Hot, Humid Days

It's been hot, muggy and just plain sticky out this past week. And that means some fun in a pool, even if it is just a little wading pool. We thought about getting a larger pool, one that Al and I could also enjoy, but Emily made it very clear at the store that "too much water freaks me out!!!" So, we settled for the small one that was just perfect for Emily.

And yes, I ended up in the pool too, with my clothes on since

I haven't owned a bathing suit in YEARS!

The daisies are blooming, so I know that it is officially SUMMER!!! I love summer. I've mentioned that before, I know! Emily and I went on an adventure walk, partly for fun, and partly because I am trying to walk at least 30-1 hour each day, and walking up and down hill is a workout. She ended up finding a couple of water snails at one of our creeks and have them in the kitchen in a cup with her toy frog keeping the poor things company.

I took my camera with me the other day just for fun to see what I could come up with as good picture material. Lighting wasn't the best, since a storm was coming, but I did get some pictures of our cows. They usually "pose" much better than this. Will try again soon. Wanted to get a good picture of the baby calf out in the field with mama, but neither would cooperate.

Our cows up on the hill above our cheese house.

Our herd bull, and yes, he's a bit on the mean side.

Al bringing grain up to our upper barn with the tractor.

You can see the mean looking strom clouds just to the east of us.

Say "cheese" Al!!! Ok, that was a really BAD joke!!

Al started mowing one of our pasture fields, just around the pond to make some hay off of. We're still on the 1st cutting, but it looks like it will be making some really nice hay, and it looks as though we'll be getting quite a few bales of hay more than last year, and we still have 2nd cutting to do.

Emily and I went to church this morning, and it was a really nice Father's Day service. Emily went to junior church and she loves it!

We went to a birthday party after church for family. It was a nice get together. And I am so proud of myself, they had chocolate cake AND cherry cheesecake, and I stayed strong, and didn't have any. That was a HUGE test for me. It is so very hard to go to get togethers, and manage diabetes. I'm working hard to get back on track. I've got a ton of cookbooks and I've found some really good websites.

Now, it's time to get tucked in. More hay making tomorrow, and I have one more batch of Hill Folk Jersey cheese to wax. Then on Tuesday I'll be able to get the red wax melted down for some Gouda to be waxed. I sure do hope our supplies come in this week, but we're going to hold off on cheese making until 1st cutting of hay is finished, then we can really get some cheese made, probably 2 batches a week instead of 1. Hay is coming first right now!

Can you tell I just love summer? I love taking pictures of the flowers, Emily, Annie (our dog), the cows and clouds. Pretty much anything that will hold still long enough.

I also love the storms that roll through when the days get really hot and humid. We had some good ones go through last night. Lots of lightning. I watched it from our bedroom window for awhile. Until it started raining in the window. We went to our insurance agency yesterday to pay our bill, and while Al went inside, Emily and I sat in the truck and waited, and there perched a Mockingbird on the fence close to us. I just love hearing them! Wish we had one around here, but I rarely see them. I did hear a Whipoorwill (sp??) the other night as I was taking the cows to their paddock. First time in a few years I have heard one of those.

Cheesemaking is still on hold. Bummer!!! But, I talked to them on Monday, and they said the coating would be shipped out this Friday (tomorrow), so we're looking at getting it around Tuesday or so. We're aiming to make a batch next Friday. Probably a batch of Hill Folk, we are needed to get more of it on the shelves. Speaking of which, that reminds me that I need to do some waxing tomorrow. I did 2 batches so far this week. And it is looking so nice compared to last year. I did, however, drop a whole wheel into the waxer, accidently. When the packing/waxing room gets humid, those wheels get slippery. So hard to hold. I ended up splashing a good bit of red wax all down the front of me, thankfully we wear aprons, but it still burnt my arm a bit. I found that the wax is heated to over 200 degrees, I didn't know that until about a week ago, and I got curious and put a thermometer in it. Hmm...no wonder it stings a bit when is splashes up. So, it took some doing to fish that wheel of cheese out of the vat, and by the time I did, it ended up cooking it so much that it was squishy. Not good.... Gotta work up those hand and finger muscles to be able to hang on to that cheese! Milk prices are not moving much. We're actually getting paid less this year for our milk with more cows milking (almost 60 right now), than last year when were milking about 40-45 cows. We've heard that if we hang in there until next year, prices are supposed to improve. I hope, just don't know how many of us dairy folks will still be in business! Hard to pay for the cows groceries when we don't get paid ourselves!

I managed to get to some yard sales last week! yay!!! Didn't find too much that was overly exciting. Some clothes for Emily, thank goodness too! She's growing! We went to Ollie's today (it's a discount store, kinda like Odd Lots). They have literally thousands of books, including my favorites, the cookbooks! Of course I picked up 3. I found an Old Fashioned Cookie cookbook by Debbie Mumm (priced at $3!) and a couple of diabetic cookbooks, which I am really going to have to buckle down on that diet. Found some schooling books for Emily. I just love that store! If I had a lot of money to just spend, that would probably be where I would go! haha!

I have a few goals for this week, thought if I jot them down on here, I may actually see them through....so here they are, in no particular order...

1) Get in gear with watching what I eat and walk!!!! (Also need to get more consistent in getting my A.M. glucose readings!)

2) Organize Emily's toy population, brought on by really cheap, nice toys at yard sales and Goodwill, I hold those places personally responsible for making their prices hard to pass up and making my living room look like a Toys R Us exploded! Ok, just kidding, I have the freedom to say NO to more toys.... and should have the good sense to do so...

3) Wax the last batches of cheese, at least the last ones until we get making again. Also have to change the brine tanks before next make.... :P

4) Get stuff sorted. Four boxes: Goodwill, Keep, Yard Sale, TRASH!!

Ok, that's about all I can handle right now. I have to watch if I overwhelm myself, then I just don't accomplish anything.

Now, off to start one of those....

Civil War Encampment

It's that time of year again, the sound of cannons and guns booming. Women in long dresses and bonnets, and flags flying, both Rebel and Union flags.
Our little town of Woodsfield, OH has a Civil War Encampment each year about this time. It is really something to see, and hear. There is an actual blacksmith working, they sell uniforms, and for women, the dresses from that time period. Something fun, and local to do. The pictures I'm putting up are from last year, since I forgot my camera this year. ( A "duh" moment!)

"Abe Lincoln" with Al & Emily

No cheese making for at least another week. I am so disappointed! But, we ordered supplies, and it takes awhile for the check to reach them for a lot of different reasons, and the coating we need is now on back order. That will give us time to get some hay done while the weather is nice. Hoping to have all of 1st cutting done well before we make cheese again.

Just because we are not making cheese, however does not mean that we won't have work that needs to be done with our cheese. I have about 6 batches of cheese (about 70 wheels) that I will be waxing. I also have to get busy and wipe down all of the wooden shelves with some salt and vinegar, clean up the plastic mats that we lay the wheels of cheese on and pack up some cheese for the farm markets. I have an order to get ready for tomorrow. I have found that it takes just about 45 minutes to cut, package and label 1 wheel of cheese. I try to do 4-5 wheels for the farm markets.

I did buy up some strawberries last week, YUM! I cut them up and froze them. I'm hoping that I can make up some Strawberry Bread this week, since we won't be doing cheese. We love to make that bread, and the loaves freeze up some nice, and can keep and when you thaw them out, you can't even tell they were frozen.

Now, I'm off to do that neverending chore of laundry... At least with nice weather, I can take advantage of my clothesline.

Love the Summer Days

Now that June is here (which is my favorite month), it means some nice, sunny, warm days. I'm loving this!

I went to the Cambridge market on Friday at the courthouse. Very busy day! But it was so cool. I even had to take a jacket. I met Michelle (from GLU message boad) and that was exciting! She is so sweet! I'm glad she made it over to the market.

Michelle and Me

Had a baby heifer born yesterday. It is so cute up running beside it's mama. We'll bring mama in this evening and start milking her. Her milk will be dumped for 96 hours due to the dry treatment she is given before she is dried off. We dry our cows off about 60 days before their due date. Her baby will be moved to the calf barn with other babies and will be put on milk replacer. They seem to do so well on that. We had been giving them whole milk from the cows, but the fat % is so high right now that it was giving the poor babies the squirts. Pretty common this time of year. I'll get some pictures of baby and mama this afternoon while they are still out together.

Emily located a killdeer nest about a month ago or so, I noticed today that the eggs are gone, so I imagine the babies hatched out. Mama killdeer would screech at us if we even got near her. Then of course do the "injured bird act".

Mama killdeer, acting like she is hurt and screeching.

Her little nest. Those eggs really blend in with the rocks!

Al has started mowing hay as of last week. Baled it up today, got about 40 bales and it's only a section of our first hayfield. We have the rest of our front hayfield, center and back fields to do. We're looking at about 500 bales of first cutting. That will be one of our best hay make.

One thing we watch for while cutting hay, especially right now is baby deer. The mama's tell those little fawns to lay down and not to move, and they won't move either. They listen so well! Al saw one hop up and start to run toward the mower. He shut it down and picked it up and set it in the woods so mama could find it, but as soon as he started the tractor back up, it jumped up again and went toward the mower. He ended up bringing the baby in so that Emily could see it. Then we drove back in the truck and put it in the woods, and off it ran. As we drove away, we saw a doe running up toward where the baby was. It was my first time seeing a baby deer up close. So cute.

Of course I want to include a picture of our dear little dog, Annie and one of our chickens. I can't believe Annie will be 9 years old this summer. It seems like yesterday she was a raggedy little stray that was hiding at our barn.

A couple of roosters and our hens.

Poor things are molting right now,

so they are missing some feathers!

Taking Time to Enjoy Simple Things...

We are taking a week off from making cheese. So, I'm taking time to do a few simple things and enjoy small moments. Plus, I have some really good batteries and a new memory card for my camera, which holds over 700 pictures, look out!

Our Peonies are in bloom, and Emily found them. She picked one, and I think her holding it looked really nice in the pictures.

Sunday we decided to take some "family time." We stopped at McDonald's for lunch (Emily's choice.) Then went to a local park, Piatt Park. There is a playground and some really nice walking paths in the woods that lead to a waterfall. I can say, I am no longer in shape to be walking up and down that steep of paths! Emily thought it was great, and I do believe she used the work "slowpokes" occasionally when talking to us. Hmm....

Some of our spring flowers are in full bloom and we've had some really good thunderstorms that have caused some really pretty clouds.
It's been a nice, slower week for us. Next week we'll be back at cheesemaking, two batches in fact. Although, I still have 2 farm markets this week, and several batches of cheese to wax, but it's a little bit slower for us!

A Birthday and some Work

We have been working almost non-stop for the past month or so, so thankfully, for Emily's 4th birthday, we decided to take a couple of days rest.
The following pictures were taken by a family friend almost 2 years ago when he stopped in to visit, and it just so happened to be on a cheese make day. This was when Al and I were being taught by my mother-in-law. So, I thought I'd share a couple of them. We're really excited about having some pictures, and I'm working on a scrapbook featuring our farm and cheese. This is very helpful at the farm markets.

Dixie & Renae putting curds in what is called the "moulds".

This will form the curds into the wheel later on during the press time.

Renae & Al stirring, lots of stirring.

On May 23, Miss Emily turned 4 years old, and announced that morning to her dad that she was now "mature". Hmmm..yeah, sure! She had a very nice birthday, we lit a bonfire that evening and had some family over for some hotdogs and marshmallows. Yum! Then we moved on to cake and ice cream. She picked out Black Raspberry, which I have to say I had never tasted and it's delicous! She picked it out because the ice cream was purple.

Emily in her birthday dress
right before going to church.

Emily and her birthday cake.

Celebrating being 4!

The birthday was a wonderful chance for us to "slow down" a bit. Took the evening to sit back and have a nice visit with Al's brother, his wife, her brother and niece.

We've been doing our best to make as much cheese as we can right now. We have so much milk, and a lot of rain. We have 14 of the cheese moulds, and really could stand to have about 4 more, but after pricing them, I'm afraid we'll just have to wait until we have a bit more $$. We're averaging about 150 lbs. of cheese each make. That's a wonderful yield!

I'm still doing 2 farm markets, which is like running a marathon around here! Although I think I will be doing the Cambridge market every other week, due to the upcoming haymaking schedule.

I actually have a slow day today! Yay! We did have an interview for a local newspaper earlier, and we'll be doing milk testing on the cows tonight. That's a slow day. I took time and made a nice lunch, which I will post the recipe in the "Recipe of the Week" section. And we rested for about 1/2 hour. Emily and I took a short walk to pick some of the purple flowers along our road, but didn't take too long because it is so HOT! And it sounds as if another thunderstorm is coming through.

I think I will now go and put the batteries in Emily's Lucky Duck game she got for her birthday and play for awhile with her.

Being so busy makes me really appreciate the days I can take it slow.

My idea of taking it slow tonight will be:

enjoying the thunderstorms, I LOVE THEM!!

Playing a game with Emily

picking out what I can fix for our dinner tomorrow.

Helping Al in the barn tonight, yes that is relaxing today for me! We turn on the radio and Emily rides her tricycle and Al and I chat while we work.

Our First Cookout of 2009

We had our first cookout for the year. You know that spring/summer is here when you can eat unhealthy food out on an open fire and enjoy it! We had some junk wood and crates that needed to be burnt and clean up the yard, so one evening after we milked the cows we decided to have a fire and cook some hot dogs and marshmallows. Mmmmmm... Emily is patiently (sort of) waiting for the fire to die down a bit so we can roast the marshmallows.

She skipped the hot dogs and went for the good stuff first!

Emily is not sure about this fire stuff!

The goodies!!!


The fire. We had to wait for a good while
before we could even get close enough to
roast the hot dogs.

Emily was nice and warm, even that far from the fire.

Now that spring is here in full force, I've been running in circles, and feeling like I have not accomplished anything. But, it seems that some things are getting done. We are going to be making our 8th batch of cheese this Friday, and the amount of milk we've been getting from our cows to make just one batch of cheese has been amazing! Yesterday we started out with 1300 lbs. of milk, and made 154 lbs. of cheese, which is a really good yield. I've been looking through some of our books of recipes and would love to try my hand at doing another cheese. Of course, we can't seem to keep up with the cheeses we do make, but it's just me wanting to have another challenge! I have looked into putting a cookbook together, and have started testing some recipes with our cheeses, and have put together some of my own recipes. I'm hoping in the next year or so to have cookbooks available. It seems a little overwhelming to even think about doing something like that. I don't know why, it's just something different to do.

Along with making a batch or two of cheese each week, I am taking in 2 farm markets. Both are wonderful! Cambridge market is outside, and wouldn't you know, it's rained for both weeks so far. I won't be going there this Friday, since we'll be making cheese. I will have to take my camera one of these weeks that I go, the courthouse and area in front of it is beautiful! Now that I have a new memory card and fresh batteries for my camera, I'm armed and dangerous! ha!

We almost acquired a beef heifer yesterday. Herd an animal mooing out in the field with our cattle, but it didn't sound like any of our girls. One of our neighbors had a heifer get loose. He just bought a group this past weekend, and they are as nervous as can be! It took two halters and two men (Al and our neighbor) to load her up and take her back over to our neighbors place. He had her by herself, the fellas at the stock yard told him to do that, but most cows that I know hate to be alone, and will look for a way out so they can find friends. And she found our cows, and was pretty content too. He turned her in with other cows this time around, so I think she'll be fine now. She seemed happy to be home, started munching on some grass right away. We ended up getting one of those self-standing basketball hoops (is that what they are called?) out of it. Worked out ok, now Emily can shoot some hoops.

Happy late Mother's Day to all mom's. I'm late at wishing that. Heaven help me this past week was my week to be "late" at everything. I still have to mail my dad's birthday present out tomorrow. His birthday was last week. I feel like a bad daughter. :P Need to mail out the Mother's day card to my mom, but I did call her, so...that is good, right? My Aunt's birthday was last week, and my nephews birthday on the same day too. Will be mailing those cards out.

I used to be the one in the family that sent a card, even to those who were always wondering why. Now I just plain stink at keeping up with it all!! If folks would have their birthdays in the winter, I will do just fine...I'm not so frazzled at that time.

You know you live in a small town when they close of the main section of street for a funeral. The owner of a local towing company, and I believe he was on the fire dept. also, passed away. We had to run to town for a "quick" errand. There was 2 fire trucks parked on both sides of the main street with their ladders up high and crossed over each other, with an American Flag hanging in the middle, 2 of the big tow trucks were parked on up from there. People were parking wherever they could. The bad part was, they had to detour the semi-trucks through the narrow back streets. One poor trucker ended up stuck on a turn that he could not get around. It's a turn that is difficult in a small car. But, that's small town life. Gotta love it! Soon, the streets will be closed off for the towns Alumni weekend. They set up concession stands, and have all kinds of specials going on in all the small stores. I met a fairly well known photographer who had worked for the Columbus dispatch, and had taken several popular photographs of various ball players. So that was really cool. That's been a few years ago.

Now I am off to continue the vicious cycle of LAUNDRY! When I do finally get a day that we're not doing anything much cheese related, it's time for laundry and dishes. For some reason they multiply when I'm not in the house.