We met Janet Hurst yesterday at the Deutsch Country Days in Marthasville, MO held at Luxenhaus Farm. It is the 30th anniversary of this annual event that demonstrates German life in the 1800s with crafters and artisans aplenty.
"natural dyeing, German fractur, sad ironing, koppolei, wood turning, hide tanning, candle dipping, and rug braiding — just a handful of the eighty primitive skills exhibiting the early German life and trades. Period music, whistling steam, wood smoke and the sweet fragrance of cooking sorghum fill the crisp, autumn breeze".
Janet, farmer and writer out of Hermann, MO, was demonstrating goat milk cottage cheese in 1800s style cooking on a wood fired stove. As my husband discussed our desire to eventually raise goats for both milk and fiber she asked us to contact her if we would like assistance. She is associated with Lincoln University Innovative Small Farmers Outreach Program that provides resources for those associated with small farms or raising animals.
We don't have a good book on cheese making so we took advantage of the situation and purchased her book, pictured here. I've made a cream cheese at home, seasoned with herbs for a soft cracker spread but would really enjoy making all the delicious varieties I see on everyone's blogs. Again, our someday cheeses!
I'll post a little later on in the week about Deutsch Days, a wonderful festival and perfect for a family outing. Little Taylor loved the newer Osage Trail (pre 1800s) section, complete with trappers, hide tanning and Indian flutes (just before the war drums started!!!).
If you would like to find out more about Janet and her cheese, she can be found at her website Cheese Writer or blog In Pursuit of Cheese.
Note: Linking to Simple Lives Thursday
7 comments:
I would of loved to be there. It look like a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind learnig to make my own cheese. I wil have to check out her blog.
Looks like a fun outing! I'm always on the lookout for new cheese making books, thanks! :)
A wonderful way to spend an autumn day. Sounds like a great family outing.
Oh this sounds wonderful. My husband and I are German but born in Canada. Would of been so nice to attend something like that.
Thank you for sharing.
Oh, what a wonderful outing! What are German fractur, sad ironing, and koppolei?
fractur is also spelled fraktur which is a lettering style with some extra German letters, sad irons are flat irons-they demonstrated the old way to wash, dry and iron, , and koppolei is apparently also spelled Kloppolei, which is a bobbin lace- looks very involved although they tell me it's really not that hard. There seems to be dialectal spellings for most things. Our neighbor is from Germany, the Bavaria area, and said things were not spelled the same way in her area.
Thanks for the explanation, Kathy. How funny that a flat iron is called a "sad" iron! ;)
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