Gouda and Strawberry Jam, June 10

The second round of Gouda took three hours. Quite a reduction in time. The rest of the process, pressing, flipping, chilling, and waxing took the same amour of time, another 24 hours. Bruce Ford, a co-worker of Bob's, made a prototype wooden cheese press for us to try. The cheese was much easier to press with the wooden press than the two smaller presses we used for the first batch. The wooden press did not allow the molds to wiggle as much creating a more uniformly shaped cheese, unlike the misshapen first attempt. There still is some sway causing slightly crooked molds and cheese. Bob is making a plexiglass and bolt tower to reduce the sway, always an experiment. I picked enough strawberries for another batch of jam. The strawberries are not as plentiful this year. Perhaps a result of the early warmth and following hard freeze. Bob loaded the bed of the truck with rabbit cages to transport chickens to Brian's tomorrow. A mass of wire and bungee cords, stacked on top of each other. The truck looked like the chicken trucks you see in the movies, feathers trailing behind like a snow storm in June. Ha! I offered to throw a couple of beer cans in the bed of the truck and have Chico ride shotgun, head hanging out of the window, to complete the picture. Bob graciously declined, stating that this was a high class operation and should not be mocked. Bob caged all the tomato plants and mounded the potatoes yesterday. After a slow start the potatoes look great. Katelyn and John planted the initial sets in April with Bob replanting several weeks later....Carmen