Finnish baked cheese--Yum!

I love Juustoa cheese, or Leipäjuusto, a Finnish cheese, called "coffee cheese", because they put chunks of it in their coffee.  It can also be served as a side dish or a dessert.  I like it for breakfast.  Or even for lunch or dinner.  It's versatile. 

I  had extra milk to play with, and wanted something different for lunch, so I decided to make some and record the process.  Maybe it was the recording that did the trick, but this was absolutely the best Juustoa I've made yet.

Heat 1 gallon of raw goat milk to about 86°, then mix together and add:
   1 heaping Tbsp cornstarch
   1/2 tsp (more or less) salt
   1 Tbsp sugar

Now add about 6 drops of double strength rennet mixed with 1/8 C of water and stir well.  Let rest for about an hour.  In this time, it will set almost like a custard.  Check for a "clean break",

 and break up to approximately 1-inch curds. For this cheese, you can just stir it, as I did, using the edge of the spoon to cut larger curds when necessary.
 

 

 At this point I drain it just like any other cheese, with cheesecloth and a colander,letting it rest until the curds settle and the whey drains out a bit.

To speed this up a bit, hang the curds by bringing all 4 corners of the cheesecloth together to form a bag and suspending it over a pan to catch the whey.  I occasionally work the curds by kneading the bag a bit to release more whey.  

 
When it's well drained, it's time to put the curds into a round cake pan.  Press it all around evenly, and bake in a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes, draining the whey off every few minutes.  Now remove from the oven and put it under the broiler unti just browned.  Again, pour off the whey as it seeps out.  At this point, you can either serve it or flip it in the pan and brown the other side, which is what I opted to do. 

Voilà! A beautiful, baked cheese!  

  Traditionally this is served with lingonberry jam, but I served it for lunch with blackberry jam.

Don't expect this to last very long. It's light and elegant, and oh so delicious!

Tractor Fun

We had just rescued the tractor from a mud hole in the pasture, and I parked it up by the barn for use later.  Isn't it wonderful how a tractor can be such a entertaining toy?  The  horses, of course, didn't think it was worth mention, but the goats thoroughly checked it out before determining that eats were elsewhere.

Changes

Sanuba has a new home.  It was hard to part with her, but I'm back to four does, now, including Cassie, Leah's Sable kid, but I feel very good about Daryl, and I think Sanuba will be loved and appreciated.  And probably, head honcho, as she was here. ( A little trivia here:  Did you know that honcho derives from a Japanese word meaning "squad leader"?  Little did I suspect...)

Beatrice's bucklings are going to a good home, together, as wethers, which makes me happy, since I hate putting kids in the freezer.  I just don't eat enough meat to make it worthwhile, and it's hard to butcher an animal that I've gotten to know. Since they're not bottle babies, I haven't spent as much time with them.  Since I'm separating them from Beatrice at night, I've been going into their stall and getting to know them.  They've quickly lost their skittishness and have discovered the jos of scritches and scratches.

Twins

Beatrice kidded on May 7th, two white bucklings.  No color, so either she doesn't carry the color gene, or it didn't show up in that breeding with my Sable buck, Ike.  It was an easy delivery, much easier than her last two.  She delivered both kids within 10 minutes of each other, after a short noticeable labor, and passed placenta within 1/2 hour.  Because she's CAE+, I gave her Apis during her labor, but it was unnecessary, as she didn't show any signs of congested udder and never has.

After several days of rain and mud, the bucklings got to go outside for the first time.  After a bit of exploration, they settled down in the shade of an outbuilding.  Beatrice hardly noticed their absence, she was so busy chomping down grass.

On Changing America

Powerful video commentary from The Washington Times.  Best viewed full screen.

New life on the farm

First tentative steps

A little shaky

My first kid of the year and my first Sable kid born on Crooked Shade Farm was born this morning about 8:30. She weighs 9 lbs! and is by my American Sable buck M&M Eye Candy and out of my PB Saanen doe, Tramps Rest Eventually (Leah). Since mama is CAE+, kid got pulled immediately and is being bottle fed. Zoë is fascinated by the little black doeling, a black Sundgau, just like her sire. I knew that Saanen line had color hidden, and I'm thrilled that it came through! 

So tired..

Gotta try again

What happened to my legs??

Earthday musings

I just came across an article on the Earth Day Network.  The article was bemoaning the fact that President Obama has on the one hand declared there should be more "green schools", and on the other hand, has cut the budget for environmental budget programs. They want everyone to write and demand more funding. 

More funding? Do these people live in the real world?  I believe strongly that we need to be good stewards to the earth, but we need to do it on our own, without government interference and further collapse of our fiat currency.

As for global warming, they need to do more homework.  Climate change is cyclical, it has nothing to do with mankind's use of petroleum products.  Archeological and geological data indicate that global warming and cooling has occurred every 200 - 500 years,  In addition, the greenhouse effect promotes plant growth.  On the other hand, droughts, tornadoes, and hurricanes in diverse places can be traced to manipulation of the weather by several governments.  This, is turn, helps to manipulate people.

With regard to planting more trees, here in the Northeast, we have lost acres and acres of farmland to builders and overgrown pasture and production land.  There are more trees now than there were 50 years ago, but nowhere to plant.  Trees are important, but food is vital.

We need to conserve water, take care of ourselves by planting crops--even container gardening can yield a good part of our food; clean up our own trash; treat the earth like a cherished mother; and recycle and reuse wherever possible.  This needs to be done on an individual basis, without the coercion of government and the imposition of taxes and fines.  Let's bring some sanity and common sense back to the environmental movement.  Government is NOT our friend. When we truly take responsibility for ourselves, we have no need to control others.  That's the way life used to be, the way life ought to be.