Caleb and I have been working about every day for a couple hours in the garden. Caleb says I should be careful not to push myself too hard because the elevation will affect me negatively. I’m thankful for his experience.
Steph made pickles on Tuesday, just a few jars. I’m looking forward to eating them. I don’t think of them as pickles until they’ve actually had a chance to pickle, but China is certain they are pickles the moment they’ve been put into brine. How soon after canning do you eat your pickles?
I also had the vet, Ronal, here to dehorn several kids. Caleb seemed to enjoy helping with that. Once, the iron slipped in the vet’s grip, and he burned my one finger. I ended up with a nice blister. The vet invited me to an ag meeting with him tomorrow morning at 10:00; I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll go.
Wednesday is a day of meetings. To start the day, I called a friend to talk and then we prayed together. After breakfast, we had a school meeting to hear from Miss Elizabeth. After that, we men met to talk about the church and anything related. I can’t remember if Steph and I met then afterward, but we are working through a book on child-training (Raising Godly Tomatoes).
That gave me a little time before lunch to upload the latest podcast episode. This week James and I talked about his new book coming soon about biking the Great Divide. Then I needed to prepare for the afternoon when we have group Spanish class; I’m doing some informal teaching for all the adults. That takes until supper.
We also spent the day in special prayer for the missionaries in Haiti. They are often on our hearts. We pray God will be glorified through such hard experiences.
Thursday is cheese and soup day for me. Someone asked how my day went today, and this is what I replied:
Pretty good.
I made cheddar cheese. While I did that, I did some emailing and editing.
When the cheddar was in the press, I used the whey to make ricotta. It turned out lovely.
In between cheeses, I made mother culture for cow and goat milk for both cheese and yogurt.
Then I made Italian vegetable soup with a chicken base. I pressured the chicken and beans for three hours.
While that was pressuring, I roasted coffee. Steph had found some green coffee beans in town, so I was excited to try them out. It was my first time, but it turned out well. The coffee has a fruity flavor. Very good.
Now, I’m waiting for the children to wash up so I can serve supper.
Thursday is generally my cheese day, and I make soup for supper. I don’t normally make meals otherwise, just Thursday night soup.
A fellow named Juan from Liamatambo came by to talk on Monday and asked for three liters of yogurt. He went ahead and paid for it. We made it on Tuesday, but he still hasn’t shown up. What happens if the yogurt goes bad before he arrives?
Tomorrow we are thinking to go visit Fernando’s and Alicia. We haven’t seen them since we’re back though we’ve talked to them. We’ll see how that works out.
Juan David 