Day 2 at Intro to Farming. The rains came in and pelted the metal roof most of the night and into the day. That didn’t stop us from our daily chores which began at 5:45 AM with milking goats and chores around the farm. Then we headed back to the Farm School and had a hearty breakfast of Tortilla Española (sliced potatoes & scrambled eggs that are baked) and Raisin Bread with assorted cheeses and jams.
After breakfast we talked about “Respect”. Each day is a word of reflection to start the morning off right. As stewards of the Earth we need to respect it each and every day. Lora Lea talked about respecting the soil, insects, pollinators, the weather and even the milk bacteria. Which was our segway into the next part of our morning.
Mother Nature wasn’t all that happy today and sent lots of rain our way. That didn’t dampen our spirits as we headed to the cheese room to learn farmstead cheese making techniques from Lora Lea. We made Feta, Chevre, Mozzarella and Ricotta from the mornings goat milking. 4 different techniques but each incredibly delicious.
After cheese making we came back for a hearty lunch of Split Pea Soup and home cured Ham & Cheese sandwiches. Stine is totally busting it out for us. After lunch we packed up a couple of cars and headed for some farm tours. First up was Dick Roberson’s place where he contract grows for Ann Harman of Morning Myst Botanics. He also raises sheep and grows an enormous garden that overlooks the Columbia River.
We hid out in Dick’s hoop house for a while waiting for the rain to break before heading to our next farm tour, but Mother Nature wasn’t wanting to play nice, so we high tailed it to the vehicles and hit the road. John and Michelle of Meadow Lark Farm (no website – yet) were next on the docket and it was incredibly refreshing to meet these too Earth loving souls! They love what they do and they beam with excitement talking about it. They showed us around their 100 year old farm and the work that they’ve accomplished in the past 4 years is quite admirable. If you live in the Spokane area, you’ll find them at the Colville Farmers Market with strawberries, fruit and veggies.
When we got back we all rested up for dinner of pizzas in the pizza oven that Rick built. If you’ve never had a pizza that was cooked in an outdoor pizza oven, you are missing out. They only bake for a few minutes in the oven and come out incredibly delish. One of the participants had an epiphany at dinner: “Tonight we are eating full circle. We milked the goats, made cheese from the goats and are now eating the cheese with dinner”.
After dinner cleanup the majority of the participants headed for their warm comfy beds. It was a long day of farm life and everyone was ready to hit the pillow. Stay tuned for day 3.
Thanks for reading….