Winter Barn Work - Chapter 1

In past postings, I've shown you photos of the barn, so you all know how much work is necessary to get the barn ready for animals.  WELL, we started working on the barn yesterday and will continue, as weather permits, until it's safe, clean, (as much as a barn can be) and have the right configuration for our animals.

To refresh your memory - here are some photos of the before:

After unpacking and prepping the house for fall, we didn't have the time or the weather (low winds) to burn all the non-reusable packing boxes, so they were tossed in a corner of the barn (see below).  We free-cycled the best of the used packing boxes so they would help someone else with their move.

Yesterday, Mark and I burned the pile of boxes.  He stayed near the fire, trying to get it to stay lit and safe - the entire area was snow and ice packed so it was more to keep the fire going more than making sure it didn't spread. Now, the corner of the barn is cleaned out and we can start working....

 Mark will be taking out all the overhead milking pipes and most of the wiring - there is no need for all the power in our barn now as we will not be powering milking equipment.  Here is a photo of the one of the eight power boxes in this barn - most of them are much bigger than this.

 We look forward to spring and a refreshed barn.  Look for future chapters with our progress. 

Snow on the Roof

Here, most houses do not have gutters as they would be torn off by the ice and snow as it grows and melts.  This sometimes causes leaky basements, but that's another posting.

Kev would love to take photos of some of the natural ice and snow sculptures that form on and over the edges of roofs here - some are AMAZING!! The first video is from inside our house, looking out my dressing room window.

This is the same snowy overhang from the outside of our house - the window looks into my dressing room.  The corner icicle is at least 30-36" long

Due to the warmer weather here (around 32 degrees for multiple days), you can see the snow sheet is starting to slide off the roof

Mark decided to go out and take the edge off:

The following video explains itself:

We've had around 150" of snow this winter, so far: however, you would never know that by our yard.  Up here the numbers of inches keep climbing and they don't reflect the melting snow from the days of above freezing temps.  You can see it when you look at the huge piles of snow from the plows, but it doesn't seem to infringe on the population much - everyone is so used to it.

One thing that St. Louisians would not like here is that the sidewalks are not totally cleared daily. They are somewhat clear. Businesses do try to keep the sidewalks pretty clear, but since everyone wears boots, and it snows most days and sometimes all day, it would be impossible to keep up.  But everyone looks out for each other here. Just the other day, we were eating lunch in town and an elderly gentleman and his wife pulled up to the curb and had trouble navigating the pile of snow at the side of the car.  Seeing this, Mark jumped up and went out to assist them.  They accepted his help and thanked him for his effort. We all help out as needed - because of all the snow and cold weather - it brings the community together!

Learning to Weave and Making 2015 Christmas Gifts

My family knows that, from the time I was a little girl, I've wanted to learn to quilt, spin yarn, and weave cloth. I watched costumed women do these things at our local Fort Des Chartres Rendezvous and I thought, "how cool it is to create cloth." I put these things on hold to go to school, get married, have a career, and raise a family...I think most of you can identify.  Well, I'm here to tell you that it's never too late to learn a new skill and I'm very lucky that there are many women in this area that share my interests.

A few years ago, in preparation for retirement, I purchased a spinning wheel and started to take lessons from Jennifer Marchal's mom - but she lived too far away to make it convenient for many lessons...so I waited.  I also purchased two big looms - one for cloth and one for rugs - I got a bargain from someone who wanted to really get rid of theirs. But right now, they are too big for our house. I didn't want to wait again so I purchased a small table loom to learn on - I'm so glad I did!

I joined two groups here in Houghton - a quilting group and a weaving group. And I learned that several of the weavers also spin their own wool thread and one lady, Jeanne, is willing to teach me!  I'm in HEAVEN!  Here is what I've been working on. 

Setting up the loom warp - I helped a lady with threading her loom so I could learn how to set up mine.  It actually takes math...and accuracy!

After I threaded the warp in beige and tied it off to the front beam, I rolled up the excess thread until I need it- around heavy paper - I had lots of Martha Stewart Living Magazines...so I used the covers for my roll.

The first rows of the weave are called the header - it is to even out the threads.  Then you add your weft one row at a time.  This is going to be a scarf - 12" wide and 90" long...variegated beige and brown.

Until I am experienced at spinning, I'm sticking with store bought yarn - solid color warp, variegated weft!

I highly suggest learning new skills.  Trial and error is good for the soul! It took me three tries to thread my loom correctly - but I finally succeeded!  I hope that you all achieve your personal goals in life!

Do not stop sculpting you own statue.
                                                  -Plotinus

New Photos and Videos from Cold Comfort Farm

Welcome to Cold Comfort Farm.

I know you all like photos and videos, so I thought I'd post a few.

After the week-long polar vortex storm (which I've been told is VERY unusual here), we've had GREAT weather. The first day after was sunny and very bright, the second day, it snowed a lovely, 8" of fluffy snow, see the video below:

I thought you might like to see what Mark does often in winter:

This is a neighbor's mail box - an eagle...piled high with that fluffy light snow.

Little critter's tracks in the fresh snow- maybe wessel - living in our wood pile

Houghton Lakefront Docks covered with snow

Downtown Houghton, is lined with public access docks that go out into Portage Lake.  You can see across the lake and Hancock in the background.

8" of fresh fluffy snow - it didn't last long

Then over the last week, the weather grew warmer - mid 30s with low wind.  In fact, it feels very nice outside compared to the polar vortex.  Tonight, the sky was fantastic! The photos below are taken over a half hour and are totally un-enhanced.  As the sun lowered, the sky grew more purple.

Sunday mornings in our home means watching Sunday Morning on TV.  It has been our habit of ours for years.  They always end the show with a view of nature from various places around the U.S. Last Sunday, Cleo was sleeping on my lap, sound asleep, until the view of nature started - winter Cardinals chirping and flying between snow-covered pine boughs.  She woke up with a start, saw the birds and leaped from my lap.  She took one leap, hit the TV, bounced off very confused. 

She did this enough times that I had time to grab my camera and catch her at it.  She also kept looking behind the TV, thinking that she could catch the birds.  Confused, she walked back and forth across the sofa table waiting for them to fly out of the TV... she now seems to watch TV often - I think she is waiting for the birds to return. 

I hope you've enjoyed these photos and videos - our adventure continues.....

The Very Best Cheese Cake Recipe - Thanks for Karen Vanamann

I'm putting this recipe on our blog for my girls.  I've been making this cheese cake for the last 37 years and I thought I'd share it with you all.  It is the very best cheesecake I've ever tasted - that is also what people say when that eat this cheesecake - but it is not my fabulous baking, it's the recipe.  I don't ever order cheesecake in any restaurant as I've been spoiled for life by this cake...and I can only thank Karen Vanamann for a life of wonderful compliments.

Karen created this recipe - it is not in ANY cookbook.  I think that I am the only one who has this recipe...now you do.  Karen was the wife of Wayne Vanamann, a friend of Mark's, from our early days in Virginia at Langley AFB.  Karen was killed in a car accident in 1979, may she rest in peace!

Here is her recipe. Since I've baked this for the so many years I've added my notes.  It is NOT cheap, the cream cheese alone will cost you more than $10.   This takes effort - but WELL worth it!

Here is the stuff you need - the spring form pan is a must!

Karen's Cheesecake Supreme                  

Crust: 

1 C sifted flour

1/4 C sugar

1 tsp lemon peel

1/2 C butter

1 egg yolk (slightly beaten)

1/4 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, sugar and lemon peel. Cut in butter until small pebble stage. 

 Mix egg yolk and vanilla in a small bowl and then blend them, using a fork, into the dry mixture. Pat 1/3 dough on bottom of 9" spring form bottom, with side removed, and bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes, until lightly brown. Cool before you add the spring form side.

When you add the spring form side and lock it in place, double check the lock! (I've had this open as I took a finished cake out of the oven and had the beautiful cake fall on the floor) Now, add the remaining 2/3 of crust, pressing it into the side of the pan.  Using flour to dust your hands often, try to get it as even as you can. It should be pressed 3/4 up the side of the pan.  You should use all of the crust dough.

Filling:

5 - 8 oz packages cream cheese

1/4 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp lemon peel

1 3/4 C sugar (do not substitute with any type of sugar as it will change the texture - I've tried)

3 T flour

1/4 tsp salt

4-5 eggs (to equal 1 C)

2 egg yolk + 1/4 c whip cream (optional - I've made the cake without these - not detectable difference)

Bring cream cheese to room temperature (necessary for good mixing). Crack eggs into measuring cup, making sure that you have exactly 1 cup of eggs - dispose or save excess.  Using mixer, cream the cheese with one egg until creamy (tough to judge one egg now that you've combined them - just guess).  Add vanilla and lemon peel.  You will need to scrape sides of bowl often to ensure a good mix.  Now add the sugar, flour, and salt - mix between additions.  Add one egg (guess) at a time, mixing each in before adding the next.   If you want to add the 2 yolks and whip cream now. 

Mix well but don't whip it too much. Turn it into the pan.  Start it 450 degrees for 12 minutes, then lower the over temp to 325 degrees.  Bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until a knife comes out clean.  Cover with foil lightly at 45 minutes or the cake top will over brown.  It will puff up above the sides of the pan and will crack in several places as it bakes - this is usual.  

 Cool on wire rack and you can watch it fall and collapse as it cools - it is suppose to collapse as it cools.  **Slide a knife between the crust and the pan, all the way around the cake - before you release the lock and the crust will stay attached to the cake** The center becomes a great space for the fruit/sauce of your choice - or chocolate drizzle - or whatever you want.  It is best if you make this cake a day before you want to serve it.

If you want home made fruit topping - it's easy:    (I don't even measure this anymore)

1 - 1 1/2 C fruit juice to match frozen fruit

1/4 - 1/3 C water

1-2 Tbsp corn starch

1/4 C  sugar or raw sugar

2-3 C Frozen strawberries, mixed berries, or fruit of choice

Pour juice into sauce pan.  While juice is heating toward boiling, in a small measuring cup whisk water, sugar, and cornstarch making a smooth pourable paste.  If you need to adjust measurements; use your best judgement.  Add a small amount of the pourable paste into the juice and heat until boiling.  Add only enough of the paste to thicken the juice to make a nice smooth thick sauce. Consider the melting fruit you are going to add - so make it a little thicker than your desired thickness.  Add the frozen fruit - heat until fruit is melted and take off stove.  Serve warm or cold over cold cheese cake - DELISH!

**Options - separate half of the batter and add 1/2 - 1 C of melted chocolate (cooled but melted) and then after turning the white filling into the pan, add the chocolate batter into the pan in scattered blobs and swirl with a knife for a marble cheese cake.  

I know that Karen would approve that I have shared her recipe with you all.  ENJOY!!!

Learning to Make Cheese

In past postings, I've told you about the weather, Mark's work, and even our cats - but I haven't shared much of what I've been up to lately.  I've been keeping myself very busy with projects I've been wanting to do for years.  One of which is making cheese.

I've shared in the past that we have neighbors who owns two milking cows.

Allie and Bella

They provide us with raw milk in exchange for helping them milk (when they are out of town) and providing them some of the cheese I make...it's a nice trade.  So far, I've made soft cheeses, such as farmer's cheese and mozzarella as well as some hard cheeses like cheddar and colby.  I am looking forward to trying cream cheese and butter.

The soft cheeses are pretty easy to make and they don't take more than 1-2 hours of your time; however,  hard cheeses take a time investment that I was not willing to make while working full time.  It takes 4-6 hours to actually make the cheese, then you have to dress it, press it, redress it, and press it again...and sometimes several more times.  No wonder good cheese is expensive!  I hope it will be worth my time and effort - I'll let you know in March.  You see, cheddar and colby have to be aged for 30-60 days before they are ripe.  Since most of you are not interested in the exact steps or recipe, I'll just show you an overview of what it takes:

Here are some supplies needed. Anything that touches the milk needs to be sterilized for health safety concerns.  You need cheese cultures (available from cheese supplies web sites), slotted spoons, cheese thermometer, distilled water, measuring cups, colander, cheese cloth, a long bread slicing knife to cut the curds, cheese molds, and weights to press the cooked cheese in the molds.  I had most of these items in our kitchen - I just had to purchase the molds and cultures.

You bring the milk up to the proper temperature - slowly so as not to scorch it

You turn off the heat, add the culture, stir, wrap it in towels to keep the heat constant, and let sit for 1 hour.  Then add the second culture, stir, and let it set for 1/2 hour until it turns solid

When it forms a solid curd, you cut the curd with a knife in all directions, stir to break up the curds - then heat it up higher (SLOWLY) so the curds separate from the whey

After draining the curds through cheese cloth (can take another hour) - you place the cheese in a bowl,
cut them up again and add salt GENTLY

Gayle gave me this bowl and it is the PERFECT bowl for salting curds - cheddar curds feel squishy

Dressing the cheese - line a mold with cheese cloth, add the curds, and fold the cloth over the top of the curds

The "driver" sets on the mold and is pressed down with weights

You can actually use a veggie can on top of the driver, then add more weights

I used Mark's hand weights, which pushed the excess whey out and compressed the cheese.  Mark will be making me an proper cheese press - but at first, I've had to improvise

This is the finished pressed cheddar - it is white this time as I did not have the typical artificial orange coloring that is in most cheeses. The wheels had to dry out over one day for them to create a natural skin, then they were waxed for aging.  I waxed the wheels with beeswax - which is the same as the red cheese wax - but more natural.  After the beeswax was melted, I brushed it on with a natural bristle paint brush and labeled with cheese type and creation date.

                                                               

The first two wheels of Cold Comfort Farmhouse Cheddar!  Here are photos of our cheese cave (an old dorm fridge, set at 50 degrees, with a pan of water sitting in the bottom to build humidity).  It has wire racks so I don't have to turn the cheese daily.  The journal sitting on the fridge holds my notes on how I made the cheese, so if it is too dry or moist, I can note it in order to learn and tweak the recipe in the future.

So now I have cheddar and colby aging.  In March, when the cheese is ready, we plan to invite the young farm couple (Steve and Melissa) over for a tasting evening.  I'll let you know how it turns out!  I am hoping to have this cave filled with cheese by March, with me building experience as I go.  

I hope to be able to give you all Christmas gifts next year of Cold Comfort Farm applesauce, jams, baked goods, and aged cheese!

If you are ever interested in making cheese with me, you are very welcome and we'll even let you take your cheese home.  

My other projects are quilting, weaving, spinning, and researching my book. I'll share these with you as I work on them.

Retirement 101 - For Young and Old Readers Alike

Now that we are retired, we are not relevant.  Have I shocked you with that statement? There are some younger people that think this.  Are they right?  They could be. We have found that we are the only ones in control of the answer to this question.

The dictionary definition of relevant is: bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent.  Mark and I have talked about this quite a bit lately, openly and honestly.  We both feel that it depends on the retired person!  Here are some things we've learned about retirement.  As we are not experts on retirement, by far, we'll just share with you what we've learned to date.

1. Even though most people look forward to retirement, once you retire you do feel a little disconnected.  Our society is set up to make you feel this way.  The world keeps moving (faster) without you -  and if your job had required overtime, like mine did, stepping off that fast track can make your head spin and can make you feel left behind.   We did feel this way...for a short period of time.  What we learned is that the best way to handle retirement is to ease into it, if you can.  Karen Torretta has done this well by substitute teaching and volunteering - we are leaning from her and others.

2. Mark said to me the other day, "Now that we're retired, I feel that every day is Saturday and I'm not so sure I like that".  And we have to purposefully look at the calendar to know the actual date - we don't have to write it daily as we did when we worked.  I told Mark that if we stay this way, we could become very self centered, not wanting anyone or anything to disturb our leisure lifestyle or the goals we've set for the day.  We used to look forward to Friday's and weekends, now they're just other days...sad, if you think about it. We feel the need to work on this - we don't have any advice on this issue yet.  Maybe a part time job might alleviate these things - again easing.

3. Plan ahead for activities or work you will want to do.  Mark was really smart about it and knew he wanted to teach part-time in retirement, so he started at SLU's College of Public Health teaching a class a semester.  He taught for seven years prior to retirement and it has paid off as he will be teaching a class at Finlandia University this spring (they are known as FU - oh my!).  I, on the other hand, did not plan ahead - per se.  I do have skills to build our farm and I have hobbies and interests that support those skills, so that has helped.  We both suggest to figure out what your strengths and interests are and take time to at least build a plan for this in retirement.

4. You will wish you had a masters degree in finance to understand all the necessary, and very important financial nuances of having enough money to last the rest of your life - we wish we had that knowledge!  It's not your father's gold watch and annuity days, where all you have to do is attend your retirement party and sign on the dotted line to receive your retirement pay - enough to live on comfortably for 20-30 years of retirement. We have been lucky to find a financial adviser that we've clicked with and we trust; she's been very patient and teaches us as we work together (she works at UMB with Keva- her name is Lisa Hock).  She's been very helpful so I am happy to give her the plug.  Strongly suggested - learn now, even if you are planning to retire years or decades in the future.

5. We feel that the most important item missing in retirement is purpose/passion, as that was probably tied to your job you just left.  You will need to find/build/create passion with something else.  If you don't have a passion in your life, each day will just melt into the next.  This passion could be tied to your faith or church.  It could be created by volunteering, helping your working neighbors, caring for those older than you (they have so much wisdom to share); even building a network of other retired people, helping each other will add some passion to your life. A few of our past neighbors have struggled with this, or the lack of it in their lives - it seemed liked they were just existing and waiting to die, taking up space, and wondering aimlessly - very irrelevant.  

If you are like us and don't want to feel irrelevant, these five items may help you enjoy your retirement.  If you have observations or suggestions for us, please add them as comments on this site or my Facebook site so we can learn from you.  We are all in this world to help and guide each other.

Winter Storm Photos and Videos

During this storm, our lowest temps over the past week have been -5 actual, with 15 mph wind for a windchill of -20. By next week, our temps are suppose to return to the mid 20s. But, what do you do during a winter storm that lasts for days? Well, Mark has spent time prepping for the class he starts to teach next week, plowing the circle drive, and shoveling snow.  I've been working on inside projects, which I'll show you in the near future.

We've gotten about 2-4" of snow daily...

Driving has not been too bad.  Since I drove a stick shift car for YEARS, I still use my gears to slow down instead of my breaks - it works very well on snow covered roads.

The weather does make for some great photos and videos  - so I'd thought I'd share some with you:

But we've had a lot of blowing and drifting

Our very OLD apple tree that has seen better days

Mark enjoying the snow instead of plowing or shoveling it

I truly LOVE this barn - in every season

You can see a typical pile of snow from plowing

Since it is the beginning of January, I've also started taking down the Christmas decorations. Post Christmas time has always been dreary for me, but Cleo helped this year- see video:

Because Cleo has a thin coat and hates the cold, I bought her a winter sweater, you can see how she reacted to it the first time I put it on her. At first she kept walking backwards, trying to wipe it off.  When she found that she could not, she kept lifting her legs trying to step out of it.  I know she'll get used to it over time and appreciate its warmth, especially when I take her outside to the barn. (I know, I've stooped to stupid cat videos - I couldn't resist just this once!)

 Talk to you again soon.