Off Grid Coffee Maker
So the other day I was going about my morning as usual. Right now I get up and put on the kettle to get the water boiling. While I do that I let Grace in so she can begin her sleep cycle after a long night working. I turn eggs, right now we are incubating eggs. At 6 am is the morning turn. Also I get my little computer started, it takes quite a bit of time go get going. After all of this is done then it is time for coffee. Yay
I have a little container that sits on top of my cup so I am making a one cup coffee. I use a coffee filter inside just to stop most of the sludge. This works really well. I used to use a regular coffee maker but it died. I do have a coffee maker and use it when we have company but it takes so much power I just decided that this is just as easy.
So once the coffee is in the cup time to get the milk in there. Well it was a diffiult morning. I couldn't get into the milk jar. The lid was so tight that it took the two of us to get in. Frustrating (well a bit). I do have fresh goat's milk but it is still tasting like grass, my little mama hasn't sweetened it up yet. Too soon after delivery. She will sweeten it up in a few weeks. My take on that is they make the milk taste like grass so the babies will know the flavor when they start to eat grass. Any way I have gotten side tracked. So the first cup tasted like grassy coffee, not bad but the second cup was more like I am used to. Way better.
I am also doing this little post to see if my computer will work. In my last post I can't seem to make the pictures show up. So I hope this works.
https://steemit.com/howtoweekly/@aloha-creations/tumbling-stones-quartz-or-glass
Here is the blog i did for u 🧡
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. Our youngest son is over for a few days and I am spending time with him because he is praticing to get his dirvers licence.
Thank you! I am going there right now to read it.
What a beautiful way to look at it.
Thanks, I am not sure why else it would taste like grass in the beginning and then taste sweeter later on in the milking cycle. I find it amazing that they can change the flavor of the milk.
Why do u have to turn the eggs yourself? The incubators should swing the eggs? And why dont your hens hatch out the chicks? And also i think the platform is having issues, when i add pictures they go in sideways..and when i upvote it takes way longer then it use to. Idk whats going on but its just this site i have issues with
We have a weasel that steals the eggs. Also if something spooks the chicken she will abandon the eggs so to ensure a good hatch we do it. Yes we turn the eggs by hand. We did try a incubator that would turn the eggs but we find this a better method. Also it takes more power to have a incubator turn the eggs.
We did have a duck hatch our her own ducklings. The weasel was so busy stealing the chicken eggs it missed the duck eggs. I am grateful for that.
We were loading our picutres onto facebook and then to steemit and for some reason that doesn't work now. Yes this site is glitchy at times. There are a couple of bugs to work out I guess. I usually don't notice the issues because I have so many computer problems it all blends together. It all keeps me patient.
That is too bad you have problems with this site. I have a program that adjusts my photos so that they come in the right way. It takes more time but it is worth it.
The reason is because STEEM is going down at the moment on the exchange. More people are doing Steemit, I suppose. I have noticed the same thing. It's not just you. As for the pictures being sideways, are you dragging them in or using the "selecting them" link under the reply box?
That has never happened to me. At least not yet.
I use the selecting link under the blog box. If i take the pictures sideways they upload straight?? Go figure hu
Yay! We have photos today! So, if the gots milk tastes grassy, what do you do with it, besides not enjoy drinking it? lol I usually make some cheese and add herbs so the grassy taste isn't as noticeable...
Yes it is good there are photos. It makes it nice.
Yes I also make cheese with the grassy milk. A really good way to use it.
Great to know your morning schedule and about that home made coffee filter :).
You are really exploring on those goats, their milk and the taste of it.
Nice to know about your experiences about your animals and something new in the form of that coffee filter.
I have missed some of your comments as I was like on and off the Steemit for many days now and will have to dig deep to reply to your messages which I haven't replied yet.
Thank you so much for stopping by. I was wondering how you were doing? I thought maybe you needed to work or had family stuff to attend to. I hope all is well over there.
No worries about getting back to all my comments. Just good to hear from you.
I am sorry, I couldn't respond over the last few days as it's happy time for us, we got a newborn into our home as my son has got a little brother to play with :).
Yes, we are blessed with a baby boy on 25th May and that is why I am on and off the Steemit.
All is well :) and thanks for your messages, I am happy to respond to you now.
Congratulations. I am so happy for you. Two boys how wonderful. Now it is all making sense as to why you are on an off.
Well enjoy the little one. I hope your wife is doing well as well.
Thank you, yes, 2 boys will make us happy.
Wife and newborn are doing fine. celebration time :)
Glad they are well. Enjoy the celebration.
That's it! Going to make a coffee! Haha! Eeling so lazy today, i didn't even make one yet! Then, i will sit down to enjoy your blog post!! 💙💚
I sure hope you enjoyed your coffee. And the post. Haha Have a great day.
It worked! The picture loaded! Yay little computer 💙 i love using the french press to make coffee but, i think your drip method would make clean-up much less water intensive! Ah! The comfy routine... while the water boils, tidy kitchen, there's always something going on in the kitchen! Was glad to tidy up the dishes & bottle up kombucha while the coffee brewed. Yay coffee for the win!! I used to drink black coffee when i was much more observant of calories in/ out. I was much leaner then too 😂🤣 meh! Maybe some day!! I will get back to a strickter routine! I remember grassy tasting milk! My grandma had dairy cows when I was young. I think she milked about 6 or 8 of them. Don't get that in conventional milk. Actually, my daughter has gone vegan and tries to explain to me the extent of the cruelty in the dairy industry. Another reason to go back to black i guess. I have never gotten into goat's milk. But, can see the upside to it. Nothing better than good goat cheese! Hope you enjoyed your coffee! How much longer till the baby chicks hatch? 🐣 i am looking forward to your post about foraging for food in your forest 🍄
Yes we were able to get the photos to load. We were using facebook to get the photos into steem but for some reason they are blocking that. So we had to change to imgsafe. I prefer imgsafe.
It is amazing how we get into routines. Yeah I like the routine of the morning. Sometimes I just wish I could get up earlier. There are days 6 am is not early enough. I only have a few short hours in the morning to do steem work. Usually there is too much going on in the rest of the day.
I would agree in the dairy industry it probably is cruel. So many of those industries are. I have a hard time to buy milk the few times I have to. Also the negative energy that goes into the product can affect so many people and they don't even know it. I am not sure what I would do if I had to leave the farm.
Grassy milk has it's place. It makes great cheese. Wow your grandmother milked quite a few cows. Milking cows takes quite a bit longer than milking a goat. I imagine she milked by hand.
The baby chicks are almost done their hatch. There are three more that are about to hatch.
Oh my gooooodnesss! Such cuties!!! Yay pics uploading 💖💖💖 what a miracle those little ones!! I just can imagine their sweet sounds!!!! So nice of you to share that image with me!! I hope you never have to leave your land ever again. You've worked so hard to get to where you are. Ideally it will just get better & better. It's actually one of my hurdles to going towards stewarding land, finding the right people to do it with. I would probably die trying to go at it alone! LOL @earthmother is such an inspiration that way!! Grandma had milking machine. Now that I think of it, i don't know how they worked. I will have to ask her. She had a big separator too that spun and separated milk and cream. Though lots of cream was left in the milk. I remember taking the cream in those metal containers to town with her to sell them. That's going way back!! If not for insomnia & recovery I'd never had made this much time for social media! Funny how things work out. Hoping the last three lil' chicks hatch! Have a wonderful day!
Yes they are cute and the last three did hatch. They have moved out into the big chicken coop. They will be under a brooder. We just turned the incubator into a brooder.
I hope we never leave our land. I sure hope you are able to get out to some land. Finding people to steward land with is not an easy task. We are still working on that one. We are doing this alone for now. However there are like minded people moving into the area and we are building friendships with them. That is nice.
@earthmother sure does make it seem easy. She is so strong. Ever since I have met her I have admired her. She is like the superwoman of the current ages. Only the off grid superwoman.
Oh how nice that your grandma had a milking machine. That sure does make the job easier. We also have a cream separator, we don't use it for goat milk. There is not enough cream to make it worth while. They are quite a bit to clean. What nice memories of you and your grandma taking cream to town to sell. That is when it seemed easier. It probably wasn't but I don't know maybe it was my perception as a child. Life seemed somewhat easier back then.
Well yay for insomnia and recovery. I am just joking those are not fun to go through. I am just so glad you are on the mend. People don't realize that recovery can take years to get through depending on the extent of the trauma. I know after building two earthships and emotional trauma through it, it took me over two years to get back to a place where I was able to function again. The physical aspect was that I pushed my body way past what it was capable of doing and so I needed to heal my arms and body from pounding over 1200 tires. Emotionally we were letting out all of our trauma through the physical work. It truly was a healing experience. However we both have said that we would never build this big again.
Hope you have an awesome day.
Yes for the memories 💖 so glad for them. You made me laugh when you talked about your experience building the Earthships! The idea comes to mind but the reality of packing all that dirt is hmmmm, pretty daunting tbh! My shoulders are the most wrecked by the injuries so I am glad to know there's some sense of reality in my mind! I have SO often been blinded by the fantasy of things. It's quite a huge undertaking you did for sure. I am so glad you're able to connect with the healing through it. Sad you had to go over your limit to learn --trust you're fully recovered now. What lessons to learn. I bet you are very happy to have the large atrium especially this season! At one point I 'owned' a 2600 sq ft house. That too taught me there are some instances where size does matter - bigger isn't always better!! It's nice your community is coming together. You two are so brave! Are your sons & mother still living nearby too? I could see my daughter being into farm life off grid. My son.... not so much. But, who knows! I have been asking my siblings to do the hippy commune-ish thing for ages. They think I am nuts! But! I have one sister softening to the idea, we lived together so well. And, my brother's wife could get into it I think, they live in Leduc right now. Heck! My brother was talking about chicken farming when we just saw them. A far cry from stewarding land but it's moving in the right direction! Oh my gosh! This comment is so long! But, one more thing! Haha..... i think now is really the best time to be alive. It's complicated yes. But, all times had their complications. I LOVE that I can video chat with my almost 93 year old grandma eventhough we are 8 hours apart! And, it's cheap. It's such a blessing. We can learn anything with a quick search. There's such advancements in technology & medical care (i know that's a slippery slope) and, personal expression -- we have lots of choice now. Let's just hope more ppl choose to care for our home & one another rather than causing destruction. Like NOW!! So much possibility is at our fingertips.
You know it was tons of work but we had fun doing it. We did it as a family and yes there were some days when it wasn't fun. We watched a lot of comedy so we had funny things to talk about when we were working.
I am glad I pushed myself. I now know how much I can do and what is too much. Without going overboard I wouldn't know what is too much. We all need to know our boundaries. Yes I am recovered from the excessive pounding of tires.
That would be so great if you could have some of your family go off grid with you. Ah to be able to dream. Many people who were totally against things like off grid are coming around. Your brother is a good expample of that. The energy is changing for all.
I agree that the technology is great. This is a good time to be here. We are having our own hard times but we are also building a different way of life. The systems are changing. In 100 years our world will be very different. Change can be disruptive and hard. However it can also be so wonderful and rewarding. To be able to video chat with your grandmother is so fantastic and can keep us close. Even blogging is a wonderful tool. The choices are endless now. Imagine what the next generation of children will think of what we went through. Even now my kids think it was so archaic that our computers did so little when we were younger. We tell them how big the computers were when they first came out and they laugh.
You guys are so kind :) I just do what I can! I think that we are so blessed to have connected, to support and help each other in a very positive way! Relationships can be hard to find with this lifestyle. Its nice that we have each other to bounce ideas off of. :) I am so blessed, honoured and grateful to know you both.
I agree with the earthship being daunting...i was actually thinking about a cord wood home for thermal mass, but that is alot of cement to haul into the bush. So now i am thinking maybe earth bag for thermal mass, with earthship principles? LOL Going to test it out on a small greenhouse...single room idea...another thing on my list. :)
Love how the memories flood back. :) Makes me smile. I often wish that I would have paid more attention to the stories shared back then.
Off i go to the black fly buffet! I want to get the garden fence finished today, so i can get everything in this weekend. :) Huge love to you both Thank you for the love! it means more than you know!
It is true. You do amazing work. You seem to handle so many things. I am sure there are times when you don't feel that way but you do make it look easy. I know how hard it is to live this lifestyle at times and I was a single parent for a while. To add the two of them together is amazing.
I think the earth bags is a fantastic idea. Then you could fill them in your spare time and get a bunh made up for when you are ready to start. That would make it way easier. Filling tires is great but very labor intensive. The concept would be the same.
I sure hope you get it all done. I see on the weather that your area is due for some rain. We are trying to get a bunch of stuff done before the rain comes. Having a few rain days will be a nice break.
Have a great day.
what a great post and morning routine!!
I did not know that the milk was grassy. I like the thought of it being that way for the little ones. 'Tricking' them into eating their greens :)
I am a little nervous about the whole goat milk thing. Excited, but what to do with it all with no refrigeration. how did they do it in the old days?
I don't do 6 am well....LOL Kudos to you for that! If I am a minute past 7:30, Lucy starts banging on the barn door. :)
I am glad that you got the pictures to load. :) always love to see fellow off gridders pictures and stories!
Milking a goat for the first year is a bit tricky. Their teats are so small it is finger and thumb milking. As you milk her they will get longer and you will be able to use two fingers. After the second year is is much eaiser. It takes patience. We are working on saving up for a milking machine. There is one on the market for $250 I think. It will milk a liter at a time. You hook it up to a 1 L jar. It also has a battery so it is perfect for off grid living. I was thinking about using one of my 2L jars at the height of milking. I am not sure how will it would work on first time mama, if you were thinking about getting one.
I am a morning person. It is difficult because I can get up easily at 5 am but then I cannot stay up late. When we have company I have a hard time sometimes beause most people can stay up until 10 or 11. I usually don't go outside to do my morning chores until about 7:30. I want to keep the animals on a consistant time. If I am not here then who ever is watching the farm doesn't have to get out there so early.
I am glad I was able to get the pictures loaded as well. Blogging is better with pictures. We just can't use facebook to load the pics anymore. Which is fine with me.
I haven't even looked into a milker! Lol maybe next year. I hope she has a girl. :)
I am so with you about fb. When i was denied/censored sending a message about steem months ago. That was it for me.
I can't wait to see what Lucy has. I hope it is a girl as well. It would be good to have two girls.
I never thought about a milking machine either because I thought they would cost more. Now that I know it is a goal that I can achieve it makes it better. Sometimes my arms get tired of milking so much. I love it but I am finding my wrists need a break. Especially when I am milking more than 4 goats twice a day.
I don't know much about chickens, but I had fun reading your blog.
Thank you for stopping by. I am glad you had fun.