Hot chooks and their companion trying to catch a breeze. Kupa always looks like he is wearing boxers!
Here is an old shot of me -just out of interest. I came across this picture again yesterday. It was taken around the time I ended up sat in a basket of wet washing. I was pregnant with the youngest of the mud splattered sons when Dad took this photo. 
It puts it into perspective doesn’t it. You know I don’t usually show pictures of myself but it did make me gasp. We forget how young we were! How much we were dealing with so young. And how truly bad our hair was!
Yesterday my fresh cheese separated when I added the rennet. I don’t know why it does that sometimes. Once again the pigs eat well! John said I should have just made sour cream with Daisy’s bad tempered milk. She was quite the sour puss yesterday morning. She stomped into the milking parlour, not even wiping her muddy feet (horrors), she stood to milk with a very surly manner, whipping her tail about and then she whirled around and stomped back out. Yesterday evening was much better. 
The wildflowers are bleaching. Summer camouflage seems has become the norm. The only real colour anymore is the endless summer sky.
It has been decided that the big pigs will go on to their noble purpose at the end of the month. They are now very big. We dragged the stock trailer into the pigs paddock so that they could get used to it. I will start feeding them in there soon, so that they will walk in and out without being stressed. And get used to their transport. I do not want to have to battle to get them in on the last day. I am working towards a smooth transition. 
They spent all yesterday afternoon sleeping in the cool shade underneath it!
I sat down with the Tall Teenager and told him that the pigs day would be at the end of the month and asked him if he was going to Ok with the pigs going. He is a vegetarian you see. He bridled and said that of course he was Ok. He knew it was coming. He is not a baby. He paused. Then searching for his words, he said that if everyone raised their meat the way we do, he would not have become a vegetarian. But I am not changing back, he glared. So I said good, well done and left it at that. I think we are all on the same page.
The rest of Daisy’s grumpy milk was sweetened, soothed and gently stirred into the most wonderful ice cream. Virginia from Bel Ochio’s Blog showed me how to make her Sublime Vanilla Ice Cream. She has set it all out in beautifully photographed steps. This ice cream was made in her restaurant for years so it is simple and proven. From now on this will be the number one ice cream for us. And if you want to make icecream without eggs look in the comments section as that recipe is in there too!
A vine within a vine.
A naughty pea hen. Snapped while trying to creep out of the tomato plants that fill the gaps in the flower beds. These are tiny cherry tomatoes, planted by the grill. 
But they have not been producing any red tomatoes like the others, now we know why, they are a perfect peacock snack size!
Good morning. The day is already heating up and it is only 5.14 am. Another scorcher is on the way. Shortly I will scurry all over the house and close the windows to keep the cool in before I go out to begin my days work. Actually there was very little cool last night to even keep in.
In the deep night TonTon went outside to investigate a noise. When he wants to come back inside he sits at the bedroom french doors and thumps his tail on the wooden step. Later I heard this tail knock, got up, but oh dear I could smell him through the screen door, he had been tangling with a skunk. So he spent the rest of the night lying confused but obedient on the step outside. The skunk smell is not the worst smell I have ever encountered. But it is thick. Insidious. It seems to take over every other scent of the night. If it were a visible smell it would be very dark and opaque. Very individual. Your nose cannot help but wrinkle away from it. Bathtime for dogs after the milking.
Daisy was quiet all night so I think that episode is over.
Have a lovely day.
celi
On this day a year ago. Here is the first recipe – Breakfast Potato Cakes. I had forgotton about these. I think I might make them for my own breakfast this morning!
The Kitchen's Garden 
88 responses to “Curdled cheese from grumpy milk”
I hope you find a cool spot for the day. I’ve sent a couple of vegetarian meals today………perhaps they can be put to immediate use for your teenager……..unless they contain something on the banned list…….e
most vegetables are on his banned list actually .. a teenage vegetarian diet is incredibly dull and suspiciously carb loaded… thank you for the recipes, i am not sure if you know but I almost never buy recipe books so it is a real treat to have my meals sorted like this, and you know what i like! thank you.. c
Such a great pic of the young you, Celi, and a pretty one, at that!
Max had his one and only skunk encounter in the back yard a couple months ago. Luckily, it wasn’t a direct hit but still bad enough to linger on him for weeks afterward. I don’t envy you.
I may know why Daisy is upset and it has nothing to do with PMT. Yesterday was Cow Appreciation Day. Maybe she wasn’t feeling appreciated. http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/July/cowappreciationday.htm
Have a great day, Celi. Stay cool!
CAD is pejorative in UK English!
Well ViV, i can see why she was feeling insulted by it all then!! You have such a mind!! c
oops I missed that John, Daisy was not being appreciated, Now it all becomes clear! John loved the story of your friend catching the ball by mistaKe at the game by the way!! Brilliant! c
Oh I LOVE this photo of you and I want that hair!!!!
Me too, and that unwrinkled skin and those eyes…
I brushed it in those days, what a disaster.. !
Yup, your hair looks pretty awesome to me! Hope you and the farmy are having a peaceful, skunk-free day.
There has been some shampooing going on.. and vinegar rinses! c
I know skunks stink but I’ve always wondered what they smell like. Looking at that blue sky of yours makes me sigh. It is nothing but grey, grey and more grey here. I’ve always wanted to rear my own pig for butchering but the only small holdings that offer this are in scotland/wales and it’s too far to make it economical. Hope the heat will be more bearable for you over there and heavens, I avoid looking at old photos as much as possible – some of the things we wore and did, eeeek!
I agree about those clothes and those 90’s earrings!! double eek! c
Straight-haired girls want curls, curly-heads wish they were smooth…it’s the Way of the World. Know what you mean, though – were we ever really that young? 🙂
Careful of the heat…I’m better at carrying water with me, since your episode.
Got enough plain vinegar to wash poor Ton?
I am having the heat wave smoothie for breakfast but not smooth, as my blender has BROKEN! poo.. c
Hey! You were/are a curly girl! The hair was lovely. Everyone with straight wants curls and vice versa. Eeeeeeuuuuu skunks. Here’s to skunk free good cheese days. t
Morning Miss T.. c
It’s a shame about the cheese but it seems the ice cream has been a huge success. That’s sad about the pigs but, you’ve given them the best life. They have been better off than so many millions of others. The heat seems to be endless. Isn’t August your hottest month? That would make this a very long summer xx
Yes they say August is worse.. ah well.. we will muddle through.. c
I’m with the Lanky Teenager in his view of how animals should be raised before being slaughtered, and you certainly love and care for your creatures…The transporter looks rather frightening to me and very purposeful. If the pigs haven’t noticed that, so much the better,
This is an old stock trailer that John picked up for 500 dollars.. it is so useful.. and now that i think about it a fairly good shelter for pigs, as long as they keep it clean! c
What a gorgeous photo of you C – I think you look stunning with dark hair! Fear not, I have photos that are much worse of myself.
I have never had the misfortune of smelling a skunk – I have been told though it is absolutely horrible – I can almost smell it the way you describe it!
Yay, so pleased our Daisy is over her PMT.
🙂 Mandy xo
Morning Mandy. skunk is very distinctive that is for sure! c
Good Morning, Celi. Your hair looks like the hair of ladies in pre-Raphaelite paintings (I can imagine the old art students creating a few copies while you slept). So you will be eating spare ribs quite soon — in time for Labor Day, perhaps. Do you know about tomato juice baths for neutralizing skunk smell? You can use any smushed or damaged tomatoes for this purpose.
Tomato, what an excellent idea. When is labor day, i can never get all the holidays straight in my head!.. I will look it up.. morning sharyn.. c
Labor Day is in early September in this country.
I was going to mention that too – it’s a weird cure but tomato juice does work 😉
Ditto on the tomato juice (not bad to buy some on sale and keep a can or two around). We used to be on the skunk nightly neighborhood trail. They tromped by every single night at the same time – we always rushed to get the dogs in. Harder when on a farm and animal schedules are more flexible
What a nightmare! It’s a very unpleasant smell – it reminds me of mouldy burnt rubber.
Oh you are right mad, there is a burnt rubber scent in there as well, I shall try the tomato juice, he is cleaning up better than i thought too. Thank you Mouse, fancy you being on the skunk bus route!! c
I am oozing sympathy for your heat, skunk smell and spoiled cheese. I have borrowed some of your words to try and write a skunky poem. I’ve just made three lots of biscuits (cookies to you) for my sewing ladies tomorrow: almond, pistachio and chocolate chip. They don’t look very pretty but they taste good.
Pistachio sounds fantastic, in NZ we call them biscuits too so i was confused for quite some time over here! I look forward to your skunky poem, i shall read it to TonTon when he is on the vinegar rinse, the tomato wash and the dawn shampoo .. poor smelly fella. No-ne wants to be his friend today!! c
A not very good skunky poem is here: http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/eeeeeeuuuuu/
I love the picture of you, you are gorgeous! Isn’t funny how we look back on pictures of ourselves and are shocked by how young we were. I just did that the other day, but it was the opposite. I looked at pictures my mother in law took of me on our recent camping trip and I gasped because I was shocked at how old and tired I looked! Ha!
We have had a hot wave too, but not nearly as hot as your weather. In the high 90’s for the past week and a half and now it’s back down to the high 80’s. I have to admit I certainly prefer the 80’s and cooler nights.
What do you wash TonTon with to remove the skunk smell? And the teenager sounds like he’s pretty darn smart. 🙂
Have a lovely day and stay cool! ~ April
EW are moving back into the hot days by the look of it.. ah well it is summer, seems like there are lots of remedies for skunky dogs!! c
I think your photo was taken yesterday. And the endless skies–the skies on the plains. I don’t think I could give them up.
The skies out here are as open as the sea, wonderful.. morning alice! c
Perhaps you should consult Gretchen as to how you can rid TonTon of that skunk smell. She knows all too well.
gretchen is quite the girl, she has answers to lots of my questions, albeit published 100 years ago! c