A whey day

Bean loves cheesemaking. 

She becomes alert as soon as I start the process of sterilising all the equipment and I get the churn of milk out ready to warm up. 

The milk has to ripen for an hour or so (with cultures / bacteria added) and then set for another hour (with rennet) for the curds and whey to develop.

Depending on the type of cheese I'm making it takes another half hour, up to an hour to get to the point at which the curds are drained of the whey.

Then I pour about 100ml of whey into Bean's food bowl as a treat. This is the moment she's been waiting three hours for. Her vigilance rewarded. 

Cheesemaking day is a good day when you're a dog.

It's not bad when you're a human come to that. The thought of the Camembleu which will be ready in seven weeks' time fills me with satisfaction.

The day didn't start so well though.

Despite diligently putting cleaner down the notorious grey water drain from the kitchen and bathroom each month, the wretched thing backed up and overflowed the sump under the truck this morning.
 
I girded my loins, had an extra cup of coffee, donned waterproofs and set about the now-familiar routine of shoving hoses down the drain at the top, and up the drain at the other end 60m down the garden. Out came the tools and equipment to open the joint next to the chook run, to aid hose-shoving in each direction from that mid-way point should it be an intractable blockage.
 
To my relief the drain cleaner has definitely been beneficial. The hose-shoving from the far end resulted in the start of free water-flow out into the swamp, along with satisfying (and stinking) lumps of jelly-like gunk. A bit of hose-shoving from the top, accompanied by the water turned on full blast cleared it completely.
 
This was a quick and easy fix compared with some of the battles I’ve had in the past to shift quite solid soapy and fatty obstructions. And it’s the first time I’ve had to tackle it for almost two years. So the cleaner will continue to be used, perhaps slightly more frequently.


Life is rarely boring (or conventional) Chez Mima!