Time flies when you're having fun. Annie and I have started milking Emma every day because she has been so full of milk it was painful to watch, and Ursula said we'd be doing her (and now obviously ourselves!) a favour.
So Tuesday, I thought I'd better try this milk and see what I think. Milk has not been my favourite drink, but I thought, it's good for a whole range of things (this is the raw milk I'm talking about) so I will have to like it. I milked Emma in the morning, filtered the milk, and poured myself a glass. It took me five minutes of watching it and smelling it (it doesn't smell by the way) before I dared to take a sip. And what a pleasant surprise it was.... It's lovely, absolutely delicious milk. It has a very delicate creamy flavour, nothing at all like the fake stuff from the supermarket. And, having to work to get it makes it even more special, and coming from Emma who's been such a good girl makes it even more special than that. Emma has been really good with us. Annie and I are both still learning to milk, and Emma, although she normally starts kicking a bit at the end, has been extremely good with us, and patient. We're both getting the hang of it though, and we've started milking with two hands so that we're not prolonging it too much for Em.
It's making my work day a fair bit longer though. Now I'm getting up at 6am, sterilise everything, get myself ready, wait for the light, then herd the cows in with PJ, milk, strain the milk, clean the pans... and then start work. Work is getting in the way of all the real things happening. Still, I'll have to go on a bit longer while the money is helping us doing what we want to do. Wage slave or what....
I took Friday off. Annie couldn't milk on Saturday (we've divided the days per our share in the cow, but still try to be flexible) so I asked if she wanted to milk on Friday - and this would also give me the opportunity to go and see Chris and Lisa over in Bushy Park. This worked out well, and I left Thursday evening after work. Naturally I ran late - lots of phonecalls so instead of leaving at 4pm I left about 40 minutes later, which meant I'd have to drive a fair bit in the dark. Still, I had the roadmap and thought I should be ok, as we'd been there before. I got to Hobart ok, and by then it was more or less fully dark. Once I got to New Norfolk I thought I was laughing, because that meant I was on the last stretch. I seemed to remember turning into New Norfolk to go through the centre, and hoped to be finding a road sign for Bushy Park (which there wasn't at the beginning of New Norfolk). Anyway, to cut a long story short I found myself in some one way system and ended up having to stop and trying to find where I was and how to get out. This is in a town of 3 people and 2 horses (or thereabouts). But, I found my way out and managed to get to Chris and Lisa for about 6.30, which was not bad all things considering.
We had some champagne and a lovely dinner - as we're all working hard we didn't last very long and went to bed early. It was lovely being in a warm room with an electric blanket, no cold feet that night! We had decided to go for a nice long walk on their block, and we had a lovely day. It was warm and sunny, and we must have walked for 4 hours. It's very dry though, and the ground was all cracked. This is a big difference with ours. It's dry but thankfully not that dry. It looked a lot like mainland Australia. The landscape is still beautiful though, but being a bit of a worrywart I'm glad I don't have to worry about such a dry spell here. Fingers crossed. After our walk, we decided that we'd all go to New Norfolk as Chris and Lisa had seen a butter churn in one of the antique shops about 6 months ago. So we went to this lovely place, and low and behold, it was still there, so it was meant to be, a match made in heaven, and so forth. It's a beautiful churn, and even still smells of (now rancid) butter. I'll give it a good clean and then try my hand at making some lovely raw butter. Can't wait!! On the way out, Chris said she'd direct me to the highway so I could find my way out. At one crossing she indicated right, but then went straight on. I saw that as my sign to turn, only to find that I was lost yet again in New Norfolk!! After a few twists and turns I managed to get to the main square, where Chris and Lisa were waiting. What a strange little town :) Anyway, once I was on the right track the way home was rather uneventful.
We had a lovely dinner of trout and veggies and beans, and PJ bought a nice champagne as well, what a treat. We went to bed early, because this morning was milking time! We still haven't got the roof on our milking stall (will have to take some pictures though - it's fantastic) so I got soaking wet as it was raining. Still, I got 4 liters this morning so it's not bad going.
I'm probably sounding a bit breathless but that is because we have today and tomorrow to plant our 110 fruit and nut trees this weekend. PJ has just gone to pump up the tire of the wheelbarrow, and I'm trying to dry off a bit and thought I had better quickly write an update.
Tanya just phoned that she and Jamahl will come and help this afternoon after the shed people have left their place - this will be a great help. Then at 7pm we're off to Marjorie and Steve, for a quick bite and then an evening of jamming with a number of local musicians which will be fantastic. She reckons it will be a late night - this might prove a bit hard for me though since tomorrow is.... milking day!
Toodles
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