Blue Rose Dairy

Winter 2012

2012-01-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

The herd checking out the snow 1-16-12

Danyel

Alixandrea

Well -- have you noticed that it snowed out? I took notice a few days ago and was surprised that white wet stuff covered the ground and made everything wet and cold. Though my daughters put on pretty dresses and took thier shoes off and took pictures in this stuff. I am not sure if it was to see how long they could go before they got frost bite. The photo's turned out great!
This snow thing causes so much work for us farmers. We end up having to haul alot of water buckets to the goats and cow. You have to use the tractor to move hay around. And then there is the temperature.... cold.
We seem to just go with the flow and keep moving on.
My trip to Africa is almost here... I am going to the Pikes Place Market with David Sat. morning. I will work the market with him and then we will meet up with Jodi and head to the airport. It will be a long day for sure. My flight leaves at 11:45pm and we wont be in Kigali until the 23 of January.
We have a lay over in Ethiopia and then onto Rwanda.

Tue's Snow 10 inches on deck railing 1-16-12

The milk parlor and barn this morning 25 inches 1-18-12

the deck railing this monring and in the background you can see the corner of our fence 1-18-12

Marcus checking us out from behind the barn 1-18-12

My patio furniture - table and chairs 1-18-12

Well the snow this morning was so .... I don't know. I was hoping the weather man was wrong as usual. But to no avail we ended up with 25 inches of snow. David had to get the tractor out before we could even go to the barn. The power was off since 3:30am and when Ali woke me up at 5:00 am to see the snow I was shocked. But the reason she woke me was even funnier... She had Jonny inside last night (one of our cats), well he wanted outside and she opened her bedroom window and put him on the window sill and sent him on his way only to have him disappear into the snow. She jumped out the window to save her cat and thats when she found out how much snow we had. The cat spent the rest of the morning inside. Well once I was a wake and saw the snow I couldnt go back to sleep. So out onto the couch I went and watched the snow fall. I woke the girls up at 8am and we still didn't have any power. So David moved the BBQ closer to the back door and we heated the baby goats milk and the girls took it out and fed some cold babies - thier heat lamps were off. We started melting some snow so we could start milking the goats by hand. Just as we were heading to the barn the power came on... Ya! I cleaned the parlor and milked the goats. I was done at about 10:30am. Our adopted grandparents had gone and got pizza the day before so they could come up and have pizza with us before I leave for Africa. David cleaned the driveway up by going up and down it about 3 times so they could get thier truck up the driveway. They came about 11:45 for pizza. It sure did taste good too. David went out and made trailes around the farm so we could get to the places we needed to. It sure looks funny too. He also had to scrape the snow off the chicken house so the roof wouldn't break.
Now the funny goats are the nigerians... the snow is deeper than thier backs. Ali made a trail for them to be able to get to the hay feeder and I wish I had the picture she took of them on her phone. So funny. Knight our llama had about 18 inches of snow on his back. He seemed alright today though.
I layed down about 2pm and took a nap. Got up at 3 and packaged cheese for David to take to Olympia tomorrow. He printed out the invoices. I think everyone knows what thier jobs are while I am gone. Mark and Teneka (I may not of spelled her name right) are making the chevre for me and packaging the cheese and labeling for David. Mark made the last batch of Chevre by himself with me in the background. I had to hang it cause it snowed and no one could get up our driveway yesterday. Today we all were snowed in .... hopefully tomorrow afternoon he can come up and take the cheese down and package some cheese for David for Sat.'s market. I feel confident that Mark and Teneka can handle the task.
I will Skype David while in Africa... and possibly email when in town. I won't be adding anything to the blog until I get home ..... so no one panic after Friday evening....I will blog each day with pictures when I am back... this will take 3 weeks... so patience will be in order. Especially for me if something cool happens.
Well thats my up date for today. Stay warm and dry and enjoy the beauty of the season.

Another Intern bites the dust!

2012-01-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

Our newest intern wanted to make cheese right off the bat, like I am going to turn over my machine to just anyone....NOT! He left mad cause after observing him for about 1 week we thought better than to turn him loose with my business. He was nice - just thought he knew more and could do more than I was ready to let him. Anyway the stress level here at the farm has dropped alot.
This summer I had a couple who makes soap come and spend many days at the farm and helped me make cheese and package and lable too. They are who we chose to make cheese while I am gone to Africa. He bought two kids from me and is going off to Calf. to start a dairy... Only problem is he doesn't want to clean and do the grunt work that is all part of the farm thing.... Goood Luck Timmy.
Well I took 21 kids off to the auction in Chehalis to be sold.... Got the reciept in the mail today and I owe the auction $37. I paid someone to buy all those kids. Man oh man I am mad. I will not ever again take any kids there again... And I will telll everyone about the rip off place.
I also thought it would be a no big deal to go get my last two shots.... not so.... and its going to cost me $350 to have two shots... I am so disappointed. So after I pay for my shots I have about $100 to spend in Africa instead of $500. Please pray God will send me some more money to take.
We just had two goats kid in the last few days. We have a few more goats to have babies and then we are done.
Taneka and Mark made the batch of cheese that is hanging now. We will hopefully take it down tomorrow or Wed. We are going to package abunch of resturant orders tomorrow. We also are having a tour, a guy come buy 2 kids, and my accountant is coming too.
It will be crazy tomorrow.
Today though was sit back and relax.... I think after all the drama of Tim we were all exhausted with trying to understand a person thats not easy to understand.
Anyway have a great day.

Bucks off to the Auction

2012-01-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

We got up to frozen ground this morning... no fog. The girls and I had to do all the chores cause Tim and David headed to Seattle to deliver cheese and sell at Pikes Place.
We only have one mom with twin bucks still in a pen. So feeding extra goats is pretty easy. We have turned the boar mom and her twin bucks loose in the top so they can go out and run and eat grass. We are milking about 35 does now. I was sure glad to be done milking this morning. Bottle feeding was long and the only thing that kept us going was that tonight we will be 21 kids less. After milking I ran the babies to the auction. I am making cheese tomorrow after milking. Ya! It should be a good batch since I am not using 8 gallons a day to feed the kids. We are going to start the older kids on the Lambar bucket with 10 nipples on it. That cuts feeding them down to about 10 min for 10 kids. So much faster. I still have about 10 does to sell But I have a guy coming tonight to buy two and then tomorrow another person is buying 2 and then Sunday I have a 12 year old that has saved her money up for two does. That leaves me a few left and I have another lady coming to buy some for her sons birthday gift.
So that should just about do it. We have about 10 does left to kid.... but that could be a month off.
I am going to dump milk into the bulk tank tonight after milking cause I don't have to save any for kids.
Two friends who have helped before make cheese are coming over to make cheese with me. They will be making cheese while I am gone. That should keep my husband happy and supplied with cheese.
Last night a friend and her two boys and husband came and helped feed the baby goats. We took pictures of him in the pen with the baby goats while they were attacking him. He loved it. It was so cute. He kept sneaking out of the house to go hang with the big kids so he could feed the goats. What a trooper.
I stayed up from 8:00pm to 10:30 pm packaging cheese and labeling it for David to do market today. I didn't know he was going to stay and do market... Hope he does well. We are behind on some bills and need to make money.
I have saved almost all the money from the sales of kids for my Africa trip... I hid it! I did have to pay a bill of 150 yesterday though with it.. God will supply what I need.
Well I am going out to clean the pasturizer so tomorrow I am ready to make cheese. The cheese cloth was washed yesterday and is ready, the 10 buckets are washed and ready... Now to make it. I have to order bags tomorrow and pray they get here soon. I have a big order for Friday. So the wows of a farmer.....$$$$.
Have a Great Day

What a Lovely Day

2012-01-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

I have to say it is a good feeling to work with your hands, to be outside and smelling fresh air. My job lets me have all these benifits. I think farmers stay healthier than city folks, because of our lifestyle. We don't need entertained - we are to tired. We don't need fancy food - cause usually when foods on the table we just eat it. And we don't need fancy cars - goats, hay and grain mess it up. Cothes are usually two kinds - farm and town, neither is to fancy cause we don't have the energy or time to care.
But in all farm life is good.
As I am out milking this morning I am thinking about the last 10 years that we have been here at Blue Rose Dairy. The changes we have gone through, the different situations we have had to over come. the number of goats we have had and then not. How our children have grown up and flew the coop. And where are we going next?
The things that stick out the most with me is the smell of the morning air, early morning. The thousands of beautiful sunrises and sets we have seen - because we are always outside during them. The weather changes we have endured. Rain, Rain, Snow, Sleat, Frozen rain, frozen ground. Its always changing. I think God does this to keep us on our toes.... and making us ready to change in a moment if need be. From getting up and putting on warm gear, ear muffs and gloves and stripping everything off before the morning chores are done.
We have met some great people at the markets we have sold our cheese at. And we have met some real stinkers. We have had opportunites open up for our farm and other ones close. My husband is a real salesmen and loves the challenge of a good chef. He loves to visit and share our story with eveyone. Sometimes I think alittle to much - but that is David.
This farm has been a blessing to more people than we can count. We have opened our doors to everyone and anyone. We have always said if you want a place to stay your welcome --- but you will have to work on the farm. God has taken care of us through thick and thin and He still is.
We are almost done with kidding season already and the cheesemaking part starts again. The weather is clean and clear and we look forward to meeting more people and sharing our love of goats and cheese with anyone who will listen.
I hope you have a wonderful day.... The Sun is shinning and the sky is blue and my farm is smiling.

Busy Busy at Blue Rose Dairy

2012-01-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went out to the barn to triplest - all boys, and a set of twins. We had two more does kid during the day. We are milking 26 does and have picked out only 6 does kids for milk replacers. We have a huge amount of buck kids that are going to the auction on Friday. I need to make cheese and they are between me and pastuizer.
Tim is back from his weekend in Seattle spending time with friends. He has been doing the watering and is helping feed kids - 40 of them - bottles. He finds things to do around the farm when we all go our own directions. Hope he is learning what he will need to take care of his 3 kids he is buying.
Danyel and Ali will be gone all day today- until chores at 4:30. I have to make a big dinner tonight cause I think we will be having extra kids today.
I want to go and get the processing plant set up and cleaned. I need to package some feta for my mom in Arizona. She has been selling it down there. I have to package cheese for resturants on Friday of this week.
I am hoping to be able to make a batch of cheese on Sat. We should have alot less kids to feed so I should be able to save a bunch of cheese. I got about 7 gallons today and so I put 5 in the cooler and will add to that each day. Hoping for a 30 gallon batch but we will see.
Its windy out today and they said we were suppose to get some more rain.
Well I am thinking about Africa, since I have only a few weeks to go. I just hope the farm holds up while I am gone. Taneka and Mark are coming over to make cheese for me. That will help alot. They have helped me in the past. So they are very familier with my processing plant. Maybe Tim can watch and learn but they will be the cheese makers while I am gone.
Well I will add more later.

More kids...Date Changes for Africa.....

2011-12-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

I just went out to the barn and another doe had a kid. Now all our pens are full again....
We are starting chores at 4:30 - bottle feeding first cause we have so many kids to feed tonight.
The girls are going to a dance for the new year and I am taking the girls to Longview then takeing the grandkids up to Clatskanie... think I will just stay up at my daughters till the girls are ready to come home cause it will be quieter and that way I can save money on gas.
My chevre is about ready to come down but we cant deliver it till Tue as the restuants are not open.
It is cold out and the wind is a little nippy.
The does milked pretty good this morning. This evening we should get a good milking too.
Have a Happy New Year.
We are milking 17 does, have 32 does that have kidded.
My flight for Africa isn't leaving till the 21 now as one of the flights was cancelled. I will be back in Washington Feb. 15.....Cant wait to see the World!

More Babies _ Does Milking now

2011-12-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

We went out to the barn this morning to find 3 more babies born. I cleaned the milk parlor for the third time this year. Its a good feeling to be out in the milk parlor again. The day has a purpose and we are back on a schedual. We milked 10 does this morning... we got more milk than we needed for feeding kids this morning. We had 14 kids to bottle feed. All but 5 ate. Two of the kids are ones we are keeping and Danyel warned them this morning if they didn't eat this evening mom was going to tube them. Hopefully that scares them enough they eat thier bottles.
My two grandchildren are here for a few days. Kiara and Nick, I think they enjoy themselves.
Today I will go check on the Chevre in the processing plant....David is holding his breath so he can go deliver his cheese to the restuarnts. We haven't been able to go to Pikes Place because we have no chevre to sell. Maybe this next week.
Well Ethiopia cancelled one of our flights. So we are leaving on the 20th instead of the 18th and I will stay a little longer - not sure on the return date. I also found out the airport in Ethiopia is small -- that makes me feel so much better.
More up dates later.
Have a Great Day

x tra post on kids

2011-12-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

We had 6 does kid today, triplets, twins, and single, In all 11 kids. We have mom's doubled up in pens. its pretty crazy in our barn right now. Ali had to make a graphic chart for me to lable so we knew where everyone was and who had what for kids. Our totals are 35 kids - 19 bucks and 16 does. We have picked out 4 does and 1 buck for replacer animals so far. I need to pick 20 replacer does for our milk line in 2 years. So I have a ways to go before I have all my girls picked out. In the mean time we have people coming and buying our kids. Trying to get 20 kids does for a lady in Spokane too. Well will have more to post tomorrow.

The Stork at our Farm is very busy

2011-12-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

We went out to the barn to find two does had babies. Then three more have kidded and its only 2pm. Tomorrow we are pulling kids off of 8 does and will start milking them. We are running out of pens...now we are out of pens. No problems kidding which is great. Although I have to say that my goats look very healthy.
I made Chevre last night and hung it this morning. Its a slow daining chevre - which isn't going to make my husband very happy cause he has orders on Thur and Fri to Resturants. They will just have to wait.
David is stressing out cause we are broke financially and the money isn't coming in fast enough. I know God will handle it and so I keep working as if everything is great. I have faith in the unseen and the promise of my Daddy.
Anyway things are hopping around here. Ali has got a pell grant for her college in Vancouver Wa. She wants to be a airline steward. So she may be moving in a month or so... after I get back from Africa.
I have been to busy to even think about Africa.
A couple came and bought two kids this morning. So my Africa fund is now $100. Thats a start.
Well I think I will go eat some lunch. As I am home alone.
David took Ali Driving. Danyel is heading to town and Tim just told me he is heading to town too.
All the sounds I hear are coming from the washing machine and the dish washer.
I will check on the goats in a few hours, it didn't look like anyone else was going to kid today...... but you never know.

Triplets this morning

2011-12-27T11:37:00.000-08:00

One of our toggenburg moms had triplets today. Our new intern got to watch two being born. We had two bucks and a doe. Dark Chocolate color on all three. Its cold out today and we are expecting to have at least one more doe kid today.
We are staying close to home today and in the house as much as possible. I am making a batch of cheese from milk we got from Lucky Hook Farm in Moses Lake, WA. We got about 45 gallons or so. I am on the cooling down side of pasturizing. Hoping this cheese hangs great and I can have cheese for Friday deliveries. We will see how it goes.
I have also gotton sick from The Children coming over on Christmas Eve. My ears ache and my throat is sore and my nose is running down my throat. Ick! I want to sleep. I'v taken 10 garlic pills and I am drinking cool water.
Well I will let you go get something accomplished today. Have a great day.

Babies, Babies and More

2011-12-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

We had twins tonight. The sannen doe, Sheila, sprained her leg somehow during kidding. She was fine when we checked on her, then we go up after dinner to find she is lame on her front leg and is cleaning up white twin kids. We used a towel around her chest and helped her into a pen with a heat lamp for the kids. We will check on her through the night to see that she doesn't fall on the kids.
We sold our first set of kids today. They were a Christmas gift from a husband to his wife. They were so in love with the kids. They also had two children and they thought they were pretty neat too.
We were going to go to the Casino for dinner tonight but Shiela had other plans for us.
So I warmed up some ham, baked potatoe and some sweet carrots, homemade rolls and served a green salad. It filled us up and now we can just relax for the rest of the evening, other than going up and checking on Shiela.
We have had 15 kids so far. Only got about 50 more does to go.
We won't start milking them until we have 8 does with babies and then we have to wait 3 days after the 8th doe has her babies before we start the whole milking process again. So we have 7 does right now.
One of the best things ever is right now we have no TV cause I didn't pay the Direct TV Bill. I had to make choices and decided to catch up with the bill in a few more weeks. But its so quiet here and everyone finds differnt things to do.... like read, play sudko, draw and play the wii game. We have watch movies we have had for years and have never seen them. Its a wonderful day for MOM!
I am thinking more about Africa.... packing and getting things ready. I will go get my perscription filled tomorrow for the Malaria and I also have to order a phone for $80 to use over there.
I am borrowing my daughters carry on bag on wheels for all my clothes and such and then the other two big suitcases are filling up with stuff to give away. My mom is even getting into the show by sending some matchbox cars she bought. I am still in shock that I am actually going. This is just crazy. Can't wait to see what God had in store for me.
Our new Intern Tim will be here tomorrow. We are buying 50 gallons of milk from Lucky Hook farm in Moses Lake. Tim will be picking it up on his way to Winlock Washington. I need to make chevre for the restuants by Friday. Hope the ph is right so it all hangs great. Tim is going to get to help me make the first batch of cheese. I am hoping I can teach him how to make the cheese while I am in Africa and package it up for David. That will take a huge load off my mind while I am gone.
I will go out tomorrow and get things ready for the milk and cheese making in the processing plant.
Well I am going to let you go. Have a very Blessed Evening and remember to stop and Smell the Roses.

Kidding Season is Here and Africa Here I Come

2011-12-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Christ is the Reason for the Season. Our Family and Farm want to wish you all a Blessed Christmas

Yes, I am going to Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya! I have the ticket in hand. Now all the real packing will start.. I can take two 50# suitcases and my carry on bag. The two big suitcases will be full of stuff to give away. All my stuff will be in the carry on bag. Travel light- coming home the bags will be full of stuff for family and friends and some dresses I bought for me.
Jode Garbe, DVM, JD
Managing Director
Rwanda Wildlife Sanctuary
& Science Education Center
(RwandaSEC/RwandaNOW)
Jode is who will be traveling with me to Rwanda. I am so glad too, cause I am terrified about the airports. Missing a plane or getting lost has always been my big fear. Coming home I will travel alone and that is when I will need all your prayers.
Wow, a women from Winlock, Wash is really going to Africa to help the people. Now the strange thing is no church is sponsering me, no grange, or any big business.

Kathleen Harrison, PhD
Founding Director, HARAMBEE, NFPwww.projectharambee.org
This group is paying most of the airfare. Blue Rose Dairy is picking up the tab for Visa's and extra's while there.
Please check out these websites and help them if you can. They dont get big grants from big corporations. They do get them from small companies. There is no staffing or overhead so all the money goes to the people to help the people. These two ladies have a big heart and truely are gifted.
Anyway I will keep a jounal while I am there and then post them daily when I get back. I will also post pictures.

As for kidding Season.... yes it is here. We started two days ago. We have 4 moms and 8 kids on the ground and everyone is doing fine. One doe had triplets so we are bottle feeding suppliment (colostrum to them). We milk another doe and feed the colostrum to the triplets . We have heat lamps on each pen right now. David has 9 heat lamp set ups ready for the kids. My oldest doe Mary (13 years old) had one buck kid. We will keep him for a replacer buck. One lamanch doe had twin does, we will keep one or both of them. I have to save 20 doe kids this year for replacer does in 2 years. Then we have lots of people wanting kids this year so these little guys should go fast. I have one lady coming on Christmas Day to pick up a pair of does. We havent had any problems birthing. One of our large Sannen does had two large bucks. They are strong and big.
Chores in the morning take about 1/2 hour longer just to go pet the kids. We are looking at close to 60 does kidding this season. We are just hoping they are all done by the time I leave for Africa.

So preperation for Christmas Eve is on.... made fudge, peanut brittle, walnut roca last night I was up till 12 midnight. Danyel and Katie made the cookie dough and Danyel finished baking the cookies yesterday. Today I will make potatoe soup, double batch of home made rolls, a large green salad and dressing. Our adopted grandparnets brought us a big plate of assorted cookies she made - this will add a nice touch to our table too. Everyone will be showing up about 5pm. Since Christmas is going to be pretty lean - we are playing a christmas gift exchange game for the adults and then the kids will open gifts from all of us. Ali and I will be cleaning house and doing the prep work for the gathering here tonight. I will have Christmas music blarring all day. Its warm outside right now and its not raining. Only two adult children will be coming - Our oldest is having horse problems in Montana and so they won't be coming. But #2 and #3, #8 #9 will be here. Well better get Ali up so we can start chores - so we can clean and bake in the house.

Kidding season has begun

2011-12-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

We have two does in labor. Danyel checked on them at 8pm and nothing yet. We will check again about 10pm.
I went to Olympia today and David and Ali went to Seattle, Pikes Place Market. This weekend was pretty good - which is really needed since we are behind on our truck payment, liability insurance. We are not doing Christmas as I will take the extra $ and buy gifts in Africa.... which is still up in the air... again. I no longer get excited until I am holding the tickets in my hand. So what will be will be. If the tickets don't come through before Christmas we will give out gift certificates or cash to everyone to go get something they want after Christmas. I hope I can go since I don't look forward to such a non present day.
I guess the its family getting together that counts not the gifts. Anyway its sad to think we wont be doing very much for the family.
Oh well, cry as I will - God knows best.
I am going to go buy some supplies to make candy and cookies tomorrow. We are having potatoe soup and rolls for Christmas Eve dinner.
Well have a good evening and I will keep you posted on kidding.

The Cold is here!

2011-12-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

The weather is very cold... I know because I have a pile of ice next to the water buckets from breaking the ice and scooping it onto the ground. (Actually the girls do this). I grained the does this morning and checked to see how close we are to kidding.. maybe a week to go. I sure hope so cause I am almost out of cheese and cheese makes money and pays the bills.
I will package cheese tomorrow morning and then run to Longview (45 miles) and pick up my 2 year old granddaughter. She will be here for 3 days. I may have to run our adopted grandma to the Dr. on Thur. - Tacoma. The girls will watch Samantha for the day. Have two cheese deliveries to restuants in Olympia on Thur, David will deliver them. Then Market on Friday at Pikes Place.
Daniel, our visitor, got a job at the Pikes Place Market so he will be moving to Seattle. We have our first foster daughter living here right now too. So our house is full again.
Christmas is just going by the wayside I think. Africa is taking presidence and so I have no extra energy. I will make the Christmas Eve Soup and Rolls and the the sugar cookies to frost. But gifts will be small if I get to it.
We will be waiting to see about the tickets to Africa till the last minute.
Well enjoy the cool weather and stay warm but most of all remember that family is the best gift we can give each other.

Babies Soon

2011-12-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

It was frozen out this morning. The water buckets were frozen and so the hammer and warm water are in action. Things are moving slow around here, but they are moving. We have 9 pens ready with heat lamps for kids and we have been spreading the word that babies are for sale for $25 dollars for 3 day old kids.
Farmers Markets are almost done for 2011 and that means drying up of money... oh well.
My trip to Africa is again at an iffy stage.... the one group only gave me $1300 and my round trip ticket is almost $1800. So if God wants me to go he will have the rest of the money here for the ticket. Waiting for the money transfere to be able to actually purchase the ticket. So maybe God has another plan that I don't know about. I am not worried cause if I am suppose to go I will go.
Though this could put a crimp in our Christmas Plans as we have told everyone that I would bring them something home for Christmas gifts from Africa.... But I guess if I don't go David and I are going shopping on the night before Christmas....ICK!
All our goats are looking really healthy and that makes me excited. last year a month before they were due about 20 goats aborted and then died with in the week of kidding. It was awful. So far so good this year.

Rwanda here comes Rhonda?

2011-12-09T10:52:00.001-08:00

Well I thought all was good to go for the trip to Africa, but alas no. The one organization only sent $1300 for my airline ticket and the ticket is $1790. There is no way we can come up with the extra money.... so we will watch and see what will God do. December isn't a good time on the farm... money is always tight and there is little if any income. When the babies are born that usually gives us alittle to help get by till April when markets start again. David just called me and said non of our big restaurants ordered cheese for next week... they have no Christmas parties coming up. So all we have are a few markets to do and that is that. We thought since our money was pretty tight this year I would take some of the money from the sale of the kids to Africa and buy everyone gifts there... it would help the income of the people in Africa and our budget too. So if I don't go we have to figure out how we will do Christmas. Isn't this the way it always goes? I am faithful God will do something great so that I can brag on Him about the trip.
We went to Longview 45 miles away to walk through the Journey of Bethlehem - it was great. We were cold but the church did a great job. Got home and I packaged the one order for David and he packed up the car for market.
Today we grained all the goats, and grandma and grandpa brought donuts for breakfast at 9am. Now I have to go out and package cheese for the farmers market this weekend. Sales for Nov. and Dec. are down quite a bit and so the aniticapated money we thought we would make and have is pretty nill.
On top our car insurance is almost $500 a month.... because they go off your credit score. OUCH! Being a farmer you feast or famine.... everyone who is a farmer knows that and you would think the insurance people would too. Oh well such is life.
We have four adult children living here right now. Daniel lives in Seattle but wanted to watch kids being born and help around the farm. Which he has done a great job helping David. Then we have one of our first foster daughters staying here for awhile, she is finishing highschool and helping with the farm work too. Then there is Danyel and Ali here too. Talk about a shocker feeding three people to 6 people. Good thing we got that beef in the freezer and some goat too.
Well thats enough about that stuff.
Goats are looking ripe for kidding soon. Some are much closer than others. Hopefully in the next few weeks we have kids on the ground and maybe I can make some cheese before I head to Africa.
Have a great weekend....Jesus is the Reason for the Season
Merry Christmas

Rwanda I am almost there!

2011-12-03T20:08:00.001-08:00

Well I got my hepitis shot and have a doctors appt on Tue to get my malaria tablets. My passport is ready and the tickets are almost bought. How exciting! I have colored calenders to take to teach the ladies to make beads and then the soccor balls and shorts and socks for the kids. I will try and get childrens clothes gathered and shoes to take too. My two suitcases will be full of things to give away. And we decided I would buy Christmas gifts in Africa for everyone. Now I am really excited.
Our goats are looking pretty ready to have babies in about 10 days or so. Hopefully all the kids will be delivered before I leave on the 18th of January. I am so excited What an opportunity of a lifetime. Did I mention I am excited? David went to Tacoma Farmers Market on Proctor today and froze. I went to Olympia and froze. We both did fairly well at market. I had to package some more marinated feta and some more Grande' Rosa too. Well I am ready for a warm bath and then a good book.

Preparations for the Trip to Africa

2011-11-28T11:41:00.001-08:00

Well I reserved my airline tickets to Rwanda today... It has been 4 years planning and working twords this event. I will be helping a goat dairy start up and a processing plant start. I will be teaching 150 women to care for goats and make cheese. It is so exciting. I have calanders to take over, soccor balls and clothes, and childrens shoes and clothes. If you want to make any donations you can contact me through my web page and we will figure out how to pick up your stuff.
I am still not in the believing mode of this yet. I have to go get my hepatis shot tomorrow, already have my pass port and I have to get the malaria perscription. I need to get my phone worked out for international travel too.... so much to do.
We will start kidding in about two weeks and that should be done before I leave on January 18 thru Feb 10.
Above all else please keep me in your prayers through this trip... its scary and fun at the same time.
I want to blog while I am gone so we will see what can be done about that too. Well got to go mail a letter so I need to go.

Winter is Here

2011-11-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

Well winter is here. We turned our clocks back on Sat. night. We are down to milking only four does and we are graining 2# of grain, 1 TBSP of my mixture (sea kelp, soy bean meal, alfalfa meal, copper, dolomite lime, linseed meal, yeast) and 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar.
We are trimming hooves and checking for health.
David has cleaned all four pens on top for kidding pens and we have 5 more to go. We still have to buy heat lamp bulbs and get those all set up.
We will be kidding in about 5 weeks. This is the earliest we have kidded. I am excited to see how this goes.
We still havent turned Marus (our Anatolian Male pup) out with the goats as he still wants to play - he is 2 1/2 years old. Got to get that worked on. Bernie is now 10 years old and showing his age. Cloe is digging tunnels in the barn... so I am always filling in these huge tunnels. She must think we are going to have a very cold winter. I hope not.
I am working the winter market in Olympia - Sat. and Sun. I love decorating the tables. Danyel will be doing the markets on the days we need help through December. David is doing Pikes Place on Fridays an Sundays. We will do the Tacoma _ Proctor market until Dec 17th so David is doing that one too.
I think this week I can do one more batch of Chevre (20 gallons).
We had our big Thanksgiving Dinner Oct. 15. I cooked 30# of Turkey, made 15# of mashed potatoes and about 5 boxes of dressing. We had 22 different pies this year. And we had 33 people over for dinner. It was great. We also did birthdays.
Ali has been in Texas since June and is coming home soon. That will make chores easier. Cant wait. Though chores right now are not so hard. Haying probably is the hardest. We have been turning off our waters facets off every night, so things don't freeze.
We got our Nigerian Buck this last week. His name is Sugar Daddy and his freind Buddy. So we should have nigerian babies in April.
David has been working on housing facilites for all the goats in pens. So everyone will be dry and warm during the winter.
I am planning on going to Africa the 18 of Jan. this next year. I will go to Rwanda and help get the processing plant and milk parlor set up. And teach 150 women how to take care of goats and milk them and make cheese and yogurt. It will be a busy three weeks.
I can't believe I am really going for sure this time.... we have been working on it for 4 years. Wow!! I am going to Africa.
I have to make a picture book of what I am teaching these women... so I am hard at work gathering pictures and putting it together.
Have a Great day.

My thougts about farming

2011-10-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

I find with the choices I make they are generally made around finances. Our goats always have access to a good grade of hay all year long. As we are a dairy. They can also go out and in to the barn and 13 acres all year long. We pay about 150 a week on hay and about 500+ on grain and alfalfa pellets a week. We have about 85 goats right now. We try and keep the loose minerals available all year long but when money is tight they must fend for themselves. We put minerals around the farm... several spots in the barn and in the extra pens we have if there are goats in them they usually have minerals. Baking soda is also placed around our farm. We also have water buckets all around our barn - about 20. These are changed and filled twice a day. We spread manure during the summer. We try and clean our barn to the ground twice a year... though I have to admit a few times it only got done once a year. We use shavings to rebed our barn. We trim hooves all the time.... my hand doesn't last longer than three goats and so I try and stay on top of the hooves daily. We have never checked for CAE. We will never check for CAE. My goats seem to be thriving very well as they are. We also don't give shots _ not sure they have really helped anyway and they cost money. My goats don't have hard udders thought they do get cracky knees. We feed dolomite lime to help replace calcium and potassium back into thier systems. We use MSN on the girls that seem to have a harder time getting started in the morning. We are a grade A dairy and creamery. My goats are my livelyhood and thus to have product I must keep them healthy and do what I can afford and can handle to keep our farm running. We have had about 5 post-mortem done over 10 years.... and not one of them came back with a diagnosis of what was the problem. In fact after one of our big bucks died and the report came back with no results my husband looked at the vet and said," Then give me my goat back alive."

I know first hand doing a dairy is a hard life... no vacations and a lot of hard work. Our farm is paying our way through life... not so well but we survive. And we are always looking for ways to imporve and to cut back on costs so we can be sustainable. We loose goats sometimes often and other times not.... but I am always sympathetic with farmers and our life style. We try and do what is good and right for our farm and animals. Not because I am green, but because it works for us and seems to help our farm.

I think anyone that wants to start a dairy should go voluntieer at one with an open mind... Then go to the feed store and add up all the costs. You should talk to a local vet to see if he or she fits what your looking for. Then I think you should live one year on about $50 a week for the things you need to live on _ food, clothes, gas, vacations. Oh thats right there will never be a vacation as long as you own the dairy. Nor do you ever get to sleep in again. And if you hire people you will want to be able to keep them working cause they rely on you for thier $. I don't want to discourage anyone from doing a dairy but it wasnt as romantic as I thought it would be and our children havent been on a family vacation in 10 years. We have had college students come and voluntier here as I take time our of my schedual to teach them what I know. We have had neighbors help us with chores and birthing. Our friends have to come to the farm to see us as we can't be gone for more than a few hours each day. Granted I love our farm and our life.... and someday I'd like to relax....someday.

I am very passionate about our farm and encourge people to come out and see how we do things. I feel like since I have lived it - I am somewhat an expert on our farm operations. We have met so many people that have come and toured our farm, or that we have talked to at the farmers markets. I also teach cheese classes in our area, which people get to then tour our farm.

I think Farmers are a special breed of people. They hardly ever think of themselves and are very giving and generous people. They pride themselves in hard work and little complaining. They don't spend money on non essensals and seem to make farm work look easy. Farmers are Great People and if you have a chance to meet one.... Thank him or her for all the hard work they do......for you.

ok I am done with my soap box....

Rhonda

Canning and Car problems

2011-09-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well I canned 18 quarts of tomatoe sauce. My car died at Staples. Possibly needs a new starter. David went to Seattle to work Pikes Place Market and deliver cheese to the restuants today. I milked the does this morning and then had to try and give the big dogs some antibiotics due to ear infection. My daughter got fired from her job at the Credit Union where she has worked for 9 years. So now she can be home with her kids and possibly draw unemployment and sue the crap out of the credit union. They fired her with lies.
So alls well here at the dairy today. I have been planning the pie attack for our Thanksgiving dinner. So far there are about 20 diffent pies I am making. Well my daughter, Heather, is going to try and come up one day and help make pies. And our adopted grandma is going to help make some too.
We are doing the Steilcoom Apple Squeeze Festival this Sunday and I am praying we sell lots of cheese and make lots of money to pay to get my car fixed and to pay a few of our bills. The markets havent been paying the bills very well. It would be nice to have a really good one. Anyway it is all in Gods hands.
Got to go do chores will write more about our Thanksgiving Dinner and the preperation process to make it all come together - inbetween milking, cheese making, a cheese class, and packaging cheese.

2011-09-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well its wet and wild at the dairy today. I am canning beans, so far about 42 quarts. I have one more box to can before this next weekend.
I am going to make some chevre this evening. And I will try and package some cheese for the farmers markets this week.
The septic is working great. My old stove is wonderful and Danyel will not be riding the train anytime soon to Seattle. Alls well here.
David fixed a new gate to the meat goat pen... its easier to open and shut. He also got the houses set up for the goats to have shelter.
I also sent off some marinated feta to Florida this morning too. Its pretty exciting when I get an order from our web page.
My nigerian dwarf that I am milking is dropping off fast, I am getting about 1 cup. I am going to move her to everyother day milking for a bout a week then stop milking her. I will be getting a buck here this month so I can get those 6 nigerian dwarf does bred. Thier milk will be a very nice addition to my chevre.
Danyels pet rat died this weekend. He was a good pet. But I have one more to go -Ali's and then the basement will be ratless.... one less critter to clean up after.
Well have a great day and remember the rain brings green in Washington.

Trip to Mt. St. Helens and septic cleaned

2011-09-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well so far so good today. The septic tank will be drained to day around noon. I ran over and got some milk from Rocky Run Farm. I will make cheese this afternoon when I get home from a motorcycle ride up to Windy Ridge on Mt. St. Helens. I feed the goats and watered this morning and Danyel milked. I also checked on my feta draining and will work it this afternoon too.
I am going to enjoy the rest of the sunshine and have a relaxing afternoon. You all do the same thing.

Bad things come in Three's

2011-09-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was quite the day. Danyel and I got up at 6am to do chores. She milked and I did the watering and graining. Danyel came up from the basement and said there was water in front of her bedroom door. I asked is it coming from the bathroom and she said she didn't think so but it was to much water for the dogs to have made. I told her to get some towels and put them over it and I would check later. We left to go to the train station - Danyel was taking the train to Seattle to see Taylor her boyfriend for the day. Alls good. I ran to the farmstore to get some grain as we ran out and had to short the girls in the morning of thier grain. Its 12:30 and I am home. I looked at the peaches and pears and thought canning those today were in order. But I figured I could do that while the milk was pasturizing to make the Grande Rosa. So I go out and get the pasturizer going then head back in to can the fruit. Went downstairs to get some more jars and thought about the water...... Lordy! I opened the bathroom door and there was standing water on the floor and in the shower. So I thought that maybe the shower had dripped and the drain was plugged ... so I got the plunger and proceeded to use it.... yikes water comes shooting up and over flowing more and now its going fast out the bathroom door. So I put the plungger back onto the drain to try and slow that flow down. Ran up stairs and grabbed all the towels to put down to block the flow from spreading all over the floor. So I get that sort of under control and head back upstairs to wash jars and start canning. Phone rings, its a good friend who had told me she was coming over for a visit on Sunday - I forgot. I said great see you soon. No big deal I can do all these things at one time ---- right* Then the phone rings again and I have some local people that want to come for a tour at 1pm, I said sure. So the friend shows up about 12:15 and visited while I cut up my peaches and got them into the jar. I put the teapot on the stove to warm water up, but realizing the water in the canner wasn't to hot I just dumped the water from the teapot into the canner and put the teapot back onto the burner ( I didnt realize but I hadn't turned the burner off). Then the tour came and we all went outside to do the tour. I checked on the pastuizer to see where I was and then we went to the milk parlor to get my friend some milk for her dog that has arthritis and the milk seems to help. Then she left and I went on with the tour. I thought I should go check the canner but then decided it would be alright. OK, I came back to the house to get spoons for sampling to find the teapot had cooked and the plastic had melted ontot he stove and there was black smoke everywhere. I opened the window's and doors and turned the fans back on. I played it off with the people for the tour as not a big deal. The breaker had flipped so that was good. After the people left I assessed the damage.... Good by stove I had fried something. It wouldnt turn on. Ok no big deal we have an old stove in the barn we will clean up and bring in. Its about 3:35 now and David should be home in about 1/2 hour. I didn't tell him anything until he came into the house. He went down stairs and checked the basement and called our plumber. Then came upstairs to check out the stove. Yup I killed it. So he started getting it pulled out from the wall and then he went and got the old stove out. I started chores its 5pm. I thought about Danyel and she should be getting ready to board the train for home and would be here to do the feeding and watering this evening about 7pm. I was cleaning the parlor when David came out and said Danyel missed the train. And it was the last one for the day to get back home. She was going to stay with a friend down in Seattle. But now I would have to do all the chores. Ya! So I did. I also had to take down the chevre I had hanging too. During this time David and the Plumber guy are out trying to find the top to the septic tank... to no avail... now its dark and they decide to tackle it this afternoon. David did some of the chores this morning and I milked and did the rest. He is heading to Seattle for a special resturant order delivery and to pick up Danyel.
I cant use water or flush the toilet in the house. We are going to have to have the septic pumped out. Oh joy. $$$$$ its always about Money.
I am going to start a batch of feta today and clean out the bulk tank. Just to let you know the light at the end of the tunnel is a bike ride to Mt. St. Helens tomorrow on the motorcycle.

Cheese festival at Madison Market

2011-09-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I went to Seattle to Madison Market and did a demo with like 9 other cheese makers or reps. from thier farms. It was pretty fun. It was busy so time flew by. I demo'ed my chevre. I made a chevre fondue and a balsamic vinegar and honey reduction with dates in it for another and then the garlic and dill chevre. These were served with crackers and bread. I used 2 quarts of fondue and it was all gone by 3pm. It is really good. I took a regualar fondue and substitued my chevre for the cheese they called for. It was so tasty.
So yesterday was quite crazy in the morning. I got up at 5 to clean the parlor and the girls, Danyel and Katie (her friend) got up at 5:30 to load the goats and to feed and water. I started milking as soon as they had the girls penned. Danyel had the Olympia market to go to and David went to Proctor in Tacoma. So the girls got thier car loaded and animals taken care of and they came out and relieved me a t 6:30 so I could get dressed and load my car up for my trip to Seattle. I left at 7am and the girls were done milking at 6:50am. They came in and got dressed and left at 7:30 for Olympia. I got home about 6:30 pm and went out and cleaned the milk parlor and then started my chores. David got home a little before me and Danyel just a little before David. I knew if I sat down I would be asleep. So I hurried and got my chores done. I might add I was alittle ticked - no one was helping. David was counting the money and doing the books.... Danyel had a friend over and was talking....So when I got done - after I vented a little _ I went to the neighbors to have a glass of wine and get away from the farm. I came home about 10pm and went to bed.
Today Danyle milked the morning cause she is taking the train to Seattle to hang with her boyfriend who is going to college up there. She will be home tonight about 7:30 and will feed and water the goats. I will milk the girls.
I have to get two batches of cheese made today. I have 45 gallons of milking pasturizing for my Grande Rosa batch and then I will drain the bulk tank and make feta this evening. I also have peaches to can today and pears and also try and get some strawberry jam made. The house will be quiet so I should be able to work hard today. Then tomorrow I am going on a motorcycle ride up to Windy Ridge on Mt. St.. Helens with John our adoped grandpa.
Well got to go get Danyel off on the train and then run and get some grain for milking tonight then back to the cheese making, canning and of course dishes washed.

Labor Day

2011-09-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today we are changing our front room around. We found a good deal on a new older couch and a recliner. So we moved the old couch outside and I shampooed the carpet. The new furniture will be here this afternoon.
I have found some rennet... right in my back yard - Seattle. The cheese connection. They are actually bringing it to me on thier way out of town. A gallon! Ya! so they are going to tour and taste my cheese too. Then I have some people coming from Shelton for a tour today too.
I am planning on making some Chevre today and then tomorrow make some more feta.
I did all the milking yesterday as Danyel went and spent the day with her boyfriend and his family. David was at the farmers market.
It was quiet here and I didn't do a whole lot. Just caught up on some of my house cleaning.
I have cancelled the Sept. 17th cheese class - due to my over booking events. I will be in Seattle at the Madison Market for a Cheese Festival. David and Danyel will be at farmers markets.
Our Nigerian goats are slimming down and starting to look like they are suppose to. Scarlet is the one I am still milking. She doesnt have to be led anymore she knows they way to the stanchion by her self. Knight the llama is being a good boy and is gentle. I am still scared of him though.
Our dogs are all doing well too.
I thought labor day was a day off, but it seems we are working more than usual. Such is farm life. David is out scraping our driveway and smoothing things over. It looks good but is really dusty and noisy.
I milked the goats this morning and then came in and visited with Danyel about yesterday. She had a good time.

A Cool Day in Aug.

2011-08-31T10:53:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-18T11:12:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-06T08:51:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-08-02T20:26:00.001-07:00

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!

2011-08-01T22:32:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-01T12:30:00.001-07:00

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

A cheese work day

2011-07-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

I have packaged 5 restaurant orders already, all the plain feta for the weekend. And now I need to hang my chevre and I am making a batch of Grande Rosa. A tour should show up any time to visit the farm. I milked the goats this morning too. Will post more this afternoon.

Evening at Work

2011-07-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

I just cleaned the milk parlor and Danyel is milking tonight... Ya! Justin is out helping her and babysitting her I think. I am heading out to the processing plant to cut up some grande rosa for a restaurant and some for the market tomorrow. I also have to package marinated feta and lemon and honey chevre. I am only going to do what needs to be done tonight. I have 7 orders for this weekend... for restaurants. So tomorrow I will be busy packaging. Got my chevre made today so I will hang it tomorrow morning. I have a tour tomorrow too. Justin did all the watering tonight and even carried a bag of grain into the milk parlor. What a great Grandchild he is.
David got hay today and also hooked up the brush hog onto the tractor. He is going to teach Justin how to mow the field. Justin can't wait. He is 10 and all farm boy.

Thousand trails campground

2011-07-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

We took the grandkids up to see grandparents Riders yesterday. They were at Thousand Trails in Centraila. The weather was kind of cool under the trees, but the pool area was warm, still no sun though. The kids spent most of thier time splashing, squirting and jumping into the water. As for the older ones we all sat around the pool watching and chatting. It was a nice break from the farm. I milked in the morning and evening and we had Girl Scout Garbage for dinner - something I learned to make when I was a leader...It was very good. Made Justin take a spitz bath as his leg. The boys have been sleeping in the tent for the last week. Sure makes the house quiet. The granddaughters slept in the house due to Danyels fall. They were happy about that anyway.
My bucks are going crazy... so many girls to pick from in the herd. We will have early babies next year. Thats good cause the resturants want thier cheese...
Markets this weekend were pretty good. Thats nice since we were feeding more mouths than normal. God always has a way. Well I am making cheese today - Chevre- 52 gallons. Its quick and easy to make. We are still having problems with getting Animal Rennet though. So I use mine very sparingly... if that is possible. I will go on ebay today and order another pint while I wait for our usual supplier to get my gallon. This has never happened before so its really strange to be in such a spot. Well have a great day... all is well at the dairy!

The day after

2011-07-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

Danyel dr visit was pretty simple, he gave her a muscle relaxer and said she wrenched her shoulder. That was a good report. She is feeling better and moving the arm a little more.
Today the four grandsons went to the farmers market with Papa. He had a record day selling but the boys wore him out. The girls and I relaxed until about 10am - after doing chores and milking the goats. Then we went to the store to pick up Danyels meds. - they didn't have them so we ran some more erronds and went to the dr's office and they said they would send it over again and it should be there when we get there. So we drove back to the store and they still didn't have the perscription... so Danyel told them we would get them tomorrow. We went to some garage sales on the way home and found some treasures. Shawn, my son and his girlfriend came this evening to pick up two of the six grandkids. Its way to hot to do chores yet so I think I will start dinner and feed everyone before we do chores.
Right now the two youngest grandsons are playing basketball with Papa and the three older ones are playing the Wii. And Nana is resting.

Danyel to the Dr.

2011-07-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

David is taking Danyel to the Dr. right now to make sure something isnt broken. She did the market today and said it hurt pretty bad most of the day even being on asprin. I am heading out to clean the milk parlor and load my girls up... the grandkids will all help.. ya for the extra hands today. I took the boys and Katline to the steam train ride today and I think they had a good time... I had to drop them off and have Katline babysit the boys so I could run to Olympia and pick up the girls after market. Then had to run Katie home for her sisters Birthday party and back home - where I am now.

BBQ/ Cheese Class

2011-07-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well the morning started off pretty busy. I was up at 5:30am and headed out to clean the milk parlor. One of Danyel's friends spent the night and so she did the milking for me. I had to label some cheese for Danyel to go to market and then get ready for the cheese class. I had my booklets to still put together and the house needed vaccumed, mopped and swept. Then the table and chairs put out for the class. I made lunch, Chicken Broccoli Braid. The was cooking the chicken arranging and mixing the ingredents together so that I could put it in the oven at 11:30 so we could eat on time. I had to wash dishes in the processing plant from packaging and making cheese the day before. Oh did I mention 3 of my grandsons from 14 - 7 were here too. I told them to play games down stairs and stay hid during my cheese class. Those boys were amazing they were quiet and we never heard or saw them the whole 4 hours...
The class went great, there was 10 people in the class and they all enjoyed themselves. The cheese all worked and the luch was wonderful. We took the tour of the farm and everyone was on thier way by 2pm. Then I started with Katies help to clean up the house again _ to get ready for the BBQ at 6pm. I made potatoe salad (10# of potatoes - 1 dozen eggs - 1large walla walla onion - and about 8 dill pickles). I had to unthaw the 4 pounds of hamburger and make patties. Katie was working right beside me most of the afternoon. Amazing we were ready when family started showing up. David and Danyel were at markets all day. So when David got home he was the BBQ man. I ran over and cleaned the milk parlor so the kids could milk, feed and water the goats. Boy I was so tired. Then it happened after milking was done..... Danyel fell off the manuer mountain and hit her head and hurt her shoulder.... One of the grandsons came running over and said Danyel fell and hurt herself and can't get up.. well visions of -not suger plums- danced in my head... I start yelling should I call 911 but David said no and helped Danyel up and thus we put ice on her, checked her back out and arms - nothing was broke. But she says it really hurts and so she has her arm in a sling and taking some asprin. After this mis hap, the two girls helped or actaully did the rest of the labeling and weighing of the about 80 pieces of cheese for market today. David loaded the car up for Danyel and did his own too. And then I went to bed and the girls did too. We put the boys in a tent outside...
This moring Danyel said she couldn't drive cause it hurt to much to turn her head. Its was 5:30am. Plan B... we went into action the girls all got up and we got right onto the chores, I cleaned the parlor and the girls loaded the goats and fed the rest of them. The boys got up at 6:45 and did t he watering. I finished milking the does at 7:25am and then I told the boys to eat breakfast and stay in the house so I could run the 3 of the 4 girls to Olympia to sell cheese today. Danyel is there supervising and Kiara and Katie are selling cheese and taking care of Danyel. I am now back home and Katline did a fine job of babysitting while I was gone. Now my plans for the rest of the day is to take the 5 grandchildren for a ride on the steam train in Chehalis at 1pm today. I will go and pick up the girls in Olympia as close to 3 as I can. Then back home to unload, inventory and then onto chores. I will be doing chores tonight....Danyel is kind of out of it.... I will have to do all the milking until she feels better. It looks like I might have to do Fri. and Sat. Olympia Market next week too.....
Well that is the exciting evening and morning at Blue Rose Dairy

2011-07-22T18:06:00.005-07:00

3 of 3
tired but still moving

2011-07-22T18:06:00.003-07:00

2 of 3
this morning and with the class. Now family is coming over for a BBQ this evening. 6 grandchildren are spending the night. I am

2011-07-22T18:06:00.001-07:00

1 of 3
The cheese class went great. The cheese turned out and the lunch was a hit too. Katie our neighbour, came and helped with milking

The end of the Day

2011-07-21T19:19:00.001-07:00

Well I packaged about 150 pieces of cheese today. I just got done cleaning the parlor so Danyel can milk tonight. I bought a frozen lazana for dinner , its in now heating up. Green salad, ranch cressing and some mixed veg. and some french bread. Yum! The three grandsons did the watering and I will go do the graining of the few goats we have that don't get milked. We also have a White Irish Dexter calf she is 8 months old... she isn't white her name is Ebony - she pulled all the black from the ears and hooves of the mom and dad. I will milk her and make butter and use the cream. She is just for our use. Well I need to go finish my processing plant clean up and then I will lable and weigh the cheese while watching TV tonight. I have to also put my cheese class books together. I have 12 people coming tomorrow morning at 10am - 2pm for the cheese making class.

2011-07-21T09:33:00.001-07:00

Just testing my new phone posts|

Starting A New.....

2011-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hello to all, I want to start a new and start posting here rather than on facebook. You know when you get a really icky taste in your mouth and its totally awful???? I just had the experiance with facebook and I think the blog is much more fun and safer.
I am heading out to the processing plant to hang some chevre today. I have to first clean my cheese cloth and throw them in the washing machine... then hang the cheese. I didn't get done making it till about 11:30 pm last night so I have no big hurry to get it hung this morning.
I cleaned the bulk tank yesterday too. I have made 3 batches of cheese this week. 2 chevre and one feta.
Speaking of feta I need to drain it and resalt it today and then put it into the buckets into the cooler for 5 days.
I have a bunch of packaging to do today too. And then I will label and and weigh it tonight.
We are in the Olympia Farmers Market 4 days this year and we will sell all the way until Dec. 24.
We are also up at Pikes Place too, only on Fridays. Tomorrow David is just going to Seattle to deliver cheese and then come home. We are also at the Tacoma Proctor Market and the Steilicoom Market. We have picked up a bunch of resturants this season too.
We are milking about 40 does and have about 89 goats this year. We had a really bad winter sort or Spring. We bought about 20 goats from Spokane area and lost all but 5 from something that is passed like HIV from one goat to another and it effects the birthing - aborted babies and then the doe dies... Nasty stuff. So we are way down in goats... but it was Gods way to help take our herd down to a number that I can manage by myself - mostly.
Both of our last of 9 daugthers graduated this June, one stayed home to help with the farm the other flew off to Texas to go to school and help her sister by babysitting thier 1 year old, my grandson.
I am planning on going to Africa in January to help get the ball rolling on a dairy and processing plant in Rwanda. it should be fun and I already know lots of work. Don't know the time frame yet of how long I will be over there.
Well I think that is enough up date for now.... plenty more to add later.

New Year.... or is it

2010-07-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

hello everyone... its been a while. Life here at the dairy is quite busy. We are in 10 farmers markets a week. I am making cheese 3 days a week and doing 3 markets a week,. David is working the other 7 and our soon to be (HOPE HOPE) daughter-in-law is doing our Longview market. We are milking 66 goats and have about 120 goats on our dairy. Ali now has 40 chickens and is selling thier eggs. Well I have to go check on my cheese that I am making today. Hope I can get back on this blog soon to fill you in on whats else has been happening.

Catch up to date

2010-04-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well so much has happened. I'll say we have been busy as bee's around the farm. Our Anatolian shepards puppies are all sold but one - a female - Lea.
I am a grandma again. I flew to Austin Texas to be with Tami and Mike for thier first baby. They were not due until March and so I had bred my goats to kidd the first part of Feb. and to hopefully be done by the first part of March. Well they enduce my daughter and I had to fly out the 9th of Feb. And the goats kidded in 9 days as soon as I was off the ground in the plane. David and Ali were the only ones home and our Intern Francis from Texas arrived the day before I flew out. They all did good with the kidding season - 130 kids romping on the ground. I came home the first week in March - proud grandma of a new grandson - Erick.
When I got home I hit the ground running. Almost all the babies were sold before I got home which ment I had to make cheese. Our Farmers Markets started the end of March. We were ready and David was off to make money. We are signed up for 10 markets again. Longview(Sat), Olympia (Thur. & Fri), Tacoma (Tue, Thur., Sat., Sun), Stilecoom (Wed), Des Moinse (Sat), Pikes Place (Fri). And possibly the Market in Winlock too.
Francis is helping alot, he has gone to farmers markets and will be going to a wine tour, college presentation. He lives here with us and helps around the farm. He as got to make cheese and lable, weight and sell it. He is a nice young man and I think he will go far.
We introduce a new package to our sales its a sample pack consisting of Chevre, Garlic & Dill Chevre, Feta, and Marinated Feta its price range is from $10 - $20, and they are selling well.
We are milking 56 does and bottle feeding 23 kids. I am currently making cheese 3 times aweek. When we wean the kids in two weeks that will give 40 more gallons a week for that 4th batch of cheese. We have picked up a few more resturants so I am busy packaging for that too.
Well I will catch you up more in a few days.

I am BACK!

2010-01-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Its been along time since I got on the computer to blog. Most of that was that I was sort of depressed about out situation and thought we were going to loose the farm. Its not a big deal to loose the farm, its loosing all the work we have put into it. Anyway the bank decided to give us another chance. I am here again saying things look bleak again. This time of year everything slows down and we have not enough sales to sustain the farm. So bills get unpaid and we get notices.... we pray God will bring in the money to let us keep going for one more year. Anyway so much for the sad news....
Kidding should start in about 3 weeks. We are down to about 90 goats here at the dairy. Which is alright... less hooves to trim and less feed to feed. We cleaned the barn this last week and have new shavings on the floor. We have all the baby pens now cleaned and ready for kids. We thought our first goat started labor about 1 week ago and so off to the vets we went to see if we needed a C-Section or what. We got the what..... took her home and gave her some penicillin and she is fine and now out with the herd. We have started graining in the milk parlor (1 month prior kidding) and adding our apple cider vinegar and their kelp,dolomite lime, linseed and soybean mix on the grain. Training the yearlings how to go through the parlor is such a fight. Hopefully by the time they kid they will have it down.
We were featured at Ray's Boathouse restaurant a few weeks ago... we got to talk to each table when our course came up. It was really neat.
We shipped Ali off to Texas to spend a month with her sister. So Danyel and I got to get into a routine for two. Ali is back and Danyel ships out tomorrow for her month. This is these girls vacation. Their sister and her husband are spoiling them rotten.
We are having some plumbing done today too. Our ceiling in the spare room downstairs fell .... from a leak in the bathroom upstairs. My son and husband did all they could do to fix it and now we have a plumber working on it. So we haven't' had any water all day yesterday and today. Dishes are high and can't wait to get the kitchen cleaned.
We will go out and start chores at 4:30. And I have to start dinner too.
The wind was really loud and strong last night. No damage to anything at the farm.
I also was a Grandma in October to my 8th granddaughter.... she was born on my birthday too. I got to be in the room when she was born in the pool in the birth room. How cool is that. Her name is Samantha. Mom and Dad and baby and brother are all doing fine. Nana too! (me)
Well I'll write more hopefully soon and add some pictures on too.

A Long Stretch without a Word

2009-08-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

Heather our #2 daughter due the end of October.

And a goat accident that ended with having her bag sewn up. (Story below)

Trip to the Zoo for David's birthday. His brother and parents came with us. The puppies are ready for new homes and are eating us out of farm and milk. (16 pounds of puppy food and 2 gallon of milk a day)

Got to deliver a baby for a friend. Both neighbor and goat are doing well.

Heather, her sister, is pinning Danyel at her Civil Air Patrol ceremony. Aug. 29.
Danyel is now ahead of Ali in rank!

My new front door screen is done. My dad built it for me and stained it to match the deck. It is really great to be able to open the front door and turn the fan on and no flys come in - or puppies.

Since I'v not wrote in such a long while, I thought photo's would be the best way to sum up the last three weeks. We have been very busy and I have been very tired. All our farmers markets are going well. We finished Stilecoom which was only a 9 week market (thier first year), it went very well. I went to the last market with David so that the folks there could meet the cheese maker in person. It was a great market, both financially and community.

The girls got to go flying again in the power plane. We have just bought the first airline ticket for Ali to go to Texas in December. She'll be gone from the 16 to Jan 13. Talk about excited these two girls cant wait. Danyel will go the middle of Jan. to the middle of Feb. They both picked the best time when we are not milking or kidding to go.

We got news that we are going to be grandparents again. Heather is due the end of October and Tami our daughter in Texas is due in March. So I will be heading to Texas the first of March for a week. This is right when we start kidding at the farm. Danyel will then have to earn thier keep while I am gone.

One of the sort of suttle notes I have mentioned was the financial part of our dairy. What I didn't say was we were a thread away from loosing the dairy. But the bank has decided to give us another chance. I am so thankful to MY GOD for blessing us with this dairy and our way of life. We have worked so hard these last six years (in Dec.) to loose it all. We are now looking at servicing about 12 resturants, we are currently working 9 farmers markets. So we are here for another year at least.

My parents went on vacation for a week and I had to go back and start labeling cheese again. WoW! Its true you don't know what you have till its gone (even if its for only a week). We have talked to a young girl that loves animals and has helped us out before - to see if she would like to come to the dairy this spring and help with the kidding and maybe lable some cheese for me.

I was suppose to go to Africa in October, but that has been post poned until Jan. or Feb. as the cheese processing plant hasn't been finished yet and will take longer than they expected. So that is a good postponement though... . gives me more time to make cheese and get it stored away for winter.

We went to a friends 70th wedding anniversary. That was alot of fun. Got to see people I hadn't seen a long time.

The goat - So here is the story. We went out to milk in the morning and everything was great. But the evening milking was interesting. Danyel came to the processing plant to tell me a goat had a hole in her bag. I am thinking she got poked with a stick kind of hole. When I got there - there was milk and blood comng out of the same space. It looked like someone had cut her teat almost off and straight across. I was on the phone to the vet and had the doe loaded into the truck in about 15 min. Our vet sewed up inside her bag and the outside. The picture is at the vets right after he got done sewing her up. The goat is doing great, she has mastitis on the hurt side - but the vet said that would happen. We are still milking both sides. She had her stitches taken out on Friday and is out in the pasture with the other goats.

The puppies have gotten their shots, wormed and are growing leaps and bounds. We let them run around the farm twice a day and then get them back into thier pens with goat milk.

We will start breeding does in Sept. and that should start kidding in Feb. this year. And the cycle starts again. We will dry up the does the middle to end of November. That will give every one thier vacation.

We started homeschooling three weeks ago so that the girls won't have to do schoolwork in Texas. They will each take two classes at the High School this year. Danyel is taking woodshop and keyboarding, Ali is taking Biology and Drawing. It will work out great as its the last two classes of the day so they can ride the bus home. We will get Danyel's permit for driving so she can get her license when she is 18 in May.

Well I hope this makes everyone happy, cause I know you'v been wondering whats going on with Blue Rose Dairy.

Stressing Week

2009-07-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

Our front door complete!~ The goats and puppies meeting!

How time flys when your having fun. Its been two weeks since I last wrote you. Well I can assure you I wasn't sitting around tanning on the deck (not that I didn't think about it). We have been busy beavers here. Those 8 markets a week sure keep me hoping and I am not gaining on my cheese supply. It seems as fast I make it, its selling. I haven't been faithful with my three batches a week, which might explain some of my wow's. Its a good delema to have but means more work for me. Such is life. I am going to go backward this time.

Yesterday it was HOT! David put a sprinkler on top of our huge barn to keep the roof cooled down, we have a swamp cooler (David made it) in the barn too. We have a sprinkler keeping the ground wet in the bucks pen. And the girls have been going out three times a day to fill water buckets. So far the goats are fairing pretty good. Had one come down with diahreah but she seems to be doing good now. We gave a tour to our neighbors family yesterday. I am not sure but I think the puppies trump the goats. They sampled cheese and loved it. Gave our business cards out so they could find us at some of the markets.

Sat. the market was good, David went and introduced himself to some more resturants in the Pikes Place Vacinity. Hopefully we'll hear back from some. And I held my 2nd cheese class for the year - one more to go. Everyone seemed to have learned the lesson and was ready to go home and make thier first batch of cheese. I haven't heard back from any yet. I had 25 people come for the class. One couple who own a tavern/resturant came and spent the night in thier camper at the farm. They were awsome people. David and I enjoyed their company so much. We stayed up till 12:30pm visiting. The funny story about Nancy and Chris happened early in the morning, about 4:30am. Nancy heard the rooster crow and thought I was yelling "Nancy and Chris", She shot up out of bed checking the windows in the camper seeing if she could see anything. She woke Chris up and he told her it was a rooster and she tried to convince him it was me yelling for them. She thought I had cut off my arm or something and needed thier help. She finally layed back down. Chris said he didn't go back to sleep and when we went out to milk goats at 5am he came out to help and take pictures. So by the end of the day they were both pretty tired. What a great couple. Hope we get to visit with them more.

All day Friday I was getting things ready for the cheese class. Made my soup and in the afternoon I took all the stuff down to the grange hall and set it up. We or I should say the girls shampooed my rugs. We had a farm tour, a young couple from Idaho, Boise. They sampled our cheese and asked a bunch of questions. They want to do a small scale dairy someday. Danyel and Ali went over to the neighbors for a birthday/swim/sleep over. They came home in time to milk the goats and we traded children. Ali went to thier house for the night and Katie came here to help at the farm. Our guest arrived about 8:30pm from Tacoma. David got home about 9pm - took him 4 hours to drive home from Seattle. Our guests brought Pizza for dinner from thier resturant....Yum Yum!

Thur. Our Markets were really good. I brought home a couple new plants - one is a red seedless grape. I am so excited. David brought home veg.'s. Yum! We were tired so things went well and bed came soon.

Wed. David started the Tumwater market and Danyel and I finished it. David and Ali headed for Stilecoom for the 3-7pm market. This was the first time since it started that Ali got to hear the concert. Each time she has gone the threat of rain loomed and they moved it in doors.

Tue. I had a 4-H meeting so we could plan our fair decorations. It went well and I was back on track getting ready for the cheese class. Mom and Dad came over and helped lable and weigh cheese. Dad is building screen doors for the house and he sure enjoys it. It will look so nice when its done. He is about ready for the screens. We'll paint it before he does that though.

Monday - David and I went to Intel @ DuPont to demo our cheese to the employees there. It was a nice afternoon. And hopefully we'll be getting some cheese orders from them too. I got up at 5am and made cheese before we left. We also had a new refrigeration unit delivered. We bought it from Black Sheep Creamery. Its big and will sure help with storage of my cheese. It actually all came together too.

Sunday -We all went to church. David and I ran to Cash and Carry and got some supplies. We ran to the fabric store and I bought some muslin to try on my cheese. (It worked great too!) I made 2 gallons of yogurt and Mom and dad cmea at about 3:30 to help lable and weigh cheese for me.

Sat. My daughter came to pick up Kiara, my granddaughter. I was so tired from doing market and the heat. I don't think I was in a very good mood when I got home. I found my house a total mess. After I had paid the girls to clean it on Thur. It all ended alright with saying I am sorry, but what a stress out! Oh yes, a main water line broke in the basement and flooded the carpet again. This happened when we were at market and the girls were home. They couldn't tell where the water was coming from. When David got home at 4pm he called a plumber and they fixed it for a couple hundred dollars. We had the fans and such down there trying to dry out the carpet. The girls helped David move all the funiture and and stuff into the library. Now my basement is a total mess.

Friday. I was getting cheese ready for Sat. markets. Had alot of packaging and lableing and weighing to do. Mom and Dad were here to help.

So I think that gets us up to this week now.

Have a great week. Stay Cool! but enjoy the Sunshine.

The new Chevre Flavor

2009-07-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

This is the before of the front door and the other photo is what it looks like now!

Hello: As usual its been crazy around here. We sold about 400 pieces of cheese last week not counting the yogurts or restaurant orders. We are packaging and weighing alot of cheese.
Our new cheese is, "Summer Breeze" Its a chevre with fresh zest of a lemon and then the juice from the lemon and some fireweed honey. Its been the big seller this last week.

This is a picture of two of our puppies eating breakfast. The other picture is the garden in front of my milk parlor this year.

Last week we had a grange meeting at the Porters Patch, we watched a 4-H club do some horse demonstrations and at great food. Wed. we did our two markets, Tumwater and Stielacoom - the weather was pretty iffy all day. But the markets did pretty good. Thur I did the Olympia market and I did pretty good. David did the Broadway market in Tacoma. When he got home he had to turn around and head for Olympia for a schoolboard meeting. David had such a headache it was a good thing he was a passenger not the driver. He has been having this headache for a few days and that makes it hard for him to sleep. I made cheese on Wed. Friday and on Sunday. David didn't do the Pikes Place Market this week cause his head was hurting to bad. So he stayed home and supervised the finishing of the painting of our house and deck. Sherwin came on Friday and helped package and make some Grande' Rosa and Pepper. Mom and Dad were here labeling the cheese and weighing for me. We were done with all the extras by about 6pm and then we did chores and ate dinner. We then packed up our car and truck for market.

Sat. I was in Puyallup and David was in Longview. When we got home about 4pm the girls had already started miking the goats. We were done unloading and getting things ready to go to Rainier Daze in Rainier, Oregon for the Fireworks at 9pm. We met our daughter and her husband and their three kids and my son and his girlfriend and her two kids and saw a bunch of our old friends. It was a great fireworks and the company was great. We got home about 12pm with our granddaughter. We had to be in Tacoma for Art on the Ave. event at 9am.

Sunday I got up at 5am to get the parlor cleaned and start loading and cutting samples for the event we were going to today. It ran from 11-5pm. We did alright but the music was really loud and that made David's headache even worse. So he went to the truck and slept and I worked the event. We packed up at 5pm and headed for home. David and I stopped on the way home to eat some Mexican food and relax. When we got home David went to lay down and I unloaded the truck and counted inventory. The girls had to give a tour on Sunday while I was gone and from their report it went well. So all in all the week was a success.

Monday we just kind of hung out. I went and got our weeks worth of grain. David ran and got dog food. David had a DR. apt in Longview for his headache's and Ali had Waldo castrated today so she can take him to the fair this year and her cart. The girls milked early so they could go to the movies at 8pm - Ice Age. Picked them up at 10pm. They went to bed and so did I.

Today I have to hang chevre and package and weigh an label cheese. My parent who usually help me are visiting some friends and won't be here to help till Friday this week.

I hope I haven't tired many of you with my week. I actually feel pretty good. David is on his way to 6th Ave market in Tacoma and I am working in the cheese room.

Have a great Week and relax when you can and work hard when you need too.

A Weather Change

2009-07-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

Good Morning;

Well its been about one week since I wrote to you all. So lets do the usual catch up.

We gained a new Restaurant - Il Fiasco in Tacoma is now using our cheese. We are scheduled to do a Sustainable Farming talk at Intel at DuPont, Wash. next week. Our markets are busy. The newest Market we picked up is Stilecoom and its a really fun market to do. We sold 350 pieces of cheese last week. WOW! My parents come over on Tue and Friday to help label cheese and weigh it for me. Other wise I'd be up all night. My yogurt is selling like hotcakes too. I made 7 gallons of it this last week and only had two people didn't pick up their orders.

Danyel was in the Egg Day Parade on the Hope Grange Float. The girls had fun attending the parade in Winlock and checking out all the fun things going on.

Our puppies are growing like weeds. They are so rolly polly. They are eating about 1/2 gallon of goat milk and baby cereal mixed with it twice a day. What they don't eat Cloe does. Our milking is going well. The goats are getting wormed today. I use a pour on wormer and I watch for shaggy goats and then worm - it comes out to maybe two or three times a year. Ali has been working with her cart...... as you see in the picture. She has hooked her goat up a few times this week.

The 4th of July is a very stressful event around the dairy. David and I walk to all our neighbors and explain why shooting off fireworks is harmful to our dairy and the big rockets that boom. Our goats as usual ran from one side of the barn to the other trying to escape the booms and the flashes of light. One family around us did the fireworks thing and they had ammunition from the reservation. David stayed up until 3am to try and keep a handle on the upset goats. Needless to say they were very tired the next morning and production was down. Most of our neighbors understand and comply. But you always have to have a few that are compost.

I made three batches of cheese this week - in two days. I don't know where times goes but I have looked for it under the bed and in the dryer and cant seem to locate the hours I'v lost this week. I have to say the weather was so great this week. But the rains or at least showers are coming back for a quick reminder - and that's alright too. I work inside when the weather is bad. I am starting my veg. and meat diet again after taking a week off. I just need to cleanse my body of toxins - so maybe I can gain a little energy and feel ready to run away with the wind. Ha! Ha!. My granddaughter is coming to spend a week here at the farm next week. She is a sweety. My daughters really enjoy her too.

This week is always playing catch up. We may be going down to Tacoma for the ART ON THE AVE on Sunday.... but we are trying to move scheduals around. Ali may be getting baptized on Sunday and we won't miss that. Also the girls have thier goat class this Sunday on Breeding.

You have a great week and I'll be chatting with you all next week.

A New Cart for Ali

2009-06-29T10:35:00.001-07:00

A trip to the zoo for Father's Day

A bunch of Fluff!

This is the Good Life!

Ali and Waldo and her New Pink Cart!

Good Morning:

Well Blue Rose Dairy has been busy this week. We are doing 8 markets a week. We picked up our 10th market on Wed. at Steilacoom. We sold 350 pieces of cheese this week which is up from last week by 20 pieces. We are supplying cheese to 94th Stewart Restaurant in Seattle, Country Folks Deli & Bistro in Longview. And will have about two more restaurants ordering this next week.

I made Chevre this week as well as Black Jewels, N.W. Comfort, Grande' Rosa and Pepper Rosa. As well as 9 gallons of yogurt. We are naming our yogurt "Goat- Gurt". My parents came over on Tue. and Friday and helped label and weigh cheese. This is a family affair for sure.

Our house looks so nice. My brother will come after the 4th of July and finish the trim and deck. One of our refrigerators went out this last week. I am down to three refrigerators and its hard to keep everything cool. We are going to go next week and buy another refrigerator. (One of those is in my house). Today we got me a industrial style Kitchen Aid mixer. David will take my other one and have it refurbished so I can move it into the house. The bigger one will work great in the processing plant.

We had a new great niece born this last week too. Cassandra had her baby. Congrad's to You.

It seems we keep running around here. I don't think I get much time to rest. We are still homeschooling too.

Danyel took her dog, Maggie and had her spayed on Monday. So she has been on bed rest for this week - the dog.

I should make note the girls are paying for these things themselves. I still can't believe Ali saved $500 for that cart.

Fathers Day was spent at the Zoo in Portland. Heather and Jamie and our grandson CJ met us there. I had made a picnic lunch to eat at the Zoo. We had chicken, salads, rolls, cookies. It was a great day to visit the zoo.

Well enough. I have to get dinner done so we can go see Star War's at 9:45pm tonight.

Have a great evening and think of me at 5am cleaning the parlor and getting ready for a busy day tomorrow.

New Look to Blue Rose Dairy

2009-06-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

My brothers business
Before

After

Well I guess the biggest news is our house. My parents paid my brother to paint my house. Well this week was the week. They worked on it for 5 days and then the rain came so they will be back to finish the last of the trim and stain the deck.

It looks great! Thanks mom and dad and Steven.

The farmers markets are going well. We are all feeling tired but still going strong. We pick up our tenth market on Wed. of this week. People are looking for us and the Chefs at the markets are using our cheese to demonstrate with. That's great. The more people know how to use our cheese the better for us. We have picked up a couple more small restaurants. Keeping up with making cheese three days a week is quite the challenge. I need to stay home those days and that almost seems impossible. There is always something pulling me away from the farm. Anyway it is getting done. I am not getting a head though as we seem to be selling it about as fast as I make it. One of our refrigerators went out so I am down to three refrigerators and that doesn't hold all my cheese. So I am having to package more cheese than usual. A friend has an extra refrigerator and they are going to sell it to us... soon I'll have my fourth back.

The car's water hose to the heater broke the other day and it goes to the doctor on Monday to get fixed. Danyel is having her dog, Maggi fixed on Monday too.

Ali went and ordered her goat cart this last week and it will be here this next weekend, florescent pink with a pink seat too. She can't wait. She saved up $450 and bought it.

Today is Father's day, Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads. So for David's gift we go to the Zoo. This year its to the Portland Zoo. A long time ago we asked David's parents to buy our family a zoo pass and they have done it ever since. We use to go all the time --- but farm life and cheese making and Farmers Markets keep us from enjoying it very often. But David's favorite place is the zoo. So we will be leaving as soon as the milking and chores are done.

Danyel just came in and said Waldo (Ali's cart goat with big horns) just had one of my younger boar bucks stuck in his horn and now the buck can't walk. So David is moving him to a pen. And Waldo is going to have a pasture all to himself. Possibly one more goat to add to the butcher pot too. (Not waldo - I already threatened Ali with that and he was saved last year).

There is never a dull moment on the farm that's for sure.

The puppies eyes are starting to open. We have to chain Cloe in the pen - she wants to hide the puppies. We don't let anyone in the pen so she will feel more protected. Once the eyes are all open she won't want to move them anymore. Those babies are chunky and cute. I don't have a new picture of them yet. As soon as their eyes are open I'll post another one. Heather has picked her puppy out and we have picked ours out. So now the litter is open to get your puppy. We are doing a stimulus package special $1500 a puppy.

Both parents are working and are AKC

They can leave in one and a half months from now. So Aug 1 they are available to take home.

The girls babysat some friends animals this last week. So every evening after chores we drove over to their house and fed their animals and watered their plants. We had their milk doe at our house too. They got home yesterday and had to come right over - bearing gifts of Thanks. I even got something. That was so sweet of them.

Oh yes I started a cleansing diet this last week. Candida. Anyway I am feeling better and its been a challenge. I can eat veg. and meat. I am doing well on it. I haven't killed anyone yet so that is good. My mom is on the Atkins diet for a few months too. So its good to have someone to talk to about the NOT EATING.

The girls and Amanda (sort of an adopted daughter) gave a goat clinic this last weekend and they had about 10 people come to it. It was great. The girls each gave demonstrations about different things and then they followed up with a tour of the dairy and some cheese tasting. The comments the kids got after the class encouraged them to do some more classes. So if your wanting to learn more about goat care from some down to earth kids that have been there done that and are still doing it - this is a few classes that you'll want to check out. They are doing four classes each with a different topic and they are not connected so you can take the ones that interest you. They are charging $20 for each class.

#1 Breeding July 12th from -2-5pm

#2 Goat Nutrition Aug. 9th- 2-4pm

#3 Goat Hoof Trimming Aug. 23 -2-4pm

#4 General Goat Class Sept. 13 - 2-5pm

My next cheese class is fast approaching too. So if you haven't sent in your money do so cause there are more than 25 that want to attend. It will be first come first serve. Thanks to for all the participation in those classes.

Well I'll stop with the news and say have a Great Day and smell the roses.

Puppies and Cheese!

2009-06-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is Cloe and her puppies on 6/12/09

Good Morning:

I thought I'd up date you since the puppies change so fast.

On Wed. we got our cheese ready to go to Olympia and Broadway in Tacoma. We packed the cars that night ready to leave Thur. am.

The markets on Thur went well. People were buying for graduation parties - so that went very well. David brought home from his market strawberries and I brought home smoked salmon. We had strawberry shortcake and garlic and dill chevre and salmon on bread --YUM! On my way home from Olympia I had to run out to Adna and pick up two rounds of our aged cheese so David could take them Friday to a new Restaurant - 94th st. Restaurant in Seattle. Danyel and Ali cleaned the house while they were home. We unloaded cheese and started chores. Then I could sit down and relax.

Friday I was swamped with cheese.... had to package, label and cut, about 250 pieces. My parents came over and helped me cause I wasn't going to get done. Danyel's last day for Biology. One less place to drive to everyday. We will continue homeschooling through the summer - just three days a week and only work on three subjects.

The girls are babysitting a friends farm so each evening after our chores we drive 6 miles and go do their chores. Luckily they don't have near as many animals as we do.

David got home about 9pm after really bad traffic. He worked at Pikes Place Market all day. He also got new orders from the Pikes Place Creamery, which is carrying our yogurt and our chevre.

We unloaded David's coolers and then loaded up both or our coolers for Sat. market.

Sat. I was up at about 5am cleaned the parlor and packaged yogurt and put the feta in the refrigerator - and was on the road by 6:15am for Adna to load up and pick up Meg at Blacksheep creamery. We were on the road by 6:40 for Puyallup. David got up and hayed the goats and filled the grain cans in the parlor and then he was off for Longview at 7:30am. Danyel and Ali were also getting picked up for Civil Air Patrol at about 7:30am. They will get home about Noon. David got home about 3:30 and got unloaded and paperwork done. I got home about 4:15 after dropping Meg off at Adna. David helped me get unloaded and cheese counted. And he turned around and headed back to Longview to go pick up a pressure washer at Rogers our friends house. He was home by 9:30pm. Amanda got here about 9pm - she is spending the night and tomorrow the girls and her are putting on a goat clinic here at the farm. I ran the girls over to the Jones to take care of their animals at 8:30pm and was home by 9:30pm. I think I went to bed about 10:00pm. I have to say since the TV switch thing - our TV isn't on so much. We get 7 channels - most which are OPB. Its awesome.

Sunday is crazy; 5am up to do chores and milk. 7am the girls get dressed for Civil Air Patrol - I'll take them to the airport. At 8:30 one of them will be fl ying a glider, and the other will follow in about 1 1/2 hours. David and I should be picking them up about 1pm no later. David and I will go to church at 10:30 where we will meet up with Shawn and Susanna and they will come home with us. I'll heat up some chili and we'll have lunch. Heather and Jamie and CJ will also be here about 1pm to eat lunch with us. Then Amanda and Danyel and Ali will put on their goat clinic at 2-4 today. At 5pm our Worship/Potluck starts and so do chores. We will probably worship until about 9pm. I want to make a batch of my non-pasteurized cheese today too It will take about 2 hours to get it into the molds. My new hose works so good and sure makes my life easier. Then its to bed for this one tired lady.

Well I hope I didn't give any of you heart problems or Anxiety after reading my week.

Have a Great Day - Plan our your days so they don't look like mine.

Puppies!

2009-06-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

These are three of the 10. The different colors.

WE HAVE PUPPIES!!!!

Hello: Here I am again. Another month has almost passed by since I last wrote. We are crazy busy now. We are doing 7 markets a week and by the end of this month it will be 8 markets a week. We are rotating 4 markets on the weekend. As you can see these are a few of our new additions to the farm. Cloe had 4 males and 6 females. They are cute. We are going to run a special economy stimulus sale on these puppies.... $1,500.00. So get your order in. I'll be putting up pictures here as they grow, so everyone can see what these pups are going to look like. They should be ready to go to homes in 8 weeks - First week in Aug.

Last week we sold almost 400 pieces of cheese at the farmers markets. Thats about 57 pieces per market. So I am making cheese and packaging it. It seems packaging is the bigger project. We have picked up a couple more resturants and possibly two wholesale distributers too.

My parents are paying to have my house painted this next week. My brother is a house painter and he will be doing it for me. It will be white with Navy blue trim and a purple back door. I can't wait. Thanks MOM and DAD!

The new hose that brings my milk down to the processing plant works great. It takes about 15 min. to fill the pasturizer. My back will be saved now. The cheese is turning out great. Our aged cheese is now out of the cave and selling well. I am also selling quarts of yogurt - only by order though. And that seems to be going well too.

We had a load of chips dropped off today so we can pick the date to clean the barn. Probably next month.

Two of our vehicals are having issues. The van is having altimers ( it can't remember where to put the gas to run the van) The car's heater hose from the radiator broke - we have a bypass one on right now with the part on order. We don't know what we are going to do about the van. I guess that one costs a bunch of money to fix the computer.

Our house loan is being looked over to see if we can redo it for a better rate. So don't know how that will turn out.

Our does are done kidding for the season. And we have one kid still on bottle - Ali's pack goat for fair.

The girls are both saving thier money for big projects. Ali is buying a cart for her goat. Danyel is paying to have a hernia removed from her pack goat kid. I sure am glad its them and not me.

Today I have to package about 100 pieces of cheese and lable it too.

Danyel only has one more day of school for her biology class. We will be homeschooling all summer - a few days a week. We are paying the girls to clean the house on Thur. when David and I are both at markets. Its nice to come home to a clean house.

My parents are up from Arizona for the summer. This year they brought up thier bus and are staying in it, in Centrialia at some friends house.

The girls and another friend are putting on a goat clinic here at the farm this weekend on Sunday the 14th at 2pm. The cost is $15 a person. They will cover health, feet, feed, and good care of your goat.

So I wanted to get you all alittle caught up on our life here on the dairy. You have a great day. And put your feet up for me.

Last week in May

2009-05-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

Our New Lambs!

Good Morning: I know your surpised to see a blog so soon. Well I am inbetween cheese making days and so I thought I'd write. Our Memorial Day was very nice. My parents came over for a short visit. We went to some friends house for a BBQ. We took potatoe salad and cheese and crackers...of course. We stayed until 5pm and came home and did chores. I worked in the processing plant cleaning and getting ready to make cheese on Wed. Oh yes, my hose that I was so excited about was to short - so now I have to get about 30 more feet....have to wait for the farm store to order some more hose now. I was so bumbed. Oh well I'll be carrying milk for the batch on Wed. The processing plant in town came and picked up my milk on Sunday evening - only 100 gallons. So thats why I can't make cheese till Wed. We only have four baby goats left to bottle feed. And two of them will leave this next weekend. Only to return in a week to be goat sat for a week. Ali has picked out a pack goat and its in this group and then a single buck that will probably join our freezer goat bunch when its weaned. We are all done kidding until July if those two does took. So we are onto bigger and better things.

We are working on our new loan - so we can stay here. With the economy and all, its crazy with the finances. We pay what we can and try and sqeeze by on the other bills. We are one of those families that don't have health insurance - and no unemployment left to speak of. But somehow we are doing it and we are still here on the farm. I think God has something to do with it personally. But It will all work out the way its suppose to - because we do trust the Father Above. We are thankful for what we have and enjoying the grace God has given us.

David has a new market tomorrow starting.. Tumwater. Its a short market 11-2pm. We haven't done this one in two years. So it will be interesting to see how it is now. We have plenty of cheese left from last week - so I don't have to package and label for tomorrow. But will be back into swing of things Wed.

My chevre turned out great yesterday. I took it down from hanging and put it into the refrigerator. This will be packaged for this week. My Grande' Rosa and Pepper Rosa are getting a nice rind on them and will also be packaged up Wed. I think I'll be making NW and Black Jewels on Wed. I'll have helpers here to learn how to make cheese and run a dairy all day... so lots of help. Ya!

Maggi and the Frizy

David has been working with Maggi (border collie and blue heeler mix pup), to catch a frisby. She is doing great. So when we go outside there is Maggi with her frizby wanting someone to throw it for her. We also have a lambs now. They will be put in the freezer about October. One of them is for my daughter and her family. And two for us. We also worked on a new flower bed in front of the milk parlor. But the other new garden is where our blueberry's are. David made it square and added the plants we bought from the Herb Festival. It looks great. That is the other photo.

Our Blueberry garden

Well I'll write more as soon as possible. Have a Great Week!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Good Morning:

These pictures are of our 4-H sleep over weekend.

I just want to say that I really enjoy writing to you all when I get a chance to sit down. Its a great jounal of our life on the farm. I know sometimes its kind of dull - but then there are the times when things are hopping. So put on your running shoes for this weeks blog;

May 19 - This was a day off - truely. Couldn't make cheese didnt have enough milk, goats have been liced and wormed and the girls have been trimming toes during milking. I did go out and clean the processing plant and dust the high spots and scrub the low. My inspector is coming tomorrow to test the thermometers on my pasturizer and inspect the farm and the processing plant. We worked on the yard and my parents came over. I made dinner for us all and looked through old pictures they brought me. (Boxes and boxes) Mom decided after a friend passed away that she didn't want us kids to have to go through all her stuff when she passed away. So she thought she would start disperssing it now. So that is what is going on. And since I am working on the family photo album I should get the photos. They are great too. Looking at people that are not in our lives any longer and remembering. So today was a relaxing day.

May 20th - I made some Grande' Rosa and Pepper Rosa, 50 gallons so it makes about 35 pounds of cheese. I had to package and lable cheese for market on Thur. This is going to be my first day alone at the Olympia market. David will start Broadway in Tacoma market. So I need to have alittle extra cheese packaged cause you never know what your opening market day will be like. The weather is suppose to be sunny so that always helps bring the people out. The girls worked onHistory and math and Bible today for thier homeschool class. David did running around picking up bits and peices of stuff. Like grain and Hay and such. We didn't get to go to Church this evening - due to the extra things going on this evening. The goats are producing great and everyone is healthy. We do have one doe with diahrea in a pen and are doctoring her. She doesn't look very good... but you never know.

May 21 - We were both on the road about 7am for market. The girls are home today. I left them with some chores and some schoolwork to do. Market was pretty good. I met alot of nice people at this market. David did pretty good at his Market too. When we got home at about 4pm the girls had thier friends over. I paid Katie and Nichole for helping the last weekend milking and doing chores while the girls were gone. I have to package up an extra 20lbs of chevre for the Seattle Art Musem order. And David will reload up the car for Pikes Market tomorrow. My parents came and picked up the girls and took them to where thier motorhome is parked right now - so Ali could climb under it to get a number off the front axel.

May 22 - David left at 6:15 and took Ali incase they get really busy due to Memorial Day. So it was Danyel and I all day. I had so much cheese to label and package it wasn't funny. I started working on packaging cheese while Danyel milked the goats this morning and finished about 11pm. We had to borrow vaccum sealer bags from Black sheep creamery - I ran out... OOPS!

They loaned us some and I was on my way again. Danyel and I did some running around after Biology. I started making cheese in the morning too - Chevre. I thought about the milk I'v been hauling down to the processing plant - 52 gallons each batch. Its heavy and time consuming. So we went to the farm store and had one of the gentlemen help us figure out how or what we needed to make a nozzel for the bulk tank and then buy 70ft of hose. I think it will work. We got home and I finished my cheese and tried my new contraption in the bulk tank... it fits. I'll try and make cheese on Sunday after church. It was really pretty out today and I washed the table and chairs on the deck. Watered some of the plants and planted a few more in the pots.

David and Ali got home at 7:30pm. Danyel was n't finished milking yet cause we started at 6pm cause it was pretty warm out. My back hurts and so do my legs. But all is well at the dairy.

May 23- I was up at 5am to clean the parlor and cut up samples to take to my market. I need to leave at 6:15 or close to that. I am driving to Adna to pick up Meg (Black Sheep Creamery) and we are car pooling, or as it is truck pooling to Puyallup for the market. We arrived at about 8:30 in puyallup and the market starts at 9am. David went to Proctor street in Tacoma and had left our house at about 7am and was set up ready to sell by 8:30am. I did get set up in time and was selling right off the start. I am inside the pavillion and in front of one of the big open doors. So I wore my coat all day at the market while it was hot outside. But the market was busy and I sold alot of cheese. At this market there are three cheese venders. David did very well at his market too. I had David buy some pork steaks at the market for dinner. He also brought me a bunch of spinach and some greens. We were both home about 4:00 and I went out and cleaned the parlor then hung my chevre that I made yesterday. Then into the house to cook dinner. David unloaded and counted the cheese and the tills. We all got to sit down about 8pm. I fell asleep about 11pm but took a nap at about 6pm for half an hour. Ali had a friend spend the night - so they slept in sleeping bags out in the barn in thier fort.

May 24 - Sunday. We got up at 6am and went out to do chores. I cleaned my parlor and then headed to the processing plant to clean and wash dishes. I want to be ready to make Black Jewels and NW Comfort today - using my new hose to get the milk to the pasturizer. I'll let you know how that works on my next blog.

You all have a great Memorial Day and remember the men and women that have given thier all for us to enjoy the little freedoms we now have. Please enjoy these freedoms as it may be the last ones you'll know. And you need to remember what it feels like so we can again work for our independance when the air has settled. Have a great day.

Back in the Saddle Again!

2009-05-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Good Morning: Ice and One of our Boar bucks lounging --- One of Ali's frogs

Well chores are done. I am in the house and its only 8:30am. Pretty good for lately. The girls have run down to the neighbors to check on her stuff while she is gone. David is on his way to pick up two round bales of hay. The house is quiet except for the crunching of dog food by the Maggi. The weather is kind of foggy and the moisture is in the air. Its suppose to be a nice day today. The local processing plant is coming to pick up my excess milk which is over 200 gallons for this week.

My parents are in town so they came by on Wed. to see us and bring me some goodies... books photo's, towels, and linens. And my understanding is they have more for me.

I thought we had this week pretty together but plans changed about Thur. morning. The girls left by 4pm for the Search and Rescue Confrence in Randle. Thier friends, Katie and Nichole came and spent Thur. - Sat. morning here to help me with chores. It worked out great. I sent them to do the haying, graining and watering and I milked and cleaned the parlor. I didn't have time to make much cheese this week. I did get 100 gallons of milk turned into cheese.... but I have to say it got away from me this week. So David had market in Olympia on Thur. and Then Pikes on Friday. Sat. morning we both left the farm at about 6:45am for our farmers markets, David was in Longview and I was in Tacoma. Our sales were pretty good. Katie and Nichole finished milking Sat. morning and then thier mom came and picked them up. When Katie comes she has to bring her milking doe which works out great for all of us. But this week I had an email from a gentleman who had a nubian doe he wanted to give to me.. she was dry. So I asked him if it was alright to give the doe to a 4-H member in my club and he agreed that was fine. So Katie went home with two goats on Sat. She was very pleased and can't wait to show the doe in the pack compotition at fair this year.

David and I drove to Battleground and went to the herb festival on Sunday. What a nice relaxing day. It's not often we get to be alone and go somewhere fun.

David bought some tomatoe plants at the farmers market on Sat. and so Sat. evening he built a raised flower bed and planted the plants. So our goal at the Herb festival was to pick up some herbs for his rose garden he's working on and to get some more veg. for the raised bed.

We got some cucumbers and squash to plant on the edges of the tomatoe garden. Can't wait. We got some fennel, basil, lavenders and a few other herbs to plant around the farm.

We got some goat milk soap at the Herb festival too from Silver Star Farms - awsome soap. David found a planter there too for his strawberries. We stopped at a garage sale and picked up a few things.

This morning we are going to do some lititure and bible study for homeschooling. Danyel has biolgy and Ali will work on her science. I need to find places for the pictures mom and dad brought to me and do some laundry. Won't make cheese until Wed. morning so I best use my time wisely and get some stuff done around the house. David wants to mow the lawn and plant plants.

Have a great Day

Keeping up with Farmers Markets and Home

2009-05-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hello: The sword fights the whole 4-H Group for the sleep Over

Wow! its been along time since I last wrote to you all. So you know what that all means right.... This will be a catch up chapter or book. I'll condense it down or I'll have to be writing for a long time. Here goes.

The first thing that happened is my X husband died of cancer on the 16th of May. My daughter from Texas flew in on Friday. I made cheese all week - about 150 gallons into cheese. I did a presentation at the Proctor Farmers Market. I made my marinated Feta white sauce and put it over noodles (that were sold at the market). I also made my lemon and honey chevre and a ranch chevre. It took about an hour for the demonstration. Ali went to the market with me so she could man the booth while I taught. David went to Longview Farmers market. The days before I had made 80 garlic and dill packages - 50 plain chevre's. And about 50 of the Marinated feta and the fresh feta as well as Grande Rosa and Pepper Rosa. I was busy counseling my older children about their dads death and comforting them. It seemed I was on the phone or hands in cheese that week.

We were also working with our 4-H club getting ready for our sleep over. We had a meeting every week on Wed. for about 2 hours each time. Our club had to make the swords and get the map ready for the "Risk - Lord of the Goats" Game.

Our family went to the funeral on Tue in Longview. It was great to see all the family there. David's mom and dad even came for the funeral. As well as my girlfriend who lives up the road from where my x lived. In all it was a good funeral as funerals go. Tami flew back to Texas a few days after the funeral. Danyel and Ali and I drove into Longveiw on Wed. to have lunch with Tami and Mike and Heather and Jamie and CJ.

Our sleep over stared on the 24th at about 5:30pm. Everyone showed up and we milked the goats and did the chores. Then we went to Hope Grange and unloaded our gear and ate dinner there. Then made our crafts and got into our groups for the game on Sat. We roasted marshmallows and made somemores for dessert. Lights out at 10pm and then the alarm went off at 5:30am . We all got up and dressed and headed back to the farm for chores and milking. We finished the farm chores and headed back to the grange where one of the moms made breakfast for us which was french toast and goat sausage, juice and fruit too. Then we packed up our stuff - cleaned the Grange, vacuumed the carpet, swept and mopped the floors and put the tables back. Then back to the farm for the game. The kids ran all over the field having sword fights to win territories. It was alot of fun. We built a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for lunch - and ate the left overs from dinner and breakfast. It was a fast weekend.

David went to the Tacoma's farmers market on Proctor street. To get ready for the weekend ment I had to package and label cheese on Monday and Wen. and that was a busy week. I have to say I was glad when it was over. But the next week was just as bad.

We had a 4-H meeting to get ready for the youth fair. We were suppose to work on showmanship and clipping with our club from 9-2pm. I had cheese going too! It seemed I had to keep moving. David did the Olympia market on Wed. starting the 16th of the month. So all together we had three markets going each week. Danyel and Ali went to a Civil Air Patrol Spring Conference for the weekend. Katie and Nichole came to spend the weekend with me to go to the Youth Fair and help me do chores for the weekend. It was a busy weekend again. We had to get up at 5am to milk and do chores in order to be at the fairgrounds by 7am to get the animals ready for show by 9am. We did it. We had to do the same thing on Sunday for the rest of the Fair. David did Pikes Place on Friday and Tacoma on Sat. and then came and hung out with us at the fair. The girls got home about 5:30pm on Sunday -- just in time to help with chores.

The next week I had Grange - so I had to make a potluck dish. I didn't have to prepare anything as our speakers were going to talk about the Levey for Evaline School District. I had to make a potluck dish for a funeral that our grange was doing the lunch for too. I made four batches of cheese for the week, 200 gallons. And again packaged and labeled enough cheese for four markets. Danyel and Ali again are gone on Friday and home on Sat. They went to a Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue thing up in Randle WA. So Sat morning I had to get up at 4am to set up the milk parlor and milk the goats (1 1/2 hours) and be over in Adna to pick up Meg (Black Sheep Creamery) to go to the Puyallup Farmers Market (1 1/2 hours drive). David had to leave also by 7am to get to the Tacoma Market, so he got up at 4:30am to bottle feed 9 baby goats, hay all the goats, water all the goats, and grain the ones in the pens. It all came together somehow.

So Now I am up to this week and its Tue. Monday we went to two events. One in Shelton Wa, Farm to Table workshop - we only got to stay for an hour.... but wished we could of stayed longer. Then we went to Seattle for a Chef Greet and Meet. It was local wines and cheeses. We sampled our cheese to chefs - who we hope will want to buy our cheese. This event was from 5:30-8pm. Needless to say we got home around 10pm. The girls had to milk and clean the parlor and feed all the animals without our help. They did good.

Oh! yes, and Danyel turned 17 on the 6th of May. We will celebrate her birthday with Ali's in June. And Mothers day - Heather my #2 daughter came and spent the day with us at the farm. I got a great email from Jami and a card and call from Tami. I really am doing Mothers day next Sunday - The Herb Festival - Just David and I are going!

Today I made our raw goat cheese and our chevre - used 100 gallons of milk.

Tomorrow is another day and we are getting ready for four markets again this week. We also got a 30lbs order from the Seattle Art Museum Taste. This is up from 10lbs every week. David will deliver this on Friday. So I know my schedual makes some tired. And now that you mention it I am tired too!

Have a Great Day, until next time.

I'll try and blog more often..... or at least a word or two each week.

2009-04-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Good Morning:

Well as you all suspected we are running around like a chicken with its head cut off. We are up to four different markets right now. I am making cheese three days a week, between 35-50 gallons a batch. We are just about ready to put our second batch of aged cheese in the cave over in Adna. The sunshine is going to shine today and that gives me energy to do this running around stuff. So lets recap the week:

April 6th - We took a trip to Olympia to tour the capital building and walk along the waterfall. It was great. The picture is my grandson and granddaughter and thier mom from Montana the other daughter and husband are from Texas and then of course my two daughters and I - David was taking the photo. My daughter wanted to try a new cheese, dill and lemon rind. I made her a small round to take with her. Of course we all tasted it and it was good.

Tue. April 7th - We got our chores done and did some of our homeschooling. We have our house back after having it full for 5 days. Food, visiting and catching up was good. We got busy cleaning up the farm and lost track of time. I made dinner and was getting ready to sit down and eat when the phone rang and it was our Master from Hope Grange.... reminding us we had a meeting and the speaker would be there at 7pm. We ate in 10 min. and got to the grange a little into the speakers talk - but we made it. We got home around 8:30 pm. The guy that spoke at the grange was from Raintree Nursery... and he had some great tips for pruning and some information on some new plants that are coming out for the NW. I think I still had some labeling to do for the markets - since we sold out almost all our stock last weekend. I made a batch of Chevre.

April 8th - We had three does kid, one had triplets 2boys and 1 girl. The other two had twins one buck and doe and the other two does. Its funny because most of the people that want kids from us want does and my goats are having a hard time delivering for me. Anyway all these kids are sold except one buck. The other 8 does left are bagging up so hopefully its will be soon. The Olympia Farmers Market is coming this morning to inspect us -make sure we are doing what we say we are doing. And they said we are alright to sell at thier market as a guest this year. So we will sell at thier market on Thur. starting April 16th. We started chores a little late due to our running around, David went to town to get dog food, grain. and also Hay this morning,and cleaning up after a full house of people. Danyel had biology this morning too. Cloe our Anatolian got bred today so we'll have puppies soon. Bernie is the dad. We are also trying to turn Cloe loose with the goats in the barn. She does fine in the barn but when we take her out to the pasture she is afraid to come back into the barn so that is a tug a war. We have tried everything to get her to come back in. Maybe its just time. David was trying to dig a hole in the top field and he broke his tractor its 5:30pm so off to the tractor store to get parts. Looks like we are not going to make it to church this evening. By 7:30 he had the tractor running again and came in to eat dinner. I am still labeling cheese for Pikes Place on Thur. We sure used alot of cheese last weekend. I think I went to bed about 10pm - after along day.

April 9th - we have a 4-H club meeting to finish up some of the loose ends for our 4-H sleepover. The club must finsish thier Risk Map so I can take it down to get it laminated. The sleep over is the 25th. - Jami and the grandkids are leaving about 7am for Montana to pick up her husband and come right back as her dad has cancer and isn't expected to live much longer. David left for Pikes Place at 6am and I am woring on packaging cheese today for this weekend. Our fresh feta is ready to be cut and packaged so I'll work on that. The rest of the feta will go into the olive oil for marinating. I need to call Thurstan county about the health certificate they were suppose to be sending me and I haven't recieved. We need that permit thing to sell on Thur at Olympia. I have to get some brakes pads for David cause his friend is going to change his pads on the car while he is at market on Sat. in Longview. I also have to call the Seattle Art Musem and get information on how to do thier visa purchase. The new visa machine is working great. Danyel had biology today and we got some math done. Our house is quiet. I am getting my last min. stuff together for my Sat. market.

April 10th - David took his order for the Seattle Art Museum, and left at about 6am for Seattle. He called me and said he was in Seattle by 7:40 this morning -the traffic was really light. I am making Black Jewels and NW Comfort today. So I'll be home all day working on the finishing touches of labeling and weighing and making some aged cheese. I have a guy coming out to pick up his kid. Danyel has biology today. We got some lititure in today as well as some math. David got home about 7:30 and the girls and I had just got in from doing chores. It was a busy evening - we had to pack up both vehicals for Sat. market - tents, tables, ice chests (packed), garbage cans, hand washing station, money box, and anything else. We got done about 11pm. And I went to bed. I have to be up at 4am .

April 11 Sat.- I was up on time went out and finished the cheese process, cleaned the milk parlor for the girls. Got the girls up at 5am to do chores they need to leave at 7am for Civil Air Patorl. I am leaving at 7am I am going to Tacoma and David leaves at 7:30am for Longview. All's quiet on the home front as everyone is leaving. I didn't sell as much as last weekend but the weather was really messy. David did about the same as last weekend. We all got home close to 4 and 4:30pm. Some people were here to pick up thier baby goat at 4:30. As soon as we get home I head up to the milk parlor to clean it and set it up for the girls to start milking. We are having something easy for dinner like Pizza. By 8pm we are all in the house, David is home with the pizza and we can put our feet up.

April 12th - We got up did chores and went to church. It is a quiet Easter. I put a ham in before we left for church. No one is coming for the holiday. The older children are in Portland at thier dads bedside. And that is alright with me - cause that is where they should be. Jami and the grandkids are coming here tonight and then will leave tomorrow for Montana to pick up her husband and then head back here to Oregon. They got here about 9pm and the kids went to bed and we all followed shortly behind.

April 13th - We got up at 6am and got busy doing chores. Jami and her children got up at 6:30 and got ready to leave by 7am. They have to go over the mountains and there is word that snow is coming and she wants to beat it. She did too. David went and got hay at 9am and when he got back and the hay unloaded we left for Olympia to get that health certificate for Thurstan county. The girls are staying home today. No biology for Danyel as the school is taking the WASL. I have a lady wanting to come and get a buck kid today when we get back from Olympia. We got the certificate - it was easier than Longviews. And then had a few pit stops before we got home. Turned in my cookbooks to be put together, picked up labels. Then stopped at the health food store and picked up some sesame oil. Then onto walmart to get a few things. We got home about 1:30pm. We unpacked and got back in the car to head to Portland. We are going up to see my X. Heather my #2 daughter is up there as well as her aunts and uncles. It will be good to see the family - Akin's. We got up to the VA hospital about 4pm. Visited with eveyone and prayed with the family. On our way home the girls called to say they were doing the haying. So that gave David and I an opportunity to go out for dinner and take our time coming home. We ate at the Oak Tree in Woodland. It was great to spend some down time with my husband. We got home around 9pm. Watched some Tv and wind down.

Tue. April 14 - The weather is good enough to start one of the burn piles on the top field. The girls opted to work on the burn pile than do school work. Had to take Bernie to the vets. He has been limping. When we got to the vets he stopped limping but the vet checked him over and didn't find anything wrong. So I don't know. I made Chevre this morning and will make feta this afternoon. We got chores done and the girls spent thier extra time helping with the burn pile.

Got news this evening that my kids dad was talking and eating and laughing - things may have turned around. Pretty Cool. We ate some pasta from the market on Sat. Broccoli,Chicken Fetachinie (spelling wrong). It was great. David will monitor the fire alnight. Cloe was loose all day and she went out of the barn and CAME BACK IN on her own. WOW! I really want to leave her in the pasture with all the goats loose so she can have her puppies in there too. She has always been with the bucks so she wouldn't get bred. But since she is she can hang out with Bernie in the big pasture.

April 15th _ We have a 4-H meeting this morning and Danyel has biology. David is going to starat another fire since its going to be nice out. I am working on my cheese in the processing plant. I have three different cheeses going at the same time.

Farmers Markets Starting

2009-04-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

This is the tour of 4-H kids checking out the dairy. They are tasting cheese and touring the processing plant. The other photo with Maggi (border collie/Blue Heeler mix) catching bubbles with Tami and CJ blowing the bubbles. The picture with all the people is my family at the Capital in Olympia.

Hello:

Its been awhile. We are getting really busy now. We only have about 20 does left to kid and we'll be done with this part of the dairy for one year. But oh, something else will take its place... Like cheese making. We are getting about 130 gallons of milk a week. Which I have been making it all into cheese. And I have no extra, so its also been selling. These are good things.... just haven't been to this point before.

We had a lady come out and spend the whole day, helped me make cheese and milked goats and observed our daily routine. Her name is Sherwin Fergason, she wants to start a sheep and goat dairy and make cheese. It was a great day and I hope she learned alot. I know she did - but I really hope she got inspired to start her dairy. That same day Amanda came by to trim her goats feet that are staying here for awhile. And she visited a bit too.

It feels like our days are running together. I think I'v mailed all 9 of our Farmers Market applications in and I also think I have only one more health department to pay.

You know the whole farmers market is great except if your sampling your product and then you have to deal with the government. And each county is a whole different game. Like one of our counties only charges $25 for their fee - then we have one that charges $260. This is for the same permit and they only come and check you once in most of the counties we deal with. I personally think they should charge the same amount and have it valued for what they do for you. After all they are getting payed out of my pocket and yours. Off of my soap box
I made 8 rounds of my non-pasteurized cheeses on the 27th. They turned out great. Took them over to the cave in Adna about 5 days later and they will be ready the first of June.

David went to Seattle Pikes, Thur, Fri and Sat. and did fairly well.

On the 28th the girls and I went to an Appreciation lunch put on by the police dept. for all the help in search and rescue and other activities that the Civil Air Patrol have helped them on. It was fun and the food was great. We all won prizes and that was great. But after that I have to get back to work. I had to label a bunch of cheese as David was selling it fast. I turned my Grande Rosa and Pepper Rose that I made. I also made a batch of chevre on 29th and so when you walked into the processing plant I had three different types of cheese out - doing something in their process.

Sunday the 29th we all went to church and came right home. We were suppose to have a 4-H meeting to finish up our map for the up coming 4-H sleep over. Well no one came so my girls finished the map and I'll take it down and get it laminated for the the sleepover. Made my chevre and cleaned the bulk tank. Chores have been going pretty smooth. We put Ice our sannen buck in a pen - he was limping and I wanted to see what was the matter. It was his front foot, and I think he got an infection in it from the mud in his pen. So I'll treat it and get him walking good.

David got a $75 order of cheese and I needed to mail it to Arkansas today. Pretty cool. I also received my new mailing packages. It will bring my shipping cost down to $5 instead of 25. Pretty cool. So send in the orders I am ready to mail out cheese. These are insulated bags and I just have to put my ice pack in and send them. Instead of the Styrofoam boxes that cost so much. Anyway thats pretty cool.

The girls and I are working on homeschool. We are starting our slow down school season, but we also go through the summer. We just take days off during the summer when we have other things going on. I usually have them work about 2 hours a day on school during the summer.

March 31 David had to go get hay this morning. And I made a 50 gallon batch of feta. Which takes about 6 hours. David is off. We are also starting to clean the house as my daughter and husband will be coming in on Thur. from Austin Texas.

April 1 - We had a tour of 20+ . It was great because I had all this cheese out and they got to see it in different stages. This was a 4-H club. They helped milk and feed kids. The weather was drippy so no tractor ride. After they left I had to label more cheese to get ready for This up coming Sat. which is our first farmers markets -Tacoma, Proctor and Longview. I took Black Jewels and N.W. Comfort to Adna to age. Then went grocery shopping. I really want to have most of my stuff done before my house is full of people.

April 2- We had a doe have triplets, boar cross sannens. Cute. We got our chores done and went downstairs to do homeschool. Sent David off to do some running around. Danyel and Ali went to the Winlock Lions Club to talk about Civil Air Patrol and be treated to lunch. They did well at their presentation. They took pictures of some of the stuff they have done with Civil Air Patrol. David took Bob, from church, to Pikes with him today. The girls and I cleaned house and are waiting for Tami and Mike to get here.(won't be until this evening). They did get here about 10pm and the girls hit the sack right after that.

April 3 - I got up at 6 am and got the girls up at 7am. We got chores done and Mike, my son - in -law made breakfast. Ran to Walmart to get a few more groceries for dinner. Mike B-B-Q some goat. It was so good. They had some of their friends over for dinner too. Lots of food people and children. I labeled and Packaged cheese all day too. I think we are ready for Sat. David got home about 7:30 and got to eat some goat and visit for awhile with everyone. He had a fair day at market. I started making Grande Rosa and Pepper at about 7pm --- Big mistake. I got the pasteurizing done, midnight and thought I should just finish at 4am.

April 4 - up at 4am and working on the cheese. I cleaned the parlor and got the girls up to do milking at 5am. They have to be ready to leave at 7:30 for Civil Air Patrol and David leaves for Longview market too. I should leave at 7am to be there in Tacoma by 8:30am. But the cheese took alittle longer and I had to hurry. David put the weights on the cheese, I ran and got dressed and hair brushed and left 7:15. Had to still get gas too. I had a wonderful day at market really busy. I had probably our best Farmers Market total ever. David did so so at Longview. But everyone was glad to see us at their market. When I got home my daughter & husband and grandson from St. Helens was here along with my adopted daughter. So I had 10 people for dinner. I made Spaghetti. It was all good. Had a great visit. I was in bed at 9pm.

Sunday April 5 - Up for chores. Two does had twins. Mike cooked breakfast for us all - Chocolate Pancakes with chocolate chips in it, then coconut on the top and more choco chips and then syrup. It tasted pretty good too! Went to church. Home again and started dinner. I am making chicken and dumplings. Also my son was on the couch sleeping this morning... He came home with the kids last night when they all got together. Well chores came quickly and we got the job done. Shawn brought his girl fiend and their two kids and his cousin Bryan and his son. So we have 18 for dinner. After dinner we cut the cake and blew out the candles. Shawn and Heather Birthdays - Mike and Tami anniversary. After dinner Jami and Justin and Ashlynn got here from Montana. Now our total is 21. Six left and the rest spent the night. I stayed up till 11pm visiting.

Monday April 6 - Got up at 6:30 and got the girls up at 7am. Got chores done and one Doe had a single kid. Today I have to make chevre and four people are leaving by Noon today. The rest are going to go to Olympia to see the State Capital and check out the falls. I had to pull a baby today. It was a big buck kid. I sold two buck kids also. We took the van filled with Jami and her two kids, Mike and Tami and Danyel and Ali and David and I to Olympia. We got to go inside the Capital took lots of pictures and then went for a walk around Falls Park. It was a really great day. Very pretty. We stopped to eat a hamburger on the way home. Got home at 6:30 and started milking at 7:15. I started my chevre at 8:50pm and will get it done before bed. Bed being 12 midnight. We have no extra's spending the night. But Jami and the two grandchildren will be back on Wed.

Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine.

Tours And Cheese Class

2009-03-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

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!

Snow Vaccum Sealer and Kids

2009-02-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

The snow picture is Thur morning, New babies taking it easy and my New vacuum sealer has arrived.

Good morning: Sorry its been awhile since I wrote. Lots has happened. Like yesterday I sat down and type this entry and then it wouldn't post and then I lost it. I was really sick and hard to concentrate so I just aborted the idea. Today I find the draft and there is nothing but the three pictures. So I'll try and recap the week. I am still not feeling so good. Coughing really takes it out of you... Since the 20th we have had 15 does kid = 28 kids. We are currently milking 24 does. We dropped the first milk into the bulk tank this morning so I hope to be making a batch of cheese on Tue or Wed. We'v had one baby born dead - I had to pull it and it was backwards and upside down... so it took alittle manuvering to get a hold of the legs so I could deliver it. It was also a dry birth and it was a big buck on top of it. But mom and one kid are doing fine. As I am typing I have a black Alpine in labor - but I have that funny feeling things are not right, we will wait a half an hour and if I don't see at least a baby's nose I'll have to go in and check to see what the hold up is. The girls and I have all been sick and so things are moving really slow around the farm. We'v not left the house and not done anything but sleep and drink hot tea and orange juice. David had a good weekend at Pikes Place and this weekend seems to be doing pretty good too. Then we have been selling our kids for $25 each and a friend of mine put them on Craigs List and they have been going out of here pretty fast. Which is great! On Wed. our Vacuum Sealer arrived and I was to sick to even go out and see it unpackaged. But David has already played with it and it works great. The next day our 2000 bags arrived for the sealer. We are sure looking professional now.

Jodi a friend I'v met through Grange - goes to Rwanda to take care of the gorilla's there - she is a veterinary. She is also helping the people obtain dairy goats and is teaching them to make cheese. She came on Tue and spent half the day feeding kids, milking goats and talking cheese. She would like me to go to Rwanda next year in October to teach the people to make cheese and to help get thier operation off the ground. And that sound like a real adventure. Kathleen is another friend who helps women in Kenya make cheese and learn to milk goats is teaming up with Jodi and that would mean I might get to visit both ladies parts of Africa. Its kind of scary to think of leaving the USA, but both women tell me that the African people like Americans.

Anyway oh yes I woke up Thur to snow on the ground. David went to market anyway and he said there were lots of crashes and wrecks everywhere. He made it safely to market and home that night.

Well since I am alittle slow I think I'll close with the thought of a warm bath and soft music and a hot cup of tea and then to bed sounds wonderful.

Babies are Here So Let the Milking Begin!

2009-02-20T06:12:00.001-08:00

Good Morning:

The line of children waiting for thier turn on the rope swing - The tractor ride - Danyel and Ali feeding our first kids - The tour hanging out in the field with the goats and dogs.

The air is crisp out at 4:30am and I hear in the distance coyotes howling and in the close distance my Anatolian's warning them to stay away. My house is quiet at 6am. I wonder if I should break the silence and turn on the radio or just enjoy......ENJOY! We have had a busy few days to say the least. Tue was catch up day and prepare day for our big tour coming on Wed. Getting the parlor in order, all the dishes washed and put away in the Processing Plant, the grounds picked up of any of Maggie's garbage digging, buckets and the grain area in order and most important the hallway to the bathroom clean of anything and the bathroom clean up too. It is no small feet to get our property ready for about 40 children. We didn't have any babies born and that was alright. We don't have enough babies to let the children coming feed babies or for that matter milk a goat. We are in the very beginnings of our kidding season. We all were in bed early as Wed. it would be an early work call. Well David came in about 2 am and woke me up telling me that three goats were in labor at the same time in the barn. I sure didn't want to get up, but up I did. I grabbed towels and soap in case. I have to say those mom's did good. I only helped one doe and it was just a slight pull to finish the job. We had six new babies on the ground by 3:30am. I was back in bed pretty fast and back to sleep even faster.

We were up Wed. morning about 7:00 to finish anything up that might need done. We got the goats all settled - babies fed, goats fed and watered, and three goats milked. All is ready for the tour. People showed up at 9:15am. This mom was early so she could feed her baby before the tour and before everyone got here. Most of the others showed up at 10am. There were alot of children milling around. The estimate was 39 children and 15 adults. The first thing they checked out were the chickens that were wandering around the farm... then the cats. We decided to divide the group in half. David would give hayrides down into the goat field and then the children could pet the goats and run around. While I took the other group on the farm tour. This worked out great. We first took everyone up to the top where the babies are with their mom's and Danyel and Ali got into the pens and held up the babies for all to pet and hold. None of the mom goats seemed to mind all the attention. Then David got the tractor ready and loaded his group onto the flat bed trailer lined with hay bales. I would say he was gone for about 45 min. Then we traded groups. Both groups got to try samples of our cheeses we make (minus the two that we are completely sold out of). The next thing that happened was a long line behind the rope swing. The second big hit, I think, was that rope hung in the old fir tree. It was so nice to see children waiting their turn for that rope. This kept the children occupied while mom's got the lunches out. Then they slowly left the swing for some good food. They all started leaving about 1pm - except one or two families and they got the treat of the day..... a doe had twins while they were here. We were a little worried about the size of the group - if we could handle this big of a group. Well, it went off without a hitch and I think everyone got their fill of kids and farm.

We want to Thank the FHEA Academy for letting us entertain you and teach you about our dairy. We enjoyed all of you.

We had one more doe deliver on Wed. making the total of 5 does and 9 babies born. So then Thur. comes and we decided that since David had gone to market on Monday this week that he should not go on Thur. So David stayed home. Though he worked - getting the table for the new vacuum sealer machine - which took him all day to find. We did our catch up homeschool - Danyel felt better so she went to Biology and we still had three doe's have babies. Our baby count is now up to 26. Its just a little crazy feeding all these babies - but the routine will start kicking in and then it won't really be so taxing on our brains. We have seven mom's being milked right now. David went to prayer meeting at church at 6:30 and the girls and I went back to finishing our homeschool work. By 8:00pm we were done and David was home by 9pm. Since the girls are both sick they went to bed at 9pm.

I was up this morning at 4:30 packaging up cheese for David to take to market. Its going to be a great day today. One more side note, David's application for a railroad job has been accepted and so now we wait to see if he is one chosen to go through the interview process. This could be a real blessing for our family. We wouldn't do as many farmers markets this year, as there is only one me.

We are heading out to do chores and feed some hungry babies.

Have a great day.

We are all in Gods Hands -- what a blessing to know that as TRUTH.

Two Birthing Stories

2009-02-17T07:56:00.000-08:00

Good Morning:

Here is another picture of the Tea Party - all the food. And one of the tables.

I am so excited today..... I have to tell you the news..... we are getting a vacuum sealer this week. This will mean that we won't have to go 12 miles one way to vacuum our cheese anymore. It will be another time free zone for me. My parents are buying it for our dairy. It will be here this week.

Thanks MOM and DAD

Well we have had 14 babies in 4 days. Three of them being triplets and two being twins and one single. I want to tell you the birth of the first triplets: The mom went into labor about 7:00 Friday night the 13th and had the first baby by 8:20 a little buck. I was busy in the creamery and didn't go and check her out - but the word from the girls was"they thought she was done". We had put her in a pen with her new son. So I went to bed at 9pm. Heather and Jamie and CJ got here about 10:30pm. At about midnight David came and woke me up and informed me that new mom was still pushing. I knew it was going to cold and I had to get dressed. I grabbed the dish soap and two towels and put on my boots and coat. Sure enough she was down and was pushing. I checked her and saw nothing being born. So I poured soap all over my hand and went in for a feel. Sure enough there was a butt and no legs. I had to work my hand in and around the butt to find the legs. I managed to get one leg pulled up but the other leg I found seemed to tight to pull it into position. I figured that the baby was probably dead so I gently pulled it out and layed it on the ground. David said, "it moved!". I was surprised to find it alive after three hours. I cleaned its face off and put it in front of mom. She cleaned it up right away. David looked at the goat and said you think three might be another one in there? So I lifted her stomach and felt yes there was another kids in there. I again thought this one would be dead too. This one was easy as I went in and just pulled it out. It was alive. So I cleaned its face off and layed it in front of the mom. Everyone was happy and I could go back to bed - It was about 1:15 and I needed to be up at 4:30 to package cheese for David and get him on the road to Market. Needless to say I was tired.

So Sat. came and I did make the 4:30 wake up and got the cheese packaged and labled for David. And made it to market in good time. I stayed up and got the house and kitchen picked up. The girls got up at 7:00 and went out and finished chores and found another doe had had babies. Sat. morning the girls went up to the barn to check and sure enough there was another set of triplets, 2 does and buck. We got her and her kids into a pen. So the last birth I want to tell you about is the yearling doe and her single birth. This was Sat. evening the 14th. She started labor about 4:30 - when we went up to do chores she was laying on the ground pushing and crying and pushing and crying. She was throwing her head back and then standing up and laying down. When we checked her, she was just starting to push the sack out. My daughter and grandson were out there comforting this doe. I made the girls start thier chores while Heather kept tabs on the progress. CJ wanted to come help me hay and drive the tractor - so we left Heather midwifing. I got done haying and still the water bag was about 1/2 way out. As my daugther and grandson watched the water bubble popped and wooshed water on the ground. Then you could see two feet. I told my daughter everything was going well. I left again to help water all the goats. About 20 min later this doe was at the same place.... not a good sign. The average birth should take about 45 min. total. Anyway that is my time line for when I need to go in and help or at least check. So I got my hand all soapy and went in to feel how the progress was going. Two feet and yes there was the nose.... things are they way they are suppose to be - so we put her in a pen and left her. Maybe she doesn't like company while giving birth. We all went into the house and set the timer for 1/2 hour to go check on her again. Half hour went by and I went up and checked. I called on my cell phone to the house to send the girls up we were going to have to deliver this one. I soaped up again and went in to feel.... things were in position, but the head was really big. So I stretched the opening and gently pulled on the legs which came out pretty easy. But the head was alittle tight. I worked at stretching her and pulling with each contraction. This baby took about another 30 min. to deliver. It was a huge head and good sized kid. The end it all turned out great.

Jamie and David went to Market on Sun. David did so well by himself on Sat. at market we thought sending both guys on Sunday that they would also do great. They did great, but David still made more on Sat. . Heather and CJ hung out with us girls. Heather and I went over to Black Sheep Creamery to vacuum up some more cheese Sunday night, cause David and Jamie had sold alot of our aged cheese and our marinated feta cheese. We left at about 9pm after David and Jamie got home and we had a good count of the cheese. I had to cut up another round of N.W. Comfort. This only gives us one more round of N.W. Comfort and two rounds of Black Jewels left. Heather and I got home about 10:30pm. Jamie and David were tired after such a busy day at market. We all sat up and watched the news and then to bed. We also have a baby goat in the house now too. One of the first triplets wasn't doing so good - so we brought him in the house and gave him some colostrum and a teaspoon of Nutra drench (vit. packed liquid). Put it in a clothes basket with he heating pad. As of this afternoon he is standing and eating good and its time to move him outside under a heat lamp.

On Monday when we went out to do chores we found another mom with triplets. Two bucks and a doe. So we have seven does and 14 kids. I'll wait for one more doe to kid then we'll start up the milking parlor. Monday was pretty uneventful after the weekend. Ali went to market with David and Danyel and I stayed home. We are working on getting everything ready for our first big tour on Wed. I just got the count of people coming - 39 children and 11 adults. Its a homeschool group from Federal Way WA. Anyway no more babies on Monday. And this morning there were no new babies either. I hope one goes today so we can start making cheese. Sun. David sold out of all my Pepper Rosa and I only have about 15 pieces of Fresh Feta and we are all sold out of Grande Rosa. I am going to mail a package of cheese off to my mom today, chevres and Marinated Feta. David and I will go over to Black Sheep Creamery and vacuum up some Chevres for my mom and then stop by the post office and get it going.

David went and got hay this morning and the Amanda (a friend of my older daughters) brought her three boar goats (mom and two kids) to stay here for awhile while she works in Rainier WA training horses. And Danyel and Ali are also going to a neighbors to wash thier truck for them. Danyel and Ali are also doing dog watch for another neighbor.

Well I think I'v wrote enough today. And David and I need to go to town and get the new baby pen set up with the heat lamp.

Have a Great Day.

Babies are Here!

2009-02-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

Our Tea Party Guests 2-13-09 One of our first does to have babies and it was triplets 2 girls and one boy.

Hello:

Well lets see, first off why I haven't written is because we didn't pay our local phone bill and the phone was turned off. David had a good market day and I then got to pay the bill and here I am again.

On Tue. it snowed again. Just 3 inches and then got icy out. So I stayed home. David was home so he drove Danyel to Biology class and did some running around town. Danyel and Ali had their HAM Radio Class that evening. David was suppose to go to Longview to his Sisters Big 50 birthday party, but because of what it looked like here decided to stay close to home. Its hard to predict what its doing 50 miles away from our house... even going to Seattle is a risk when weather is bad here. Anyway he did call her. Our 4-H meeting was cancelled until Wed..

On Wed. we worked on the farm, bought grain and went over to Black Sheep Creamery to vacuum up our first aged cheese. Black Jewels and NW Comfort. We did one round of each. I tasted it and YUM! it turned out really good. David will take that to market on Thur. to sell. He has been promoting it for about 6 weeks, so he knows he'll have people coming down to taste it. We went to Church on Wed. and that was a great Bible Study. A gentleman bought $15 of cheese to be delivered on Sunday.

Thur. the girls and I went grocery shopping for our Valentines Tea. We also started baking for the tea. Our menu was: three sandwich combinations (spinach leaves, garlic & dill chevre, smoked salmon patte- spinach leaves, garlic and dill chevre and tuna fish - peanut butter, powdered sugar, plain chevre - these are rolled up in flour tortia's and cut into three pieces). Sugar heart cookies, mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and drizzled with white chocolate, lemon tarts, apple crisp with whip cream, cream puffs with chocolate pudding inside with powdered sugar on top, almond Rocha crunch, carrots, candy, pretzels and of course tea and cream. On Friday morning I was up at 4:30 to package cheese for David to go to market and then I started baking again to get the sugar cookies baked and make the sandwiches. The girls got up at 6am to help clean and organize the house we were expecting 15 people - though only 9 showed up. We had a great time eating all those goodies. I ran to town in the middle of all this to get 13 bags of grain and take Danyel to Biology and pick her up. And we were ready. Tea party was from noon to 2pm. Three of our guest showed up by 10am, so they got to help. We had no babies born during the tea. My girlfriend and her three children were here and so I got to visit with her for awhile. After she left I packaged up some marinated feta and headed over to Black sheep Creamery again to vacuum up some Black Jewel and NW Comfort and the Marinated feta. I got to watch two sheep have lambs while there. I got home about 7pm when our last guest's parents picked her up. David got home at 7:30 and had a good day at market. At about 8pm our first doe had a baby buck. I was so tired by the end of Friday night. I went to bed at 9pm and was sleeping soundly when I heard my daughter and son and grandson come in. They were going to spend the weekend here. David came in about 12 midnight and said that the goat was still pushing, that had had a kid about three hours earlier. So I got up put my sweats on and a coat, grabbed the dish soap and headed to the barn. Sure enough she wasn't done. I went in and found a breach baby - I got one leg pulled out but couldn't get the other one out - so I just held onto the one and pulled the baby out - I figured 3 hours after the birth of the last one this one was probably dead.....NOT! and David said you think she has another one in there? So I bounced her (this is just placing your hand under the stomach and kind of pushing up on the stomach and feeling if there is a heavy weight coming back down) and there was. So I went in thinking again its probably dead......NOT! She had three bucks. I came back inside and went to bed.....

Sat. morning David went up to hay and came back with the report there were four alive animals in that pen... YA! I had to package some cheese for market so was up at 4:30 again. David left for market at 5:45am. Got the girls up at 7 am to go up and see the babies and do chores. I made french toast for the house full of people. Took the girls to Civil Air Patrol. Came home and My daughter and son and grandson all got ready to run to town to do some banking (so I can have my phone back), pick up some grocery's and the kids wanted to go to the cell phone store, while the girls were at Civil Air Patrol......we'll pick them up at noon and come home eat lunch and then go see baby sheep. My son stayed home and studied - when he grows up he's going to be a councilor to youth. That sheep tour went well, got to see a lot of baby lambs, took pictures. Came home got the roast in the dinner - David called from market and said it was really crazy and he was selling lots of cheese. When we got back from see the baby lambs, another doe - Wendi had triplets. They are the ones in the picture. After I got the roast in the oven I headed out to the processing plant to stain my olive oil, and clean up the plant .. do a little organizing. Chores started at 4:30 and was done by 5:45. My grandson loves driving the tractor (he's 5). So we moved some hay bales to the barn and fed the goats their hay. His mom and dad went to the movies for Valentines day in Chehalis. The rest of the evening was pretty mellow. David got home about 8pm he had had a really really good day at market. He didn't have alot to unload since he sold most of the cheese. He said the market was wall to wall people. The beef jerky guy sold out of his product by 2pm and left. David was close.

Sunday morning I was up at 4:30 to package cheese up for market for David. Jamie our son is going with him today. Heather and CJ are going to church in Longview and spend the afternoon with one of her friends and then will come back and pick up Jamie when David and Jamie get home from Seattle. Heather is going to go and get me some containers and lids and some garlic (one less trip for me) while in Longview. The girls and I are going to church this morning. This afternoon I have to go cut up another round of NW comfort and vacuum it up and some more Marinated Feta. Then lable them for tomorrow's market.

Well that is the run down for this last week.

Have a Great Day and remember SPING is how you look at the day!

More Snow!

2009-02-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

I am beginning to think Winter is going to last forever. And what a better time to have kids born than when its really cold....ICK!
Well Friday I took an order of Chevre to Olympia to the Dockside Bistro. While there the chef gave me a taste of some ice cream that he had made using our chevre and caraway seeds. It was so good. He said he serves this alongside apple crisp with a dab of chevre on top. Yum! that sounds so good. The girls and I got some home school done before we left. I also went over to Black Sheep creamery and vacuumed some Marinated Feta for market for David. David did sort of good on Friday in Seattle. The girls didn't have Civil Air Patrol this weekend. Their friends came over and spent the day. My grandson got here about 6:30pm and we hung out with him till bedtime. His mom and dad went back to Clatskanie to a big birthday bash for a cousin.
No babies born this weekend... that means next weekend could be big. We didn't go to church on Sunday - stayed home and waited for Heather and Jamie to get here to pick up CJ. Again no babies. Monday, we started our home school work, Danyel went to Biology and David and I got all our samples and stuff ready to go to the Farm Chef connection in Seattle. We left at 12:30 and got there in plenty of time. We actually went across the street to a restaurant outlet store and looked for a vacuum machine. Didn't find one. We were let into the building at 3:45. There was alot of people there, they had estimated 350. We were there for 1 1/2 hours, sampling and selling our farm and products. No sales just samples. We did get an order from the Seattle Arts Museum for a standing 10 pounds a week and in June 20 pounds of Marinated Feta. That will be nice. We also talked to a Co-op in Spokane that would like to carry our cheese. I'll fill the info on line today for that opportunity.
No babies today. Today we were going to have a 4-H meeting , but we have cancelled it due to snow. We have about 3 inches up here and we can't wait for the RAIN! We set the meeting up for tomorrow.

Cheese Class - March 21, 2009 - 10-2pm - Winlock, Wa.

Email me or check out my web page for more details......The cut off date for the class is March 9.... Hurry the class is filling up!

Danyel and Ali have their HAM Radio Class tonight.... if it rains! David has his Sisters Birthday at 6:30 tonight.

Even when the weather is white keep your eyes on the Sunny weather to come. At least you'll keep HOPE alive for the next few months of winter.

The Lull before the Storm

2009-02-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

Good Morning:

This is Danyel's puppy sleeping next to the file cabinet - the only place we can tie her in the house that she can't destroy things. She spends most of her time outside now and only comes in to eat and take a nap. She still sleeps in Danyels room at night.

Yesterday the girls and I stayed home except for Biology class. We got homeschooling done. David went to Seattle to Market. I had Bible study in the evening and that went great. The girls were left at home to fend for themselves and clean the kitchen up. When I got home most of the kitchen was clean and David was home with the market report. Not so good. I hope we can hold out till our milk production is in and we start getting paid from the processing plant that buys our extra milk. Its getting tighter and tighter around here. But I am not going to get stressed out about this. I am going to Trust God that he has a bigger plan for our family and farm.

Today we will do our homeschool and Biology class and then run to Olympia to deliver chevre to Dockside Bistro. I got it all packaged up this morning and the invoice made up too. Then I am going to try and run over to Adna and vaccum up some marinated feta for market. David is getting low and its always good to have extra packaged up.

No babies born yesterday and I haven't been out in the barn yet this morning. I did get up at 4:30 this morning to package up chevre for market. Now don't feel sorry for me having to get up so early. I really enjoy the quiet time before the farm starts moving and I am enjoying it more and more since I know its going to change in a short time. At least during this two hour window I can read my devotional and Bible, which gives me a peace for the rest of the day. I can get the kitchen kind of straighted up and even look over my lesson plan for the day. The smell outside is so fresh and crisp too. I think alot of people miss the best part of the day - early morning. It puts a smile on my face when I think of the peace and unhurriedness that occurs at this hour in the morning. Granted I go to bed by 10pm and sometimes earlier.... but there is nothing good on TV and I don't miss the TV anyway. My eyes are to tired to read then and I have been busy all day.

Enough of that soap box. I hope everyone has an Awesome day!

Kidding Season Begins........

2009-02-05T05:13:00.000-08:00

Good Morning:

This is my N.W. Comfort and Black Jewels Aged cheese. We are going to sample and sell it next weekend at Pikes Place Market. It is the first batch and we won't have anymore until the End of May this year.

Tue was one of those busy days. Jami and Seth and th grandkids left at 8am for Montana. That evening the girls went to thier HAM radio class, they liked it and look forward to going next week. I made it to grange and even hot a potluck dish to boot. I just took some of my stew I had made a few days before. David showed up for Grange at 7:1 5 just after the meeting started. The lady that we had speak did a great job on presenting her need for help in Africa. As a side note now I'v had two ladies ask me to come to Africa.... what and adventure that would be. Anyway David left the grange at 8:30 to go get the girls and I came right home. We were all in bed about 10pm.

Wed. I had all the good intentions to get up at 5am so we could get chores going alittle early.... I must of turned off the alarm or forgot to set it. I woke up at 7:20. I got the girls awake and sent them out to do start chores. David and I followed shortly. I was expecting the speaker at the grange to be at our house at 9am and I wanted things in order so I could visit and give her the info. she was wanting about goats. Well, we got the chores done and started our homeschool studies. It ended up not being such a rush thing anyway cause Jody showed up at 11:30. She stayed until 4:00. She took the tour and ate lunch with me. David ran Danyel to Biology and then went and picked her up afterwards. David also went and got some free hay that one of our grangers offered to us, he took the girls to help. When they got back from getting hay, our friend who works for the railroad showed up for dinner (which I had totally forgotten we had invited him for). He helped David unload the 60 bales of hay. We started chores at 4:30 and low and behold one of our does kidded. One of our Oberhaslies. She is early by about 5 days. The girls came in and got towels to dry off the kid. The baby was having a hard time breathing. So we suckered out its mouth and nose, but it just wouldn't clear up. So my next line of action is to swing the babies to force the flem into thier throat so I can sucker it out. But this didn't give me the results I wanted either. So we suckered it again. I had the girls put the baby in with its mom in a pen and finish thier chores. I told them to bring the baby in when they were finished and I'd give it some colostrum and some goat drench (it a liquid with lots of good stuff in it, vit. min. ect.). They brought the baby in the house we wraped it with a clean towel and put it on the heating pad in a basket. I put a tube down its throat and syringed some milk down it. It was so weak. It perked up a bit but not much and to make a long story short the baby died. The girls hate to start the kidding season like this, but such is farm life. Anyway now we have a mom to milk by hand. We will freeze the colostrum incase we need it for another baby.

Everyone Pray That our Kidding Season will be a Good Season!

Well, as I am writing I am swishing that oil around in my mouth. For some reason this morning it feels like I should gag.... I'll try and work through it. I only got 10 min. in instead of 20. Drank my 8oz of water and will have a cup of coffee.

I got up this morning at 4:30 to go make up some chevre for David to take to market. He left at 5:30am to head to Seattle. I sure hope he has some good sales today. I'll get the girls up at 7:30, this is thier last week of sleeping in and I'll let them enjoy it.

I am going to sign Ali up for BME which is rifle shooting through CAP (Civil Air Patrol) for next month. Its a weekend event. Danyel went in November I think to hers.

This evening I have the bible study at 6:30. I have been so busy this week I haven't had time to read my chapter and be ready for the class tonight. So I'll go blind tonight - or let the Holy Spirit lead me.

You have a Great Day today and enjoy the warmer weather and the glimps of the Sunshine.

Adventure on I-5

2009-02-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

Hello to All:
Another entry from the goatlady. Thats what I am now referred to quite often as I enter the room. There is a nice ring about that name, I actually am growing fond of it. Maybe its and endearing title.
My Big Adventure: Monday morning David took the truck to Seattle to Market and left the car with me. It was running fine and started great when I went out to take Danyel to Biology class at 10:15am. I had on my farm jumper and I put on some flip flops, cause I was just running Danyel to school and then go get some gas. So I drop her off and headed tword the gas station outside of Napavine. The price was 5 cents more than the station where we turn off to go home so I passed the first gas station and headed out onto I-5 for our exit. Well about 500 yards before our exit the car starts sputtering and kind of jerked a little. Then I looked at the speedometer and it said I was going 0 and I knew that was not true. I kept giving it gas and it kept jerking and I am thinking this is not happening. I got to our exit and then off to the side of the road and the car stopped. I called David and told him he had better pray that someone I know or could trust would come and rescue me. Before I got off the phone to him, I heard a rap on my window and as I turned I saw a gentleman in an orange vest and in the rear view window I saw an WDOT emergency truck. He asked if I needed towed and I told him I thought I just needed a jump. So he jumped the car, it started he followed me almost all the way home. God is Good. The stupid car died again on our road home and a neighbor jumped me again. I got home in time to take the van and go pick up Danyel from Biology at 11:30.
Anyway yesterday my daughter from Montana and her husband and two darling children graced out home and spent the night. We had a good visit and had fun watching the youngest get around - she is just starting to walk. Justin the older grandchild kept his nose on the computer flying airplanes. Seth, my daughters husband, helped David put a new altinater in the car. What another blessing. Anyway we did enjoy the visit. They left this morning at about 8am. I fixed scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast with some homemade applesauce. Sent some yogurt and cheese home with them. After they left we all went out to do chores and check on everyones health. Some of those goats sure look close to having thier babies. But no one yet is gracing our farm with little feet...... yet! We worked on our homeschool and even finished on time today. David went and got grain, dog & cat food. We had to do chores early as the girls are now taking H.A.M. Radio classes from 7-9pm each Tue. for 4 weeks. Another class we are taking is a crochet class on Mondays from 3:30-5:00 for 8 weeks. We'll see what happens when we start milking goats the middle of this month. We also had grange tonight at 6pm. I went to grange with my stew in hand for the potluck dinner and David ran the girls into Chehalis to thier radio class, then came to the grange. Our speaker tonight is helping the people in Rowanda Africa - getting them goats and teaching them to make cheese. It was a very informative presentation. We got out of our meeting at 8:30 and I packed up my things and David left to pick up the girls. We all were home by 9:30pm. Its a long day.
Tomorrow the lady that spoke at our grange is coming to see the farm and talk to me. I have had two offers to go to Africa to help teach the people how to make cheese..... I wonder if I am being directed to go there? Anyway I look forward to our visit tomorrow. David is going to go get free hay that is being given to us to bed the barn down good with fresh bedding before the goats start kidding. We are expecting a couple to have thier babies this weekend... but the next weekend is going to be real intersting cause we have about 40 does due within that 10 day stretch.
Well you have a great nights sleep and rest peacefully. I am planning on doing that real soon.
One last note the sesame oil I am swishing each morning does seem to give me more energy. And I think I can tell a diffence in the whiteness of my teeth. David says he can't do it because the taste stays in his mouth all day cause of his dentures. We'll work on that.

Christmas in Feb.

2009-02-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

Good Morning:

We had our Christmas Dinner yesterday. The food was great and the company wonderful. Jami & Seth, Justin and Ashlynn (Montana), Shawn (Rainier, Or), Heather & Jamie & CJ and our family were here. David and Jamie wanted to watch the Super Bowl so they moved our antenta to get the reception and there it was TV. We havent had TV for about 8 months and I have to say I loved it. So the boys were all excited to watch the game. We ate dinner and then the men sat around cheering on thier teams. Our house was empty by 6pm. But the TV was still on. It remained on until 11:30pm. We had birthday cake and ice cream to celebrate Nov. and Jan. and Feb. birthdays. We all had a good visit.

This picture was taken when they all were getting ready to blow out the candles. Jami (33) & Ashlyn (1), Christian James (5), Justin (9)

We did evening chores during half time - so it was a little later than normal.

On Friday we cleaned house half the day. Had the neighbor girls spend the night and they helped too. House was clean and food was prepared on Sat. morning. Heather and Jamie and CJ came Sat. afternoon to spend the night and hang out. I made lamb stew and homemade rolls (quad batch) for dinner. Sunday morning had the salad made and the roast coated in Dijon Mustard and rock salt coated ready for the oven by 11:30am.

We are getting excited about babies.... only a week left and then we'll be going to the barn alot.

Today we are going to get school done and Jami and Seth and kids will be here this afternoon. I got up at 4:30 am to make up chevre for David to take to market today. Then I started a new health thing my daughter told me to try. Swish my mouth with pressed seseme seed oil for 20 min. spit out in toilet. Then drink 2 - 8oz glasses of cold water then brush your teeth. (Swish on an empty stomach). Benefits: Whiter teeth, detoxe your body, and give you more energy. So we'll see.

I need to run to town this morning and get dog food and put some money in the bank. Chores in the morning are pretty easy and don't take any time at all. So we are getting done with breakfast and will head down stairs to do school work.

Hope you all have a Great Day and Smile at someone you don't know..... then at someone you do know.

A week of Dairy life

2009-01-28T20:48:00.000-08:00

Hello to all:

Sorry I havent' wrote in a week. But our computer has been acting up.... I personally think its the internet server making my life rough so I'll pay the extra bucks for that quick internet service. But, anyway thats whats been up. So let me recap this last week for you

Thur. I went over and vaccum packaged feta and chevre. We got a new store buying our cheese, IGA in Winlock. And our fresh feta was ready to be packaged. David went to market and did alright.

A photo Danyel took of Mt. St. Helens from our field.

Fri. The girls and I did all kinds of running around. Picked up thier blues uniform for the banquet on Sat. I picked up our new business cards and lables. We went to the library and delivered cheese to IGA, ran by the tractor and farm store and got dog food. David got home and hadn't sold very much cheese. He had a headache. He unloaded his stuff and restocked and loaded stuff for market on Sat.

Sat. I got up at 4:30 to package cheese up for David to go to market. I got everything ready and he wasn't up yet so I told him I'd go. He said alright. I have to brag but I sold really good.... almost ran out of some of my cheese. David had to do the domestic chores... like get the girls ready for the banquet and take the dessert the girls made and some cheese and crackers. I would meet them after market. David also had to make sure all chores were done before they had to leave for the banquet at 6pm. I made it to the banquet but to late for dinner (I grabbed a hamburger on my drive home). They presented a bunch of awards and had a speaker talk about staying motivated and obtaining your goals. I got home unloaded and counted my cash box. They got home about 1/2 later than I did ( girls had to visit).

Sunday David left for market at 6am.. there was snow again on the ground and ice under that. David said he slipped around a bit. The girls and I stayed home from church. Our hill is so steep and I have a two wheel drive truck.... not a good combo for ice and snow. We did our chores and put the puzzel together and just hung out. I did go in the afternoon to get grain. David got home and had sold less than $100 of cheese ----NOT GOOD. He unloaded and repacked and stocked his supplies.

Mon. David left for market at 5am. I have been getting up with him and when he leaves I spend an hour reading my Bible study book and the Bible. Got the girls up at 7am to do chores. We have cut down to 3 goats milking in the morning every third day. I am really hoping by the end of the week we will be totally done with milking. The girls are milking by hand rather than dirty the whole system. I ran and got two rounds of hay at Grace Farms. A friend brought out her boar cross doe and two kids for me to do something with thier horns. We banded the mom's horns and we burned the doe kids horns , but the buck kids horns were to big to burn off and to small to band so we'll do them in a month or so. She left the goats until Wed. as she had to get home. David got home from market at 6:30 instead of 7:30. He sold all day ==== one container of plain chevre==== $6.25. OUCH!!!! We watched a movie with the girls and relaxed.

Tue. David was off and so he helped clean the last two baby stalls up by the hay. We had a 4-H meeting today. There was snow on the ground....ICK! David had a DR. appt. so he left at 9am for Longview. I decided not to try and take Danyel to Biology class due to our hill again. But when David got home he ran her to school at about 12:00 to drop off her make up work and to take a test. They were home before the 4-H meeting started. We got our homeschool work done for the day.

Wed. David was home today too. We got the goats fed and watered this morning, then came in and did homeschool until 2pm. At about 3pm we had a family come out and tour the farm. While they were here my friend came to get her doe and kids. David had taken the girls to a CAP event at 3:30 in Centraila at the Rifle Club - to meet the Army Marksman that won the gold medal at the Olympics. The girls said it was alright but they didn't fire any guns, but they did sign a photo. They got home about 5:35pm and we had to eat dinner and then head for church at 7pm. Got home at 8:40pm and David and the girls went out and fed and watered the goats. And now as I sit here writing they are all watching Phantom of the Opera. David will load up his stuff and be ready for market tomorrow.

Well that was our week at the dairy. We are expecting two does to kid on Sat. this week. I am sure the stories will be good when the kidding starts.

You all have a Great Evening and May God Bless You.

The Sonshine Is Wonderful

2009-01-22T08:36:00.001-08:00

Hello to the New Person

Good - by to the old person

Good Morning:

Yesterday David got another order from a store for our cheese - IGA Cedar Village in Winlock, WA - ordered garlic and dill chevre and plain chevre to put on their shelves.

I froze the milk we got yesterday - 1 gallon and 1/2. We will milk on Friday to try and pull more does off. I hate to just stop them from milking due to mastitis and I know from being a breast feeding mom how I felt - so I have sympathy for my does.

David worked on fencing yesterday. He made the fence more sturdy coming up the driveway. It looks really good.

We also had a hose break on Tue evening on the commercial hot water heater - it steamed up the bulk tank room and was squirting hot water everywhere. David turned off the water so we didn't have to clean the parlor that night - but Wed. morning he was at Home Depot getting the part. By the end of milking it was fixed and we were back to cleaning things up. I thought the part would cost about $100 since it had to do with my commercial hot water heater, but God is watching over us - it was only $14 for the part. Amen!!

David also took his car in to get it fixed and they couldn't find anything wrong. So he cleaned the terminals on the batteries and its been fine. God is Good !

We went to the thrift store and found Ali a dress to wear to the Civil Air Patrol Dance at their conference coming up. Its really pretty, black and pink - the color she loves the most, PINK.

David and I got the fresh feta vacuum packed yesterday over at Black Sheep Creamery. Now we are set until we start milking near the end of Feb. . Today I'll go vacuum pack the marinated feta and some chevre.

Danyel got baptized with about 19 other youth kids. We are so proud of her choice. Also two of our first foster daughters also got baptized. Ya! This is how you know something went right with your training of your children.

Today I will deliver some cheese to the Post Office, a mail carrier loves out cheese and I told her I'd be in town today and would bring her some.

The sunshine sure give me a better outlook on life. It lifts my spirits. I have W.O.W. tonight - women's bible study.

I need to make a double batch of rolls for the Banquet on Sat. Evening for Civil Air Patrol. And the girls are going to make a dessert too.

Have a Great Day and enjoy the SON!

Horn Banding Day!

2009-01-19T16:08:00.002-08:00

Good Afternoon:

Well, we banded horns this afternoon right after history class. So as I pomised here are our pictures. The first picture is of the horns on the goat. Second picture of me filing a notch as close to the skull as I can. It doesn't have to be big, but big enough to hold two bands in it. I notch out one on the front of the horn and one on the back. The third picture is of the bands on the horns - I use two. This ensures if they rub thier horns they may break one band but the second is usually still on. If you do this right... the goat should be throwing his head and rubbing his horns. It doesn't hurt them - there is just pressure on the horn and its uncomfortable. It takes about 2-3 weeks before they drop off. They stop being crazy by the next day. Its sort of like banding a buck and the laying down and getting up and crying is the same thing.

David left for market this morning and ended up calling me and said the car died. And so he got it jumped and came home. He say's he'll take the truck from now on. He did pretty good yesterday at market.... not good enough for me to have to package more cheese though. thats how we know its a really good market day.... is if I have to work making up more cheese for the next day at market. Anyway he is home today. I have him doing little fix-it up jobs around the dairy.

We are going to milk every other day in hopes of drying these last 7 girls up by this weekend. I am down to a little over a gallon a milking.

All the does are looking pretty big, from being pregnant. It looks like a good crop of does this year and that means a good crop of kids.

For P.E. today we worked for one hour cleaning one of the kid pens. This pen is alot harder than the other one we did. So it will take us a few days on this pen.

Well hope the banding horns helped you be able to do it yourself.

Have a great day. Remember you are what you eat! So eat healthy and stay active. (If you need something to do come work with us on the dairy for a day or two)

Its a Sunny Day!

2009-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Its a Great Morning:

Klahowya (Kl a how ya) Cowlitz Indian Jargon - Means: Hello or Good-by

I got up at 5am to make up some packages of garlic and dill chevre and to package some marinated feta for David. I also packaged up some plain yogurt and some fruit yogurt for David to take to market tomorrow. I still need to lable and make an invoice for the yogurt.

This is Elfy our Lamancha doe

Ali went to market with David today. Danyel and I have to go to Sunday school this morning so Danyel can take her class on baptism. She is getting baptized on Wed. evening. We are very excited.

The Indian Language class was great. We learned alot and I am looking forward to being able to talk to others with this old but new language. Grandfather Roy is an awsome teacher and he is a great guy too. We met alot of nice people. One lady who comes from Rainier Oregon was there, she also comes to our farm and buys whole rounds of our cheeses. So she caught me at the end of the lesson and ordered a round out of our first milkings in Feb. Ya!

Danyel and I have about 4 goats to band horn on today. So that will be our afternoon after church. I'll post the pictures tomorrow and directions on how we do it.

We only got a gallon of milk out of the 6 goats this morning and I think I'll have Ali only milk three tomorrow and then a different three the next day and so before the end of the week all milking will be done. I'll have about 7 gallons froze for yogurt. My fresh feta will be ready to package on Wed. of this week. David can't hardly wait - thats one of our popular cheeses at the market.

Well have a Great Day.

There is no more important spiritual and practical lesson we can teachour children than the principle of sowing and reaping. Choices always have consequences.

Do not be deiceved, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sowes, that he will also reap. (Galations 6:7)

And what better way to teach this than owning a farm, working a garden, raising an animal for slaughter, or for showing.

Spring isn't far away

2009-01-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon:
We got up am milked 7 goats got about 1 gallon -which is good cause it means they are going to be dry for about 1 month when everyone starts kidding.
I made yogurt this morning. For an order and the rest will go in the freezer for popcycles. The girls love them.
We went to an Indian Language class today. We are learning the Chinook Jargen > its alot of languages mixed together.
We had fun this morning sitting with the Indians of our area and learned thier language that they used to communicate with other tribes.
These are some of last years babies 2008
We are going to band some goat horns today. But the rest of the day will be kind of layed back.
David is in Seattle selling cheese.
We are taking our meat goats to the butcher today - I think I have 7. That will keep us until next winter. I have to go get about 12 or 15 bags of grain today too.
The girls had thier freinds spend the night so we had extra help on the farm yesterday and this morning.

Cheese Class March 21, 2009 - $35 - 4 hour class- Email me if your interested.

Hope Everyone has a great weekend.

Good-Bye to an Old Friend

2009-01-16T05:32:00.000-08:00

This is Kusco in training, carrying one of our boar babies in his pack that Danyel bought him for Civil Air Patrol - search and rescue missions. He hadn't got to go on a mission yet.

Good Morning:

The weather forecast is suppose to be sunny.... I am going to proclaim it in faith the Son will shine!

Well we lost our friend Kusco yesterday. He is Danyel's pack goat - he was 5 years old and he fell last month and put his hip out of socket. We had been trying different things on him to try and help him. The vet had said there is nothing under surgery to fix the hip and then it will most likely pop out again. Besides the cost. I hated to see him go but I am glad cause I know he has been hurting. Danyel is sad to also see her faithful friend leave her.

But that is farm life and we seem to get alot of disappointments and death is one of those things you get use to in a sense on a farm.

So here is my obituary to Kusco:

He was a true trooper. He would follow Danyel where ever she went without a leash on him. He was a big boy - he would carry lunches for her in his pack, dogs,baby goats and hiking gear. He has walked miles and miles for Danyel. His latest training was getting him ready to go on search and rescue missions with the Civil Air Patrol. He never got to go on a mission - but his heart was in it. He will be missed.

Danyel will pick another goat baby this year to start over again.

Yesterday we, Daneyl & Ali and I, spoke at the Winlock Lions meeting. We shared about out farm and making cheese. We passed out samples of Grande' Rosa, Marinated Feta and Garlic and Dill Chevre. The girls and I enjoyed lunch on the Lions. It was a good community service for the girls. And good public relations for the dairy. Thanks Lions for what your organization does for our community.

I had womens bible study last night too. I made chicken and dumplings for dinner. David was at market and did alright for a Thur.

This morning I am up at 4:30am packaging cheese for market. I have more energy in the morning than at night. So I enjoy getting up early - but going to bed early is a must.

David is on the road already 5:30am.

Today the girls and I will work on homeschool. We are starting our drawing class- which will go on for about 10 weeks. And the rest of the day is open for a few extra chores on the dairy. Like trimming some hooves - Danyel has been doing this when she had been graining. But this evening I'll join her and we can get a bunch done. This afternoon we are going to band some does horns. This we do by taking a file and making an indent in thier horn as close to the skull as possible. Then putting two bands (the things we put on male goats to make them it's) on the horn. In about 3 weeks the horn falls off. We cant have any of our milking does with horns - one its dangerous and two thier heads won't fit in the stantion. We are going to move the babies almost yearlings into another pasture so we can work on one pen at a time until we get them all done before our babies start arriving in 4 weeks. This is not a fun job and it takes teamwork. So the girls and I will drop one class each day in order to clean a pen. I bet the girls won't mind.

Well have a great day and notice who is tending the flock - the Good Shepard.

Just a peaceful day at the dairy

2009-01-14T11:58:00.001-08:00

These are some mailboxes on Twin Oaks road. The during and after shot. Jan. 8 & 9.

Good Morning.

Its another day on the dairy. We had a tour yesterday. We ran to Olypmia to drop off some cheese at Dockside Bistro. David didn't go to market. We got our homeschool done. And I made a Chicken Broccoli Braid for dinner..... All is good at the Rider House.

This morning David went and got hay. To get Danyel to school we have to drive about 7 miles out of our way due to road consturction in Napavine. After I picked her up we ran to Winlock to checkout a movie that we wanted to watch and to pick up a book Danyel had ordered. Home for lunch and back to school. We will be done about 3pm with school. Then feed the goats, make dinner and then off to church. Then when we get home from church we'll all sit and watch Ann Franks Diary. Then pack David's car so he is ready for market. Oh yes, market he made $60 on Monday. What a waste and he took Ali with him - so it cost him double on food. No more Monday's.

Well this is a short and sweet blog today. But its going to be sunny the rest of this week, almost up to 60 degrees.

Just Another Day at the Dairy

2009-01-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

These are picture when the water was receding and when the water was raging. This is a barn on Twin Oaks Road, heading out tword Adna, WA.

Good Morning. David and Ali went to market today. Danyel and I did the chores and then did some Algerbra. I took Danyel to Biology and after that we are heading to Olympia to drop off some chevre at the Dockside Bistro. David also took some more chevre to Michou. The market yesterday was slow, meaning not alot of sales. Yesterday, I ran and got some grain and the girls unloaded it. We went to church in the morning. The girls had two neighbor girls spend the night, which means I don't see my girls because they are all down stairs playing board games or watching movies or playing on the computer.

Danyel took another goat off line today. Now we have 7 milking and that will be slowing going away, as she takes them off one by one this week. I have milk saved in the freezer for making yogurt. My last batch of feta is in the pastuizer today - I skipped out yesterday on the task. But in the end its alright because I ended up with 17 gallons. Won't make alot of cheese but will help with the fresh feta.

The goats went out this morning and are enjoying the grass. Its overcast but not raining or snowing. Its great. Tomorrow I'll have David go get some hay.

Danyel and I ran around and did a bunch of erronds today so didn't get home till 4pm. But we got done.

Have a great day remember Jesus is the Reason....... even for FARMING.

Freedom!

2009-01-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

Good Morning:
Well we were there - when they opened I-5 to the truckers. We stood on the over pass and waved as they went past. What a site. And I know they were very glad.

It was alot of fun to watch the trucks go by.

This is the bridge the morning 1/9/09 Water going down.

I went to market with David on Sat. We did pretty good for this year, but we are about 1/2 of what we did last year. Now the gas prices are going up and that means feed will go up and so will other commodities. David had a guy yesterday say to him we should just have a straight gas price of $3.00 a gallon. David said sure that would be great..... we could all stay home, have no fresh produce (that you could afford), and the small farmers go out of business because grain is to high for us to affordably feed our stock. And for the diary person - we have stainless steel equipment and filters and rubber stops and chemicals to clean with. And then the cheese side its the containers, bags, processing equipment. All these things drive the cost of our cheese up and then no one can afford it. Thus the big guy wins again..... and the little guy gets lost in the dollars. Who can we trust to take care of us if we can't take care of ourselves? God! I can for sure say it doesn't matter if we are farming or not - that MY God will take care of us no matter what the economy is doing. AMEN!

Alright off my soap box. Just one more word..... shop the farmers markets this summer ..... WE NEED YOU! And while your at the market why not thank the farmer for his hard work to bring you good quality food.

David got to come home on Friday. He was sure glad. Thats why I know the truckers were glad to get on the road. He sold in three days $25 dollars of cheese - though it paid for two nights in a motel and ate six meals too and bought toilet things. Crazy. Oh well- God is Good.

Have a Great Day.

The Flooding!

2009-01-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

This is Ali and her glowing hair. A covered Bridge at 3:30 today

Heading twords Adna, Wa.

The water is covering fields.

Good Evening to you all. To let you all know we are high and dry this flood around. We got up this morning to rain and the knowlage that the rivers were going to flood. So we decided to take a drive after chores this morning. We couldn't get very far from home. We tried going across I-5 at exit 68 and there was a road block. Then we went to Winlock and tword Toledo and viewed the Cowlitz River - it was pretty high. Then we went on Jackson Hwy and had to drive through three water over the road area's. (we could see the yellow line and we went slow). Then we headed out tword Adna and viewed the corn fields flooded and the ducks and geese and swans swimming on them like no big deal. We went on to a road called Twin Oaks and came to the road block. At this point there was alot of water rushing over the road. A house was surrounded by water and the barn doors were open with water rushing through the barn. Then we turned around and went through Napavine on hwy 603 to look out over the ridge. It looked like last year. It was pretty bad. I know Black Sheep Creamery got their flock out and to high ground and they got everything in thier house moved upstairs and I am sure they got evacuated out. When we came home it was raining again. We watched movies and played games on the computer and worked on our puzzel today. David on the other hand is still stuck up in Seattle. He stayed in a motel last night and went back to the market this morning to sell cheese. He said he wasn't sure if he was going to stay another night in a motel or try and get through. He said he needed to go get a shaver and shaving lotion and a tee shirt to wear tomorrow if he stayed.

So the girls and I did all the chores today. I have to say I am glad its David that is stuck - cause I wouldn't do very good in this situation - by myself.

I turned my cheese today, and froze milk from this morning. Tomorrow will be the same as today.... Hopefully David will be able to get home.

Have a Great evening.

Rain - Can we get a break - weather wize!!

2009-01-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Before Picture of Danyel's hair and the after picture of Danyel's hair. She is giving about 12 inches of hair to Locks of Love.

Hello again. Well everyone's eyes are on the rivers around here. The rain total is getting higher and higher. We sit on a hill why would we be worried about rain totals? Well the water runs off the last year tree harvest area above us. We are keeping an eye on our back property for that river trickle that turned into a major water way flooding our basement.

As of 1o:30 the radio said we have had 1.75 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. We took Danyel to Napavine school for her class. Her school is one of the few schools that haven't sent children home yet. We are going to go drive around and take some pictures when we pick Danyel up from her class. We have loaded the girls 24 hour Civil Air Patrol packs and our boots and rain coats in case we see a need we can help.

Our goats are dry and the chores are all done. David went to Seattle to Market today and his report from there is that the wind is blowing really hard. Its not raining so much but very windy. We will keep him posted on the water issue so he can get home tonight.

Our big thing yesterday was getting Danyel's hair cut. She hasn't had it cut since she was very small, around 3. She loves her hair cut too. Ali had to have something so she bought hair color and dyed her hair very gold blonde. She looks fine - but I think she is glowing.

As for David and I we think we look fine and decided to let the girls have thier fun.

I'll give you another up date on the flooding tomorrow.

Have a great day and stay dry.... take an umbrella out with you today I think it might rain.

Here comes the Snow again.

2009-01-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

This is a picture one of the girls took of ice and snow melting off the roof of the milk parlor.

Good Evening. Wouldn't you know it.... the snow returned. But he brought his friend the wind with him. Together they could cause everyone to worry. And we did. Cloe, our female anatolian shepard was back out in her dog house. The snow started coming and coming and coming - soon all the green that we saw the day before was gone and the driveway was white and untouched again. But it was the wind that caught us watching the trees and roofs for damage. Then I remembered Cloe in the pasture with her dog house.... and sure enough that wind had blown it over and Cloe sat in the snow waiting. The girls put her in the barn. Where she dried off and was more protected

David went around and fixed fences today. Man the snow really messed up our fences, with limbs and packed snow pushing it down. The goats knew yesterday the fences were down. As they were out of the pasture yesterday and today. Its crazy that they can hear that hum on the wire.

I turned the cheese over again in the processing plant. I am getting about two gallons a day of milk that I am freezing so that maybe I can make another batch of feta. We only have two pieces of our fresh left. Anyway we'll see.

David took Monday and Tue off and is going to try Wed. at Pikes Place Market. He'll work

through Sunday.

Market has been going pretty good. We are selling alot of our Grande'Rosa and Pepper Rosa. We are cutting the rounds at the market. It seems we are selling more of the cheese doing it this way.

I am back to homeschooling the girls after our Christmas Break. Its hard to get back into the routine. We got a lot of school done today. Danyel had Biology today too. David ran around town paying bills and picking up a few things we needed.

Tomorrow David will go get some grain and set us up for this week. We have a big day tomorrow. Danyel is getting about 14 inches of her hair cut off. Her hair has never been cut before. But she wants to donate her hair to Locks of Love. Her hair will be a little longer than her shoulders. She is really exicited. Getting ready for Civil Air Patrol will be alot easier putting the bun in. I'll show pictures tomorrow the before and after.

We will have Grange tomorrow evening too. So I have to make a potluck dish to take.

Sunday we finally got to go to church. It seems like months since we were there. The music was great and the message was good too. After church we had company, Lacee and her husband Ben. They ate chili with us. We visited for a long time. It was really good.

We started our next puzzel,1000. Our last one was 550, so we figured we were ready for more of a challenge. Everyone works on it.

If you can find good in everything you will not be burdened with the heavyness of worry.

More Snow and Ice

2009-01-03T06:08:00.000-08:00

Good Morning:

These are our goats on a snowy day! Warm and Dry. Bernie (Anatolian Shepard lives with the goats and Dutches (Pappillion) herds our goats.

I was up at 5am to make garlic and dill chevre for David to take to market. I also had to package and label some more marinated feta. David sold alot of cheese yesterday. Its a blessing cause our house payment is due in 15 days and we needed the sales. Ya!

I turned my cheese yesterday and this evening they are coming out of the molds and will be salted.

Danyel and I got the house cleaned and all the Christmas stuff up in the attic. Its refreshing to start with an orderly house for the new year. Now I just have to get my desk cleaned and all the data entered. Our tax guy likes the taxes early like January so I need to finish that too.

Today I need to get to town to get dog food. Its pretty icy this morning - hope it warms up cause I couldn't go yesterday because I was waiting for my son to come - and I didn't want to miss him. But around 2pm I called him and said don't come - the snow started coming down pretty heavy and was sticking again.

Danyel and I did chores at 4:30 and when I was done haying, watering and cleaning the parlor I came in and made stew for dinner. Then we worked on the puzzle and watched Pirates of the Caribbean, until David got home from market.

Today its Ali and I all day. We have no big plans.

Have a Great Day and take a deep breath outside and smell the crisp air.