Today is Saturday, when we usually can sleep in until at least, oh 7 a.m. This morning instead, we got up for the 5 a.m. milking. We got another gallon of beautiful milk from the girls that's now in the fridge waiting to become delicous cheese. After cleaning up the milking parlor, and letting the chickens out into their run for the day, we came back and enjoyed some hot coffee on what was a lovely, cool morning. It's a wonderful, peaceful kind of joy to sit sipping our coffee, looking out at the pasture with the morning mist trailing through it, listening to the goats bleating.
The first batch of cheese that Dave made yesterday, with milk from our goats, turned out awesome! He sliced off a very thin piece from the cheddar wheel, and we shared it while we had our coffee. Heaven! If it's that good now, I can't imagine how delicious it will be after aging for a few days.
After coffee it was back to "work", weeding in the garden and then hauling the old straw out to the back of the pasture, and giving the goats' stall a good, thorough cleaning. I discovered the gutter that runs the length of that end of the barn is a wonderful thing - as I sprayed the stall clean, all the "yuck" collected in a nice, neat line for me to easily remove from the barn. Bosco, Cheerio, Spice, and Rose had all followed me to the back of the pasture when I took the tractor and trailer out to dump the old straw, and they stayed out there munching on the lush pasture until I was almost done cleaning. I left the doors open so the nice breeze that's blowing today could dry out the stall, and went back to weeding in the veggie garden.
Dave modified the milk stand we bought with the goats, installing a movable arm like the one he put on the stand he built the other night, and put a fresh coat of white paint on it. Now the girls won't be able to pull their heads back through the hole in the stand while we're milking, which will make it a much easier job, and clean up will be easier with the fresh coat of paint on it.
Well, lunch break's over and it's time to get that load of laundry on the line. Mr O'Brien stopped by and said he'd seen Dave mowing in the pasture, and why didn't he come get his brush hog to do that with, instead of our little riding mower? Dave's over there now with the tractor hooking it up. Gotta love the super-friendly neighbors we have here! Speaking of which, we're hoping to meet another one later - the guy with the sheep a mile south of us is having a garage sale, so that's good enough reason to stop in and introduce ourselves.
More to come later...
Bosco
Hi. I'm Bosco.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Say, "Cheeeese?"
What a beautiful morning. With all the heat we've been having this summer it felt almost crisp it was so cool this morning.
After milking the goats (new stand worked famously), I was sitting and drinking my coffee with Goats creme I was able to skim off the top of a container in the fridge, while watching Bosco baaing softly trying to coax the ladies to leave the paddock and go out into the pasture with him, I remembered I had to work the stupid late shift at the day job today. Meaning I had a few hours to kill between milking and coming to work.
Soooo....having 4 gallons of goats milk in the fridge, a few hours to kill, and all the stuff I needed, I looked at some recipes and decided I had just enough time to make a batch of cheese. Just enough time assuming everything went perfectly on a recipe I've never done before. I've made soft cheese before, but I wanted to make something different this time. Decided on Goat milk Feta and Farmers Cheddar, since the recipes are pretty much the same up until the end. So I could make two cheeses in one big batch. Only difference between the two is you put the cheddar in a cheese press and the Feta you hang in cheese cloth and let drain for several hours.
The cheese Gods, must have been looking down on me, because everything went exactly and perfectly like they should have. Curds I tried were delicious (understatement), so the cheese should too. I was able to have the feta, hanging and draining and the cheddar in the press before leaving for work. And I was only a couple minutes late.
Now I have to wait 5 stupid days for both to age properly. Guess I should have made some soft cheese, at least you can eat that right away.
After milking the goats (new stand worked famously), I was sitting and drinking my coffee with Goats creme I was able to skim off the top of a container in the fridge, while watching Bosco baaing softly trying to coax the ladies to leave the paddock and go out into the pasture with him, I remembered I had to work the stupid late shift at the day job today. Meaning I had a few hours to kill between milking and coming to work.
Soooo....having 4 gallons of goats milk in the fridge, a few hours to kill, and all the stuff I needed, I looked at some recipes and decided I had just enough time to make a batch of cheese. Just enough time assuming everything went perfectly on a recipe I've never done before. I've made soft cheese before, but I wanted to make something different this time. Decided on Goat milk Feta and Farmers Cheddar, since the recipes are pretty much the same up until the end. So I could make two cheeses in one big batch. Only difference between the two is you put the cheddar in a cheese press and the Feta you hang in cheese cloth and let drain for several hours.
The cheese Gods, must have been looking down on me, because everything went exactly and perfectly like they should have. Curds I tried were delicious (understatement), so the cheese should too. I was able to have the feta, hanging and draining and the cheddar in the press before leaving for work. And I was only a couple minutes late.
Now I have to wait 5 stupid days for both to age properly. Guess I should have made some soft cheese, at least you can eat that right away.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Farm Report 8/5/10
Best milking yet this morning. Milked all the ladies completely out for the first time. Christina may have struggled with it at first, but now she's better than I am at milking. Especially on the small teat ladies.
We got about a 1/2 gallon each off Spice ( a joy to milk) and Rose ( a struggle), then we milked Cheerio. She is the one we have the hardest time with. She was so full we got about 3/4 gallon off of her alone. I know she will feel better today with all that pressure off her udder. Since we finally got her milked out today, tomorrow she should milk out faster.
Walked the fence last night, tripping over four grazing goats the whole time. They stay 10 feet from us the whole time. Though Bosco was being studly and leading the way most of the time. When alone they barely leave the paddock. Though, in their defense, there is plenty of stuff for them to eat in the paddock still. The most they've ventured into the pasture (that we've seen) was about 20 feet beyond the gate. With these goats...hell...I didn't even need a fence.
Built another goat stand last night, so that Christina and I can milk at the same time, whittling the time of this chore way down. Takes us about 45 minutes to an hour to milk the three now. But we are getting better. Took us a little less than an hour today, but we milked them all out 100% for the first time.
Poured myself a tall icy cold glass of goat milk last night....damn...it's so good. At first I wondered about the taste. These last batches are much better. To me it really isn't any different than cows milk. Maybe sweeter. Don't know if it's because I'm getting used to it or if the better pasture, awesome well water, and the goats being much more comfortable are all making a difference?
Noticed that some creme does indeed rise to the top. But no where near the quantity cow's milk will. I skimmed a little off and drank a shot of that straight. Sinful. Think drinking heavy cream. Who needs whiskey when you can do goat creme shots? Still...it would nice to buy a cream separator so we can make butter, whipped cream, and for our coffee.
Sitting in the Dining Room I see a deer of massive size bounding through the back pasture. So we rush for the binoculars. Couldn't really see details, but it hung out back there for 5 minutes or so. Was no mistake it was a damn impressive buck. Tines I could see above the weeds, were really long. Hell body size alone was incredible. I need to find my deer cam and set it up.
Been seeing lot's of deer lately. I suspect I'll see this buck a lot until October 1 and then the trophy turkeys will start showing back up and I'll never see him again. Just like my turkey season. ;)
Dave
We got about a 1/2 gallon each off Spice ( a joy to milk) and Rose ( a struggle), then we milked Cheerio. She is the one we have the hardest time with. She was so full we got about 3/4 gallon off of her alone. I know she will feel better today with all that pressure off her udder. Since we finally got her milked out today, tomorrow she should milk out faster.
Walked the fence last night, tripping over four grazing goats the whole time. They stay 10 feet from us the whole time. Though Bosco was being studly and leading the way most of the time. When alone they barely leave the paddock. Though, in their defense, there is plenty of stuff for them to eat in the paddock still. The most they've ventured into the pasture (that we've seen) was about 20 feet beyond the gate. With these goats...hell...I didn't even need a fence.
Built another goat stand last night, so that Christina and I can milk at the same time, whittling the time of this chore way down. Takes us about 45 minutes to an hour to milk the three now. But we are getting better. Took us a little less than an hour today, but we milked them all out 100% for the first time.
Poured myself a tall icy cold glass of goat milk last night....damn...it's so good. At first I wondered about the taste. These last batches are much better. To me it really isn't any different than cows milk. Maybe sweeter. Don't know if it's because I'm getting used to it or if the better pasture, awesome well water, and the goats being much more comfortable are all making a difference?
Noticed that some creme does indeed rise to the top. But no where near the quantity cow's milk will. I skimmed a little off and drank a shot of that straight. Sinful. Think drinking heavy cream. Who needs whiskey when you can do goat creme shots? Still...it would nice to buy a cream separator so we can make butter, whipped cream, and for our coffee.
Sitting in the Dining Room I see a deer of massive size bounding through the back pasture. So we rush for the binoculars. Couldn't really see details, but it hung out back there for 5 minutes or so. Was no mistake it was a damn impressive buck. Tines I could see above the weeds, were really long. Hell body size alone was incredible. I need to find my deer cam and set it up.
Been seeing lot's of deer lately. I suspect I'll see this buck a lot until October 1 and then the trophy turkeys will start showing back up and I'll never see him again. Just like my turkey season. ;)
Dave
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A Joyous Day!!!
Christina finally figured out how to milk the goats last night. She was getting so frustrated. Last night she was on the verge of tears of joy, when those streams of milk rhythmically hit the bucket.
We've been keeping them on their once a day morning schedule. You get less milk than twice a day....but it's perfectly acceptable to do. We don't know what to do with a gallon of milk a day as it is. Only reason we milked last night was because with our two small teat girls we struggled to milk them out yesterday morning. Spice on the other hand...nice big teats. I can milk her completely out in about 5 minutes. Plus it really helps that compared to Rose and Cheerio she's a real lady on the stand. Those two are less patient and more difficult to milk. ..probably because we are doing something wrong.
This morning for the first time our daily milking went really well. Christina struggled a little, but she was where I was two days ago. We milked them all out and they were all perfect ladies behavior-wise. Well...almost...Cheerio kicked over the bucket right as we were finishing her up. Our fault for not moving the bucket when we were done. Lost almost a 1/2 gallon of milk.
Since they've been so good, we let them out on pasture all day long today, while we are at work (gray hell).
I'm going to build another milk stand. With both of us milking we should be able to get our milking done in about 15 minutes every morning. On the weekends (eventually) we will switch off the milking so one can sleep in all the way to 7:00-7:30. ;)
Looks like it's time to make some cheese.
Anthony and Trevor came out last night. We all enjoyed an icy cold glass of goat's milk to celebrate Christina's new found ability to milk...well...three of us did. Anthony can't get past the thought of it. Trevor and I even took a drink of warm, raw milk right out of the bucket after we milked. Christina's not there yet either.
Christina saw a 4 point buck at the edge of our property. The way she described the size and curve of the rack, I suspect it was really a 6 point. Probably the same one I saw, that crashed into my fence, a couple weeks ago.
Dave
We've been keeping them on their once a day morning schedule. You get less milk than twice a day....but it's perfectly acceptable to do. We don't know what to do with a gallon of milk a day as it is. Only reason we milked last night was because with our two small teat girls we struggled to milk them out yesterday morning. Spice on the other hand...nice big teats. I can milk her completely out in about 5 minutes. Plus it really helps that compared to Rose and Cheerio she's a real lady on the stand. Those two are less patient and more difficult to milk. ..probably because we are doing something wrong.
This morning for the first time our daily milking went really well. Christina struggled a little, but she was where I was two days ago. We milked them all out and they were all perfect ladies behavior-wise. Well...almost...Cheerio kicked over the bucket right as we were finishing her up. Our fault for not moving the bucket when we were done. Lost almost a 1/2 gallon of milk.
Since they've been so good, we let them out on pasture all day long today, while we are at work (gray hell).
I'm going to build another milk stand. With both of us milking we should be able to get our milking done in about 15 minutes every morning. On the weekends (eventually) we will switch off the milking so one can sleep in all the way to 7:00-7:30. ;)
Looks like it's time to make some cheese.
Anthony and Trevor came out last night. We all enjoyed an icy cold glass of goat's milk to celebrate Christina's new found ability to milk...well...three of us did. Anthony can't get past the thought of it. Trevor and I even took a drink of warm, raw milk right out of the bucket after we milked. Christina's not there yet either.
Christina saw a 4 point buck at the edge of our property. The way she described the size and curve of the rack, I suspect it was really a 6 point. Probably the same one I saw, that crashed into my fence, a couple weeks ago.
Dave
Meet the Ladies...and Gentleman
Finally got some goats last weekend.
Meet the ladies Rose, Spice, Cheerio and our buck Bosco. They are real sweethearts. .
Meet the ladies Rose, Spice, Cheerio and our buck Bosco. They are real sweethearts. .
Friday, June 18, 2010
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