They Have The Numbers, We The Heights

Actually, they have both.

But they have kept out of trouble lately, and have eaten scores of slugs and ticks, so I am in a forgiving mood, appreciative of their beauty and hunger.

Giant Cheese

Yesterday I got four gallons of milk from the Fountain of Eternal Milk, and I made a big cheddar. Here it is getting pressed under 50 pounds of bricks for 12 hours, inside an old cider press that lost its twirly thing, and is therefore useless for pressing cider, but is excellent for being a cheese mold.














And here it is when it came out, with a tea cup for scale. The net is to keep the flies from laying eggs on it before it goes into storage in the cheese cage in the cellar for two months. So. I'll let you know at Thanksgiving how it turned out!

Giant Spider

I love these huge big spiders. They are a feature of late summer or early fall here, and I had just commented to the family a day before that I hadn't seen any yet, and I hoped there would be some. Then there was this one, hanging virtually over the gate to the summer kitchen. I'm afraid she's having a tough go of it, however: the torrential rain washed her web down, and since then it has been so chilly that she spends her time flattened to the underside of the beam above her web. It's no way to make a living.

Giant Frog

This enormous frog appeared in the little pond behind my office last week. She is rather larger than my fist, about four times the size of the previous record holder. Maybe the adolescent bullfrogs are sallying forth to occupy new puddles? I have heard no croaking, so I suppose she may be a girl frog? Or maybe migration is conducted quietly. Run silent, froggy. Run deep.

Brains!

OK, not really. It's actually a little loaf of paneer I made today using the blessed produce of the Fountain of Eternal Milk that I recently discovered down in the woods. I haven't made cheese in years, and I am so pleased to begin again. The smell of milk heating is simply divine.