Spent the afternoon at my friend Barbara’s White Gold Farm observing her milking operation and made mozzarella cheese. She has dairy goats as well but we focused on the Holstein side of things this time. She has two cows in milk, Sadie and Sally.
Barbara is our 4H Leader in addition to being our friend for our entire tenure here in Alaska. I met her through an ad I ran for childcare way back in the day. She’s been a constant ever since!
Before we got started on the mozzarella she let us sample a Monterey Jack cheese she made back in January. So good. The flavor is just so much better than commercial/store bought cheese. We are inspired to try making some different types of cheeses now!
Heating the curds.Beginning the stretching process.Whey byproduct The recipe book we used.
While there, we got to see the cutest little calf ” Sir Loin” 😁. He’s about three weeks old and belongs to Sally. Nothing cuter than a baby cow. 😍 Except maybe a cute little boy experiencing a cute lil calf for the first time.
CowlicksSadie, she’s a big girl!
The kids got to experience the shear size of these cows, much larger than previous experiences! And learn a few things about milk production. The cheese making was the best part, because it tastes so good!
Last Friday we stayed home from work due to Dean being under the weather. So the kids and I used the opportunity to start on the garden plot, do a little barnyard clean up & to get some fresh air. The garden plot was quite the mess.
Before, tall grass, wadded up tarp.The strawberry tipi, tire stacks and compost bin. And Panda Bear.The old greenhouse frame. She’s a lean’n. And both doggos.The two existing raised beds.Before pics.
We enjoyed watching the goats and ducks being released from their winter quarters and go a little wacky on the barely there green grass blades
First thing we did was assess the old derelict greenhouse frame. It needs to be disassembled, repaired and re-sheeted with siding and greenhouse plastic. Lil Bit and I took stock of our materials so we could plan the new structure. As it is currently, about 15 feet long and 8 ish feet wide. We’d like to maintain that size, just move it over to the left about 2-3 feet.
Then we found a couple old pallets that we hauled up to the garden plot to add to our existing compost bin. The original bin was filled up over the winter with kitchen scraps and barn litter. We’ll let that side sit and work this summer to add to our beds next year.
Then we got started on the clean up part. Thing 2, AB and Lil Bit all pitched in. We cut down all the wild raspberry canes, some Willow shrubs and tall grasses down. We raked up dead grass and leaves to fill our new compost bin about half way. The kids hauled barn litter over and dumped into the old bin. I gave some of the raked up dried grass to the goats, they loved it.
I cleared out the strawberry patch of last year’s dead leaves & weeds, cut the runners loose and mulched with fresh straw. We topped off the two beds and all the tire stacks with more soil. And we stretched an old tarp (that we repurposed for ground cover & saved from going to the landfill) out over the area we just cleared to keep regrowth down to a minimum. We will eventually top this with sawdust and wood chips for pathway maintenance after we build the new beds.
This tarped area is where we plan to construct two more raised beds and put additional tire stacks around the fence perimeter.
Second compost bin.Beds with fresh soil.Huge tarp! This is about 1/3 of it doubled over. Have plenty left for the greenhouse floor After pics.
Lil Bit’s 4H project is gardening so she has been busy tending her starts in the mini greenhouse in our bathroom. And getting more excited by the day to start her outdoors garden & greenhouse.
Lil Bit’s starter garden. She’s got bell peppers tomatoes, squash, cucumber and a big pumpkin on the right.
While raking and checking for signs of new growth we discovered the lilac Thing 1 planted last year has some buds on it!! It’s always a happy day to see your plants made it through the winter!!
Rhubarb patch coming to life!
Besides the greenhouse renewal & new raised beds to build, we have some fencing repairs to make. I’d also like to test our soil this year so we can make amendments based on need. We’ll see how that goes. 🤪So our work isn’t done but we feel good about getting it started.
Alaska on my mind... 