Hi, new from sydney

[keezawitch]

Thanks Crystal! Hope your chevre goes well. I'm personally not a fan of goats cheese....tried too many that taste like billy goats ha ha. But sounds like your flavours will make a lovely subtle creamy cheese so good luck!

sorry to hear you have had bad experience with goat milk cheese, whoever made it had left the buck with the nanny too long or it came from a nanny in rut,the rotten males rub their unique odour on the girls and sometimes it gets into the milk. So far i havent had that problem and hopefully my buck will do his job before getting too stinky and i can put him in different paddock. I am still trying for the full bodied thickness i like in my yoguty, goats milk tends to make a runnier yoghurt, I do add full cream powder but thinking of going 50/50 with goat and cow too

[keezawitch]

Okie dokie bob! you have fun too hey!! Ive made got my first chevre going, using culture and rennet, dont want to risk something going wrong with the vinegar/lemon juice version. I might split it into 2 and flavour some with sundried tomato pesto and basil from the garden, and leave half plain!

crystal do use a special chevre culture?

[Crystal]

Ok, no special one, just the regular meso i have. I dont have any other cultures at the moment.

AWWWWW baby lambs!! Can you put up a pic Keeza? Man, i wish we could find a place like you have!
Im worried about my cheese, i tried to use a small amount of rennet, but i have the tablets... and i believe i have made goat milk JELLY!! Not an appetizing thought huh?

[keezawitch]

I am not good with pictures, but if you can get over this way you are welcome to bring the tribe for a play and a pat, as for the cheese, the rennet tablets tend to give a very soft curd,  and goat milk curds are softer than cow as the fat molicules are smaller, as long as you can put your finger in and the jel doesnt stick to your finger it is ok, if you like you can bring it back up to warm and set in warm place for a few more hours, or you can still scoop it into muslin lined moulds, or just cheesecloth and hang it with a large bowl under it, drain for say 12 hrs and it should be more like cream cheese, good luck. Have you made quark, the goat milk seems to make a good one I just add a little extra buttermilk, but thats is mainly because you dont know how old it is when you get it.

[keezawitch]

I really need a cheese press, I have the fundermental knowlegde on how to make one but I can't seem to find a clamp to screw down as the pressure plate, anyone have and ideas where i might get one please

[keezawitch]

sad to say the baby lamb didnt make it, very sad 

[Crystal]

oh no Keeza!!! Poor lamb!!! Is your piggy ok? I may take up your invitation, mainly cos i want to see the piggy! The chevre was 'ok' im all outta goats milk now. We did a big batch of fetta and the kids drank the last of the milk and had some on their breakfast last week...

Keeza, i have a wind down press you can borrow, im not using it much. Also, if you have a basket type thing you can just press in the pot, all you need is weights. But milk bottles full of water work well as weights if you dont have anything else...

Wen i eventually get over your way i'll show you how to put up pix so we can all see your cheeses! Im slack with pix lately, usually i take photos of each step and post them in a thread for each make, except my phone camera is playing up and keeps ruining my pictures! So ive stopped taking them until DH buys a digital camera! Or, i do believe his aunt was sending me her old one, but hasnt done it yet...

[keezawitch]

Hi Krystal, Peppa pig is doing really well and digging over my new vege patch, who needs a rotary hoe when you have a pig, bring the kids over they can help feed and run crazy. Thanks for the offer of a loan of press but lucky me my older son is going to make me one, just a simple one but i dont need anything else. Glad you like the milk, when we come over your way i will let you know the day before and if you like you can meet us and i will give whatever milk i have to spare, luv to see it getting used. I plan to wax the little cheddar tomorrow as I think the outside is dry enough and I dont want it to get too dry and hard. Bet your over this rain, I am. Catch you soon

Kerry

[keezawitch]

krystal, i noticed you were asking about ribs, I cook a lot of different types of ribs but use the same method with them and since I started to do them this way they are really tender,I marinade them for at least a day, then tip them and marinade into a pot cover with cold water, bring to boil, turn off straight away, leave to cool, when cold take out put in a bowl and add more marinade, leave overnight or a few hpours and then cook, I do them in a slow oven or on the bbq. They cook faster on the day I want to eat them by doing therm this way also they have less fat in them. Every one likes them this way because the meat just falls off the bone. Enjoy. Kerry

[Crystal]

We've investigated the boil method for ribs, but i am not keen on losing the flavour. Feb is a busy month for us so we wont be getting there in the next few weeks... Oh, and then my nanny is away for 3 weeks from next week, so i wont be getting ANYWHERE for that time...

The rain is killing me, the kids, and my veggies... the pumpkins have white mould on the leaves and being an organic garden theres not much i can do about it. I have a million green tomatos that wont ripen cos theres no sun. The fig tree is losing leaves and the figs arent even ripe yet... Ive had a stupid ton of weird caterpillars eating my thyme, the chinese veg and a stack of lettuce that was growing nicely, then one day decided to shrivel up and die!

I havent made a cheese in two weeks, ive had a ton of work, the youngest twins turned one, DH bday is next week, his business has been really busy and while thats good in a way, its bad for family!

To top it all off, the rain has kept me inside with 4 kids all day, everyday and im going CRAZY...

How are you Keeza?

[keezawitch]

oh dear you poor thing, i have been thinking of you cooped up with small children, INSANITY WILL RULE, no prob about getting over anytime is fine,for the rotten grubs make a mixture of fresh ground garlic, olive oil and water steep for a couple hours and spray the little buggers, or you could put raincoat ond gumboots on littlies and send them out hunting the one who gets the most gets to keep them , not a lot can be done about the mould my pumpkins are going mouldy too, pick the tomatoes pop in fridge until u have a moment, hahaha, and either fry them with onion and a touch of sugar or make a green tom pickle/chutney. My vegpatch is becoming an overegrown wilderness i try to run out and dig it between rain, thinging of digging in the rain may be the only way to get it done. The poor fig tree doesnt know whats happening, if the fruit is softish to touch you could pick them and pop in paper bags for a few days they may ripen, underripe fruit is perfect for jam. GOOD LUCK

Kerry

[Crystal]

Ive been known to garden in the rain.... Beetroot seeds are perfect for planting in the rain, they need soaking before planting anyway lol! I sprayed buggys the other day, usually we let the kids squash them with a cricket bat... I will be jamming the figs so i suppose i should start picking them hey. And yes, had already thought of doing a green tomato chutney... will see a few more weeks and if they ripen were good, the rest may need to become chutney!

Im having a weedy old time trying to keep the weeds down, worst thing is, they like to grow between the seedlings, which makes them hard to pull out!!

Will climb up the fig and check some fruit out. I was bored anyway!

[keezawitch]

 I garden in the rain all the time so relieved that someone else does it too, your not climbing the fig to pick your doing it to hide . I am over the weeds i dig over the garden it rains and next day more goddamn weeds. My beetroots didnt get very big, they made up above ground, thinking i didnt put the seeds in deep enough, the okra did ok and is still growing, so are some tomatoes but like you they arent ripening, might pull everything out next week and refertilise the patch, one bed is empty and i have tossed manure onto it.
Better start thinking about the winter crop, what are you thinking of planting. Peppas plot is going nicely think I can move her in a week or two and then mould up the beds and plant, she has done the hard work of digging it up

[tinysar]

I really need a cheese press, I have the fundermental knowlegde on how to make one but I can't seem to find a clamp to screw down as the pressure plate, anyone have and ideas where i might get one please

Might a large G-clamp work for this? I have seen ultra-simple cheese presses which were basically a mold-with-follower sitting on a board, then clamped with a big G-clamp (I think they'd used a little block of wood on top of the follower). Of course drainage might be a problem, and there would be some guesswork involved in converting "pounds/kilos of weight" into "cm of screw turned", but I thought it was a neat idea. Here's something like it (although this one seems to use a second follower rather than a board on the bottom): Improvised cheese press

I am still trying for the full bodied thickness i like in my yoguty, goats milk tends to make a runnier yoghurt, I do add full cream powder but thinking of going 50/50 with goat and cow too

You can add agar or other vegetable gums to make a thicker, more manageable yoghurt. I like runny yoghurt, so I've never tried doing this, but this webpage ( http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/yogurt.htm ) has all sorts of tips & tricks for making goat yoghurt. I find I get a nicer set if I use a goat-yoghurt as starter - I guess the cultures would be slightly different. You can also just strain it if you don't mind breaking up the"pot-set" curd. And Caprilac sells powdered goat milk, though it is quite pricey.

[keezawitch]

Hi Tinysar, thanks for the g clamp idea but my darling son made me a cheesepress the other day, doesnt have a pressure thingy but i dont really care it works fine, I pressed a farmers cheddar the other day, went well looking forward to eating I waxed it yesterday. I will check out the site you have put in about yoghurt, I have tried gelatine, works well with cow milk but not with goatmilk, I have my own goat and I milk her thats why I make the goatmilk yoghurt, I have decided to do a fifty fifty next time I will use a litre of goat and a litre  of uht cow milk and still add the powdered milk. The cultures you use  are the same for both kinds of milk and that goes for cheese making also.

Keeza