I made cheese!

...it takes less time to make a pound of mozzarella than to bake a cobbler, but most people find the idea of making cheese at home to be preposterous. If the delivery guy happens to come to the door when I'm cutting and draining curd, I feel like a Wiccan.

- Barbara Kingsolver, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"

Well, I've been thinking about taking the plunge into cheesemaking for quite some time. It's hard to find organic cheese around here...and believe me, I've spent a lot of time looking. We actually do have Cowgirl Creamery's delicious Red Hawk, which has won several regional and national awards. But at $30/lb (!), it's not really an "everyday" kind of cheese.

On the bright side, we do have access to relatively local organic milk by Strauss Family Farms. Their dairy is in west Marin County, north of San Francisco, near Pt. Reyes Station. Strauss whole milk is sold at Whole Foods for $4.19 a half-gallon or $2.59 a quart. So, the other day, when I decided to just go ahead and make cheese, darn it, I bought a quart of this lovely milk (in a glass bottle) and some buttermilk. (Still looking for organic buttermilk). I also needed some cheesecloth and Whole Foods came through on that one, too.

Then I followed these easy directions to make Fromage blanc: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/06/you-dont-have-to-be-cheese-whiz-to-make.html

And, you know what? It worked! And you know what else? It's easy! And fun.

According to the cheesemaking experts, Fromage blanc is the easiest cheese to make. And you don't really have to have any special tools. I found out by my after-the-fact-research that if I had stirred in the lemon juice more thoroughly when I first added it, then I would probably have gotten more cheese from the milk. (My whey was a bit cloudy, which I believe indicates that I didn't distribute the acid properly.) And a candy thermometer might have been more accurate than my temperature guessing, which was a complex equation based on bubbling and steam rising.

But, you know, I still got a ball of cheese from this inexpensive exercise. And it was interesting to see it all happen in the pot...curds form in a matter of seconds to minutes. Exciting enough to make me exclaim to my husband, "cheese is happening...cheese is happening!!" (I still don't know why he didn't rush into the kitchen to see this wonder unfold. I found it an order of magnitude more interesting than his motorcycle race...)

To be honest, Fromage blanc in not my favorite cheese variety; we prefer more robust varieties. I really wanted to make organic versions of the cheeses that my husband and I like best...

So, while still riding my "cheese making high", cheese happened, I decided to jump into the deep end and order this cheesemaking kit! Oh yes, in a couple weeks, I'll be making mountains of Farmhouse Cheddar, Gouda, Monterey Jack, Feta, Cottage Cheese, Colby, Parmesan and Ricotta.

Maybe. We'll see. Ok, I'll let you know how it goes...

It's not my nature to brag...

...but, my orchids won lots of awards at the show! We had a great Garden Show this year. Here is a picture of the tiniest orchids on display:

And here are some of my winning orchids:

Masdevallia Fraseri

Polystachya ottoniana

Sarcochilus Fitzhart

I really can't believe that I won Best Miniature in the Show:

Masdevallia Winter Blush 'Winter Sunset'

Here's a close up:

I celebrated by buying 4 more plants from the members' sales booth:
Eugongora quinquenervis
Masdevallia barleana
Masdevallia Bella Donna
Stanhopea Love Potion #9 x wardii
(Total cost: only $25)

I sold Degarmoara (Dgma.) Winter Wonderland 'White Fairy', Epicattleya Siam Jade x Fuchs Key Lime AM/AOS, and a division of my Stenoglottis longifolia for about $34 (minus 25% to the society). Plus I traded my large, unknown Pleurothallis for a small Masdevallia Highland Fling.

Orchid and Garden show in Carmel Valley - this weekend!

The Carmel Valley Garden Show is coming up this weekend. It's shaping up to be the biggest and best show we've ever put on. It's going on all day Saturday and Sunday at Hidden Valley Music Seminar - for FREE. Plus, there will be an awesome Gala night on Saturday night with fabulous food and wine. Click on the image below for more details.

Orchid and plant vendors and exhibits, garden lectures, art, food and wine! What else could we possibly need, really?! The weather forecast is perfect for the show. Come join us!

Vegetable Gardening Guide for central coast

A local sustainability group, Monterey Green Action, asked me to prepare a vegetable growing guide.

They have created a community garden in downtown Monterey and several new gardeners are starting up in our area. If you would like to download it, it's in the sidebar. I also put a link to my vegetable harvest tally and growing notes for 2010 in the sidebar, if anyone is interested. This spreadsheet is continually (& somewhat obsessively) updated throughout the year. Wow, I've grown over $35 worth of lettuce and over $37 worth of snap peas so far this year! (Yes, it's true. I heart spreadsheets).

Kids and food

Is anybody watching "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution"? It has become one of the 3 shows I watch. We sold all of our TVs, but there's still Hulu online. It's great because I can watch my 3 shows when there's no more daylight (or gardening time) left. Anyway, the Food Revolution has some "TV drama" bits in it, which must be ignored. But it's still interesting and very much vegetable/garden related. Check out this clip:



I believe that we need more basic "food education" in schools. And school gardens are a great way to do that. Maybe Jamie will help these kids start a garden at their school.

Another, unrelated, subject that I believe is missing? Financial education...like how to save, understanding credit cards, etc. People shouldn't have to go to business school to understand these basics. And from the looks of it, on average, we're not making the best financial decisions...

Harvest Monday - April 19, 2010

Red Express Cabbage - 2lbs

Snow peas - 4 oz.

Lettuce mix - 4 oz.

Lettuce mix - 2 oz.

Strawberries...these are the ones that escaped immediate munching - 5 oz.

Trovita orange - 2 count

Harvest Mondays are hosted by Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions. Check out what's being harvested!

Patents on genetics...this is scary

I've been thinking about how companies, such as Monsanto, are able to patent their evil concoctions. The movie, Food Inc., shows the details of how Monsanto's genetically modified canola and corn affected farmers who don't even use Monsanto's products. The thing about canola and corn is that their pollen is airborne, like many other plants and vegetables.

One farmer in Canada was subjected to contamination when a neighboring farm planted in Monsanto's GM canola. And, of course, the pollen spread around the area and landed on the non-GM canola plants. Subsequently, the non-GMO farmer was sued by Monsanto for having "their genetic material" growing in his fields. This cost the farmer about $200,000 in legal fees and lost wages. And if this isn't bad enough, his fields and his own personal seed supply is contaminated with genes he doesn't even want. His work of over 40 years is ruined. How can we allow this to happen?

I'm against allowing patents on genes or genetic material. This article details a human example that provides more evidence on the need for overturning this part of US patent law.