Another Country

Whenever my mother would expound on a topic and anyone piped up with an opinion, she would say, "Well, another country heard from."  Well, I just heard from another country.  Sue, the WWOOFer from Canada, sent me a lovely note and some pictures of the day she and Doreen were here at Farview.  Carefully and slowly stirring the curd to separate it from the whey in the cheese-making process, they were certainly intent on the job at hand.  It was such a pleasure to host these ladies, and a double pleasure to get a follow-up email and photos to share.

Here is where it all begins, every morning of every day of the year.  This is Sheila and me at work.  (I'd recognize that udder anywhere.)  The underground excavators had also been working; see the hole to my left.  Sue and Doreen had taken their first turn at milking and I was just finishing it up so as not to keep any one goat on the stand too long.  When it was Tessie's turn, the women had a grip (pun intended) on the task and were able to get most of her milk without my help.

It rained the day the WWOOFers were here, and it rained yesterday.  Sunny and bright when I went down to the barn, before I finished the rain was pounding down.  It's a good thing I have lids for the milk buckets.  Bess showed good sense and was waiting on the porch when I slogged my way back to the house.  The whole day was like that, sunshine alternating with drenching rain.  It ended before my friend Camille came to share leftovers for dinner.  Honey, much younger, tried so hard to get Bessie Anne to play, dragging toys out of the basket and dropping them in front of Bess's nose, but Bess declined the offer.  Giving a huge sigh, Honey decided to take a nap too.

I had to laugh; Pete, my SoCal Kid, called me from a grocery store to ask about goat cheese.  Would feta do to make the stuffed date appetizers I'd mentioned on Saturday?  Since the store had no chevre, I suggested he use ricotta as an acceptable substitute.  Pete might not have been able to join his siblings here, but he was darned sure going to share in the goodies, even if he had to make them himself!

It was a good day.