Oooh, that was a bit scary!

Our bees have been buzzing, so it looks like they are surviving.
Kept forgetting to give them some more 'upstairs' space,

but finally did last night.
(The 'upstairs' space is for food (honey) storage.)

So what you do is:

1) Prepare their new storage box (a 'super')

2) Leave it somewhere prominent to remind one's self that it needs putting on the hive.

3) Keep shifting the super about the place because it keeps getting in the way.

4) Find the beekeeping kit. Takes a while. Kept forgetting to have a hunt for it.

5) Make a firm intent as to day and time to get the super on, as bees heavily foraging the mallow. 
6) Put the kit on. 

7) Light the smoking implement, several times.

8) With smoker in hand, approach the hive.

9) Make a retreat because have forgotten the super.

10) Try and think of something else to do other than this task,which is far more urgent. This is called avoidance. 
Can't think of anything else which is need of our urgent attention other than this task, 
so carry on.

11) Approach the hive carrying the super and all other equipment.

12) Put the super down beside the hive.

13) Feel all of a quiver because the bees suddenly look huge.

14) Press on with task. 

15) Relight the smoking implement which has gone out. 

6) Aim the smoke in the general direction of the hive. 
Not to worry if a puff of wind blows it in the opposite direction. 
Try again.

16) Lift lid of hive off, or try to. Bees now know they have visitors. 

17) Lid off. Oh strooth, bees inside the feeder box. 

18) Quick, put new super and top lid back on. 

20) Evacuate position.

19) Have a rethink. Super should be beneath the feeder box.

20) Strooth. Thought the job was finished. 

21) Make a return to hive. 

22) Wave smoker about (supposed to calm bees down)

23) Take lid off hive, take super off, take feed box off.

24) Panic. The hive is full to the brim with bees. 

25) Don't have time to be pleased that the swarm is surviving, as now have oodles of nervous energy, so super, feeder box, and lid back on, evacuate tout suite because bees now getting irritated. 

26) Back in house, beekeeping kit off, hive tools put away. Promise to have another look at the hive at the beginning of August, which seems a nice long way away at the moment.

Oooh, but it was a scary moment when we saw zillions of bees rather than the few we expected, but it looks like the Bee Project is happening.

It is 6 am, and I am off to cut some grass to give to Elise before she has her grain and is milked, in the hopes that she will stand still for longer when being milked.

(My thanks to a fellow blogger who gave us the idea to do this)

Clabbering!

I put some cow's milk out on the work surface this morning, thinking I would have a go at canning it, so that we have a supply of milk when Elise dries up. I had researched how to do this on the Internet, so I thought I would have a go. 

The morning trotted on. The milk was left out, to remind me to get to it when I have a spare moment. That moment arrived. Opened the jars. Blimey, flipping milk was moving into its second stage, heading towards its sour state, which is mid way between fresh and separated into curds and whey. Strooth, but this milk is only two days old. The goats milk does not move into its second stage for at least three to four days, so what the heck was happening to the milk that it should shift so fast, this was my dilemma as I looked at the jars. 

So..... Internet search, and crikey, but that milk is actually 'clabbering'! Store bought milk won't do that, it will just go yucky and must be put down the sink, but raw milk, well, apparently, ....

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist, she says this:

"Grass fed cows have natural lactobacillus acidolpholus bacteria in the milk. This is what causes souring. Warm the milk to 100 degrees for 8 hours and you have yoghurt. Real milk, fresh from a happy, healthy, pastured cow that has soured has not gone bad. It has clabbered, which means that good bacteria have simply consumed a good portion of the milk sugar (Lactose), thereby giving the milk a more yogurt-like smell and taste."

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/best-use-ever-for-soured-raw-milk/

Wow! So that's the lesson for today. Don't get cross because the Elise's milk runs into the second stage so quickly, but be glad of it because it means that the lactose, which Lester and I are intolerant to, is getting eaten all up, thus rendering it a healthier food source for us. 

Not only that, but the third stage, which is separation into curds and whey, well that is stupendously healthy as well. 

Was thinking that perhaps having a cow was becoming a bit of a drain on us. Elise is not milking out very well, perhaps because we are sharing the calf with her. She has been moody of late, refusing to come out of her stall in the mornings, and then getting into a thorough temper because her mates, the goats, get to go out into the field before she does, because Lester refuses to argue with her, and leaves her to sulk. Not sure why she has taken to being so moody. She reared up in front of Lester this morning when he went in to milk her. He said that it was not one of his best moments. She would pack quite a punch if she landed on him. 

So off to sort the milk out. Might let Mum Pig have the milk which was destined for the canner, just as a treat. Have some fresh milk on the stove, slowly dehydrating, and hopefully on its way to becoming evaporated milk. Oops, have forgotten to stir it, as per Internet instructions, otherwise it might get a burnt taste. Ah well, not to worry, shall donate it to Mum Pig as well. 

I have some milk in a jar warming outside in the sun, which should have separated by now. This is being donated to the hens, to say thankyou for the eggs they have laid in the past, and to perhaps encourage them to think about laying eggs in more findable places because we have not had hardly any eggs for several weeks. They are either laying them out and about, or they have decided to put themselves on summer vacation. Hopefully the clabbered milk might make them get back to work.

And I am going to try making a smoothie. Apparently you can use the clabbering milk for making one of these, so I am going to have a go. 

Gosh, but life is flipping interesting, especially with the aid of the Internet! 

PS. Just remembered that you need a blender to make a smoothie and that I can't find the rubber seal of mine so have had to order another one so smoothie is no go today but might be on another day when the seal arrives. 

PPS. Was in no-go with cooking today when all cooking ideas were somewhere else and  not in my head. The hour was getting on. Urgent to get some food sorted. Was thinking about popping into the supermarket for ham and baquettes. Lester said why not open one of the canned jars. Did that. Took twenty minutes to serve up the meal. Wow! We have fast food on site! Inside the jar? Minced goat in tomato sauce. Tasted exactly the same as how it did before it went into the canner. Am well impressed with canning. Am also well impressed with the taste of goat. It is delish!

Saying bye for now.......

"She will give us her life...."

We have a goat, she is young, not born here, but purchased when we first bought our other goats. 

She has never fitted in here. She has attitude with a big 'A'. She jumps the five foot high goat enclosure fencing with ease so is always escaping. She looks at us with dislike, as if we were nuisances to her rather than being her carers. I look at her the same as she looks at me. We do not bond.

At goat milking time, that is when she irritates me the most. We are milking two goats. A bucket of maize is put down for each goat, as an incentive for them to stand still while they allow their milk to be taken, and also as a reward for being good girls. 

I am of the opinion that only the milking goats should be receiving of this treat, and that no other goats should be allowed to partake of it. This is not a problem with the youngsters because they are not living with their mums at the moment, but it is a problem with the other goat because she keeps on barging her head into the bucket, pushing the goat being milked to one side. So I stand at the head of the milking goat to protect the bucket from being raided, and push aside this unfriendly goat, who is to be the next to go into the freezer, because we have found that her breed of goat is not a milking goat, therefore we cannot keep her.

When Lester milks the goats on his own, he often lets this goat have her way. I say that she does not deserve any treats, because she is not being milked. I say that he should stand firm, and not let her barge in like she does. 

I say that she does not give us anything.

"But she deserves a treat because she will give us her life." is what Lester said this morning.

....which put me into a silence of thought. It is likely that I shall now make sure that she gets spoilt for however long she is with us. In my impatience towards her attitude and ways, I was forgetting to be respectful of her life, which can happen when one is dealing with animals on a day to day basis, the work of looking after them pushing to one side the respect one should always keep for that animal.