Missed The Bullet

There was a nasty storm that rolled across Illinois yesterday and I was right on the bottom edge of it. All we got was a little bit of rain mixed in with some sleet briefly. This morning, the water isn't frozen so we missed all the nasty for sure. Muddy, yes but ice? Nope! Dolly goat was kind of kiddy last night. She's a stand offish goat and she was following me and she was standing in places she normally avoids. Her milk bag is huge too. I can't remember ever seeing her bag that big before and she's given me twins before.

I'll be doing all the last minute floor scrubbing soon, the cheese class starts at 11 this morning. The milk is already on the stove, heating up for the culture. I whipped together a new cheese press yesterday. It's not exactly what I had in mind but it's close. 1" pine doesnt take the hole drill as well as I was hoping it would. It will work tho and that's all I'm worried about at the moment.

Last night, I took a neighbor of mine to town so she could get prescriptions filled and pick up some groceries. Of course, just like the majority of people in this area, she wanted to go to Walmart. OMG, you all know how much I HATE wally world! But, being to good neighbor I am, I put up with it. After a few minutes of her filling up her cart with that nasty, pre prepared frozen food, I had to walk away. I couldn't take it anymore. So, I wandered over to where wally world normally has the seasonal stuff and it was full of cheap chinese crap on clearance. It depressed me as I wandered thru the isles where I was expecting gardening stuff. WOOHOOO, paydirt! on the back end of each isle was a hanging box of garden seed! It was all Burpee seed so the majority of it was hybrid but I did pick up some bunching onion seed, some fennel (which I have never planted before) and replaced some seed that I had crop failure with last year (melons). I was feeling pretty darn good now since I satisfied that urge to have new garden seed and I picked up one of those candles that smells like wild roses too ;) As it burns, it makes the house smell like the wild roses I dug up from the roadside and planted out front of the house a couple years ago. The goats munched them last year, I hope they come back from it. I met back up with my neighbor and tried not to look at all the crap food she had stuffed in that cart and just reminded myself of how much I love being a homesteader!

Sissy goat slept all night, (thank you Sissy goat) and this morning, she's bouncing around, drank half a bottle, peed on the floor and left me a pile on the towel. She's warming herself in the space heater. She turns from side to side so she can warm up evenly, LOL. What a little dandy she is! I'm sure she's going to be a distraction come cheese making class time, LOL. Just too cute!

Hot and Humid, again.....

This week has been work on the farm cleanup week. So far, so good! Hubby has had a wild hair, fixed the lawn mower using good old fashioned common sense and a little welding(parts money is in short supply) and so far it's holding up. The whole place has been mowed up nice, weeds have been knocked down, the finished and overgrown gardens have been mowed, it's just awesome! He's really out done himself, the farm is starting to look like it did before all our troubles. Makes me proud to say I live here again. It had really gotten looking poorly with the equipment breakdowns, lack of cash and a few other minor troubles keeping us from properly maintaining. I guess I need to find a couple old fashioned grass mowers for when we can't use the equipment anymore. Something I need to look into...

I wanted to show you all the storm that rolled in here last night but the digital camera isn't what it used to be before the kittens knocked it off the desk. It wasn't quite dark but the pictures did not come out. Darn shame, the clouds were very cool looking.

I was up until 4:30 this morning making this wheel of Farmhouse Cheddar. 3lbs, 8 oz from 4 gallons of milk. Got a 4 1/2 gallon batch of Colby on the stove now. Not quite cool enough on a daily basis yet to make cheese but I'm in withdrawl! Can not live without cheese anymore.

I've been thinking a bit on it and I am willing to teach cheese classes any time starting September 5th, in my home, on my farm. The classes will be on Saturdays, starting at 10am. I can comfortably have 4 people at a time in my kitchen. The cost will be $50 a person and you will share a light, snack type lunch with me while the cheese cultures and the rennet sets plus a small wheel of the type of cheese we make to take with you at the end of the class. You must email me at mmpaints@yahoo.com and a $10 deposit via check/money order or paypal (non refundable) to reserve your spot with $40 being due the day of the class. This will be a relaxed, farmstead atmosphere.


Tonight is the start of my week long, twice a day milking adventure. My neighbors have headed for the State fair with their trailer load of cattle to show. Hope I live thru this, LOL. I might end up being a touch cranky by the time they come home, I don't do early mornings well!

I better get back at it, lots still to do today...