Christmas and Good By Snow

Hello: I hope your Christmas was wonderful. Ours was. We had the first Christmas without most of my children home. I have to say it was very different. But we enjoyed opening gifts and hanging out together. Ali and Danyel got us a massager chair pad... it has heat too. It feels good. We got the girls a few jewelry things from the markets that we thought they would like. Danyel knows I love books, so she got me one of my books for a collection I am doing. David got some ceramic pigs to add to his collection. We ate fudge and frosted sugar cookies. We watched the snow and wondered when it was going to go away. In the afternoon we hitched up the flat bed to the tractor and took some of our cheese around to our neighbors and wished them a Merry Christmas. We were cold and ready for some hot chocolate when we got into the house. But it was fun to see our neighbors and visit a little with each.
I have gone to market Friday and Sat of this week with David. We tried an new way of selling out cheese for us any way. We took the whole round of Grande' Rosa and Pepper Rosa and cut it as we sold it. It seemed to sell pretty good. I stayed home today so I could go get the hay. I broke out hitch trying to turn to sharp when I was backing up. So I'll go to market tomorrow and sell cheese and David can go and get the hitch fixed. The people we buy the hay from brought us up one round of hay today.
We are milking 10 goats now and I am trying to keep these last ones on as long as possible so I can experiment with some new cheese. I have 20 gallons in the tank right now and will make that into Grande' Rosa and Pepper Rosa and then I'll freeze the rest of the milk to make yogurt for a store that is selling it. We are all ready for a break.
We will sell everyday until the first weekend of Jan. then we'll go to Fri and Sat. and Sunday until Farmers Markets Start.
Tonight David and I will look over our markets and see which ones we will be in next summer.
We took some pictures of our barn when the snow melted a little and fell off the roof. It was pretty cool to see.
When I got up Sat. morning to clean the parlor and make up some cheese I was very glad to hear drip drip drip. The snow is very pretty but I like it on the mountains. We made it through the snow and now the wet rain is a good thing. We can start getting back to normal.
When we were at Pikes Place on Sat. I met two different groups that were from Winlock. I got to meet some new people that live close to us. Its funny how small a world we live in. They were really nice and it was fun to chat about our small community.
Well you all have a nice peaceful evening and remember the best cheese comes from MY Goats!

More Snow- and cold weather

Good Morning. Another white day. We are not going up to Mt. St. Helens on Christmas Day this year, because she came to us (the snow).
Yesterday David went to town to get FOOD for the cupboard. He went and got 10 bags of grain and some new boots for Ali (she was taping a hole in her boot- good sign someone needs new boots). And while out he decided he could make it to Seattle today. He called our hay supplier to find out if they could bring one round of hay up- cause our van won't make it up our hill and driveway, because its a two wheel drive 2 ton Van.

Some of our last year kids playing in the snow!

Neighbor's helping neighbors is the motto in small towns around here. They said yes they could and would. So come about 7pm last night here comes our neighbor with that round of hay. He wouldn't take any money for the gas it took him to drive 15 miles, after he got done with his work. We are truly blessed with the people we know around our small community.
After that we loaded the car and counted cheese. David needed more garlic and dill chevre packaged and he needed some more Grande' Rosa and Pepper Rose labeled. He went out to our cheese cave to get some cheese we had already packaged from my last batch of Grande Rosa and Pepper Rosa. All the packages are not sealed right..... how, when, why are the questions we ask. We don't know but its a loss of about $1000. We have to throw it out - All. OUCH! It happens that I made these cheeses on Monday so we will have some by Friday or Sat. for the weekend coming up. If we can get over to package it up. Maybe we'll try selling it by the slice at the market since its so cold out. That might be fun. Anyway he had a few pieces of this cheese to take today to market.
I got up at 5am to help David get ready to go to market today. They left at 5:15 got gas, and bought ice and was driving on I-5. He said it was pretty good driving all the way to market.
Ali went with him so she could make her $20 for helping - she has gifts in her head for Christmas to buy. Danyel will go tomorrow and earn her $20 for some more of her gifts.
I made sugar cookies this morning and plan to make fudge this afternoon. Danyel and I are stuck at home all day.....DARN!
We started graining all our goats last night. The ones that haven,t been in the milking parlor were a little afraid. Hopefully tonight they will feel a little more comfortable. I know they like the food. It takes about 1 hour to grain everyone through the parlor - but we know that everyone is getting what I want them to have. No fighting or spilling the grain either.
I am reading the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book, and find it very good. I am inspired again to go back to the way we use to do things. David keeps reminding me about the little time I have when not doing the farm and cheese making stuff. And that is so true. But I think I can figure some stuff out with the local farmers and veg. and fruit this summer. I know eating local here would be heaven. Anyway, anyone that hasn't read the book you should. When I started reading it I was slightly turned off by the Green Approach to everything. I am anit-green so to speak. I believe in doing what I should to make my farm run its best. Like no pesticides and using our manure to fertilize our pasture. Not injecting our goats with unnatural substances - unless thats all I have left to do to save them. Doing preventative methods with the goats. I love canning and using my own stuff to feed my family. But I am not anit- business. That is what made out country grow and prosper. Yes, some can do better but its not a bad thing. It is my CHOICE to do the good things I think are right and work for our farm and family. I have always had a stubborn streak in me - just ask my mom. I think we should all be advised about the right things to do - then let people make choices. Choices are what we as farmers are all about. Letting people buy good cheese from me or mass produced cheese from Tillamook. Its taste and community that help us make good choices. Its hard for all of us to fit into the same box. Its the variety in our world that makes it go round. My goats are happy not because someone told me to only feed them some specific thing. Its my choice to choose the foods and meds. I do for my goats. It's my choice to feed my family what ever I choose. I know I take good care of my family and farm. I read and gather information then make MY choice. I am sorry there are stupid people in this world, but I think its because they gave their choices up. I think we need to start giving people choices again about everthing they do, eat, buy or whatever. The ones that do research and find the information they need to make the choice are the ones that really care. The one's that follow the pack are just that followers. The leaders are the ones that inspire us to go deeper and want more of what is right and good. The laws are for the lawless and the criminals - but for us plain folk they are restrictions on good choices we can make on our own. Anyway, off my soap box. Just make good informed choices and then Choose.
Onto another subject - the weather -They say we are going to have 2 inches of snow tonight and then more tomorrow and then the thaw is going to happen.
How often in the Northwest do we get a White Christmas? Not often.
Have a Very Merry Christmas and Enjoy your Family.

Merry Christmas

Good Morning. It sure white at our house. We got another 4 inches of snow and it hasn't stopped snowing this morning yet. We got chores done. And we are almost out of hay, and grain. David is going to try and get some grain today. And if he gets out he has a grocery list a mile long to get too. He has plowed our driveway and is clearing our road up to the barn. He has kept a walkway cleared for me to the processing plant and the milking parlor. Where we buy our hay from they are going to try and get us a round of hay up here with their dump truck and trailer.

This is our driveway yesterday afternoon.

14 inches of snow

I called into our morning radio show "Lets talk about it" and complained about our state road dept. - about no sanders or graders on I-5 Sat. Let a little steam off my chest.
We have gone to one milking a day now. But will run all the non-milkers through the milk parlor at night and give each 1lbs of grain until kidding season in Feb.

New Cheese Class March 21, 2008
Attentive!

I have a lady coming from NY, Colorado, Arizona, and Paris France to my cheese class in March. So if that doesn't perk interest in my class.
Some of my goats are looking like they don't feel good. So one more thing David has to pick up is more minerals. We are going through one 50 lbs. bag every week right now.
We have been calling around to our neighbors to make sure everyone is doing alright.
I am going to make David hook the flat bed trailer on the tractor and pull the neighborhood kids around singing Christmas Carols today. He won't be thrilled but I think it would be fun.
So today with my cheese -I'll turn them over and put the weight back on them for the rest of today. And clean my pasteurizer and wash some buckets.
And maybe, if David gets to town I'll make some cookies. We do a tradition of frosting the sugar cookies and decorating them as a family. So I want to do that too. And what is Christmas without fudge. My grocery list keeps getting longer. If we can have some sweets in the house we'll all feel better.
I personally love being stuck at home. I think its relaxing and less stressful. Even if we can't go to things its all right with me. My kids love being home too. David doesn't. He loves to go places and he is usually bound to break out of the house somehow.
Well I hope your all doing well and getting all the things done you want and need to do. Enjoy each other and the small things that make up Christmas. Like the blinking lights on your tree. The smell of pine in your house. The quietness when you turn off your lights at night just before you fall into bed. These are the things that make The season, not the holiday and not the birthday of Jesus - just the season of the year.

December A month to Enjoy

Good Morning. Its cold out and its white.
On Thur. we started preparing for this cold front coming. The girls started turning the water faucets off and uncoiling and draining the hoses. Friday evening David got out the faucet covers too. We turned the heater on in the milk room and turned a drip on in the processing plant. The goats got extra hay starting yesterday and I think we are ready.
Thur. I didn't make cheese, to much running around. Friday I had bazaar and so no cheese now till Sunday. Friday we got up at 5am - I cleaned the parlor and then got the girls up at 5:30. They milked and I got my stuff ready to go to the bazaar in Rainier, Ore at the Rainier Marina building. Danyel was done by 6:45 and I headed out to clean the parlor so we would be ready to milk when we got home at 7pm. At 7:30 I ran to Winlock to get some grain (prep for the snow storm) about 20 bags, that should take me to mid week before I need more. Then home to unload the grain and load the truck with ice chests and get dressed in market clothes. On the road by 8:35. We got to the bazaar at 9:25 and ready to sell by 10am. They closed the bazaar at 5pm because the weather and there was no one there. So we got home at 6pm and I then got in the van which was hooked up to the flat bed trailer to go get two rounds of hay (this lasts us right now about 9 days), which is 1/2 hour drive one way. It was pouring and blowing but I made it there and back by 7:30pm and then Ali and I had to unhook the trailer from the van and hook it up to the tractor then take it up to the barn and then it got interesting. Only because its me and a 90 pound girl (when wet) trying to push a one ton bale of hay off the trailer - the trailer is wet and slick and so we are slipping and can't find a foot hold to get leverage. We did get the hay off the trailer and into the barn. Then I had to hay everyone. We usually eat on the way home from a market but non of us were hungry so we skipped dinner. Now we are hungry but no energy to make anything... we just fended for ourselves. I then unloaded my cheese and put the blue ice back in the freezer to re-freeze so I can load up tomorrow morning for the last day of the bazaar. I counted the cheese and then my money bank.... wow I sold $30.00 of cheese today - that made my table space fee. What a waste of time. The girls had fun though they did their Christmas shopping at the thrift store in town. I guess I made some good contacts about doing some cheese classes at their facility next year. I fell into bed at 10pm and didn't hear anything.
Now this morning there is a little snow on the ground, the hoses are frozen and the girls have to be in their blue's uniform for Civil Air Patrol by 7:30am - So they are taking turns milking because they needed to iron their uniforms. (Ali told Danyel she would only milk one load though). I won't leave for Rainier until about 8:30 providing there isn't more than a skiff of snow on the ground. I am driving a two wheel drive pick up - little one. I'll put 4 bags of grain in the back before I leave for weight.
Well I wish you all a very Wonderful Day.

Has our Ship come in?

Good Morning.
We are just finishing milking this morning. Our time has changed again back to the 7am milking instead of 6am. We are now down to four loads of 8 does. Our milk is dropping fast as the winter sets in and the goats are wanting a rest. I am trying to make 50 gallon batches of cheese twice a week to stock up for the off months of milking. Its starting to get tricky.
I made a 48 gallon batch of chevre on Tue., its ready to come down this morning. I'll take it down and put it in the refrigerator, until this evening when I have to package chevre's for the
One of our sunsets from our deck
Bazaar this weekend. I am going to make an other batch of Grande Rosa and Pepper Rosa today too.
I packaged up 2 - ten pound buckets of chevre for two restaurants that are going to start using our chevre. Now I can tell you the names: Dockside Bistro in Olympia and Michou at Pikes Place Market. We are so excited. We also picked up the Pike Place Creamery with our yogurt. I've sent them two batches so far.
We are going to go deliver the cheese in Olympia today. Danyel has Biology and then we will leave from there.
We have our grange Christmas Party this Sat. so we are making some brownies, cake and a cheese basket for the party today. They will do a silent auction and the basket will go for that and the cake and brownies are for the cake walk. I will be at the Bazaar, but the girls will be Santa's elves for the evening. So, milking on Sat will be about 3pm so the girls can get picked up at 5:45. I'll stop by the grange after the bazaar. The girls will be up milking on Sat. at about 5am too, they also have CAP and will get picked up at 7:30am.
Sunday morning I drove 4 goats up to Seattle that some people had bought for thier holiday. I was back in time to take the girls to church. What a crazy morning. We layed low the rest of the day though.
Monday I went over and vacuumed up marinated feta and brushed, re-oiled and charcoled my aged cheese and turned them over too.
Tue. David took off - from his sales in Seattle. We went over to Black Sheep Creamery and vacuumed 10 rounds of Grande Rosa and Pepper Rosa - that should keep us for awhile stocked of that cheese. David put up Christmas lights outside. And we went to Longview Wa to look at Christmas Lights - a family tradition. We went out to dinner at the Rose Tree - another family tradition for 14 years on Christmas Day. They are not open anymore on Christmas day so we thought we'd go eat there early. It was a nice day. We loaded up the car for market and all went to bed by 10pm.
Wed. I stared working on an article for the Dairy Goat Journal - Our 5 year anniversary is coming up and I wrote an article for them in 2004 about the life and times of our dairy. So I thought it would be fitting to bring the magazine up to date of our life now. So I spent a great deal of time writing on the computer. We ran to town to do errands. And then we started chores early so we could go to church. Home from church and we cleaned the kitchen up and visited with David.
Well I best get off the computer and start working to get things done around here. I will run out and hay the bucks and then come in and change clothes and take down the cheese and then run Danyel to school and Ali and I will run to the library to drop off a CD that didn't get put back in the audio book checked out. Then pick up Danyel and run to Olymplia then home to bake and then run that stuff to the grange then home to package cheese and make dinner. CRAZY!
TALK TO YOU ALL SOON. Have a Great Day.