What was I thinking??

Our cat, Miss Kitty had her kittens. 5 of them! And they have been in the house in a box since they were born, because she had them in the barn on the coldest night ever! It was around -25. That was February 16, by now the kittens are very active, ornery and starting to eat some actual cat food. But most importantly, going to the potty in the office! A definate no-no. So, we put them in the box, along with Miss Kitty and moved them to the upstairs of our machinery shed, where they will be safe and warm, but have plenty of potty places that does not make my house smell funny.

Well, 3 of them found their way back to our back door, and I let Emily pick ONE. Then told her that when we get a small litter box and when the kitten is fully weaned she may have one as a pet. Now what was I thinking?? Well, it is a cute little thing.... It's a boy, but Emily says that it looks like a girl to her. Hmm...not from where I looked! But, the kitten is named "Angel". Oh boy!!

We made our first batch of cheese for 2009 yesterday. I can't believe how smooth it went! Last year for our first batch I was a basket case! Trying hard to remember everything that needed done, some of it not really knowing what to do, but just playing it by ear. The cheese we made yesterday, and will make until mid-April is called 'Jersey Emment'. We only make it in the spring, right before the cows go out on grass, and right after the first week they are on grass. The cheese is white because of this. I was able to wash up last night before I went to bed. The only thing that needed done with this batch of cheese was turning it over in the brine. I didn't realize that a wheel of cheese would float in water, until we started doing this.

Wheels of Jersey Emment floating in brine (salt and water), salt is also sprinkled on the cheese.

I also packed up 3 wheels of cheese for the farm market tomorrow. I enjoy doing that, not sure why, but I usually turn the radio on and it's kind of my "quiet time". Emily is generally in the front "sales room" where her toys and tv are, and she does so good at keeping busy. She pops in where I'm at occasionally, and it's so funny, because she knows she has to have a hairnet on.

Me cutting up a wheel of our 'Hill Folk Jersey'. Takes some muscle to push that knife through!

It looks like I'll be taking in another market this summer, starting May 1. We're going to try to juggle the Guernsey County farm market, located in Cambridge by the courthouse. Should've gone last year, but I was so overwhelmed by everything else we were doing. I feel more ready this year, and really excited!

Well, I'm off to clean up some eggs to sell as well. Hoping tomorrow is a good day. We're having a special event, so that usually brings folks in! Especially when there is some good food cooked up! :)

Aprons

I don't think I remember a time when my Grandma didn't wear an apron. She usually wore the waist aprons. She used them to sit her food on when she ate. We had a small kitchen, and I remember that she had her chair out away from the table, so she didn't have anyplace to sit her food, but on her lap. I also remember that she was a firm believer in keeping some handy tissues in the pocket of her apron.

I think that her use of aprons has stuck with me. I didn't realize that I had accumulated a few aprons since getting married. I have one that was my Grandma's. And a few that my friend and neighboring vendor at the farm market has made. She has a talent for making nice aprons. And as long as we're "neighbors", I'm sure that I'll be acquiring more! Sell some cheese and I end up buying an apron, or two.

My grandma, Lottie Konkler

This is one of my grandma's aprons.

I made a nice big pot of chili the other night. Yum!! It will, hopefully, be the last pot of chili that I make to take the chill off from a cold wintery day. But, we still like it even when summer comes. I used some of the spice mix that I buy at our farm market. I don't think I even know how to make chili anymore if I don't buy that! Good stuff!

Today felt like spring. It felt so good! It was warm, and the sun was finally out with just a nice breeze. After taking a trip to St. Clairsville to ship some cheese out, I sat out back on my swing and let Emily run amuck in the yard. It felt so nice out that I could've took a nap! But, I took the time to read through my newest issue of Food & Family magazine from Kraft. Some very good recipes I will most certainly have to try soon!

Busy, busy, busy...

We're busy around here. That's good too, it keeps us out of trouble!

Spring has almost sprung, and I'm so happy! I finally took down the Christmas decorations, I always wait until the weather is nice. I hate taking decorations down when it's cold and snowy. I noticed that my bleeding heart plant is starting to pop up through the ground, along with our daffodils. I imagine they will still get a bit cold a time or two before it's all said and done. Our yard was full of Robins hopping around looking for a bite to eat. So spring is not too far off.

Of course with all the "spring-like" things taking place, a lot of folks around here felt the urge to clean up their yards. It's a good thing, but burning brush during this time of year is dangerous. Our neighbor was burning off some brush from one of his hills, and it got out of control. Could've been very dangerous our way if the wind would have switched directions. Thankfully, the fire dept. did a good job of getting it under control and keeping an eye on it well into the night to make sure the hot spots were put out. 25 acres total was burnt. One fireman was life flighted to Morgantown, WV and a total of 5 fire depts. were called in. Needless to say our neighbor is facing some pretty serious fines as it is illegal to burn during the months of March, April and May in Ohio. However, common sense really needs to kick in somewhere along the way, considering we have not had any good rain for quite some time and the wind was gusting around 40 mph that day...so not a good day at all to burn.

This is the smoke and fire on the neighboring hill to the east of us.

The small "dot" above the hill was the life flight helicopter.

My dad came for a visit on Wednesday. It's been almost a year since we've seen him. Emily was so excited. She had him on the floor playing, poor Papaw! Getting up off of the floor is the hard part!

I went to the ladies meeting at our church last night. I was in charge of food, which was a first for me and I was excited! I picked out a recipe that I had never tried before, and it was a hit! The cake was really good too. I will post them on the side under "recipe of the week" soon.

We've had a lot of baby calves born. Right now we have 12 on bottles. Emily and I will be in charge of that. I'll get some pictures of all the babies soon.

Fun in the Barn!

Babies everywhere! And we're just getting started!

Emily is loving this! She has made friends with and named each baby calf so far. Of course the names change occasionally, or each calf will have the same name. Her favorite name so far for cows and calves has been Rosie. I'm seeing a trend here with that name, since that is what I have named my dishwasher..yeah...I name my appliances..

I finally took my camera to the barn last night during milking time. I had to steal the batteries from Emily's flashlight to put in the camera. So I did get some pictures of Emily having some fun with the calves.

We had one baby heifer who couldn't walk for a few days after she was born. Emily worked with her, gave her attention, patted her head, told her stories (there were some good ones, too!), and we would stand her up with help several times a day. Yesterday that calf was up and not just walking, but running, jumping and playing! Did that calf and Emily have some fun last night!

I've been trying my hand lately at yeast breads. I have always feared them. Don't ask me why. Just seemed like a lot of time involved in producing one loaf of bread, that, in our house, would last less than an hour. But, I had a wonderful idea, should've dawned on me long ago, but didn't. We have a bread machine that was a Christmas gift our first year we were married. Why not use that thing to do the work. Hmm... Now I don't care for the shape of the loaf or how crusty it makes my bread, so I just put the thing on "dough" cycle and then put it in one of my own bread pans and bake in the oven. Hmm...that's genius!

This is a loaf of Flavorful Herb Bread.

Well, now I am off to actually get some things done before I go to my dentist appointment. Something I do not look forward to. But, I sure don't want to have this so called "Wisdom" tooth hurting much longer. Why are they called Wisdom teeth. I don't feel much wiser....

Spring is coming!

I'm anxious for spring! Can you tell?? I don't mind winter too much, but I do love spring.

You can tell that spring is getting close, because we are having babies born left and right! Mostly bulls, but that's ok right now. We're hoping to have more heifers later on. We're really not into the busy calving yet, that comes in about 2 weeks. Starting the second week of March through the end of April we have about 30 cows due to have their babies. I like this time of year because of all the babies. But it is a lot more work! Bottle feeding that many babies can take some time! But we're excited to have the milk coming in. We've been down to only 23 cows milking, and that just barely pays the bills.

Some baby calves. Both pictures were taken in 2005. The bottom picture

appeared in an article on Artisan cheese making in the Ohio Magazine in 2005.

Emily had an exciting (and freaky to me) find the other night in the barn. I was pushing hay into the cows and Emily started screaming "What is that in the hay!" Ok, it scared me, a lot. She continues "it's a mouse, no it's a rat!" Then more calmly..."oh...maybe it's just a turd..." Then I heard the squeaking noise, and told Al to turn on more lights so I could see, we moved the hay gently, and there lay the biggest bat I believe I have ever seen in our barn. His teeth looked pretty mean too! Scared me because Emily had just been playing in the pile of hay. Now, I know how to scare her.... (I'm so mean!!!), but she'll start climbing around in the hay, and I'll ask her if there are any bats. She stops in her tracks and gets a weird look on her face!

This is not Emily's bat that we found in the barn, but one that we found in our garage about 2 years ago.

We had some timber buyers stop in and walk our woods, giving us estimated prices on our timber. Unfortunately, timber prices are down. We'll probably have to settle for less than we had hoped, but that's how it sometimes goes.



The timber buyer that stopped in today did buy some cheese! We love to have customers stop at the farm. It don't happen too often, we live two miles from town on a dirt road, and this road is mud right now! Can't blame folks for not wanting to venture our way.


I'm getting our supplies all ready and going over my list of things to do before we make our first batch of cheese for 2009. We're getting excited!! I'm pretty much all set, much better than last year. I've got plenty of our starter (culture), rennet, salt, antibiotic testing stuff, and supplies for our PH meter. I think I'll be more organized than last year! I hope to add at least one more cheese this year. We'll see how adventurous I get, I think I said that last year.


We're working on our taxes...ugh!! I usually don't mind it, but this year it's a pain! I've been working on them at our kitchen table, and little Miss Emily likes to sit with me and she talks and sings non-stop. I know that I have had to re-add columns about a dozen times. LOL


We had our federal and state inspections for the year/winter. It's for the year with Federal and the winter for the State. The state will be back in this spring again. We scored 100 on both, we are pretty excited about that. Now, our State inspector will be in for our cheese house soon. I don't mind it a bit, they usually have some helpful bits of advice.


Now I am off to do some laundry in my new washer, since my old one kicked the bucket on the same day my dishwasher was fixed. Go figure... I'm almost afraid of touching anymore appliances.



This is an owl that came to visit us back in the winter of 2001.

Sun & Snow

The sun is shining today, and it's snowing at the same time. Go figure! Ohio weather can be so odd at times!
At least it isn't icy out and I don't have to worry about falling down if I go outside.

Valentine's Day came and went. We usually don't do too much for it. The reason is we just don't have a lot of time, especially on Saturday's. I spent most of the day at the farm market. Made up some Valentine gift baskets, but they didn't sell. I did sell some of the cheese out of the baskets! Hmm.. You never know unless you try, I suppose. I picked up a few little things for Al and Emily for Valentine Day gifts. Emily had a lot of fun with the gift bag that had hearts on it!! I should have just stopped with that! We did go to our local restaurant for dinner. First time in several weeks we had been there.

We didn't make it to church yesterday. A first calf heifer had her baby early that morning ( she wasn't supposed to calve for another 6 weeks according to the vet). Her baby is doing just fine. Started out a little weak, but she's now up and eating good. Had to fill up some jugs of warm water to lay next to her to warm her up. Around noon I went outside and saw that another heifer was laying down flat, she was having a baby too. We walked up to the lot she is in, and saw that the baby's back legs look weird, they were over top the baby's back. Not a good thing. Well, baby came out, and we found that there was a baby #2 following behind. Unfortunately, the toes were pointed the wrong way, breech. Al was able to assist mama cow, and the 2nd baby was born, but only lived for about 5 minutes. Poor little guy had sucked in so much of the fluid that he suffocated. We tried so hard to get him to breathe. The first baby (a baby bull) is doing good, and so is the mama. It's amazing, that after so many babies are born on the farm that I've seen, and even helped with, it's still a miracle to me. And even though we've lost baby calves before, I am always sad when one doesn't make it. That first breath of life is amazing. And how that mama cow starts mooing softly to the baby.
I feel so blessed that I am able to witness this. Emily was fascinated too. So many lessons a little one learns out here.

We're contacting timber companies this week. Hoping to have some of our farm timbered. We don't do clear cutting, just selective. Hoping to raise enough money to help with our feed bill. Groceries for the cows just seems to cost a lot! Sad thing is, the cost of feed goes up, but the price we get paid for milk goes down. I don't know how we're expected to make ends meet.
One thing I can tell you, if you are into farming, don't expect to ever get rich!! haha!!
A lot of folks have asked us, and other farmers, "why?"
I suppose in a lot of ways, staying in this business does seem crazy. I've even thought it myself at times. But, it isn't an occupation to us, it's our life. We love what we do so much that we hang in there. We believe in what we do is for others, providing food, is important. Each day is never the same old, same old. Each season brings it's own blessings and hardships, sometimes all at the same time. Being in contact with the animals, and outside, I feel and see God in everything. Even though we are facing some really difficult times this coming year, and beyond, I feel my faith getting stronger each day. In the near future, we may not be able to continue farming, and that makes me so sad, but I still keep hopeful that things will work out for us for the best. Farming to us is just something we absolutely love. We have to, I don' t know if I could wait up half the night watching a cow that is calving and help her give birth when she is in trouble, if I didn't love what I do. Or stand out in a lightning storm, holding a bottle of medicine high above my head so it would go in the IV properly and help a sick cow. I felt like a lightning rod that night!! But, that is why we do what we do. We truly love the animals, they get better care than we do most of the time, we love working with nature and we love knowing that what we do brings food to others. That is my answer as to why.

Now, I am off to get a cheese order ready to ship out tomorrow, and we're getting a few last minute stuff done. The county inspector will be in tomorrow, so I need to get errands done before his scheduled time. Also, have to finish up the dishes. :P Rosy the dishwasher died on my during the windstorm we had last week, and Sears won't be here until Thursday to repair it. I sure do miss Rosy!! I'm such a BRAT!!!

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted anything. I guess the week went by fast. Our ice and snow has finally went away, all except the patch of ice behind where we park our van. We call that our very own "skating rink". It will eventually melt, come July.

We picked up a new store this past week, and we are very excited about that! Had an inquiry this past Saturday from someone who has a friend opening up a new Restaurant and may be interested in using our cheeses. So, we are experiencing some "positive" moments this week. Yay!

Last Tuesday was the first day in almost a week I made it out to run errands. I was shipping out cheese when my cell phone rang. My friend asked if I wanted to head to Denny's to take advantage of their free Grand Slam breakfast. Yum! After waiting outside, in the cold for a few minutes, we got our free meal. It was very good, and the price was perfect. And it just felt good to get out for a bit, child free and have a grown up conversation! hehe..

I was working at our cheese house today, and have found that I can combine my love for photography into our business. I enjoy taking pictures of the cheese. Setting it up, making it look nice and such. On the good note, cheese won't wiggle around like children and pets! And it don't blink. Maybe something I can work on for the future.

Busy week planned here this coming week. We're getting ready for Federal inspection. They will be in sometime between now and March. This week we are painting the milk house. I know, painting in February doesn't sound like a usual thing to do, but our temps. are supposed to be in the 50's all week, and the painting is mostly inside. It's been a few years since we've painted the milk house, so it is due to be done. After that is done, we'll be getting the feed room cleaned out, it is always a wet mess after snow melts or after a big rain. I've also been currying the cows. Cleaning them up nice, not too hard of a job this time of year, they are starting to shed out for spring.

Now, I'm off to get some dinner planned out for tomorrow. I think we'll be having some chili with corn chips and cheese. That sounds like a yummy thing to put in the slow cooker in the morning.