Cheddar Beer Bread

In honour of R's birthday, we're posting one of his favourite recipes. We got this recipe from M's coworker and it's been a favourite ever since. Mmmmm, you gotta try it!

 Ingredients: 3 cups of flour
1 cup of cheddar cheese shredded
 3 Tbsp. sugar or sugar substitute
1 Tbsp baking powder
 1Tbsp salt
1 can of dark beer- Guiness or Rickards are our favourite

 In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Add in the cheddar cheese. Gradually stir in beer until batter is moist, but not runny. Place in a greased bread pan. Drizzle with melted butter.
 Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

 Like we said, it's delicious. You've really gotta try it!

2012 Lambing Report- Part 4

Today was definitely the busiest day we've had lambing. A total of 7 lambs were born today, 2 sets of twins and a set of triplets. The first set of twins were rams and were born this morning. The mother took to one fine, but we had to coax her into accepting and feeding the second. Several times we came into the barn to find she'd kicked him out of the pen, but as of 9:30 tonight, she seems to have accepted him.

After doing several other chores and feeding Daisy, we returned to the barn to find 5 brand new lambs, still wet, calling like crazy for their mothers. It was a busy few moments as we didn't have any more bonding pens to put the new lambs and their mothers in. So, our "oldest" lambs (4 days and 2 days) got tagged, needled and elastics to dock their tails and were sent out into the "big pen" with their mothers and everyone else. It's neat to see how quickly they and their mother can find one another even in the big flock just by sound. Tomorrow the first chore after feeding will be to build some more pens.

There was no time to take pictures today. Tomorrow we'll try and post a pic of the lambs with their tags- very cute!! Counting the twin females, twin males and triplet males born today our grand total for lambs this week is 13; 9 rams and 4 ewes. Stay tuned for more excitement in the days to come!

2012 Lambing Report- Part 3

Daisy under the glow of the heat lamp.

Lots of work on the farm today.

 Sometimes when a ewe is having a large lamb or multiple births and space is running out in her uterus, she will have something called a prolapse. Basically, her insides start pushing out. On Tuesday R had a ewe prolapse. Along with his brother, R managed to get everything back inside (with surprisingly little difficulty- sometimes it can be quite difficult) and made a harness for her so that it wouldn't happen again. Today, she lambed, giving birth to a set of triplet ewes .Unfortunately, one triplet was a still birth. The second was strong and healthy; quickly up and drinking, calling, lots of life. The third one needed to be brought into the house and put under the heat lamp. She wasn't doing very well, was developing signs of hypothermia and couldn't drink on her own. So, M brought her into the house and set her up under some heat and began bottle feeding her. 4 feedings a day for the first week. The primary concern today, after getting her warm, was making sure that Daisy (the ewe lamb) got enough colostrum. Colostrum is the first milk produced by a ewe after she has lambed out. It is important for lambs to get some because it contains antibodies and helps them to fight infections. We tried to get Daisy to drink from her mother, but she wasn't up to it. Next, M tried to milk the mother, and was promptly kicked- so that didn't work. Luckily, you can purchase colostrum at your local feed store. Three feedings and 14 hours later, we're pleased to report that Daisy seems to be doing well. She is now standing on her own and calling or baaing at us. But, experience has taught us that anything can happen in the first 36 hours, so she's not out of the woods yet. We'll do our best and hope she continues to get stronger.

Moving the seed drill off the trailer.

In other news, R and our friend went to pick up the seed drill mentioned in our Frugal Friday post on Kijiji. Thank goodness for neighbours! We have a neighbour with an excellent tilting trailer that he let us borrow. Now that the seed drill is bought and picked up we'll be all set to plant. We have a bit of field soil preparation to do- discing and picking stones, but by the beginning of May we hope to be planting. Our intention is to plant mixed grain (oats and barley) under-seeded with Timothy-Alfalfa-Red Clover hay. When we combine the grain off the straw that's left will include some hay and will prepare the field to be a strong hayfield next year. Another step towards                  
                                                                                       being self-sustaining at Hill Giant Farm.

2012 Lambing Report: Part 2

Today's lambs looking for their first drink.

We had a very pleasant surprise when we went out to the barn this morning. We found that another ewe had successfully delivered twin rams. They were so new that they were still wet and Mom was just beginning to lick them off. Once safely in the pen they were quite quick in figuring out which end and part of Mom the food comes from. For her part, she is a very protective mother, who is quite sure that we don't really need to pick up the lambs and check them over. 

This brings our lamb total for 2012 to 4 rams. Good news for a couple more lamb customers!

 

Have any questions about lambing? Feel free to ask in the comments section and we'll answer them promptly.

Two day old lambs.

2012 Lambing Report- Part 1

After over a week of looking like they might burst, the sheep at Hill Giant Farm are finally lambing. Our first pair of twins arrived this morning just before lunch. Twin rams- good news for two Hill Giant Farm lamb customers! Stay tuned for more updates and tallies as the fun continues. Interested in being a lamb customer? It's easy. Just email us at hillgiantfarm@gmail.com.

Symbols- An Important Part of Life

M recently had the privilege of accompanying her grandmother, Della, to a family wedding in B.C. over the Easter weekend. It was a great experience. The weekend wedding was full of symbols; bread, water and salt to symbolize Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The presenting of gifts between families to symbolize unity of two people becoming one. An odd number of roses in each vase to symbolize that the wedding is a happy occasion. These are just a few examples. On its own, Easter weekend also uses many symbols; bread and wine to remind us of Christ. A crucifix to remind us of the cost of our sin. An empty tomb to remind us of hope and the promise of lasting and eternal life. Chicks, bunnies, flowers and eggs can also remind us of new life, possible because of the events of Easter. We use symbols all the time to signify importance and to give meaning to our lives. What symbols have the most meaning in your life? Tell us, we'd love to hear from you.

Mmmm Monday: Oatmeal Pancakes

As the Spring arrives and the weather warms up the trees will begin to run with sap. It's the time of year when freshly collected, freshly evaporated maple syrup becomes available at small maple syrup festivals all over Ontario. Yum!! If you've never had fresh, real maple syrup, we encourage you to splurge and get some this year. You won't regret it. It's absolutely delicious! The problem is, you can't just sit down and eat a big bowl of syrup. We have a solution, one of our favourite recipes here at Hill Giant Farm- oatmeal pancakes. They're simple, they're fast, they're nutritious and they're delicious. The recipe is found below.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup milk
1 tsp honey, sugar, or syrup
1/4 cup white flour
1/4 whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup walnuts (optional)

In a large bowl, combine oats, plain yogurt, milk, and honey/sugar/syrup. Stir in flours, baking soda and salt. Add beaten eggs and mix well. If using walnuts, add them now. Your batter should be fairly thick. If not, add a bit more oatmeal or flour.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Spoon batter onto the griddle- about 1/4 cup per pancake. Cook until the bottoms are browned and the bubbles on top start to pop (about 3 minutes). Flip and cook until other sides are browned (about 2 minutes). Add additional milk if the batter becomes too thick.

Serve hot with: maple syrup, apple sauce, blueberry sauce, fresh fruit, jam, fruit curd, or any other topping you desire. Not able to eat the whole batch? No sweat. These pancakes are delicious cold with jam spread on them and rolled up. An easy lunch to send with the kids, or for yourself.

Nutrition Facts (per 1/2 cup of batter)
Calories: 150
Fat: 2 g
Fibre: 4 g
Protein: 5 g

Enjoy!