Drum roll please! The pictures from Matthew's visit!
When he first arrived....
Two very thrilled people to be with each other again!
Standing in the kitchen catching up with each other and getting ready to eat.
The first night he was here, there was a full moon, so Noah chaperoned us while we sat and talked on a blanket under the stars and admired the moon.
Matthew playing the Wii with my brothers.
Dad had put together a list of odd jobs around the house that he needed done, so while Matthew was here, he accomplished most of the list. Some of the things on the list were....
- Build 2 mineral feeders for the goats
- Fix outlet in kitchen
-Clean up computers
-Replace back door and the framing
-Cut up wood pile
-Order and replace window latches
-Replace back deck
-Help clean pools
-Stack branches into a burn pile in field
-Replace door knob handle
-Milk with Kelsey
-Make cheese with the girls
Here he is fixing the outlet in the kitchen. I enjoyed helping him when I could, or simply watching him work.
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Every Thursday we season our cheese that we take to markets on Saturday, so Matthew jumped right in and helped us on those days, apron and hat and all!
Goofing around!
Very happy to be working with Matthew in the cheese room!
Mr. Cool...
Savannah, Matthew and Mom stirring the cheese. Us girls always switch back and forth with stirring so that our arms don't get tired, but it became a challenge for Matthew to see how long he could stir two pots of cheese without needing help. ;-)
The back deck...before
Taking all the boards off.
Two hard working guys! Ethan is such a goof ball with that prybar.
Putting the new boards down.
Dad, finishing up with caulking the back door.
Working together....
Wrapping up the cords for the day.
The finished back deck....with a new picnic table.
Milking time...this was probably my favorite time while Matthew was here. We were able to milk together almost every morning and evening during his month stay. It was a nice time to talk or goof around while the goats were milking. We tried singing together, and we enjoyed writing notes on the board for each other. We even tried to race each other to see who was the fastest at completing their job. All in all, it was a wonderful time to just simply get to know each other.
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We had a great time working together and I would be willing to help Matthew tackle any project. He made every job enjoyable and he was a lot of fun to be around, even when he was stumped with a problem on one of the jobs. He just kept thinking about it until he came up with a solution and then worked on it until it was finished!
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I would love to hear more about your cheese making. I'm from Michigan and we own goats that we milk. I also use the milk to make cheese. Unfortunately, aren't qualified to sell goats milk. We have looked into getting certified, but we would have to build a building and get inspected along with lots of other stuff! So we would be interested in hearing about your cheese process.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me Caleb got off easy!! Nice deck, Matthew!
ReplyDeleteHi Naomi!
ReplyDeleteWe've had a Grade A Dairy for almost 5 years now, although we've been in goats for almost 18 years. We make primarily soft cheese (chevre) and feta as well as fudge, soaps, and lotions, as well as sell our RAW goat's milk! We sell several different flavors of the soft cheese, about 25 flavors total, making about 6 different varieties each week. We do have a certified DHEC milk room as well as a certified Dept. of AG kitchen that we make our cheese in and they have to be inspected regularly by our inspectors. As far as getting certified goes, each state is different, so I'd check with your inspectors. State rules differ, so it may be easier to become certified in one state vs. another, and each state varies as to whether they will allow the sale of raw milk in their state.
We run the dairy together as a family, so everyone has their part that they play in the business, from milking to making cheese to markets to goat health. It's a lot of work, but it's been a fun way for us to work together and also make a living.
Hope that answered some of your questions. If you have any more, let me know!
-Kelsey