chevre

I've always wanted to make cheese. 

A couple of weeks ago we used Bekah's fresh milk from her goat, Lady, & we made chevre. 

It was the most delicious cheese ever & I can't wait to experiment with other recipes. 

Ingredients:

2 Gallons of Goat Milk

 1/4 Cup of Cultured Buttermilk 

 1/2 Tablet of Rennet (equivalent to 2 drops of liquid rennet) 

 1-2 Teaspoons of Salt 

 1/4 Cup of Warm Water

Process:

Warm the milk to room temperature (68-70 °F)

Dissolve 1/2 of the rennet tablet in 1/4 cup warm water

Stir in the buttermilk and mix thoroughly

Stir in the rest of the rennet and mix thoroughly

Cover and let it sit for a total of 24 hours

After 24 hours, check the mixture for clean breaks

At this time, the curd should be firm enough to cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Next ladle the curds into a sterile cloth located suspending above a colander

Place that in a refrigerator or cool place for 24 hours

After the 24 hours has passed, the whey should all be drained

Next add about 1-2 teaspoons of salt

Cover and place in the refrigerator

endeavor

endeavor

endeavor: an attempt to achieve a goal.
a few weeks ago i shot this video.
i spent the day with my friend Bekah.
we went & picked up her bees.
after the bee pick up we went & got her two goats--Lady & Banjo.
it was a beautiful day & i will remember it forever.

Homeland
Endeavor is the first of a series of short films.
I created Homeland to inspire.
I want to show things from the land, people, beauty, food, & community.
I want to take things back to our roots. 

soap.

i spent last night learning how to make homemade goat milk soap with wood ash lye with my sweet friend Bekah. 

the night was filled with learning. 

we used frontierfreedom.com for tips. 

so basically if you don't know much about lye--just be aware it's dangerous & crazy. 

Bekah made her own lye out of apple tree wood ashes (yes that chick is awesome). 

we found out that she didn't make enough so round two of goat milk soap making will happen soon when more lye is made. 

we had so much fun learning & wearing her kitchen towels as bandanas around our faces so we wouldn't breathe in lye fumes. 

i felt like a scientist. 

here is a little explanation about lye:

Wood Ash Lye vs. Commercial Lye

homemade lye is Potassium Hydroxide and can be made rather simply at home from wood ashes--Potassium Hydroxide makes a softer soap, so the fat or oils used will need to be beef tallow (beef fat) or even lard (pig fat).

commercial lye is Sodium Hydroxide, which is much more complex to manufacture, and is often used in drain openers. In order for commercial lye to work properly in soap, it must be pure Sodium Hydroxide, which is becoming difficult to find in grocery stores. 

Making Lye 

 begin with a 5 gallon bucket of rain water. while nature and gravity  work together to provide soft water, grab an old pillow case and fill it with wood ashes.

place the pillow case full of ashes in a separate 5 gallon bucket. 

 boil about a gallon of rainwater. with the pillowcase stretched open to the same size as the bucket, pour the boiling hot rain water into the ashes. boil more rain water and repeat this process until the ashes are completely covered. with the hot water covering the ashes, close the pillow case and lift and lower the pillowcase in and out of the water, like making tea.

this dipping process continues for some time --- about one and a half hours. lift the pillow case out of the bucket, strain it, and pour the water into your pan. 

 cook the contents of the pan, which contain water and lye(Potassium Hydroxide). 
the reason for cooking this mixture instead of going straight to combining it with the fat is to boil the water away so that you could use the lye faster.

occasionally, check the strength of the mixture with a chicken feather. the rule is, the lye is strong enough to make soap when a chicken feather begins to dissolve in the solution.

continue to boil the mixture down to almost nothing. be careful when the level of liquid gets low, as you can scorch the lye.

http://www.frontierfreedom.com/

picture sources:

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Yesterday I woke up early to go with my friend Bekah (she has a great blog read it here) to pick up her bees & goats. We hopped in the truck & headed east. Once we picked up the bees we continued going east and picked up her goats (Lady & Banjo). We went to her farm & set up the hives. It was the most peaceful experience--I know what you're thinking--peaceful? But it truly was. We didn't get stung and there were thousands of bees flying around our heads. We milked Lady. Once we finished all of that we got really hungry so we killed her rooster Rocky & cooked him up for dinner. It was the craziest & best day. We had so much fun--everything from good conversation in the car, beekeeping, goat milking, to chicken killing & laughing around a lovely campfire. 

Glacier National Park Pt.2--Mountain Goats.

I finally put together the footage we took from our trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. We went in June 2011 and every bit of this adventure was magical. We had the opportunity to be in the back country for five days, we hiked alongside majestic mountains, we stumbled upon a mountain goat family, we slept next to a glacial lake, we met fun hikers from California, and we praised God for His rich blessings in our life. Enjoy.

-M. 

Remember Whensday: Mountain Goats at Cosley Lake

So for this Remember Whensday I'd like to post about something recent that made a really big impact on us. About a month or so ago we took a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana and had one of the best experiences ever. So many posts could be done about our trip, but one afternoon in particular made a really huge impact on Molly and me and I'd just like to share it. We took a five night backpacking trip in the park and, as you'll see in some of the pictures, we stayed on a giant glacial lake called Cosley Lake. At around 45 degrees, the lake was not much of a swimming hole, but it was gorgeous! One day we took a hike to Elizabeth Lake (around 4.5 miles away) and in order to get to the mountain pass we needed, we had to cross Cosley, and because the water and air were both chilly, it made sense to get naked in order to do so. Long story short, we ended up crossing Cosley with our bums hanging out, making it to Elizabeth, hiking back the same day only to cross again, and living to tell about the experience with a video of Molly laughing hysterically as her private parts are playing peek-a-boo with the wilderness.

Nine miles two days in a row is a lot (even for us :)) and the next day we found ourselves a bit wiped out, so we walked to the crossing section of the lake again and fished and napped all day. Although I didn't catch anything, I've never had a more relaxing time--the water was so clear I could literally see my fly sinking from 30 feet away--and Molls seemed to have a very nice time reading in her hammock (I must give her props...she fished for a little while too). Just as we were about to pack up and head back for dinner, a herd of mountain goats walked up behind us and watched us as if we were from another planet. Needless to say, we took as many pictures as possible, Molly stalked them into the undergrowth, and just being close to them was awesome enough, but as we stepped back and started to leave, the goats began to cross the lake at the same point we had the day before. As a family they organized themselves into groups (babies with adults) and then doggie paddled much more gracefully than we had done. When one baby and its baby sitter were left behind (too scared or curious about us to cross), the biggest male goat stood on the cliff across the stream and bleated encouragement. Best of all, he climbed down from his perch, swam back across the freezing water, and then crossed behind his two kids (that's what I like to imagine they were). The scene reminded me so much of my own parents, our Heavenly Father, and the kind of man that I want to be some day, and this simple encounter with nature left both Molly and I equally awed, excited, sort of wanting to have babies, and sort of wanting to get a goat. We were are so thankful for such a lovely memory.