Happy New Year

It's the Chinese new year and this is the Year of the Dragon.

Lots of tradition and superstition go along with the coming of each new year. To celebrate properly and ensure prosperity in the new year, traditional foods must be prepared for the celebration. So, if you choose to celebrate the coming of the Dragon, be sure to whip up some of these fine dishes! I see a few I'm going to make ;)

WOOHOO! Happy Goat Day!

I've got 2 more sets of twins, born late last night and then early this morning. All are healthy. I guess I better get after building the goat milking stand.

Here's a closer picture of the new cheese press. it's just 2 layers of 1" pine with the top piece with holes cut in it to help the dowel rods be more stable. The rods are screwed in from underneath and glued in the holes as well. I coated it all, top and bottom with the edges too, with that poly acrylic sealer. So far so good. It's simple but functional. It really doesnt need to be fancy at all, just as long as it holds the weight and stays level for the press time. This one does so it's all good.

Missed The Bullet

There was a nasty storm that rolled across Illinois yesterday and I was right on the bottom edge of it. All we got was a little bit of rain mixed in with some sleet briefly. This morning, the water isn't frozen so we missed all the nasty for sure. Muddy, yes but ice? Nope! Dolly goat was kind of kiddy last night. She's a stand offish goat and she was following me and she was standing in places she normally avoids. Her milk bag is huge too. I can't remember ever seeing her bag that big before and she's given me twins before.

I'll be doing all the last minute floor scrubbing soon, the cheese class starts at 11 this morning. The milk is already on the stove, heating up for the culture. I whipped together a new cheese press yesterday. It's not exactly what I had in mind but it's close. 1" pine doesnt take the hole drill as well as I was hoping it would. It will work tho and that's all I'm worried about at the moment.

Last night, I took a neighbor of mine to town so she could get prescriptions filled and pick up some groceries. Of course, just like the majority of people in this area, she wanted to go to Walmart. OMG, you all know how much I HATE wally world! But, being to good neighbor I am, I put up with it. After a few minutes of her filling up her cart with that nasty, pre prepared frozen food, I had to walk away. I couldn't take it anymore. So, I wandered over to where wally world normally has the seasonal stuff and it was full of cheap chinese crap on clearance. It depressed me as I wandered thru the isles where I was expecting gardening stuff. WOOHOOO, paydirt! on the back end of each isle was a hanging box of garden seed! It was all Burpee seed so the majority of it was hybrid but I did pick up some bunching onion seed, some fennel (which I have never planted before) and replaced some seed that I had crop failure with last year (melons). I was feeling pretty darn good now since I satisfied that urge to have new garden seed and I picked up one of those candles that smells like wild roses too ;) As it burns, it makes the house smell like the wild roses I dug up from the roadside and planted out front of the house a couple years ago. The goats munched them last year, I hope they come back from it. I met back up with my neighbor and tried not to look at all the crap food she had stuffed in that cart and just reminded myself of how much I love being a homesteader!

Sissy goat slept all night, (thank you Sissy goat) and this morning, she's bouncing around, drank half a bottle, peed on the floor and left me a pile on the towel. She's warming herself in the space heater. She turns from side to side so she can warm up evenly, LOL. What a little dandy she is! I'm sure she's going to be a distraction come cheese making class time, LOL. Just too cute!

Baby Goat Update

Little Sister is hanging in there and seems to be improving every day. Wish I could have gotten a picture of them all this morning, the kittens were all snuggled up with Sis and Shadow cat was laying on top of all of them. Sis is up to around 3 oz of milk a couple times a day and she's got plenty of energy in between. She's almost got her sea legs for the wood floor and is only occasionally looking like Bambi on the frozen pond ;)

Havent managed to get much done around the farm this week, the weather has been a bit nutty and Little Sister is taking up some time. I am planning on trying to get a new cheese press built (new design) and some shelves for storage and a table I can sew on.

I've got a cheese class to teach on Saturday, so far 2 students with possibly a 3rd. Lots of floor scrubbing to do before then!