What’s Happening Now Around the Farm: Weekly Update II

Welcome back to the weekly updates of what’s going on around The Be Kind Ranch. Did you know the full name of our homestead is L&B Be Kind Ranch? The “L” is for Lakin and the “B” is for Bradley. Sam & Emily’s last name is Bradley, and Thomas, Lane’s, and my last name is Lakin. We are a blended family :)

This week we:

• transplanted more plants we started from seed

• Are still waiting for our goats to have their babies!!

• Had a rib cook-off and made the most delicious potato salad

• Returned the American Bresse Hatching Eggs…

• Prepared to celebrate Valentine’s Day

More Life in the Garden

The plants we transplanted last week are thriving in the garden - woo hoo! We had a major storm blow through on Saturday night which had me worried the little baby starts we planted were going to be damaged from hail or pounding rain or flooding. Thankfully, Sunday morning when I went out to check, they were all fine.

We repurposed empty plastic gallon milk jugs into mini greenhouses, by cutting the bottoms entirely off. So far, they’ve worked amazingly well at keeping our frost-tender wax beans and cucumber plants from being damaged, and our delicate cauliflower starts from being demolished by heavy rain. We go through a couple of gallons per week, and I’ve been saving them for about 3-4 weeks, so we have quite a few to use, and I may just keep saving them all year long for other projects!

Goat Baby Watch ‘23

Still no babies! Moira and Cajeta are both laying more than ever, so I’m taking that as a sign of impending labor. Lane picked up another bale of straw, so we teased out a few flakes and made them a nice, dry, and cozy area to sleep and eventually have their babies. Once they’re born, we’ll remove all of the soiled bedding so as not to attract predators. The birthing area where the does are currently staying is a safe area for their babies as well. Lane added chicken wire and fortified existing fencing. The girls are getting extra alfalfa and grains and will continue to do so until their babies are a couple of months old. ..m

What’s Cooking in the Kitchen?

Lane & I both enjoy cooking and somehow we inadvertently created a tradition where any time we cook ribs - we divide them evenly and have a cook-off. It’s good-natured fun; we enjoy the challenge and fun of the competition. Here’s how I make them… I can’t give specifics on Lane’s seasoning as it’s a closely held secret! :) If you’d like the potato salad recipe, it can be found on our Instagram page

1 rack pork spare ribs

½ cup brown sugar, not packed

G ¼ cup fine kosher salt or 2 tablespoons Morton’s kosher salt or table salt

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 ½ teaspoons granulated garlic or garlic powder

1 teaspoon dehydrated onion or onion powder

1 teaspoon mustard powder

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½-1 cup barbecue sauce

You may cut the ribs into 3 sections, or leave whole. They cook faster when pre-cut into sections, and they’re easier to transfer later from the oven to the bbq.

Mix the sugar and all seasonings together, and massage over every bit of the ribs, from and back.

Wrap tightly in heavy-duty foil and place on a large baking sheet with a rim, as fat and juices will somehow find their way out of the foil, no matter how diligent one may be in wrapping it tightly. Trust me on that one :)

Set your oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit (need to preheat), place the ribs on the baking tray in the oven, and check after about 3 hours. When the ribs are left as a whole rack, it’ll take closer to 4 hours until they’re tender to our liking, but not completely falling apart.

I often make our own barbeque sauce, but for store-bought, I like Bullseye Original and Lane likes Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Barbeque Sauce

What’s NOT in the Incubator

Disappointingly, after six days in the incubator, none of the eggs had progressed. I messaged Marisol, and with her permission, I cracked a few open. And guess what? They weren’t fertile! Marisol contacted the seller who acknowledged her rooster wasn’t “getting the job done”, and she sent a refund! We were worried we got scammed! Thankfully, not so. I fed the eggs to the pigs and we’re hoping to find some actually fertile American Bresse eggs. Had the eggs been fertile, we would have gotten the deal of the century, so we were aware that we may not have had success. Thankfully, it worked out fine. Our friend Krystle, who is a rare chicken breeder (but does not have American Bresse) suggested we go the legit way, and purchase from a bonafide breeder. But… that’s expensive, and Marisol is a deal maker, so I think we’ll probably stick to scouring the internet for another deal.

Thanks for sticking around for another edition of What’s Happening Now Around the Farm!