Winter Weather and White Cheese

We had some snow on Sunday morning. Not much, barely enough to see on the ground. But the fact that we had it meant the weather has been very cold. Not good gardening weather. It warmed up a bit and we have had a couple of rain storms since, which also isn't good because it's much too muddy to get anything planted outside.

Today we are going to move the open heifers from their winter pasture out to the spring/summer pasture in Windyville. This means one less chore for me in the morning. Hubby spent 2-3 hours yesterday checking all the fences out in Windyville. Mostly he said he had to restring the electric fences and cut a bunch of cedar trees out of the fence rows. Cedars aren't native here and are a serious nuisance.

This morning I found a little bull calf up at the dry cow pasture. He looks like a dandy. We will have to bring them in this afternoon.

This weekend I tried my hand at making white cheese. This is where you heat a gallon of milk to 180 degrees F then mix in 1/4 cup of white vinegar, stir for 10-15 minutes and then strain it and let it drip for 5-7 hours. You can salt it and can use it in lasagna...etc. Well, much of mine went down the drain when I accidentally dropped a corner of the cloth I used to strain it. But I ended up with maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup of cheese. It has a very fine curd and is pretty tasteless. I am not sure if it was worth the trouble. But it's supposed to be the easiest cheese to make. I guess if we get extra milk that won't fit into the bulk tank here during spring flush, I will make more of it, just to use up the milk. But I only have so much room in the fridge to store the milk. Well, we shall see.

Comments

jel said…
dh said id ya get to much milk we will take it off your hands $$

that sounds like what we like to call cottage cheese! :)
Amrita said…
we make cottage cheese called paneer. curdle your milk and cook it strain the residue and tie it up in a muslin cloth and hang it so let all the water drain out - takes a few hours. Then place the bag under a heavy weight (object) and there you have it.
Calfkeeper said…
jel-well, so far only one year ('07 I believe) have we actually had the tank overflow on us. We will see what it'll do this spring. According to hubby, his mom's cottage cheese is make by a different process. I dunno.

Amrita-yes, I think it's the same as what I made, but like I said, what's known here as cottage cheese is made a little differently.
moe said…
I'm famous in your next post+1, wooo!
My sister has a best friend who eats anything (with no ill effects) including doesn't care if the milk is sour. Just drinks it! I'm so impressed. She didn't go through the 30's economoic depression and isn't a cheapskate either, just doesn't care.

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