Cheesy!

Here's a batch of "Stella cheese" underway. I start with a gallon of milk, and heat it to 90F. Then I add whichever culture I'm using, usually mesophilic or fresh starter from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. After I add the culture, I put the lid on and put the pot in a blanket-lined cardboard box, to retain the heat longer.

The proto-cheese sits for a couple of hours to let the bacteria do their thing, then I add 1/2 tsp of rennet, and put it back in the box for another hour to let the curd set up. I use a giant butter-knife-looking tool called a card knife to slice the gelled milk into roughly 1/2" lumps, which then sit for 10 minutes. I gently stir the curds for another 20 minutes to help get the whey out and to "toughen" the curds a little so they don't dissolve back in to a soggy mess.

I pour the curds & whey into a cheesecloth and hang it up to drain overnight. Most of the time the chickens get the whey. The extra protein & calcium makes for much better eggs production. This week I'm using the whey for an experimental batch of blaand, a very ancient Scottish "wine" made from fermented whey. Needless to say, detailed recipes are scarce, so I'm improvising.
The final stage of the Stella-cheese process is to take the big lump of cheese out of the cloth the next morning, cut it into cubes, sprinkle them with coarse salt (we use Kosher) and let it sit til the end of the day. The the cubes go into a bowl and into the fridge for snacking. It tastes like a cross between feta and cottage cheese.

Here is a pot of our first Reddale potatoes of the season, soon to be boiled and eaten with butter, salt & pepper. Yum! This variety of spud has done really well here, and we plan to keep growing it.
And here's Magnus, finally feeling better about losing his sister, relaxing in a sunbeam....

Thank you Stella!

I was rummaging around the fridge for pastitso-makings, and realized just how much Stella provides. Here's a literal snapshot of what's in our fridge/freezer right now, thanks to Stella...The row of jars on the far left, with the little one on top, is today's milking. There is a glass bowl of fresh feta, with the 3 quarts of whey behind it, that the chickens love. Rolls of frozen butter in the left foreground, what's left of the sour cream, and the start of this week's cream jar are front right. And jars & jars of milk We also have a little frozen colostrum, but I left that in the freezer.

Nettle braggot - Seven Trees style

Start with as many nettles will fit in the picking basket. We only use the top few leaves of young plants. They'll regrow soon and we can harvest more for drying.

Then bring 1.5 gallons of water to a boil. While the water is heating steep 1 pound malted oats (this should add a nice sweet-nutty flavor and a creamy mouthfeel) 15 minutes or until the water reaches 170F. Take the oats out and add 3lbs dried malt extract. Normally we use liquid malt, but we had bought dried so we could make this recipe when we felt like it, without having to run to town for malt. When the malt is dissovled completely, add the pile of nettles. Boil while stirring occasionally for 50 minutes, then add 2 to 3lbs honey. We just spooned in what looked like a quart jar's worth, since a quart of honey weighs around 2.5lbs. Boil 10 more minutes, then set the kettle in a sink of ice water to chill rapidly. Strain into the carboy and top up with cold water. Add yeast (we used Northwest Ale yeast from Northern Brewer), mix and put the airlock on.

After 24 hours or so, the nettle braggot yeasties (oh yeah! a braggot is loosely defined as a beer-type beverage made with both honey and malted grain) decided to take advantage of the extra sweetness to mount an escape attempt. Things have settled down now, and in a week or so we'll transfer the braggot to another carboy to finish fermenting. A week or so after that, and it goes into bottles. Two weeks after that, and we can drink it!
We put the new trailer to good use this weekend by picking up a load of wood. We've gone through nearly double the wood we did last winter, so we want to make sure we restock as soon as possible. Sometimes when summer heats up, the woodcutters aren't allowed into the forest due to fire risks. Then everyone is backed up and on waiting lists, sometimes until the rains come back in the fall.
No wonder Magnus doesn't want to venture outside! Toshi and one of the Red Stars were having a conference on the back porch. The flock always seems to ignore the 'no chickens on the porch' rule, until they get caught and chased off.
Last but not least, a little down time with the house critters in front of a warm fire.

We enjoyed the spring weather preview Saturday, temps in the 70's and a lovely breezy sunny day. The greenhouse sprouts are in the ground now - lettuce, chard, spinach, broccoli and onions. We'll be planting more over the next few weeks, with the warm weather plants - beans, tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, melons - going in late May.

Stella is still going gangbusters as a milk cow. I've taken the luxury of skipping a couple days of milking here & there, so we can use up all the milk she provides. This week we made a soft cheese with chives, roasted garlic and cracked pepper mixed in. A gallon of milk netted 2lbs of it, with 2qts of whey left over for the dogs & hens. We made 4oz of butter from a pint of top cream. Over a quart of yogurt. And tonight I'll start a pint more of cream souring. Yum!!!

Time to start shopping for an ice cream maker.