Thinking ahead – way ahead

Before I make a cheese cake I need to make cream cheese. Before I make cream cheese I need to make buttermilk. There are two ways to make buttermilk: allow the milk itself to culture. Which I will show you. But I am in a hurry now. Did you see the cheesecake recipe in the comments yesterday from Pseu? I want to make this cheesecake as soon as I can, so I am using the second, cheats method and I  have started a buttermilk from a bought culture.  I will always keep a starter going so from now on we can make some anytime.

AND Before I make lasagne I need to make ricotta. Before I make ricotta I need to make a hard cheese to give me the whey to make the ricotta. Some times I feel like the little red hen but with a white pinny!!

So I made  a Monterey Jack cheese yesterday.  It took from 11am until 2.30 pm and I had to stay clean the whole time which I find the hardest part of cheesemaking. No grubbing in the dirt, no visiting with the animals.

I started with two gallons of fresh Daisy milk  and this morning at 4am I took a 1lb 10 oz bouncing baby cheese out of the press.  Monterey Jack is an easier process than cheddar.

It is all written up in the cheese book, so in two months I will tell you if it worked!! Raw milk cheese needs 60 days before its first date. That is a long time before you know if I  got the recipe right.. hence the book. I hope to make at least two cheeses a week. Usually they sit much longer than 60 days!

Coincidentally Eldest son and his lovely lady will be visiting the week this cheese is first tasted.  So if I plan my menus ahead, I can plant the veges we will eat so we will pick them the week they come and have all the tasty cheeses  and sauces and pastas prepared for the feasting.   I better check to see if the basil is coming up, we will be wanting to make pesto too! Thinking way ahead.

Today I shall cook the whey to collect the ricotta,  drain that for 24 hours and then tomorrow we will have lasagne with  homemade pasta. I will take photos for you.

Oh and that fresh farmers cheese made lovely pizza, with some of yesterdays  bread dough as a base.  So maybe I will make it again!!

After dinner yesterday The Tall teenager took me for a ride in the chariot behind his bike to the neighbours so we could feed their chickens, and cats. It was a very bumpy mile.  But once I relaxed I found it quite nice to be towed about. This was the view of our place on the way back. I don’t think you have seen the farmy from this point of view yet. 

We had a shower of rain yesterday morning which was well received. Very well received.

Daisy’s new bigger bucket arrived yesterday. It is heavy clear plastic. Bigger and lighter.  I hauled it out of the box with such anticipation. But the base was broken. Poo.  Deeply frustrating. My UPS man, who I give honey to every Christmas carefully carried it into the barn for me but  he had left before I discovered it was broke. Isn’t that always the way.

Kupa was being nosy pretending to peck at insects about 3 inches from the box and said just use it anyway.  See if it works before you call them and get a replacement. He cocked his head at a conversational angle. I find it fascinating that he often says exactly what I am thinking. It was just a piece of the base that was broken off so I sterilised the bowl and hooked it up and rung Daisy’s bell for her to come in. It was a wonderful relief not to have to worry about overflowing a bucket at speed and under pressure.  Daisy was grateful to be able to milk right through without me having to take everything apart and empty the bucket half way through then start over again.

The new bucket is transparent. So it will be wonderful for photographs.  I shall take the camera out this morning. Then I will call the supplier and send him one of the shots so he can see that it is broken.  Well, after I have cleaned it up and made it look new again!!  Am I being naughty!? They will only throw it away anyway.

Good morning. Have a lovely day. We will.

celi