Hello all,
What a great resource this forum represents; I can see I'll learn plenty from over a decade of learned contributions!
I've a biological research background, and now have a smallholding in England near the Welsh border. No milking animals yet but we hope to have goats and collaboration in a local microdairy project. Meanwhile I've spent this year learning cheesemaking with raw milk direct from a couple of nearby farms.
My learning has gone something like this. I spent 5 or more years fermenting kefir, kombucha and veg of all kinds. Cheesemaking began with a day course making soft cheeses and this year I set about learning harder cheeses. I started with farmhouse cheddars, which we ate way too early but enjoyed, then switched to British crumblies like Cheshire which matured more quickly. A simplified Stilton was an immediate success, helped I think by the high cream raw milk obtained direct from neighbouring farms. Mostly I'm now working with a 30L vat (Milky FJ30) producing up to 5kg (11lb) wheels. First I read Gianaclis Caldwell's Artisan Cheesemaking, then reread it when I had some experience. Paul Thomas' Home-Made Cheese got me into pH monitoring, then David Asher's Natural Cheesemaking caused me to rethink plenty of earlier learning. I've now spent a couple of months making all my cheeses with a kefir starter and really like the method. Just about everything has been greatly enjoyed by friends and family so far, even though the eventual outcome hasn't been totally predictable (especially affinage). I look forward to learning more, developing our small facility and cave, possibly selling on a small scale depending on progress.