Just another day on the farm

Normally we have something fun lined up to do on Memorial Day, but this year we had no plans.  Since this was our first official day of no school, I tried to check off as many things on my summer to do list as possible.  Coincidentally, posting on my blog each day during the summer is one of those things.  We'll see how long that lasts.  :)  I am still trying to listen to the "still small voice", and lately it has practically screaming at me that I need to journal each day.  I really believe that something awesome is coming into our lives, and I am going to want to be able to look back at these entries to read again how it all unfolded.

That being said, today was a very busy (and probably boring to read about) day.  It didn't start out too well.  This morning looked like rain was coming, so I was trying to clean out the calves little shelter so they would have somewhere to go and stay dry.  Little did I know that there was a wasp's nest in there!  The little buggers stung me twice.  Once on the arm and once on my stomach.  Needless to say, I freaked out, and went running inside to take some benadryl and pray that I didn't have an allergic reaction like the last time I got stung.  Praise God, I did not!

So, I sat down with a cup of coffee and thought about how I was going to spend my day.  I had already decided I was not going to make cheese today because I didn't feel like it.  I've been a little frustrated and confused as to what to do with all the milk we have been getting lately. I've been making cheese like it's going out of style and giving it away to everyone I see in hopes that I will be able to sell it.  (Legally, I cannot sell my milk or dairy products because of ridiculous governmental regulations that I will not get into right now.  However, I have decided that I am not going to let that stop me from doing what I feel like I am supposed to be doing with all this milk.)

I decided I would make some blackberry jelly.  I have been wanting to make it for a while, and I am trying to clean out the freezer as much as possible to make room for the butchered pigs we will be getting back this week.  Let me just say that straining out all those little seeds is a major pain.  It is unlikely that I will be making blackberry jelly again anytime soon!  Then I decided that as long as I had all the canning stuff out, I might as well make some strawberry jam too.  I already had the strawberries ready to go in the freezer.  It was a big project, but I now have 4 pints of each sitting on my counter.  And boy did my kitchen smell good this afternoon!

While I was making jam, I got a phone call from a lady I had sold some raw milk to (for her dog of course!) who wanted to get some more.  Yeah!!  I had all but given up on hearing from her again, not to mention the thought of never seeing my gallon jars again.  Anyway, she asked me if I had any cheese to sell.  She said, "That cheese you gave me was delicious!!"  I was delighted to tell her that yes, I did have some cheese she could buy.  My very first cheese customer.  It was a monumental moment for me.  I got off the phone and told my husband, "I guess I will be making some more cheese today after all."

So, long story short, I spent the entire day in the kitchen.  I made blackberry jelly, strawberry jam, a batch of farmer's cheese (which is a quick version of cheddar that ages only about a week instead of several days), a batch of brownies and some homemade croutons out of some old bread.  John cooked some chicken on the grill while I made some pasta and fried squash from the garden.  I also cooked some of the green beans I canned last week.  They were delicious!  Right now John is making a batch of homemade ice cream that we will have tomorrow.  Yum.....just another day on the farm!