6 Nov 2013

So what have we been up to since October when we first arrived? Where are the goats, where is the barn, where is the ice-cream machine?

Well as usual everything is a bit slower and more complicated than expected, but then the nice thing is that organising all of this is our work for now, and that’s a pretty scary but satisfying feeling…

We’ve been enjoying autumn colours here a lot for a start, with the wintering geese (Greylag and Greater White-fronted) flying over the garden every morning and evening to go and feed on the fields or sleep on the ‘Salzhaff’ (the coastal lake that lies west from Mechelsdorf), at least that’s where I think they rest, need to check it out one night! The cranes (grues/Kraniche) have been passing over on their way south as well, tooting and hooting as they passed over our heads…

I’ve gathered elder berries (sureau/holunder) and quinces (coings/quitten) made juice with the Pieper family juice machine, and will store this for future use in the ice cream laboratory! Other summer berries are already waiting for their turn in the freezer, Morello cherries (griotes/Schattenmorellen), Jostaberries (Casseilles/Jochelbeeren), and red currant (groseilles/ rote Johannisbeeren) – this is a great way of learning new words too…

Last Friday we visited our future colleagues and mentors Michi and Andi (who came over from Austria to make delicious sheep milk cheese at the Ostsee) and Jan and his adorable family, living the life with their goats and bees close to Rostock. We’re lucky to have met these people this early on, their knowledge and help is invaluable… So the deal is that I am getting two young ewes (Ostfriesische Milchschafe – dairy sheep from East Frisia) from Michi in November, who’ve already had a visit from the ram and who are due in February-March. In the new year we will then get our goats from Jan, 3 nanny goats (wikipedia says that this is how female goats are called… I guess ‘doe’ is when they are young and nanny when they give milk) who have already thrown their ‘kids’ (=baby goat, I am really enjoying this new jargon), and providing milk. This way I won’t get too overwhelmed in goat and sheep nappies and baby bottles and I can concentrate on my milk maid skills.

That’s it for now, currently the focus is on making sure we can find a good barn for our new friends, and an ice-cream machine that fulfills German hygiene standards… that could take some time