Busy morning

It's been a busy few hours, and I'm about to shower so I can go to the city an hour away for shopping. I need to get goat feed, some large quantities of sharp white cheddar, as well as a few other vegetables that we don't have at the moment, like onions and potatoes. Mike and I have decided to try our hand at making hard cheese again, but cheddar has to age, so we'll be buying it for several more months.

This morning, I made chevre (soft goat cheese), then I thinned the lettuces and had enough baby bronze romaine to make large salads for the three of us that are home today. I also picked radishes for our salads. Then I sorted several pounds of kidney beans, rinsed them, and started soaking them. Tomorrow I'll be using them for kidney bean spread with our green onions for lunch, as well as a dinner casserole. After lunch, I cut a basket full of fresh mint and laid it out to dry in the oven -- with a big purple post-it note that says "Do not use!" stuck to the oven control pad. I only put it in the oven so it is out of the way and won't get dusty. I'm looking forward to mint tea. I'm also thinking that I will get some apple juice today, so I can use it to make mint jelly. I'll need to cut more fresh mint for that.

After he weeded the garden, Mike butchered a rooster that will make chicken and dumplings in a couple days. The rooster has been going across the road to the newly-planted cornfield, and the farmer is mad about it. He's also mad about the geese, but we're not butchering all of them. We have to figure out a fencing system to keep them over here. We also need to keep them safe from coyotes, which come across the creek from the south -- the field is to the north -- so the fence issue will have to be addressed soon.