Eat Local, Shop Local

The second best thing to producing your own is to buy it locally! Last week a new farmer's market opened up in the laurel sponsered by Oakland Food Connection. Our neighborhood group was also hosting its first annual block sale. Plus I needed to get a birthday present for my friend's 3 year old kid Kahlo. This meant a trip to Laurel Book Store and Komodo Toys. My morning walk was planned!

On my way to the block sale, I had the good fortune in running into neighbor John Frando who was putting up flyers/cones. I love being able to just stroll down the street and see people that I know. I haven't had that much here in Oakland so it was quite the nice change. John is working on an article for The Macarthur Metro on gardens/chickens/sustainability in the laurel and was asking me for an interview.



Not too many people were at the block sale yet but I got the chance to talk to some other neighbors. I've been talking with Stella who organized the Neighborhood Night Out earlier this month to see how we can continue these potlucks to help everybody get to know each other better. I'm trying to figure out the logistics of giving a cheese making workshop. I also got three more people on my waiting list for eggs.

Next I tried Komodo Toys but unfortunately they were closed so I went straight to Laurel Book Store. I found exactly what I needed. Children's books on ducks, chickens, and art. I hope Kahlo loves them. His sense of wonder is fun to watch when he comes over our house to see the animals. The owner Luan even gift wrapped the presents for free! I chatted up another customer about Mark Bittman's cookbook. Normally in a chainstore a person standing behind somebody getting something gift wrapped would get annoyed. But the local scene is more laid back so you have the possibility of enjoying the company of strangers.



The new farmer's market was small but charming. Only being the second week, there is just three vendors. Oakland Food Connection, Purple Lawn Cafe, and a farmer. Unfortunately the farmer didn't show up this week. If I had driven in my car and had to find parking, the situation might have been annoying. But it wasnt, instead I'm glad that something new is being created in my neighborhood. I was glad to hand over money to see this bloom. . I cant wait to see the changes in the upcoming weeks. I'll be returning.













It's nice to have an excuse for a saturday morning stroll!

Buzz Buzz

I procrastinated too long on the honey harvest this year. The queen had used most of the comb for brood so I only got about a jar's worth of usable honey. The taste is very floral and amazing. It'll just be nice to have extra to give as gifts. Hopefully next year! I think I need to purchase a honey super for added storage space as well as a queen excluder.

This time around I managed to get my ankles stung. Those bees are smart, they find your weakest point. I got a little bit of cabin fever this weekend not being able to walk for 48 hrs.

Milk Alchemy and Cheese Queens

Cheesemaking is an ethereal science. You enter into it with a specific formula and enzymes but who knows what direction the chemical reactions will go. My friend Ira and I took up this insane science about a year ago.

We started out with cow's milk but then wanted to experiment with goat. But 95% of what you find in the supermarket has been ultrapasteurized which means the chemical structure of the milk has already been changed so drastically that it is useless for cheesemaking. We tried to find goat farms that would sell us milk directly but the law has it so that people are afraid to sell because of potential liability. We finally found a goat internship where we receive milk for labor.

On sunday, we had a surplus of milk since the goat owner was on vacation. We decided to try making mozzarella which is something new for us.. Ira's friend Kurt in the oakland hills has been making some mozzarella successfully with Cow's Milk so we went over to his place for instruction.

The newest trend in mozzarella is the 30-min version for instant gratification. In theory, you just heat the milk with citric acid and lipase then add rennet. Squeeze out the initial whey from the curd then microwave for a short period which helps extract the rest of the moisture.

But cheesemaking is finicky. You put in too much rennet or you heat just slightly too quickly or any other little variable changes the texture. We didn't end up with anything that looked like the mozzarella we set out to make but it's still tasty. That seems to happen 2 out of 3 times when making cheese. You end up with an unexpected product.

We really need a west coast cheese guru. On the east coast, Rikki Carrol is the cheese queen who seems to have a monopoly on cheesemaking supply and instruction. I'm surprised by the lack of cheese queens in the bay area. Yes, we have great commercial cheesemakers like Cowgirl Creamery or distributors like The Cheeseboard and Farmstead Cheese but no mentors for the homesteader I wonder who will end up with this title. Only time will tell. But we sure need someone to show us the alchemy of milk.