The first one!

Here I am, finally in front of the computer, alone.

I've been reading other people's blogs for quite some time now, although I have to admit, I've been quite a skeptic. Why would other people want to read a blog? Don't these people have more important things to do? Take a nap! Do a project! Clean a cupboard! Take a walk! Read a book! Anything, just don't read a boring old blog. I was WRONG!!!

I understand their charm now. I get it. As a stay-home mother of three little ones (5 mo., 2 and 4), I don't have the time to do all the things I would like to get accomplished. Instead of actually putting oil cloth on my kitchen chair seats because that would entail sanding, the chairs, painting them, new foam for the cushions and ordering the funky oil cloth I saw online last week, I just read about someone else doing it. There's just no time for that kind of involved project for me. I live vicariously through fellow blogger-mamas who have older kids and can find time to do the cooking, sewing, creating that I can't find time for. I'm too busy with fun kid stuff right now.... so I read them every night before bed.

I'm a Spanish and French teacher by trade on a leave of absence for this year. I have loved teaching, but know that it isn't my life-job. Actually, I'm wondering if at-home mom and crafter could be my profession. But I also have other vocations that are calling my name. Like, cheesemaker. Like, retreat center host. Like, study abroad coordinator at a college.

First, the cheese. My husband and I are both city kids. We both grew up in the Midwest in urban areas. Something about farms seems to have resonated with both of us and we have dreamed of owning some land in the country. Although our current home is in the city, we bought a 14 acre hobby farm last summer that is 30 miles away, but feels worlds away. The property has a house, an amazing barn, a pond, a hand-full of out buildings, trees and lots of area to roam.

The building that mostly caught our eye was the barn. Soaring beams in the hay loft, whitewashed walls in the lower barn... tantalizing spaces that make me realize that I am meant to be in the country. The previous owners began to update the building, adding a sauna, a hot tub, fixing up certain rooms in hopes of someday using it as an entertainment building of sorts, the animal-free sort. There's a room in the barn, right off the room that we hope to someday use as an artist studio, that is begging to be turned into a cheese making room.

Cheese-making room? Yes, I have no background in cheese, but a desire to learn all about it, specifically goat cheese. One of the other small buildings is the future home of a few goats and chickens who will help provide the milk for my cheese making endeavors and eggs for the kitchen. While living in Paris during college, I took a cheese class, learning all about the nuances of fancy French cheeses. The goat cheese stuck out in my mind, covered with herbs, ashes and more, so delicious! Most recently I took a day long course on Cheese making at the University of Minnesota. Not very instructional in terms of hands-on cheese making, but enough to fuel my inner cheese fire.

I have a few cheese books on my nightstand with directions and a kit in my basement. Someday, when I'm not nursing baby Louise, chasing Gus around to potty train, or helping Carl with his little Legos, I WILL make my own cheese. Mozzarella will be first. But first, I need sleep.