My First Ricotta Cheese

John and I spent the day on Saturday in a cheesemaking class taught by Ricki Carroll, aka: The Cheese Queen. We learned to make mozzarella, ricotta, farmhouse cheddar, and queso blanco. It was a great fun, and so interesting too. There were probably 60 people from age 13 to somewhere in their 70's attending this class, which was held in State College, PA; a three-hour drive for us. I've wanted to take a class from Ricki for well over a decade, so this was a really nice 40th birthday present for me!

This photo is a ricotta cheese that I made this afternoon, and I just made a chevre this evening; tomorrow I will drain it for 6-12 hours, then it'll be ready to eat!

Chicken Boy

Asa with his favorite chicken: "Ketchup"

Getting Ready for a Yard Sale

Jake finds something he hasn't seen for a long time!

Autographed Boog Powell Orioles hat! Priceless.

I've been working hard just about every day to go through all of our boxes and piles and bags of stuff. When we moved in over a year ago, we put a lot of stuff in the mill and just left it there. Most has been forgotten about. It is fun going through and rediscovering thing that bring back fond memories and other things that will be quite useful in the house now. But mostly - what we are finding is going to be sold!

Music in the Country

On Saturday, October 7, we spent the afternoon in Fawn Grove, PA listening to Sandra's orchestra celebrate the 125th year of the town. Cloudy and a bit nippy; we were happy to find that they were selling food; like pie and coffee and chocolate milk and hot dogs and cheese curls! It was a really nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon. After the show, Sandra came to spend the night in the country with us.

This Year's Halloween Costume?

George Washington.

Grammy and Granddad visited us the week of John's birthday. We had lots of fun taking them to some of our favorite places. The boys have been anxiously awaiting their chance to take Grammy to Serenity Station in Seven Valleys, as it has, according to Jake, "Grammy written all over it". We had a snack break there, Grammy picked up a few gifts, and then we walked on the rail trail a bit. We also stopped in at the local winemaker, Four Springs Winery, to sample and buy their delicious wines! It was great to see G&G again, and we hear that they will be by again at Christmastime! 

Sunny Side Up eggs

Asa's favorite breakfast since we got our chickens! Every day he must have his sunny-side-up eggs! A day doesn't go by without them! We have three hens, and we get maybe six or seven eggs per week. Not much, we expected more, but that's how it goes with hens you buy at the auction. Sure, the previous owners say that they're good layers, but you just never know. That's fine with our family though. It's nice having them around, we love the sounds they make. It's good to have somewhere to take all of our kitchen scraps. At least they are being put to good use instead of putting them in the garbage. The cats like to tease them and the goats are sometimes curious about them. They just give our place a nice farm feel. The rooster used to crow at all hours of the day and night for about a week after we brought them home. But I guess that they've really settled in and have gotten comfortable. I haven't heard him crow for over a week. At all.