Author Topic: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...  (Read 5769 times)

tananaBrian

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Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« on: December 17, 2010, 09:05:04 AM »
...or something like that.  Sorry for the sacrilegious bent in the subject line ...I'm a Christian and find it offensive!  In any case, I find it somewhat shocking that NOBODY in Alaska has posted here!  While Alaska may not be the cat's meow when it comes to cow milk (except for maybe certain breeds in the Mat-Su), Alaska is great for goats! 

Personally, I would like to see some posts here about different brands of cow milk and how they have worked out, more info on cow shares and raw milk in the area, more info about goat's milk and goat shares (and sheep shares as available) and how to obtain 'real milk' wherever possible!  Clearly, the biggest challenge to cheese making in Alaska is the milk supply.  Here in the South Central area, we seem to be in a veritable drought when it comes to good milk for cheese.  I had a better supply (via Delta Junction) when I lived in Fairbush than I do here now that I've moved to The Valley... shuckin's!  I wonder if we ought to put together group-buys on Northern Lights Dairy (Delta Junction) milk once in awhile to get true blue vat pasteurized (145 F) whole milk now and then!  They will sell it in 5-gal poly-boxes with only 2-day's notice... Hmmmm.... take turns driving to Delta???  It's only 6+ hours each way from Los Anchorage...

Oh well, onward and forward.  Hope more folks respond to this.  I can't be the only cheese maker in South Central!

Brian


MrsKK

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2010, 01:12:48 PM »
Don't feel badly, Brian, I'm in Wisconsin and there aren't a whole lot of people on here from my state.

Do what I did and buy a cow!  I'd love to share some of her milk, as I've made 20 gallons of milk into cheese, yogurt, and butter in the past week and have more coming every day.  It can be exhausting, but I love it!

Before my cow was in milk, I drove an hour to buy six gallons of raw milk once a month.  Not the trek you are facing, I know, but it was the only option I could see.  I don't use store bought milk for drinking, so I sure didn't want to use it for cheesemaking.

Good luck!

acstokes

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2010, 01:56:29 PM »
Quote
Don't feel badly, Brian, I'm in Wisconsin and there aren't a whole lot of people on here from my state.
I thought Wisconsin was the Cheesehead state---I mean Cheese State! :)


Fred

tananaBrian

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2010, 06:53:42 PM »
I'm surprised too ...of all the states in the union, you'd think Wisconsin would have the most cheese makers around!  Or maybe Oregon, since they are pretty much a dairy state.  Or maybe the Amish regions?  Dunno.  I do know that, according to Arctic Brewing Supply in Anchorage, that there must be a lot of cheese makers in this part of Alaska because they said they are selling a LOT of cheese making supplies, especially this year.  Hopefully those folks will find these forums and we can meet up sometime...

Brian


Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2010, 02:10:41 AM »
Here are some raw milk sources in Alaska. I'm sure there are lots more.

Real Milk

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2010, 07:38:21 PM »
Since raw milk is illegal and cheese is so cheap and plentiful in Wisconsin I guess no one bothers to make cheese. I used to bring a few coolers everytime I drove out their to visit family because the prices were so good in the Cheese outlets. Not all are cheap but there's one huge plant/store in Randolf that is so cheap I don't know how they make money.

tananaBrian

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2010, 09:33:02 PM »
Here are some raw milk sources in Alaska. I'm sure there are lots more.

Real Milk


That's mighty positive thinking of you!  There are only two cow dairies in the state that I know of, the Northern Lights Dairy (in the good milk list above) in Delta Junction and Matanuska Dairy in Palmer.  Palmer is 10 minutes from my house ...but their milk is flash pasteurized at 170-175 F (I called them).  The Northern Lights Dairy is the cat's meow!  Great people!  I called them too!  But they are located 6-1/2 hours away from here, so it's a 13-hour round trip to buy milk from them, and they don't sell it in this area at all ...only in the region spanning Delta Junction and Fairbanks.  The Natural Pantry store in Anchorage has vat-pasteurized, non-homogenized, cream line milk for almost $11 per gallon and that's the one source that I have ...and the milk is low-turnover, often close to its expiration date.  I'm going to have to watch them and buy it when a shipment first arrives ...then have a cheese fandango weekend right after.  As far as I know, there are no other alternatives.  Out in 'The Valley' where I live (we're not in a city), there are several cow-share farms but nobody has any shares available.  You'd get raw whole milk in that case ...and I'll keep pinging those guys until something comes up.

If you want GOAT milk however, there is plenty of that around.  Goats do better in this climate than cows do, and the local farms use breeds that produce well all year around, including during our cold winters.  Not a bad deal, but I'd like both cow and goat milk to be available.  The Natural Pantry is my only option for cow milk ...hope that doesn't go away.  All other milk (all of it shipped 2000+ miles) is either ultra-pasteurized or close to it... Apparently the milk producers want our hobby to go away!

Brian


wharris

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2011, 05:51:59 PM »
I spent some time in Alaska.  I must have ate every kind of meat except bovine up there.

Yak, caribou, reindeer, moose, bison, and and probably platypus (j/k)


I would love to hear about some reindeer cheese! (what a great Christmas gift!)

tananaBrian

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2011, 07:19:16 PM »

That's interesting!  I wonder if reindeer or caribou milk is available somehow?  I wonder what kind of cheese would be the best for this type of milk? Hmmmm.....

Brian


bigkoiguy

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2011, 06:13:23 PM »
I own a small farm in Delta - have two cows we milk during the summer.  Not sure if you've followed news from DEC, but last year Alaska passed a fairly rigorous health standard for cheeseprocessing.  In short, the regulations require registration if you are going to sell cheese and a facility that has six different "areas" for processing, not including the milking parlor.  Because of this, anyone with a few animals wanting to sell cheese is effectively shut out of the marketplace as it is not cost-effective to build a building for so little milk.  The example they gave when the rulemaking occurred was a facility in MatSu that was a separate heated building with all utilities that cost the owner about $125,000 to build.  The lady that built it had 12 goats - so no possible way of making that cost back.  She has since gone out of business.  So, in short, don't expect to see more Alaskan cheesemakers.   Evidently, they are equally draconian when it comes to raw milk.

tananaBrian

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Re: Holy Moses Mother of Jesus...
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2011, 04:36:25 AM »
"We're the Government and we're here to help!"

Now you know why ...well, better not put THAT in print!  :-X

Brian