Catching up Friday with cheese and card making

Most of the week was sprinkled with fun birthday festivities so today it was time to put my nose to the grindstone . I did get my first pattern traced and ready to look for fabric to go with it now. 

Today we woke up to thick fog. Eerie but nice. 

The animals all liked the cool weather today. 

I was busy making queso blanco today.  Dude brought in the raw milk. I strained it and jarred it. Then took out the older jars and got the fabric over a colander ready for the cheese. I use a loose weave muslin.

A gallon of raw goat milk in stock pot.  Slowly get it up to 175* and hold there for 10-15min. 

Dude likes jalapeno in his cheese. I prepared those while the milk heated. 

Slowly add five tablespoons of  cider vinegar

Once the vinegar is added the curds pull from the whey. 

Move the curds to the fabric lined colander. 

Add the pickled peppers. 

Tie up the four corners and find some place to let the whey drain from it for about 3 hours. I let it drain all day while I am work. 

Dude picked carrots for our juice and found a love connection among the vegetables. 

I had a bunch of Thank You notes to write. I had none so quickly made some. I got out my mini embosser. 

Of course, I had help. (The mess is me organizing my recipes and patterns.)

Ran white cardstock cards through the embosser. 

They came out pretty well. 

Then simply stamped Thank You in the center . 

Within 20 minutes I had 8 cards ready to go. 

I got home from work and unwrapped the cheese... perfect. 

I am so glad tomorrow is Saturday.  Can't wait to see what we get done. 

peace 

Milking again, jarring honey and working on the home's addition

I thought the day (the part before I commute to work) would be to do laundry and clean the bathrooms.  Well, I got the bathrooms cleaned and then it all broke loose from there.  Dude wanted to get Peppy milked. Her bag was full and for some reason her kids weren't eating. He got the milking machine ready. 

 He looked all over for the milking jar and then I realized we used it last year to put the leftover honey in.  So I needed to get the honey jarred up.  It had gotten hard so I had to heat it up.  I got set up, put the burner on low and headed outside to help. 

When I got out there Peppy was screaming from the trailer.... "I want to be fed NOW." We hold their feed until we are ready to milk, hoping they will just eat calmly while we milk. 

Angelo wanted to watch but he was told... not today partner. 

Peppy was led to the milking stall with babies close behind. 

Poor thing her bag was very full. 

Kids played and chased each other. 

Mommy didn't make it easier for us to milk her but once she began to get relief she relaxed. She bucked, kicked, tried to sit on me and unhooked the head latch with her horns but settled down once she knew what was going on. Her mom was way different when we had her...she was a mellow goat. 

...And babies were fed and all were happy. 

Back in the house to jar up the honey so we can use the milking machine tomorrow instead of milking by hand. The honey is jarred up and looking good. 

Our granddaughter made sure the geese got in a good swim before I left for work.

Dude and Son set to work on the new addition. 

Here's where they got to before quitting.  I didn't get home until after 10pm so this is the best picture for now. Tomorrow the light will show the work they did.

peace

Canning Sauerkraut today

Nothing is better to me than brats and sauerkraut on a fall day or any day.  Sauerkraut is actually very good for you creating good gut bacteria and improves digestion.   It's what's for dinner tonight. 

It has been six weeks since I shredded cabbage and layered it in the crock with sea salt. It is fermented and ready to go.   Yes, there was a little scum on the top but that is part of the process...have a momentary freakout and get over it.  Now take that off. 

The jars are ready to go. 

It was a small batch of 4 jars but they look awesome. 

Other stuff around the homestead....

zucchini is actually giving it a go after being hailed out before. 

Radishes are looking good. (whoa, what's with the fuzzy picture?)

Chickens doing a good job. 

Milk still coming in from the goats.

And thank you Chad for the corn again from the Rieder Ranch!!! 

Since I was hailed out this year I will be heading to the vegetable stand for pickling cucumbers and tomatoes today on my dinner hour.

Heading to the library our television series are in ! The Vikings and Turn