What did you do today?

[sydneyjd]

Ok,me and my dad have been talking,and he thinks i should sell my 7 week baby boys tomorrow. There are all huge,and eating and drinking water well. What do you peoples think?

[deschutes dawn]

OK, frustrated. Just tried to post the NAPgA rendy schedule and info on the NAPgA site. Had it mostly done and the grand daughter needed lunch. Took care of that, went back to the site, and the whole thing was gone! So, start over after caring for the new week old babies and mom and check on the still pregnant alpine doe who is at 152 days right now. Watering the garden, taking care of the yard watering as soon as garden is done, let the boys out to browse for 1/2 hour or so while I clean runs, try to remember to finish laundry barring any needs of the grand daughter, and all the other miscellaneous things that come up before I can get back to posting the NAPgA info. My phone isn't getting any reception at home so I need to go a mile or so down the road before I can take care of calls I need to make concerning rendy. Aaack! I need my hubby home for a day to watch grand daughter but he is out golfing for the 4th time this week. As I started, frustrated!

[Teckelhut]

I am still willing to help if you need it.

[Nanno]

Your day sounds about as good as mine. I've got more milk than I know what to do with, so I tried (again) to make cheese. Didn't turn out. I HATE cooking with a passion, so spending an entire morning wrecking my kitchen and ruining a perfectly good cheesecloth in order to make nasty, unusable slop really started me out sour. I still have to face all those dirty pots and pans and find somewhere to dispose of all the waste.

On the plus side, I made a decent batch of whipped cream. But now I need to go to the store and get some fresh fruit to put it on and I'm in no mood and have no time to go out shopping. I was supposed to haul a load of water today, but monthly accounting kept me inside too long. I sure hope I have a good time at Saddle Club tonight, because I sure could use a pick-me-up about now. I was supposed to clean goat sheds today but didn't have time for that either. I've got to go get chores done and catch my horse so I can leave in an hour. I'm pooped. It's amazing how working in the kitchen and sitting at a desk doing accounting can take more out of me than a hard day of back-breaking labor in the hot sunshine. How does that work??

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

hehe I dont even use a cheese cloth anymore. So retarded when trying to make goat cheese mozzarella. What kind of cheese were you trying to make? If it was mozz, then the only thing I can suggest is get fresh rennet tablets or use the liquid. If it turns our right a tight weaved metal screen strainer should be enough. Might try to increase the rennet and citric acid as much as twice. Temp is important. You dont wanna go over 88 cause it can actually damage the rennet. Oh and Id disolve the tablets like say 30 minutes before you need them, stir them in gently.

[Nanno]

Well, I had a very good evening out riding and it put me in a much better mood than I was in earlier. I also went to a friend's house for game night afterwards, which was fun.

This cheese I attempted today is simpler than mozzarella. My rennet is old, so this was the kind you make with just a bit of vinegar. I have a friend who makes it all the time and it comes out great (very similar to mozzarella actually). But when I made it last time it came out as sort of a cheese paste (not too bad, but kind of bland so it just tasted more like salt than salty cheese). Today's batch, on the other hand, never formed any proper curds at all. It ended up as something more like gruel and half the "curds" actually strained through the cheesecloth. I think I salvaged the cheesecloth in the end, but the "cheese" went to the dog. And I spilled milk all over the kitchen and had to scrub countertops and cabinet fronts and mop the floor. I had to do a special load of dishes just to clean up all the mess, and I hate that because we are on a cistern and have to haul water. Every extra load of dishes makes me cringe a little, especially if I have nothing to show for it.

I tried making mozzarella properly with the rennet and citric acid last year, but it really didn't come out very good. It came out more like a piece of rubber. It had no flavor at all. I know mozzarella is supposed to be bland, but it's not supposed to be flavorless. It was so rubbery I might as well have added spearmint extract and turned it into chewing gum. The next batch wasn't so bad, but it didn't melt very well when we tried it on pizza, and once it began to cool it hardened up into blobs.

I'm having more success with sweet stuff. I made a cake last year and used goat's milk for the frosting. It was the most amazing frosting I've ever put in my mouth. I didn't know frosting could be that smooth and creamy. It had a very full flavor too. I also made a pretty killer batch of whipped cream today. Too bad neither of those things uses much milk.

[deschutes dawn]

Have you tried ice cream yet? So good!
So today I got the schedule for rendy posted here, checked on my alpine doe, who is looking very ready, then came back in to clean kitchen and finish laundry. Aria (grand daughter) wanted to go out and play so I cleared all the vegetation out of 1/3 the yard to get ready to replant while she played. 4 hours later done with the yard, checked the doe. She's relaxed, chewing her cud, so I figure the doe code card is being played. Fixed lunch for Aria then checked the doe. Nothing. Husband gets home from golfing and we decide to go down to the Ogden camp so I can get site pics for everyone to see. One more time to check the doe and there are two lovely girls wet and crying out. Momma is a quick one! After helping clean them off and getting the doe comfortable I weighed the girls-10# each! So now I need to make sure the week old babies have somewhere to be overnight so get the dogloo out of the 4 month olds pen cleaned out and stuffed with straw and drug around to the back runs. It's 9:30 by now. I check the doe and babies again and check the last pregnant doe-ligs are starting to loosen. I need her to hold off for a week-I'm guessing she's waiting for the full moon-I hope!
What a day. Tomorrow, rendy posting and a phone chat with Larry from NAPgA and finally get down to the camp-maybe.

[sydneyjd]

Do any of you know of a trusted source to buy 1 gallon milk jugs for goats milk? Uline is expensive!! Thanks!!

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Worked hard all week. Most of it up in 120+ degree attics. So treated myself to some early morning bass fishing. 24 bass in 2 1/2 hours Was with a buddy. Only 4 of them were smallish. Granted no huge ones either. Was a great morning.

[Nanno]

Phil and I went to the circus with my brother and his family today, and we saw the beautiful packgoats Dwite Sharp donated to Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey! I was so excited! The two Alpines pulled a wagon full of dogs into the ring during the show, and the Boer/Alpine cross pulled a little two-wheeled cart around the ring with a midget in it. Phil tried to snap pictures of the action, but they came out so blurry that they weren't any good. So here's a picture of them loafing in their stall with their backs to us.