The New Portable Poultry House

Well, we finally got the new portable poultry house up and running. It certainly has been a learning experience, but all the chicks are now outside, with thier adopted mama hen. (Long story short: I had a hen that I had to bring to the house to nurse, and instead of putting her out with the breeding hens and roosters, I stuck her in with the new chicks. She immediuately took on  the role of mother hen, to 100+ chicks!) They all made it through their first night outside, and we have figured out how we are going to feed and water them as well as move the pen for the next 5 weeks until processing day.

I finished cleaning out the garage, and have decided no more chick brooding in the garage, too messy, too much humidity and I risk divorce if I continue that trend!

Here is a couple shots of the new mobile house.

Watering the group.

A closer look at the chicks.

Cheesemaking Class

Well, after two full weeks, I figure it is about time to get caught up here. Last week from Monday to Thursday was the first Kentucky Cheese School. The first day was classroom training, but Tues. through Thurs. we moved into the hands on portion. Dr. Steve Zeng, from Langston University in OK was our guide through the three days of extensive training.

http://www.luresext.edu/GOATS/goat_szeng.htm

The hands on took place at the farm and creamery of Bleugrass Chevre in Lexington. I drove down every day, that was a long drive - even longer than my usual daily drive to work! The farm was beautiful, Susan, the owner, has dairy goats and does all milking and processing there on the farm. Many thanks to her for all the wonderful lunches and great conversation...I might just have to get a couple goats now - her kids are so cute! In addition to many slide presentations, we made a lot of cheeses, including: cheddar, colby, brie, camembert, chevre, cream cheese and parmesan. Here are some of the pictures from the last day of class.

Colby cheese curds

Pressing the Colby curds

Display of all the cheeses we made and tasting.

I am so excited to get my hands on some fresh milk and work on practicing at home. Of course, I need to order a press and some cultures and rennet - I want to try a Camembert (which I love), that's pretty easy, and a parmesan, but that one will be a long time before tasting as it ages for a long time. So many things to do - so little time.