September 28, 2007  I was not wanting to write this.   I have balked at the confession that we have been selling milk to a young man whose health has been renewed by it, one of the few products his gut has been able to absorb.  This young man has been very ill and his body has been fighting the foods he eats.  He was literally starving.  He came to us last summer interested in learning more about the sheep cheese, the sheep, and the milk.  We generally do not sell milk as it can be such a fickle market but he purchased some of the fresh cheeses and was doing quite well on them.  He was beginning to thrive.  He had color in his cheeks, the dark circles were disappearing from his eyes.  He was able to get out and do more....then he did too much...and an old injury recurred and set him back.  His mother implored us to sell them milk giving us more insight into the dietary needs of the young man, how could we refuse?  So we began to hoard and cut back on cheese making.  I unfroze all the whey I had stored in the freezer to experiment making Ricotta and just made Ricotta which became a huge success.  Then we filled our freezer, the family retrieved milk and we still had enough to make fresh cheese to the, almost, end of September.  We usually end the fresh cheese at the end of August......I am only reminded again and again that God will bless those who honor him.  I shared with the mother and her son today that we usually do not have milk this late in the season, not only have we been able to supply the young man's needs, we have been hugely blessed on top of that.  We carried our fresh cheese through September, I had a crash course in making Ricotta, Steve Jones from Steve's Cheese in Portland has several chefs interested in purchasing this product when we return to production next Spring.  What a huge Blessing this has been.  One young man willing to explore a product, one young man who only was able to live down here for two months, who found us and was willing to try the cheese and has flourished.  One Gracious God who has multiplied tenfold what He has given us and in turn I only pray we can honor Him with our lives and our business.....it is a business, not a service and yet God has blessed this opportunity immeasurably.  Wow.  Never underestimate.......

September 24, 2007  Markets are wonderful.  Farmers Markets have a personality and a life of their own.  I was chatting with a customer at the Moreland Market before we opened,a couple weeks ago,  and he was making observations about the people who attend certain markets and how they create the personality seen and felt by the customer.  I have looked at the vendors, the manager, and the location to determine how each market has developed a unique personality from my perspective.  It makes me ponder just how certain markets develop their flavor and how that is impressed upon those who attend.  Or am I way out of the line and making this up?  Moreland Market is certainly a neighborhood market.  People congregate there after work and greet neighbors and friends.  Laura, the market manager, has a wonderful board and quite a list of volunteers who support her and show up to help us unload, set up, and also tear down.  It has a very easygoing friendly atmosphere and my customer concurred he does not feel as if he needs to rush around to find what he came for.  It is a small market, comparitively, but it seems wonderfully connected.  The Puyallup Farmers Market, that I just started attending is bright and seems sunny.  I don't know if I am responding to their beautiful logo of a bright sunflower, or the sunny disposition of the Market Manager.  Janie manages this market with a smile on her face and a crew of helpers.  It is a large market in the summer, I have joined not only in September when things start to slow down anyway, but also during the Puyallup Fair which is the Wshington State Fair that exists two blocks from the market site.  It is a huge fair.  This market promises to be fun.  So far in three short weeks there has been a sunflower growing contest, a salsa contest, a dancing contest....I look forward to seeing what more they can provide as entertainment.  I like being in Puyallup.  I grew up near there, was actually born in Puyallup.  It was a rural community then.  It still has rural roots.  There are a lot more people now but a lot of customers will come to taste cheese and tell a tale or two of raising sheep themselves or having been around a family farm among their relatives.  I see a lot of good things to come in Puyallup!  Our local Market The Community Farmers Market is home.  It just feels nice to be sharing with our local friends and neighbors what we have been doing with our sheep.  This is our first year with a market manager and she delivered her first baby the week the market opened.  Brenda is amazing.  We are well organized, kept informed and if we are lucky and in the shade we can hold the baby while Brenda gets about to do her market managing business.  One thing Brenda managed was to organize, plan, implement, and attend a harvest dinner prepared in a local restaurant.  She found a willing chef and staff, coordinated donations from market vendors, and planned a beautiful dinner complete with appetizers and dessert.  All accomplished on a weekend she moved into their new house and has in-laws coming to see the new baby in a week!  Yikes! wait till she gets up to steam after that baby!  My Milwaukie Market is on a Sunday, it has no starting or ending bell, the manager is very laid back as is the market.  The market just moves along without any apparent hitches.  I do not know if the manager, Brendan, projects that feeling on his staff and vendors or if it is just a reflection of the fact that the market is on a Sunday, after a long week, and it just seems mellow.  I enjoy this market, which is very busy, but it is shaded with these beautiful trees that make it seem almost like I am selling in a park.  Customers are not pushed along, the trees supply ample shade, and a sense of space.  I look out from my stall at greenery.  The tree that shades me and the beautifully arranged plants of the vendor whose space is under that tree.  It is so peaceful and enjoyable, always the best music and entertainment.....just makes me want to go back.....next week.  All Farmers Markets seem to have a personality.  It is a great place to watch people, and be watched.  I am looking at the end of Moreland this week and I will be glad of the break but....will be right back there next May for opening day!

September 17, 2007 We put the Rams in this morning.  At least two pens worth.  We did our homework Saturday pm between markets.  We like to take a lot of things into consideration so we can upgrade our flock.  We look at the genetics of the rams and determined which ewes they would complement. We look at the milking records of the mothers of the ram lambs and determined which rams would give our flock the most promising udders in the female offspring.  We look at the ewes and determined which ones are done milking and ready to see the ram.  We look at the space we have.  We have three separate pens to put rams and ewes in....we have five rams we will be using this year.  They will just have to be patient and wait.  Some of the younger rams will only be breeding 5 or 7 ewes this year.  We will need to see how they do.  Rhett, is the winner, he will get 22-25.  Rhett was purchased last year from a flock in Oregon and did well for us.  He is part Lacuane,  which is a French breed.  His children were noticeable as they had ears reminiscent of Sally Fields in the Flying Nun (am I dating myself with the reference to that television from the 60's???).  Big floppy ears that went out sideways and not up.  It does make for very cute lambs. The first willing ewes were separated out this morning.  We will be looking for orange or green marks on the hindquarters each morning now to see who had been bred in the past 24 hours.  This sure makes it easier to know who is ready to deliver on, or near, what date next winter.  Wow.  That will be here before we know it. 

September 6, 2007 Milking has declined.  The ewes are readying themselves for breeding season.  The rams are more than ready.  Hershey has found his way into the ewe pen several nights in a row.  The poor guy has been placed into solitary confinement till we can separate out which animals he should breed.  He did this one time before and bred his own daughter, it was not a very good outcome.  Hershey needs to be patient and wait till the fences are in place.  We hope to use one or two of our ram lambs this year.  One has been in with two ewes of a friends and he is more than willing to do the job for us.  The rest of the frustrated adolescents are in the ram pen butting heads and  strutting their stuff.  They look very good this year.  We have had a very successful lamb crop.  The ewe lambs are also looking well.  We have sold off three starter flocks from this years crop of lambs.  We hope to hear good things from others who have gotten the bug to milk sheep.  People have purchased these animals for various reasons.  One man needs a good supply of milk.  Sheep milk is the only milk that is meeting his needs medically, and he has done extremely well with the cheese.  Another flock went to a couple who plan to add the sheep to their goats and start making cheese in a couple more seasons.  I believe they will, this ambition has been burning since we met her in 2005!  A few others went singly as people are giving the ewes a chance!  It is fun to see who has what plans and how they progress.  Our girls have done well for us.  We have learned a lot.  I hope to get in into print so we will not make the same mistakes again.  It has been a full but good year.

August 21, 2007  We were blessed by a very accurate newspaper article in our local paper.  It was printed just after the American Cheese Society awards came out and was beautifully done.  We hope to get at least the pictures to post.  A real photographer, a really nice still life.  A wonderful picture of Brad pouring the curds into the molds while making Mopsy's Best.  An added bonus was the email I got this morning from an old friend....the kind of friend that never goes away, even if you have not communicated for a long time....like I have never told her about my four year old!  Sigh.  She sent an email and one way or another we will get together this fall...right J?????  How does life get so busy that we neglect those who are dear to us?  But then the other side of the story is when we do reconnect with Dear friends we will pick up right where we left off.  Somewhere in the midst of our lives and be comfortable filling in the gaps that need to be filled.  Life's road is full of potholes.  Some of those potholes are patched and gone, some are deep and gaping and will be skirted, and other bumps in the road will be given the attention they need.  When the deep gaping potholes need to be addressed they will, but in time.   That is what friends are like.  I have had a lot of customers ask about the sheep, do they establish friendships?  Do they miss their babies?  Do they remember things?  I do not know for sure.  They are not people.  They are motivated by instinct.  The mommas and their babies miss each other when weaned but when they get their grain ration they do seem to settle out just fine.  Some to take longer than others....What are they thinking?  (Do they Think?) You will see sheep in the field lounging in family groups.  Often the Matriarch and several of her offspring and their offspring will lay down in the same general area.  Are they friends, or just tied by instinct?  What instinct would that be?  The sheep exhibit fear, but mostly when their routine has been changed.  Shearing day exhibits a lot of fear but it is the noise and the change of environment.  They get twitchy at sudden movements, but have become accustomed to the boys who take the .22 to the back field for target practice.  They learn to trust...is that friendship or instinct?  hmmmmm  When I have finished catching on old friendships I may take the time to study Sheep Psychology 101, until then I won't lose any sleep over this but will provide our animals with a safe, clean, healthy environment to lounge and eat in.....What a life.

August 13, 2007 Don't wish it away, Don't wish it away, Don't wish it away......I long for a few days where we could put our feet up and relax.  Perhaps clean the house....Perhaps fold the mound of (clean) laundry that covers the dining room table.  Sigh.  I sometimes wish I had well-behaved children who could take care of themselves while I make cheese.  Who do not call "Mommy, Andrew did this....or John did that..... or WAHHHHHHH......" just after I have rewashed my hands , again, to work on packing cheese, or when the Ricotta is at 175 degrees and I cannot leave it.  Don't wish it away......I tell this to myself over and over.  When the missile landed in the pot of cheese.....When we took a detour to the urgent care clinic to remove the splinter from under the fingernail.....When one who is four just wants his mothers attention.  They are young, markets will suffer, we need to raise our children first.  I think we will stop attending the Bellevue Farmers Market.  I just cannot spend four days away from home with Monday and Friday spent preparing for market.  Therefore we will bid adieu to Bellevue for the rest of the season.  This will give a day and a half to be a mom, to work at readying a four old for preschool.  Lord please give the teacher strength.  We will prepare the 14 year old for High School!!!!  The others will be there soon enough.  Don't wish it away!  Life will settle down.  This change in Markets will help.  Brad will pick up the Puyallup Market in September and October.  After the sheep are down to one milking a day.  We will not be making as much fresh cheese soon, as there just is not as much milk.  It will come to a close.  The season will end.  It has been a great season but fall is on the horizon.  Maybe there is hope for the laundry....at least the next child will have some clean clothes ready to be handed down by the time it is all folded.

7:30  PS:  What a difference 3 hours can make,  3 uninterupted hours.  I have 6 rounds of cheese cut, wrapped, and labeled for this weeks markets.  I have a plan for getting cheese to the Redmond and Snohomish Markets, even with I-5 through Seattle shut down.  And....the dining room table has a Maple top, at least on 2/3 of it.

August 4, 2007  Mr. Gregory is off to milk, Peter has gone to the neighbors to weed his bean field.  The younger two are still sleeping.  This leaves me time to gloat.  Three Second Places and a Third!!!!!  Woo Hoo!!!!!  Our cheeses did very well for us at the American Cheese Society Contest.  It is quite a blessing and an honor to receive prizes for all entries sent to the contest this year.  They had a record 1028 cheeses entered and over 300 prizes awarded.  Our Mopsy's Best  placed second in the aged Sheep Milk Cheese category.  The plain Fresh and the Rosemary and Garlic took second in the Fresh Sheep Milk Division, Plain and Flavored.  The Feta took a third this year.  What an honor.  What a boost for us.  It was a 6 market week, Brad is trying to get the barn cleaned out, we usually do that in May.  We feel behind on all fronts so some reassurance that we are feeling this way for a good cause always helps one to get up and go again.  Wow.  We will receive the judging sheets in a few weeks and will learn from the comments made how to improve our products.  It helped last year, Mopsy's  Best was sent in but did not place.  This year she came in at second.  How fun to be growing and gaining in experience and continually reach to do better.  To do better without changing the product.  That will be the challenge.  We like the Mopsy's cheese we make.  We would like to age it a bit longer and find a way to keep it from drying out.  That seems to be a common thread with sheep milk cheeses, they seem to be a drier cheese.  We will see if different washes or treatments will change things.  David Schiffelbein at Curds and Whey in Portland purchased a wheel of the Mopsy's Best and plans to age it with a bit different treatment.  I will look forward to his report on how she evolves under his care and attention.  That will help us to learn to make better cheeses to bring to Market.  Cheese people are amazing.  They taste flavors in cheeses like the grass or herbs your animals are eating.  They have wonderful words to describe what they taste.  Chefs are remarkable in that they taste a cheese and rattle off a recipe to use it with.  I am in awe.  With help from these folks and hopefully the contest results we will continue to gain in knowledge ourselves.  Can you imagine being a judge at this contest with over 1000 cheese to look at.  They do break the cheeses to classes and I am sure they only judge so many of the 1000 cheeses but to taste, differentiate, verbalize, and respond to any number of cheeses is beyond my imagination.  We were able to attend the Festival of Cheeses in Portland last year which is the culmination of the Cheese Conference.  They put out for tasting all the cheeses entered in the contest.  Last year we entered a ballroom with 941 cheeses displayed.  I figure I was able to try 60 to 80 in the hour and a half I was there......it boggles my mind.

July 27, 2007 What a whirlwind!!!!! We have been market, visiting, contesting, driving, haying, eating and sleeping, and still Brad is milking twice a day and making cheese!  Summer is upon us.  The best part is my sister and her family being here from the East Coast.  They are our summer vacation.  They come, the kids love the farm, they have the time and energy to plan and execute day-trips.  My kids love playing with their cousins.  I even got to go along on a day to Mount Saint Helens.  I live 40 miles from the mountain and had not done all the visitor centers yet.  Powerful displays!  They took my middle son to the beach with them and he had a wonderful day that I could not have offered him.  Family is great. 

We sent cheese off this week to the American Cheese Society's Judging in Vermont.  Last year was the first year we were eligible to participate and we learned a lot.  The cheeses will be judged according to appearance, taste, and texture.  It is judged by two judges and the scores are combined.  We will then see the results when posted Saturday the 4th but also will receive in the mail in a few weeks the judging sheets complete with suggestions as to what is improvable and what is good!  As new cheesemakers what better way to learn industry expectations and standards.  I know what I like and I am fortunate to see what customers like.  Some times our cheeses change on the basis of the comments from customers, too salty, too much dill, not enough garlic...it is very helpful to sample and learn.  This contests is another learning process for us, at a different level...and hopefully a pat on the back, last year the Feta garnered a second place in the sheep milk division!

Markets are going well.  I do enjoy meeting people and watching them sample the cheese.  Sometimes it is just not what they like and sometimes I could not pay them enough for the advertising they give me as they taste and purr and coo and make wonderful comments about how they like the cheese.  It is fun.  I did over do and had to cut back.  We had a week where we did 6 markets.  I was dead tired.  I have changed my schedule to going to Bellevue every other week, I will go on the weeks that I do not have an order of cheese to make and take to the Market of Choice in Portland.  I do need to be home sometime to see these wonderful children and do that eating and sleeping thing that we still seem to be fitting in.  Some days it is a little interesting what my family eats.  Some days I just do not know what has been consumed.  Some days It is terrible food and I could really kick myself for feeding this stuff to my family when I am surrounded by all the wonderful seasonal produce and foods I find at the Market.  Some days I find time to put together all that bartered goods and make something that turns out good.   I guess most moms deal with that kind of worry, that is why I hear of a book advertised on my radio about resolving the Mother guilt.  I could give myself a good dose of that....if I had the time to consider it.

Life goes on must get the kitten we found in the Hedge to the vet for shots....I haven't even decided if it is a Samantha or  Sammy.  must get cheese ready today for Redmond Saturday Market, and Milwaukie on Sunday.  My sister has friends  from England coming this afternoon and we will give a grand farm tour....they like our cheese!!!!  Life goes on, and Andrew just woke up. 

July 8. 2007  Thank you Portland!  I have so enjoyed the Moreland Market that when the Market Manager from Milwaukie Farmers Market invited me to come I thought...why not?  It was a beautiful day in Portland today.  Trees covered the Milwaukie Market place and provided wonderful shade.  It was nice to be in Portland, you folks really know your foods!  I have very pleasant conversations with folks who try the cheese and say right then,  "oh, this would be great with......".   My only problem with that is that I get so hungry hearing about your wonderful ideas that my stomach begins to growl.  Those Rice cakes I took really did not compare to the ideas passed before my hungering imagination!  Thank you Portland for a wonderful day.  I look forward to returning to Moreland on Wednesday as it is equally pleasant and friendly!

July 5, 2007  We had a good fourth of July.  It was relaxing, busy, but relaxing.  I made cheese for the Bellevue Market and prepared a hamburger barbecue for family.  My parents came over and were wonderful to bring the dessert.  It was very nice, we built a small fire and our pyromaniac lit off some of the fireworks he picked out with his Grandfather.  After our show was over I stood on the driveway with the kids and watched some of the spectacular sights explode around the valley high up in the sky.  Wow!  What a huge celebration!  I was struck by what started this holiday. Independence.  Our country struggling for what our forefathers felt was right and good.  I was struck by thoughts of our service men and women who are at this time standing up for freedoms that we all hold dear.  I thought of those who have served over the last 230 years fighting for our freedom and provide us with the liberty to own a home, farm, and start a business.  The Vietnam Memorial Wall that is touring the country stopped here in Chehalis at the end of June.  What an amazing monument.  I struggle as many do with the loss of life and thoughts of could there be another way?  What pain, what cost of life and health, what hurt families feel on both sides of a war or conflict or struggle.  What a mess we sometimes muddle through.  It surprised me at how fast all those thoughts poured through my head.  Many people, many ideas, many issues, much to think through.  Then I saw  a sight that, for me, changed my mind and perspective.  A shooting star.  It had to be a shooting star, it was white with a tail, it came from behind the house where the river and fields are.  It flew straight and true, was not wiggly or making those loud noises, it was perfect.  It reminded me of how small and insignificant my human dilemmas can be.  It showed me a greater plan for this world.  We can create temporary pleasures of fireworks, we create problems, we begin wars.  People can create conflicts just by choosing to not listen or care or compromise.  For me the shooting star showed me a greater plan.  A universe that was built with a purpose.  Wars will happen.  People will be hurting for all sorts of reasons for many years to come.  It is not easy, it never will be easy but we have a purpose and I do seek to follow that plan.  Was making and selling cheese part of God's greater plan for my being...time will tell.  For now it is. It is also time to take a moment to thank all those who have suffered for my freedom to do so.          Thank you.

July 3. 2007  Creak, Creak, Creak, Creak.  Remember the sound of the swing as you glide back and forth, back and forth.  In a rare moment of silence John was enjoying swinging in the yard.   I sat down, shut my eyes, and listened to that old familiar creak, creak, creak.  The swing set has been well used.  It was put in when Peter was this age.  Ten years ago!  But function well it does.  This week I was finally able to clear a wheelbarrow full of weeds from the play yard and surrounding flower bed.  We only have two markets this week.  The Chehalis Market went well today, and Bellevue on Thursday.  We will not be at the Skye Valley Family Farms booth on Saturday as they have taken a week to see family, and Moreland Market was optional.  If you wanted to come they were going to be there on the fourth of July, but since I have kids at home ready to celebrate, I opted out.  It actually has been a good week, cheese wise.  The Tractor, though, has been giving Brad fits.  It decided it had indigestion from the diesel it ate and has no energy to pull the mower.  Hay needs to be cut and baled.  Hay is almost past it's prime and we need to get that going to feed our girls all winter and even into the spring and summer.  Brad has done very well under this stress.  I would not.  He will get the old tractor going, but when and how will be seen.  We have a neighbor who will come and cut the hay for us and then with the smaller tractor we can rake, bale and pick up our bounty.  Creak, Creak, Creak.  I wish Brad had a moment to enjoy the silence, to drink in the pleasure of a little boy flying high enough to touch the leaves with his toes.  He will after the Harvest.