Nik, I like 'bar sinister'... nice old-fashioned term!
Yep, we need kite pictures.
Homesteading - "The stormy March has come at last..."
Re: Ms Robin... I think they are still holding her in CCU only because it is the unit that has the CPAP breathing machine they have her on periodically. She's going to have a sleep study done, and then she should be able to come home in a couple of days. She's MUCH improved.
So glad Robin is better. I was worried about her. I know she will be glad to finally get home when they cut her lose. She will have to work poor Al like a rented mule to catch up. Sure wish I lived closer.
I can't even imagine what your kites must look like.
I sure do miss Jay. And has Dyson been heard from in a while?
Actually we were very sad when our kite got away from us (heading for power lines) - until the sheriff's cars started gathering around. The kite missed the lines and we slipped away unseen. It did make the local paper.
Ahhh... kites! The last time we flew one was in Mpls over the freeway near downtown. It was a great day, DH was flying it, I was giving the neighborhood kiddos money to run to the drugstore on their bikes and buy more string. The kite attracted a crowd, including the police. We figured they would put a stop to it but they joined the crowd and watched. The kite got so high it was almost out of sight when the string broke. Guess we are all kids at heart.
Thanks for the MsRobin update! Wishing her all the best for a speedy recovery.
Sapphirestar19 ~ what type of water well records are they? Depth? Location? Water quality? Just curious... pod
Pod-All of the above. General location, depth, casing info, date drilled, owner at the time of drilling, general lithology. They do not usually test for water quality unless they've drilled into a gasoline plume or something and in older wells, the driller just tasted it to make sure it wasn't sulfurous. The TCEQ maintains the database of the older wells and was where I found the records on the well drilled on my property in the 80s. The Texas Water Development Board has the database of new ones. The TCEQ has been requiring that all existing water wells be GPS marked and submitted to the database. I've marked quite a few older wells while doing surveys for contaminated property assessments. These databases are public record, so I'm not giving out any privileged info or anything. No one just cares about them and therefore they are not widely known about outside of industry.
Wow! Several new faces! And lots of great information! Took me a long time to catch up and semi-comprehend the info, but lots of new stuff I want to learn about. Definitely have some water questions for Sapphirestar19. Not going to remember in 15 minutes what they were, but maybe I'll remember in a couple of weeks when my foggy head clears. And congrats are in order on your new homestead! WhooHoo! Looking forward to seeing pics of Nik's flags. Cajun, sounds like you have a "spring house" kind of like Darius's.
I also wanted to thank everyone for you T&P's. I'm a long way from 100% recovered from this episode, but I feel a little better and a little stronger everyday and expect recovery to progress rapidly once I start gaining back strength from spending over a week in the hospital. They had me on heavy doses of blood thinners and they also started me on a high-blood pressure medicine, didn't know I needed it, so it's taking me awhile to get comfortable with my legs under me. I do have COPD. I misunderstood a lot about it when I was dignosed last year and thought it was something as simple (in my case) as coming down with pneumonia every February. I think it is actually a build-up of carbon-dioxide (?) gas in my lungs, which if I remember correctly it is brought on by weather changes. Have to do some research on this. I can't believe the hospital didn't give me some kind of printed info to review, but they did have me sign a release that I understood everything when I left yesterday. Doesn't hardly seem a fair expectation under the circumstances.
I have an appointment with a pulmonary doctor Monday and will do a sleep study early next week, to determine if I need to be on a C-Pack at night. The doctor is pretty confident he'll have me running with the big dogs again in just a few months. Said he's pretty agressive in his treatments. Hope he has a great payment payment plan....
What's really bad is that a few days before this happened, I felt the absolute best that I have felt in at least 6-8 years, breathing-wise. I walked all over the flat hilltop garden and yard, down into the woods and along the spring stream. Bought all the stuff and got started on making temprary nurseries for calves and piglets, which are probably all going to be on hold for awhile now.
On a brighter note, we have our desired goal of 7 CSA members lined up for this year, with the potential for 2-3 more if we allow. Still going forth with the CSA, but I want to talk with everyone first. Still have 5-6 weeks to the first scheduled delivery. Got lots of ideas of how to pull this off as planned. I just need a couple of lucid hours to think clearly.
I've already planted a long wide Broccoli row in the garden and have several various trays in the house ready to go out, plus early potatoes and onions, leeks, peas, etc. My 2 MG partners said they would be over Sunday to plant. BTW, one of them is a doctor, so it will be nice to get his opinion as a friend, as to whether he thinks I am capable of doing the CSA. I already have several more trays ready to plant for some succession planting and warmer season planting. All that should buy me close to 4 weeks before I really need to be in the garden. I'm also thinking of using more large containers like I used for the eggplant last year. Lots to consider and think about.
I think that's about it for now. I've been working on this post for over 3 hours. Hope I didn't butcher my spelling and sentences too much, so that it's readable.
Podster, the paper and pens were a brilliant idea. :)
So glad you are home! The recouperation just doesn't begin to you can sleep in your own bed again.
All is good with your post! I suspect we are so happy to see you that we could interpret greek from you. LOL
I am also delighted that you have help to do some of the planting. We were all feeling frustrated that we aren't nearby to assist.
The idea of something to write on was not a novel idea but the voice of experience here. LOL It sure helps under those circumstances.
Glad you are back & on a road to recovery.
My high blood pressure started about 10 or 12 years ago. (After a while you forget.)
Took a long while to get it under control. Biggest turning point is when I cut out coffee, period. I haven't drank coffee for many - many years. Now I am in the normal range every time I see the Dr.
It was only a few weeks after no coffee that it came down to where it should be.
I wish you success with the CSA. I have never had the guts to start it. Scared of not being able to fill orders, I guess. But our Farmers Market business is booming.
If it ever thaws out around here we may get started planting. Yesterday low of 15º & high of 31º don't do much for melting snow or thawing the soil.
Have a Great Day!
Bernie
Glad to see you are back. I hate to see anyone having health issues. Where is caneyville? My sister lives in georgetown. She's a suburbanite, what can I say?
Goodmorning, goodmorning! Sure would love to see some beautiful sunshine, but lack of it is probably a good thing in keeping me slowed down for the time being.
I'll share my ideas and thoughts later on my CSA, but wanted to respond to Bernie. You have a wonderful Farmer's Market business, and your strength is providing wagon fulls of produce. I'm more laid back and wanted to do things on a much smaller scale. We also don't have the space, equipment and labor pool to run an operation as large as yours. There would be no way I could harvest, clean, load and travel to be at a farmer's market 30 miles away by 7 am on any given morning. Just ain't going to happen. :)
NikB, we're in south-central Ky, just a few miles off a Parkway/Interstate and about 45 miles from 3 pretty good size cities and about 1 1/2 hours SW of Louisville. Isn't Georgetown up around Louisville or Lexington?
Robin, I am SOOO glad you are home and feeling better. Good to see you are planning but go as slow as your health needs you to go. And you are smart to put the animals on hold. They are hard work. Even the little ones. Ask me how I know. LOL The materials you bought are not perishable and will be there when you are up to it. I imagine you have Al getting things in shape? Poor guy.
Yeah, Georgetown is somewhere near Lexington. BIL works machine maintainence for Toyota there. They are about 2 miles from I-75. Their home is on the Old US route 25 which interestingly enough, is the road we lived on outside Monroe, Ohio in our younger days.
Guy up the road with a megafarm gave me-delivered-30 bales of bright clean straw today!! Me and the MacTavish (sheltie dog) just got done stacking it in the minibarn. Actually, I stacked it while he supervised. And, I think I got a line on about 5000 used schoolhouse bricks. I want to pave the floor of the greenhouse with them, and use them on the oven and barbeque I am building this summer. I'll find out for sure monday or tuesday. Turning into a good spring so far.
Nik, you must have been born under the right star!
On a separate note... In the last 2-3 days I have cut open the first 3 hard cheeses I made in February. I must say I'm surprised at how good they taste, considering I'm new at this. I've vacuum-sealed them to go back in the aging container in the root cellar for another month or two where they will develop more flavor.
The three I cut are a farm cheddar, a Caerphilly (kinda salty Welsh Miner's Cheese) and a no-name hard cheese from an internet recipe. I have more I'm working on; some are Lancashire, which is in the cheddar family but eaten at 3-6 months instead of 6-12 months, and 2 more Caerphilly with herbs.
Photo is the Caerphilly, and my cheese wire broke while cutting it. It's not really that crumbly!
Yay Robin! So glad to have you back and sounding chipper! I'm so grateful, it sounds like the docs are taking an active approach to treating you. I hate hearing stories of people being sent home with little knowledge of the issues. We've had a few here with dh... frustrating!
Jealous of the straw too! You know how much I could do with straw, real straw. It's only sold as a halloween decoration here.lol
Darius, too funny. I promise, they'll all taste good! I like salty, can't wait to try the Caerphilly.
I've got five more days to get the rest of the field seeds in, then the calves will be weaned. I took a cheese inventory, and have thirty pounds left from the last cheese making marathon. Not bad, that'll give us about two pounds a week till the next batch will be aged enough to open.
My brother and and later his girlfriend are coming to stay with us for a couple of weeks. If I don't post much in the next few weeks. Know I'm o.k. and happy homesteading!
Lynea, the mangel seeds came today... Thank your DH for the post office trip! The seeds will get put to good use. :)
edited to add: The Caerphilly is easy, and several folks on the CheeseForum are trying it. I have 2 more in my temp. cave/bin; one has thyme and one has lemongrass. The one with thyme has developed a blue mold, which I may just leave. (I did isolate it today after I saw the blue.) I'm anxious to try the Lancashires I've made but that won't be real soon. I think I'm going to like them, though. I DO like the Caerphilly, and it's ready to eat at 3 weeks although I put the rest back today to age a bit longer.
This message was edited Mar 25, 2011 3:15 PM
Are you making blues? Or was the mold loose? I'm determined to make some blues, but have seen how hard they are to keep it off the other cheeses. I can keep regular mold off my others cheese by parring and rubbing it down with vinegar. I don't think that works with the cultured blues.
Ohhhh, lemon grass and thyme sounds sooo goood!!! I love herbs in cheese, usually just throw them in and see what happens. I'm growing peppers and dill this year, just for the cheese.
This was an herbs de provence, my SIL brought me the herbs from France. We felt very fancy eating it :0)
This message was edited Mar 25, 2011 3:27 PM
Nope, never made any blues. The tad of blue mold I bought has not even been opened, and is in the freezer. I have no idea where it came from for this cheese, but I put it in a separate container and washed down the tub with vinegar just in case.
I still haven't had time or weather to scrub the fridge I found to use as a cave. The 2-3 nice days we had recently found me working in the garden. I wrote to Dyson for help with installing the PID but I guess he's too busy. I'm getting a very small wine chiller from a DG friend next week and I'm thinking it may end up being used for blues. Of course, I haven't seen it yet. When I have more experience and confidence, I'll make Stilton, Gorgonzola and ???
Herbs de Provençe are lovely; one of my favorites! No doubt you felt 'fancy' eating that luscious looking cheese. :) I make a Provençal vinegar, and use it as often for just taking a whiff as actually using it. Transports me to wonderful places! (Your photo didn't enlarge, btw.)
Not sure about the good star thing; had a lot of bad stuff this past couple years So, I'm due for good stuff to happen to me. Case in point, I lost a hundred dollar bill sometime in the last week, and now I can't even afford to go and buy a Mega ticket for the drawing. Not that I play usually, but it's up over 300mil. I'd risk a buck for that.
Sure looks blue to me.lol
Frankhuser has a really good site for making a homestead blue. http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/cheese.html
He uses only goats milk for his recipes as well.
I don't have anything against the Cheese Forum, but those guys/gals all started at the same level a few years back. Usually trying a recipe with nothing more then a culture, bowl and thermometer.
Now when I visit, it seems I can't get simpler answers that were far more common a while back. Just thought you should know, If you have trouble or feel you don't have the right equipment or a recipe is too complicated to take on at the moment. Just scan back to the earlier posts when the web site started.
I'm sure they'd be able to help you install a PID tho, have you asked them?
Yes, I actually have directions from there for installing the PID on a turkey roaster, and 2 men have emailed me to offer help. My questions have more to do with the start-up amps on the fridge, and actually understanding why I'll be making certain connections.
I've seen lots of newbie questions and decent answers on that forum so far, but I've also read almost all the posts going back to the beginning. Good advice, though. Thanks.
I made a hard rind cheese (no name) from Fankhouser's site, using 1 gal. cow milk. It isn't too bad after a month but needs to age more.
Well, I'm pleased as punch you brought up cheese. I started wondering if I could cure cheese in the garage fridge and use the veggie crisper on the home fridge for blues. I took a look at the crisper...DOH...there is a thermostat for just the crisper! And a 'cheese' setting. I put a thermometer in there before chores. Looked again and it's holding at 52. close enough!
I hope you think that I meant you couldn't understand the cheese forum, I know you can!! It's all me, and no, I can't help with the PID either. lol But I would, if I could :0)
What's the RH in the crisper?
My root cellar is running about 75-80% so I have a dish of water with a rag draped over the side in my plastic bin of cheese to increase the RH. I'm not sure what the RH is in the bin since the cheapie old-fashioned humidistat doesn't seem to go above 80% even though I know it is higher than that.
I'm not sure of the RH, I don't have a meter. I ran across an equation for determining humidity, but that was last year and concerning our incubator, which we don't have a meter for, either. Will see if I can find it again, and if it will help with the fridge.
I've rechecked the drawers this morning and all three are hold at 50F, I'm thrilled. One of the drawers looks to have a air air register in the back, just for that drawer. I'm assuming forced air to keep humidity and condensation down?
I'm thinking, I might be able to make the vent work to my benefit by placing a sponge in front of it.
Then there is also the option putting the blues in separate box with a wick and trying my luck with non blues that need 50 degree temps. It will take some tweaking. I'm just so excited to have more cheese options, with out buying another fridge or more equipment!
Tho, I still must have another small fridge for white mold. Must. :0)
You guys have lost me with the technicalities of the cheese. I have yet to master chevre. LOL
I have been wondering about this since this thread started, why is the font different?
What font is different? Mine looks the same as any other thread page...
My font if quite different from others on DG. I'm with you Caj. Jo
no difference in fonts here in the Glorious Buckeye State, where it's a good day for flying Kites
I know you can set font preferences in some Browsers, as mine is set in Firefox. However, Firefox doesn't override DG pages with my preference.
I didn't change anything. This thread looks like it's typed with a regular type writer. It has looked that way since I first came to it from the other thread. The older thread looks like all the others on DG. I have never seen this before here at DG.
Hmmm, maybe you should report it to Admin...
Lynea, do you remember exactly which herbs were in your Provençal mix? I have seen several different combinations, and I see Glengarry sells one for cheese.
Thank you very much Ladies...I thought I was just going crazy, but my font has been different for awhile, too.
I am in awe of everyone making cheeses. Love reading the details, even if I don't know what it means. :)
Well, the only other think I can think of is several-fold: sign out of DG completely, empty/clear the cache, then close the browser and shut down. I'd wait a full minute after shutting down to reboot.
Darius, sorry, no. It was in a bag that I transfered to jar, didn't save the label. I've looked at the mix, I recognize parsley seed, rosemary and lavender. The rest is just unrecognizable green flakes.
The flavor is strong. I didn't enjoy on it's own as much as the rest of the family, but it made amazing grilled cheese sandwiches. I layered the sandwiches with cheese, thinly sliced pears and ham.
Just let us know, Robin. We'll get you started.lol
Parsley SEED? I've never grown it from seed so I have no idea what the seeds even look like!
Most of the basic recipes all have rosemary and thyme; some add a mix from one or more of these: dried parsley, lavender, marjoram, oregano, sage, and even basil or fennel seed. In my opinion, dried parsley is like having dehydrated water. Dried basil isn't much better.
Glengarry's blend is thyme, rosemary, lavender and oregano. I'm thinking the oregano might be a bit strong in a cheese?
My Provençal vinegar has a garlic clove, a curl of lemon peel, a sprig each of thyme and rosemary... and one of lavender if I have it blooming in the garden. I'm having a tough time here growing lavender.
LOL, it must be fennel seed. I'm brain dead and tired. In my defense, parsley seed (which I do grow) looks JUST like fennel seed (which I don't grow.lol) but have seen before.
I think the oregano would be a bit strong too. It might be why I didn't like that cheese as much as everyone else. I'm not a big fan of it... doesn't bother me, but I'll never grow it.
Lavender is the same here, I can get it to grow for a few years then it dies out.
The vinegar sounds so good, I would like make some at some point. I got a sampler set of unusual vinegars for Christmas and it make take me a few years to go through them.
I have an a beet question: I was reading something today that said beet tops are high in magnesium. Remember me saying I can't get them to grow here, because of our soil is acidic.
Well, I'm still struggling even tho we have added enough compost that the PH should be fairly neutral. We are low in magnesium in my area. Sooo, can I assume if a beet is high in magnesium, it would need magnesium in order to grow?