Monday, December 29, 2008

More Cheese!

In an attempt to not drive myself crazy today...I made some more cheese

This time I used a cheesecloth and got about twice the curds out of it...



After the cheesecloth but before the first microwave, quite the difference from the first time.


Kneading...always kneading....


Finished (this is about 2/3 of the cheese, I gave 1/3 away to neighbors)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Cheese!

Holy moley...I made cheese!

from: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Mozzarella.pdf

Stirring the milk...stirring...stirring. The milk started out at about 40 degrees.


Adding the citric acid at 55 degrees. Then, more stirring.


Felix was super interested at first...at least he was hopeful I would drop something.


Still stirring.


Felix starting snoring at about 70 degrees.


Max checks the temperature


Time to add the rennet!


Curds!


Squeezing out the curds


The curds before the first microwave


After the first microwave


After the third microwave


Pulling the cheese


Max kneads the cheese


All done!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Snow Day! 12/14/08-12/15/08


In the beginning...12/14/08
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Not much happening at first in the early morning...




DSCN8985
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

The dog is not impressed.




Copy of DSCN9008
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Four hours later...




Sledding!
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

The real purpose of snow.




Copy of DSCN9016
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

So far the chicken coop has held up.




Copy of DSCN9017
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Why is my ball frozen? Why. Is. My. Ball. FROZEN?




DSCN9035
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Not so much for a fire today.




DSCN9046
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

The Christmas deer look great under the snow




Snow Bowl
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Look what I found in the back yard!




Orange Snow Cone
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Yellow snow is strictly prohibited, but orange snow is A-OK

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Cluck cluck cluck!

We got our chicken coop!

It was old.

It was full of chicken poop.

It was $50.00.

Perfect!


11/29/08
This is the coop right after it was cleaned out and we ripped the old rotting shingles off. The black stuff you see is roofing felt. One side has brand new roofing felt and the other side has disintegrating roofing felt.

Felix investigates his new "doghouse."




Inside of the coop after cleaning.

You can see the three entrances to the nest boxes.






















The back side of the coop where the nest boxes are.

















Nest boxes. Those were pretty gross, but I think I got most of the crap out.






Ron holding the top to the nest box.

12/1/08
Because the bottom had rotted away, we made some foundation repairs.

We also covered the top with a tarp in case it rained before we could get new shingles on.

I just have to say we really lucked out in the friend department because I have a friend who a carpenter and a and one who is a concrete carpenter and they were happy to repair the foundation.


12/2/08
Of course, it rained. This morning I trudged out there and put blocks under the coop so that the new wood doesn't rot as well.

We are picking up shingles and roofing felt tomorrow afternoon fro $20.00 from a craigslist ad.

Once we are done, we will head down to habitat for humanity re-store for primer and paint.