Spring Approaches and Opportunities Abound

Whew, what a busy week! These two girls have been keeping me busy! This is from the other morning when I let them take a stroll, they opened the gate and sauntered up on my porch to check out my seed tray and bottle collection mess.  A friend stopped by Tractor Supply and picked up some spare T posts among other items so I can keep their hungry mouths away from my fruit bushes and baby trees! He also picked up a little hardware so we can reinforce my gate. On to some details!

This is a typical one morning score from Zoey. She gives anywhere from 1 1/2 quarts to 2 quarts depending on diet, how much she ate, whether she finished eating before I finished milking, and whether or not little Luna was sipping the milk throughout the day before. Though Luna is eating solid food she sometimes likes to go back to her mom and get the good stuff.

This is feed for Zoey who will sometime share what she doesn't finish with Luna. It is a mixture of sprouted oats, black sunflower seeds, peas, and carrots, with a touch of molasses and flax seed for minerals and vitamins. After milking time they both get some hay and alfalfa to make sure they have enough nutrients while outside it is still yucky and frozen. Of course they seem to like nibbling random frozen brush and leaves quite a bit too.








But wait, there's more! While I was at the seed swap meeting I picked up a SCOBY from another member. Now I am making Kombucha. What is Kombucha? It is a fermented "byproduct" of a living colony of organisms known as a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). The many organisms composing the bio-mat (also called a zoogleal mat) consume sugar and other elements of tea and produce a fermenting effect. This makes a fizzy sweet tea substance that is quite delicious and healthy. Here's a quick wiki to get all those interested started on figuring out what I'm talking about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha. After doing a little reading myself I am curious to see what future batches will taste like when I use molasses as a substitute for raw sugar. Otherwise I take my two week batches and mix a cup or so of finished cider in and let them mingle for another week. Twenty-one days to perfect fizzy-carbonated-sweet-apple-tea. The photos are of my new "mother" culture doing her thing in some tea. That's all for now, more to come later. Be sure to look up the NWI Society for Sustainable Living over in Facebook land if you are interested in learning direct as opportunities arise in the community.