The Journey of the Milk, Part II

After the milk has cooled for a day it is time for its transformation into Consider Bardwell Rupert, Dorset or Pawlet cheese.  First, each milk can is poured into the cheese vat (it takes at least 2 people to lift the full cans) which has a water jacket that heats and cools the milk to the required temperature for each type of cheese.  Since these are aged, raw milk cheeses, the milk is not actually heated enough to pasteurize it.
Cultures are added, the milk is stirred, curds form and are separated.

Cheese makers Chris Gray and Leslie Goff break up the curds, readying it to
be made into Rupert.

Leslie lifts a mass of very wet cheese curd and lifts it into the mold.

Chris wrestles a Rupert into a mold.

Leslie stacks two Ruperts to press out the whey.

Whey drains from the Ruperts in their molds.

Once removed from their molds
Ruperts will soak in their brine for a few days before being moved to the drying shelves.

Ruperts and Pawlets drying after being brined.  After a few
days here, the cheeses will be moved upstairs to the aging cave.

One of the Pawlet caves, where I spend most of my time moving, turning
and washing each cheese with solution.  This needs to be done at
least twice a week. The Pawlets, which weigh 10 -12 lbs,
 are on the left, with the oldest in the foreground
the youngest in the back ground on the left and the right.  Smaller Manchester cheeses (an aged
goat cheese weighing about 2.5 lbs) are in the foreground on the right.
All of these cheeses age from 4-6 months.

Dan, at work washing the Ruperts, which weigh between
25 and 40 lbs each, in the upstairs Rupert cave.  These
cheeses also need to be tended twice a week and will age for about a year.
The youngest cheeses are on the left and are much lighter in color
than the oldest cheeses, on the right.

So there you have it!  The journey of Wayward Goose Farm milk
all the way to Consider Bardwell Farm cheese.  At the appropriate
age it will be taken from the caves,
packaged and shipped to fine stores and restaurants all over the country.
We are extremely proud of our roles in the production of this
amazing food, from the care of our cows to the aging process of the cheese.
To learn more about the cheeses of Consider Bardwell Farm,
visit the link in the upper right corner of this blog.

The Journey of the Milk, Part I

Readers of the blog may have noticed that posts have been much less frequent as of late.  That is because Dan and I have been working part time at Consider Bardwell Farm for the past few weeks and there are few spare minutes.   I thought this might be a good time for a pictorial essay on the progression of our milk from cow to cheese!

Here are the ladies in the parlor at milking time.

They love to have their photos taken.

The milk enters the bulk tank via the pipeline that runs
from the milking parlor to the milk house.  There it is cooled until the day of the scheduled
milk haul, usually every other day, when Dan draws the milk off into new stainless
steel milk cans and takes it half mile up the road to Consider Bardwell Farm.

Dan loads the cans onto the Consider Bardwell Farm truck.

The wayward goose, as always, supervises.

Arriving at Consider Bardwell, just up the road.

Reed helps move the full cans of milk from the truck to the milk cooler.

After the milk arrives at Consider Bardwell, it stays in the milk cooler until
it is time to be made into cheese, usually the next day.  My next post
will show 
the transformation of Wayward Goose Farm milk into
miraculous Consider Bardwell Cheese!

Alpine Freshens!

Alpine took advantage of a nice sunny day last week and finally decided to freshen.  Since she was
overdue, Dan suspected the calf would be a bull.  

No one else was paying attention, what with the fresh load of hay Dan had just
dumped in the feeder.  Even Jackee, notorious for her baby napping ways, was
otherwise occupied....

With everyone else busy,  Alpine finds a satisfactory spot to
get down to business.

Looks like it's coming correctly, front feet first.

A couple of good pushes and the head and front legs are out.

It would've come out on its own just fine, but I couldn't resist acting as midwife.

Like any good mother, Alpine immediately starts taking care of her baby.
Dan's right.... it's a bull.

This time it's Mickey who wants to claim the little guy for herself.
It's only a matter of minutes though before Jackee comes running and joins in
with the cleaning and fussing, offering all kinds of advice.  Before long
she is worrying over the new baby as he teeters on his new legs, following
him around as Alpine lets him eat.  She will just have to be content with
her role as auntie.

View from the clothesline

It's shaping up to be an unseasonably warm, sunny and, most importantly, dry day so I headed out the back door to the clothesline with a load of freshly washed sheets, pillowcases and various other laundry this morning.  As I pinned the first damp piece into place, my mind full of all the other things I need to do during this rare mid November balmy spell, I became aware of a slow, steady munching noise.  Kimora, Addison, Alice, Maple and Neysa were all standing around the breakfast bar enjoying the bales of hay set out for them by Dan before he began this morning's milking.  The first three, all Brown Swiss heifers due to freshen in February and March, and the last, Maple, a Jersey heifer due to freshen sometime next July, are all youngsters who don't need to be in with the older ladies, eating all the primo hay.  Neysa, now dry and due to freshen in about 2 months, no longer needs the best hay, but still needs a place to rest and relax until she's on the job once again.

The pleasant sound of their munching was a nice, soothing accompaniment to the fresh smell of the laundry as I hung each piece on the line.  Every now and then, those girls would look up, mouths full of hay, as they blissfully powered their way through the pile before wandering off to relax in the sun.  Life is good.