Hey there!!! From Foster, Rhode Island

[LegendsCreekFarm]

My name is Aden, and I have been making cheeses for many years. This past December my partner and I purchased our 35 acre dream farm and have begun to pursue all our goals. Eventually we want to have a legal cheese kitchen and become sellers in our state, but for now we are practicing with our 2 milking Alpine goats. We will expand soon to sheep and cows also but for now we are enjoying being able to use milk from goats we raised instead of having to buy the raw milk from other farmers. I have been lurking on this forum for over a year and am glad to be able to finally join and hopefully contribute, and get help to the hundreds of questions I have!!!

[zenith1]

Welcome to the forum Aden. Good luck on the certification process-I hope that you sail through all the state's hoops!

[Priestman]

Good luck with the licensing, Aden.  We are just starting our second year up here in NH. 
No regrets so far;  Mistakes a-plenty, but no regrets.

Paul
THE BIG FARM Creamery
http://www.thebigfarmcreamery.com/

[LegendsCreekFarm]

It's a nightmare. They want me to get a separate septic system aside from the one for my home, even though the one for my house is twice as large as needed for the house. I am also on private well water which will pose a problem, but we are taking it one step at a time and we will be there eventually!

[anarch]

Good luck! 

Honestly, the hoops to jump through in regards to certifications for both a dairy and a commercial kitchen to make cheese are so intimidating to me, despite it being what I want to actually do.  I have the small farm.  I have animals.  I make cheese.  BUT, I can't seem to come up with the money to do it all, without having a day job, which in turn limits my time to actually DO anything.  Sigh. 

That is crazy about the separate septic, what is the rationale? 

Well water can be overcome at least. 

[LegendsCreekFarm]

I really have no idea why they want a separate septic, and not sure what my alternatives are in regards to the well water. It will take a few years to get where we need to be, and I have spoken with the head honcho about my plans. At some point during the year I plan to have him come out so I can discuss plans with him, and then put everything on paper before I build out the kitchen, and hopefully he will sign off on it with no problems at all. It will be a process to say the least!!

[george]

Welcome, Aden!  I'm in East Providence - but I'll remember to wave every time I pass (sort of) through Foster on my milk runs.  What sorts of cheeses are you making other than the chevre?  (Yes, I checked out your website.)  Of course I'm just being a bit opportunistic, 'cause I'd love to see how you do some of them if they're not something I've dared try yet.    

[Priestman]

Don't be discouraged by all the licensing rig-a-marole. 

(I know this is a little off topic for the cheese forum--though more people being licensed means more good cheese to buy and eat!)

You will want to have dairy waste separate from your home septic system because the fats and proteins in the whey and waste milk will break your septic.  You will need some other type of system---depending on the volume--perhaps dry wells, or holding tanks to pull solids and disperse liquids over a wider area (sort of like drip irrigation), or pigs to take your whey! 

The key thing is to come up with some numbers in terms of your expected water use and waste and start talking with your inspectors about that, and it will probably take a while to sink in for them.  They're accustomed to cow dairy which typically uses an extraordinary amount of water for cleaning equipment and moving waste, and generates considerably more milk waste during cheese production.

If you're hand-milking a dozen small ruminants and making <1000 pounds of cheese a year, your system profile is just a speck in comparison to most other farming operations.

Keep up the good fight.

Paul
THE BIG FARM Creamery
www.thebigfarmcreamery.com

[LegendsCreekFarm]

Thank you for the encouragement! It is indeed a process, but we won't get discouraged at all. It's the financial aspect of things that makes it tough for us but we will indeed make it happen! I can understand now about the private septic system, but as you said there won't be much waste just yet as we grow and expand. We would like to work with cow, goat and sheep eventually and expand it into a very large portion of our business. We will get there!!

George (MaryJ), that is so cool you are also from RI! It's nice to have a neighbor who enjoys this as much as we do! We actually make all sorts of cheeses and have been doing so for years. The only thing we haven't attempted is blue cheeses yet, but we are going to try one next weekend! Hopefully it will work out for us!

[anarch]

The local artisan cheese place near me uses whey for feeding pigs .  Maybe you need a couple of pigs too.  Mmmm, procuitto. 

[LegendsCreekFarm]

Lol, i plan on getting a few pigs real soon for meat, although I would use my whey for Ricotta, so what the pigs would get is leftover whey with no fat in it, im sure they would still love it!

[DeejayDebi]

Hello Aden and welcome.
I am also just down the road from you in CT near the Mohengan Sun casino. There are some nice farms in Foster congrats. Love the little critters they are adorable. If you have been lurking for a year you already know how friendly and helpful everyone is so just chime in and ask what you need to know.