New neighbor's and other rambles

See that red barn in the distance, behind Pearl in the above photo that I took earlier this spring? That's the farm we went to, to pick Pearl up, when we got her, and it has been empty since the first of the year when our Amish neighbor moved out. That farm meets ours at the back of our property and hubby is in LOVE with the barn (not that I'm not LOL)...but sadly we couldn't afford to buy another farm, so didn't even ask how much it was going for.

We heard a while back, that it sold, and have been wondering when the new neighbor's would move in. We finally heard they would be moving today, and since DH already knows them he is taking his trailer over to help them out with some big stuff they can't move in a buggy...yep, they are Amish too!

So...it appears we have new neighbor's now...course beings as I don't get out near as much as hubby does, I haven't actually met them yet, but may have to bake them a welcome to the "neighborhood" gift...if I can just figure out WHAT to bake. LOL

Hopefully they will be good neighbor's like the rest of our neighbors seem to be! Least the farm isn't going to be empty anymore! And, at least so far it's not raining for their move!

It's been raining a lot this week again. We've gotten over 6 inches since the first of the week...and it's suppose to have a good chance of rain every day this week, till Sunday! I'm thinking it really could stop least till next week, but...guess I shouldn't complain since last summer we had almost no rain. Least maybe...if it can be cut and baled without getting wet, hay will be better this year...unless of course it decides to stop raining and become dry again.

I've made cheese every day this week so far...I'm starting another batch today. Think I'll take tomorrow off though, gotta do laundry and other things too. I did some figuring the other day and figure if I want to have enough cheddar for a year out of spring and summer milk (which is the best cause the cows are on that nice green grass), I better buckle down and get to work cause canning season will be here soon enough...and I can't do both at the same time. Not sure if I'll be ABLE to make enough cheddar to go that long, but...least I can get a good start on it maybe! Course, I'm also hopping it actually turns out...since it's a lot of work to have to turn around and feed it to the chickens. LOL

Once I have a nice amount of cheddar aging in the cheese cave, I'll have to try some other kinds...but cheddar is what we use the most, so I'm wanting to concentrate on that for now...besides I discovered I needed another culture for a couple other kinds I want to make, so have to get some more money together before I can buy it. *sigh*

The brie I made last week grew it's white mold nicely, so I covered them with their special paper today. DH is REALLY looking forward to it being done...although it has another 2-3 weeks to age yet at least. I found out it has to be eaten within one to two weeks of being ready, or frozen (and I guess it freezes nicely, so that's good) but DH informed me he would have NO trouble eating it all in a week. *giggle* He just LOVES his brie! Hopefully it actually turns out good!

I may try another batch of brie on Friday, if I feel like making more cheese...will see how it goes. Course I need to be able to make butter too, so I better not get to wild on my cheese making! It would be nice to have some brie in the freezer though, and see how that works...plus be able to have some to eat later in the year that was made with the nice spring milk.

I'm already loving having a cheese cave now!!  Course I wish it was a REAL one, not a converted refrigerator, but hey, gotta use what you got!  LOL  Keeping the humidity level high in it is taking some getting used to though...I have a little humidifier in it, and have to remember to turn it on and off, so the humidity stays as close to 80-85 as possible.   I'm getting it though...as long as the electricity doesn't go off, then...I'll have more trouble.  LOL We lost our electricity for a few hours last night again, cause of the storm that moved through, but thankfully it came back on before morning.  See why I need a REAL cheese cave...so I didn't have to rely on electricity?!  LOL

Ok, gotta get the cheddar started, so I better get off this thing.  Just figured I better blog, before the week got away from me and I didn't...it was headed that way at the rate things were going...well except for a post I was planning for tomorrow.  Have a great rest of the week!  :-))