The phone call

Talked to Garry last night. More he asked me where things were because he was making cottage cheese. It was morning there, and nearly midnight here and I had been asleep for more than an hour when my tablet ringing woke me up. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to answer the call!

 me after t only 20 hours aware

I am still sleep deprived after spending 48 hours without a bed, what with the train, waiting to check in at the airport overnight andthen a long seven hour layover in Amsterdam and going back in time traveling to the US!

 He said that they had problems selling enough milk to empty the milk tank on Monday- it was the May 9 holiday and the day after one of the big holidays, the Sunday after Easter, when people visit the graveyard and have a meal with their ancestors. It is the busiest day for driving the highways, with every car that can run pressed into service as everyone tries to return to their home village.

Anyway, by Wednesday he had to get the tank empty so it could be washed and filled with fresh milk to sell, so he spent most of the day running the separator making slevki (very heavy cream-you can stand a spoon up in it). He said he gave most of it to the group homes to eat. The skim milk was set aside to separate and make cheese. Ukrainians love natural products so they let bacteria, warmth and time turn it into cheese. Garry was looking for the curtain fabric he strains the curds and whey with. I knew where that was but I don't know what happened to the big green enamel pot he cooks it in, I seem to remember that he lent it to someone.

Hopefully he got all his excess milk turned into something useful. I am sure all the group home students and families are happy eating them. This excess milk problem happens a few times a year, and he hates to just throw milk away. The milk buyers complain that they can't sell anything after a major holiday because no one has money, having spent it all celebrating.

He told me that on Thursday afternoon he had visitors from Brazil. Four guys stopped in, whoever they were visiting had heard of us and so they came out to see the project. Garry said they were there about an hour and several of them spoke English so it was easy to communicate.