The Big Cheese

Went for an unexpected run this morning - wasn't planning to but found myself outside running up the road after my wife had suggested I go running today on account of her sore foot preventing us going for a walk.

There is a bonus in going running today as it means I will not be going tomorrow now. Which will be nice when tomorrow comes.

Susan and I had a goats milk "Big Cheese" kit as part of a Christmas present from her nephew's family. I've dabbled with cheesemaking a bit but never really been successful. It was no better first time around.

The recipe requires 4 pints (2.35litres) of whole goats milk that has vitamin C added to it to created the curds and whey. I followed the instructions for making a soft cheese to the letter and ended up with the same 2 litres of goats milk, now at 82 deg C which when strained through the provided butter muslin left a thin veneer of cheese on the material.

I acquired 2 more litres of milk and tried the recipe for crumbly cheese which as you can see turned out rather better but not in the quantity I was expecting. The instructions say you should get around 600g (1.5lbs) of cheese from 4 litres of milk. Once strained you add salt, and herbs if you want, and it is ready to eat. I had a nibble and it tasted good.

The evening was spent at a Governors' meeting training us on how to challenge a headteacher on school improvement and how to measure impact of school policies. All very fine but I fear the current expectations of school governors is getting untenable. We are told we are unpaid professionals who are part of the senior leadership team and are accountable to Ofsted for the performance of the school. More and more  onerous responsibilities are being placed on volunteers who give up their time to support a school.

The balance is not right here. There is a shortfall in governors in Kent schools and those that have joined our governing body recently have not stayed very long. Work and family commitments come first. Those in authority and who make up these policies need to sit up and take notice about what is causing the problems of recruitment and retention of governors.