Weekly Farm Report

Maybe if I call it weekly I'll remember to do it every weekend?  OK, so where to start?  The deal of the week, probably...

The last time we were at the farmers market (as shoppers) I took a little of my goat cheese and the owners of the grass fed beef company tried it.  She said it was a little too strong and she wanted it to be creamier, so I agreed to try a few things and contact her.  We missed the following weekend, so yesterday was our next trip there.  I had made two batches of goat cheese-chevre and fromagina- with the freshest milk I had.  I took notes of what I did so I could recreate the environment if it were successful.  The chevre was creamier, and not so "goaty" and Tony mixed it with a dab of olive oil, garlic and salt.  Even creamier!  I didn't season the fromagina.  She tried them both-and I traded her the batch of fromagina for a pound of new york steaks!  They were on special for $8.45 per pound, so I got that per pound on my cheese!  The man at the neighboring booth likes the chevre so I told him I'd make a special batch for him Monday and trade for a few pounds of his fresh plumbs.  I feel a cobbler coming up!

Elsie and Jasper came home last night.  Look how big he is now!  It was dusk, so I couldn't get good pictures, but I'll get more this week.  See how the flash captured his eyes?  They got off the trailer and RAN all over the 2 acre field.  The 2 horses were wild at that point too and poor Boots (we changed Bolt's name) didn't know what to do.  Just as we were leaving the pasture the neighbor caught us and asked if we wanted to pick some apricots.  Um YEAH!  We got several pounds, plus cleaned up what was on the ground to bring to the chickens.  I made a batch of jam last night as soon as we got home.  I need more sugar now before making any more though.

My step son was here for a few days with his girlfriend and his cousin.  They borrowed the truck Tuesday to go to a local watering hole and burned out the brakes.  They found a ride home but we had to go repair and retrieve it Wednesday.  The yucca were blooming along the road and Tony got some great shots.  I've never seen red in them before.

Friday night we were hot (we don't use the AC til after 7 when rates go down) so we went to the store for some fresh fruit and drinks and drove around looking for downed tree branches to use in making a goat playground.  We stopped by the pasture to make sure the water tank was full and this was our view!

I think that's about it around here.  The monsoon season is in preview mode, meaning we get the heat and humidity without the wonderful cooling rains.  It was in the 80's already at 730 this morning, ugh!