Maybe you’ll remember that when we got our wedding cow, Lace, from our friends, Abner and Carol, they also gave me a little doeling with a leg that was contracted from birth. They hoped we could heal her, otherwise the little girl didn’t have much of a future.

Well, all summer we stretched and splinted the leg with a padded portion of a wooden paint stirrer and self-sticking horse leg wrap, cut to size as needed. At first, the leg would hardly bend at all, but slowly it got straighter and straighter. Last week we totally removed the splint and wrap and the leg is totally normal and she’s happy and bouncy. (She thinks our shorthorn calf is her brother, as they often share the same pen. And he loves her, too!) She chases that 400-pound bull calf away from the feed pan! We are so thankful, as I get way too attached to some of those animals. I feel bad when one is sick or dies. She may not grow as big as her huge mother or really big brother, but she’s fat and sassy and is large for her age. We’re very happy.

I’ve also been making plenty of cheese lately. One of our favorites is a soft white cheese I use in place of cream cheese. By accident, I forgot a pot of curd, (setting, supposedly for 8 hours). It went 24 hours! I drained it anyway, and it was very smooth and great tasting! I’ll never make it the old way again! (It’s real easy: 2 gallons of fresh milk, strained, with 1 cup of cultured buttermilk and 4 Tbsp. of diluted rennet in water…3 drops rennet in 1/3 cup cool water, added and stirred into the fresh milk.)

It is covered and let set at room temperature for 24 hours, then drained off in an old pillowcase. Refrigerated, it is good for a week and can have herbs, chopped fruit, bacon bits, or jams added. It is great in baked dishes too and cheesecakes. We really love it.

We’re finally getting a little rain. It helps with the forest fire danger, but isn’t enough to get the stressed roots of our orchard and woods going. We water the orchard but the poor woods has to do what nature has done for years. — Jackie

10 COMMENTS

  2. @Mandy Modin, yes, that’s what you do. You have to dilute the rennet before you use it, but you only use a portion of the dilution.

    According to Suzanne McMinn over at “Chickens in the Road” blog, you can store the dilute rennet for about a week. It WILL lose potency over time, so don’t plan on keeping it too long.

    Also, she freezes her cheese made in a similar way. She freezes it in 8oz plastic bowls. She has more tips on her blog and makes hers slightly differently than this recipe. But Jackie’s doesn’t need packets from the cheesemaking supply store. You can find rennet in most grocery stores – Junket is rennet.

  3. I had to look twice at that photo. When you said doeling and then I looked at the long ears and white spots, I thought she was a baby deer fawn!

    She is super cute! Goats grow on you.

  5. For your cheese I’m confussed about the rennet should I make the 3drops to 1/3 cup water then add 4 Tlbs of that mixture. Loved the pictures.

  6. I love it when you post pictures and the stories about them. I read your blog every day and love it. Even if I cant do things the way you do because we live in town I do what I can and dream.

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