One of those days

I hate it when I forget something important.  Unfortunately, I am genetically predisposed to putting too much on my plate and well, the end result is that sometimes you mess up.  While it is sometimes important, it has never been life threatening so I step up, take responsibility and blame for my own shortcomings and plod forward.  Today was such a day.

It was however a beautiful day here on the farm.  We had a lovely blanket of snow last night or this morning, and things were flocked in snow all day.  Of course the end result is that inevitably the weight of all this wet snow will pull down branches or sometimes a tree - today, an older tree or at least part of it.  Something to add to the to do list before the snow gets too deep.  Someday we'll get ahead of that list and there will actually be nothing left to check off.  Hey, a girls gotta have a dream!

In the meantime, missed deadlines and downed branches happen and we keep moving forward, remembering to take time to enjoy the beauty around us and all the joy it brings to us.

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.

Keeping up

Thinking of something to post here hasn't been difficult; however, posting everyday is much harder than I thought it would be.  Right now I'm only making cheese a couple days a week but on those days things get a little hectic.  Yesterday was one of those "make" days. 

My day starts with morning feedings, moving milk from the cooler to the vat and then pasteurizing the milk.  We don't always pasteurize milk but we are legally required to for any cheese we make that is sold younger than 60 days old.  So all our fresh cheeses (feta & chevre), as well as any young aged cheeses must be made from pasteurized milk.  While the milk is pasteurizing, this takes a couple hours, I pack any orders that are waiting. 

Yesterday I made one of our Spanish style cheeses that are still in development.  Our goal is to sell this cheese at 45 days so it would need to be pasteurized.  We are planning to age a few wheels of the early batches of this cheese to see how aging improves the flavor before we make final decisions on the long term plans for this cheese.  We may actually make some from raw milk and age them longer depending on the results. 

After pasteurization is complete and the milk is quickly cooled down to the right temperature I add my starter cultures and allow them to ripen the milk, waiting for just a small change in the pH before I rennet.  Once I add the rennet the milk begins to change, becoming a gelled consistency.  Once the gelled milk is at the right firmness it's time to cut it into curds.  The curds are then treated to a process of washing, heating and stirring until they are the right size and consistency, again I'm also looking for a certain pH here as well.

Once the curds are ready I pack the curds into cheese molds and begin the pressing process.   Yesterday my last flip and press of the cheeses came around 6:30pm and I was back out around 8:30pm to remove them from the press and molds.  All in all it was about a 14 hr. work day yesterday.   Not too bad, but hard to find time in there to post here.  I'm working on it though and hope that as our race to finish pre-winter tasks comes to a close I'll be able to take more time to write.

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?