My cheese-making continues...I found a simple recipe for making feta cheese from goats milk, so I decided to try it. I am supposed to let it cure in the brine for a week to 4 weeks, but I tasted it before brining and after it had been in the brine for 24 hours.
Marvelous!
The flavor wasn't quite developed, but it had a wonderful texture and was not falling apart or dissolving in the brine (both signs of a bad batch).
I am planning a Greek feast next weekend as I think the flavor should be developed by then.
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Mothers Day went well...I heard from most of my herd, lol! The Darlin' Man got called into work rather abruptly this morning and had to work all day and overnight as well. *pout* So, I decided to not cook the dinner I had planned and the Girl and I made tacos and chicken strips. The Boy is spending tonight with a friend and going in from there to school in the morning.
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Right now I am waging a war against the cutest little mice you ever saw. We have these adorable little desert mice out here that look like they came straight out of a Disney movie. Wee things with soft gray fur, bright black eyes and tiny ears.In a Disney movie they would be soooo cute. On my kitchen counter...not so much. The Darlin' Man picked up a dozen mouse traps for me and I have been baiting them with various food items to lure the small creatures to a swift and merciful death. Best bait so far....peanut butter + Nutella. They will line up for it, practically fighting one another to get in the trap! Last night I caught two mice in the same trap at the same time. I guess a midnight meal for two seemed romantic at the time.
The mice migrated over here from a neighbors home. That house had been condemned and the residents evicted and when they left, the mice decided to wander through the neighborhood to find a new place. We, and the other neighbors, have all been battling them for the past month. Because we have dogs, I chose not to go with poison. Also, if the mice die behind a wall or in the duct-work, the smell would be horrendous!
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Well, the real estate search goes on. So far, three properties look promising. All within the same school district, much to the kids relief. Near a lot of recreational areas for fishing, swimming, skiing in winter, etc.
For my purposes, the properties are also near a couple of touristy areas where I could sell my quilts and baskets, etc. during the tourist season. All three properties are at least 10 acres, so there would be ample room to garden, raise livestock, etc. We also have one of the Darlin' Mans relatives who lives in Vermont looking locally. Unfortunately, they live in a yuppie-ish gated community with an HOA and a lot of restrictions and they seem to think that's the best type of property to get! EEK! Sorry, but we don't have, nor do we want to spend a quarter of a million dollars on a "McMansion"! Not our style at all. I think we have been able to finally get through to them what we want, though.
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Still no word on deployment. Still waiting and waiting and waiting...while the paperwork slowly wanders through the military snarl. The Darlin' Man has a sit down meeting scheduled this week, so we are kinda hoping we'll get a definitive answer then. That way we'll know whether to push forward on our moving plans, or whether we can settle here for a while longer. Either way, we have to be prepared.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
(Mentally) Regrouping
Well, after the news that my Darlin' Man may be heading back to Iraq, we have had to mentally regroup and shift some plans around.
The consensus is that we would be better off establishing ourselves on property in Vermont while he is away.
Even the Girl, who will be a senior next year, has enthusiastically agreed we should move...and the sooner, the better! (She somewhat hates the schools here..they teach to ALL students as if English was their second language, which for 90% of the students is true) Girl, Boy and I looked online and checked out the schools in the district we think we are moving to, and they were very pleased. The entire student body of the local high school is one tenth of the size of the student body here. No football team...but they have skiing teams for boys and girls--J.V. and Varsity. Soccer and baseball and hockey as well. Basketball teams for boys and girls, too. Since it is a rural area, they have almost 100% participation in 4-H! We also checked SAT scores, etc and the school is very solid academically with over 50% of graduating seniors going on to college, university or technical schools.
I contacted a realtor I found up there. He mainly works as a buyers agent. The way it works is I gave him all the *must haves* for property we are looking for and he goes through all the MLS listings to find a property that meets our needs. He sends me the information on all the properties that the Darlin' Man and I think are within our budget and meet our needs. We look over all the info (photos, plat maps, google maps/views, listing info, deeds, tax papers, etc) and decide which properties we will consider. When time comes to buy, the buyers agent will negotiate the best price for us and handle all the paperwork.
The *Must Haves* for us?
Minimum of 5 acres
Water source on property, preferably more than one...a drilled well AND a brook or spring AND a stream, etc.
Electricity already to or on property. (anybody that ever has had to have electricity brought to their property knows why we put this down!)
No restrictions on livestock, etc.
We also gave him a price cap. Actually two price caps---one for bare land, one for land with a home on it.
We have been pleasantly surprised that in our area of choice, the realtor has been able to find around a dozen properties that meet our needs.
So, we are winnowing through all the properties and cutting our choices down to 5 or 6. One of us will go up to Vermont in June and make the final decision.
In the meantime, we are waiting for the final word on whether or not the Darlin' Mans orders for deployment are 100%. Right now, he still has a 10% chance of staying stateside, but like I said, nobody here is holding their breath over that. We should find out Friday. So, Army life being what it is, the old adage of "Hurry up and wait!" really applies in this situation!
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Today I am making cheese from our goat's milk. I started this morning and the milk made a lovely curd that I have been draining almost all day. Tonight I will be salting the drained curd and making some feta cheese and some hard cheese that I will put in a maleshift cheese press. Will let y'all know how that goes!
**********************************
I intend to keep posting throughout the moving process here...since we have 3 cars, 7 goats, 2 children, 11 chickens, 2 dogs and all our worldly possessions...should be a fun time!
The consensus is that we would be better off establishing ourselves on property in Vermont while he is away.
Even the Girl, who will be a senior next year, has enthusiastically agreed we should move...and the sooner, the better! (She somewhat hates the schools here..they teach to ALL students as if English was their second language, which for 90% of the students is true) Girl, Boy and I looked online and checked out the schools in the district we think we are moving to, and they were very pleased. The entire student body of the local high school is one tenth of the size of the student body here. No football team...but they have skiing teams for boys and girls--J.V. and Varsity. Soccer and baseball and hockey as well. Basketball teams for boys and girls, too. Since it is a rural area, they have almost 100% participation in 4-H! We also checked SAT scores, etc and the school is very solid academically with over 50% of graduating seniors going on to college, university or technical schools.
I contacted a realtor I found up there. He mainly works as a buyers agent. The way it works is I gave him all the *must haves* for property we are looking for and he goes through all the MLS listings to find a property that meets our needs. He sends me the information on all the properties that the Darlin' Man and I think are within our budget and meet our needs. We look over all the info (photos, plat maps, google maps/views, listing info, deeds, tax papers, etc) and decide which properties we will consider. When time comes to buy, the buyers agent will negotiate the best price for us and handle all the paperwork.
The *Must Haves* for us?
Minimum of 5 acres
Water source on property, preferably more than one...a drilled well AND a brook or spring AND a stream, etc.
Electricity already to or on property. (anybody that ever has had to have electricity brought to their property knows why we put this down!)
No restrictions on livestock, etc.
We also gave him a price cap. Actually two price caps---one for bare land, one for land with a home on it.
We have been pleasantly surprised that in our area of choice, the realtor has been able to find around a dozen properties that meet our needs.
So, we are winnowing through all the properties and cutting our choices down to 5 or 6. One of us will go up to Vermont in June and make the final decision.
In the meantime, we are waiting for the final word on whether or not the Darlin' Mans orders for deployment are 100%. Right now, he still has a 10% chance of staying stateside, but like I said, nobody here is holding their breath over that. We should find out Friday. So, Army life being what it is, the old adage of "Hurry up and wait!" really applies in this situation!
**********************************
Today I am making cheese from our goat's milk. I started this morning and the milk made a lovely curd that I have been draining almost all day. Tonight I will be salting the drained curd and making some feta cheese and some hard cheese that I will put in a maleshift cheese press. Will let y'all know how that goes!
**********************************
I intend to keep posting throughout the moving process here...since we have 3 cars, 7 goats, 2 children, 11 chickens, 2 dogs and all our worldly possessions...should be a fun time!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Life....Intervenes....
Well, my posting schedule for this blog has officially been trashed! So many things happening that a regular schedule is now impossible.
The Darlin' Man has been informed that he will be deployed in August of this year to Iraq. He IS fighting it and trying to stay stateside, but it is 90% certain he will have to go.
We must take the attitude that he will be going and prepare for that likelihood.
So, our next decision is: Where do the kids and I stay or go to during said deployment?
We can stay here...no family members nearby, but the base is here with all the advantages that provides.
We can move to Vermont---where we planned to retire to anyway, and rent, lease to own or buy property/a house.Also, the Darlin' Man has family there.
We can move to some other area of the country where he or I have family near-by.
We discussed it with the kids (they are 17 and 15) to get their imput and discussed it with each other.
The consensus is that Vermont will probably be our best bet.
So, I am currently conducting a long distance real estate search in a specific area of Vermont trying to find a place for us to move to.
We have very specific parameters for each scenario:
If we lease to own or buy, the property MUST have:
10+ acres
Water (spring, drilled well already in place, year round stream/brook)
Be suitable for organic gardening and livestock raising.
No HOAs, restrictions, etc on property.
If we rent the property MUST have:
No HOAs, restrictions
Must allow pets
Have a garden space
3+ bedrooms
We may be able to buy land and just drop a mobile home or modular home on it. We'll build our dream home after the fella gets back. In the meantime (in this scenario), I can build outbuildings, get some chickens and maybe a couple of pigs
I have already identified a few properties and contacted some local Realtors in Vermont to make inquiries.
The kids have taken an interest in the areas we sowed them and are checking out local schools, local recreational activities, etc.
So, now you know why I have been absent from my blog and what I have been doing!
Our timeline on this will be VERY tight. The Darlin' Man finds out within the next week if he will be deployed (absolute 100% certainty). We are hoping for the 10% chance he'll be able to stay stateside this round, but not holding our collective breath here. This is not his first deployment, so he knows the odds.
When he finds out, all arrangements and the move will have to be completed by the second week in August!
I will try to keep up on posting here, and let my readers know if the deployment becomes set in stone. I'll be posting about the strange journey it is to find real estate long distance...how we will decide on a place (probably sight unseen---eek!) and the logistics of moving...and the move will include our preps and most likely at least one goat! (Oh, won't that be fun!?!?)
The Darlin' Man has been informed that he will be deployed in August of this year to Iraq. He IS fighting it and trying to stay stateside, but it is 90% certain he will have to go.
We must take the attitude that he will be going and prepare for that likelihood.
So, our next decision is: Where do the kids and I stay or go to during said deployment?
We can stay here...no family members nearby, but the base is here with all the advantages that provides.
We can move to Vermont---where we planned to retire to anyway, and rent, lease to own or buy property/a house.Also, the Darlin' Man has family there.
We can move to some other area of the country where he or I have family near-by.
We discussed it with the kids (they are 17 and 15) to get their imput and discussed it with each other.
The consensus is that Vermont will probably be our best bet.
So, I am currently conducting a long distance real estate search in a specific area of Vermont trying to find a place for us to move to.
We have very specific parameters for each scenario:
If we lease to own or buy, the property MUST have:
10+ acres
Water (spring, drilled well already in place, year round stream/brook)
Be suitable for organic gardening and livestock raising.
No HOAs, restrictions, etc on property.
If we rent the property MUST have:
No HOAs, restrictions
Must allow pets
Have a garden space
3+ bedrooms
We may be able to buy land and just drop a mobile home or modular home on it. We'll build our dream home after the fella gets back. In the meantime (in this scenario), I can build outbuildings, get some chickens and maybe a couple of pigs
I have already identified a few properties and contacted some local Realtors in Vermont to make inquiries.
The kids have taken an interest in the areas we sowed them and are checking out local schools, local recreational activities, etc.
So, now you know why I have been absent from my blog and what I have been doing!
Our timeline on this will be VERY tight. The Darlin' Man finds out within the next week if he will be deployed (absolute 100% certainty). We are hoping for the 10% chance he'll be able to stay stateside this round, but not holding our collective breath here. This is not his first deployment, so he knows the odds.
When he finds out, all arrangements and the move will have to be completed by the second week in August!
I will try to keep up on posting here, and let my readers know if the deployment becomes set in stone. I'll be posting about the strange journey it is to find real estate long distance...how we will decide on a place (probably sight unseen---eek!) and the logistics of moving...and the move will include our preps and most likely at least one goat! (Oh, won't that be fun!?!?)
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