Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

Cheese is one of those divine foods that have been around for centuries and of course the finer the quality of product used to make it and the longer it ages, the finer and more expensive it is deemed. Really not unlike wines - well I guess that is why wine and cheese go so well together. Rich aromas to tease the nose while liquid gold pours across the tongue bringing the world to a momentary stop while you enjoy the barrage of emotions. Ok, that might be a little over the top, but seriously, who doesn't love a good cheese?!

I, for one, LOVE cheese. Not that I am in anyway a turophile that can tell you the name, age, and region the rennet used came from...but more of an everyday cheese lover. I enjoy trying the new flavors and trying to mix them with different sweet, sour, or fresh herb mixtures to bring out their greatest potential. A piece of sharp aged cheddar makes the best snack especially when combined with a savory black forest ham slice but my favorite is to combine blue cheese with rosemary and grilled chicken breast. See, simple, normal kind of cheese love!

But just loving cheese wasn't enough. I wanted to MAKE my cheese and to learn about the different processes and cultured needed to grow a specific cheese. Does weather affect the process? Does it matter if you use cultured or processed milk? (I mean afterall, not everyone has access to a raw milk dairy farm - I am lucky, I do) Can a cheese age too long? Soft cheese, hard cheese, cheese curds, fresh cheese, aged cheese!!! There are just way, whey, WHEY too many options! Oh yeah, and the whey.... Little Miss Moffit seems to think its ok in her breakfast cereal...but seriously, what is it...it looks strange and smells...stranger. And I will let you in on a little secret...the stuff in our workout protein powder...is NOT the same. Im sorry, I cannot explain it right now...and I love my protein shakes so I may not even want to disillusion myself with that kind of research.

So, I have decided to make cheese...but I have no idea where to start! We already established that there are SO MANY kinds of cheese and beyond "its made from milk" I knew nothing. PINTEREST! Such a lovely time-suck filled with unending knowledge, complete with little pictures, that are linked to other little pictures that have even more information on the related topic. Ok, I am going to start easy and work my way up. A simple, easy cheese with a short turn around time - after-all, sometimes we need to see progress in order to believe in the success of the long term. So now I have my shopping list! Let us make CHEESE!!

Evolving Resolutions

Its a new year - time to make those resolutions and fight to achieve them until you get all fed up and just quit. Year after year I was making same resolutions, you know, the usual - loose weight, find new ways of coping with depression, work out more... and year after year, I was good for a few months and I would grow weary of the extensive amount of energy that it required! Part of learning daily to live with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Depression...is learning that you cant do everything - and I have a very hard time admitting that I am not Wonder Woman.

So this year, I decided to try something different. I wasn't going to go with the old usual resolutions. I was going to be different and perhaps more realistic.  I was going to learn a new art form and use it to further my goal of living a healthier and happier lifestyle. Only problem was...I couldn't choose just one...and so I settled on two. I was going to learn the age old art of Cheesemaking AND Wood Burning!

I was worried at first that I might be biting off more than I can chew, and may yet discover that I had, but the beautify of these two art forms is that I could actually be working on both at the very same time! Cheese is a long and slow process and only needs short periods of monitoring and babying while Wood Burning, unlike my painting, can be gotten out and put away with relative ease and unless I am working on something quite large, which I don't foresee in the near future, it will be portable and organized.

So why these two projects? They do see a bit mix matched but really they fit me to a T. I really enjoy learning old art forms and bring back "the old ways" and I love to make beautiful and enjoyable things. The best part of these two crafts is that there is no way I can get in a hurry and expect results right away. The BEST cheeses are aged and I enjoy putting time into artwork to get it just right and because they are more projects, I can fit them into my unique lifestyle without them disrupting the family. And best of all, I am Excited! Not just about learning something new, but learning something I can SHARE with others! Who knows, maybe I will one day be packaging my homemade cheeses in specially designed boxes with beautiful burned art on them! Sounds Magical to me!

Backyard Chicken Blunders

I have had flocks of hens for years. Now, honestly it has been several years as during my time in the military that I didn't have a flock but I am super happy to again have feathered friends. I remember the various issues that are actually common to having fowl - mites, blocked valves, soft shelled eggs, molting, pecking soars, territorial roosters...all NORMAL. This past weekend however, I got to learn about a less common issue that does occur in flocks - Avian Pox.

One of my girls calls me after school on Friday concerned about the "black and white lumps on the hen's hats" (their crowns or combs) and that it looked like they had been bleeding. Naturally I am a little concerned, I only have 4 hens and they have a large yard so its not likely that we would have pecking related injuries. I get home and low and behold, ALL of the hens have these gross blisters on their combs and warblers - nothing huge or angry looking but enough to be obvious.

I was SHOCKED!! What was wrong with my hennies!?! I had never seen this before....my parents had never seen this before. Time to research. I love Pinterest (who doesn't?) because I can search things and see pictures attached to articles so I start looking for "Sick Chickens". The usual suspects pop up and then I see the following image:

YEP! That's it! But WHAT is it? Ok, before you freak out and decide you are never going to have a backyard flock, IT IS NOT CONTAGIOUS! People cannot get this - not to be confused with Avian Flu which in a mutated form is contagious. Avian pox is also in no way related to Chicken Pox which people do get - they are two completely unrelated viruses. So where did this nasty thing, that I have never seen before, come from? One word... Mosquitoes!

Its been a rather wet summer in North Texas and there are several, very nice nature preserves in the area where we live and let me tell you, the mosquitoes have been the size of helicopters and come in droves. Sure they are annoying and you do the best to keep them off the peoples but it honestly never crossed my mind that my hens might be in danger too. After all, there were no nearby ponds or troublesome revines where we grew up and honestly, I remember way more drought cracks than rain puddles back then.

So how do I treat my babies? I found out you can't. As a virus there's nothing that can be done except treat the sores to avoid secondary infections of the bacterial sort. I've made it a point to be as all natural as possible and I didn't want to change that, so it was important for me to find effective ways to treat my hens AND get rid of the mosquitoes.

Sulpher, that's how. Vile smelling as hell, but highly effective for treating for mites, ticks, flees, and mosquitoes without harming the hens...or the squirrels who can frequently be found in and around the hen yard. After cleaning the yard and removing all the old hay and bedding, I sprinkled a generous dose of powdered sulpher around the perimeter of the hen coop and under it as well. Then I sprayed the inside of the house with a eucalyptus oil to disinfect and deter any-buggie from hiding in the house. I am treating the sores themselves with Iodine and a triple antibiotic ointment and so far, everyone is doing well.

Fact of the matter is, no matter how versed you are in animal care, there is always the possibility of running into something surprising and new. Back yard hens are both fun and productive and honestly, there is nothing better than a fresh layed egg paired with some crunchy bacon. Just do your research, only raise as many as you can handle and care for effectively, enjoy the fruits of your labor, and be ready to occasionally need more research. Happy Hennies = Happy Family.

FOR SALE - From the A Touch of Magic Workshop

The A Touch of Magic Workshop

All of the pictured items have been hand-made from recycled materials. Special orders can be made given a reasonable work period. Email me for further information.

$25 - Saloon Bird/Squirrel Feeder. Made with reclaimed wood and Hand-painted. The lid is hinged for easy filling. Credit for idea from Here.

$15 - Flipped Pallet Planter/Organizer. Finished with an oil based paint for durable indoor or outdoor use. (We use ours for a shoe caddy)

What is REALLY Important?

Like any normal person I have gone through the many "phases" of life when it comes to the all encompassing question of "What is really important? What really matters to you?" I wanted to be popular in school (I was a total nerd and a black-goth in a two-bit, one horse town), I wanted to go to the best university and get a job with the FBI (had a full ride scholarship to UT Austin - culture shock sent me back back north to UNT in Denton where I joined the Army after graduating), I wanted to party and be wild and crazy (I had my daughter at 22 and quickly learned that growing up is hard), I wanted a good career, a big house in a nice neighborhood, and a normal life (became a real estate accountant, met a wonderful guy with two daughters, got a house in the suburbs, and have realized that "normal" is a made up thing). This is only to illustrate that as we continue through life, the things that are important to us change as well - however, for me some things have not changed.

I wanted a stable and comfortable home, the security that I could take care of my family, and the ability to teach my children about responsibility, discipline, hard work, and how to find pleasure in the simple things life has to offer. I also wanted to teach them the skills that they would need to be successful in life on their own - things that I noticed very early on, were not as "common knowledge" as I thought they should be. How to cook, clean, and do laundry, how to grow their own food, and the importance of commitment and responsibility.

None of these are easy concepts to learn, but if they are introduced at a young age, they become more of a way of life rather than a intimidating expectation. Because I want them to focus on their school and not "stress" over having to get all their chores done, I have derived a way that there is only 1 daily chore and then 1 rotating chore that shouldn't take more than 10 minutes of their time - I will discuss this in a later post on chores, responsibility, and discipline. We have a small garden where I can teach them about plant cycles, bugs, and about really enjoying the fruits of your labor. The small flock of hens and the two rabbits enable me to educate them on cleanliness and responsibility while caring for something that is completely dependent on you for food and water. Of course, getting the eggs and giving the bunnies treats is just a fun perk that comes with the package.

So what is really important to me? Its being able to spend time with my family and to enjoy being healthy (in my own way) and watching my daughters grow and learn. This is what really makes me happy. I have finally found the Magic in my world and my desire is to share that Touch of Magic with others.

Welcome to A Touch of Magic!

Hello! And welcome to the crazy world that is Me! I am a Veteran of the US Army where I was in the medical field and hold degrees in Chemistry, Accounting, and Business. Screams analytical doesn’t it? I am – however, I am uniquely artistic and very crafty as well and have managed to find a beautiful balance between numbers and art to create a very happy middle ground. Ok, it’s more like a boat rocking from side to side causing me to be more numbers one moment and the next completely disinterested in balancing bank accounts and scrutinizing something and going “Ah, I like this – I can make that”.

Really though, math and science are all around us and this is how I make it work. If I know that the slope of a lawn is a particular gradient in a given direction (Geometry), then the water will flow a certain way (Physics), causing plants to grow at a certain rate (Botany), creating a unique experience each time the sun shifts and dances off a hand painted wishing well-made of reclaimed tires and scraps of wood. This is my version of Paint by Numbers! I also have an ability, my husband might call it something else, to see through a pile of trash to something new and beautiful!

My husband and I have three fabulous daughters and I am going to need all the patience in the world to survive their teenage years but they will step out in the world confident and with the ability to take care of themselves. I will ensure that they can cook, clean, sew a button, and balance a checkbook at the very minimum and do my best to impart an understanding of hard work, dedication, and respect.

Until then, I invite you to join me on my journey to add A Touch of Magic back in the world as I teach my girls about responsibility and joy that comes from Building Homemade Dreams!