the haynes family farms: combine

Friday, June 8, 2012

Turtleman and Sauerkraut

We rode with Ben yesterday and cut some more wheat - (we - me, Lola Kate, and Call of the Wildman, aka Turtleman - see below)

Black wheat dust

Jack has been picking out his own clothes lately. Today he wanted to be Turtleman, so he found the camo pants and black shirt that I had to cut the sleeves out of. He was pretty upset it had writing on it. We thought it was pretty funny he looked like a redneck, but his shirt said I <3 NYC.

Who's Turtleman? Shame on you! Click here

Lola Kate loves to drive, she pretty much pitched a fit until Ben
took her so she could drive, which is not easy while you are combining

But she loves it

Today we were charged with putting up cabbage from mom and dad's garden. Jack loves to "help" and we wanted to hurry up and get finished, so I set up his own cooking station in the garage where we were chopping cabbage. I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was pretty good -

I just filled a muffin tin with different ingredients - flour, salt, sugar, dry beans, chocolate chips (which he ate straight up out of the tin), peanuts, rice, etc.
Gave him a mixing bowl with a little water and let him go to town -

He loved it!

This is the second time I have ever helped to make sauerkraut. I am going to share the way we make it - just a heads up, there is probably an easier way to do this, but this is how we do it -

Step 1 :) Grow your cabbage

Okay, the last time we did this, we used a cabbage cutter (kind of like an old-fashioned mandolin). We decided that was for the birds, so we used the food processor, which takes no-time...

Nice shirt, mom

We do this step in the garage because it is a little messy, or maybe we make it a little messy -

Chop and process

After everything is chopped, it's time to add a little salt. I read the Ball Blue Book today and it said to use 3 tablespoons of salt for every 5 pounds of cabbage. We had twenty pounds, so I divided it into two big pots and mixed.

add salt, mix, and let set

You need to let it set for about 15-30 minutes so that the cabbage wilts a little bit, this will keep it from brusing when you pack it down in the churn.

This is my mamaw Pruett's old butter churn

Add all the cabbage to the churn, packing it down as you go.
It should have a little foamy water coming to the top...

War Eagle! :)

Mom promises me she read somewhere that you are supposed to use
a wooden spoon to pack it down???

So I did

Ok, here is where I feel like the directions get a little weird... after everything is packed down, take about 5 or 6 clean cabbage leaves and pack them down on top of the chopped cabbage. The top couple of layers are going to turn brown and look pretty yuck when this stuff is through in a few weeks, so don't be scared...

Then place a small saucer on top of the cabbage leaves. The saucer should be small enough that as the cabbage ferments and settles down, that it will fit down into the top of the churn.

Then - I know, weird- take a rock (I think there is a specific type, but I can't remember), scrub it clean (we saved this rock from the last time we did kraut), and use it to weigh down your plate. I think I remember us wrapping up the rock last time, but we skipped that step this time - whew!

Cover the whole top with cheesecloth or similar/"breathable" material and tie down with string or a rubber band. Store this in a cool, dark place for 28 days (blue book says 3-6 weeks depending on how you want the kraut to taste). You need to put this somewhere it can make a mess, we keep it in the kitchen at the barn.... as it ferments, it can bubble up and over the sides of the churn. You probably want to change out the cloth occasionally, too. I will share the rest when our cabbage is ready to pack in jars and process.

Got home in time to see the win by the Braves... getting ready to see them at Turner Field next week!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Memorial Day

So, Memorial Day marked the first day of picking wheat. We met Ben at the field where they were just getting started picking. Darrel was walking behind the combine making sure Ben was cutting at the right height.

I thought this was pretty funny and pretty typical , it pretty much sums up the life of the farmer today -

Combining/farming on one side of the road, men playing golf on the other side of the road! HA! What do the men in our family do on holidays, weekends, or times when other men have HOBBIES? work :)

Ben said when the wheat curls down like that, the wheat is really dry. Jack came up with this pose by himself -

Ok, so apparently when the combine is ran for the first time since the last harvest (fall last year), all the little mice that feast throughout the winter eventually find their way shot out of the back of the combine (I can't help it but I find this really funny) - SO, Jack found this mouse/rat? in the wheat stubble and was so proud!

I know it is so gross, but at the same time it was so funny and he was so amazed, I couldn't make him put it down. Anyway, he already had nasty rat germs on his hands, so what then?

Ben picks a bit and then tests the moisture in the wheat to see if it is dry enough to pick and if so can it be sent straight to the elevator or it can be taken to the bin at the farm to dry down some more with aeration fans or he can move to a different field where things may be drier- He says he wants no more than 13 1/2% moisture...

This moisture tester was almost Ben's Christmas present...I was so excited, I have even visited another local farmer to get his opinion on the type I should order, when Ben came in and said he and Darrel had ordered one! Needless to say, I'm still a little bitter :) Did I mention they have no hobbies so I have to buy moisture testers as Christmas gifts?!

Oh yeah, that's the mouse riding in the combine with us. He laid it down smelled his hand and said, "Mom, my hand smells like, smells like, uh, it smells like..." "A rat?" "yeah, a rat, yuk"

The kids watching the wheat being loaded down on the smurf. Jack said, "What's a smurf?" What a deprived childhood!

The wheat gets unloaded into the auger and will be stored in the grain bin until it can be taken to the grain elevator. That's the family patriarch checking in on the grain hauling.