The hay is in!

Oof, we finally got all our hay delivered, stacked, and tarped.

We had ordered eight tons of oat hay from a local fellow. The cows go crazy over this stuff, so it's well worth it. However the bales – which are a regular small-bale size – are exceedingly heavy because they contain so many oats. They're on the order of 100 lbs each. At our age, Don and I don't relish lifting 160 such bales to get them stacked and under cover.

Thank God for the tractor. When the first two tons were delivered in August, it took us a long time (about eight hours) to get them stacked in the barn, partly because we were trying out various techniques and equipment to make the chore easier, and partly because it was such a tight fit to squeeze the tractor into the barn and place the hay on pallets.

Because of how long it took, we were dreading a triple repeat of this labor (the fellow was delivering the hay in two-ton increments). But we had no option.

Part of the problem with getting the hay stacked – aside from the weight of the bales, of course – was the difficulty in maneuvering the tractor in the tight confines of the barn. We have space in the middle of the barn for a lot of bales, but no space to move the machine to lift those bales into position ... and at 100 lbs. each, Don and I just didn't have the bandwidth to stack them by hand.

The grower delivered the second two-ton load on Oct. 8.

After he left, Don and I had some clearing away to do in the barn.

When that was finished, we prepared to move the bales indoors.

After all the fancy-shmancy planning we did for moving the first delivery of bales in August, the most useful tool proved to be two steel tines Don had custom-made by a metal-working neighbor, which were affixed to a bracket attached to the tractor bucket.

These stabbed the bales firmly.

Rather than trying to stack the bales on pallets in the barn, we decided to forego the pallets entirely and just stack the hay on the floor. This simplified and streamlined matters considerably, and we got that second delivery stacked in the barn in about four hours (vs. the eight hours with the previous delivery).

But when the third delivery arrived...

...we decided to not stack any more hay in the barn. Though there was (technically) plenty of room, the conditions were just too tight for the tractor. Instead, we planned to stack them in the driveway. We tarped the hay for the night to keep the dew off.

The next morning, we laid out pallets in the back driveway, between the house and the barn.

By this point we had realized it was unnecessary to stab the bales with the steel spikes at all, and could simply tumble a bale on top the spikes to transport it to the location. Coupled with the additional elbow room of working outside (rather than the tight squeeze of the barn), we got the third delivery stacked in about three hours.

Not more than an hour after we finished this task, Don came in and said the flock of turkeys that normally hangs out in the barnyard, scratching up the barn-waste pile, was on top the hay bales, avidly searching for oat seeds.

We didn't want the turkeys pooping all over the hay bales, so we shooed them off and lightly tarped the bales for the night.

The next day, the grower brought the final delivery of oat hay.

Once again we tarped the bales for the night.

The next morning we could see the morning sun steaming the dew off the tarp.

This is it. The last two tons to stack.

By this point, though, Don and I were working like a well-oiled machine: Him on the tractor following my hand signals, and me pushing bales onto the steel spikes and then directing Don where to place them.

This time we got those last two tons stacked inside a dazzling hour and a half.

A beautiful sight to see: Three pallets wide, five pallets deep, six bales per pallet, 90 bales stacked on a fairly small footprint.

We only had four bales left over, so we hoisted them one by one onto the hand truck and tucked them into the barn.

After resting from our exertions – and after shooing the flock of turkeys off the bales once again – we tarped the bales for the winter, tying the tarp to the pallets with twine and rope.

I can't tell you how relieved we are to have this chore behind us. With plenty of food for the cows for the winter, now we can turn our attention to other fall projects.

Incidentally, the grower told us he may not have oats for sale next year because he is planning on selling his farm. We were very sorry to hear that since he's a darned nice fellow and sells a wonderful product. We'll have to roll with the punches.

Maybe this applies to lottery winners?

I stumbled upon a bizarre little meme as follows: "When you get rich, remember this."

Rule 1: Tell no one, not even your parents.

Rule 2: Pay off your debts before anything else.

Rule 3: Let the money sit untouched for six months.

Rule 4: Don't upgrade your house right away.

Rule 5: Don't quit your job immediately.

Rule 6: Skip the flashy purchases.

Rule 7: Never go into business with friends or family.

Rule 8: This post didn't reach you by accident.

______________________

Maybe this applies to lottery winners? In any event, I'll keep this in mind in the unlikely event we ever get rich.

Ricotta cheese pizza sauce

A few day ago, I alluded to how I use a homemade ricotta cheese pizza sauce on my pizzas. Many of you were interested in the recipe.

I'm not overly fond of tomatoes, so when it comes to pizza sauce I opt for alternatives such as pesto sauce, Alfredo sauce, etc. When I came across a recipe for a garlicky ricotta cheese sauce, I decided to try it. Don was stopping at the grocery store in town, so I asked him to get me a container of ricotta. The recipe turned out terrific, and I decided I wanted to make a large batch, which I could then freeze into one-pizza serving sizes.

But when I went to the store to get a larger quantity of ricotta and saw the actual price Don had paid, I had an absolute snit-fit – $9 for two pounds, and I wanted at least four pounds of ricotta to make a large batch of pizza sauce. There was no way I was paying that price!

I'd never made ricotta before, but I'm getting a gallon of milk a day, so purchasing the store-bought stuff was, admittedly, a lazy move. Time to learn how to make my own.

Whole-milk ricotta requires only two ingredients (or possibly four, depending on what recipe you follow): Milk and an acidifier. Salt is optional, though it enhances the flavor and helps coagulate the milk proteins. Adding a bit of heavy cream to the milk creates a richer, silkier ricotta.

I started by pouring a gallon of whole milk into a pot. It's best not to use skim milk for making ricotta, as the results will be a cheese that is too dry.

I heated the milk (slowly) to between 185F to 195F.  This step takes 20 to 30 minutes or even longer, and is not a step to be rushed. I stirred the milk periodically.

Once the milk reached temperature, I added the acidifier. There are several different kinds of acidifiers that can be used, including citric acid (mixed with water), apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, or distilled white vinegar. Distilled white vinegar is the default acidifier and works extremely well. I used about two-thirds of a cup per gallon of milk.

After the acidifier is added, the curds should start separating from the whey almost immediately. You can see how the milk started curdling.

Then it was time to cover the pot and let the curds rest for anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours. The longer this resting period, the more curds will form. The curds should not be stirred during this resting period.

Next, I drained the ricotta. The longer it drains, the drier it will become. For a creamier consistency, it should be drained for one to two hours. For a firmer ricotta, drain it for around 24 hours. Somewhat arbitrarily, I drained mine for about four hours.

Here is what the final result looked like.

Trying to use up milk (and maximize the amount of pizza sauce), I made a second batch of ricotta the next day. I ended up with 3.5 lbs (56 ounces) of ricotta.

I stored this in the refrigerator overnight, then made pizza sauce the next day.

The recipe for ricotta white sauce is easy: Eight parts ricotta, four parts cream (or half and half), one part olive oil, and spices to taste. For one pizza, for example, the recipe called for one-half cup ricotta, one-quarter cup of cream, and one tablespoon olive oil (plus spices).

I had 56 ounces of ricotta, therefore I needed to add 28 ounces of cream or half and half (1.75 lbs.) and seven ounces of olive oil. It's worth noting that I measured the cream and olive oil by weight, not volume. Then I added salt, pepper, minced garlic, and basil until the taste was satisfactory. (Your choice of flavorings may vary.)

Adding cream to the ricotta:

Blending the ricotta with the cream was challenging because the ricotta was so thick. I used a potato masher to start...

...then graduated to beaters to blend all the rest of the ingredients and make a sauce.

The final sauce was somewhat lumpy from the ricotta, and that's as it should be.

Then I bagged it up in one-cup measurements for freezing.

In retrospect, I should have bagged up more per bag, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 cups. At any rate, it freezes well.

Labeling.

Now, whenever I make pizza, I can just reach for a bag, defrost it in the refrigerator overnight, and make pizza the next day.

So that's the trick for ricotta cheese pizza sauce. This is my kind of convenience food.

The new reality

Older Daughter, as you know, is now attending college to become a nurse. She's doing extremely well in her classes. As in, extremely well.

Listening to her stories, it's interesting how things have changed since Don and I were in school in the early 80s (and for me, the early 90s for grad school). For one thing, the internet, smart phones (and other devices), and artificial intelligence have made teaching much more challenging than ever before. Apparently instructors have to bend themselves into pretzels to prevent cheating.

So when I saw this illustration below, I sent it to Older Daughter labeled, "Your chuckle du jour":

I meant this to be nothing more than a lighthearted poke at something students have always tried to do, namely cheat.

But Older Daughter replied, "This is why the testing center a) doesn't let you bring ANY loose item in, and b) makes you take off and display all angles of your glasses or hearing aids, and c) makes you lift up your pants to expose your socks and ankles. They are taking NO chances."

I said, "You're ... kidding ... More security than an airport."

She answered, "You can't even bring your own pencil, they provide one."

I responded, "Wow. And the sad thing is, presumably they had to implement these protocols for a reason."

I guess this is the new reality in college.

What to do with five gallons of milk

Once in a while, despite my best efforts, milk piles up in the fridge.

Last week, here's what I did with this much cow juice.

First, I skimmed off the cream. I just use a soup ladle for this task.

Here's some of the resulting cream.

Then I measured two cups of the skimmed milk into a pot and scalded it as the first step toward making ice cream. I've gotten to the point where I don't bother using the ice-cream churn, and just use the freeze-and-mix method.

I make vanilla ice cream for Don, and peach ice cream for myself.

Each batch requires three cups of milk and five cups of cream (six cups of milk and ten cups of cream for two batches), so skimming the cream from all those gallons is going to good use.

The (unfrozen) vanilla is on the left, and peach is on the right. (This is another reason I love making peach purée; I use it for flavoring.) I put these batches in the freezer overnight, being sure to mix everything once an hour for the first four hours of freezing.

That used up all the cream. I was left with gallons of skimmed milk. Incidentally, home-skimmed milk isn't like the watery-blue stuff you buy in the store. It's a whole lot richer, almost (almost!) like store-bought whole milk.

I used this milk to make thirty-minute mozzarella. The recipe in my cheesemaking book calls for using one gallon of whole milk.

I experimented with making two-gallon batches using skimmed milk, and it turns out fine. Perfect for pizza, in fact. Plus, making two two-gallon batches is far more efficient than making four one-gallon batches.

By the time I skimmed the cream and took out the skimmed milk necessary to make the ice cream, what was left was almost exactly four gallons of skimmed milk. This is what I used to make the two batches of mozzarella.

This is the finished mozzarella.

Final weight of the cheese came to about 5.25 lbs.

I cut it up...

...and grated everything. With this much cheese to grate at the same time, you can see why I love this rotary cheese grater so much!

Ready to bag.

I portioned it out into one-pound bags and froze all but two bags.

I held back those two bags because I decided to make some pizza. I pulled the sauces out of the freezer to defrost. Don prefers tomato-based pizza sauce, but I use a homemade ricotta white sauce (remind me to post that recipe later).

Here are the uncooked pizzas topped with cheese...

...and then with pepperoni and onions. (Ahem. I love onions, so I tend to go a little crazy with them as toppings.)

The finished pizzas.

And that's what I do when I have five gallons of milk to use up.