In this second half of the book, Kurt stays true to his character from the first half of the book, and really looks to jumping into things right away. Just as his experimentation with honey led to the death of thousands of bees in the first half of the book, Kurt's journey to learn how to make ham led to the waste of large amounts of pork over the course of many years. One would think that after one year of unsuccessful ham production, that Kurt would feel the need to be less wasteful. However, Kurt continued on his own quest to find the best method for him.
One aspect that I found interesting in this latter half was his use of milk to create many different products. In all honesty, this was something that I did not think small farm, like the one that Kurt had, could venture into because for some reason I always imagined that all yogurt, cheese, and butter were created by big machines in large warehouse buildings. In this episode about milk and different dairy products, Kurt describes flashbacks to his childhood and his experiences with different products. One product he talks about is powdered milk, and how his household was unable to afford real milk at one point in his childhood. Kurt contrasts his past to the present, where he has cows which essentially produce him gallons of milk daily for "free". Great job Kurt!
One of the key takeaways from this latter half of the post is that life is unexpected. The small things that we seem to take for granted throughout our lives may actually end up becoming dominating parts of our livelihood in the future. Just as Kurt did not ever expect to become a full-time farmer growing up, I don't expect to be a full-time farmer either. But hey, maybe I'll have a change of heart and take up farming one day. I'll have to make sure that I don't accidentally kill thousands of bees, since they're endangered now.
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