It's More than Cheese!

I've finally had a taste for what I've really been yearning to do on the farm: salvage and make stuff. Sure, I already make cheese, and that's fun and all, but there's 20 acres of farm out here with loads of stuff to get creative with! I walk the farm some days and dream of things I can make or move or clean up (the farm really just needs a couple months of attention, sweat and trips to the dump), but my other jobs so far have kept me from really digging in.
But last week, a fierce determination swept over me, so I decided to make road signs to draw more visitors to the farm. I don't know what's kept us from having these signs before...did I think they'd be too much work? That they wouldn't turn out ok? That I needed something more professional to herald the fact that yes, behind these eucalyptus trees there is a tiny dairy with an even tinier cheese plant? Whatever the case, apparently last Friday was the day to do it, and so I began to scour the property for items I would need.
Dad saw me snooping around his shed, so he asked what I was looking for.
"Can I use that piece of wood to make a road sign?" I asked.
He looked at me like I'd just told him I was finally getting married but promised not to make him a grandfather 'til he was at least 50. Read: Pleasantly surprised.
"You know, I have the perfect piece by the barn," he said. "I rescued it from the neighbors' burn pile just in case we ever wanted to make a sign."
By now, my sister was in on the action, so we found our gloves and traipsed over to the barn, loaded up this great piece of wood into dad's truck and brought it back to our make-shift work area (under mom's clothesline near the shade of the orange tree).
Soon, Dad was scavenging everywhere to find us paint and paintbrushes. Where was it all from? I have no idea, but the rust on the red paint can might belie at least 10 years of age. But the cool part was that we never made a trip to the store. We had everything we needed; and if we didn't, we made something else fit the bill.
The piece of wood had been leaning against the barn for so long that its back side looked pretty gnarly, so we decided to cut it in half and have two signs, each facing a different direction. Laura measured the wood precisely in half and made her pencil mark and I...wait for it...SAWED THE WOOD IN HALF! I know. I'm 26 and work on a farm, and big whoop-de-do, I sawed wood. But you don't understand. In dad's loving and caring way, he always does this stuff. And I let him, because it's not that big a deal. But he left to run an errand and Laura and I were on a roll, so we scoped out a safe place to set the wood (a tractor tire! Brilliant!), and I neatly and without severing a limb, sawed the two most perfect pieces of wood you've ever seen.
Laura painted them both white, and then yesterday I finished up by painting the letters with some of that scavenged barn red paint of mysterious origins. I'm quite pleased with the result, as were, I believe, the cats who watched my every move. My letters turned out straight and even, and everything's spelled right, so...I guess we're open for business!
Dad had the great idea of screwing the signs in to some of our leftover containers that the teat sanitizers come in. The have handles and everything, so we can carry the signs out to the road when we're open and bring them back in when we can't be available. So there it is! If you see these signs, stop on by!
We're also going to be open on Fridays from 3 to 6 PM and Saturdays from 11 AM to 3 PM. And of course we're always open by appointment. Just email me. :)

We're in Terra Madre!

Sorry it took me so long to post again about my BIG news! And, my apologies to friends and family who may have assumed this BIG news involved new jewelry or save-the-date cards. No, my BIG news is that John and I were accepted into Terra Madre!!! It's the biggest gathering of sustainable farmers, cooks and educators in the world, hosted by Slow Food International and held in Turin, Italy for five days in October.
Our friend Rachael from CUBE in LA sent us the call for applications a few months ago with a note that said, 'I think you guys should apply for this. :) ' So we did, and we're IN!
This year, the head table of Slow Food decided the focus would be on the 'Youth Food Movement,' a burgeoning group of us youngsters who believe in the ideals of sustainable food production and the enjoyment of good, clean, fair food. And so, John and I will be two of 500 American youth in food attending the gathering...and we 500 will be part of 7000 in attendance from more than 150 countries.

I can't wait; I've never been to Italy, and certainly haven't had the opportunity to stay with a host family for five days in the Piedmont region, nor the chance to meet with farmers and cheesemakers from throughout the world! I can't even imagine how inspired we're going to feel on that plane trip back, after our immersion into the world of international food and production. There's even an open-air event during Terra Madre called Salone del Gusto, which is apparently one of the best international food experiences!

But there is one teeny, tiny little catch. Once we get there, everything's paid for. Once we get there. And I'm certain we can raise the funds for our airfare, but the kicker is that they need to know our flight details by the end of July so they can arrange ground transport to our respective lodgings. I couldn't imagine being in charge of shuttling thousands of people from three different airports to hotels, homes, b&bs and even the Olympic lodge, so I guess organizing by July 30th makes sense. But two tickets to Italy wasn't exactly in our monthly budget for July and so we're frantically trying to think of gracious friends or family who may be able to sponsor us until we can raise the funds to cover the tickets.
There's fundraiser planning happening all over the place, between our Slow Food convivium and local chefs who are dying to host a party for us, so I know the money will happen, just maybe not in the next two weeks. To move things along, we put a little donation selection on the Web site in case anyone wanted to donate $5 here or $20 there. John put $1000 as an option just to be funny. :)
So, wish us luck! And once we get the plane tickets, wish us buona fortuna!

Seriously...It's Almost July?!

If you could only see my list of things to do right now. I'm a big fan of listing; I make a list every day, mostly carrying over the unfinished tasks of the day before and adding new ones as they come up. That way, I don't get bogged down with all the thoughts of what I should be doing, and my brain can focus on other stuff, like, "I wonder what everyone from last year's Maker Nights at Cube are up to," or, "whose dumb idea was it to train for a 10K in the middle of summer, anyway?" At any rate, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted here. Sorry about that! I do have a lot to report, I guess. I forget that not everyone works on their family's farm making cheese...sometimes I'm jolted with the realization that this life we're living is pretty interesting, and maybe people like to read about it. :)

So, first on my list is BLOG. Check.

Ha, only kidding. Maybe I'll do a roundup of topics like I did when I was milking and hopefully check back in to elaborate on them. Let's see...

1. We're SO close to expanding! We're (I'm) getting the paperwork together as we speak. It's a huge loan application that's just about finished. Man, sometimes I feel like I've had a crash Masters in Business course. Words just pour from my mouth like, "fully amortized" or "I backed those numbers out to account for interest." What?! But it's all so worth it. That's mostly why I haven't been online, to chat or blog or the like. My head's been buried in projections, financial statements and aging room plans. Bleah.

2. I have summer help! My 15-year-old brother's got plenty to do in the cheeseplant while he's out of school for the summer. He acts like he hates it, but to me, these summers look like the sort of scenes in movies where the lead character recounts the summers past that made him the man he is today. Tom's great in there; and while I try not to be too much of a hardass, I want him to learn responsibility and pride in his heritage. And also that "Huh" is not an appropriate response when being addressed. We'll get there.

3. Looks like we'll be on TV again! We filmed last week with a crew from KVIE's California Heartland. I think it'll be on RFD like California Country, but I don't know for sure. This year, it's in Hi-Def! Woo!

4. Attended the first meeting this year for the Passport Weekend. I get so jazzed about this event! It's looking like maybe Pedrozo Cheese and Massa Rice will join forces or at least open a little early so passporters can start on the West Side and then enjoy the rest of their days in the heart of Butte County, where most of the other farms are located. We'll keep you posted.

5. Speaking of Massa, I can honestly say that I've had a hand in building their home...so if it falls down, sorry about Greg and Raquel! :) Actually, last month they hosted a bale-raising, very similar to a barn raising, only this was to let people get in on the action adding onto their home, constructed of rice straw bales. It was SO much fun. I hammered in a few nails (was actually mocked by the contractor, but that's ok. I do hammer like a girl!) and learned how the bales are fitted to be the walls of the building. It's amazing, really.
I'd been hoping our new aging room could be a rice straw bale building, but timing and logistics sort of dictated that we have a traditional building this time. But maybe when the time comes to refurbish the old barn, we can just salvage the wood and build a straw bale barn in its place! I know, I know, one thing at a time.

6. My cousin Josh is getting married next weekend; the first of 13 cousins to officially tie the knot. That's a big deal in itself, but the cool thing is that he asked me for cheese for his reception long enough ago that I was able to make him some personalized Tipsy Cow in some 2002 Cabernet from Van Ruiten Winery in Lodi, which plays a special little part in their courtship. Awww!

7. Yes, I'm training for a 10k. I'd put on a few (ahem) pounds when I started helping dad milk, and I've noticed a little sluggishness in my step these days. So, why not, right? Today I ran 4 miles without stopping, and when I was done I felt like I could have gone more! It's all in the pacing. Only took me 26 years to figure that out. It's really all because of my very cool aunt, who never ceases to inspire me. :)

Well, I guess 7's as good a number to quit than any. I have other, much BIGGER news, but I'll let it have its own post. Hope all is well with everyone!

Cheesemaker's Hands

Last month, I posted about having "milker hands," an affliction that includes short, gritty fingernails; callouses on the insides of both thumbs (from hand-"prepping" the cows); and a nice, orange iodine-stained hue.
Now that I'm back to churning out the cheese, I have "cheesemaker hands," an affliction that is quite the opposite. They're soft and smooth again--hours in a whey-bath will do that, I suppose. But I think I need to find a better way of hand-pressing the curd when I'm packing into the moulds. I usually prefer the palms-down method, which really stretches my fingers out straight and extends my wrists. When I make cheese more than two or three times a week, my wrists get really tired and I get kind of lazy in my pressing. Or I'll form my hands into balls and gently knead the curd with my knuckles to let my wrists take a break.
But a strange thing happened this morning, and it wasn't the first time. The weather's been so weird here, lately. We went from a week of 100+ degree weather and high humidity to mid-70's temperatures with wind and rain. I slept in this morning (what a treat!) and woke from a much-needed deep sleep to find that my third finger on my left hand was bent and wouldn't straighten out! It has that weird feeling in it that makes me want to pop the knuckle (a nasty habit, I know), but I guess it just has a 'crick' in it. It even feels funny to type! Is it a weather-related thing, or are my hands just worn-out from intense cheesemaking?
I hope I don't have some sort of cheesemaker's carpal tunnel. I know my mom has arthritis in her pinky that's waned since she passed the cheesemaking on to me. Is there some sort of cheesemaker's support group I can join? A special health insurance I can get? Treatments? Cures? I'll do anything!!!

The New Relief Milkers

Seems John and I did a pretty OK job taking over for dad while he was recovering. Now we're just the go-to relief milkers when they have prior engagements.
I don't mind; in fact, I like being in-the-know on the dairy side of things. Milking once or twice a month keeps me up-to-date on which cows are milking and which are dry (a good number to know when I'm trying to figure out the average pounds of cheese they're making). It's also nice to reconnect...when John and I watched the kids show at the county fair last week, the cows recognized and responded to us, which was cool, especially for John. We get kinda attached to those gals.
Plus, it just feels good to be included in everything. It seems like since we started milking we just understand the way things work on the farm a lot better. And that helps our communication with my parents, too. We can gossip about the latest DFA uproar and how that's affecting milk prices. When dad's friends come over to shoot the bull we're included in those conversations too, and we know what we're talking about. When we ask questions, the immediate reaction isn't that we're trying to take over or change things; I think they understand now that we just want to know everything there possibly is to know about this whole sustainable dairy thing. Plus, we've learned a better way to ask those questions. I guess it's not so bad, this whole relief milker thing. I can think of worse jobs!