Completing your cheese

In the morning your strain the separated curds from the whey. (I think there is a nursery rhyme about this!) And hang the cheese cloth for 6 to 8 hours and let the whey drain into a bowl.

Then you mix the cheese with herbs, I use Italian herbs and garlic salt and ta-da amazing cheese!!  We love it on crackers, sundried tomatoes, carrots and even salami. There you go instant diary farmer!  Your a Farm Chick!! Enjoy!!

Goat Cheese

As well as yogurt I have been making goat cheese, mozzarella, and of course ice cream!  Jeni's has a great Brown Butter Almond Brickle ice cream recipe that disappeared quickly in our house! But today I am sharing the goat cheese process.  I begin with warming my milk then adding the Chevre package.  Then you slip it in the oven in your stainless steel pot and let it sit overnight. 

Beautiful Sunflowers

Sunflowers just make me feel happy.  Here you can see in my garden they grow as big as my daughter's head! I love this picture both the flower and my daughter bring me such happiness!!  What a blessed mom I am!!

Homemade Yogurt

We are yogurt lovers in our house.  The thicker the better!  We use in on burritos, chili, salads and our favorite is yogurt with fruit and granola!  I got a new yogurt maker that uses glass jars, and it did not disappoint!

Inside of Greenhouse

Here we have the inside of the greenhouse!  I love the old windows, stain glass and just old fashioned character inside.  Nothing fancy, and it holds all my beloved gardening stuff my friends and family have blessed me with, plus all the functional gardening necessities!!  I am so blessed to have a such a great  place to work!!

Barn Door and Birdhouse Style

In the back ground of this shot is my barn door. In the forefront of this picture is a bird house my son Cameron made me.  He constructed it out of 100 year old barn wood from my neighbor.  The barn belonged to his grandparents, so I will treasure this sentimental work of art!

Siding Is Added

So on goes the siding, followed by windows and doors.  John put an amazing barn door on for me that I love! 

Greenhouse Building Carries On......

The walls are going up!

This is so exciting, I can just see it all coming together! 

Wow, John the builder is moving along!  Now up goes the rafters!!

 

Greenhouse Building

I am so excited that my greenhouse is done!!  And then I realized that I have not shared this with you!  The process went quicker than I thought it would and now the garden is up and growing!! The pictures of my kids in the mud was actually my garden in January, so watch this amazing transformation!!

The very beginnings, laying the foundation.

Berry Canes

My dear friend Donna gave me berry canes for Christmas and here they are growing and thriving in my new raised beds!  She gave me white raspberries from her son, red raspberries from her mom's plants, and Louis' blackberries!  I am so excited to know that some day they will bloom and produce fruit! This is one of the things we miss most from our city house is our mature berry plants.

Fun in the Mud

Kids love mud! The dogs even got in on the fun. Mud pools up in our garden and one Saturday morning I looked out the kitchen window to this sight!!  Yes, we did throw most of their clothes away!

More wonders

Deer on their evening visit.

Hawk in our brush pile.

Wonders of Nature

Nature prevails in the country and I have been blessed to see some amazing things here on the hill. Here are a few.  Bees in the Trees

Tree Planting

This fall saw us busy with tree planting.  We planted 10 trees along our barn road.  We chose Tulip Poplars and Maples for the amazing fall color they will bring us for years to come.

Shredding is Beautiful

Some dear friends gave us this Kemp Shredder.  We have spent many hours in the field shredding away. It helps with boggy areas and helps keep the mud to a minimum with the girls in the chicken coop.  So you know who you are who blessed us with this shredder, so thank you!!