Last week in August in Review

Did you know it's possible to make fresh cheese at home? Vicki had us over last week and we had a cheese making class. We made ricotta, chevre, and marscapone. It's not difficult to do.

This is the ricotta. Vicki made toasted baguette slices. We put the fresh ricotta and halved cherry tomatoes with basil and olive oil on the bread, and it was just delightful. It's entertaining to see how little cheese is produced by large quantities of milk.

The weather has been great (finally). Today (Labor Day) it's not raining. However, the trees are starting to turn. Fall is coming, and with it the rainy season. The wolves are coming down from the mountains, and the caterpillars are growing wooly coats.

This is a bummer, we'll have to ride elsewhere after the 12th. But, since the bridge had water over it, repairs must be performed.

An old red barn. Jake Groeneweg is selling his dairy farm in Carnation Valley. The bulk of his land is a flood plain, so hopefully the evil developers will not pave it and plant houses all over the place.

The cows were watching us as we rode by.

So, this begins our last month in the GPNW. Then we well be away from here, going elsewhere.