The garden, on the other hand, is lapping up the heat and really hitting its stride. All the seeded plants have sprouted in great numbers. The beans, most of all, have been a real surprise and popped their heads up beautifully. During the middle of the day, we usually see some droop-age in the tomatoes and peppers, but they usually perk up with a quick afternoon drink. The early broccoli, has really shot off and will hopefully start making some early heads within the following weeks.
We even had a few gentle visitors this morning. If they start getting into the garden, I am afraid we may have to formally introduce them to Peanut.
In addition to our garden ventures, we are in the throws of perfecting our homemade mozzarella and other various cheeses. This all began with Madi's birthday cheese-starting kit. After one gallon of milk became 1 - 1.5 pounds of cheese, we were hooked. We have since tried larger quantities of mozzarella and queso blanco. I think we are definitely sold on the mozzarella, maybe need a little more seasoning for the queso (it was a little bland).
A side perk of the cheesemaking ventures is our first attempt at whey-based bread. What a success. Just 4 cups of leftover whey (of which there is plenty) makes 4 healthy-sized loaves of delicious bread. The first time through, we stuck strictly to the recipe and made some great white breads ... although there was so much, we still have a freezer full and our neighbors are all full as well. The second attempt, knocked out this morning while we could still stand it in the kitchen with the stove on, we started doing a little "personalization". We still made two "normal" loaves with whole wheat flour. Michael got his jalapeno-cheese bread, and Madi got her cinnamon-raisin ... yummmm! Hopefully we'll keep perfecting this to the point where we will be independent of the yeasty section of Harris Teeter.
The bees ... oh, the bees. We have been foiled again by our bee supplier. It looks like the earliest will be this coming weekend; although, I don't hold out much hope. We will keep the hives nice and neat, and hopefully our girls will find their way here soon enough. Every day they are away is one less day of honey production. We might be working to feed/fatten these girls up all summer. As a family, we are definitely ready for them the join us:
Have a great week ... we'll see you in the dirt.
