Author Topic: Hello from Virginia  (Read 2083 times)

goatherdess

  • Guest
Hello from Virginia
« on: June 10, 2009, 12:05:51 AM »
Hi Everyone,

I've been reading this forum for a while now and it looks like so much fun I just had to join!

I have been raising dairy goats for about 15 years now, and making soft and hard waxed cheeses for about 5 years. I hope I might be able bring some of that to the forum. My current cheese projects:
1. Learn more about mold-ripened cheeses, about which I am clueless.
2. Finish perfecting and standardizing my small batch recipies which I hope to publish in a book for people who want to work with 1 gallon of milk or less.
3. Decide which direction our farm is going to go in the next couple of years - upgrade to professional, regulated dairy, or sell some beautiful, productive milking does just because we don't need any more.
4. Figure out how to catch, culture, and tame the wild, but delicious culture that keeps cropping up in some of my cheeses.

Goatherdess

Ariel301

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2009, 02:56:56 AM »
Hello and welcome!

You sound like you've got lots of experience. I look forward to learning from you; and would be interested in your book because I make my cheese in small batches around a gallon. What kind of goats do you keep?

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2009, 03:11:10 AM »
Welcome aboard Goatherdess. Sound like you will have alot of good input.

Captain Caprine

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2009, 01:56:36 PM »
Hi Goatherdess,
Welcome to the forum.  It's always good to see more goat folks coming in.  I can relate to your 3rd point about getting overrun with nice does.  We are working on a business plan and giving serious thought to the design of the milking parlor in the new barn we are designing and plan to build next year.
Cheers
CC
« Last Edit: June 14, 2009, 02:58:56 PM by Captain Caprine »

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2009, 06:13:33 PM »
Welcome! If you need some help with the more technical aspects, like isolating pure cultures and preparing agar plates, just let us know :)

goatherdess

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2009, 07:41:05 PM »
Hi Ariel,
We keep Nigerian Dwarves - that's why I needed small batches. I have a couple of gallon recipes, but most of mine have been tweaked to use 2 quarts each. These are about done as far as inventing and I'm using them in a pretty standard way now. I'm working on the one quart batches next, I hope. My thought was that this would be a fun way for people who don't have animals and use store-bought milk to take up cheesemaking as a hobby. They won't have to break their budget buying lots of milk at the store. Of course, I will have to try all these recipes with store-bought milk before I try to publish them.
Before we had Nigerians we had Nubians and an Alpine.



goatherdess

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2009, 07:43:11 PM »
Hi Captain Caprine,
I'm a fan of your posts, I've been reading them for a while now. We have come to a decision in the past couple of days since I posted this - Keep the goats. Who could sell these darlings anyway? So a milking machine will be needed. Then we'll see where we are in 24 months. I will use the milk to make many batches and finish the cheese recipe book - giving some away if we can't eat it all. Then, if the does keep multiplying…

goatherdess

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2009, 07:44:17 PM »
Thanks linuxboy, I will probably be posting that very question pretty soon.


RoxyNV

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2009, 11:28:07 PM »
Hello from Nevada!  I am new to cheese making and am going to pick up 3 gallons of fresh goat's milk tomorrow for my first attempt a goat cheese.  Wish me luck.  I have made very basic cheese with store bought organic milk that has turned out pretty good.  But I love goat cheese.

MrsKK

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2009, 12:04:49 PM »
Welcome, Goatherdess!  Funny how they have to multiply if you're going to keep getting milk, huh?  I have a cow and have the same problem, with last year's heifer still on the place, plus two beef steers and her current bull calf.  WAY too many for our small farm.

I look forward to hearing more about your cheesemaking.  I make it 5 gallons at a time, but have friends who make cheese in 1 gallon batches, who find it a challenge to age cheese properly without it drying out. 

Captain Caprine

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2009, 03:08:13 PM »
Hi GH,
Just curious, how many are you milking and what kind of yields do you get from them. 
Thanks
CC

goatherdess

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2009, 05:04:04 PM »
Hi MrsKK,
LOL, up until last year I was trying to multiply them, but it's getting kind of exponential here…  I sure hope you like beef and have a big freezer, or were you trying to sell them?

Drying out? Really? Hmm… haven't had that problem. I always cure the rinds under washcloths - underneath and over top. The terry absorbs the moisture on the bottom and protects the top from dust, etc.. I flip the cheese and change the washcloths once a day. Maybe it protects it from over-drying too. Never thought about it.

goatherdess

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2009, 05:23:32 PM »
Hi Roxy,
I do wish you luck. My first batch was a 3 gallon washed-curd Gouda. My equipment was too small for 3 gallons and about a gallon of whey overflowed on the kitchen floor, and the curds were dripping everywhere because my strainer was too small. The floor got really slick and I was holding onto the kitchen table to stay upright and not fall on my… Anyway the next week, after mopping the floor about 3 times, then scrubbing the greasiness off, then mopping again, I went to a kitchen store and bought much bigger strainers, bowls, and pitchers. They asked me what I was doing and I said making goat cheese, but I had to tell them about 3 times, 'cause they kept asking, "Real goat cheese?" Anyway, since then, I have never done anything bigger than 2 gallons… If I have more milk than that I just make 2 smaller cheeses.  Never made Gouda again either. So, are you making that much soft cheese or are you making a pressed cheese?

goatherdess

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2009, 05:47:28 PM »
Captain Caprine,
Our Nigerians give from 1/2 gal. per day down to 6 cups per day. Three to four cups per animal per milking. There are Nigerians who give much more in other herds, but we're happy with the ones we have. We are milking 4 goats this year; if all goes well, 5 next year and 7 or 8 the year after that. That's why we have a couple more years to think about building a dairy or selling more babies. And why I like making mini cheeses.

Cheese Head

  • Guest
Re: Hello from Virginia
« Reply #14 on: June 21, 2009, 07:14:50 PM »
Hello Goatherdess & Roxy and welcome both to this forum.

Goatherdess, looks like you are already amongst goopd company.

Roxy, congrats on your first cheese!