Tours And Cheese Class

Cheese Class 3-21-09

3-24-09 Tour Cowlitz County 1st Class Co-op

David showing a baby boar doe to a baby 3.18.09 Tour

Well I hope this blog finds you all well and enjoying Spring! I havent seen spring yet - but I know its around somewhere. This last Thur. our article came out about my cheese class. What a response to it. I was so surprised. My phone and email were going crazy with people wanting to get into my class. I ended up closing it at 45 people. That I discovered was to many people for that grange hall. Some people couldnt get close enough to see the demonstration. So I'v set another class for July 25 at Hope grange 10am -2pm with a tour of our farm after the class.

We had a tour on the 18th of the GHEA Academy from Federal Way, WA. this one had about 40 people. I want to thank all the parents - they helped with the tour alot. I cleaned the processing plant and cleaned the milking parlor.

20th - well its getting closer to the wire. I have to make my soup - about 9 gallons of soup. And get my last min. stuff together. I actually went over in the evening and took most of my class stuff to the grange. So in the morning I just need to take the rest of the stuff - or things I forgot.

I have to make a gallon of chevre for demonstration tonight so in class tomorrow I'll hang it. My girlfriend did have some jugs I could buy her and she had a couple of gallons of milk I could sell at my class too. I'll only take about 10 gallons over to the class if anyone wants more they can pick it up at the farm. Got my Processing plant cleaned and the processing plant cleaned too. We have had a few does kid. One of the guys that is coming to my class will be picking up six of the doe kids. David had a headache at market today so he didn't do very well. But it seems when his market isn't doing good the dairy is. So we balance out. The girls and I got the chores done and the goats settled in for the evening. I ordered pizza for dinner - to much to do and get ready no time to cook. David got home about 7:30pm and unloaded his stuff. He had taken our order to the Seattle Art Museum that morning. He loaded his cheese up again. Bed was at about 10pm.

21st - I was up at 4:30 getting cheese packaged for David for market. The girls are up at 6am to help get chores done. I left at 7:30 to haul stuff over to the grange and get set up. Needed to cut up samples of cheese and set out all the pans. While I was there the girls ate breakfast, got dressed and finished the milking. I was going to pick them up at 9am. I had two ladies show up at 8:45am. I was still setting up. I came home and got the girls and thier friend Katie came and helped with the class. While I took the class on the tour of the farm the girls were picking up and washing dishes at the grange. Then I went and picked the girsl up, loaded the van with everything, mopped and swept the floors, vaccumed the rugs and put the chairs away. By the time the class and tour was over --- oh my I was so tired. My legs hurt so bad from standing in flat shoes. I actually cleaned the parlor and then came inside and sat in a hot bathtub while the girls finished the chores. David got home about 7:30 and counted his bank. He didn't do great but he did do pretty good. I was in Bed by 9pm.

22nd - David went to market this morning left at about 6:30am. I got the girls up and we did chores, fed babies and then came in and ate breakfast and headed for church. We had gotten a call on Sat. afternoon that the Dockside Bistro wanted to order some cheese and needed it on Sunday. So after church we went to Subway and got lunch then headed for Olympia. Got the cheese delivered and then stopped at the stipmall in Centriala and bought some jewelry & books.

Then we had some stuff to pick up at Walmart in Chehalis. We got home about 3:45. Sat down for 15 min. then headed out to feed babies and start chores. David got home about 8pm not so good at market. Bed was at 10pm.

23 - Getting ready for our tour on Tue. I made Chevre in the morning and Grande Rosa and Pepper Rosa cheese in the afternoon. Have to get all the cleaning done in the Processing plant and the milking parlor. Cutting up samples and cleaning our bathroom too. The lady from the bank is coming to teach us how to use our visa machine. One more step to being a real business. David will be using the machine more than I will. We also got a manual one, so if I need it I can take that one and do all the transactions at home. David did running around to day, needed dog food, banking and store.

No babies born for the last few days. But we only have 14 on the farm that are bottle babies. And only one of those is for sale. I have standing orders for babies and I am thankful they are so far patient with my does who are holding out on me. We are milking 42 doe right now. We have put Cloe (female Anatolian shepard) in the barn with Bernie. We are hoping for puppie by May. Cloe had to be chained to a pole in the barn. She hasn't learned not to chase the goats. So we'll test her every few days to see if she is learning to behave herself. Bernie is uninterested in her. She wants to play so she is tormenting him all the time. Well I got a call from our tour that there will be 50 + people. Oh my gosh.... thier first count was 30- 40 possible. Its crazy.

24- We get up and do all the prep work... everything in order for the tour. We are trying to decide if we should get out the tractor and trailor for rides. Cause it raining on and off today. We end up getting it out. So David will take a group down to the field and I'll take the other ones through the cheese plant. There were about 23 cars and about 60 people. We had alot of people here. They stayed until about 6pm because they wanted to milk too. I think they had a good time. I think we also came up with the right number for our farm for tours - 30. Its just so crazy. Well that night we ordered Pizza for dinner and sat in front of the TV relaxing.

25- Today I got the girls up at 7am to do chores. Danyel had a late Biology class today. David did the running around. I do need to go to the store to get food for our house. I rehung my chevre that was hanging it was cold in the processing plant and that makes my chevre not drain right. It will be done by this evening. I also turned the rounds and put the weight back on them until tonight. I have emails and blogs and mail to catch up on. So that is it for today. Enjoy the pictures.

The Day Before The Cheese Class

4-H tour 3-14-09 Homeschool tour 3-17-09

Good Morning: I got up at 5am this morning and started working on my cheese class prep. We were in the Chronical on Wed. and my phone and emails haven't stopped yet. I have the biggest class I'v ever taught happening tomorrow. There are 43 people signed up to take the class. Usually my classes are 25 + maybe a few more. This one is crazy. I hope I make enough soup for lunch and have enough samples for everyone to try the different cheeses. Right now I am making more copies of my booklet I hand out. Its crazy I tell you. I feel like the fishermen Jesus told to let out thier nets again. When they had been fishing there already all night. When they let the nets down they almost sank thier boats. Well my daughters say my boat has sunk. But I think its just very full. I actually am turning people away with the promise of another cheese class the end of July or first of Aug. And then another the end of Oct. or the first of November. I'll let everyone know the dates later. Havent iorned out the details yet. I want to Thank Everyone who wants to come to my class - its been a wonderful response. I started my yogurt for the class this morning and will finish it this evening and package it for the class. David bought me some good french bread for my soup I am making and also some cow and sheep cheese at Beechers in Seattle.

We have people coming today to pick four baby buck kids this morning. This evening another gentelman is picking up two more buck kids. Sat one of the ladies that is coming to my cheese class will be picking up 5 or 6 doe kids. They are flying out of here. We have about 15 on the ground again -- but not for long. I still have about 20 does to kid.

The picture of the dead coyotee is a fresh kill by Bernie. This is his first kill. It was right behind the barn in our pasture. I took Bernie to the vets yesterday because he was limping. He got a puncture hole in his shoulder. The vet gave him some antibiotics and pain shot.

We had a tour on the 14th and the 17th. One was a 4-H club and one was a homeschool group. I put pictures of both groups.

I delivered cheese to a catering place today in Chehalis N.W. Food Works. Our cheese will be feeding a wedding party on Sat. Very nice chef there. Hopefully we will be doing more business with them in the future.

David bought me 40lbs of Fireweed Honey for my yogurt this year, in Seattle.

Well I better go and finish all my prep work for my class which is now 45 people.

Will talk at you all later. Have a great day and take a nap for me today.

More Babies More Snow

Hello: Its been almost a week since I up dated you all. This last week we have been working on getting all our farmers markets lined up, signed up and payed up. Its really crazy when you are in so many markets and there is only two people. But I think I only have three more market to get signed up with. And hopefully this week that will come to pass.
Sat. was crazy. My morning started at 4:30, I got up and packaged cheese for David to take to market. And then worked on getting things all ready for the tour at 1:30 today. Mopped floors washed and put away dishes, cleaned the pasteurizer, organized the cupboards. David left at 6am - I woke the girls up then. The girls had two girlfriends spend the night so we had extra hands today and also for tomorrow. So they first fed the babies which we have about 25. I went and cleaned the milk parlor while they took care of the babies. The girls got done milking and got dressed for Civil Air Patrol. We left at 8:30 for that. I got home at about 8:50 and went out to work on the milk parlor and get it cleaned up. At 9am a lady came to pick up goats -10 of her 20 kids she ordered. Got them loaded up and on their way and then at 10am another lady came and she bought a round of Grande Rosa and loved on her baby goat that I am holding onto until the second lamancha kid is born. I went and picked up the girls at noon. We got lunch done and the group from Auburn WA was here for their tour. This was a 4-H group "Fantabulous". There was about 20 people in the group. They were very nice and I think they enjoyed themselves.
David got home at 7:30 from market and I actually sold more than he did. I was in bed by 9pm.
We had two does kid with twins on Sat morning too.
Well guess what I saw on the ground at 5:30 am..... You probably guessed........SNOW. We had about 2 inches. David got up and loaded the car to try and make it to market. The forecast said high winds 50-60 in Seattle this afternoon. David got to Tacoma and said he was coming home. The weather report got worse and worse as he drove and the snow was everywhere. Not a good day in Seattle for market. The girls and I got the chores done and in the house and ate breakfast. We had one doe have twins this morning. When David got home we decided to go to church in spite of the snow. It had started raining so things were getting slushy. When we got home and had a tour at 1:15. It was a family tour so there were 4 people. They bought some cheese also. A friend that came by to pick up their daughters also bought some cheese. I am making Feta today, I carried 38 gallons of milk down to the processing plant. The cheese looks good. When we went to do chores and round up the goats we saw our first dead coyote. Bernie's first kill in the pasture. We took pictures cause of the awesome event. The coyote was not to far from the barn. GOOD JOB BERNIE! I made a pastry with garlic and dill chevre in it and it was very good.
Monday - We got up and did chores to find that three does had twins. The girls and I started in on our homeschool stuff. David ran around today. Got hay, grain, meds. He called a couple restaurants. A russina guy came by and bought 4 gallons of milk - to make cheese with. A family came by too to look over six buck kids and pickup two that were ready to go. They will be back on Friday to pick up four more boys. As fast as the does have babies they are sold. This has been a great year for baby goats. I called and ordered business cards and lables they should be ready this week. I also got a catering order from Chehalis for some chevre and feta's. I'll deliver those on Friday. David and I went and got more ink for the printer and also my folders to put my cheese class books together.
Tues. We had two does kid in the morning they each had twins. All our pens are full of moms and kids right now. We did our chores and I again got the processing plant cleaned up. I put the Feta in the refrigerator for its aging time. I cleaned the milking parlor up and reset it up. We have another tour of homeschool children that want to milk the goats, feed the kids, and taste the cheese. David layed some extra hay on the muddy spots around the farm. I hope it doesn't rain today while the tour is here. They arrived at 3pm there was about 20 - 4 parents and the rest children from 13 years down to 7 months. They had a good time on the tour. The big thing was the end event. A doe had twin bucks while they were here. I had to help - partly because she was sort of slow in the process and I wasn't sure if she really didn't need help. Anyway what a treat.... those kids were so excited and interested in the kidding process.
This group helped with milking, graining and the bottle feeding they left about 6pm. I was so tired and the girls were too. I had put in a big roast and had it cooking all day, so when we got in dinner was almost done. I did some baked potatoe's and corn and salad. I was in bed at 10pm.
So today we have a 4-H meeting, and homeschool. I'll put together my cheese bookelts and organize all the stuff that goes there for the class. I have about 27 signed up for the class.
We are milkng 32 does right now and will add on 6 more by Sat.
Have a great day. I tried to load pictures today but for some reason they wouldn't load. So I'll try tomorrow.

Another Week in March

Good Morning:

This is Monday morning Snow! This is Kitty Kitty with one of her twins on Thur.

Well as you can tell I am getting slower and slower getting my blog done. Its because life is getting faster and faster. I am finding it hard to jump off the merry-go-round when its going so fast. Anyway I'll try and at least blog once a week ---- but don't hold me to that either.

Sat. The girls and I went to the grange to help with the baking contest. And actually we were there for support for our grange - I sat and learned a new stitch in crochet. We had people come and pick up baby goats. And we picked up the house. David went to market and did pretty good. I went grocery shopping to get ready for the storm that was coming.

Sunday was church it snowed. David didn't go to market for fear the snow would be worse than it was and when it snows in Seattle everyone stays home. We enjoyed watching the snow.

David worked on some projects - like the compresser seems to want to shut off. We got stuck milking by hand while David tried to figure out the compresser. That was not fun. We worked on filling out all our farmers market papers and applying for the health certificates - which we have about 7 different ones to do. They all cost a pretty penny too. We burned horns and gave shots to some of the babies we are keeping. David is the official burner and I am the shot and bander person. The girls are the carriers. It works!

Monday it snowed.... David still had to mess with the compresser. We had a friend that is an elctrician come and look at it and he said it wasn't electrical. So that left David trying to figure it out. It runs now but not really well - its real slow and kind of lugging down. Danyel had biology -so David took her. He also did the banking and running around to get dog food, grain and some medicians for us all. We came down with that crud stuff last week and we all still have the cough.

We had three does kid without incident. I have people on waiting lists for these babies and so the does finally started kidding again. We have had a week of no babies.

Tue. I made chevre - emptied my bulk tank 39 gallons and so I had to clean that too. We rean to Longveiw 45 miles, to pick up some supplies for the Farmers Markets and visit with David's mom and Dad. Danyel and I stayed at Davids parents and visited while David ran around and payed bills. Then we all visited for about 1/2 hour and then we were on the road again. Got home by 4:15 and started chores. I cooked dinner - David got his chores done and came in and ate and the left for prayer meeting at church. The girls and I stayed home finished chores and ate dinner. Mailed all our apps. off for Farmers Markets. We have signed up for 10 markets. Our only day off is Monday. If we can keep up with it we should be able to get out of some of the holes we have had to dig financially. We had two more does kid today and they did great. So I have 7 babies on the ground. We brought one baby in the house and tubed it some milk. Its pretty weak. We'll see how that goes. Doesn't look good though.

Wed. Paula and her sister from the Chronical came and did an interiew about my up coming cheese class. So they got the tour and tasted all the cheese. I happened to have Chevre hanging so that was some good photo's. The article will come out Thur the 18. Cant wait to see it. They are coming back on Sat. to take a few photo's of the tour that is coming and they are also going to take my cheese class. One of our friends that bought a baby goat came by for me to look at thier babies cause they weren't eating well. They looked fine and she bought some milk and went home. David went and got 20 bales of hay from some people at the grange that are getting ready to move. He ran to the bank too. We went to church at 7pm. When we came home from church the baby was dead. So I guess tomorrow I'll bury it. So now I have 6 babies on the ground. And they are all sold.

Thur. David went to market this morning. I didn't have to package anything this morning so I stayed in bed till 6am. Got the girls up for chores and did a little homeschool. Danyel had Biology and after class we ran to Olympia to drop off a round of Grande' Rosa to the Dockside Bistro. We stopped and got lunch on the way there. On the way home we stopped at Walmart to pick up some printer ink, and some other misc. stuff for markets and my cheese class. We ran to Stapels and got my binders for the cheese class. Then to the Farm Store to get some teet dip for the milk parlor. Finally we got home at about 3pm. I had to start making bread for my womens group at 6:30pm. It was cooked and ready to go by 6:30. Yes I was alittle late - but the ladies were alright with that cause I had warm bread to go with our soup. The meeting was great and company was good.- Food was good too! Danyel and Ali had TV dinners (which we don't have very often so they were happy). David did really well for a Thur. at market.

He had lots of work for me to do when I got home at 8:45. Package 15 pounds of chevre for the Seattle Art Musem, 12 pounds of chevre for Mishu. Got it done and was in bed by 10:30pm.

Friday March 13. I got up at 4:30 to package some Marinated Feta and to package some plain chevre for David to take to market. I got the girls up at 6:30to do chores we were done by 8:30 and ate breakfast and did some homeschool. I'll take Danyel to school for Biology and then go get her and then Ali and I will head to Longview. I have to go get my health certificate there. Go to Winco for soup supplies for the cheese class and then run by the fabric store and see if I can find my yarn for the baby blanket I am making. On the way home we'll stop by Winlock and pick up our library book and deposit money in the bank. My cheese class is full now and I even have a few extra in the class. So all is looking well.

Have a Great Day..... Enjoy Spring!

Busy, Busy Busy, Cheesemaking, Kidding, Milking

This is Ali working with Maggi on the obstical coarse that she made.

Good Morning:

Well, we are in full swing now. I made my first batch of Grande Rosa and Pepper Rosa. This morning I have to turn the cheese over and put the weight back onto them. Tomorrow I'll salt the rounds and let them develop a rind on the rounds. And then next week David will be taking some new cheese to market to sell. Plus the SAM Restruarnt wants two pounds to try in thier recipes as soon as possible. It is always kind of scary to start the pasturizer and start the whole process going again. We only have a little chevre, marinated feta and Black Jewels and NW Comfort. We have sold out of everything --- which is good and bad. David left for market today - he is still going up Thur. Frid. and the weekend. We are milking 26 does and have 4 boar mom's with kids running around in the pasture.

We have joined an online Farmers Market http://www.fooducopia.com/ I am also on Facebook as Blue Rose Dairy. So I am spending more time on the computer. Its hard to fit that into my daily schedual. So please check us out.

The girls took thier HAM radio test and they both didn't pass by 2 & 3 questions. So I thought that was pretty good for them. They were only taking the class so they could get thier credits and so it would help them in thier Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue services.

Babies have slowed down now. Its the lull before the storm. I bet they will start this weekend and its going to snow - so I am not going to like having to spend time out in the barn. Our ad on Craigs list has sold all our babies and we have orders for more.

We took 6 bucks kids to the auction and I got a bill for $2. They sold them 2-$10 and 4-$5 total amount of sale was$42 and they charge $5 a kid and $2 a kid for yardage..... We will not be taking any more goats to that auction - Chehalis. I would suggest other small animal owners wanting to sell animals find another avenue.... Like Craigs List.

I did have to deliver one kid that was dead last week. It was a breech and the legs were forward. It was a really hard labor. But the good news is the mom did really well and is doing great today. Her one kid was fine.

The Seattle Art Museum Resturant is upping thier order from 10 lbs a week to 15 lbs and wanting to try my yogurt. Dockside Bistro is also uping thier order too.

Our 4-H club is making plans for thier overnighter at the dairy, with a club from Clatskanie,OR.

We have 3 tours of 30 people each, coming, this month. And my cheese class is in about 10 days.

Its crazy here.... As usual.

Keep your chin up... its one of the thing we have control of that the government can't take or tax!