Cheese, Yogurt, and Kefir

Yesterday I was heating milk, cooling it, and then trying to put the container in the yogurt incubator when, I don't know what I did, but I dropped the container and spilled milk everywhere!!! AAhhh! I didn't have any more dried yogurt starter to start over, so I called hubby and asked him to pick up a box at the local health food store on his way home from work. He surprised me and also brought home a box of kefir starter. I've read about kefir and thought about making it, just never got around to buying the starter. It's supposed to be even more beneficial than yogurt and is made similar to yogurt. Heat the milk to 180 degrees F., but cool to 72-75 degrees F (a lower temperature than yogurt), let sit on the counter in a glass jar with a lid for 24 hours, then put in refrigerator for 8 hours. Then shake the jar, pour a glass, and drink. I'm curious to see what it tastes like.

Last night the kids had their monthly 4-H meeting. We went to a woman's house to hear about recycling in our county. This woman is the driving force behind this project and is working very hard to educate people and encourage recycling. Her dream is to have a recycling center in our community, which will benefit everyone. Less trash going into landfills and more jobs for folks to run the recycling center. I look forward to her dream coming true and I have no doubt it will.

And after I finish blogging, I will make more mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. I made ricotta for the first time this past Tuesday. It's even easier to make than the mozzarella and has a nice taste. I'm going to make lasagna later this week, using both the ricotta and mozz. Last night I mentioned to our County's 4-H Youth Education Coordinator that if any of the 4-H Clubs wanted to learn how to make cheese, to let me know. We have plenty of milk right now and I'd be happy to have them over. Both she and our guest speaker said they'd love to come make cheese. Told them all they had to do was give me a call and we'd pick a time. And with that, I'm off to make cheese!

There's More!

It's so very, very cold here in Southeast MO! I don't like it and am so ready for late Springtime to arrive.

Hubby goes to barn yesterday morning and then calls the house. "Hey, Honey, you need to bring molasses water to the barn for Fawn." "Why, did she already have her babies?" "Yep, but she's only got a single." No wonder she didn't get as huge as the other does and made us think she wouldn't deliver for a while yet. So I fix a pan of warm molasses water for Fawn, put on my insulated overalls, hat, scarf, hooded barn coat (my daughter's), and gloves and head for the barn. The new baby is up and moving, nice and dry and Fawn almost inhales her sweet water. After we finish all the chores and eat breakfast, I call the doctor to make an appointment for our son later in the morning. He's been sick most of the week and now has a really bad cough and was still having fever off and on. Our younger daughter stayed home to feed the baby goats at lunchtime and take warm water to all the animals.

A few hours later, we are back home. I take hot water out to the animals and get bottles ready for the babies' next feeding. When I get to the barn, I can't find the oldest baby goat and the brand new baby is laying down and shivering. Bring the newest baby goat to the house and tell hubby I can't find the oldest one. So he gets dressed for the cold and goes out to the barn. He found the little goat outside, not too far from the barn, cold and shivering; so he brings him back to the house. We lay them both on towels with hot water bottles to get them warm. Both of the little goats' ear tips were frozen. Now today, the youngest goat's ears are fine, but we're not sure about the other one's. He may lose the ear tips. After another night of having baby goats in the house, they are back at the barn. Hubby shut all the new babies in one stable, so the other goats don't bother them and they can't escape under the sliding barn door.

I made a batch of mozzarella cheese last night. Yum, yum! I have yogurt incubating this morning. Next time I order milk filters, I'm also going to order some lipase powder and try my hand at making a strong feta cheese. I've made lots of the mild, but want to try a new recipe. Now it's lunchtime, but afterwards I'm going to make some more mozzarella. Too late to do cottage cheese now. Should have started it first thing this morning, as it has to sit for several hours.