Well howdy there

Monika and Ulrich have given me leave to play on the computer a bit and download some photos. I have a lot from the cheese-making side of things, which they were interested in having, so here are a few photos from my time here in Bavaria.

This photo shows me looking not too troll-like surprisingly and was taken yesterday in Kempten. It was market day and I strolled around town while Monika sold her beautiful cheese at the Farmer´s market.

I´ve spent most of my time here in cheese-making room at the farm. Monika runs and incredibly clean and efficient operation and it´s been a joy to witness how milk turns into cheese!



It all starts with these guys, of course. Gals, really. There are 60 goats here on the farm. 59 females and one male. Right now all of the goats (except Billy of course) are pregnant and will give birth to the little ones in February.



Every morning and evening the goats are milked. Right now as it´s winter and they´re pregnant there is less milk, but they´re still getting about 50 liters a day. I love watching the milking process. The goats are just fun to watch. They are milked 6 at a time, Ulrich will drop down the ramp and 6 goats will race up onto the platform and put their heads in the little slots with amaz rapidity. There are treats on the other side of course, and the food keeps them occupied while the milking commences. The process takes less than 5 minutes, then the ramp is let down on the other side of the platform and they race off of it and into the stables to their dinner of hay.



These goats are outside all day and are only in the stables at night or if the weather is too cold for them to be out. They are fed with hay that the Leiner´s grow themselves. All their feed is certified organic. They´ve been doing it this way for nearly thirty years, long before the current trend towards organic foods. They try their best to keep their goats happy and healthy to ensure the best possible lives for the goats, and the best possible product for their customers.





Monika starts her mornings at around 6:30. She will cook the milk in these big ól copper kettles......



.....add a few magic ingredients....



....and then pour the milk into molds to begin cheesing.






She makes at least 20 different kinds of cheese. Hard cheese, fresh cheese, camemberts, herb spreads, feta, etc. This photos shows a variety of cheese in the "curing" process.



Every day the cheese gets "shmeared," with a little water and turned over. This was a perfectly simple job and perfect for me! I got to do this every day, except I liked to think of it more as "massaging" the cheese. Monika says she will hear complaining from the cheese after I´m gone. She also said today that "now, your days will be dreary because there is no more cheese in them."




Here´s some just poured curd, hanging to get the water and whey out...



The same cheese in a little more forceful water removal method...





Twice a week they take the cheese to the local market in Kempten, about 6 kilometers from the farm. The Leiner´s prefer to sell this way. Small, quality products in a place that they can interact with their customers. They´ve been selling at this market for nineteen years.








Here´s a little photo of dinner...I have so enjoyed getting to eating like this every night.



Here´s Monika and Ulrich and their daughter Johanna. They took me up into the mountains the other day to check out a famous Bavarian castle (which I can´t spell at the moment, but it was built by King Ludwig II!). They then treated me to a wonderful lunch, with the Alps as our backdrop. You´ll have to trust me...they´re there.



Whelp, looks like that´s all the pictures I have for the moment...perhaps I can download some more in a bit, but it´s getting late and the day starts early here, but I hope you enjoyed these little snaps. Soon, very soon I´ll be home and will spend mucho time putting pictures on the web for you!

Lots of love.

Oh hey...way to go on that there little election. I got up at 4am to watch CNN´s coverage and was deeply moved by Obama´s speech. Dare say I feel a little pride coming back for my country. What a thing to get to witness...I´ll talk more about that in a bit I imagine.