Puppies!

Meet Meg and Jack, the latest additions to the farm. (Jack is on the left, Meg on the right.) They are Great Pyrenees, and are intended to be our barn dogs: dogs to look after the animals, and keep a general eye on things... right now, they are just bundles of untrained energy. However, we love them already.

All is well at Bosky Acres, albeit very, very busy. We're hoping for a quiet holiday before things get even crazier when kidding season hits in the spring, and we start really ramping up on the cheese production. The feedback we have gotten so far has been extremely positive, and sales so far have also been encouraging... Thanks to everyone who has supported us in this journey, and Happy Holidays to everyone! You'll be hearing more from us after the holidays.

P.S.

I can't believe I forgot.
Have you met our saintly friend?

He keeps a weather eye on things round here. Much thanks to the family for sending him along. =)

Oy Vey!

And we thought things were going to get easier... No, making and selling cheese is full-time job. But at least we're no longer dependent of contractors and other construction types. (Nothing against them, really.) But the space is finally ours, and we've even made it through a few weekends at the Farmers' Market (pictures of that to come).

In the meantime...

The milking parlor:

The Cheese Room:

THE CHEESE:

The Big Day

Ladies and gentleman, we will be selling our first batch of fresh goat cheese at the Matthews Farmer's Market... tomorrow! If you have been following this blog and have been looking forward to the chance to finally get your hands on some fresh goat cheese, please come see us. It's going to be a big day for Bosky Acres.

Today Is A Day That Will Go Down In History

At least for us it will. For today is THE DAY that Bosky Acres Inc. has received it's dairy license. Yes, we are legit. And we passed inspection with a perfect score. You know what that means right? That means CHEESE. Next Saturday, people. Be there.

Getting that piece of paper was such an insane process, up until the last few moments. It took months and months of planning, weeks and weeks of working, nights and nights when we were up past our bedtimes working. But oh, the cheese... it called to us. And now we can start making it and (most significantly) selling it.
We'd party, but everyone is just too tired at the moment. Mostly everyone's been walking around going, "I can't believe we did it..."

Keep checking for more pics of the finished building, and perhaps our first batch of cheese!

The End Is Near (And In This Case, That's a Good Thing)

Well, no, we haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. We weren't struck by lightning, and no one has picked up and flown to the Caribbean (tempting, though). Although, it might have seemed like it here, for which I can only apologize. We have actually been so hard at getting this thing done, no one has had time to stop and think. Add in delays caused by scheduling problems, and some plumbing issues (we won't go there), and school starting, we've been up to our eyeballs in all of it.
Progress has been made, however! In the past month we've gone from this:

To this:
(It's such an improvement, we can't even comprehend it yet.)



From this:

To this:The pasteurizer (a highly significant piece of equipment) is also finally here, and hooked up.

And lo and behold! We have running water, even after all we went through to get it.

Yes, we have persevered. In a pretty big way if you look at how far we've come, building this from the ground up. Now a dairy license could be ours as soon as Thursday. No, you can't stop progress...
Stay tuned, please because I promise to be more conscientious about updating again.

Let There Be A/C... Wait, I Mean Light.

Progress Report:
Floor tile has been laid, the process of finishing off the floors has been initiated. (After an excruciating, but rewarding search for just the right tile.)


Doors have been hung, at last making the place feel like an honest to goodness building. Isn't the red fetching?





We're all wired up, too.


The biggest news has been saved for last. That being that Duke Power came over this morning with some large, invasive truck/machinery (I was trying to sleep, naturally) and hooked us up.That's right, ladies and gentleman. We have power.


Which means not only light, but air conditioning! Which is nice considering it was 102 degrees Fahrenheit outside today, and probably will be again tomorrow. Hopefully no one will end up melting before the week is over.

Monday is check your truss day

Sweeet!

They called at 7:30am.......

And we were ready to check our trusses....

All hands on deck, these guys made it look easy, truss me, not easy....

Look goaty girls, you got to truss' us, this is gonna be Sweeeet!

The best laid plans........................

Progress and Neglect

Well, I arrived home from Chicago to significant changes. Observe perfectly painted, drywalled ceilings. Also note that the electrician has started work.

Windows have also finally been installed. No more gaping holes in the wall.

And perhaps most exciting of all, some of the equipment has started to arrive. Like The Sink.
It's much larger than it looks in the picture. We also have tables, and more sinks, and even a pasteurizer on the way. Last but certainly not least, the large empty pad of dirt will soon be a new BARN. A BIG one... This more than anything is going to make a huge difference in how smoothly things run around here. Needless to say, we can't wait to use it.
All this work has meant that the yard has been sorely neglected. It has been weeks since anyone mowed... Evan fought through some of it the other day, but I am still worried it will soon turn into a vicious jungle of a yard - waiting for us to wander unsuspectingly out into the grass and then quickly trapped in to the long grass and devoured...
But what's the loss of a kid or pet compared to finishing the project, right?

Are we there yet?

No Molly, were not quite there.............

But progress is being made my dear.
The HVAC guys visited, and....

A steel headed octoventilator has taken roost.....

And our neighbor Chris has installed posts for..........
These lovely trusses, which will have a CoverAll Barn stretched over them.....

And it has been so hot, our doors have turned red..........

And this week has been like the back of a shampoo bottle. Up at 6am, at work by 7, home by 5, hang drywall, tape, mud, sand......

Wash, rinse, repeat!

Which is why the posting has been so lame; our primary blogger Miss Ivy has been enjoying a hard earned vacation with the Chicago Ant.

Anyways, progress continues.

5 Weeks to Cheese

HVAC, electric, plumbing, painting, stainless, windows, doors, milkstands; It's already to long for a haiku. An epic poem would be more appropriate anyways, since it is closer, and somehow farther away now. We are tossed between the dairy inspector, the budget, the weather, the contractors, the vision............yet remains the singular goal; the License to Operate

You Can Walk In My Cooler

Dadum. That's what that big hole in the wall was for. (You were wondering, weren't you?) It's a walk-in cooler for storing all of the lovely cheese we'll soon be producing...It's terribly professional looking, even though it took twice as long to install than it should have. But there it is, just waiting...

The roof is finally, at last, totally and absolutely done. (Whew.) The inside is just about all painted. Doors are waiting to be hung.
Now comes lots of finishing work inside. Wiring, tiling, sealing, more painting. Stuff like that. It's like a marathon. We've come a long way, but we can't see the finish line quite yet.

Yep, We're Still At It

At last, the torturous process that was getting the roof on is (pretty much) done. It's waterproof, anyway.Which means moving on to windows, doors, and getting the electrician in here. But before the electrician can start, we have to paint all the walls... So, dad has been rolling on primer like a madman. Really, his stamina is astounding. But he is the master painter, so of course he had to do it himself.



And the result is beautiful.