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The Most Important Room in the Dairy
When I designed our small, farmstead dairy and creamery in 2005, I unknowingly left out what is perhaps the most important and useful room – the Baby Milk Kitchen. After working through a handful of...
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Feeding Kids with the Free-Choice, Cool Milk Method- Peace in the Barn!
A few years ago we attempted to raise our Nigerian Dwarf kids on the “cool milk, free-choice” method. This way of feeding kids involves providing full time access to a bucket feeder, or other...
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Making Yogurt to Feed Kids and Calves
Yogurt not only provides valuable probiotic bacteria to the young ruminant, but it is easy to digest and can remain at room temperature in free choice bucket feeders without fear of growing unwanted...
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Pressing Cheese without a Form
If you’ve ever seen a whole wheel of the iconic US cheese, Vella Dry Jack you might have noticed that the cheese is irregularly shaped and has an indentation on the top that the Vella family fondly...
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Using 3M Quick Swabs to Build a Food Safety Program for the Farmstead Creamery
Environmental testing of food contact surfaces and other surfaces that workers might easily touch and then cross contaminate a product can help you quickly find gaps in your food safety program. If you...
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Fresh Ricotta Balls with Roasted Grapes
I thought I would never get into posting recipes, but I had a lot of fun customizing this recipe for an upcoming class, so hey, why not share with you all? I got the inspiration for this recipe online,...
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The Importance of Monitoring Somatic Cell Counts
Awhile back the FDA raised the maximum number of somatic cells that Grade A goat milk can contain from the former limit of 1,000,000 to 1,500,000. Our state (Oregon) followed suit just this year and...
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Chasing Coliform Counts
I was recently visiting England to attend “The Science of Artisan Cheesemaking” conference and had the great additional luck to visit an amazing farmstead creamery- Hill Dairy in Somerset. Not only was...
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Do Aged Cheeses Contain Probiotics?
Probiotics. The new darling of health and advertising. Do cheeses really contain any of these amazing, essential microbes? While I have no letters after my name (unless I capriciously add them), it...
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Stretchy Secrets – Pasta Filata Cheeses
If your Quick Mozzarella doesn’t always turn out perfectly, despite many recipe’s suggesting that it is “so easy”, stop blaming yourself! Stretched curd cheeses, often referred to by their Italian name...
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Once a Day Milking – a Viable Option for Quality of Life
Think about it, 75-80% of the milk for about half the labor, half the chemicals, half the grain, AND evenings (or mornings) with a few extra hours of “free” time. Once a day milking (OAD), as opposed...
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Listeria Environmental Swabs
Just got and am trying out Insite Listeria swabs – cheap and simple to use for all dairy processors and retailers. Results are pass or fail. I will write an article on it and post it soon. New FDA...
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DIY – Listeria Testing
Should Small Producers do their own Environmental Testing? (Please note, a kind friend at a university is reviewing this article, I will make corrections if advised) Recent regulations and high...
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One pot Lasagna Cheese
Lasagna Cheese – All in one pot recipe for Mozzarella and Ricotta While writing an article for Culture magazine on how to make Burrata, I realized how easy it is to make both quick mozzarella and...
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Aging Cheese on Wood Shelves and Food Safety – a Non-Issue
As a person who tends to want to follow rules, it is sad to be reminded that a good portion of food production regulations have little to do with actual food safety, rather they are the result of a...
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Burrata – Forming the Dumplings
As an augmentation to the article I wrote for the summer culture the word on cheese magazine http://culturecheesemag.com/diy/beautiful-homemade-burrata , here are step by step photos of how to make...
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Excerpt #1 Mastering Basic Cheesemaking
I have just published on Amazon an ebook (5.99) for those just getting started making cheese. It is a different approach than any other beginning book available. The recipes are lessons, each one...
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Excerpt #2: Mastering Basic Cheesemaking
Chapter 7: Rennet-Coagulated Semi-Firm Fresh Cheeses (From Mastering Basic Cheesemaking, 209 page ebook, 5.99 on Amazon) In our last chapter we introduced a bit of rennet to help create our cheeses....
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Disbudding – Using Sedation
In the archives you’ll find my article on the Dehorning Dilemma . Because I seem to like inspiring a bit of controversy, here is a video and instruction on how producers can sedate their kids (or...
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Fresh, Squeaky Cheddar Curds – In about Two Hours
Who doesn’t love fresh, squeaky cheese curds? Plain, slathered with pesto, deep fried, or with fries and gravy as poutine, cheddar curds are fun and delicious. But making them usually involves half the...
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