Hello From Alaska!

[ddcurtis]

Hi to all of you from the frigid north. I've been making cheese for a few years now, but only recently in Alaska after moving here last year. Any other people here from the 49th state?

For anyone who lives up here and is interested in cheesemaking, there a number of small dairy farms who sell 'cow shares' so that we can legally get whole raw milk. I get mine from Libby Farm in Kenny Lake. Great people, superior milk.

I just made a Pepper Jack last night, and now am going to start a Manchego. Currently aging a Washed Cheddar, three Camemberts, four Coulommiers, a Muenster, a Stilton and a 'hybrid' Queso Blanco sprayed with white mold....yummy!

Thanx for the great site, everyone.
Dave

[FarmerJd]

Welcome to the forum.

[Brie]

Welcome 49'er! Please let us know about the hybrid queso!

[wharris]

I love AK!.   

[Cheese Head]

Welcome Dave, looking forward to your posts, I'm in Houston but my brother's family lives just down the coast from you in Canada's Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii).

[wharris]

Not sure where you are from, But one of my favorite restaurants is 'The Double Muskie Inn' in Girdwood AK.

That is about 22 miles south of Anchorage.

[Cheesetart]

Welcome!! 

[DeejayDebi]

Welcome aboard Dave. Always wanted to see Alaska.

[Tea]

Welcome to the forum Dave.

[ddcurtis]

Thank you for the cheesy welcome! Geez, I suck...

We're in Valdez, home of the famous earthquake and infamous oil spill. Such a RELIEF getting out of the hell called Southern California and going far north!

The 'hybrid' cheese is looking great - nice covering of snow-white mold, and nice feel when you squeeze it. I'm gonna let it go for about a month and see what happens. Since just about any cheese can be sprayed with molds, why not? Our milk source has been trading us 'cheese milk' for chocolates (we have a small specialty chocolate company) so I get to play with 3 to 5 extra gallons on occasion, in addition to the w2eekly 2 gallons we get for drinking etc. I'm real curious about how it will turn out, since it spent time in the press, unlike the cams and coulommiers I recently made which shrink naturally.

I did another cheddar a couple days ago. this time I tried adding 1 gallon of re-hydrated dried milk to 2 gallons fresh so I could make a bigger cheese. The texture looks good, doing some drying right now before the wax. I love doing new things! One of these days I need to do a recipe over that I like, so far I keep making new things.

Our favorites so far have been:

the feta recipe on leeners.com
Steve Shapson's Camembert recipe (done this about 5 times now)
Ricki Carroll's queso fresco (normal and now molded)
Don't remember whose manchego recipe I've got, but it kicks ass!

you people have any experience using ash? I just bought some and want to have some fun with that next. Make some 'Valdez Fog' blue....

[cmharris6002]

Welcome Dave! I was born and raised in the last frontier but move to the lower 48 when I decided that bears and goats just don't mix

[DeejayDebi]

Welcome Dave. There's a great thread on ash here someplace. Try a search.

[ddcurtis]

Hi Christy, where is your farm now? We currently live in Valdez, but are going to try and get the land staking auction for a parcel near Fairbanks. If we get lucky, we can get up to 20 acres! Part of our plan is to raise goats - I know, crazy me!
Did you ever try livestock electric fencing? I've spoken to quite a few farmers with pigs, cows, goats and all of them say if you crank it up, bears will leave 'em alone. We've had one Grizzly take a swipe at our chicken coop, but it decided on it's own they were too small to bother with. I'm glad, the Troopers don't like it when you have to shoot at the bears...

[cmharris6002]

I am in Kansas now. I have lived all over Alaska but when I left I was in Sitka. It was expensive to ship goats to the island and the Brown bears always got them.  We didn't try electric fencing. I think it could detour a Black bear but I don't know about Brown bears, those buggers are smart and can be very determined.

[wharris]

Goats?  in Bear country?
Isn't that like trying to herd bread crumbs in a New York city park?