Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Our new rhythm: Tuesday

Tuesday is our family outing day, collage day and bread baking day (with the kids, because we bake bread more than once a week)... It's also vacuuming and floor washing day. I'll let you judge what went out the window today!

Mardi c'est notre journée de sortie en famille, notre journée collage et la journée du pain (avec les enfants, car on en fait plus qu'une fois par semaine...). C'est aussi la journée de la balayeuse et des planchers. Je vous laisse juger de ce qui a pris le bord aujourd'hui!

So for our family outing, we went skating and then, we went to visit a local organic goat cheese farm.

En guise de sortie familiale, nous sommes allés faire du patin, puis nous sommes allés visiter une ferme locale de production de fromage de chèvre biologique.

Look at this guy's beard! How gorgeous!
Regardez-lui la barbe! Qu'est-ce qu'il est beau!



They have about 30 goats of different breeds (and lots of cross). They are so nice!

Ils ont environ 30 chèvres de différentes races (et beaucoup de croisées). Elles sont vraiment gentilles!





LaManchas have so much style with their little elf ears!

Les LaManchas ont tellement de style avec leurs petites oreilles d'elf!





But I have to say, I love the Nubians best!

Mais je dois dire que ce sont les Nubiennes que je préfère!







And I am not the only one!
Et je ne suis pas la seule!

If you want to learn more about goats, check this website.
Si vous voulez en savoir plus sur les chèvres, consultez ce site web.

So, you've probably guessed it, we are looking to adopt two goats. With the new indications of eliminating all cow dairies and Mathilde's light eczema, I think we don't have much to lose to try. And I have been dreaming of making my own goat cheese (and feta) for a long time!

Vous l'avez sans doute deviné, nous regardons pour adopter deux chèvres. Avec les nouvelles indications d'éliminer les produits laitiers de vache et l'eczéma léger de Mathilde, je pense que nous n'avons rien à perdre d'essayer. Et ça fait longtemps que je rêve de faire mon fromage de chèvre (et mon féta)!








We had Jamie's blueberry thyme and juniper venison loin for dinner.

If you didn't already read Sara's beautiful post about homeschooling on a farm, I invite you to do so.

Si vous n'avez pas déjà lu le beau billet de Sara sur l'école à la maison sur une ferme, je vous invite à le faire.

Je vous invite aussi à télécharger ce livre génial en format PDF, une encyclopédie intitulée Faites tout vous même.

10 comments:

indigomumma said...

Ah - vacuuming and floor washing can always wait till next week, or the week after! :) Your rhythm is great, you have inspired me to look at a few missed tasks on our list - probably namely vacuuming and floor washing! hehehehe :) I love the goat farm. We have a local lady here in the mountains that has fresh goats milk that we are going to collect to make some goats cheese, I have been building our supplies of what we need for cheese making, just need to get daddy to build a cheese press! I have been inspired by your pics and words on making cheese and butter. Can you share some info/links with me. I think next week we will try to make butter with the technique described in the Earthways book - how do you make your butter, do you have a proper churn? Does butter with goats milk work? I would love to do that if it does. Today is millet day, so I am here to write down your millet bake recipe - thank you! :)

csil said...

Quelles sont belles ces chèvres !
Moi aussi j'adore les nubiennes et leurs grandes oreilles pendantes ! Je n'avais par contre jamais vu de La Manchas.
Je ne sais pas si tu as pris l'idée sur mon blog ou si nous avons eu la même idée en même temps pour l'encyclopédie " faites tout vous même"
Il y a aussi "Savoir revivre" ici : http://savoir-revivre.coerrance.org/savoir-revivre.php
il y a aussi "revivre à la campagne" ("The complete book of Self-sufficiency"), mais je ne sais pas s'il est encore disponible en téléchargement gratuit.
A bientôt !

La Marmotine said...

C'est toujours un plaisir de te lire.
Et ces chèvres sont magnifiques!!!
Merci pour le lien fort intéressant.
Bises

Catherine said...

Elke, I make our butter in a food processor... Not very Waldorf I know, but sometimes, for small amount (and when I have very thick Jersey cream), we shake it in a jar (I put a marble in it once, but when DH shook it too hard, the Mason jar broke...). When I do it in the processor, the girls help with the washing (with a spatula or their hands). The butter needs to be wash thoroughly (the water needs to run clear) or it will spoil very fast. You could make butter with very fat goat milk (Nubian or LaManchas), but you would need a cream separator which is quite expensive. Ewe's milk makes amazing butter. It is so fat! Here's a great link to some dairy info: http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/
and here's one for cheesemaking: http://www.cheesemaking.com
I have heard this book is very good: http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1603420312/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB
There is also some great info in John Seymour's book The self-sufficient life

Csil, oui, j'ai vu le lien sur ton blog et ça m'a fait pensé... J'ai aussi Revivre à la campagne. Quelles bibles! Merci pour le lien de savoir revivre.

Marmotine, merci de tes bons mots!

Catherine said...

Oh, and Elke, I forgot to mention that we don't even have a cheese press. JF puts the cheese in its mold and then puts the full saucepan of whey on top of it (the whole thing sits inside a big bin). It works like a charm!

farmama said...

Oh I love this goat post today Catherine! Will you get your goats from this farm? Are you going to sell your cow?.....I wish I lived next door....we're thinking of buying a cow soon. I look forward to checking your links...I'm off to read a bedtime story to the boys!
love,
sara

leaningapplemama said...

we are thinking of adding a milking goat into our family as well. i am a bit nervous about the commitment (milking and traveling don't work out! but we have friends nearby!). i have wanted to make my own goat cheese because i could eat it everyday and it is rather expensive around here. are you getting rid of your cow?! i am planning on taking my boys to a goat farm this spring to check out their operations! (there are actually two within 15-20 minutes of our house!) one raises nigerian dwarfs and i am not sure about the other place! anyway...keep us posted! xo, pennie

Catherine said...

Sara and Pennie, no, we are not selling our cows! Jersey cream is unbeatable and everybody but me (and maybe Mathilde) seem to be doing fine with cow's milk. And goat milk in coffee is a no-no... The farm we visited has not goats for sale unfortunately, but we are looking around. We are still unsure of what we want. We need to read more before making a decision (breed, horns, how many). Goat cheese is quite expensive here too, Pennie and I can't wait to experiment with it!

heather said...

goats really are so beautiful. and so diverse.

vv bleue said...

te que tu connaisses le bouquin "faites tout vous même"
Je l'ai acheté il y à plus de 10 ans à Emmaüs c'est mon livre indispensable à la maison
Et pour les chèvres je sais combien elles sont sympas !