This will be our first time at this event and we are looking forward to it!! There will be a lot of vendors and lots of fun and of course shopping for everyone.
SO mark your calendar for tomorrow Saturday February 10 and come see us. Yesterday I spent the entire day just packing the trailer and Colten brought all the jams and jellies, pickles, soap to the bottom floors of the Commercial kitchen and today my neighbor Linda and Amanda are coming over to load the car up and I am going to set up tonight to be ready first thing in the morning.
Colten and Bruce boxed and labeled soaps last night while I printed the labels. Bruce and bottled honey for the show. I made goat cheese or Che'vre for the show. I only did 30 so you better get there early. Make one of the goat cheese omelets I make.
Here is one with one of our farm eggs with goat cheese and fried raisins with kale and bean sprouts drizzled with lemon olive oil
OMG!!! Yum
This is one of my goat cheese omelets I make for Bruce. Our farm eggs too.
Delicious.
I made 37 of the Emu lip balms for the show which are amazing. I used the Bulgarian Lavender and tea tree essential oils. They sell real well and the Emu oil is amazing stuff!
This is our next show so again mark your calendars.
I am hoping to do good tomorrow so I can buy some boxes for the batches of soap curing as I type. I buy a thousand at a time and I am down to the last 150 boxes from the last order back in June. So stop by if ya can and come see us.
This is the homemade farmhouse cheddar we made at our commercial kitchen and took the class I did back in October. Well of course since it is an aged farmhouse cheddar we dipped the cheese in a bought wax...however since then I have learned you can use beeswax which I have plenty of and wondered why I bought the red wax (which is a common color in America) and mostly for Edam and Cheddar cheese. The color of the wax actually a signal as to the type of cheese (usually) but sometimes are farmstead cheese makers that doesn't always signal that, as we would use what we have.
Clear wax is used to make several coats and can be used. Make sure it is a food grade wax. The purpose of the wax is to make the cheese retain its moisture content, and protect the cheeses from the air and humidity.
Black was mostly common used for longer aged cheeses. For a much longer aging. Common in European countries. Which when we went to Wisconsin we actually went to a place that makes 12 year cheddar and let me tell you OH MY!!!! Bruce and I joke Alexis send us some of that 12 year cheddar again. It was simply amazing!!! Brown waxes are mostly used for cheeses that are smoked. I know for sure I will be using beeswax once I run out of the red wax. You can read about one of my favorite cheesemakers Gavin at Curd Nerd.
Here are some of our pics from Wisconsin this past year while visiting the cheese factory in Theresa Wisconsin.
A family owned business with wonderful cheeses.
It was late afternoon when we arrived so not much cheese making going on at the moment but I love viewing the commercial scale cheese making equipment.
Some pic on the board at the cheese factory from the past.
This is one of our cheddar wheels that we made and dipped in wax. You need to put the date and the type of milk it came from and the type of the cheese on a sticker, card so you know what it is and how long it has aged. You rotate it in the cheese cave once a week. I am forever checking the humidity and the temp so that rotation of wheels is never forgotten. When Skylar was here it became routine everyday to check the dehydrator, the cheese cave, the jars to see if they "popped" (sealed) daily and as well as the goat and chicken duties. Downstairs in my house we have a bird "Sonny" whom is a cockatiel, a beta fish, and a red eared slider turtle that we have had since I was pregnant with Cooper, which was 2006. We call him Mr. Turtle (I know how original) the boys Colten, and Colby were 4 and 2 at the time and when we got the turtle it was on the side of the road in Florida. Mr. Turtle was the size of a quarter with his legs, now he is huge like the bottom of his shell is bigger than my hand. So the feeding of all these critters was in our routine and Skylar would remind me are we going to feed Mr. Turtle she didn't let me forget anyone......I miss that little helper!!
Unwaxing the Farmhouse Cheddar
Here the in the cheese making process this is after the rennet and the culture has been introduced to the milk where it now coagulates to create a curd. Look at how beautiful that curd is.
cutting the curd
The curds cut and some of the whey emerging from the curds
The curds
look at those wonderfully formed curds and all the wonderful whey emerging and ready to make bread and so many more things with the whey from lacto fermentation
Once again Tiffany shows you all the most excellent "whey's" to use Whey.
She already sums it up and my students ask me all the ways to use it well just read Tiffany's post and you have a lot more "whey's"
Time to strain the curds and the whey
Nice separation of curds and whey
I had a video of Bruce pouring off the curds and whey but it was short an I didn't post but basically you have a cheese straining bag
I added the video to show the pouring off the whey and catching the curds
See the curds draining the whey off and starting to knit together
You can see how the curds are now knitted together to make cheese
Here the cheese is in the press I love my cheese press it drains In the sink a little whey with the pressure of the spring tension weights. It starts off with between 25-20 lbs. of pressure but this also depends on the type of cheese and how long the pressure stays. You do not need a cheese press to make this hard farmhouse cheddar you can use coffee can and bricks wrap the brick in a cellophane wrapping or a plastic bag. I had got my cheese press several years back on Valentine's Day 2015. I got the press at New England Cheesemaking on Valentine's Day they usually have a big sale. Which is "whey" cool :0)
Note the red wax I splashed on the back of the sink one day, as you can see the whey draining out.
Here is some excellent instructions for you on the wax.
See how awesome the farmhouse cheddar came out and oh soooo yummy
I didn't color it with the annatto seeds. It didn't need to be colored in my opinion.
At my cheese making classes at Wine and Cake Hobbies in Norfolk Virginia which is coming up again soon in March. March 27, 2018 from 6-9pm you can find my class HERE they also offer a wide array of classes from wine making, cake classes, candy classes. beer making classes and other cake classes like fondant and decorative cake arts.
Here is the cheese getting dipped in the wax.
Me at the store getting ready for the class
This is a wheel of goat cheese that is aged we tasted this at the class it was a bit dry but yet very tasty and had a nice "too cheesy" taste Dusty calls extra sharp cheddar "too cheesy" which Bruce and I love that sharp cheddar cheese taste.
Getting the tools ready for the class
This is the sign that was up in the store to advertise the class
You can order or pick up the supplies at the Wine and Cake Hobbies they have an excellent online store
Here is the cheese with one of our farm eggs oh my delish!
Goat cheese with our strawberry jam and hot pepper jam now just add some crackers talk about yum!
The goat cheese ready to go to the market perfect little curds of chevre
The farmhouse cheddar wrapped in prosciutto and cooked in the cast iron skillet is like amazing and is one of our favorite snacks
Wanted to share the recent temps we have been having. Thank goodness for these warmer temps we are having today of 66 degrees. We lost some of our bees I do know that which is a very sad sad thing. I cried!!
A quick little easy peasy cake my aunt broke her shoulder and I have been taking her food and stuff and she loves cake. She is 68 years old. I took an orange box cake mix and use the juice of pineapple for the water crushed pineapple pieces and farm eggs mixed well and my aunt loved it. She is the would rather have a box cake or a store bought cake then a homemade cake. City girl! LOL
I have been working in the greenhouse lately getting it ready while not taking care of my aunt who lives an hour away. The gourds are drying well from this past fall.
See the snow on the ground.
I have been water coloring at night and reading my books.
I am loving how this mermaid came out I learned the mermaids from Jane Davenport in her class A Mermaid Circus some years back now. I learned well.
Ledger update eating watermelon yep a true Gallop lol Alexis baby for sure!!!
I hope you enjoyed some of my pics and happening around #9 Farms. I have to go now and do some bee checks since the weather is not raining now. I poured soap this morning after the boys left for school, finally a full day. Yesterday was a two hour delay and that was their first day back since December 19, 2017. They spent 3 weeks and 2 days home and when we got the call that tomorrow would be a regular school day Cooper says "Oh MAN" I was like rally it is time to return to reality Cooper.
Happy New Year as we welcome in 2018 we think of all the new beginning's for the new year. I have a few things I am working on for the new year and a few goals I have thought about for the upcoming months. As a farmer I have been ordering seeds for the new planting season, working on getting the high tunnel ready for the spring time. I still have to clean out the smaller greenhouse. Which won't take long as all I have in there are a few things drying and some containers still left from last season.
I also did sign up when the new class came about as I have taken classes from her before and enjoyed them and I need a little extra motivation to complete some of my watercolor journals. She has this plan as long as you have or books, or have taken classes to NOT MAKE EXCUSES to not art for the day....which with so much going on in our lives that it makes it extremely hard to make art. I do put my heart into all my jams, jellies, pickles, soaps, and other items I sell but I do need just something that is for me. Most days I am so tired by the time I do sit down I basically just fall out...or I read a few pages in one of the books I am reading at the time. I do listen to audible books while working or in the car. So that helps me too. I use Audible by Amazon. But if you haven't checked out some of Gina's NO EXCUSES ART than please do.
We had a little celebration last night for the New Year we buy that sparkling grape juice every year and the boys just love it. I have been doing that with the kids since the oldest ones were little.
This is a YouTube video I made of this past years pics well lets just say some of them I had over 8,000 pics in my phone from just this year alone, head hung low told you before I do love taking pics have my whole life. My parents used to fuss at me because I took to many then also and of course you had to develop the film. So please enjoy some of our memories from 2017.
One of my favorite pic of the year we would walking in the Millpond everyday despite the cold weather while I was blessed to have Skylar stay with us while Crystal was deployed. I cherished ever minute and miss her dearly. I dream of the day to see hagain and I hope its soon....they live on the other side of the country so just not a couple hour drive.
We lost one of our best stud goats "Spitfire" back right after we had the markets had started back for the year we came home to find him, and it was too late there was nothing we could do. R.I.P. Spitfire....we love you!
We had an ice storm that was very hard on the high tunnel we didn't even realize how bad it was until our friend John called and said have you checked your high tunnel yet? Well we had not and after we did we were down their removing all the ice. Once all the ice was off it literally sprang back up from all the weight that was on it. That was a day I would not like to repeat lol as it was tough work and I work hard, but that over the head was a strain on ya.
We had temps pretty low last year too.
You can see the ice on the parking lots. Bruce and I went to get a few things. Around here we are not as prepared for ice or snow like up north.
Many of our goats had babies. This is Amy with one of hers running in the snow. The goats don't like rain or snow and will only come out to eat. They stay in the shelter as long as the snow or rain is falling.
2017 saw the loss of one our beloved man's best friends, Boomer whom we had had since 2008 and my oldest son had had since 2005. He lived a good life but it has been difficult healing from not having him laying on the steps or coming to sit beside me etc. He was like a puppy in the snow that day.
He had lymes disease and had been taking Lasix meds for two years after we found out. It had worsened by spring and finally
he passed on. Very hard to deal with in in our whole family. R.I. P. Boomer!
The kiddos enjoyed the snow immensely
We took a trip to the mountains as a getaway and went hiking it was refreshing and healing.
Bruce and I enjoyed quite a bit of mead this year. Mead is honey wine if you don't know. It really is yummy stuff!!
One of my favorite leaf pics of the year, reminds me how beautiful the sun is and no matter how hard life can be and how one can still hang on and wait for the sunshine as it will come you just have to believe.
We had a warm up in February and as usual the boys and Skylar like to ride on the golf cart. Good times.
We start early Feb to get ready in the greenhouse for the seeds.
We build all our bee boxes so we cut wood and work on them pretty much all winter.
The greenhouse with the seedlings started early in the year around the first of Feb.
I love this pic of Boomer and Skybear
happy shamrocks
Early growth of the tomatoes
In April my son and his wife had another daughter whom they named Clarrisa they now have four daughters.
Easter time we died lots of eggs and had a blast finding them.
We had three duckling hatch on the farm without even anyone knowing until Bruce found the mom and babies in the bushes he heard them peeping.
of course most days are some kinda bee days we are always spending lots of time in the hives.
I made these enameled jewelry necklaces for one of the school shows I do where the kids shop.
My daughter Amanda, and our granddaughter Aubrey with my mom flew to Wisconsin for Alexis and soon to be baby Ledger's baby shower. I was only there is spirit but I was glad the baby shower went well and all is well as they wait for the birth of the baby Ledger.
My jams and Jellies won a few ribbons again this year.
Our first grandson Ledger was born in June this year. Very exciting and wonderful. He is of course a very happy baby and growing up so fast.
We did get to go the Baptism that baby Ledger had soon after birth we were thankful to be able to go for a few days as we drove there and it is so hard for us to leave the farm and then at a time when all the plants are in the stage of being ready. So it was absolutely wonderful to be able to attend the Baptism and enjoy all of our family in Wisconsin. Our son Cody is the middle in the light blue shirt. Cody helped us with the farmers market so many of you may remember him.
A WHOLE LOT OF TOMATOES were picked this year and I mean a WHOLE LOT. It truly was a phenomenal year. We were SO THANKFUL!!!
We canned not only tons of jars of jam, jelly, but loads of tomato sauce, soup, and juice, plus regular tomatoes to make succotash out of or add to soups and chili's.
Bruce celebrated his 52nd birthday and I my 49th birthday of course we worked on our days.....farming takes no days off. No udder knows a weekend or a holiday.
Despite how tired you are some weekends we would ride down to the beach just so we could enjoy the sand between our toes and crashing of the waves and the awesome sunsets. Plus Skylar loves it!!
They absolutely love being there.
I did get some beautiful shots in that "magic hour"
We would go walking to the Wright Brothers Memorial.
Skylar and I have so much fun together with our leg poses....lol
Many days in the fields with the bees when it was 100 degrees and you could just "PAUSE" and take a few pictures of the spectacular beauty of nature everywhere. I have chose "pause" as my word this year. It will help me to stop reflect and pause upon the moment, the situation, or just life itself.
Lots and lots of cheese making......its an every other day event.
Lots and Lots of extracting honey from the frames.....I am hoping for this year we can get a larger extractor and maybe with a motor, uhmmmm???? IDK yet but one can hope right!
lots and lots of honey...most of the pics are on Instagram under stampmom9 if you would like to see them.
Lots of pickles lots of pickles!!!!
Lots of fun days together on the gator. You can see in the backgrounds the high tunnel getting ready for spring and the greenhouse too.
I wanted to show this...this is the castle that is buried on the side of Jockeys Ridge in the Outer Banks of NC when I was a kid the whole putt-putt golf castle showed. It is amazing a how the dunes change from year to year to year. I could not find a pic of it as it stood in its glory days but the image is buried in my mind all too well. I did find this little piece on it see it HERE. If you have a picture of it from back in the 70's or so please share with me and others. My dad had actually pulled in the parking area to go when I was around five or six but the wind was blowing and he decided otherwise. It is always exciting to me to see the castle now.
There has been a many of changes in our life from happy moments, to sad moments. Tears have been shed, laugh lines deepened, days that were #justpajamadays, days where STRESS was what you ate, drank and slept with. Days of sacrifice, days of cheerful happy moments where the tears of joy flow down your cheeks like rivers in a flood. Days where your heart reached out for others and you couldn't do anything to help them but HOPE and PRAY or donate something but a piece of you wanted to you just wanted to get on a plane and help them, but then the life that live wouldn't allow that. The days where you say "what was I thinking?" The days were the creative juices were flowing and you had to be doing something else and wishing you could be creating. The days when you felt down on yourself and out of the blue a text message came from one of your friends and it said "you are a ray of sunshine, thinking of you" your heart lifted and you shut the inner critic and went to telling yourself I am worth something and I am great. Those days when your kids make you cry and you don't why, those when your kids make you so happy and your are so thankful for everyone of them. Those days that you just to relax and enjoy yourself, those days when its a movie night. Those days when you get a book and don't want to put it down...but life is calling and those pages will have to wait. Those days when you cooked the best meal and poured your heart into it and your expectation's from everyone wasn't what you expected them to say......then there were those meals that you expected nothing they gave you the best compliments...which makes your heart sing. Those days when you couldn't sleep, those days when you slept so good and didn't want it to end. Those days when just wanted to see the sun shine. Whatever those days were make them count and try not to have expectations of what you think they should be just let it happen and ENJOY EVERY MOMENT!!!! As you look back on the past reflect on the happy moments no matter how hard it can be at times. Don't let inner critic judge you.....even if you have to write it down to remember I am somebody and I do SHINE!!!
Look forward to the future now and set your goals even if they seem to hard to accomplish you can do it...set your mind on it and let the universe know this and it will listen. Now I feel like Tam is flowing through my heart. She has done so much for uplifting me in her emails. I can't take her classes right now but do want to in the future.
I am working on my goals for this year and plans and blogging has been a goal for several years and I let it go as It takes me forever it seems but I am working on plans and strategies to make it easier. Remember everyday is a new day and new beginnings you can wipe the slate clean every morning if you are having the days that you don't think are perfect days, start over and don't be so hard on yourself. Let your heart sing and your love flow. Every day you write the pages.........
