the cheese making and all the preparation of jars strainer pots etc. that it entails, took much longer than i'd anticipated. AND i didn't really read the directions, not the parts where it details how long things sit. so, it's in the sitting/setting 12 to 20 hours state. 12 hours will be up at 1 a.m. i could have timed it better. next time.
and i could have worked on things outside, but really, i wanted to stitch. so i did. and the small scrap that is the Storm appeared. it's good.
it’s looking so wonder full. the simplicity of the weatherscape/mountain/origin of the river/planets–astounds me. showing so MUCH with so few elements.
and you’ll get a groove with the cheesemaking and it will become just part of what you do, almost w/o thinking. not just yet, but soon. very soon.
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i don’t know. so much about it has to do with temperature. am
thinking about that today. these 12 to 20 hours are supposed to
be at 70 something degrees and that is not what happens here.
i really don’t ever know what the temp is in the house…i guess i
can get a thermometer…
but really, it is what it is. and it goes down to very cold in here
in Dec and Jan. like very….40 maybe? that’s too cold. so…
i can run electric heater to maintain 70? that’s changing a whole
way of living that i believe in. hmmm.
and, did you pasturize your milk? i didn’t want to, wasn’t going
to, but then chickened out and did. what’s your thinking about
that?
Heather’s water broke around 6 a.m. still waiting. but i will be
tonight.
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Try a heating pad to maintain temp or the light in the oven.. Welcome baby Giana!
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Oh my…such doings at your homestead…great things are being made. What excitement! And, thank you Grace for noticing her eyes over at ‘Uncertainty’.
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the whole temperature thing. i’m remembering now how that seemed so absolutely criticalwhen i started and although i did buy a thermometer, there were external factors–ambient air temperature, etc.–that i couldn’t control at all. we heated with wood. kitchen was quite removed from the heat and never warmed up a lot in winter. in summer, the house was very hot. but i remember thinking, people in yurts have been making cheese for thousands of years w/o thermometers or the ability to create a controlled environment. so.
here’s what i noticed. in summer, the cheese simply “made” more quickly. i did heat it to the prescribed temperature but didn’t try to hold it there. it still worked, just more quickly–in the winter, i put the pot of heated milk in the sink in water and would frequently add hot water to keep up the temperature. that seemed to work pretty well.
and no. i didn’t pasteurize the milk ahead of time. but i was pretty fanatical about sterilizing the milking pail, cleaning the goat’s teats thoroughly. keeping my own hands very clean–and then cooling the milk quickly after i brought it back to the house and strained it. and of course healthy goats are a huge component of this–and your herd looks wonderful. you would have a sense if one or another of the does wasn’t quite right. and then of course being boiling all of the cheese-making stuff before proceeding–especially the cheesecloth.
i don’t recall ever losing a batch but noticed that in the heat of summer the cheese was a tad stronger. from season to season the flavor changed a bit–depending upon what was available for browsing.
it will be o.k. just remember you’re participating in an ancient tradition–that helped me greatly.
and the babe? do tell me she arrived safely on the 27th.
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So much. Cloth. Cheese. Birth
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i like it … birthing cheese & birthing babies . seems to be a theme here . i wish i lived close by i would love to try your cheese (:
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what an exciting day
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The birthday of the cheese maker and soon the birthday of Giana… a date to remember always.
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a very good day
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windthread 
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