Last week was an eventful week. Aside from the usual working in the garden, laundry, housecleaning, keeping up with the animals and other such things that happen on a farm, we had BABY GOATS!!!
Our "Mama" goat, Orla Rose, came to us bred. We have eagerly been awaiting the birth. Of course, she was only about 4 wks along when we got her, so it's been a very long wait. I thought I was in love with goats when I got my 3. Pshaw! What did I know? When these babies were born, I was head over heels!!! It just simply does not get any better than newborn babies.
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| Poor Orla! |
Tuesday, when I went out to feed everyone in the morning, Orla was acting a little funny. Not anything I could really put my finger on, though. She was kind of ho-hum about eating (a sign), but she ate all her breakfast. She was a little slower (another sign), but so am I in the mornings, then she picked up during the day. We did see her pawing the ground quite a bit (you guessed it, another sign). Hmmmm, I thought. Wednesday, nothing different than Tuesday, though she did lay around a bit more (yet another sign). Thursday morning she still ate, but wasn't nearly as interested as normal. In fact, I'm not sure she ate all her breakfast. She separated herself from the other two. Hubby had to run out of town for a bit and I thought - great! She's gonna have them today with me here alone - what if something doesn't go right??? So - I was keeping a close eye on her as I worked in the garden. Around 12:45 or so, I noticed the tell tale sign the babies were going to arrive w/in a short period of time (to us, that could be minutes but to a goat, that could be hours!). Hubby still wasn't home. I went inside, changed into a sweatshirt (it was nippy in the shade under the goat barn) and gathered the rest of my supplies for "delivery". I made it to within 20 feet of the gate to their pen when I noticed a pair of hooves and nose peeking out!! Hubby was pulling in right about then, so I motioned him over quickly. Before I could get through the gate, she hit the ground. Baby # 1 was born!!! It was a 8lb 4 oz little girl. We named her Hope. I was able to help clean Hope up. What an experience! Oh boy. She made little squeaky sounds and came to life instantly.
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| Happy Birthday Hope!!!! |
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| Hope, all clean and pretty |
In about 20 minutes or so, Orla started having contractions again.
This time, I was able to do what's called a "clean catch". I actually
caught Baby #2! This one was a 10 lb 4 oz baby boy!! He is named Tom. Once again, I got to help clean him up. His squeaky sounds were a bit "bigger" than Hope's were, then again, he's 2 lbs bigger, so.....
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| Handsome Tom - Happy Birthday to you too!! |
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This was the most amazing experience. My Hubby, being the wonderful man he is, wasn't "into" goats when we got them. I wanted them. This was my thing. He simply supported me. However - - the 3 (Orla, Winnie and Peanut) have made him realize there's more to goats than just milk and meat. He was won over. THEN....... these little guys were born!!
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| R - L - - Hope and Tom |
I'll give you 3 guesses who is now just as in love with goats as I am?
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| Hubby with Hope, Tom and Orla |
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Because of the birth of our babies, and the weather, we did not make it to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Orla was having some issues with one side of her udder. She wouldn't let the babies nurse, so we were having to contain her and milk her in order to prevent mastitis. :-( NOT something I hope to ever need to do again. She is fine now, thankfully. As well, the weather turned really nasty early, so had I left Hubby her to Orla-sit, I'd have gotten rained on nearly as soon as I got set up, so it ended up being good I didn't go.
Since I wasn't at the market, Hubby got a rare Saturday Morning Treat - Breakfast! I make breakfast about 99% of the time, but not on Saturday mornings, since I have to leave for the market by 8:30 a.m. (or 7:30 a.m. when the time changes), there's no time. While making his favorite - Biscuits and Gravy, I thought, why not make a "tutorial"? I mean, what is better than fresh, hot from the oven, homemade biscuits? And - - - since Heritage Preserved SELLS homemade jams and jellies at the Lake City Farmer's Market every Saturday, what better tutorial to put up, right? So, with just a teeny little bit of pride, here is my recipe (adapted from several I've tried over the years - much to my family's dismay in the early years) for homemade, from scratch biscuits - with photos (because that just make sit all the more interesting.
2 c all-purpose flour
4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
4 T butter
1 c buttermilk (may substitute plain yogurt)
Place your flour into a large bowl. Yes, large, well - if you're like me, I tend to make a mess while cutting fats into flour. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
Cut the butter into chunks and put into the flour. Using a pastry blender or two knives, "cut" the butter into the flour. You should almost not be able to see the butter anymore. It should have somewhat of a "mealy" look to it.
Make a well in the center of the flour/butter mixture. Pour in the buttermilk. (NOTE: I do not keep "buttermilk" on hand. Instead of real buttermilk, I pour a bit less than 1/4 c of vinegar into my measuring cup and fill the rest with regular whole milk. I have also used yogurt in place of the buttermilk with great results.) Mix well, but don't mix too much. Mixing too much makes a tough biscuit. Mix just until the buttermilk is incorporated, then stop.
Flour your counter - or work surface liberally. You can see I don't have an inch of flour on the counter, but there's plenty to keep the dough from sticking.
Powder the top of the dough a little bit with flour. Flour your hands
as well. Now, place your hands around the dough as if it were a warm
mug of cocoa on a cold night. Give it a squish/squeeze. Turn it 180
degrees and do it again. Squish the top down, turn it over and do the
same thing. This is what I do instead of "kneading". It makes the
dough cohesive, but doesn't overwork the dough making the biscuits
tough.
Pick up your dough ball and re-flour the counter. Using the flat of your hands and tips of your fingers, flatten the dough. You could use a rolling pin to do this, but I prefer my hands and I like the slightly unevenness that's gained. Also, I tend to roll too thin with a rolling pin. You want the dough to be "about" 1/2" thick.
Using a round cutter of some sort (I use my Mom's donut cutter, removing the "hole" cutting part, it's about 3" in diameter) Cut out your biscuits. I am frugal and like to get the most out of my doughs, so I cut my biscuits really close together, lessening waste.
It is usually about this point, my kitty comes up and taps me on the leg, letting me know she's been neglected and unloved for the entire 10 minutes I've been working on these "things" that she knows she won't eat, so what's the use in my making them and not loving on her while doing it. So, I stop and give her a few quick strokes, wash my hands and get back to my biscuits.
When you have completely finished cutting out your biscuits, gather up the bits and repeat the same process to bring them back to a dough ball as you did when you first dumped the dough onto the counter. Here, you see the minimal waste I had and my new dough ball.
Flatten and recut as you did the first time
Since I made a double batch, I'll have lots to put in the freezer! Hubby and I only eat 2 each and it's a pain to make 1/4 or 1/3 of a batch, so I usually make a double batch and freeze them before baking so later all I have to do is pop them out of the freezer and into the oven. I take the cut, uncooked dough and layer it into a freezer container. Done - fresh biscuits anytime I want. I put them, frozen, into a cold oven, heat to 400 degrees for "about" 15 minutes.
Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet or cast iron pan. Place in a 400 degree oven for "about" 12 minutes, or until the golden color you desire.
These are the biscuits at 10 minutes.
Remove the biscuits from the oven and enjoy with your favorite jam/jelly or gravy, etc!!
