Friday with Marcia Lowry-Molly Cow had her baby

Molly cow pulled a sneaky one....1 week early...baby boy calf! Unfortunately, she managed to mask her impending labor and took off early yesterday across the creek to the FARTHEST corner of the FARTHEST pasture. Doing a "bed-check" about 8pm last night I discovered said baby - all dry and full of milk. My goal was to get them into the corral/barn but it wasn't going to happen last night. I tried my very best to get the calf up on the 4-wheeler to ride in front of me - did I say he is HUGE? - only managed his front feet and that was not going to work - did I also mention that Rob is in Minnesota?

So, I figured they would be ok for the night - not so much me - didn't sleep much and heard coyotes all night - some real and some in my short dreams. So, as soon as it was light enough I went back over across the creek - which to make things more difficult, was up quite a bit from last night - did I say I have only really leaky boots and the water is very cold at 6am? I managed to get a little rope halter on BIG BABY and as he wouldn't lead - I pushed him from behind and steered with the halter - Molly was quite accommodating - only had to stop about 20 times to lick him - and me - and head butt yearling daughter Andi - who was a royal pain in the rear for both of us.

All in all it took about 45 minutes to go about 1/2 mile and everyone is happy and contented and where they should be - except Andi who is in the pasture with Kitty the horse and NOT happy - she is SUCH a momma's girl. AND, unfortunately there are no pictures of the beautiful baby because along the way I lost my camera and upon retracing our steps - found it FLOATING FACE DOWN IN THE CREEK @#$&**. (Marcia got a new camera so enjoy the pic of Chuck!)

Monday with Marcia Lowry-on Wednesday

Queso fresca with herbs...made at home.
Cheese curds

Pizza with the cheese....a Reuben Pizza. Homemade Saurkraut too.

Monday with Marcia Lowry--Got Water? Irrigating 101

To irrigate our hay fields, water is diverted from the creek that goes by our house into a canal system
When the spring melt is on our creek CAN flood - as seen by this picture.
It is the irrigater's job to open these "gates" and water the field
Riley dog was immediately able to locate the dead porcupine ....an irrigater's helper!
All in all, with a view like this, it's not a bad job in the summer!

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It requires a lot of water to produce crops in this high desert country. Wyoming has miles of irrigation canals and ditches that carry the much needed water to farmers and ranchers. It is then the farmer/rancher's job to get it on his field. This is called "irrigating" by some and "irritating" by others. When it goes well it is very satisfying, when it doesn't you are allowed to use lots of colorful words.

When the spring melt is on our creek CAN flood - as seen by this picture.

We have canal headgates (slides that open and close) on our property that are opened up to release water into gated pipe (10 or 12 inch round PVC pipes with little "gates" every 3 feet or so that open and close).

There are LOTS of variables that can make this fun... or not...you tend to get very wet at some point, and on a 90 degree day - not so bad.

It is necessary to "flush" the pipes at the first of the season to wash out any residual mud, sticks, etc. left over from the last year. Every so often you get a surprise - this year it was a partially decomposed porcupine which we could not dislodge, so we had to replace that section of pipe.

Monday with Marcia Lowry--Racist Sheep?

I think I see the culprit...Mama Olive.

Who could NOT love a face like this....her OWN mother that's who! For the second time in her 3 year lambing career, mom "Olive" has rejected one of her babies. Olive is all black ...with some silver showing, as she ages.

The first year she had twins, one black, one white. She tried to beat the white lamb into the ground just minutes after he was born, but loved up on the black one. So we bottle raised "Charlie" that year - feeding him milk replacer (very costly) 4 times daily for two months...a major commitment. I thought maybe Olive's issue was having two to care for, but the next year, Olive had two black babies and loved them both.

This year, she had twins again - a black and a white and once again beat up on the white baby lamb? So now, we are bottle feeding "Mandy" and Olive is SOL down the road.

And on that note...here's a favorite recipe for lamb,or it maybe mutton this time around!

Potato and Lamb Moussaka

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 2 pounds peeled baking potato, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 cup 1% low-fat milk
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preparation

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add one-third of potato slices to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Transfer potato to bowl. Repeat procedure with cooking spray and remaining potato slices.

2. Preheat oven to 350°.

3. Recoat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, garlic, and lamb to pan; cook 3 minutes or until lamb begins to brown. Add bell peppers, tomato sauce, salt, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, and parsley; cook 10 minutes.

4. Arrange half of potato slices in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange lamb mixture over potatoes; top with remaining potato slices. Combine milk and eggs in a small bowl; pour over potato mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until top is golden and set. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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Monday with Marcia Lowry-Buttercrafting or Molly McButter

Is it butter yet?
Molly...A Happy Wyoming Cow


So happy to introduce you to Marcia Lowry, my high school buddy from Wyoming. She'll be sharing ranch life with us...she lives way off the grid...and I don't mean the burbs! You can see her "back yard pond". Please enjoy today's offering from Marcia. I am so happy to welcome her to Cooking Schmooking, no problem......on food. on life.

Yes..I am posting this on Sunday..but from now on, it really will be on Mondays. I need to test out how this is going to look published. Had to re-size photos and font.

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My source for butter is Molly the milk cow, a Jersey/Guernsey cross. At the present time Molly is on a non-milking vacation, building up energy for both her and her unborn calf who is due to be born mid-July. When she is at her peak lactation (giving milk) she produces about 4 gallons of milk a day. I milk by hand - love it! I strain the milk through a muslin cloth into gallon jars then refrigerate overnight. By morning, the cream will have risen to the top of the jar. Jerseys are high butterfat producers so I typically get over one quart of cream from one gallon of milk. I skim it off using a soup ladle. I usually make butter with two quarts of cream. I leave it out on the counter for a couple of hours to warm to room temperature. Over the years of having milk cows, I have found the fastest and easiest way to make butter is with my Kitchen Aid mixer using the whisk attachment. I turn it on about medium so it won't splash out.

At first it makes whipped cream - I sometimes take some out at that point for dessert toppings. Soon you can start to see yellow globs forming and within just a few minutes it will all ball up together. It takes about 10-15 minutes for this to happen. I then scoop out the butter with a slotted spoon - what's left is buttermilk! I wash the ball of butter with cold water, smashing it around in a bowl with a wooden paddle to get out all the milk, repeating several times until the water is clear. I then add a little salt and store it in glass jars in the fridge or freezer.

Summer butter is WAY more yellow compared to winter butter because of the beta-carotene in the grass that the cows eat. While they are on green pasture in the spring, you see a deeper yellow color. During the winter, while they are inside, the butter becomes a paler shade.

I was thinking that it would be fun to do a Molly/baby countdown as her calving time gets closer - with pictures! What do you think?

Marcia