Noteworthy News ~

Attempts at cheese making resumed today and I actually had good results given this was the first time since last year. We started backing milking the first 2 does who delivered back in December. As I mentioned in Limey we've got Milk. We are milking only in the mornings. So it took a few days to collect enough beyond our drinking needs. I tried a new recipe to make a plain Chevre featured in Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll. Using plain unsweetened yogurt from the store as my culture medium. The texture turned out creamy with a slight tartness in flavor. I haven't decided whether I will season it beyond adding a little salt with some herbs. Leaving it plain would give us more options in its use. Though the herb flavor is mighty fine on crackers or sitting atop our salads.

While in the kitchen I put on a batch of yogurt too. Recipe came from the same book. I've made some before by a different method. But this one required keeping it going on the back of the stove on a low heat for 8 hrs. A real challenge for me to keep the temperature just right. I'm thinking more and more that a yogurt maker would be an easier way to go. It is sitting in the fridge now, doing its thing. Taste test come tomorrow, but I did sample the spoon I was stirring it with and it tasted good right now for plain yogurt. I plan to add a little natural sugar for sweetening and maybe a touch of vanilla extract. Mostly I eat it over a granola mix with fresh fruit, so it shouldn't need too much flavoring added. Next batch I'm thinking a little maple syrup would give it a yummy flavor. Possibilities are endless as to the uses ~ fresh fruit smoothie anyone?

Since I was busy making goat dairy products. I figured now would be a good time to sit down with the cheese making catalog and order the supplies I needed. Along with a few new ones I wanted to try. I have high hopes in mastering what everyone keeps saying is an easy process. We have visions of wheels of cheese resting in the fridge, for those spur of the moment snack attacks. Of grating fresh mozzarella over piles of hot pasta, tossing herb feta over salads and added to homemade pizza. Okay time to stop, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it all. Oh, I failed to mention I ordered a sweet culture to use in making a cream cheese spread for bagels and such. My first batch of bagels made the other day turned out good. I plan to hunt for some other recipes to try before I choose one to make on a regular basis though.

You can't have cheese without bread, so that was the next project of the morning. Lon has been wanting some sourdough for longer than I want to admit. It is suppose to be a fairly easy process, but one I haven't work into my schedule so far. Some of the recipes can be time consuming with all the steps of feeding and watching. But not long ago I found one that doesn't require much and just sits on the counter doing its thing for 5-10 days. It's called Grandmother Bread, what's not to love about a bread with that name? The plus side is you keep it in the fridge till your ready to make bread. Then a small amount is kept to start the next batch without having to start all over again. I'm sure he will be quite surprised when he finally gets a loaf and I'm excited about the prospects of having some fabulous grilled sandwiches made with the bread. Not to mention being able to serve warm out of the oven sourdough croutons for our salads. Yum, Yum!

Pulling my extra bag of flour out to start the sourdough starter, I noticed a recipe on the back. I am presently using King Arthur flours for all of our baking needs. They put interesting recipes on the backs of all their products. This one was for a High Rising Sandwich Bread. Having a good loaf for toasting and making grilled cheese sandwiches had been one thing missing in my baking. So since I was going to be spending lots of time in the kitchen anyhow. It seemed like the perfect thing to start one more project. Using my bread machine to mix up the dough helps to free up my time so I can multi task easier. When it was time to pull in out to shape, rise and bake. I wasn't too sure about this "high rising" recipe. The ball of dough was smooth looking but there wasn't much of it. Figuring I've gone this far, might as well continue I worked the dough and placed it in a greased loaf pan. Setting it to rise and about 30 minutes later I was astonished at what I saw. Given I had to use a larger pan than it called for. The dough had risen well over the edge of the pan with a satiny smooth top. Looking like something you would see on a bakery shelf. Another 35 minutes and I pulled a warm, picture perfect loaf of bread. Too bad, I forgot to take a picture though in my excitement. You'll just have to trust me on this. Slicing into it revealed a soft moist bread with a delicious flavor. Yep, just had to have a slice! I was so surprised that I had found such a great recipe on something that is usually thrown in the burn barrel.

The "girls" have begun to step up production in the hen house. We are easily averaging 3 dozen a day right now. Since we are sure to have more to start laying this year. I thought it would be a good idea to inspire more people to buy our eggs. The egg fridge is only so big and can hold only so many eggs at a time. We try to keep them fresh for our customers by trying to keep them under a holding time of a week. Which is a LOT fresher than the 3-6 month old ones you buy at the store.

Most of our customers have been buying steadily through the winter months. Having a few new ones would be great to pick up the abundance sure to come! Getting the word out to them is the challenge. So I have started a small contest for my present customers who order each week/month. The name drawn from the hat gets a "gift from the farm" each month. The gifts will vary, but reflect some aspect of Heartland Farm. The plans came together rather easily and a newsletter was born the same day to keep everyone informed of the game results. Besides being educational, it will also offer updates about what is going on here at the farm. Writing the 2 page newsletter was a creative outlet for me and a lot of fun putting together. I printed out the debut copies today to send out with the March egg orders.

Last summer I was given the gift of some free day lillies from a neighbor down the road. I planted a good many in their permanent homes then. The rest of the clumps resided below the water faucet at the back of the house all summer. Well, they have begun to poke their heads out of the brown lumps that sat there all winter. In essence telling me it's time to find them a new home. So far I've moved a few to a new bed across the front part of the garden's fence. I can just see their bright faces nodding a greeting to us each time we enter the garden gate, come summer.

Reminds me of a storybook I read as a child of "Mr. McGregor's" garden adventures with a certain Peter Rabbit. I will have to see if I can find a copy for my granddaughter. She is her Nana's shadow when it comes to working in the dirt. I think some memory making is in our future.

Our new Brahmas that were my spur of the moment purchase recently (You can read about it in my CRAZY post) were moved out to the B&B yesterday. They are enjoying the freedom of a larger space to run around in. For now they look a little lost in such a big space, being numbered at 6, but it won't be all of theirs for long. Some neighbors will be moving in soon and help fill up the place. It will be interesting to see how many we can raise together in the brooder box before graduating some to the floor of the coop.

Busy hands & happy heart,

Deborah