Making Mozzerella

There have been many fun and interesting things that we have found that use whey, which we will post about later on in this blog. The problem is, as with many things in homesteading, you can’t seem to just find what you want on the market. We looked all over for whey, and had no luck. Since whey is a byproduct of making cheese, we decided that we should just make our own whey, and enjoy some homemade cheese at the same time.

            We got a kit to make mozzarella cheese, as it is supposed to be a very easy beginner cheese.

 The kit comes from the New England Cheese Making Supply Company otherwise known as "Ricki the Cheese Queen". On her website, she also has a “good milk list” that explains which milks will work to make cheese and which will not (such as any that are ultra pasteurized). We found that we have an organic small dairy farm somewhat near us, called Radiance Dairy and they use a health food / grocery store as an outlet. So we took a road trip, and got one gallon of organic, minimally pasteurized, whole milk.

             

            After finding the milk, I have to say that the rest was pretty easy. We simply followed the recipe, and had great success. We first poured the milk out into a pot, and added the correct amount of citric acid. Then we heated the milk to the temperature specified, which was 90 degrees F, then removed it from the heat. Next we added a crushed piece of rennet tablet, and waited the 5 minutes for a good curd to form. As you can see from the picture, the curd formed quite nicely. 

            The next step is to cut the large curd, following the pattern in the instructions, and move it back to the heat. We heated the curds and whey to the correct temperature of 115 degrees F while stirring, and then removed it from the heat again. After that, we poured off the whey and saved it for later use. We used quart mason jars, and put the lids on tight, and stuck them in the fridge. Now you press the cheese by hand and remove the rest of the whey.

           

Next you dunk the cheese in a pan of hot water for a few moments to soften it, then begin to stretch and work the cheese. This is where you add a little bit of cheese salt from the kit, to enhance the flavor. The more you stretch, the firmer the cheese will be, it reminds you of pulling taffy. At this point, you are pretty much done, just put the cheese in a container to give it a final shape, and chill. 

            We shredded our cheese after it was completely cool, and used it on many of the dishes we made in the next few days. All in all ,it was pretty easy, and the yield was 3 and a half quarts of whey, and some great tasting organic mozzarella cheese.

3rd Party Debate

We would like to urge everyone out there to watch the 3rd party presidential debate.  These folks have real answers to some tough questions.  They talked about election reform, the war on drugs, foreign policy and education, just to name a few.

 If the above video doesn't work, try going here:
http://bit.ly/RCgCYu

 Please heed the words used by Gary Johnson in his closing statement - The only wasted vote is one cast for a candidate you don't believe in.

Featured in the debate:

Larry King - moderator
Christina Tobin -  Free & Equal representative
Green Party Candidate: Jill Stein, Physician and Harvard graduate
Justice Party Candidate: Rocky Anderson, former Salt Lake City Mayor
Constitution Party Candidate: Virgil Goode, former House Representative for Virginia
Libertarian Party Candidate: Gary Johnson, former New Mexico Governor


It has been announced that Jill Stein and Gary Johnson will be participating in another debate on October 30, we will be sure to link to it as well.

Cheap Chicken Breast

So, as part of the homestead, I try to find good deals on items that we use on a regular basis. When I was at the local grocery store the other day picking up a beef roast to make some beef and noodles, I found bone-in chicken breast for $0.99 a Lb.  Now I have been keeping an eye on the boneless skinless chicken breast and it has been running $2.99 a Lb. Some quick mental math told me that I have a knife, and can turn bone-in into boneless skinless, at a significant savings. Now, I have done this before, and knew how easy it really is, so I thought I would share this info with our readers, so that you too can save some money. 

Step 2

The key to this whole thing is to watch for a significant difference in price between the two items, if the boneless skinless is at least twice the price, you can save money buying bone in. The next thing is to buy quality meat from a meat counter, don’t buy the ultra discount stuff from a big box store, just on general principal. 

After getting your chicken breasts home, find a good sharp knife, a cutting board, some plastic wrap, and some freezer bags. 

Step 1: Rinse the chicken breast under cool running water, this will help to get some bacteria off of the meat. 

Step 2: Slide your finger under the skin, and simply pull it off, along with most of the fat.  

Step 3

Step 3: Place the breast on your cutting board.  Start at the open side of the breast, and begin cutting down to the rib cage. Your goal here is to run your knife right along the ribs, so that you get all the meat off of them. Cut all the way down to the top of the ribs, and you will find a little white tendon, go ahead and cut that too. 

Step 4: Take your knife and run it in behind the wish bone, and pop the bottom of it free from the front of the rib cage, then finish cutting down to top of the spine. 

Step 5: Rotate the breast on the cutting board, and repeat the steps on the other side. At this point you should have both halves cut down and almost off the spine, and the wish bone will still be imbedded in the front of the breast meat. 

Step 6

Step 6: Split your fingers and run them down each side of the spine, holding the meat firmly on the cutting board, and pull the rib cage up and away from the meat, the remaining spine and bones should pull right out. Now all you have for bones is the wishbone. 

Step 7: Use your finger, and remove the chicken tenders from the breast. Now cut down on the outside of each side of the wishbone, and separate the breast halves. You will be left with a wishbone, that has just a little meat on it, connected to a thin strip of meat that runs where the spine used to

Step 8: Wrap, label, and freeze.

Other ideas include cutting the meat into chunks, and canning it, if you wish. I will cover canning in a later post. You can also save the rib cages, and boil them to make chicken broth, which we will also cover in a later post.

World's Best Cat Litter

A few years back I went in search of a more natural cat litter.  I felt it would likely be better for my cat's health and the environment if I could figure something out.

While in the cat litter section at my local HyVee, I spotted a small green and black one called World's Best Cat Litter.

I wasn't sure what to think, and Captain certainly gawked at the price (more than twice our normal expense).

Here are the benefits that they claim:

~ All natural made from corn

~ Outstanding odor control

~ Quick clumping and easy scooping

~ Pet and people friendly

~ Planet friendly

I decided that I would address each of these claims as I have experienced them.

~ It certainly seems to be made from corn, no complaint there.  The guy at a show I was at recently even ate it!  I'm not prepared to go that far, but do feel good about it's all natural properties.

~ The odor control seems satisfactory, don't know if I'd say outstanding.  The litter itself has an off odor, but you get used to it.  My cats are not always the best at burying their leavings, so that can be partially their fault as well.

~Quick clumping and easy scooping are probably the biggest advantage on the list.  This litter clumps better than any litter I've ever used.  The clumps stay together and remove easily from the rest.  There will always be the occasional fall apart issue, but WBCL certainly is the best I've seen.

~Pet and people friendly is hard to gauge.  Neither me or my cats have an allergy of any kind, so I cannot attest to that, nor have they ever had breathing problems to my knowledge.

~ Planet friendly seems totally legit.  I've read that some people put the litter in their compost pile!  I'm not quite ready for that step, but I always feel better putting something in the trash that decomposes quickly. ( I think I read it is flushable, though I am on a septic and hate to chance it until I read for sure).

My only complaint of this litter is that after frequent use, the kernels can be pulverized into a dust that seems to get on a lot of the surrounding areas.  I also see my black cat's paws coated in it occasionally.  To be fair, the white cat probably has it sometimes too, it's just less obvious.  I feel like it's not as big of a deal, though, since it's all natural.

To help the price factor, the litter lasts a very long time, I'm not sure if it's twice as long to justify the price, but certainly less often than before.

All in all, I consider this litter to be a great choice for my cats.  It's also more locally available than other natural options.

I'm able to get it at the nearby HyVee, Target, and feed store, or many places online:
Amazon:  World's Best Cat Litter (17-lb bag)

Introduction to Homesteading

We are Captain Galt and Moonbeam Zen, and together we make the Zen Galt Homestead.  It probably won't surprise you at all that these are pseudonyms, but will allow you to identify us when necessary.

We are new to homesteading as well as blogging, so we thought it best to start by introducing ourselves and our homestead that we've called Zen Galt.

I am Moonbeam Zen, I represent the completely inexperienced point of view in all of this.  I grew up living in-town, and had little experience with those that lived elsewhere.  I represent the Zen half of Zen Galt because for me, homesteading is more about staying close to nature and working within natural processes to maintain balance in the body, mind, and soul.  Some may call me a hippie (especially Capt) and I'm okay with that.  I adhere to the eastern philosophy of Taoism which teaches us to live with the land, to be humble, considerate, and keep things as simple as possible.  Because of these beliefs, I consented to move to the country with my country-born husband last year.  We have a small homestead, and all of the concepts are new to me, so I will definitely be learning loads as we go.  I'm happy to be sharing that part of my journey with you.  I am a writer, so much of the posting will likely be done by me.

I am Captain Galt and I represent the slightly more experienced point of view.  I grew up living out in the country, though not on working farm.  While growing up I learned many skills that are fading from our society today.  We always had a big garden where we grew our own vegetables, and as a result of this, I learned about home canning and preserving the harvest.  I also learned skills such as hunting, fishing, butchering, shooting, and general home fix-it skills.  For the purpose of this blog, I will go by the name Captain Galt.  I have chosen this name for two reasons: 1. I have folks that call me Captain as a nickname,  2.  My love of the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  My desire for homesteading comes not only from my upbringing, but also my fear that our society is headed down a dangerous path similar to the one described in the aforementioned novel.  Now I don't want to come off as some crazy person here, I just feel that being as self-sufficient as possible can help a person through tough times.  Those tough times can be brought on by any number of reasons, from natural disasters to personal disasters to economic depressions.

Together, we make quite the couple.  So now that we are here, in the country, we have certain goals we'd like to obtain.

 - Grow and produce as much of our own food as possible.
 - Preserve that food and always have an abundance of it on hand.
 - Reduce our dependence on the power grid, and eventually eliminate it altogether.
 - Prepare nutrition rich wholesome food from scratch.
 - Find ways to save money and still complete our goals.
 - Maintain awareness of current events and continue to promote the libertarian philosophy.

These are obviously quite vague, and we will discuss our plans more in depth in future posts.  
Thank you for joining us!

Captain Galt     &     Moonbeam Zen

Zen Galt

Testing, testing... This is the beginning of a homesteading blog by Captain Galt and Moonbeam Zen.