My New Imagination and Creation Station

Since we bought Cold Comfort Farm four years ago, we have not had a dish washer and I was not convinced that we needed one.  I didn't mind looking out the big kitchen window at the farm scenes and sky while doing dishes, by hand.  But I will tell you, when we became permanent residents, it not only got old, but when you cook every meal, every day, and do canning, baking and cheese making (with big pots and bowls) it took up so much of my time, I changed my mind and decided we REALLY NEEDED ONE!  I also had to wear rubber gloves during the winter to preserve my hands.

We broke down and bought a portable dish washer, which I LOVE...and a small rolling granite topped island cabinet...which has become my new imagination and creation station - see photos below:

Most of you know that I like gardening and for years have worked with herbs.  I also have collected recipes for things like lip balm, hand and body lotion, and even colognes that I'd like to try so I populated this cart with all my creative stuff!  I now can use the top for a rolling cooking and baking surface and the rest of the time I can let my imagination and creativity run away with me!!!

  The drawer holds canning and bottle labels, bottle corks, measuring and weighing equipment, funnels large and small, separate from my cooking stuff so as not to contaminate our food. Everything I need is here to continue to expand my womanly farm skills.

I will post the recipes and stuff as I create it.   Some of my creations will become gifts for you!

Barn Cleaning and Cheese Tasting

Spring has sprung in the U.P.! Most of our snow has melted (except for the huge piles from plowing snow) and our temps have been over the freezing mark for more than ten days.  We've accomplished quite a bit, indoor and outdoors, so I thought I'd share what we've accomplished.

Here is our barn in the "before picture!"

This is what the barn looked like when we purchased the property

In cleaning the barn and burning all the old straw (about 40 garden cartloads full), we discovered more damage than we thought we had, caused by what locals call "heaving."  That is when the ground moisture freezes (sometimes more than 9-11 feet below the ground), expands the soil around and under the building, and breaks the floor, walls, or both in the building.   This happens usually when a building is not heated - and there is no way to centrally heat a barn the size of ours. Our barn was heated with animals for almost 100 years but has not had animals in it for almost 15 years.  The barn heaved for the first time last winter and again this winter due to record cold temps. We have one door that will not open and one that only opens slightly.

 WELL,  We will now need to repair that damage so it can be heated with animals next winter.  The north side of the barn will need a new cement floor - at a cost we did not count on.  Mark will be breaking up the broken floor and hauling out the old cement.  A neighbor who works cement will be pouring a new floor for us in late spring.  Then Mark will be working on digging around the foundation on the end of the barn that heaved and pouring more cement support under that barn end and adding insulation to keep it from heaving again.  He has all summer to work on that project.

Here are the photos of the empty barn.  We still have a section to clear but we have to wait until the nights are above freezing as it covers our main water supply to the barn...and we think it then goes into the house, so we don't want to risk freezing or burst house pipes.

The temps have been perfect for burning all the hay - mid 40s with low winds.  Mark had to stay near the fire to rake the burning piles making sure everything burned thoroughly. Now
he has to cut out all the milking stanchions, sledge hammer the cement floor, (photo right) and haul it out.
I'll post more photos as Mark brakes up the floor.  

The photo below is the only stall that we will leave.  I think it was a holding pen for either sick or birthing cows...or maybe staging breeding bulls.  It is a sturdy stall with a great working gate, so we will keep it!

Now on to the cheese tasting!  After over two months of waiting for the cheese to age in our cheese cave, we went to dinner with the neighbors that provided the raw milk for the cheese so I bolstered my courage and took three cheese wheels.  See photos below.

The Cheddar wheel left was oiled and wrapped in cheese cloth - they call it cloth banded cheese.  It was the best of the Cheddars.  The second Cheddar was too sharp - it tasted like it aged a little too long or the mold that we cut off made the cheese sharper.  I now know which Cheddar I will make in the future.

 


The Colby was also waxed and, to my surprise, it tasted just like Colby cheese.  I know this sounds funny to all of you - but let me tell you - when you try something new like making cheese, you expect to fail.  I actually thought I'd be embarrassed and have to throw them all away and try again.

Here is what I've learned about cheese making.  If you can read instructions, buy cultures, molds and presses, you can make cheese comparable, or better, than store bought...but it does takes time and patience - you gotta wanna take the time and enjoy the experience. 

Since our neighbors cows will give birth in late April, they are not being milked at present, so I have tried to make the same Cheddar recipe with store bought homogenized whole milk and I'm now waiting to see the difference between the two.  Since I enjoy making cheese I will continue to experiment.  Next comes Feta!

As you all come for a visit, you will be able to experience a walk through our nice clean, updated barn, share our Cold Comfort Farm Cheese, and even take some home with you! Happy Spring!!!

Lake Superior's Frozen Beach Resembling the Lunar Surface

Mark and I hiked into the Houghton Canal Lake Park.  The weather was 35 degrees, sunshine, with low winds. We had to leave the car at the road head and hike in about 1/2 mile - the Township does not keep that road plowed and the Jeep would get stuck if we tried to drive in.  Last week Mark went alone and took his snow shoes, but today he wore boots and I had boots with ice cleats attached (glad to have the cleats).  Here are some of the photos and videos we took.

120 miles of frozen lake to Canada

As soon as we crested the hill, I was in awe - it resembled the lunar surface.  The lake froze off the coast about 120 feet and then thawed, broke, and the broken ice was shoved up on top of the previous ice, by the power of the lake, and then refroze. 

This continued building shelves or cliffs of ice that have to be 30 feet tall or higher...viewing from the shore side.  From the frozen lake side, they appear as giant cliffs.

Mark was able to climb to the top and down below the cliffs in order to take some of these photos. I didn't try to climb to the top, even with ice cleats.  You all know me well - I'm not as daring as Mark.

Most of the snow was white, but I was glad to see the natural darknesses from the water so that you can see the beauty in nature.

The weather is predicted to be above freezing (as high as the mid 50s) for the next week or more, so all this will start to melt...and become very slick, we're glad we hiked to the shore so we could experience these views.

Toward the breaker wall, the ice broke, froze again and again, forming ice caves with stalactites.

The wind on the lake is very strong, swirling the snow into snow devils.  You can see the results here and in the next few photos.  Much like sand in the desert - it is beautiful!

There were a few others at the beach, mostly college kids, enjoying the fine weather and views!  We were there about an hour and hiked back to the car.  

Since we are suppose to have over a week of above freezing temps, the road will get mushier, the ice will start to melt and refreeze, so we'll see what next few weeks looks like at the road head!

We may decided to drive in again to experience for ourselves what the melting looks like.  We'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Lauren

Today, I was thinking about the day that Lauren was born.  I always remember that year because of the REALLY cold, snowy weather we had just before she was born.  It set weather records that year.  It was VERY snowy - Mark had to hike into town in order to get groceries, leaving me very pregnant at home.  We lived on the frontage road outside Columbia and the doctor was worried that if I went into labor, I would have problems getting to the hospital.  I made it until March 3, which was the scheduled date for the C-section to bring her into this world.

Happy Birthday Lauren, here are some of my favorite photos of you growing up - please share them to Liam:

Born as a true redhead - I knew I had my hands full with your temper...and I was right! Your grandmother loved the fact that her dream came true and I had a redheaded daughter! She wanted me to name you after her mother, Bernadine!  I told her, "That would happen over my dead body!" Keva loved having a little sister until you started getting into her stuff - then she wanted to be an only child.

 You looked wonderful in blues - they matched your eyes.  As you grew up your color became green!

 We were at the St. Louis Zoo for the photos above and in our kitchen for the photo to the right.  My very favorite photo is below.  I was packing away winter clothes and you insisted on wearing my sweater - so I put it on you, rolled up the sleeves.  You decided that you wanted to chew on the turtle neck, so I had to wash it again before packing it away.

You loved textures at that time in your life.  If I took you shopping with me, you would sit in your stroller, pick up each sleeve on the hanging clothes rounds and rub the fabric against your cheek or the tip of your nose...you loved the feeling of the different textures.  You would have loved the little modern teething clothes of today (with the little loops of different textures).  I'm not surprised that you now love knitting and crocheting as there is strong texture in yarn.

I love this photo below - you can see her rosy cheeks that were there most of the time.

The photo to the right  - I had to make a pilgrim dress, collar and bonnet for the Thanksgiving program.  I loved that costume.  You are in Grandma's living room for that photo.

The photo below is another favorite of mine!

 Pius Lauren at her First Communion.

Here your are - looking much as you do now.  You have grown into a wonderful women and mother.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!!!

AND MANY HAPPY RETURNS!!!