Say Cheese...

This is my first attempt at making a mild cheddar.  I say mild because there is no way my Tommy is going to let this age for longer than a week.
On the left is a picture of the curds and whey, yes just like the children's story.  On the right is the finished, pressed cheese.  My plan is to make this everyday, then maybe some of it will get a chance to age.

Check it out...

Look who visited me this morning.  Its an Indigo Bunting.

Cool Facts:
                                                

•The Indigo Bunting migrates at night, using the stars for guidance. It learns its orientation to the night sky from its experience as a young bird observing the stars.


•Experienced adult Indigo Buntings can return to their previous breeding sites when held captive during the winter and released far from their normal wintering area.

•The sequences of notes in Indigo Bunting songs are unique to local neighborhoods. Males a few hundred meters apart generally have different songs. Males on neighboring territories often have the same or nearly identical songs.

I have only seen one other on our property and that was about ten years ago in an old apple tree.  I'm not sure where there territory is but they are not common in Vermont to my knowledge.



 

Sunday and Church...

All the earth shall worship you and sing of your glories.
Psalm 66:4

Sunday has always meant church to me.  As a small child I attended a Baptist church, as a teen I went to a Methodist church (being that was where all of my friends attended), and as a young adult I took my family to a Nazarene church.  Early in my life I didn't give any thought to which church I attended.  It was more about putting your feet on the floor and moving in the direction of church because it was Sunday.  I see nothing wrong with this thinking pattern.  It requires discipline of character to recognize God's law as such, the seventh day is set aside for worship and rest.

Fiberfest...

What mother wouldn't love that face?

Today was the annual fiber festival in Jamaica, VT.  It was another sunny, cold day in Vermont, exactly perfect for a fiber festival.  I am always in the mood for any kind of street fair.  I regretted not inviting my family to join me this weekend.  There was the usual sheep shearing exhibition, always fun for children to watch.  My g,g,daughter would have loved it.  And my neice, Christie, would have been in her usual overstimulated state with all of these beautiful colors of wool to play with.  The last time she visited me, we made drop spindles and spent an evening learning to spin while watching a movie.  There was lots of laughter as our spindles dropped on the floor.  Life is made up of moments, special moments we remember when we need a smile.

Spring cookies...

Spring is rhubarb season on the farm.  After a long, snowy winter farmers are always excited for the first fruit of the season.  I found this cookie recipe in an old cookbook and thought I would share it with all of you rhubarb lovers out there:

Rhubarb-Filled Cookies:

1 Cup Butter, softened
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup packed brown sugar
4 Eggs
4-1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla

Filling:

3-1/2 Cups chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed
1-1/2 Cups Sugar
6 Tablespoons water, divided
1/4 Cup cornstarch
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; graduually add to creamed mixture and mix well (dough will be sticky).
   For filling, combine the rhubarb, sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring requently.  Combine cornstarch and remaining water until smooth.  Stir into rhubarb mixture.  Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
   Drop dough by tablespoons 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center of each cookie; fill with a rounded teaspoon of filling.  Top with 1/2 teaspoon of dough, allowing some filling to show.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes.  Yield: about 4 1/2 dozen delicious cookies.

Turkey Dinner?

My visitor this morning was a wild turkey.  Well, I don't know how wild they are.  They stroll around my backyard most days.  My bird feeders are low enough that they could eat directly from them.  Do they do that?  No.  Even as the bird feeder smacks them in the head, they don't figure it out.  Pecking on the ground only is their modus operandi.  They keep me watching, though, hoping one day to see a smarter turkey.

Yay May...

As I was walking through the grass this morning, low and behold the beauty of spring in Vermont.  This is an annual treat for me.  God plants them, waters them, and sews more seeds for next year.