JUST SAY CHEESE!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to make cheese? Well, I have. So I tried it. I used a simple recipe for Farmer's cheese requiring no special ingredients or tools. I was amazed at how easy this was!

FIRST PICTURE: The curds just after I took them out of the cooking pan. I am using my old jelly bag for a cheesecloth--it's not dirty, just stained from years of making black raspberry jelly!

SECOND PICTURE: Me squeezing the excess water out of the cheese. It's kind of like dry cottage cheese at this point. In fact, I can imagine using this same recipe and adding a bit of cream or something, skipping the next few steps and making cottage cheese. Don't know for sure if that would work or not, but I 'd like to experiment with it.

THIRD PICTURE: A nice loaf of Farmer's Cheese. This is a very mild tasting cheese, much like mozzarella. I enjoy it and treat myself to a chunk of it about every day.

There are no pictures of the last step, but after we gathered the curds into the loaf we pressed more water out by placing the cheese between two slanted cutting boards and weighting it with an iron skillet. About an hour later, we had some nice cheese!

I saved the whey--water that was left after the curds formed. I used it to make bread the next day and honestly, it was the nicest bread I can ever remember making and the family says so too! I guess there are a lot of uses for whey and I am also using it to water my compost pile. Very interesting experience with cheesemaking!

FINAL ASSESSMENT: I enjoyed this process and would definitely do it again.

I am currently enjoying lettuce from my own garden as well as new potatoes. My pea pods are almost ready and a few strawberries are appearing. It's been fun to make lots of home food these past few weeks with the bounty of gardens and laying hens. I'd like to be more self-sufficient, but it does take work!
BLESSINGS, LORI

WHAT'S COOKING?

What's cooking? Spaghetti with a green pepper? Beets and shredded cabbage? A very bad stew? Well, no......not exactly. Clue: it isn't edible. How about lily of the valley leaves, grape leaves, and cochineal?

On Thursday my spinning and weaving group had a "dye workshop" at the farm of one of the members. I was only able to go for a while since I was spending the day with a friend who was here from Iowa. But I was able to take these pictures during the process. The gals set up lots of large pots in the back yard and some were dying fleeces and others yarn. We were to separate our yarn into bundles of about 12-15 yds., tag them with a plastic tag and then dye them. It's quite a process. I didn't do any, but plan to try some dying at home with powdered drink mix. The lily of the valley and grape leaves make a light green or yellow finished product and the cochineal a wonderful striking rose/pink. I was told that cochineal is some kind of bug! Imagine that!

I would like to learn the art of dyeing. I love the look of naturally dyed wool. As well as the beautiful finished products, the ladies had a great time eating a carry in meal together and just sitting around and knitting or working on other needlework projects while waiting for the wool to dye.

I always feel a little closer to the Proverbs 31 ideal whenever I can do a project like this. After all, that woman was noted for her spinning and textile crafting. "She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands," "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff." "She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet."I love to learn the old time ways to use in my own homemaking. This looked like a lot of work, but the finished products will be all the more special because of it! Blessings, LORI