This was the third morning of sheep milking. It went a lot better without Daphne and Asa in the milking "string". The sheep still don't like the head gate, but pigs that they are, they eventually stick their heads in. I'm letting them eat sometimes without closing the gate, so it isn't such a scary thing. Tucker the Finnsheep is the only one I couldn't get in the opening. I tied her to the gate and started milking anyhow. She eventually put her head in and started eating. :-)
They're tapering off quite a bit. I got almost 8 cups this morning. That's still half a gallon, and enough for half a batch of Italian cheese, or quite a lot of yogurt. The yearlings have tapered off the most, so I'll just let them keep drying up.
Ohhhhhhhh - what a treat! After milking I had fresh raspberries with cold sheep's milk and a sprinkling of sugar. MmmmmMmmmm Good! Maybe some of that sheep's milk will become ice cream.....
This afternoon we're going to the Kenny Chesney Flip-Flop tour concert in Qwest Field. I still have to pick out my knitting project for the concert. There are FIVE country acts scheduled - Pat Green, Sugarland, Sara Evans, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny - the weather is awesome and I'm ready for a sitdown break! We've seen B&D and *know* they put on a great concert. Kenny has been voted Entertainer of the Year multiple times, and what I've seen on TV is great. Of course, it will have to be something extra special good to be better than the Brad Paisley concert we saw last month. OMG! That was waaaay cool. If you're a Country music fan, don't miss Brad Paisley.
...off to choose a knitting project. :-)
- Franna
Ups and downs
1 day ago
4 comments:
Wow, what a project - it's a good thing you are retired, so you have time to rest after all your sheep wrestling! So will your cheese be soft like goat's milk cheese, medium like mozzarella or are you going to try for a dry parmesan style? I don't care for goat's milk cheese at all - it's funny that people I've talked to who didn't care for it are those who actually have animals and agree with me that it just tastes disgusting. Takes all kinds I guess.
Hope the concert was good.
Did you get a chance to look at Debi Schaibly's pictures from Scotland (she put the link on the Shetland list) I was so in love with the "color wheel" that the Shetland Society had in their display that I asked her if I could put it on my blog - plus she sent me the picture of the knitted color sampler too. Pretty cool. Good luck with that milking! T.
Way to go, Franna! :)
I know the more you get into a routine with the sheep, the easier it will go. Just like cows.
Hey Franna, you haven't let me down with all the new posts -- unfortunately I was out of town Tuesday through yesterday so I had to "pig out" this morning to catch up on them all! (Like I don't have anything else to catch up on....)
I'm not sure what kind of cheese yet. I like strong flavored cheese like parmesan and Cougar Gold (of course!). I'd love to do a traditional Roquefort but DH is allergic to penicillium molds. The soft cheeses are "easier" but that's never stopped me. ;-)
- Franna
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