Hi,
We are experienced and avid homebrewers, cider makers, sausage makers and love to smoke various meats, poultry, fish and veggies. I guess moving into making our own cheese is just a natural progression.
We have raw cow and goat milk readily available to us and have been making mozzarella and ricotta for a couple of years.
We've come here to learn from your experiences.
Jim & Rose
Hi Jim & Rose
Welcome to this website & forum, lots of great people and posts here. Where in the world are you located? Have fun!
We are near New Paltz, NY .... very close to Minnewaska State Park and Mohonk.
Welcome to the forum. How do you come by your fresh milk? Happy cheesemaking!
Welcome Jim & Rose. I have relatives in New Paltz - Rasmussens. Nice area. We get up that way a couple of times a year. I know it was a cold Summer up there. There were lots of mold and fungus problems this year because of the cool damp weather. Tomatoes took forever to start ripening.
NY has some sort of "producer provider" laws. I can buy raw cow or goat milk from several farmers directly. We use a place in Stone Ridge NY.
Yes, the weather this summer was not fun, it really wasn't a summer at all. The majority of tomato's were a lost cause for us.
FYI - Whey is a good "natural" fungicide. Just spray it on your plants. Mold and fungus hate the lower pH.
Welcome Jim and Rose.
We had the tomatoe blight here in CT too. I heard it went from PA to Maine. Funny thing is I have two sweet 100 plants on my window sill at work that havebeen there since spring of 2008 and never gave more than 3 tomatoes each. After that cold snap we've been having they are budding again and better than ever!
I read somewhere last year that they suspect the ortho grass weed killer for doing something to the plants to stop them from producing. Apparently it can be blown by the wind and travel for miles. Seems odd that the same two plants that failed to produce for two seasons are now producing.
I am also a homebrewer, meat smoker and sausage maker. I look forward to your posts.
Good morning Jim and Rose and welcome to the forum. A lot of us here also homebrew, sausage make etc, so you will fit right in.
What cheeses have you been making so far?