Cheddar today

Making cheddar cheese again today. Used yogurt as starter. I made the yogurt a couple days ago from raw Jersey milk and it makes the creamiest cheese ever. I can't wait to see what it tastes like.
My washing machine is giving me trouble once again. It has been making the worst piercing, screeching noises lately. Today it wouldn't finish the rinse cycle. I think our repairman is probably getting as sick and tired of it as I am.
It's not raining as promised. I think it's in the low 40's.
Everyone is in school today. Let's hope the bug that was w/ us earlier in the week is G-O-N-E!

Just flurries

No big snow here yet, just a few flurries. But the wind is sure howling!
Yes, still making cheese. I have 2 gallons of fresh Jersey milk waiting to get up to temp down there. Today I think I'll wing it. I can't seem to find a recipe that calls for all the things I feel like doing today. I'm going to use yogurt for a starter....oh, I don't know. The hardest part is the wait. Hopefully all this cheese I've been making isn't awful. Since it has to be waxed and aged for months I have no idea if it will be any good in the long run.
We had another new baby calf over the weekend. She's a heifer and all black.

Still hooked on cheese making

It's the weather and I'm itchy to be doing something creative. Would rather be playing outside in the dirt getting gardens ready. Yesterday I made 'brick cheese'. That didn't work so well. It was only supposed to press for 12 hours but this a.m. it was still way to crumbly so I put it in the press. I don't have high hopes it's going to stay together.
Last night we waxed two of the cheeses. They look really good. Time will tell. We now have to wait month to see if all this energy has been worth it.
This a.m. I made a chive and garlic cheese from raw cow milk that only needed to be pressed for 2 hours. I wasn't very impressed but the neighbors loved it.
I need to look up on the goat calendars to see when the kids are due to start arriving. I'm looking forward to that.
Our guests left this a.m. They're now driving back to a warmer climate down south a bit. They were great.

Cheese blog from Feb 3rd

I had a blog on our website and it had to go. It wasn't working correctly. That is why these entries have old dates.

I spent the morning making cheese. Usually I get side tracked and forget I've set the timer or can't seem to get the temperatures just right. Not today. Everything went quite smoothly and the mozzarella came out great. There is probably 2.5-3 pounds of nice fresh cheese. I make the cheese with raw milk from our Jersey cows. Sometimes we experiment and make cheddars, or jack. We've made provolone and many soft cheeses as well. Later on I'll make ricotta with the whey that I saved from the mozzarella.

Cheese blog from Feb 6th

Feeling domestic this morning….. I’ve been busy again today with my cheese making. I’ve got a batch of Monterey Jack setting right now. I just cut the curd and need to keep it at temp for a while longer. Meanwhile the cheese I made yesterday came out of the press this morning and is now in a salt brine. I also started a buttermilk culture that will be used in making other types of cheeses. Butter was on the docket this morning too. Made a decent size batch of butter from the cream fresh off the top of 2 gallons of raw milk. I’ll freeze a little bit for baking and try to use up the rest right away.

Today I made Colby cheese

I made Colby cheese today. The last couple of days I made Monterey Jack. All of these cheeses were made with raw milk from our Jersey cows. The Colby is still in the press, the others are drying and they will all be waxed w/in the next few days.
To read the blog on our website, go to http://www.falkenburyfarm.com/blog