Nate completed the CAT/5 test yesterday and we got it in the mail for scoring. Today was a great day for a field trip. We visited Bravo Farms Cheese Factory in Traver, CA, just south of Kingsburg. They make cheese on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So, today we got to watch them make cheese. Nate will illustrate the process (in blue) and I will fill in the details.
That's the milk getting mixed. This vat holds 800 gallons of milk. Culture (bacteria) and salt is added to the milk. It is stirred slowly for a couple of hours as small curds are formed. We had lunch (and visited the gift shop and ice cream shop) in between checking the progress of the cheese.

That's the milk when it's acting like Jell-o. As the curd formed, they used these to cut the curd into small pieces. What you cannot see is the this wires about 1/4 inch apart. They cut the curd in both directions.

That's the milk getting drained. They drained the liquid from the curds. The liquid is called whey. Now you (and I) know what curds and whey is.

That's them stacking the curd up. After the whey is drained, they stir the curds to get as much liquid out as possible.

That's the curd when it was completely drained. They packed the curds along the sides and squeezed out more liquid. Then they cut the curds into chunks and moved them to another container to dry further.

Those are stacks of curd in the tub. The chunks are turned periodically to allow them to dry more.

They were cutting the curd up. Then the chop the curds up into small pieces. They gave us some cheese curds to taste at this point. It was a bit salty and had the texture of mozzarella, although it was white cheddar. I guess it needs to age for full flavor.

They were putting the curd in the boxes. They put the curd in these boxes, then put them in a hydraulic press that compressed the curds into 40 pound blocks of cheese.

The cheese factory also has this awesome tree house. You can go in and climb all the way to the top floor. The staircases inside were quite narrow. But, I managed. It was really neat.

There was also a lot of old farm and dairy equipment. This wagon was cool.

Definitely a fun field trip and close to home. I think we will this again sometime, maybe when Jacob is on vacation. It will be fun for him too. We brought home some fresh cheese and some chocolate treats. You can't go wrong with that!

We are officially on spring break here, to coincide with Jacob's. It just makes things easier. But, that doesn't mean that learning stops for either of them. On Wednesday, we went to the zoo. I often think of Nate as my little monkey. He has always been a climber. His hands are smaller that the orangutan, but well shaped for swinging and climbing.
This baby addax was born on Sunday, the 17th. According to the zookeeper's note, there are only 300 addaxes in the world. The are very endangered. Mama kept nnudging the baby to get up and walk around.

Nate gets a "giraffe's eye" view of things.

The giraffes are some of my favorite animals.

This is one of the coolest, and most intact, snake skins I have ever seen. If you look closely at one end you can see the head. It looks like the mouth is open.

This looks like the photo should be turned. But, this lizard was hanging on with his back legs and reaching out for the leaves. It was kind of funny to watch.

Something new we learned on this trip: the difference between a legless lizard and a snake.

Then we had lunch and fed the ducks.

We did not realize at first that this one was nesting. She let us know real quick to stay back. Being in such an open area I hope all goes well for her and her babies.

We finished our day with train ride. This train has been around since I was Nate's age and was always part our family outings to the zoo.

We had a great outing. It seemed a lot of animals were feeling sluggish this day. It is just starting to warm up. It was neat to see nesting ducks (and other birds in the aviary) and new babies. We also got a glimpse of anteaters mating. I did not explain this to Nate. We'll save that for another trip. But, I love spring!

One of the perks of being involved with a homeschool group is field trips. We have some awesome families in our group that are involved in different things. One family arranged a field trip for us recently to Scicon, which is a school campus that is used for nature study. This field trip was specifically to learn about local salamanders, also known as California Newts. This is the time of year that they migrate to lay their eggs.

Adult salamanders live on land in lush areas, near shade and water so their skin does not dry out. They migrate to the place where they were born to lay their eggs. But, they do not lay eggs every year. We followed a trail along the stream where the salamanders are know to come to lay their eggs.

Nate loves the outdoors and was in his element.

One of many salamanders we found.

Nate was not interested in holding it.
Brian did. This it Tina our salamander guide.

Nate pointed out all the waterfalls along the way.

Nate in the middle of the stream.

Salamanders have an interesting courting ritual. Several males will surround one female, trying to get their scent on her. This is called a salamander ball. The males have previously left a sperm sac nearby. The female will choose her mate and find his sperm sac to fertilize her eggs.

There were about 5-6 salamanders in this ball.

Another friend we spotted on the trail.

Just a pretty picture.

Spotted this guy hiding under the rock.

Another salamander ball, in shallower water.

And one of my favorite photo from the day. Just because. My guys on the path together, not trying to kill each other.