The End of May - Pruning and Cows

Hello Friends,

It's the end of May and the last of the Glory Vine surrounding the house verandah has been pruned and mulched.
Brian did the pruning in less than an hour. Before I could offer to assist it was all on the ground.!  That man! He certainly gets on with things without a minute's hesitation. He is truly motivation on steroids.
"Leave the cuttings on the ground." I said.  "I want to go through them and make a wreath." 
The least I could do was pick up the mess on the ground, and I needed to find a valid excuse so that he didn't rush to do it all, and leave me feeling guilty for not helping.

Later in the day, when I'd finished what I was doing, I made a wreath.
The remainder of the vine sticks went onto the mulching pile for Brian to run over with the tractor and mulcher.  After rotting down over winter I'll shovel it onto the garden.

 Honeysuckle is almost unrecognizable from that timid and thin cow that we brought home from the livestock market roughly two years ago.  You can catch up on bringing home our new Honeysuckle cow here
After numerous AI (artificial insemination) attempts we took her to visit a bull last October, and is due to calve at the end of June. Next month!
Unlike our other two house cows, Lavender and Poppy, who were hand raised here and learned to trust us from an early age, Honeysuckle was raised on a large commercial dairy.  Understandably, she was shy and had very little trust in humans. It has been a long process to gain her trust, I can gently stroke her head now, but only when she's in the right mood. She will follow me into the dairy but will not comply if any other person is within sight.
It is more than a year since I stopped milking her, allowing her to dry off and put all of her energy into gaining weight, conceiving,  and carrying a calf.
She has been enjoying life, as she rightly deserves, and now it's time to resume her training to walk into the dairy each day.
After her calf is born I will be milking her every day, sharing the milk with her calf which will stay with her. Cows love their babies, as much as we humans love ours, and it aggrieves me to see calves taken from their mothers.
After the calf is born, I don't want to put Honeysuckle through the stress of re-training, re-learning to walk into the dairy. So, for the past month I have been putting in the effort every day, to remind her how great it is to walk into the dairy for her special treats. I'm also able to check her thoroughly each day and when her calf is awake I can feel it moving about in there when I rest my hands on her belly.
Last weekend I found a lump under her jaw that worried me, so I called a vet to come and check it out.
Honeysuckle would be easily stressed if we tried to move her away from the other cows so we brought all three of them into the cattle yards attached to the cattle crush.  She has never been into our crush, there has never been a need, and I absolutely didn't want the vet to treat her in the dairy. The dairy is to be associated with pleasant things, not traumatic events.

After drafting off the other two cows, Honeysuckle moved calmly into the crush, poked her head through far enough for the mechanism to close, holding her head to prevent any movement.
We really struck it lucky with this new (to us) vet. Georgia from Barossa Vet Services is wise and experienced beyond her years. A young woman, slight of stature, really knows her way around a cow. I admit to being a bit stressed, but she certainly put me at ease with her gentle and respectful treatment of both animal and humans.
She told me that most farmers wouldn't notice a lump of that size, and she would usually be called when it was much bigger and required more intensive treatment.
Thanks to the close daily contact between cow and owner, we are able to get on top of this infected cyst, requiring a course of anti-biotics, before her calf is born.
Had I left it longer, and she had required anti-biotics whilst lactating, neither calf nor other creatures could consume the milk for seven days or more. In such a case, taking her calf away from her would be required.  A stress neither cow or this owner would want to endure.

Here's another valid reason for all cow owners to have a working and reliable crush. I can't believe how many folks buy cows but don't think to build the infrastructure to properly care for them.
I can't tell you how many times we have needed to bring in a cow to remove a grass seed from an eye. Often this simple procedure can be done in the milking bales, which is fine for those cows that are used to being restrained for milking.
But what happens when a beef cow gets a grass seed in its eye? If it isn't removed within a day or two the eye will become ulcerated and blindness will rapidly follow. A devastating result caused by a neglectful owner. 
Hobby farmers - Please ensure you build the proper infrastructure before taking ownership of cows. You will need secure yards with solid fences high enough for cows not to jump over, a loading ramp and a crush of some type.

In the latest Grass Roots magazine I've written about what's been happening here, while the front gate is shut to all visitors while we are in isolation. Actually not much has changed but I have enjoyed the more relaxed lifestyle, with no calls to host guests or to be sociable. Perhaps I'll keep the gate closed for awhile longer.
How about you? Are your bursting to get out or are you secretly enjoying the peace and solitude as I am?

Sourdough Discard - Muffins

I haven't been baking many sourdough loaves lately, but I need to feed my "Mother" occasionally to keep her alive and healthy.  As you know, I never like to waste a thing, so there's a jar of discard (flour and water sourdough)  in the fridge that needs to be used.

When I'm baking sourdough loaves regularly I don't accumulate any discard at all.
Here  is the blog post that explains how to NOT waste flour.

Last time I made Crackers using some of the discard and this morning I felt like making small cakes (or muffins) to put into the Farmgate stall.

As usual, I have adapted the recipe from various ideas and previous bakes, using basic supplies from the fridge and pantry.

Apple and Spice Muffins

1 cup sourdough discard (straight from the fridge or the bench, it doesn't matter)
1.5 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bi-carb
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 dessertspoons butter melted in 1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar (we don't like them too sweet)
1 egg
1 peeled and chopped apple

 Put sourdough discard in a mixing bowl.  Mix flour, baking powder, and bi-carb together before  adding to the bowl. Add sugar, spices, butter and milk, and stir with a wooden spoon before adding the egg.  Add chopped apple and stir until well combined.
Mixture should be the consistency of cake batter.  Your sourdough discard may be wetter than mine so you may need less milk. 
Spoon into paper muffin cases and bake at 180C for 15 - 18 minutes - turn the tray after the first 10 minutes.
Makes 10 muffins.

These basic muffins can be adapted in lots of ways and variations.
Leave out the apple and use a mashed banana.
Leave out the spices and add berries or cocoa, or choc chips. 
Add dried fruit, dates, dried apricots... the possibilities are endless.


How long will they keep?
If you want to keep some for later, you will need to wrap them well (after cooling) and put into the freezer before anyone sees or smells them.
Unfrozen they will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container and are good for lunch boxes or smoko (morning tea) for the workers.

There's absolutely no reason to throw away flour and water from our sourdough excesses and what good fun it is to discover new ways to use it.

Cheers,
Sally XX