31st January, 2012
Today was a hot, windy day. It wasn't sunny,--if if was, we would've been sweating more--it was cloudy; and once even, it rained a little!
As far as school today--well, I'll admit, it didn't seem like much. I did FAR, did some reading, a little Bible study, and a few life skills.
So, what I did for FAR (excluding reading):
- I created a computer website to display what I have learned and done in my school year (joyful-maiden.blogspot.co.nz)
- I listed all the skills/character traits of the woman described in Proverbs 31:10-31 (read at joyful-maiden.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/outline-of-perfect-woman-found-in-bible.html)
Reading for FAR (and other learning-related reading):
- Bible: Leviticus 8-11 (read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year program), Matthew 16, 2 Corinthians 12-13.
- Read a couple pages in Beautiful Girlhood, by Mable Hale (available online here)
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (available online here). A very interesting historical book so far! It is a little deep wading, but it's worth the reading to get out a few little interesting bits not mentioned in the Bible. I read 6 pages, and in those pages I found (different from the Genesis account):
- Adam in Hebrew literally means, "One that is red." Josephus says that he was named this because he was created from red earth.
- (In the garden of Eden) "God therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all the rest of the plants, but to abstain from the tree of knowledge; and foretold to them, that if they touched it, it would prove their destruction." (emphases mine) In the Genesis account, (Genesis 3:3) God says, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." A slight variation on Josephus' account, but still interesting.
- (In the account of the flood) "And after seven days he [that is, Noah] sent out a dove, to know the state of the ground; which came back to him covered with mud."--the Bible doesn't mention that the dove was covered in mud!
Life Skills:
- Made hard goat cheese (recipe below
- Milked goats
- Learned how to use blogger.com (do the last two count?)
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How to make hard goat cheese:
Heat 10 L milk until the pot is warm to the touch (about 30°C, or around 86°F). Make sure it isn't too hot, or the starter will be killed. Take off heat, and stir in about 1/4 cup starter (e.g. yogurt, buttermilk, piima [you can get the culture for that online perhaps, it makes terribly DELICIOUS yogurt], etc.), and let set for 1 hour for the culture to work in the milk. Once the hour is up, add about 1 tsp. rennet mixed with a little cold water. Stir in, and let set for 45 min.-1 hour, or until whey appears around the edges of pot after a couple of minutes after you've tipped the milk. Cut the curd into about 1 inch blocks, and let set for about 10 minutes. Then occasionally (like every 1-2 minutes) stir the cheese over a low heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the curds and whey have been heated up to body temperature. Take off heat once they are warm enough, and stir once every 10-15 minutes for an hour. The heating process and sitting process is just for toughening the curd, and is especially important for goats cheese. Cow cheese is naturally more tough, but you should still toughen the curd for that, too. After the hour is up, strain through a thin towel (if you live in the U.S., I suggest you use a flower sack towel available at Walmart) into a bowl or the sink, which ever you may prefer. If you have pigs, they may like the whey! Ours did, but since we don't have pigs, we just let the whey go down the drain. After straining and getting as much whey out as possible, transfer into a bowl and stir in 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp. non-iodized salt (if you use iodized salt, the iodine kills the bacteria that makes the flavour. Therefore, it is important to have not-iodized salt. We make our own non-iodized salt from seawater on the wood stove.) After mixing salt in, you could taste the curd to see if you need more or less salt. Put in press with a cheese cloth and press for 10-30 minutes (or until you remember it again!), take out of press and unwrap and re-wrap the cheese. This makes it easier to get it unwrapped when you're done pressing, and makes for a nicer shaped cheese. Let sit for 12 hours (or overnight), then unwrap and let set on top fridge (or other out-of-the-way place) in a bowl for 3 days (or until the cheese has developed a good rind on each side), turning every once in a while (like 2-3 times a day). After the cheese has developed a good rind, you can put it in the fridge for 1-2 weeks to hopefully make it melty. (You can do this if you can't restrain from eating it before hand!) As for the rest..... just ENJOY!
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Over all, the day was great. ~Esther
