{"id":1569,"date":"2011-08-17T03:00:34","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T07:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2011-08-17T03:00:34","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T07:00:34","slug":"planting-garlic-goats-to-clear-brush-and-canning-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/2011\/08\/17\/planting-garlic-goats-to-clear-brush-and-canning-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Planting garlic, Goats to clear brush, and Canning cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planting garlic<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0I am getting ready to start my garlic seeds in a starting tray and then transplant to the garden this fall. What planting medium do you think would be best for my garlic seeds. I will probably put plants in the garden sometime in late September or early October.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Bill Mooney<\/em><\/p>\n

Mohrsville, Pennsylvania<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Any good seed starting soil will work fine for you. I use a Pro Mix, available through our local greenhouse. Be sure they get adequate moisture and sunlight. My question to you is where did you get garlic seed? I’ve never seen it advertised; I’ve always used cloves to start my garlic. — Jackie<\/p>\n

\u00a0Goats to clear brush<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0I have thought often about getting a couple goats to help clear the brambles and weeds that cover our land. I was wondering if meat goats would be able to be left for 24-48 hours if they had water and food and were fenced-in? We must care for family members and often have to leave for a day or two and do not have anyone who could care for them while we are gone. I would like to get them in the spring and then sell at auction in the fall. Does this make sense or is there a better alternative?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Deborah Motylinski<\/em><\/p>\n

Brecksville, Ohio<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Goats will, indeed, clear brambles and brush from land. However, they MUST be fenced in with a good fence. An electric fence will not work. Good, tight, woven wire, with stand-off electric insulators on the inside to keep the goats away from the fence is about the only fence that will consistently work. The only trouble with leaving any small animals alone for 48 hours is that they are left vulnerable to predators, which can include neighboring dogs. A couple of steers might be a better choice. If you bought feeder steers (about 400-500 pounds) in the spring and fenced them in all summer, they will clear a lot of brush (but must have some grass or hay, too). They are large enough to not be bothered with Ohio predators, including dogs. You could sell them in the fall or hold one over to butcher yourself in the winter. — Jackie<\/p>\n

\u00a0Canning cheese<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0We have an abundance of milk from our wonderful Jersey cow and I sometimes make cheese using vinegar. I sometimes freeze it but am trying to become less dependent on our freezers. I figure it would be experimental but wanted your thoughts on canning it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Missy Steiger<\/em><\/p>\n

Normantown, West Virginia<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0I haven’t had enough cheese to can yet, as I’m making a wide variety of dairy products: yogurt, ice cream, mozzarella, cottage cheese, ricotta, soft white cheese, etc. Plus our cow’s calf is still nursing (I steal evening milk, then put him back into her pen with her for the night and take him out in the morning.) and we are giving a sale barn calf 2 quarts of milk every evening to build him up. BUT when I have an abundance, I will certainly be canning some of it up. Yes, it is “experimental”, but I’ve done it for years with good results. The cheeses do get more sharp with storage, but it sure beats having no cheese! Directions are in my canning book, Growing and Canning Your Own Food<\/a><\/em>. — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planting garlic \u00a0I am getting ready to start my garlic seeds in a starting tray and then transplant to the garden this fall. What planting medium do you think would be best for my garlic seeds. I will probably put plants in the garden sometime in late September or early October. \u00a0Bill Mooney Mohrsville, Pennsylvania […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,9,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}