Making charcoal with open fire

We made charcoal on the bonfire last night! What a neat project to do while drinking small mead (yes, I made that, and it was great!) and eating many different kinds of pie...

The procedure, as shown by Bedwyr:
- poke a small hole (~ 1/8th, or a nail) through paint can lid
- fill a new paint can tightly with (dry) wood.
- add lid and put on tightly
- place paint can on embers near the fire
(not too hot, not too cold)

- after a bit smoke will come out (1-2hours)
that's the from water of the wood evaporating

- then a blue flame will come out (30m-1h)
those are the combustibles burning off

when the flame gets real small, pay attention:
- because when the flame goes out, remove can from fire

- and immediate stick small piece of wood through hole in lid

this is to prevent air from coming into paint can, while the can is cooling down
When the paint can is cool to the touch, open lid, and enjoy your newly made charcoal!

You'll find the wood has shrunk to about 2/3rd of it's original size, but still looks identical to how it went in, knots and everything!

I've been told Grapevines make artist grade charcoal sticks, I think there'll be a bonfire in our near future I'm gonna check that out  

Soft goat cheese making, day 2

Soft Cheese making, day 2:
- sterilize cheese cloth by pouring boiling water over it

- take pot with cultured milk out of warming box (oven)
- the whey will have separated from the curds, which with this cheese looks like a large white pancake floating in watery greenish liquid.

- suspend a colander in/on a stockpot and line with the cheesecloth. 

- pour the whey off through the cheesecloth, and you'll be left with a spongy cheese mass in the pot.
- carefully dump the cheese into the cheesecloth, as not to spill any around the edges.

- tie the four corners of the cheesecloth together, to make two loops
- hang the cheesecloth by the two loops with a hook off a door handle or something similar

- let gravity drip out excess liquid (whey)

I stop when it only drips occasionally.

If you mix it with a standmixer it will become a cream cheese.
If you add herbs and salt while packing it in a mold you can make great herbed cheese (no mold? poke holes inside out with hot nail in small butter tub) - dill makes a good one, as does nettle.
If you mix in honey it makes marvelous honeyed chevre (also keeps longer).
If you keep it on the wet side, you can use it as a "kwark" substitute to make gelatin european sweet cheesecake.

It freezes well.

Soft goat cheese making, day 1

For our Heralds & Scribes dayboard next month I want to use herbed and honeyed chevre. For people not familiar with this insanely easy way of making goat cheese, here is my modern method.

- Heat the goat milk to circa 90 degrees F (or use body warm raw milk straight from the source, my preference).

 - measure out 1/8 tsp of culture (I use MM100) per gallon

 

- add 1 drop of rennet (for up to 5 gallons I think) (or calf's stomach)

- whisk calmly all around and up and down to incorporate culture & rennet

- put in oven, turned off but with (pilot) light on (insulated dough box)

- wait until the next morning...

comfrey udder salve

My first freshener Dirty Socks delivered a single healthy buckling a few days ago without complications, yay! Unfortunately, I did not realize she was producing way more milk than needed and the little buckling was only nursing one side... She is a daughter of Thirteen, my main milker for years who would get so much milk that the teats would be too big for newborns to suckle, so I guess I should have checked...

I did check the buckling latched on successfully, that I learned from Thirteen, but I did not check to make sure both udder halves were used... so now Socks has a hardened right udder, which can mean many things including plain and simple backup, edema, mastitis or even CAE. For the past two days I used hot towels, massage, hand milking and even taped up the other teat to have the buckling help suck out the blockage during the day, all to no prevail...

So I went on the internet and came up with a couple of udder salve recipes, based on products and recipes listed below. I made two versions, one a short but hot au-bain-marie infusion of dried comfrey leaves into sweet almond oil, and one a long term cold infusion of fresh comfrey leaves in olive oil. I went down to Wegmans to pick up the EO's needed, Greenstar is closed as it is easter, gosh darn it :)

Version One:
dried comfrey leaves, as much as will be covered by oils
4 oz sweet almond oil
1 oz shea butter
1 oz bees wax
1 tbs natural menthol crystals
2 tsp natural vitamin E
10 drops Peppermint EO
10 drops Tea Tree EO
10 drops Lavender EO
10 drops Eucalyptus EO
10 drops Frankincense EO
5 drops Helichrysum EO

heat up oils au-bain-marie with dried comfrey leaves, cover and simmer for 3-4 hours until the oils turn dark green. filter out the leaves (it's smart to measure after filtering, I did before and lost about 2 oz of bulk)
add grated beeswax and heat back up in au-bain-marie
when everything is liquid add crystals, menthol and EO's, stir well and cool down.
this made about 6oz of salve.

Why these EO's?
Peppermint oil applied to the skin can cause surface warmth, which relieves pain beneath the skin.
Tea tree oil may kill bacteria and fungus, and reduce allergic skin reactions.

Lavender for soothing and inflammation.
Eucalyptus oil contains chemicals that might help pain and inflammation.
Frankincense to promote cell renewal and reduce edema.
Helichrysum because it promotes healing, cell renewal, and regeneration.




(Next time at Greenstar I'll get some Melaleuca for anti-microbial properties to add as well)

Version Two:
3 oz comfrey infused olive oil
1 oz shea butter
1 oz coconut oil
1/2 oz bees wax
1 tbs natural menthol crystals
2 tsp natural vitamin E
15 drops Peppermint EO
15 drops Tea Tree EO
15 drops Lavender EO
15 drops Eucalyptus EO
15 drops Frankincense EO
15 drops Helichrysum EO

 Heat oils, shea butter and bees wax au-bain-marie
when liquid add Vit E, menthol and EO's
stir well, makes about 8 oz


http://fiascofarm.com/herbs/oils.htm#masalve

http://www.flipflopbarnyard.com/critters/homemade-udder-balm/

http://slowlivingessentials.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/comfrey-ointment.html

http://experimentalhomesteader.com/ah/2013/06/10/mastitis-udder-massage-salve/2/

http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2011/11/diy-homemade-udder-balm.html