As January whizzes by, kidding season is fast approaching. While I am primarily a cheesemaker, being a "farmstead" cheesemaker adds a lot more to the definition than just cheese. Being "farmstead" implies that we make our cheese with milk from our own animals raised and milked on the farm where the animals are raised. Our cheese is also "artisan" cheese - produced in small batches, with attention to the tradition of the cheesemaker's art, and using as little mechanization as possible. Cheese made by hand.
With the farmstead chapter comes milking and goat care. In order to get milk - you need them to get pregnant and have kids. Seems simple enough. Well maybe simple isn't the right word. Life during kidding season is definitely not simple. My mom handles most of the kidding watch, but at least one night a week I take that duty. Sometimes it's quiet, othertimes just sleepless, and then here are the busy nights. We are always glad when kidding season is over, but somehow as it rolls around again we still get excited to see the new kids arrive and ramp up the milk production once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment