While the Kingsolvers are on vacation they visit many friends with small farms. And at one point they visit the "Cheese Queen". Ricki Carroll is the founder of New England Cheesemaking Supply and gives workshops in her own kitchen on making cheese. She has also traveled to many places and learned about the different techniques of making cheese (Italy and the Republic of Georgia). I learned that you can use store bought milk to make cheese as long as it is not labled ultra-pasturized. Also, there are many legalities connected to producing and selling dairy products. Many states have regulations that make it very hard for small-dairies to sell directly to consumers. Some of the over bearing restrictions are: "the milking house must have incandescent fixtures of 100 watts or more capacity located near but not directly above any bulk milk tank; it must have employee dressing rooms and a separate, permanently installed hand-washing facility". The small-farms will have a house right next door with indoor plumbing that cannot count though. Mrs. Kingsolver and her daughter, Camille are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is not a disease but is instead when someone is not born with a gene to allow them to drink milk after around four years old. When curdling milk to make other products such as cheese and yogurt, the bacteria eats the lactose making it more digestible for people without the gene.
On their trip the Kingsolvers stop in Vermont at a diner called the Farmers Diner for lunch. They speak to the owners and learn that all of the products are grown within an hour's drive of the diner. At a friend's farm that they stay at they see birds clearing bugs from fields and fields full of lightning bugs at night.
They get home from their trip and have to weed a lot and their chickens and turkeys start to mature right after they return too. They need to choose a rooster from her younger daughter, Lily's flock. In choosing a rooster they have to find one that will care for all of his hens and keep them safe. A flock can only have one rooster so the decision has to be long term. During this time squash start to come into season and they have so much extra squash that they do not know what to do with it. At Lily's birthday they make chocolate chip zucchini cookies and all the kids love them but cannot guess what the secret ingredient is. They even give the recipe in the book.
Please keep reading our blog to learn more about the Kingsolver's year away from processed foods.
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