Just another day...

So kidding season has begun and our first kids were born yesterday.   I have been gone during the day for the last two days, attending cheese class at UVM/VIAC, so I missed Katie's kiddings but of course my mom and Meghan (our new intern) had things well under control.  I admit it was very nice to be able to get up early and head off to class in Burlington instead of having to get up even earlier and go do morning feedings before I could even think about getting ready for class.  Meghan just started last week but she has jumped right in and is doing a spectacular job of assuming a key role in the general day to day function of the farm.

Off I went to class this morning, knowing full well that after 8+ hours in the classroom I was going to have to make the hour drive back home at the end of the day and head straight to the cheese room to pasturize milk and set my weekly batch of chevre.  When I got back home around 7 the only doe left to kid was Nimbus so Meghan joined me in the cheese room and we checked in on Nimbus periodically so my mom would get a break from goat monitoring.  At about 10:30pm we headed out, chevre setting for the night, and I was just starting to think about warming up the dinner I'd brought home earlier - only to find Nimbus in labor.

Unfortunately it was not an easy one for Nimbus and after quite a bit of extra effort by all hands on deck she did give birth to 3 live kids - all bucklings.  So, a full day of cheese class, cheesemaking, goat kidding, and 1 vet visit later, it's almost 1:45 am and my head is finally about the hit my pillow for a few hours of sleep before I have to get up and milk. 

Yup!  Kidding season has definitely begun :)

Tale of Three Bellies

So as of this morning there were still not kids - here are the aerial belly shots (L to R: Nimbus, Tatum & Katie).  Of course it was pretty much a guarantee that someone would kid today during the day since I was off at a cheese chemistry class at UVM all day!

And the winner is.....

Katie! 

She had 1 doeling and 1 buckling, both were nice weights and are active and healthy!



With that, kidding season has officially begun!

Nope, no kids yet!

While we expect kids any day now there aren't any yet!  All three moms-to-be have been moved inside the barn into the kidding area for the night, and there is definitely some serious nesting behavior going on, but nope - no kids yet.

Kids won't be coming soon enough from a cheese perspective.  The does we milked through this winter and dwindling and milk production is pretty darn low.  The last of our feta cheese was made up into packages of marinated feta and most of them sold at market today in Montpelier, as did most of our newer aged raw milk cheese, Tweed River.  

Tweed River Tomme started out as an experiment in cheesemaking to produce an "old school" hand made cheese from our farms milk in a French tradition that would be unique to our farm and we couldn't be more pleased with the result - other than the fact that we are almost out of stock! 

To Blog, Or Not?

I guess I'm just not cut out for daily blogging.  Or maybe it's my lifestyle?  Well we'll see.  Kidding season is about to get underway and I'm hoping to post information here about all the new kids as they arrive. 

To start with I'll be posting a link to guess which doe will kid first on the farm this season.  Last year was a little anticlimatic due to the unexpected arrival of Kim-Oh-No, our first kid of the season who arrived in December - on my birthday as a matter of fact!  She was not expected so her early, pre-new year arrival was a surprise.  Thus her name - Kim, oh no!  Her parents names had Japanese roots so naming her after a traditional Japanese dress seemed only fitting.

As we start to get into kidding season a little I'll post a couple contests where subscribers can win free cheese!  So stay tuned.

Artisan or Farmstead??

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.

Dropping the Ball

It has been a few days since I posted, not intentionally.  Yesterday was my birthday so I had the day off from the barn - well from the animal care portion at least.  Thanks Mom!  However, cheese waits for no one so there were cheese things to do, such as brining the feta I made the day before and hanging the chevre I set last night to drain.  Of course there is always a little affinage to do.

Even at the height of our production we are considered a micro-dairy.  Our large vat insert maxes out at 35 gallons and generally during the higher yield milk months I'm making cheese 3-4 times a weeek.  However, currently we are a micro, micro-dairy.  My recent batches of feta and also my last two of chevre were just under 5 gallons each.  And it took me all of my legal holding time to gather that much milk.  At this rate we may be done with active cheesemaking within the next 2 weeks. 

Done of course until the 50 or so does that are pregnant start kidding in mid to late February.  Enter the time of no sleep...  Last year our farm produced around 148 kids between February and July 4th weekend, most of them born between mid/late February and April.   We're often asked what we do with all those kids.  Well, last year some when back to Old Mountain Farm, friends we were leasing goats from (or in some cases had bought does from with kids back conditions) and a couple groups of young wethers went to a friend who raises them and sells them as pets - goats make great pets or companions animals.  All the others we have sold, except for 28 or so that we still have here, some still for sale but others bred this year to kid in the spring or the younger ones who we'll grow out this year and make a decision on them for next year.

I'm please to say that this year we had kids travel to Alabama, Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, Maine, and other points around the new england area.  Some even went to show homes which we are very excited about.  We are quite busy with the farm and cheese so while we have the milk testing part in hand, we haven't had any goats in the show ring.  This year we have goats on the show circuit in a couple places plus just this week 2 of our young does went to 4-H show homes!  I can't wait to see what this next season of kids brings.

Mmmm Pie

The last couple days have been a bit busy.  We built sleeping benches for the does in the hoop house, did a bunch of repairs (broken dolly, replaced missing ladder step to hay loft, etc, etc.).  All in all a lot was accomplished and it feels great to have it all done.

Rob (my boyfriend) works for the Central VT Council on Aging.  The Council hosts a senior meal on Christmas day and they were a little pressed for donations of food for the meal this year.  So last night I made 2 kinds of cranberry sauce - regular whole berry cranberry sauce and orange cranberry.  I was planning to make two pies tonight to donate as well but Rob suggested we do 4 instead - so of course we did!

Clockwise from the top left we made pecan, blueberry (my first blueberry ever!), apple and pumpkin.  Tomorrow night I'll make the pies for our own family Christmas celebration:  French Silk (Rob's favorite) and a new pie for us this year:  Blueberry Goat Cheese Pie with Basil.  I'll post picture of those tomorrow.

As if...

As if I don't I have enough to do.  Today while out running errands I saw these cute little red felt stockings at the check-out line while at Jo-Ann's and got an idea.  Can you say impulse purchase?  So what do I do?  I go home and customize 5 red felt stockings to put out in the farm store in two different designs:  a simple white goat, and peace love and goat. 

As if that weren't enough, as I'm looking up information about a local senior citizen Christmas Day meal that I plan to make a couple pies for and read that they are looking for gift donations too.  Money is a little tight but I do a little google search for gift ideas for seniors anyway and fine these cute fleece hand/wrist warmers and think well I have some extra fleece in my stash of fabrics, I should make some of these.  So I dig out the fleece, thread, etc., make a quick pattern from a picture I found online, and little while later I have 7 pairs of hand/wrist warmers, some to donate and some to gift.

Not bad for an evenings work.  And yes, I know I have other things to work on and that Sunday is supposed to be my day off... I think it's a genetic disorder.

Breathe

Now that the last holiday market is done I can breathe a bit.  Both markets were great for us and the fudge and truffles, especially the truffles, were a big hit.  I even have requests for more truffles!  The only flavor right now is honey lemon and from the comments we received that is just fine. 

Also a big hit is our new Spanish Garrotxa-styled aged cheese - Tordera.  Both markets sold out completely in less than 2 hours.  Tordera has been the first aged cheese that was really mine from conception.  I am enamored with most Spanish cheeses, most because there are many I haven't even tried yet - all I've tried I have enjoyed.  I had quite a bit of expert help with this one too.  I had the opportunity to work with Enric Canut at the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese - one of the foremost experts in Spain on cheese.  It was through his teaching that I was able to produce this lovely little cheese.  We have a little work to do to improve rind development, really want a velvety grey rind, but it will come.  In the meantime, the flavor of this semi-soft cheese is right where we wanted.

Holiday Market

Tomorrow is a big holiday market, both in St. Johnsbury and Montpelier (aka Capital City Farmer's Market).  Since it is a holiday market we've added a few extra items to the booth to make it more special.

I made Honey Spice Dog Treats (with our chevre), Honey Lemon Truffles (with our chevre), Chocolate Chevre Brownies (they are about ready to go in the oven), and considering some cranberry walnut chevre cookies as well.  In addition we have our usual "Goat Note" note cards, goat milk soap, and CHEESE!!!! 

The addition we are most excited about though is the first public outing of our new Spanish style goat cheese.  Tordera, named for a Spanish river in the Catalonia region, is made from pasteurized milk and aged only 45 days.  We are also aging a few wheels at various lengths to consider the potential for producing it from raw milk as well.  If you are at the St. Johnsbury or Montpelier area farmer's markets stop in and see us for a sample of the newest addition to our cheese family! 

Spanish style cheeses have been a large influence on our recent cheese making.  It helps that the cheese maker in charge of making such decisions is smitten with Spanish cheeses and recently had the opportunity to work with one of the foremost cheese experts in Spain, Enric Canut.  You might even see another new Spanish influenced cheese (or two!) coming out this spring.

Just a note to market goers, this may be the last market until February where you can get our chevre.  The girls are drying out in preparation for kidding, which will begin in mid-February, and eventually we reach a point where we aren't producing enough milk to make cheese.

Christmas Goat!

Not much of a post today but I just received the results from our visit with Santa and here are the pics!

 I was a little worried that she was going to try and eat his beard here but she was a very good goat and just offered a little nuzzling.   A good illustration as to why she was the sweet little goat that we selected for a visit to Santa.  Not all the young kids in our herd are quite as sweet!

Thank you Montpelier Agway for hosting Lizzari Photography and of course huge thanks to Lizzari for welcoming Andy the Christmas Goat - they were very patient with her and did a great job of taking advantage of moments she offered.

A friend in cheese

My friend Gail came by yesterday and spent the day here at the farm.  She arrived in time to help me with milking, then finishing up animal feedings, then we headed into the cheese room to pasteurize milk for a batch chevre.  Not the most exciting batch of cheese to make as things go, but I promised her next time we'll make something a bit more fun. 

We took a break around lunch time and shared a wonderful salad of sprouted greens and heirloom tomatoes & avocado, accompanied by what else?  Cheese!  I brought some cheeses home from my cheese event on Saturday and Gail was kind enough to bring two cheeses from her own home cheesemaking.  Along with 3 of our cheeses (2 lactic proovings and our new Spanish cheese), we had quite the cheese plate to accompany our salads. 

Among those making an appearance on our cheese plate were Grafton's two new cheeses:  Shepsog and Red Vask.  Both were good but Shepsog, a mixed milk (cow/sheep) cheese, was our favorite among the two with plenty of lovely earthy flavors and a nice finish.  Red Vask was good, but nothing we would go out of our way to buy - just not enough bang for us in the flavor department.  However, if you like a nice mellow cheese it's a very good choice.

Our new Spanish cheese, made in the style of a Garrotxa, was also on our cheese plate.  We are very happy with it's development.  The rind reminds me of a river rock, but when you cut open a wheel a beautiful semi soft snow white paste is revealed.  Initial tastings have been great, I can't wait to take it to market for the first time this weekend to see what people think!

I think Gail had a good time "playing cheese" and I hope she comes back again.  I had a great time having a partner in an otherwise fairly solitary job.

Santa!

Sunday is normally a day off from farm work, well kind of.  I still have to do any affinage that is needed (that's the care of the cheeses in our aging room), and any other odd tasks that require attention.  However our milk maid comes morning and early evening to milk and feed all the animals so we at least get a break from the major duties. 

Today mom is headed off to Maine to bring some goats back to Olde Mountain Farm, and Rob is off working (some big IT install at one of his offices), so I'm holding down the fort at my house and hers - which really means I'm feeding and pottying all the "house" dogs and making sure there are no major goatastrophes.  All in all it makes for a pretty quiet day around here.  I did have one special task to do today - pictures with Santa!  We selected one of our younger goats to have pictures with Santa and it was hillarious.  She was quite the attention getter when we walked into Agway, but admittedly we certainly weren't alone.  We were actually in line behind a duck for photos!

The photos are supposed to be ready on Friday so watch for them!

Little Goats, Big Cheese!

Part of the lure of farmstead cheese production, for me at least, is the connection directly to the animals that produce the milk.  We were reviewing our most recent milk test results and WOW! This time of year butterfat is on the rise as the "girls" are at the end of their lactation cycle.  It's high at the beginning of lactation as well, and drops a bit towards the middle.  Our annual rolling herd average for butterfat is a bit over 6%.  This time of year we actually have some girls producing as high as 9% butterfat.  To put this in perspective, Nubians are about the highest producers at somewhere around 4.8% and other breeds tend to roll in between there and 3% or a little under.  Granted Nigerian's are smaller and produce less milk, but with higher milk solids (protein, fat, etc.) and considering their feed requirements Nigerians are quite the little milk powerhouses.  Cows on the other hand, require more space, eat a lot more, and on average produce between 2.4-4.5% butterfat.  Even the lovely Jersey milk is usually only in the 5-6% range. 

The quality of the milk produced by our "girls" is vital to the success and quality of our cheese.  We work hard to select cheeses that are suited to our milk type.  Currently I am pretty hooked on Spanish cheeses.  Our goats compare to the milk solids (fat, protein, etc.) of their goats, making our milk well suited to produce some of the Spanish style cheeses.  Watch for some exciting new Spanish style cheeses coming out of our aging room over the next several months.

Just another day

Today I headed down to Bob White Systems, a local supplier, to pickup some additional cheese matting for the aging room, a new curd scoop, some calcium chloride, and of course the latest issue of Culture Magazine! I realize that task alone isn't exactly fodder for a blog post but what was striking about the trip though was how evident the damage was from the last of this years two major floods to hit our state, Hurricane Irene. We took Rte 14 into Royalton and I have to say that the power packed by a flood never ceases to amaze me. You can still see the level of the flood water by the debris it left behind, a ghostly image of the flood waters that once swept through, weaving trees together like a tapestry and leaving unexpected objects in unimaginable places.

Things that grow in the night

When I first started making cheeses I played it safe. Fresh cheeses, washed rinds, absolutely no scary stuff growing on my cheese. I lived vicariously through beautiful colorful photos of bloomy rinds and wedges of colorful cheeses purchased from fine cheese counters everywhere. I wasn't really afraid of making those cheeses as much as I was afraid of growing some unknown deathly mold on my aged cheeses, killing all who dared to taste forth. One author said no red, another said a particular shade of red was great, no cat hair mold unless you want it but be careful because you just can't go back once it is introduced, the options and possibilities were endless as were the imaginable opportunities to fail and make a lethal weapon! Of course I was living on borrowed time.

My first batch of cheese allowed to bloom was a nail biting moment which spanned months. I didn't really have a plan, just an unaged raw milk tomme and a beautiful bloomy rind dream. I bravely removed my chosen tommes from the brine and placed them on the aging room shelves. I anxiously flipped them every day, watching for the first signs of the feared deadly "la fleur." While I admit my reflex at the first signs of any color was to run for the brine and wash it away, I did refrain and learned to enjoy patting down the new flora that grew and even looked forward to seeing new colors as the rind continued to develop. Fortunately, the first batches turned out amazing. And months later the cheese was more incredible. Unfortunately, all the cheeses that were unsold between that first batch and all the cheeses I put away from the spring make season that followed were victims of the May flooding in our area. The flood is a story on its own for a future post.

Jumping ahead in time, past a tumultuous summer in the aging room, we are finally starting to see cheeses we are happy with, and many beautiful flowery rinds. I may be a young cheesemaker but I feel like while our first year has been full of ups, ACS & ADGA wins, and downs, I couldn't have imagined a better learning opportunity and I have certainly become much braver about my willingness to let the scary things grow in the night.

Farm Markets

One of the nicest things about farm markets is all the people I meet. Of course one of the worse things can also sometimes be the people you meet, fortunately that doesn't usually happen. This year we were fortunate to join the Capital City Farmers Market in August as a sub for Mt. Mansfield Creamery.

We were pleasantly surprised when we learned that there was a spot for us at the winter market! It was great to arrive today for our first winter market and find that we are situated close to our summer market neighbors, Gaylord Farm, and right in between the delicious Butterfly Bakery and who else but Mt. Mansfield Creamery.

It was great to be situated right next to another cheesemaker and have the opportunity to chat a little in between customers. I also got a chance to meet another local cheesemaker who is also vending at the winter market, Molly from Sage Farm.

All in all a great day.

Snow White

Having worked closely with some of the best goat milk and the best cow milk, I'm really amazed by the differences in them. The color alone is amazing. Our goat's milk is so white, and the beautiful jersey milk is so golden. Like Snow White vs Goldilocks :)

I don't recall ever really appreciated the qualities of milk before now either. When we were kids I remember getting milk delivered in the early morning hours, and how fun it was to go collect the bottle of cream line milk fom the silver treasure chest on the front porch.  Sometimes there would even be orange juice at my grandmothers.  I remember the feel of the ice cold glass bottle in my hand, the beautiful color of the milk and the way the cream rose to the top.  I never thought about the farmer who milked his cows so we could have that fresh milk.  I never wondered what breed of cows they were, or what their rolling herd milk fat average was, or what kid of solids they had.  Have I truly become a milk geek?

Flocculating

I'm actually writing today from along side my cheese vat.  I finished packing our weekly order for Farmer's To You and find myself just hanging out waiting for my milk to flocculate so figured I'd take the opportunity to write.  If you are in the Boston area you should check out Farmers To You, a great way to get some real Vermont products straight from the farm!

There are actually other similar services in many areas and it is a great way to find wonderful foods, often from farmers in your local area.  Near us we also have the St. Johnsbury Food Alliance which tried their hands at an online market this fall for St.Johnsbury area folks.  The Central Vermont Food Hub, focusing on bringing their customers food from producers in Washington County, VT.  And recently a friend of the farm became involved in yet another local food/farm to the people type service for folks in the Charlotte/Shelburne area - yourfarmstand.com.  As a food producer it's great, and allows us to extend our reach to the consumer with relatively low overhead.

So back to my milk (which by now has flocculated) - working with goat milk today, making Feta.  Feta is actually a good cheese for the home cheese maker to start out with.  The basic process is simple and there are several tutorials on YouTube even!  Actually, what isn't there a tutorial for on YouTube?  Our Feta is made from our own recipe but as the process really isn't that different across the board, we think our secret really has more to do with our milk.   Time to cut the curd!

Tis The Season

Wreath - check.  Lights - check.  Bows -check.  We are officially decorated for the holidays!  Next up, stocking the farm store.  Post flood we've managed to make preserves, harvest honey, make some lucious goat milk soaps, make some cool goat notecards, and of course work on increasing the variety of cheeses well be offering.  I'll also be making truffles and goat milk fudge later this week to bring to market this weekend and also feature in the farm store.  Of course we will also have special dog cookies made from chèvre as well!

Yesterday we took samples of two of our developing cheeses.  The first is a Spanish style cheese from pasteurized goat milk.  We opted to go with a pasteurized milk vs raw milk as our goal is to sell the cheese when it is young.  Although I have to say that I recently tried a piece of the same type of cheese from Spain that was a bit older and YUUUUMMMM!  Our version is looking lovely.  With its earthy blue-grey rind it resembles the surface of a rock, but once I pulled a plug from the center of the cheese a beautiful, creamy white center was revealed which melted in my mouth, full of flavor. I can't wait to see what it is like in another couple weeks.

The second cheese represents our first attempt at a goat milk blue cheese. Blues are tough, but in my opinion, when they are good they are among the best.  When they aren't good thought they can be horrible, really horrible.  I've been told that its just not possible to make a good blue cheese with goat milk.  But after tasting a Italian Goat Gorgonzola, I respectfully disagree.  So, a few months and a fair amount of research later I've come up with a modified recipe for a blue that I hope will lead us somewhere.  Also on the table for future development is a goat/cow blue, in the style of a Spanish Valdeon (a traditional aged Spanish cheese, wrapped in sycamore maple or chestnut  leaves), but wrapping our version in a more Vermont leaf: sugar maple. This will be a project farther down the road as it isn't exactly the right season for fresh maple sugar leaves, and I'd like to gain a little more hands on experience with making blues first.

While our all goat blue is months away from being available, if all goes well our newest Spanish style aged cheese will be available before Christmas.