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

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

Cheese Class 3-21-09

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

David showing a baby boar doe to a baby 3.18.09 Tour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Day Before The Cheese Class

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Babies More Snow

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

Another Week in March

Good Morning:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Busy, Busy Busy, Cheesemaking, Kidding, Milking

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

Good Morning:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Its crazy here.... As usual.

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