Cheese Making and more

So this milkmaid is not sure if cheese making is a science, an art of just a pain in my behind, but it is certainly one of the 3. I have made cottage cheese 3 times now and none of them have turned out. The first 2 the flavor was just not what we were wanting and this last time, the flavor was great but it was totally over cooked. Very chewy and not at all yummy.
Plus I have made a batch of mozzerella and while that didn't taste bad, it wasn't what I was hoping for either. It was possibly overcooked as well and was more of a stringy cheese than what I was wanting.
Now the good of this was that I figured out how to make sour cream that has wonderful flavor and will save us when we are needing sour cream for meals. It also let me get 2 gallons of milk out of my fridge and make room for something more.
The sad thing is that in the time it took me to make these two batches of cheese I could have gotten my entire house cleaned rather than making an even bigger mess for myself. Plus it is really discouraging to invest 4 to 6 hours of your day into something just to throw it away and start over.
But I am determined to at very least perfect the cottage cheese so that we can have that for the family. We all like to eat it and the large container from the store is not enough for the entire family to have what they want with a meal. So this is something that I really have to figure out!
And on a side note, another sign of spring....kittens are being born! More on that probably tomorrow!

So they asked me why

So I was recently asked why we choose to live the life that we live and the answer I gave was so simple. Because we want the very best for our children. However the full answer is so much more and much deeper as well. It isn't a question that is simple if you think about it.
So lets discuss this.
Why do we choose to own a cow that is then milked twice a day? Well we want to be able to provide fresh, raw milk for our family. Because is having the cow that we then milk we are able to save a substantial amount each month on what we spend in milk and butter and hopefully more as we become more accustom to making things. On top of that the experience that it teaches out children is that tho it is not always easy and we don't always want to get up and go out to the barn to milk the cow, it is something that needs to be done and so we do it.
Why do we raise our own meat and eggs on our farm? Again we want to be able to know where our food is coming from and what its been fed and how its been treated. And again the responsibility that it will teach the children is very important to us as is the cost savings.
Why do we choose to use cloth products rather than disposable? Well for starters they are much softer for use. They also don't create the trash for the landfill which is a huge eco benefit for me as well. Plus it again has teaching value for the kids. While it is not always the easiest way out it is the most responsible way.
So many of our choices are done for many reasons but in the end they come back to wanting the very best for our kids and to teach them responsibility with their choices.