introduction to this subject, we'll start here.  There are basically two base colors of horses.....either red or black.  All other color variations stem from these two base colors.

A chestnut (red) pinto miniature mare.

A black egyptian arabian stallion, Amir Ibn Inshalla.

There is an allele called AGOUTI. You can think of this as the "bay gene".  Agouti will only affect a black based horse.  If it is present in a black based horse's genetic make-up, it will ALWAYS present itself.  Meaning, it won't hide....it will always affect the black horse's coat color.  A red horse can carry it and can pass it on to it's offspring, but the agouti doesn't present itself visually on a red horse, so it doesn't change the red horse's coat color.  On a black based horse however, the agouti will restrict the black color to the "points" of the horse (the legs, the mane, the tail and the ear tips).  This is how you get a bay horse.

There is also a gene called the cream gene.  This affects both red and black based horses.  If the cream gene is present, it WILL express itself, making the horse's body coat color some form of cream or yellow.  There are many different shades of these cream or yellow colors....from darker like almost chocolate, to lighter where you are barely able to see the cream at all because it almost looks white.  This would be how you get your palominos and buckskins.  A palomino horse is a red based horse that received ONE cream gene from one of it's parents.  A palomino will have a white mane and tail.  A buckskin horse is a black based horse that also has the agouti allele (so the horse is bay) and they received ONE cream gene from one of their parents.  A buckskin will have a black mane and tail.  There is another color where the horse receives just ONE cream gene from one of it's parents.  In this case, the horse is black and with the cream gene present, it makes the color a smoky black.  It's not a true, deep black color, but the black always looks faded.  The smoky black horse's mane and tail will be the same faded black color as it's body.  This smoky black horse IS capable of passing on the cream gene to it's offspring, so it could produce a buckskin or palomino foal as easily as a palomino or buckskin horse could!  You have a 50% chance that any of these will pass the cream gene on to their offspring.  All of these single cream gene horses will have dark eyes.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the "double dilute" colors.  This simply means that the horse has received TWO cream genes (one from each parent).  A double dilute will ALWAYS pass on a cream gene to it's offspring, so will always produce a buckskin, palomino or smokey black foal, regardless of the color of the other parent.  If the horse is red based and receives 2 copies of the cream gene, then the resulting horse will be a cremello.  If the horse is black based and also carries the agouti allele (so it's a bay horse), and it receives 2 copies of the cream gene, the result will be a perlino.  If the horse is a black horse (no agouti) and receives 2 copies of the cream gene, the result will be a smoky cream colored horse.  All of these horses will have light colored eyes (usually blue but can be a greenish blue as well).

MSMF Vanilla Dreams, a Morgan cremello filly (the smaller one shown) owned by Kara Criner. Photo courtesy of Sue White, taken from the MorganColors.com website.  Notice her mane and tail are both white.

A perlino pinto yearling saddlebred filly, named DW Carolina Golden Fire.  Look closely for the perlino colored spots on her head, shoulder/neck and flank areas.  You can see the little bit of her mane that is flipped over on this side of her neck.  See how it has an orange tint to it?  This is very common for a perlino's mane and tail color.

Azariahs Mister Maestro, a smoky black pinto stallion owned by Azariah Miniatures in PA.

Then you have other coat enhancers, such as grey.  What you ask?  Isn't grey a color all by itself??  No, it's not!  The horse started out one of the basic coat colors of either red or black.  The grey gene will gradually "strip" the color away, making the horse grey or eventually white.  Again, there are different shades of grey.  Some are almost black, some are snow white.  Usually the grey horse will start out darker and lighten each year as they shed out their old winter coat.  If a grey gene is present, it WILL express itself eventually!  It may take a few years to notice the greying out process begin or it may happen as early as when they lose their foal coat, but it WILL happen.  There are also modifiers to the grey gene.  You can get a "flea bitten" color, where the horse turns white but looks like they have little freckles or specs all over them.  This is called flea bitten grey.  They can have dapples present.  They can simply go a snowy white color eventually.  Some will keep a black mane and tail for several years, before their manes and tails go white.  Grey has a lot of variations, but just know that if that grey gene is present it will ALWAYS present itself and it works on ANY coat color (red, black, palomino, perlino, etc, etc.).

Then you have the pinto pattern of colors.  This is another coat enhancer that gives the horse large white spots, or blocks of white color, over their bodies.  They can  have a lot of white, where you see only a small amount of their original coat color (usually seen on the head or neck region in horses like this) or they can be mostly their original coat color with a very small white patch located somewhere on the body or they can be anywhere in between these extremes.  If the pinto gene is present, it will always present itself as well.  In a horse that carries only ONE pinto gene, it has a 50% chance of passing the pinto coloration on to it's offspring.  If the horse has TWO pinto genes, it is said to be homozygous for that pinto color and will ALWAYS produce a pinto foal, no matter what color the other parent is.

A pinto that has minimal white.  See the white spot on his croup/butt?  The white spots extends to his tail as well, making his tail both white and black.  He is a buckskin that is about 90% base coat color and 10% white.  This is Back in a Flash, a homozygous tobiano pinto, saddlebred gelding.

A pinto that has mostly a white body with the base color (which is buckskin) restricted to his head and underneath his neck.  This is a miniature colt named DVM Grand Bazinga.  He does have one blue eye, which goes into a discussion for a different day!  This blue eye is NOT caused by being a double dilute.  His other eye is dark.

A pinto that shows about 65-70% base coat color (black) and 30-35% white.  This is a National Show Horse named DW Keyper of the Legacy.

This blog discussion has just touched the tip of the iceberg on color genetics for horses!  There are many, many other coat enhancers that I haven't even begun to mention!  I think the main message I want to impart, is to ALWAYS take the time to color test your horse if you have a "horse of a different color".  Until next time..... (remember, blog updates are every 2 weeks for the summer).