Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

Today is the day we send our 4H’er off to the Minnesota State Fair for 4 days.  At the County Fair level daughter Madison won several State Fair trips.

This morning she will start her first trip with a bus ride, with other 4H’ers, to the Metro.  She will be showing her mini lop bunny on 8am, Saturday… as well as giving her State Fair quality demonstration on Friday.  She will hanging with other kids that will also be showing rabbits.  There is quite a little group going.

Madison waiting for the state fair charter bus

Carol and I will be heading out to the fair on Sat. to watch the rabbit show.  After Sunday, Madison will have a few days off before going back to the State Fair for her 3rd project – an information display on how to make Mozzarella cheese from raw milk.

This morning, after dropping Madison off at the County Fairgrounds, Carol and I had an appointment with the loan officer at the Concord Bank, in Willmar.  We’re trying to secure a loan, in order to purchase a used house for the farm.  After speaking with the Farm Management Program instructor from the Willmar Community College, we were told that the Concord is a small, independently owned bank that is farmer friendly… more so than the larger area banks.  Carol and I have spoken with 2 other banks, but because the farm is in a non-revocable trust, it’s been tough going.  We’re hoping Concord is not afraid of the trust.  The other banks mentioned that since the farm is in the trust that it is in, nobody really owns the farm – thus… technically, no “person” is responsible for the loan.

After the bank meeting, Carol and I walked away from it with a less than optimistic feeling.  It seems that the bank has never given a loan to a trust… I think it is fair to mention, the bank president also stated that the bank had never had the opportunity to do such.  With that said, one might preclude from saying that there is no chance that we can get a loan from this bank.  I just don’t get the feeling our chances are much better than with the other banks.    I guess we’ll see.

Some of you know that Carol grew up as a ‘Townie‘.  With that said, more folks know her as a farm gal.  But being on the farm for only 2 years, there are many experiences left to explore.

The last 2 days, Carol has found herself outside the ring of a couple local-ish livestock auctions, looking for goats & chickens.  It seems we are selling more livestock and poultry directly to our customers than we think we can replace sustainably.  It’s a good position to be in [business-wise] but we want all of our customers (present and future) to be able to buy the meat they want and still have a good selection in which to do so.  So, Carol has been looking primarily for more meat goats as well as a dairy goat or two… the last few weekends, we have been selling-out of raw goat milk too.

Well, today, Carol found a few things at one of the auctions she attended.  She did find some goats, but only dairy goats.  These goats will help improve her herd as she intends to cull some of her lesser quality milkers.  She also purchased a few more layer hens – yep… we have been selling out of eggs as well.  We have standing orders for 6-8 dozen and we haven’t been able to meet the demand.  My question to Carol, after she got home, was how does she know if she got hens that were actually going to lay for us.  It seems that when the hens lay eggs on the way home from the auction, chances are the hens are in good working order.  We’re both happy.  BTW:  You can buy our fresh eggs in Kerkhoven from Kristine at Inspiring Path Alternatives.

Another thing she bought was this little tool.   Or maybe I should say “little tools”.  She bought 2 cases of them.

Tote-N-Cut bale handling/feeding device

She may have paid too much for them… who knows.  But, we have one down in the barn, awaiting to be used.  It looks like it would be a handy thing to have around, but I guess the proof is in the pudding.  If you want one, contact Carol.  She’s selling them for only $2/each.  I tried to find some information about them on the Internet, but came-up empty.  As you can see, they are/were locally made… the question is “When?”

Carol also bought a Home Health brand home milk/juice pasteurizer, if for no other reason than to give folks a chance to experience or taste our farm-fresh dairy products without the worry of things made from raw milk as seeming weird.  Believe it or not, but some folks still think milk comes from a carton and not a cow or goat.  The pasteurizer Carol bought is a low temp unit.  Instead of heating the milk to 165°F for 15 seconds, it heats it to 145°F for 30 minutes.  The lower heat process does not kill all the helpful/healthful micro-organisms, like the beneficial pro-biotics… just the bad (if the milk were not handled properly).  The price of this handy-dandy appliance was 50¢, minus the 25¢ worth of puzzles she sold [that came with the pasteurizer].  Once home, we tested the Home Health pasteurizer and it seems to work perfectly.  If you would like to taste some pasteurized goat milk or goat milk cheese, let Carol know before heading out to the farm.  Of course, our goat milk soap does not need pasteurized milk – soap is soap (even if it is weird).

Carol knew what to do.  She started canning jam.  She had a few flats of strawberries and some stalks of rhubarb that needed to be preserved so she made 9½ pints of strawberry-blackberry jam, and the same amount of strawberry-rhubarb jam.  She then made some cheddar cheese from our raw goat milk.

I, on the other hand, went outside in between rain showers to do a little of this, then a little of that.  One of the tasks was to pound a single post in the vineyard.  Carol and I decided it was time to reinvest some of our time back into the grapes.  We want to string high-tensile wire between the posts for the vines to cling to.  We’re hoping to have better luck with the grapes this year.  Last year we were hit by hail.  The storm took the vines down to the ground.

Tonight, Carol and a friend went to the livestock auction in Hutchinson, MN.  Carol set out to buy some meat goats, if there were some available at an affordable price… we’ve been selling quite a few goats here at the farm and felt we want to give our customers a good selection in which to choose from.  This will be Carol’s first livestock auction experience.

I received a call this morning. It was a gentleman who identified himself as Mark, from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR)  The main topic, being the raw milk issue in Minnesota, which is just now making it to the national new services.

This is the 2nd interview I have participated in with MPR.  The first being in May… again on the subject of raw milk.  Today’s interview focused on the reaction that we have seen from our raw milk customers.  As I told Mark, Carol and I have not seen an increase or decrease of our raw milk sales, nor have we heard any concern from customers with regards the general safety and/or hazards of raw milk.  I told the MPR reporter that many people have yet to hear about the raw milk issue(s) of the Hartmann farm that has been in the news lately.

When asked about how we would describe our milk customers, I also mentioned that our customer base cannot be put into any one group (other than being raw milk drinkers).  I let Mark know that we sell raw milk to educators associated with the University of Minnesota, wealthy area families… as well as those who once drank raw goat milk when they were growing up and have simply missed the taste of the product.  As I mentioned in my previous MPR interview, our family started drinking raw milk due to the complications associated with Asthma that our daughter, Madison, experiences.  Since drinking raw milk, her asthma symptoms have decreased from monthly (sometimes weekly) to less than bi-monthly.  That is ultimately the reason why we got involved with dairy goats.  We thought a cow would produce too much milk for our family… a goat or two would be perfect.  Since we started raising and milking goats, folks have found us and have purchased our raw goat milk.  We may not make much money selling goat milk, but the sale of the milk does help pay for the goat’s feed and care.

As a side-note… goat milk makes some of the best homemade kefir, cheeses and ice creams we have ever tasted.  Carol is getting quite good at making it.  It truly is some of the most delicious products we have ever eaten.  Our family drinks raw milk everyday and we believe we are living a healthier lifestyle because of it.

WOW!  What a long day -  nearly 400 miles round-trip.

My first of two stops was in NW Iowa to pick-up an old 14′ Minneapolis Moline grain drill.  Although the drill was in less than ideal condition, I felt for the money, it was still a good deal.  I believe I can use an old drill that is in our grove for parts… so, I’m hoping for a few $$$ I can have a grain drill to use on the farm for planting oats, wheat and pasture/hay ground.

My 2nd stop was SW Minnesota near the town of Ruthton.  A gentleman had contacted me on one of my ads for a small acreage crop sprayer.   After meeting him, he explained to me the history of the sprayer and how his family used it.  We got it loaded on the trailer behind the drill.  After tying it down, he also gave me a bucket of filters, screens and sprayer tips.  Again, this piece of equipment is not in ‘like-new’ condition.  It needs hoses, brackets and over-all TLC, but for $150, we both agreed it was a win-win business deal for each of us.  Best of all, this small sprayer can easily be pulled by a Farmall H.

I plan to use the sprayer for spraying a milk-water solution on some of the fields and pastures/paddocks of the farm.  Studies have shown that spraying this type of solution on fields, with low fertility, does wonders for grass type plants (i.e. oats, wheat, pasture, etc…).  One of a few articles can be found on Facebook’s ‘Small Farm & Sustainability Group.’  The study was conducted by Nebraska extension agent Terry Gompert and dairyman David Wetzel and is referred to as the The Raw Milk Strategy.  So what’s going on?  Gompert and Wetzel are both convinced what they have here is microbial action. “When raw milk is applied to land that has been abused, it feeds what is left of the microbes, plus it introduces microbes to the soil,” Wetzel explained.  It repels some insects

We plan on using a solution of 3 gal raw milk to 17 gal water per acre.  According to Gompert and Wetzel, there no difference between using 3, 5 10 or 20 gals of milk per acre.  At this time, milk is cheap and even if paying a neighbor twice the market price of fresh milk, it is way less expensive than conventional chemical fertilizers.  Since our farm is in transition to becoming Certified Organic this raw milk strategy is a perfect fit us.

Hey folks… we’re looking for a small crop sprayer.  Although we are in transition to becoming certified organic, we still feel we have a use for one.

We’d like to try an experiment. I have read a couple of articles now, about adding raw milk to low fertility soils to help revitalize them.  We have such soils.   The land has been farmed out with conventional farming practices and the dirt is tired.  We’d like to start bringing it back.  Since our budget is low, we thought we’d start by applying a mixture of raw milk & water to our pastures.  It is said to energize the enzymes that are in the soils, creating a healthier pasture.  Can you help us? Do you or one of your neighbors have one that is no longer used?

Again, we’d like to purchase a small crop/field sprayer, in working condition.

Thanks
Rich

Carol has scraped/cut off the “blooms” on the Feta cheese that she has been making.  It is now in a salt brine where it needs to age 1-4 months.  As she was prepping it for the brine jar she gave me a little taste.  I thought it tasted like a very mild cheddar, but smelled like gym socks.  Austin tasted it as well.  He thought it was mild with a bit of a tangy taste.  Maybe he was tasting the dirty socks aroma. 

Another batch of homemade Feta Cheese in salt brine

As with most of the cheeses Carol makes, this Feta was made with some of the farm’s raw goat milk.

BTW:  The word ‘blooms’ is just a nice way of saying mold.

The air was chilly, but I decided to start a fencing project anyway.  I went out to the south east corner of the property to look at the old line fencing.  It had been there been there forever.  For the most part, the posts are still there, but the old barbed-wire is partially gone or broken.  Because I need to tear-down the fence north of the creek to make way for the new pasture projects, I thought I would reuse that for this SE line fencing.  Reduce, reuse and recycle right? I easily and quickly was able to tear out the top-wire of the one fence, which seems to be high-tensile barbed.  Once rolled, I put it on the ATV and I hauled the wire back to the place… then out to the SE field.  To be honest, that was all I was in the mood to do.  Out in the wind, the temp was a little more chilly than I cared to be in.  Maybe tomorrow, I’ll find myself out there again.

After returning back to the farm site, I decided to work on one of the farm’s tractors.  I knew it needed work because last winter when I was plowing, I had antifreeze/coolant spraying on the windshield of the cab… the thought had been bothering me all winter.  I first thing i did was to fill the radiator with fluid to see if I could locate the leak.  Sure enough coolant came dripping out.  I added some ‘Stop-Leak’ type stuff but I think the hole was too large for the cheap fix to work.  It looks like I’ll have to remove the radiator and have it professionally repaired. I’m guessing that’ll be $100-200+ I’ll never see again.  The thing is, I really need the tractor to be in good operating condition for field work, once the ground dries out.  It’s got to be ready.  Because of the late harvest and the limited time we had for fall tillage, much of the work was left for this spring. Without the ‘big’ tractor, I’m screwed.  I have 40 acres of corn ground that needs to be worked.  I guess the radiator repair bill, whatever it may be, will be cheaper than renting a tractor.

Last night, Carol started to make what she called ‘Farm House Cheddar‘ cheese. Made from some of the farm’s excess goat milk, Carol took a ‘use it or loose it‘ approach to recent cheese making. If we don’t make something out of the milk we will be throwing it out (or feeding it to the pig, poultry or cats). With aspirations of becoming real cheese makers, we thought it best to experiment with some simple cheddar cheese recipes with the milk we’ve been blessed with… Especially since we have some folks interested in our cheese… should we make a few batches.  Madison’s raw-milk science fair project helped get the work out.

Some fresh 'Farmhouse Cheddar' cheese

We left the cheese in the cheese mould, under 48lbs of weight (6 one gallon jugs filled with tap water).  It needs to be there for approx. 12 hrs.  After that, it will need to be exposed to the open air so that it develops a rine.  Then we will seal it (either in cheese wax or a vacuum sealed ‘seal-a-meal’ package).  It will then be aged.

I got lucky.  When I went to remove the radiator of the tractor (the next morning), there was still coolant in the system.  OK.  I then started the tractor to see if it would leak with system pressurized.  To my delight, it didn’t leak.  The next test was to hook-up the disk and see if the radiator will spring a leak with the engine at operating temp.  After 10-15 minutes of discing, everything was still dry – no leaks, no spills, no nothin.  I’m going to leave it for now… hopefully, it will remain ‘repaired’ for spring tillage.