Squeezing in Another Post This Month, In Which I Talk About Dog Food, Among Other Things.

Thanksgiving means dogs in the kitchen

Ah yes, another Thanksgiving has passed us by.  Sam and the dogs and I drove to Dayton on Thanksgiving day, thankfully without the excitement of last year's deer caught in the fence and flat tire on the truck  http://straightforkfarm.blogspot.com/2017/12/thanksgiving-trial-new-farm-resident.html 
Before Thanksgiving,  I baked 5 pies, 2 raspberry, pictured left, for the Crossed Paws Animal Shelter (previously the Monroe County Humane Society) bake sale on Wednesday, and then 2 apple and a pumpkin to take to Mom's.

 On the way to Mom's we left the truck at the Fieldhouse in Zanesville because Grover and I were entered in our trial there for Saturday and Sunday.  

Thanksgiving was nice.  My aunt Elaine and her friend, Jim, and my cousin Tracey all came from Michigan for the first time in several years, which was great fun.  My brothers were there with their families and it was just a good time.  I do enjoy everyone getting together.

Sam and the dogs and I left very early Saturday so Grover and I could get to the trial.  I had signed up for 3 runs on saturday, but figured I would be too late for our standard run.  However, we got there just in time to do our walk-through.  I was kind of surprised.  We even Q'd and then Q'd again in jumpers later for our 28th QQ, or 8 toward our MACH2.  Sunday we NQ'd in standard, but got jumper's so it was a good weekend in all.  We have another trial a week from today in Pataskala, Ohio at Incredipaws.  

Tomorrow is the local Christmas Festival and I will once again have a booth at the craft sale, which is being held in the elementary school for the second year, instead of the courthouse as it once was.  Last year was pretty much a bust for me, but I decided to give it another chance.  I have hand woven scarves, towels, pillows, and napkins, etc along with my hand-dyed yarn and of course alpaca socks.  My stuff is not inexpensive, but it is unique and is not what most people are thinking of when they think of "craft" shows.   The photo to the right is an alpaca/silk scarf I recently finished.  I took it from the raw alpaca fiber to the finished product, blending the alpaca with silk, dyeing it, spinning it and eventually weaving it.  I am very happy with it.  Most of my rugs are at the Arts Center for sale, along with some other items and I decided to leave them there as they will also have traffic through there tomorrow.

After the festival, I have the Christmas party for the dog club on Monday, then the agility trial next weekend and just random other events until after Christmas.  I have also enrolled in a Canine Massage Therapy Course, which is in late January, but I already have materials to study for that.  

Yesterday I took Rowdy up to the alternative vet for an acupuncture appointment.  He has been seeing her for 4 years, first for arthritis and then for his Cushing's disease.  She called him the Miracle Dog yesterday.  I don't think we expected him to still be around a year and half following his Cushing's diagnosis, especially since we decided not to go with drugs and try to treat more holistically, which meant changing Rowdy's diet and using Chinese herbal remedies.


As I have been writing this, my latest batch of dog food was in the oven and I just took it out.  It will now cool for an hour and I will then portion it.  Rowdy gets 9.5 oz of this twice a day and I mix his supplements into it: an herbal mixture, vitamins and melatonin.  Grover is still getting dry dog food, but only a little over a cup a day split into 2 meals, each with 4 oz of the homemade food mixed in.  Each batch of dog food I make lasts about 9 days, so I spend a lot of time figuring out when I will need to "cook" again and making sure I have everything I need on hand.  Here's my basic recipe, to which I can add or change things depending on availability.   I based my recipe  somewhat loosely on this one :             Dr. Judy's Puploaf
I source a lot of my ingredients from right here on the farm.  Venison is in good supply and it is all gotten within state laws. Sam is a hunter.  Right now it is deer season and in addition to getting the legal limit he is allowed,he will also collect meat that some of the other guys don't want to bother with.  He then runs all this meat  through a meat grinder and portions and freezes it.  I ask the guys to bring me hearts and livers and I portion those up and put them in the freezer.  Eggs come from my chickens.  I grow squash and pumpkins and cut them up and freeze them.  I grow the greens in the summertime.

I have a grinder for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer that I put much of the ingredients through and then I mix it all in a 5 gallon stock pot, literally by hand, and bake it for an hour in baking pans.  I have this pretty much down to a science by now and it doen't take too long, unless I forget to take the 6 pound package of meat out of the freezer a couple days ahead of time.  

 
 Here are the 3 pans ready to go into the oven.  It takes me most of a morning from start to finish, though I have down time while the pans are in the oven and while they are cooling.  I use this time to clean up from the preparation process and then I have to clean again after portioning.  It's a lot of work, but I don't mind it.  I know Rowdy's time with us is limited, but even when he is no longer with us, I will still be making dog food.  Grover and whoever comes after Rowdy will still get good homemade food mixed with commercial food like Grover does now.  I just won't have to "cook" as often.  

 
It has been rather wintry here.  A little snow and ice and a lot of mud.  Apples is not as clean and pretty as she was almost a year ago when she arrived here.  She and Truffels the alpaca seem to get along all right, despite speaking two totally different languages.  I think Apples and I would both rather have another pony, though.  Oh well.

 It is hunting season, so Grover and I have limited our daily walks to the roads.  We both wear orange (when I remember) just to feel a little more visible.  Grover is so deer-colored.   He usually stays within sight on our walk, though.

I have some Christmas gifts on the needles and on the loom, but this rug I just finished for Mary.  It is made with Pendleton Wool selvedges and she knows I am making it for her, so I can post it.  









 

I also knit a sock while she and I were traveling, which was meant to be for my mom for Christmas, but despite ripping out and starting over with fewer stitches, it is still quite large.  So I set it aside and will maybe make the second sock for myself after Christmas is past.


I also decided to dye the alpaca/silk batts I had carded  recently before spinning.  I am very happy I did.  I just used navy blue in 3 different dye to water solutions and I am very pleased with the results.  It is so much nicer to spin when the colors are changing than just endless yards of white, even if it is lovely shiny white.