Down on the Farm

Wednesday:

Waiting for the rennet to do its thing, I'm in the cheese plant at Olde Oak Farm with Nate and we're working on a washed rind cheese. Yesterday we processed 25 gallons of fresh jersey cow milk from Clovercrest Dairy, and made it into 3 beautiful wheels of cheddar. They will age for a couple months until we need them for markets.

So here I am in the middle of Maine! I finally made it up here and so far it's been a long, full week. I'm getting settled and acustomed to life at the farm. In a few short weeks the ladies will start to freshen (kid) and we'll be going out of our minds with baby goats, milking, cheese and general mayhem! 

Sunday:

I started this post earlier in the week and didn't have time to finish. Now it's Sunday morning and team cheese is about to head out to the ladies barn to shovel out the poop. The pack of goat poop, hay and wood chips has been building up over the winter and we need to get it cleaned out before the goats start to kid. 

Yesterday I hung out with Jen all day. We went to the Orono farmer's market meeting to vote on which new vendors to allow into the market this year. It was very interesting to hear each farm introduce themselves and to hear the rest of the farms debate whether or not they had room for another baker or veggie farmer at the market. I think maybe the most valuable thing I learned is to know the market that you're applying to. There has to be a good balance of vendors and products available for the customer base. 

More to come ... later when you can smell me through the computer. Mmmmm! 

Bun update: Willow (buns) is doing okay. She's had a rough time, but is getting used to being in a house with 2 cats and a dog and a bunch of people that smell like goats. :) She's been nose to nose (through the cage) with the other critters in the house and she's been pretty cool about it. So no worries, buns is alive and kickin!