February 16, 2012
Good morning from sunny Iowa!
The “boys” (Galen, Cody and Cleason) are making cheese, the “girls” (Sharon and Sarah Louise) are packaging 150 lbs. of Quark. They will cut cheese later. David has off today and JR and I are trying to catch up with things in the office and whatever else has been neglected.
January 16, 2012
A cloudy day, 47 degrees. We sure have been having a mild winter. Every good day is one less bad one till spring!
We are enjoying an extra helper at the plant last week and today. Rachel Bauman from Ontario is a cheese maker for Monforte Dairy in Stratford. She and Galen are learning from each other, sharing tips, etc. Galen enjoys having someone else that talks his language on cheese. Tomorrow we will take her to the airport at St. Louis to fly home. On Friday we had a different day. Rufus & I took Rachel, Galen, Jr., Crystal, & of course baby Jeremy (he’s 4 mo. old tomorrow) to visit Steve & Veronica Baetje at Baetje Farms in Bloomsdale, MO. We saw part of their operation, as they are renovating while their goats are dry. Veronica gave us lunch. After that Rufus took us to the Whole Foods store in St. Louis where he does demos occasionally. It was the first time for most of us, felt like a “country bumpkin gawking“ at the wonderful displays. We had our supper at Neville & Brenda McNaughton's, our cheese consultant. Neville also works with Rachel, so it was an interesting evening. Arrived home at almost 11PM, everyone felt like it was a worthwhile day.
December 28, 2011
A beautiful winter day at 38 degrees. The sun is shining, but the wind has quite a chill.
This week we have an observer/helper at the Creamery. Marlin Wampler is from Hagerstown, MD. He is involved with Agri-service in manufacturing cheese-making equipment. He felt if he learns some of the steps in cheesemaking, they might be able to improve little things on the equipment. They put him to work Monday, as one of the regular help wasn’t here. His wife and 3 of their children are with him. They are staying in a guest house and were at our house for supper last evening. (We’re from the old-school; we have dinner at noon and supper in the evening) The menu was ham (a Christmas gift from Homestead Creamery) potato stuffing, (some might call it dressing) green beans with a bacon white-sauce, home-canned pickles, cheese – who would’ve guessed – chocolate cake and caramel pudding. JR and Crystal were also there.
Yesterday we also had a farmer and his 3 sons from south of here coming to talk with Rufus and JR about what it takes to start making cheese. Rufus spent 3 hours with them. What does he get done in a day?