Home Alone

When I actually get to spend a day at home, ALONE, I feel like Kevin McAllister in the classic Christmas movie.  "I made my family disappear!"  A whole day unfolds with peace, quiet, and endless possibilities.  It takes me a while to focus on the day's tasks, uninterrupted, what really should be done.

Yesterday, was such a day.  It's difficult to prioritize when so much around the house and farm need doing.  Luckily, the frozen ground prevented me from doing much outside, so in I stayed.  A roaring fire and scented candles made the house nice and cozy as I got to work.  I needed to look at the budget, and start working on next one.

Next it was on to my disaster area of a kitchen.  My fridge was overflowing with goat's milk.  My Nigerian Dwarfs don't produce nearly as much as their larger dairy counterparts, but it is enough to fill up a fridge in short order.  I had a half gallon to transfer into a larger glass bottle, a half gallon for cheese making, a quart for making yogurt, and still more for drinking.

Cheese making has been going well, so there's a new batch in the fridge.  I let it drain for quite awhile, so I'm not sure if it will crumbly or spreadable.  I guess the true test will be at breakfast.

The highlight of my kitchen time was successfully making yogurt.  My last attempt in the crock pot failed miserably.  Luckily, my chickens didn't mind when they were fed my failure.  Yesterday, I went simple.  I heated a quart of milk to 180 degrees, took it off the burner to cool down to 110, added a small container of plain yogurt to the cooled milk, poured it into jars and put it in a 100 degree oven for 4 hours.  Viola!  Yogurt!