Ooooh Cheese - my favorite topic! I have made lots of different cheeses over the years, but concentrate mostly during the summer time on soft cheeses, such as chevre (a french style cream cheese), feta, crottins, and camemberts. When I first got into cheesemaking, I stuck with soft cheeses, figuring it would be too much trouble to make the hard textured cheeses, but, I changed my mind after a couple of years. I milk my goats "through", meaning I don't breed them every year because they are big milkers (l gallon or more a day), and I milk them right through their breeding season and have milk year round. I milked one of my Oberhasli's continuously for 4 years. Milking them through is a nice contiunous supply of milk for me especially in the winter. That is when I make hard texture cheeses, such as parmesan and romano. It takes 4 gallons of milk to make one wheel of the italian cheeses. It also takes 4-6 months for them to age properly. So, I make these cheeses in the winter and age them in my basement, and then they are available in the summer. It is very satisfying to have shelves of your own cheese aging in the basement or wherever. The best source of cheesemaking information is The Cheesemaker's Manual by Margaret P. Morris. She is from Canada, and I also buy all of my cheesemaking cultures from her as well. She is a VERY nice person, Very knowledgeable, and a great resource for reasonably priced cheesemaking supplies. She has a website at: glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca. I own just about every cheesemaking manual published and hers is definitely the best. I teach cheesemaking workshops occasionally, and I tell any new cheesemakers to pick one cheese you want to make and perfect that technique before you move on to another one. It is easy to jump in and want to make all kinds of cheeses at once, but it can get complicated. I tell new people that cheesemaking isn't really hard, it is somewhat time consuming in that you have to pay attention to temperatures and cultures and try to keep ahead of mold growth if you are aging cheeses. I have also been selling my cheeses at the local farmer's market in the summer for the past 8 years. It has been a nice source of revenue for me as it helps pay the grain bill. I have also educated the northern portion of our city on the finer aspects of good goat cheese. Most people turn up their noses and tell me some horrible story about goat cheese they had that was awful. I usually tell them that most imported goat cheeses are fairly strong in taste and smell - but - fresh cheese is absolutely wonderful. I always have samples out for people to try and they love it (most of them anyway). I started out making cheese using goat's milk and vinegar to curdle the milk. It is an easy recipe, but after a while I couldn't stand the flavor. Making chevre is SOOOOOo easy and it is sooooo good and versatile that I was sold.

As nonrepresentative specimens, it's interesting that Cnetter's spouse and I enjoy leaves snatched in passing. Participation on an herb tea thread in the herb forum a few months ago ran something like 7 to 1 in favor of the male gender. I asked a rhetorical why and the guys promptly clammed up. As far as snatching things tho', I'm also very inclined to snatch brassica leaves and various weeds. Don't think I'd especially like to smell like 'em, however. Mints are fine, I seem to prefer spearmint but we now have about 10 different choices in the yard. But for tea, I generally avoid the true mints. Broad sections of the yard are of little use to me, anymore. Chamomile is really fine but the flavor seems like apple - maybe an "unusual" kind of apple. And yes, for 20 years or so, I was a tobacco abuser. Cigarettes were always the handiest but I wasn't choosy. At various times, pipes and chewing tobacco also made there way into my hands (and mouth :o(. Besides a decent tobacco, the flavor I was most interested in for the pipe was apple and I usually had a slice in the pouch. Licorice was the choice for a nasty tobacco mouthful of something to spit. Never went much for the menthol nor wintergreen and such. That was my brother's orientation but, then again, he didn't spit - swallowed instead . . . oh, lord! . . . I think he's finally off the dope. Nothing like cancer surgery to wake a person up a little. In a century or 2, I'm hoping to essentially BE loam. Right now, rolling around under this searing Summer sun has kept the moss off me. digitS'

I started with MP soap many years ago & added everything-- fresh fruit, ground spices, you name it-- & never had a problem. Grapefruit seed extract & Rosemary extract will inhibit rancidity in added oils; potassium sorbate will inhibit some rot in water-based materials. If you are worried about your products, tho', make a small batch & let them "rot". I find a sunny window in a humid bathroom will tell me lots in just a few weeks... I started CP soap WITH MY CHILDREN when they were in kindergarten & never had a problem, but they were not allowed to 1) mix the lye or 2) pour the lye into the soap. They WERE allowed to stir the soap, dump in the oatmeal, etc. but usually got bored & wandered off before we even got that far... We hated the goggles, but loved the long yellow gloves (which you can find in pink, too & with rings, even.) However all that said, if I am teaching soap, I INSIST that the person/group have a babysitter there for all kids under 12 because once CP soaping has started, you cannot stop it & don't want your attention diverted from it. Plus, we Moms have to have some time to ourselves, you know... I remember getting up really really really early in the a.m. to make a batch before anyone bothered me....

Sure why not? What smells if not scented? The finished soap, or the soap base? I'd guess the finished soap would smell like the base, or little bit of the oil you add if it has a scent as well. Olive oil is a great skin oil.