Simplifying

While catching up on blogs the other day, I came across this post, which really got me thinking. It had already occurred to me that the desire to be green while not changing one's lifestyle was a little silly, but after reading this post I started thinking about how I'd be willing to simplify; that is, what amenities I could easily live without and which ones I'm happily used to. At this point I can't make the decision to give any of these things up, but once the husband and I have our own house, I imagine we will live somewhat more simply in part because we'll have alternative power systems.

In Paul's post he lists a couple of things they could do in order to go without electricity, but I don't think he really went around the house and counted up all the things one uses on a regular basis. For instance,

• Refrigerator/Freezer Now, if it weren't for the gallons and gallons of goat milk we have to keep cool right now, I think we could probably do without a refrigerator. It would require cooking changes, of course, and we wouldn't be able to keep leftovers for days, but I think a good root cellar and larder would be a workable substitution. The freezer, however, is one of my favorite inventions. Dried and canned foods are okay up to a point, but having a freezerful of the summer's bounty is absolutely wonderful.
• Water heater/pump The solar shower idea just doesn't work for me. After years of living in Santa Fe, I got used to twice-weekly showers, but when I do take one I want it to be hot and have lots of water pressure. Also, there's no way I'm going to do laundry by hand, especially not with a baby who goes through burp cloths and diapers like Kleenex. I'm a big fan of the washing machine. The dryer I could do without, at least during the summer; in fact, we have a clothesline that needs to be put up now that the winter humidity has ended. The dishwasher also wouldn't be much missed, and I can get my mind around the idea of hand-pumping and boiling water for dishes, although right now it would be a pain with all the bottles and jars for milking and feeding.
• Stereo A lot of singing goes on in this house, as well as a fair amount of piano-playing and occasional violin practice, but until I can get Over the Rhine or the Royal Philharmonic to drop by on a whim, I'll keep my CD player (and no, batteries are not an option).
• KitchenAid mixer What can I say? I absolutely adore my KitchenAid. I don't think I could go back to life without it. And I'd keep the blender, too. Oh, and the ice cream maker--none of that hand-crank nonsense.
• Computer I'd sooner get rid of the phone than the computer, though I don't use it all that much. It's a highly useful tool for many different activities, and, if used in moderation, can simplify one's life and make certain things much easier.
• Sewing machine I don't use mine much, though I'd like to, but my mother relies on hers and couldn't clothe us without it.

As for the things I could live without, electric lighting is at the top of the list. My family will attest to my deep dislike of artificial lighting, particularly overheads; I've been accused of following certain people around the house just to turn off lights behind them. Though I appreciate them more in this northern latitude, when winter nights start at 4:30 pm, I think I could manage with candles, kerosene lamps, and an earlier bedtime. We're content with these things during the frequent power outages, so I know it wouldn't be too much of a hardship.

Actually I might put TV at the top of the list. I'm not yet entirely willing to toss ours out the window, because I do enjoy watching a movie once or twice a week, but when we moved up here it was astonishingly easy to get out of my TV habit, and I don't miss it a bit; I have no doubt I could live without movies as well. On the other hand, they're pleasant entertainment every now and then. It's too bad neighborhoods and communities couldn't share TVs, passing them around so everyone got one night a week, or something. Hmm, in my dreams...

We already heat with wood, though the fireplace insert in this house requires a fan to really get the heat circulating; and our cookstove is gas-powered. My mother desperately wants an Aga, and I hope to have a wood cookstove in our house eventually; we also have plans for building an earth oven and perhaps a firepit.

Let's see, what else? Most other kitchen appliances are nice but not necessary, and I could definitely chuck the microwave without a single thought. I don't use any electric bathroom accessories (hair dryer, curling iron, etc), or any technological gadgets other than the computer and the cell phone charger. I've probably missed something obvious, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

Wire and Other Evils

Sometimes I question my sanity when I decided to become a farmer. I spend entirely too much time performing tasks that are not on my scheduled agenda and am frustrated at the end of the day because I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. I've actually done a lot, but nothing that was on my list.

I hate wire. Wire hates me. Any kind of wire - baling, barbed, chicken. It seems to recognize that I feel all thumbs when I'm handling it and it springs at me when I'm least expecting it. What makes it worse is that I can't for the life of me find a pair of work gloves that fit me. I have several pairs that are much too big and though I usually start a project wearing them, I always throw them off in frustration. It's impossible to work with gloves whose fingers are 1" longer than mine, so I give up on them and work with my bare hands. You can tell by looking at them that the wire won.

In the last few weeks I've put in many hours trying to secure the pasture fences in order to keep the sheep and goats where they belong. Not only do I have to contend with animals that want to help (or at least know exactly what I'm doing), but Tally and Peace seem to be able to get through the tightest security. They're very social and only want to get out so they can come to the house to visit, but I'm not crazy about seeing a goat gazing at me through the window of the kitchen door, her hooves pawing at the glass. Peace, especially, is the world's greatest escape artist and apparently spends all day thinking up new ways to get out.

We seem to have mutant chickens that are capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound (or fences, as it were). Olin and Billy spent the better part of a week raising the height of the garden fence to a towering 8 feet in hopes of preventing the chickens from getting in and destroying our precious little plantlings. It seemed impenetrable. But last night I found my newly planted, beautifully mulched herb garden had been scratched up and many plants shredded. This will not do! Drastic measures are required here.

Early this morning I gathered my tools and went out to patch the only spot that can possibly be a leak - the gate. The idea seemed simple: wire some chicken wire to the existing gate, closing up holes in the fencing and increasing the height to over 6 feet. I always underestimate the evil intentions of wire and wound up spending 2 hours fighting with a 3 foot piece of chicken wire. Clearly it should have been no match for an intelligent human being like me. But the darn stuff kept wrapping around me and biting me till I was torn and bleeding and ready to scream. I prevailed. It was a trying job, but I accomplished what I set out to - reinforcing the gate with chicken wire and PVC pipe. It actually opens and closes fairly well and I dare any chicken to breach it! We'll see if it keeps the cats out as well.

Cheesiness

I really wish I had some extra money right now, because I'd love to get some cheesemaking books and equipment. I'll have to make do with library books and regular kitchen utensils for now, but I think I could get pretty serious about making cheese. My first (second) attempt turned out great--very mild soft cheese, sort of like mozzarella (with the texture of chevre) or queso fresco. It's a nice snack spread on bread or crackers, and adds creaminess when melted onto a veggie wrap. On looking over the recipe, however, I realized that instead of the called-for 1 1/2-2 1/2 tbsp of salt, I'd added only a few shakes, so yesterday I made a larger batch with more salt; it turned out tasty as well. It's so satisfying to see the hot milk curdle into recognizable cheese!

Sadly, my yoghurt did not meet with the same success. A friend mentioned that his experiment with yoghurt hadn't worked out so well; it turned out watery, and so did mine. In addition, it was so tangy-sour I could hardly eat it, even when well-sweetened with maple syrup and granola. My mother was quite amused by the faces I made this morning, and declined to taste it herself. I'll try again, perhaps after trying some professionally made the next time I visit New Seasons and checking ingredients to see if there's anything I could add that might help both flavor and thickness. I'd love to find a good book on yoghurt and kefir, but so far have been unsuccessful.

So far the winning experiment has been goat ice cream--the recipe called for 2 cups cream and 1 cup milk, but since we had less than 1 cup (cow's milk) cream, I doubled the milk. Next time I might try omitting the cream altogether, since it turned out wonderfully creamy and delicately flavored. Unlike homemade ice cream from cow's milk, it was better straight out of the freezer than after "ripening"; even so, I suspect we will be eating a lot of ice cream in the future!

Tomorrow's experiment? Another cheese recipe--this time using rennet, I think. Maybe I'll try for a harder cheese if I can rig up a suitable mold and press.

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[Playing with Temerity is fun, but I don't like helping Mama and Grandmommy do chores. It's boring because I mostly have to stare at the wall while they milk the goats, and then sometimes the chickens try to peck me when they're getting fed. Also it's kinda stinky in the barn.]

Shearing Sheep

A neighbor came over today to help us shear Erin. He brought an old pair of hand shears which he'd sharpened just for the occasion and we put a large tarp down in the barn to catch the wool. What an ordeal! Poor Erin - she still thinks she's supposed to be running around the house in a diaper...hasn't quite accepted the fact that she is a SHEEP and lives in the barn. And here she was subjected to the indignities of being thrown to the floor and knelt on while her beautiful locks were unceremoniously hacked off. Sam, our neighbor, was a trooper, especially since he hasn't done this particular task for many years. But he hung in there, and although Erin suffered a few nicks (mostly from being squirmy), she now has a summer haircut and you can see that she is, in fact, white. She's ignored me all day and I'm hoping that in time she'll forgive me for initiating this activity.

Unfortunately she wiggled so much the wool didn't stay on the tarp, but got scattered around the barn and quickly became integrated with hay and other assorted barn goodies. So I guess we won't be able to experiment with carding and spinning this time. I'm now looking for a pair of used shears to buy and will attempt to shear her myself (with assistance) in the fall. From that point on, she will wear a coat in hopes that it will keep the wool a little cleaner and more usable.

I'm amazed at how thin she is! She looked enormous under that massive coat, but in reality is a very slender, svelte ewe. I only hope Tally doesn't get any more ideas when he sees her new trim figure.

Goats

We've been milking Prudence and Mercy for a little over a week now, and it's starting to settle into a routine, though they still do their best to kick the pail over when they decide it's time for more grain. When they do make such a mess, it's all right for now since we can just feed the milk back to the kids. We're down to three now; the little black guy is a pet for three cute children, and the big brown one is, satisfyingly, the new breeding buck for a nearby dairy. I'm amazed to have gotten $80 each for them, even though they're purebred and registrable; but then, I'm a cheapskate. I wish they'd all been does, so we could keep them--they are so astonishingly cute! Unfortunately, out of five kids, we got only one doe--what are the odds? (Thank you, that was a rhetorical question.) We've named her Temerity, for her bright, bold manner, and are deciding whether or not to keep her pretty fawn-colored brother. I think we're stuck with their cousin, dubbed Dumbo for his difficulty with feeding; we'll see if he makes it.

I've decided to try a new experiment every day, with the clean milk not needed for the kids; I found several recipes for making chevre and other cheeses, and plan to make ice cream, yoghurt, and kefir as well. Should I succeed, we'll market our lovely homemade artisanal products and watch the money pour in! I'll admit it started poorly, with an unclear recipe that left me with lemony sour milk instead of cheese, but today's trial went much better. I used this recipe, and the milk curdled beautifully. I'm letting it drain overnight, in hopes of a drier chevre-like cheese rather than cottage cheese or ricotta; we'll see how it goes.