Cheese Class

Last Friday my sister and I went up to Sacramento to attend a cheese class being held in nearby Davis. The class was on Saturday. We went on Friday so we'd have plenty of time to shop.

When we got into Sacramento it was still too early to check in at the hotel so we drove on through to Davis. One of the things I had wanted to shop for was a new bridle for my horse since she broke the other one. (I'm currently using a spare of my sister's.) Prior to the trip I found a couple of tack shops on line that were in the area and we headed out to find this one in Davis.

We found the store with no trouble at all. It was nice because it had a large selection of English tack, something we don't have in Bakersfield. I found a nice bridle and and even though it came with braided reins I bought a really neat pair of reins that have rubber for good gripping. My horse went lame last weekend so I'm hoping it's not anything serious. She is older, after all, and has a bit of ringbone, but that's certainly not stopped her so far. I'm hoping it's just a stone bruise. Time will tell...

Afterwards we decided to see if we could find the location of the class. It was at a Co-op Grocery store and we found it easily enough. I'm sure glad we had my laptop and aircard so we could Mapquest everything!

We broused inside the store for a while. It was marvelous. They had a great deli counter, meat counter, and a good sized cheese counter! We picked up several kinds of cheeses, some crackers, and pears. On the way out of the store we noticed catty-corner was the building where the class was to take place. So far so good!

By this time it was time to check in to the hotel and we headed back to Sacramento. I don't know how this happened but we drove right past the exit and were almost out of Sacramento before we realized we had gone too far. Probably too much yacking in the car.

We finally got checked in and got all our grocery goodies out for dinner. I had brought a small bottle of wine from home and it was the perfect amount for both of us.

I thought the first picture wasn't "pretty" so we decided to play with our food. See what a little food styling can do?

After dinner we went for a walk to the strip mall across the way. On our way there we saw this thistle.

This is the hotel we stayed in, the Residence Inn Sacramento Airport Natomas. I love these hotels because you get a full kitchen. Our room had two separate bedrooms and we each had our own bathroom. It sounds like it would be costly but it was the same or less than a Holiday Inn (regular room) that was suggested to my sister. My husband and I have stayed in this particular hotel numerous times.

The cheese class didn't start until two o'clock on Saturday so we had plenty of time to do more shopping. My sister had heard about the Arden Fair Mall so we looked it up on Mapquest and figured out where we were going to go.

Once again we ended up missing the turn off street and went quite a bit out of the way. We got the computer out and looked again. I'm still not sure how we missed the street but we got there eventually.

We did some more shopping and this time it was clothes for my sister, smelly soaps and candles for me, and makeup and lotions for both of us. With about two hours til class time we found a place and got pedicures.

The cheese class was very interesting, if not a bit intimidating (to me). There were about 18 people in the class and only about 3 of us (including myself) had never made cheese before. And surpringly my sister and I were not from the furthest away. That distinction went to a couple from Long Beach! And I forgot to bring my camera in with me so there are no pictures from the class.

Anyway, everyone was very nice and it was fun. We all got to do hands-on stirring, curd breaking, forming, and salting. We each made our own little camembert (the class was called The Science and Permutations of Camembert) and we were able to take them home. (The pen is to show size.)

It still has several weeks to ripen and age before it will be ready. I hope it turns out ok.

One thing this class did was make me want to have sheep again. But that won't happen until we move to a bigger property (hopefully sometime this year or early next year--I'd rather sooner than later!).

My sister and I had a great time, even though I, for one, spent way too much money. But after thinking about it I don't feel too bad about it. My husband bought a new handgun earlier this year and my purchases were about one fourth of what he spent. So there.

Say cheese! ☺

Say CHEESE!

My sheep milking season is over. Yes, it was brief, all of about plus or minus three weeks, but it's done for this year. I've been working on getting the sheep dried up by feeding no grain. Now I have to get them back into shape for a fall/winter breeding. That means a little more hay and add the grain back in. Baby is still on the thin side but she doesn't seem as depressed as before, which is a good sign. She should be able to put the weight on fairly easily now.

It's a good thing I've stopped milking for another reason. My freezer was getting full of gallon milk jugs full of sheep milk. We are a non-commercial, mostly for family or for gifts only, production. So I don't have a giant walk-in freezer, and my sister, who is on the cheese making side of our operation, doesn't have a giant commercial sized cheese making facility. So we make do with what we have.

Yesterday I went to her house to deliver four more gallons. She's finished with her latest college course and she has a four day weekend coming up. That means she'll be busy making cheese. Here's what she's made in the meantime.
From the top center going clockwise: the tall cheese is a Manchego, a Spanish cheese; Romano; an unknown type home style Mexican cheese (the only one not made by my sister. It was made by the mil of her coworker.); three blue cheeses made with slightly different techniques; a beautiful, georgeous Camembert; and a Libyan cheese called Al Zahra, which is not supposed to have the blue mold but does because it was kept in the same fridge as the blue cheeses.

After the cheesey photo op we had to test the cheeses that were ready. First we tried the Manchego. The texture wasn't quite right. It was a little too firm; it squeeked in my mouth as it was being chewed. But MT knows what she did wrong on this one and it sounds like an easy fix. Otherwise the taste was fairly mild and definately edible. It left a very pleasing aftertaste.

The Al Zahra, even though it's not supposed to be "bleu" was very tasty. It also was a bit firmer than it's supposed to be, again, an easy fix. Still, it had a very good flavor, maybe like a cross between a Muenster and very mild baby Swiss.

The blue, or "bleu" cheese was divine. MT is still having a bit of a problem getting the mold to go throughout the whole cheese, but the texture is right and the taste is absolutely right.

Not pictured in the group photo was the feta. My sister has this one down pat and it's always good.

The other cheeses, the Romano, the Mexican home-style, and the Camembert were not ready to cut into yet so we'll have to wait on those. But the Camembert was so beautiful I found myself constantly oohing and aahing over it like a star struck movie extra.

I put a quarter next to it so you can get an idea of the scale. It is stunning, isn't it?

We'll have to wait a few more weeks before we can dig into those and I can hardly wait!

Meanwhile I'm glad to take care of the animal side of our operation while my sister handles the more technical and complicated production side.

You rock, MT!

My Kitchen Lately

Since it's "milking season" on my micro-farm these days one side of the kitchen sink is always full of the milking gear.

When it's not in the sink being sterilized... ...it's on the windowsill drying out.
The stuff includes the "Udderly EZ" milker components, including two one-quart collection bottles, a couple of funnels to pour the collected milk into cleaned formerly cow milk gallon containers, the Clorox to put a few drops in the sink to sterilize everything, the waterless hand sanitizer I use to wash the teat area of the sheep, and the stainless steel bucket I thought I'd use originally before I got the Udderly EZ milker. The hand milking wasn't working for me so I got the milker and now I use the bucket to carry all the stuff in. The bucket is actually too small for everything so I'm going to use another bucket.

I've decided to stop milking Baby because she is really too thin. On the body condition score I'd have to put her at a "1". The four other ewes are between 3 and 4 so I'm not worried about them at all. In fact, Jamie and Francine are getting close to being too fat. It's too bad Baby is putting everything she's got into making milk. Besides Jamie, she was the best milker. So for two days I only collected one cup per side, just to ease the pressure. I had been getting about three cups per side. The urge to milk her out was very strong and I had to force myself to stop, even as the precious white fluid continued to pour into the collection bottle.

That's how my sister and I talk about the sheep milk: it's liquid gold. Here's one reason why. Check out the prices on the sheep's milk cheeses!

I think I'm collecting more than she can use at the moment. She was off last week allegedly to work on a paper for school but when I started bringing the milk over she was transported to another mode: sheep cheese making mode.

But this week she's falling behind because she's letting other things get in the way. Things like her real job.

It doesn't matter though. Sheep milk freezes exceptionally well and I think besides Jamie the other three ewes are slowing down in their milk production. I just need to make sure I have enough empty milk cartons to put the milk in. I'm getting about a gallon a day at this point (it was almost 1 1/2 gallons with Baby).

Good thing I have a teenaged son who drinks about a gallon of milk a day! (You know, so I can save the containers!)

Cheese Is Being Made

Two gallons of frozen sheep's milk was delivered to my cheese making sister yesterday. She's on vacation this week allegedly working on a school paper. She called today to let me know she had already started on the cheese, a Parmesan (spell check said to capitalize that) or something like that. I let her know I already had another gallon frozen and would soon have two more gallons to deliver. She'll probably make yogurt out of that (YUM!). What a difference having five milking ewes makes over just one from last year. And these aren't even real dairy sheep. Or diary sheep, as my sister kept calling them.

So far my plan has been working. That is, the plan where I let the lambs be with their moms during the night, and separate them during the day. I'm able to feed all the animals and milk Baby, the only one who is totally segregated, while my granddaughter is taking her short morning nap. Good thing I've gotten the animals used to being fed later in the morning (usually any time between 9 am and 11 am).

It's really not as bad as it may sound. I know they aren't near lambing or calving, but studies have shown that when the animals are pregnant and they are fed later in the morning, they tend to have their babies during the daylight hours. That makes it much easier for at least this one amateur farm girl, although I have been known to throw a blanket about my naked self and run out back to check the very pregnant girls during the wee hours of the morning. (Let's not all shudder at once.)

And so, without much else new to report at this time, I share with you the latest photos of the baby. She is here with her favorite baby, an unfortunately hideous doll that actually plays some sweet lullabies when you press on her chest. Her face glows red and as the lullaby ends the glow slowly fades.

I guess there's somebody for everybody.

It's Sheep Milking Season

I think I have my dilemma figured out.

During the day I separate the ewes from the lambs.

Then in the evening when I feed I pull each ewe out. She gets her grain and I milk her of the day's milk. When they've all been milked I let the ewes and lambs all back together for the night.

This helps with the loud and constant baaing and hopefully my neighbors don't hate me too much. The lambs start getting used to being apart from their moms. In fact, during the day they make a little noise at first but then settle down. It's only when they see someone walking around that they start up again.

The only ewe I have totally weaned is Baby. She has gotten very thin, to me alarmingly thin. I put her in the stall at night to keep her apart from her lambs. They do make a little noise when everybody else is with their moms but they settle down fairly quickly. I'm able to give her a little extra hay without the others taking it over and hopefully she will start putting some weight back on.

I tried my new system yesterday and it seems like it's going to work. With the 2 cups of milk I got from the other day at the end of yesterday I had a little over one gallon of milk collected. Sheep milk cheese and sheep milk yogurt is coming soon!

Milking Sheep

In early March my sister broke her leg from a bad horseback riding accident. She ended up having surgery and was off work for a long time (yesterday was her first day back). Since she is usually very active being virtually bedridden for the first four weeks was driving her nuts. When she was able to move about a bit, she still couldn't do a lot but at least she wasn't shackled to the bed anymore.

In trying to find things to do she's been hobbling about her house on her crutches, or scooting on her butt with her leg sticking straight out while she weeds the flower beds, but mainly she's been housebound and bored. She decided to start baking bread. But then remembered she'd have to eat it, and with her forced inactivity that would only lead to way too many unwanted extra pounds.

She asked if I ever milked my cow. I had tried it once but she's not trained for it and wasn't happy about it. I got about a half a cup of milk and decided it was easier to buy it at the store. My sister had decided to try to make cheese. Don't ask me what made her think of doing that, but I like it!

She did a little research on the internet and found a few simple recipes. I did some shopping at the health food store where I found some milk that wasn't ultra-pasteurized and some liquid rennet.

The next day she had some "lemon cheese". It was a bit bland, but I could see it spiced up with herbs or even some spicy peppers. It had a texture similar to a spread cheese like Alouette or Boursin.

Meanwhile she has also been researching dairy goats. Now we're talking! This is something I can get into. More animals!

The LaMancha was different, with little or no ears, and the while the Golden Guernsey is a very pretty red-haired goat it is extremely rare and almost impossible to find outside of Great Britain. The Alpine breeds probably wouldn't do so well in our summer heat. The logical choice was a Nubian or Nigerian Dwarf.

All right! I asked her how soon could we get one? I would even be willing to go in halves with her. We'll get a buck and breed to my cashmere doe. We could practice the milking on her. Slow down, she said. She wanted to be able to take care of it first. Let her leg heal up and then we'll talk more about getting an actual goat.

Last week she ordered a cheese making kit. She made mozzarella! It was delicious.

what's left of the mozzarella, until after the picture was taken

Now I got to thinking. Hmmm. What about sheep milk? Don't they have dairy sheep? Of course there are. That's how they get sheep cheese. Well, now. I happen to have two sheep that are still producing milk for their babies.

The grand idea came to me: MILK MY SHEEP!

I had to get some grain and chicken food anyway, so while at the feed store I bought a nice 4 quart stainless steel pail. I could hardly wait to get home.

I got Jaime Lee out of the pen and led her to the shearing stand. I bribed her with some grain and she climbed up. I grabbed a hold of one of her teats and started trying to milk her. It's not that easy. Finally I started getting a little stream. It was hard to keep any kind of rhythm going because my fingers kept slipping off. I got a tiny bit of milk in the bottom of the pail as well as on my shirt, the ground, etc. Finally it looked like I had more than a tablespoon so I decided not to torture Jamie any longer. She was being very good about my clumsiness.

Jamie's milk in the bottom of the pail, along with some debris (no biggie)

I took her off the stand and gave her another handful of grain. I let all the sheep out at that point so they could be reunited and relax while they nibbled the grass. Then I ran inside to measure what I got.

It turns out it was a grand total of 1/4 cup of milk! And even though I tried to keep it clean somehow little specks of dirt or hay (no doubt from her belly) had fallen in. No matter. I strained it through a paper towel into a little plastic bag and put it in the freezer. I figure it's like when you grow your own fruit or veggies. It doesn't matter if it's got a bruise or bird peck mark in it. At this rate I'll have enough milk to make a half pound of cheese in, what, say about three months?

1/4 cup of milk for our efforts!

I could spend $180 + on an Udderly EZ milker but I'm not ready for that yet. I'd rather get a goat first.

So either we need to get a goat (bigger teats would make it easier) or I'll have to train Ladysmith to let me milk her.

Meanwhile... Oh Ewenice! You're next!

Hurry up and get well m.t.!!! We have THINGS TO DO!