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.
Showing posts with label milk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label milk. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Friday, December 2, 2011
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?
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?
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