A Cool Day in Aug.

Well all the teats of my does are much much better. Its great they healed so fast. There are still a few with sores but nothing really bad. And they are not kicking at me while milking and stripping them. David built the llama house yesterday, so he has a place to get out of the rain.

The coyotes have been yelling alot behind out property.. I bet Bernie, Cloe and Marcus are just waiting for one to make a mistake and cross the line.

I taught a great cheese class yesterday. Had 6 people in the class.

Danyel went to swing dance last night so she milked in the am and I milked in the pm. It worked out great.

We went to Olympia on Monday to do the cell phone thing. David lost his cell phone so we went to try and get a new one or replace his or something. That didn't happen but Danyel got her up grade for her phone. She loves her new phone its much nicer, better camera and smaller.

I have lost 10 pounds now. But I have to say I really want some fattening food right now. Smells are killing me. I just have to remember the weight loss. I grab another cup of tea, or coffee and say No.

I am heading out to hang my chevre to drain and to start a batch of cheese today. Then I will clean out the bulk tank and clean the parlor _ Danyel milks tonight. David is getting ready to head to Stielacoom for the market.

I do enjoy the cool weather its easier to work in the processing plant.

Have a Great Day.

Another Monday

Well here we are again... Monday. Will we ever run out of Mondays? Got up at 6:30am and went out and cleaned the milk parlor and milked the goats. When I get back in I started working on the 50# of carrots David brought home from the market, I have about 1/3 left to can. But before I can start canning, David needs to run to Olympia to get a new phone. He lost his... don't ask! Anyway 5 hours later we are home again. I have a cheese class to do tomorrow and things to do. So I started the carrots, went out and turned and salted the Grande' Rosa and now am typing.
I have to make my chevre and yogurt tonight for class and get the lunch stuff ready. As well as clean the house and get that all pretty for company.
I really should make some chevre tonight too, but will think on that. I need to get my fresh feta into the marinate and vacuum seal that so that we can have some for markets this next week.
YuK!!!!!
On a good note I have lost 9 pounds so far on my diet. And I am not hungry. But I do notice when I get up set or mad I want to grab something and eat it...NO - NO - NO!
The goats teats are looking so much better. Been spritzing them down with T-Tree Oil and colidal silver and putting bag balm on them too. Cant wait to get past this one. The milk production has been down due to me not wanting to squeeze to hard. This morning things were back on track and they milked their little hearts out for mama.
Well I should go do something productive so I can go to bed tonight at a decent hour.

Another trip on the motorcylce

Well we sure have had another week of good weather. Which my goats survived quite nicely. I did a really dumb thing this week. I had a container of Iodine in the milk parlor and so when I ran out of my teat dip, I just filled full stength with this iodine.... OUCH! my does have sores on thier teats_ we only did it 3 times before we saw what was happening. But now we have to bag balm, tea tree oil them and use colidal silver mixture on them.. poor babies.
Needless to say Danyel is running to the farmstore to get the right iodine for our girls. I sure hope thier teats heal quickly it makes me cringe each time I have to squeeze them.
I made 3 batches of cheese this week. 2 chevre and 1 grande rosa. Fred came and took the whey from the grande rosa batch to feed to his pigs. Markets have been pretty good this week too. We sold about 50 pounds of chevre to restuarants too.
Danyel milked this morning and I did the feeding and watering, I also cleaned the milk parlor.
I got my new scale and printer.... oh happy day. Its so nice to weigh and it does all the work. David programed in our weight prices and there you go. We just have to get the customer use to the change.... you know they don't like change.
David bought me 50 pounds of carrots to can this week. I canned 20 qts so far and 2 pints. I still have two boxes left to can.
But today I am going for another motorcycle ride to Mt. Rainier..... should be about 5 or 6 hour ride. Hope my behind holds out.
I have lost 7 pounds so far and feel great. I am not hungery which is a big thing to me.... most of the time its habit to pick up something to munch on.
Danyel is going on her first official date with Taylor, new and great boyfriend. They are headng to Red Lobster all dressed up formal. Her in her gold gown and him in his 3 piece suit. How cute. I have to be home before they leave at 4 today so I can take pictures.
Well got to get my helmet and get my leather coat and get ready to leave. You all have a great day.

Another Hot day

I was up at 6am, went out and cleaned cheese cloth and got them in the wash and then cleaned the parlor and milked the goats. One of our girls has diahrea, so we medicated her and put her in a pen with only hay. Hope she feels better tonight.
Danyel and Kiara watered and grained the goats this morning. David and Nick went to the Olympia Farmers Market. The two grandchildren are going home this evening. Its been nice havng them on and off this summer. I think they had fun here on the farm.
I have to package cheese today.... lots and I am going to do it this morning before it gets to hot out. I also have a tour today at 11am. I am going to hang the chevre I made yesterday.
The dogs are refusing to take thier medician now so we figured they now when thier bodies have had enough so we didn't give them thier medician this morning.
My parents are bringing thier dog over today so they can go to Seattle.
Well I am going to grab a cup of coffee and head out to the processing plant.
Sure hope my new scale comes today.....Please Please Please.

Our 20th Anniversary

Well I was up at 6am and I headed out to clean the milk parlor. Checked on my Feta too. Milked the goats this morning. Everything is going fine. My new scale didn't come yesterday... fingers are crossed it comes today. I ran to town and picked up my new food for my diet. Going to try the one my daughter did and lost weight. I will let you know the progress as I go through this little trip. My granddaughter and grandson are still here. Nick went with Papa to the farmers market today and Kiara is hanging with Taylor and Danyel today. I want to make some chevre today and package up some cheese for farmers market tomorrow. Got about 19 restruant orders Ihave to fill too... We have the fans on everywhere its hot out... not complaining but just making a note.
We have had Bernie and Marcus on anti biotics for about a week for thier hot spots. They are both doing much better. Got to have those boys working to keep my goats safe.
David and I went to Olympia for our 20th Anniversary dinner. We went to Aqua Via - they serve out goat cheese. We had this fondue made with our chevre that was to die for. David and I could of ate two or three bowls of that. After dinner we went up by the capital and walked on a trail down to the lake. It was very nice and beautiful too. Then we went to the casino and blew $40 on the slots - but had a good time doing it. Then home at 11:30pm. I puttered around till midnight.
the kids did the chores and even milked the nigerian dwarf doe for me. Thanks guys.
Well I best get moving or I'll fall asleep.
Have a great day

Fall Sprang Ahead!

Yesterday I was watching the yellow leaves fall. I think we are early for the leaves... but our weather has been alittle off too. All my does are bred already, we should kid the last few weeks of December. Thats the earliest we have ever had kids here. So if you want kids mark those weeks on your calander.
I have cleaned the milk parlor and checked on my cheeses in the processing plant. The chevre is ready to come down from hanging and the feta is looking pretty nice and will be salted after milking this morning.
Today David and I will have been married 20 years. He made reservations at Bud Bay in Olympia. Looking forward to dinner. The kids are doing all the chores tonight and we are leaving about 6pm for Olympia.
I have also started my new diet...HCG. My eldest daughter tryed it and lost weight. So I will try anything once. So the next two days I can eat what ever I want and the third day I am on a strict diet for 40 days. Which will get me off before my birthday/Thanksgiving - in Oct.
Also my new scale is coming today and it has a printer with it... cant wait!!!!
David got the llama house up last night - so Knight wouldn't get wet. It didn't rain much if any here. Its warm outside and over cast... but I like it.
Well I will keep you posted about the new events tomorrow.

Late Summer in Washington

Good Morning. We have been busy around here. I'll go back to Friday. My daughter dropped off 3 of my grandchildren, one being a 2 year old, 8 year old and 13 year old. They were off to Wilby Island for thier 8th Anniversary weekend. So Danyel and Kiara went to the Farmers Market in Olympia. The two boys played basketball and the games on the Wii and I chased around the baby. I had to wait for her nap to be able to go out and package cheese for restuants and for the Sat. markets. She takes about 2 hour naps so that gave me some good work time in the processing plant. She took another nap in the afternoon which helped me too. When David got home I handed her over to him to chase around, while I finished in the plant. Then we ordered Pizza and everyone ate and then it was bath time... the kids had fun on the farm --- how do I know that - cauz everyone was dirty!)
Danyel came home around 7pm cause she had to go see her boyfriend in Tenino. We really like him and am glad she is dating someone that meets our standards. The last guy didn't meet any of our standards except that he was a guy. Anyway she milked and I did my chores and cleaned up the processing plant...
Sat. was very interesting, David and Nick (grandson, 13) went to Proctor Farmers Market and Kiara and Danyel went to Olympia. Well I had to milk and I was hoping the baby would sleep until I got done....NOT! she was up at 6:00am. So Kiara and Danyel had to babysit her while I started milking. When they left at 7:30 they brought her out to me. She didn't like hanging with me and the goats so I had her 8 year old brother watch her while he watered his buckets. They walked around the yard, played ball and drew chalk on the carport. Finally I was done. I came in and made breakfast and played with the baby. Then it was nap time and I headed out to the processing plant again to get some restuant orders done for Sunday market. When she got up from her nap at noon. We got ready to head out to Castle Rock where my son was picking them u to take them to his house until Sunday. Where another grandson was having his 8th birthday party. I headed back home and had the whole house to myself. I packaged some more cheese.
David did pretty good in Tacoma at the market. He also dropped off the cheese at the new Co-op in Tacoma. Danyel and Kiara had a full day, they went to Tenino for a BBQ with her boyfriend and then he drove them home and they all did chores and then they left to go back to Tenino. I think she was out pretty late cause I went to bed at 11pm.
I ordered my new scale - it has a printer with it. My labeling just got easier. It should be here on Tue this week... I am so excited.
I also had got a free cash register at a garage sale last year and I just never had time to go on line and look it up. I needed the insturctions to program it.. Well I did that on Sat. too and guess what the whole book is on line. I am starting the programing of it. It will be very nice to have this at Olympia Farmers Market and also to use it at Pikes Place. Its a really nice one too.
Sunday everyone left again for markets. So I made Chevre and cleaned up the house and did dishes. Its crazy how messy the house got.
We are having a BBQ at 5:30pm. Heather and Jamie and the two younger grandchildren will be back. Danyel and her boyfriend, and grandparents Neer (my parents). David fired up the BBQ and we had hamburgers. I took Heather and Jamie's car through the car wash for an anniversery gift and put gas in thier gas tank too. Everyone stayed until dark.
I am off to bed at 11pm.
This morning I got up at 6am and went out and cleaned the milk parlor and cleaned the bulk tank. I am making feta today. I have no plans to go anywhere today. I want to package up some of my extra chevre for the freezer, and make some more marenated feta with my last batch of feta today too.
Well I better let you go... as I need to go check the temperature of the milk pasturizing.

Aug.18, 11

Good Morning.... We slept in till 7am what a treat for me. I got up and labled some resturant cheese for David to take to market this morning. I went out and cleaned the parlor. Danyel and Kiara went out and loaded my does for me, they also fed and watered the animals. When we got into the house we changed clothes and went to eat breakfast. Danyel and I decided we should go out to breakfast once a week just for a treat. So we went into Winlock for breakfast. It was very good. When we got home the girls got thier make up on and are now heading to the SW Washington Fair for the day of some fun. Me, I will be packaging cheese and making some chevre and I will try and get a batch of feta made this evening. I have to package up some restuant orders and then farmers market cheese. All is quiet here now except for the big tractor on the burm moving dirt and rock at the rock quarry next door.
Well off to work I go before I want to take a nap. Have a great day!)

Computer Crash

I am back. Our computer crashed... have you ever had that happen? Well this was our first time in 20 years. Oh my Gosh!( We lost 10 years of pictures, all my last 20 years of graphic designs. As well as some of our favorite programs. Since this has happened we now have one open computer for everyone to use on line and my office computer which only goes on line when I tell it too.
This last week has been crazy as usual. I have 14 resturant orders which came to about 100# of cheese going out. As usual the farmers market cheese which is about 230 pieces of cheese to lable and weigh and package. Now this week I already have 7 restuant orders to fill, and the farmers market cheeses to do as well as 2 back to back cheese classes. I did the first cheese class yesterday and it was a birthday class special booking. It was a lot of fun. I think the ladies enjoyed thier selves. The weather was great.
Today is my next class, so yesteday I have clean up after the class - no help- everyone is running in 10 directions trying to get things done. I stacked the dirty dishes and pans and picked up the front room. I had to package cheese for the Wed. farmers market is Stielcoom and a resturant order for 30# of chevre to be picked up too. The garlic and dill chevre and the Grande' Rosa still needed labeled and weighed. And so what do David and I do but go to the fair....at 5:30pm. I have milking to do when we get home. Oh, yes and I had to go pick up some extra milk at another dairy on our way home from the fair and clean her bulk tank. We walked around the fair and enjoyed our selves.. This is a new thing that we don't have kids with us or to pick up or to plan around. We ate dinner and David bought me a new clip for my hair that is all hand crafted... its beautiful. We visited with goat friends and saw some sheep friends too. There were less cows at the fair. I didn't see any llama's. All in all it was a nice 3 hour evening with David. Danyel and Kiara, our granddaughter, went swing dancing in Olympia and wont be home till late ( around 2:30am) We left the fair at 8:30pm and got our extra things done and then onto cleaning the parlor, its 9:30pm now, and set it up to milk. Unload the milk in the 5 gallon buckets and dump it into the bulk tank. David and I loaded up the milkers. I started milking and David fed the dogs and loaded his truck up for market, labeled about 50 pieces of cheese and washed clothes. The whole time I am out milking I am thinking about getting things ready for the cheese class today.... I got done milking at 11:15pm. I went to bed. David stayed up and finished his projects... he doesn't go to be till 2am anyway so it gave hime something to do.
This moring that alarm went off at 5:30 and I put it on snooze. Got up at 5:50am. I have washed the dishes in the kitchen, cleaned the counters off. Cleaned off the table and arranged chairs for the class. I have cleaned the milk parlor and set it up for Danyel to milk this morning and my granddaughter to do the watering. David will hay when he gets up and grain the goats and feed the dogs. I am going in to put together my cheese class books, and organize my counter to make my class go smoothly. I have to vaccum yet and get dressed, and wake up the girls. Milking wont start this morning until almost 9am because of how late we were last night and its suppose to get hot today so we wouldn't milk ( I wont milk until it starts to cool down about 8:30pm) till later anyway.
Well I better get moving and finish my prep stuff and have a cup of coffee to get me motivated. Talk to you all soon.

Wow! My computer crashed

Our computer died... we had to have BNS come and redo the computers. Its crazy how much stuff you keep on your computer. All my graphics and our business stuff. They so far saved the business stuff. But all the designes I'v done for the past 10 years are missing.
Its been a crazy few days around here. Jodi, the lady that is founder of Rwanda NOW , was here overnight with her mom. We had a couple meetings with people about our trip to Africa. Its pretty exciting to think it really might happen this year. My parents came and put a screend door thing up that hooks together with magnets. We had a tour too. I also made cheese.
The computer guy was here from 8am - 4pm yesterday and then he was here today for about 2 hours. David went and got grain today. I am making chevre today, I salted the feta this morning. I don't have to package cheese today but will tomorrow. Danyel and Kiara milked the goats this morning and then this evening the girls will go swing dancing in Olympia so I will have to milk tonight.
Well I will let you go and enjoy you slow relaxing day.

The day after the Busy Day

Well this morning I got up at about 6am and went and layed down on the couch and fell asleep till 7am. Wow that is sleeping in. Went out and cleaned the milk parlor and at 7:30 came in and woke Danyel up to come help with chores. Got done milking at about 9am and I told Danyel lets go out for breakfast. We went to Napavine and had breakfast at the Wild Turkey... it was sure good. Then we ran to the Farm Store in Chehalis and got some udder wash and some acid for the milk parlor. We also go some herbal fly spray for the llama and some yard spray to kill the fleas in the yard...Look our "Bugs Life". I can see all those bugs running for thier life as we spray this stuff all around our yard. I bought some stuff to spray on the driveway too to kill weeds. Just got inspired I guess today.
We stopped at a few gargae sales and the first one hit a jackpot... I got 4 new jumpers and a few shirts for David. Danyel found books and piano music. The next one was nice and we got a few things but nothing supper great. Then we came home and looked at our treasures. Danyel ran to Castle Rock to pick up Kiara, my granddaughter, for a few days.
I had the girls cut a new trail to the meat goats pens and then we took a panel out and made thier pen bigger.
The llama hasn't spit at me, though its taking alittle time to not be afraid when he lays his ears back. I guess he is just listening to thing- not mad. The nigerians are doing well and I am milking the doe by hand till we figure out what is the matter with the portable milker. She is standing pretty still for me and Danyel only has to help a little now. The two kids are so cute... we are selling them. So if you know of anyone interested they are $100 each. They are just 2 months old on Tue the 9th.
I am making Chevre today - 52 gallons.
Jodi and her mom will be her around 7pm or later tonight. She is the lady that I am working with going to Africa.
Tomorrow is going to be busy too.. lots of people coming and going.
I am making Chicken enchilada's for dinner tonight. I don't have to milk, just clean the parlor and grain and water every one. So its a pretty easy day.
David didn't do so well at the Market in Olympia today.
Well I will let you go and fill you in on tomorrow = tomorrow. Have a Great Day

Cheese Class Today

Ok your not going to believe all I have done yesterday and this morning getting ready for this class. As I said yesterday the girl I hire to milk the goats and help with the cheese class was busy and couldn't come.... SO,
Yesterday:
I was up at 5:30 am and started milking at 7am.
I got a call at 8:30am from Colvin Ranch and he wanted to come get some whey... well I was going to make feta so that would be fine. I explained it takes about 5 hours for me to make it and get to the whey... he said fine I will be there around 3pm. Great.
Then another call wanted to come get some milk for soap making at 3:30 - 4pm, no problem.
Danyel and David were at farmers markets all day - until about 4pm.
Well I milked the goats and fed the baby goats. I then came in had a muffin and went out to clean the pasturizer and get cheese started. I had the pasturizer going by 10am and that was going to work out great. I washed dishes in the processing plant. Then I headed into the house to start cleaning it. Cleared off the kitchen table - thats our desk for market, as well as catch all. Then I vaccumed and moved my sewing stuff to the spare bedroom. I looked at the carpet and thought I wonder if I have enough time to shampoo.... sure so I went at that project. Then I swept the kitchen area and hallways and mopped that area. Back out to the processing plant to check on temp. I had about 30 min left before pastuizing starts so I got out the chevre and started packaging cheese, I did 70 pieces of chevre. Put it in the refrigerator and the pasturizing was done and now I was onto cooling it down thats about 45 min. So back into the house to eat some lunch - a nice big salad. Watched some Avitar (movie). Its time to go check the pasturizer again... only alittle more cool down so I got the work area cleaned up and got the culture ready to put into the milk. 1pm the culture was in and now wait an hour... thought I should go out and clean the parlor so milking would be ready since things were getting alittle tight. Back into the house to clean the bathroom. Time to add the rennet to the milk and wait one more hour. Went back into the house to work on the kitchen, dishes put away and washed - counters all clean and it looks nice. Now its 3pm and up drives Fred from Colvin Farms. My cheese is just about ready to be cut and so we get to visit till the whey is ready. He visited for awhile and I gave him the tour of the farm. Up drives the people to buy milk for soap, so I stopped visiting with Fred and went and pulled 3 gallons of milk. I visited with them for a few minutes. Now I am back down draining the whey for Fred. He took 5 - 5 gallon buckets of whey home. Danyel is pulling in from Market and a its time to go get the Nigerian Dwarf to milk and feed the two kids. Then helped round up the goats and started milking. The whole time I am milking I am running over the things I need to get done tonight for my class. While I was milking Danyel was weighing and labeling the chevre I had packaged this morning. After milking I cleaned the milk parlor and set it all up for tomorrow morning. When I get into the house at 8:30pm I go to the printer and print off the fronts of my cheese book I give out during the class. Then I put the 15 books together and drag out all my cheesebook, cataloges and articles wrote about cheese. Make sure the pencils are all sharpened. I made chevre and yogurt and got them going and cooked the filling for the chicken broccoli braid I was making for lunch. I set the tables and chairs up. Got all my lunch stuff out, cups, plates, plastic silverware, all the coffee and tea stuff. David went out and watered and hayed everyone, and got his stuff ready for market. Its 11pm bedtime.
Today:
Got up at 5:00am and mixed up my yogurt and then put it into small containers for class, and hthen put them in the refrigerator. Danyel got up at 5:30am. Out to round the goats up we go. David left at 6am for market. I am on line at 6am to milk the goats. Danyel grains all of them and feeds the kids. After milking I am in the house putting the lunch braid together and covering it and putting it into the refrigerator (made double batch). Then I cut up some of our cheese for the class sampling. I ran the vaccum cleaner over the frontroom floor. Took a shower and washed my hair. Got the coffee and tea on. And my first person to arrive was at 9am. Class starts at 10am - 2pm. Anyway they all got here 10 people eager to learn how to make cheese. Class went great... it was another great class.
Now I am sitting down. I have a tour at 4pm today. So I think I will go laydown on the couch - set my phone alarm and take a nap.
Have a great day. I still have feta to cut and salt and clean the milk parlor and maybe make some chevre tonight. Which means cleaning buckets to put my chevre in over night.

Getting ready for the Cheese class tomorrow

I am sure glad the temp. outside isnt really hot. Actually its perfect. I got up at 5am this morning to label and weigh cheese for Danyel's market. I packaged cheese and labeled last night but got to tired so I just got up early this morning. I milked the goats this morning too. I bottle fed the two Nigerian dwarf kids and then onto making Feta today. I am pasturizing it right now. I am going to use the new rennet I got so cross your fingers it works and I didn't get ripped off on e-bay. Anyway I used a little in my chevre the other day and it turned out. I have a guy coming today to get some of my whey from this batch of cheese, to feed his pigs. I vaccumed and sampooed my front room carpet while waiting on the cheese. I have a cheese class of 15 tomorrow morning. That parts alright, the delima is that I also have to milk the goats in the morning and get my class ready.... lets see what time to get up.... why go to bed? The girl that usually comes to help is babysitting tomorrow so I am on my own. I will prepare most of the stuff today and this evening make my chevre for demo, and my yogurt. I want to start milking at 6am and should be done by 8am. David and Danyel will have to do all the rest of the chores before they go to market tomorrow morning. I am sure it will all work out its just stressing about the schedual. Well I will let you go so I can go sweep and mop my floors while the cheese is still in the pasturize mode. have a great day....

New Animals

We got 6 does, and 2 kids and a llama.... Nigerian Dwarfs. They are cute and a little over weight. They were free from a lady in Shelton who needed a home for them due to some health problems. The only reservation I had was the Llama, his name is Knight. He isn't to bad... I am still scared he will spit. But I bet over time I will be alright with him. He kind of looks majestic sitting out in the field of little goats.
I am milking one of the does. And we are bottle feeding the two kids which are just 2 months old as of I think the 7th of Aug. I bought the portable milk machine from them and she gave me thier milk stantion. The milking machine worked fine un until yesterday evening.. so I had to milk those little teats by hand with a jumping doe. Danyel helped hold her so I could milk her to feed the kids. She will get better as time goes on.
David picked up 3 more resturants this last month, so I had to make a chart to be able to keep track of who gets what on what day... I think I have 12 resturants going now.
We have had tours alot lately too. A bunch from the article in the Tacoma paper.
Sat. is my next cheese class and I am full and over alittle... Should be a good class.
I am starting to be in the processsing plant alot, I cant find animal rennet anywhere. I bought some off e-bay. Only to get it and its clear. Never have seen that before. I made a batch of chevre on my stove top to see if I got took. The chevre turned out so I tried it on a 52 gallon batch of chevre and so far it looks like its doing the job.
I have to take Danyel into a Dr. appt. today at 4pm so I think I will go and clean the parlor now before we leave so when we get home I can jump into packaging cheese for tomorrow. That way I will be labeling while Big Brother is on tonight.
Have a Great day. I will try and get pictures up of the new girls and kids soon.

We took david out to dinner at|The casino then david spent $10 on the slots and he won $101 back. What a birthday present!

Re:|The nigerian dwarfs are doing great. I will put pictures up tomorrow

Nigerian Dwarf Goats|Yes they are almost here in Winlock at the Blue Rose Dairy. We are waiting for them - 6 does. And a llama