Welcome Home Farm: Some Visitors and Some Cheese

Welcome back!

Do you know what happens when you live on a farm and get sick?

You still have to do the chores! Even if you feel like you can't get out of bed!

That's what happened to Matt and I this week. I was sick one day and he helped so much with all the chores so I could rest. I still was out in the barn but I wasn't strong enough to get everything done that I usually do. Tim helped by doing some of the inside chores that needed to get done. Matt got sick the next day so I did all the chores that he usually does.

The next time your mom or dad gets sick I hope that you help out with the chores at your house. I am so grateful when I get help!

It has been cold and rainy lately.
Stumpy found a nice place to sit in the barn so he can stay warm and dry.
It's so fun to come out in the morning and see this cute calf!

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We had a neighborhood preschool visit us this week! The children and the parents were very well behaved. They listened closely, asked good questions, and were kind to the animals.

Echo loves the attention from the visitors.

Visiting the bucks (boy goats).

Feeding Clover.

This is my favorite picture of the visitors!
Echo loved them because they were all so kind!

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This week I made cheese, too. Echo gives us a lot of milk! Thank you so much for saving your containers for me!

I made cottage cheese.

I also made some Gouda.

Gouda starts as curds, like cottage cheese.

Then it gets pressed into a round mold.
A mold is something that makes a shape,
it's not the green stuff that grows on old bread.

After it is pressed it has to sit in salty water called brine for about 12 hours.

The next step is for it to dry in a special refrigerator.

Then we have to wait for almost 4 months before we can eat it!

We won't be eating this cheese until 24 July, Pioneer Day in Utah.

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I've been trying to get a good photo or video of Echo, Stumpy, and the goat kids.
It's pretty hard to have the camera ready when they are ready!
The goat kids love Echo, and they love to play with Stumpy.
You can see in the photo that Echo doesn't mind the little kids at all.
We love this cow!
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This is the friendliest chicken on the farm.
She doesn't have a name, but if you can think of a good one, I'll name her.

People can pet her or pick her up and she doesn't mind at all. That's unusual for a chicken that is handicapped. They are usually scared of people!

She is handicapped because she is blind in one eye.
Something happened to this eye, we don't know what it was.
Her eye got an infection, then it went blind.
She still lays eggs, and I like her because she's so friendly.

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I'm sorry to say that the turkey eggs didn't hatch. Maybe she will lay another clutch of eggs and try again.