Homestead News, Volume 2

I don't know where the time goes, but lately it has gone flying by. So much so, that I really have to think about everything we've been doing. I'm sure I'll forget some things that I wanted to tell you, but here goes. News from the homestead.

Before

It's easier to remember what happened today first. We started off by taking Pearl to the vet for a haircut. For the past few years, I have been giving her a haircut with scissors, and we were looking into some clippers when we discovered that the vet's wife gives a 'country cut', or that's what she likes to call it. So this morning Pearl was transformed. And all that hair only weighed two pounds! She will be much cooler with our hot, humid summer weather coming.

After

 







The next exciting thing that happened today is that Penny, her two boys, and Buttons moved to Faith's house. Faith has long wanted to have goats, so today was a dream come true for her. She asked me when they were leaving if I was crying. She knows I have cried before when some of my adult does have left, but not this time. I was excited and happy for Faith. Besides that, we went over and visited them already this afternoon. Faith and her husband have a great place set up in their barn for the goats, as well as lots and lots of pasture/wooded area for them to graze once they get acclimated. That made this a very neat day.

 

Penny and boys

Buttons

At their new home

The garden is really starting to grow well, and to my eyes gets more beautiful every day. I ran our Mantis tiller around the squash hills and here and there to knock down the weeds before this latest round of rainy weather hit. I also managed to replant the okra and some of the cow peas, cucumbers, carrots, spinach and beets that didn't make it. The green beans that I replanted last week are doing great. It's a new variety that we haven't tried before. I'll let you know if we like them.

 

The new section of the garden didn't grow anything. I'm not sure if the seeds were old or got washed out by the heavy rain we had a few weeks ago. So far the only thing I have replanted there was more pinto beans along the trellis. The rest will have to wait for drier days again.

We have started eating turnip greens and salad fixings from the garden regularly. Tomorrow I am going to try my hand at freezing turnip greens like you do spinach. I have the directions in Stocking Up, and thought I would give it a try. We don't expect the actual turnips to make since hot weather is coming, but are very happy to be able to enjoy the greens for now.

 







We moved the water tanks away from the barn so Frank could brush hog there. Our plan is to put down some heavy plastic, build a base with treated lumber, fill it with sand, allow that to settle in, put guttering on the barn, place the three 1550 gallon tanks on the pads, and run the guttering into the tanks. This will give us water for the animals, as well as the 'animal feed' garden we are going to plant in this pasture if it ever dries up enough to really work on the ground.

We've continued to make wheels of cheddar about two days a week and are up to 12 wheels aging in the frig, with 4 more drying on the cabinet. We will make two more wheels tomorrow and wax at least two of those that are drying. 

We have been saving eggs for the incubator which Frank will fire up tomorrow. This will give us some meat, but the concentration on this first batch will be replacement hens for our current flock. We have a Buff rooster which we like, and he will add some good qualities like size and demeanor, to our next flock of hens. We will probably hatch two more batches through the summer to resupply our freezer and some jars with meat.

This coming week we have another big event taking place. One week from today, if all goes according to plan, we will be bringing home three piglets, two boars and one gilt. We are beginning a whole new adventure raising American Guinea Hogs. One of the boars will be raised for meat, the other for breeding. We will share our adventures, which we hope will be mostly successful, as we go along. This is something we have never done before. We have fed out a few feeder pigs along the way, but never raised any to breed, so keep your fingers crossed for us. We have chosen this particular breed for very specific reasons, which we will discuss in more detail in another article dedicated specifically to the pigs.

We continue to make and consume sauerkraut almost everyday. The batch we started on April 22nd was removed from the crock yesterday. We used one whole head of cabbage and it made about a quart and a half of kraut. Instead of removing about a third of it and leaving the rest in the crock, this time I removed all of it and started another batch. The new batch consists of about one and two thirds head of cabbage and about two cups of shredded carrots. Since I have started shredding the cabbage there isn't any issue with having enough natural juices to cover the vegetables in the crock. I continue to add a good amount of juice from the previous batch to boost the fermentation process. We have really begun to enjoy the kraut and are very glad we have been learning this process.

 










Each time we walk out the door, if the wind is not blowing too much, we are greeted with the wonderful aroma of honeysuckle. It is blooming in profusion.

There are also lots of wild privet blooming here and yon around the house and along the fence rows. It is more subtle than the honeysuckle, but smells wonderful all by itself.

The wild blackberries are growing by the bazillion. I really look forward to picking and picking and picking. Last year I did an article about free food for the picking. I wonder if anyone else around is eyeing all of this free food the way I am.

We are picking just enough strawberries to have some each morning with our breakfast. There is just no comparison to frozen and fresh. They are a welcome addition to our daily fare.

Now, it's time to go feed and milk the goats, gather the eggs, put the chickens to bed, feed the dog and cats, and see if any of the goats laughed at Pearl's haircut. She does look rather different. Then it's time to fix supper, finish up this post and wait for the next round of storms to come through. Life is busy and blessed. 

Until next time - Fern

Fern's Cheese Making Tips

Now that Frank and I have been making cheese for about four years, we have worked out some kinks, developed a working routine, and figured out how to solve some problems that were

Our first wheel of cheddar

affecting either the ease of the process or the flavor of the cheese. Except for reading my cheese making books, or articles online, I have never met anyone that makes cheese. Much of what we have done, and continue to do, is trial and error. And, as with any new venture, once the basics are somewhat mastered, the time of real learning can begin. It's like gardening. Once you have grown a particular plant for a few seasons, then you really begin to figure out how to increase production through proper soil conditions, moisture requirements, insect pest control and companion planting. I once heard an analogy of comparing learning to an onion. As you peel off a layer, it reveals more of the onion. I think cheese making, gardening, and many other ventures are the same. The more you learn and master, the more is revealed that you can learn.

Making cheese. It takes some time, equipment and good, quality ingredients. All of the cheese we have made comes from our own goats' milk. There have been a few batches of mozzarella along the way that I tried making with milk that I had skimmed the cream from, but it just doesn't taste as good as whole milk, so we don't skim the cream before making cheese. I have already written articles about making several different cheeses, as well as how I wax our cheddar, and will list them here for your convenience. 

• Fern's Cheddar Cheese
• Waxing the Cheese - No, Not Really
• Making Buttermilk from Culture
• Making Mozzarella Cheese
• Waxing Cheddar Cheese - Finally!
• Chevre Cheese
• Fresh Herb Cheese

 


There are also several more articles and recipes for using some of these cheeses, like making cheesecake from Chevre, listed under the page, The Things You Can Do With Milk, found at the top right hand corner of the blog under Things To Read.





I included a picture of our first wheel of cheddar for a couple of reasons. One, I was very excited to actually begin making cheddar, and two, because it tasted awful. It was rather disheartening to finally have a dream come true, only to have to wait a couple of months to find out it was very bitter with a strong after taste. After two years, yes two years, we began to wonder if all homemade cheddar was supposed to have this strong, bitter aftertaste. Well, it's not. Most of our cheddar up to that point ended up with a reddish kind of mold inside the wax. It wasn't mold in the normal sense, like that stuff that shows up on your bread or old leftovers in the frig, but it was something that was obviously growing in there. So, I read all of my cheese making books and did many online searches. That was a couple of years ago, so I can't give you the sources of my information, because I don't remember where I found them. But this is what I discovered.

 






One. Before you wax any cheese for aging, brush the entire surface well with apple cider vinegar, then let it dry for a bit. Do this after you have let it sit and form the rind for a few days, according to the directions for the type of cheese you are making. The vinegar will help kill any surface bacteria on your cheese before you encase it in wax. Two. Keep your wax as hot as you can get it during the entire waxing process. I wax with a brush, not the dipping method, which is much faster that applying layers of wax with a brush. There is a post

listed above about waxing. At first I was melting the wax, then turning off the heat. According to my research, the wax needs to be as hot as possible during the entire process. This also helps to kill any bacteria on the surface of the cheese. The result? No more strong, bitter aftertaste, and a wonderful cheddar flavor. Needless to say, I was very happy after two years of making cheese to finally discover the reason for my much less than desirable cheeses.

And the best way to clean up those wax drips from the stove and cabinet? Paper towels.







Some other tips I found along the way for making cheddar have caused me to adjust a few things. I only ripen the milk and buttermilk for 45 minutes instead of an hour. This will lessen the acidity somewhat. Reasons for too much acidity can vary, with one of them being the animal you milk. I also use just a hair less rennet than the recipe calls for. As we've have gained more experience, and identify certain flaws in the process, research has been very helpful in increasing the success and flavor of the finished product.

 







Another thing I discovered recently is how to keep the wheels of cheese from being very difficult to remove from the mold after the last 24 hour press. It appears that it is natural for some bacteria to grow between the cheese, cheese cloth and cheese press. This can make it extremely difficult to get the wheel out after is has sat for 24 hours. To alleviate this, wipe down the inside of the mold, the surface of the press and the follower with apple cider vinegar. I did this the other day and it worked great. The only place the cheese stuck was to the base of the press. I put the vinegar on the follower and mold with a cotton cloth, but forgot to do the base. But because I overlooked the base, it showed me just how effective this technique was.

Making buttermilk from a commercial culture is very easy, as I outlined in the article above. About the only thing we do different now, is keep a continual supply by using about 1/8 cup of our existing culture to inoculate the next batch. This limits our need for commercial buttermilk culture to the first batch of the year when we begin renewing our cheese supply. With the double batch of cheddar we started this morning, it was time to culture another quart of buttermilk.

Mozzarella cheese is fairly easy to make and doesn't take the time or attention cheddar does. We can make a quadruple batch of mozzarella in about four hours, while an equal amount of cheddar takes about eight hours and more babysitting, meaning you have to tend to the next step more often, so you can't get really involved in any other projects or chores while making it. The hardest thing to learn about making mozzarella is the stretching process, and it's almost impossible to describe in words. The first batches I made tasted okay, but the consistency was like rubber. Really. Kind of like chewing on one of those rubber balls kids used to play with. But we ate it anyway. Frank is a wonderful man that way. He will usually try to eat anything I make, even if it's like rubber or has a strong, bitter after taste.

There are a couple of things I am doing different this year when making mozzarella. First, I read that you can save the brine and reuse it many times. That was great news. It always bothered me to use 1/2 cup of salt per batch of cheese, only to pour it out. That seemed like such a waste of salt. We tried adding the salt to the curd, like some recipes recommend, but like it much better when the cheese is soaked in a brine. Second, I am using water to stretch the cheese instead of whey. I liked the idea of using whey since it is a natural byproduct of making cheese, but it seemed to be the cause of the cheese souring long before I thought it should. Since I have changed to water, we haven't had that problem.

Chevre. Even though chevre is versatile and can be used in many different recipes, including cheesecake, I have never really liked it much. We have tried seasoning it a number of different ways, from dill, to garlic, to ranch. Frank likes it in a celery stalk, and I will eat it, but I can just as easily do without it. We haven't made any this year because we still have some in the freezer. Chevre is by far the least labor intensive cheese to make. Just remember to roll it back and forth in the cheese cloth before you leave it to hang. It gets a lot of the whey out, and leaves a nice soft cheese.

I'm still experimenting with the pressed herb cheeses. So far the only type I have made is with small green onions and fresh garlic. The flavor is good, but the texture is not. The only thing I can figure out so far is that I press it too hard. It is a little dry, and it squeaks in your teeth, which I don't care for. I haven't tried any more herb cheese yet since we are working on our goal of getting 30 wheels of cheddar waxed and aging before the garden produce starts coming in. We have a number of herbs growing in the herb bed that would make a nice herb cheese, so I will be experimenting more later in the summer.

 






We have worked out a very good routine for making cheese as well. The equipment we use is well suited for making a large double boiler. It also processes many vegetables for the canner in the summer. Using a double boiler makes it easy to control the temperature of the milk and curd without scorching or overheating the milk on the bottom of the pan. Long thermometers work very well for our 12 quart stock pots. Any type of cheese press will work. We prefer this version because it doesn't take up much room. Our kitchen is small and many times when we are making cheese, cabinet space comes at a premium. 

I have tried to 'hurry' the process along before by trying to put hot instead of cold water into the double boiler. This just doesn't work. Regardless of what type of cheese we're making, the curd ends up separated and kind of stringy instead of a nice, solid mass. I have also tried using milk fresh from the barn before it has been chilled in the refrigerator, but I get the same loose, inconsistent curd. So the lesson I have learned from this is, allow adequate time, use chilled milk with cold water, and follow the directions for whatever recipe you are using.

Temperature of the milk/curd

Temperature of the water in the bottom pot

When you are heating the milk or curd to a specific temperature, let's say 88*, don't heat it all the way to the desired temperature if you are using a double boiler. Does that make sense? Probably not. I got the temperatures too hot, if only by a few degrees, more than once, and ended up taking the cheese pot out of the pot of water, to either maintain the correct temperature or to cool it off. I've learned to turn the fire off when the temperature reaches four to six degrees cooler than the desired temperature. So in the example of 88*, I turn the fire off at 82*, wait about ten more minutes, when the desired temperature is reached. The pot of water is usually warmer than the milk or curd, which is how the correct temperature can be maintained over the 30 to 45 minute time period most curd is allowed to ripen or set up. I occasionally don't keep a close enough eye on things and still have to take the pots out so they don't get too hot, but I was glad to figure out a better process so I could leave the curd in the double boiler for a more consistent temperature.

Making cheese is one of those things that I provides me with tremendous personal satisfaction, not to mention something good to eat. I hope these tips have been useful, and if you have any questions I can answer, please let me know. I am by no means a skilled cheese maker, I think I still fall in the category of a novice, but I will be happy to share whatever I have learned.

Until next time - Fern

Waxing Cheddar Cheese - Finally!!

It may not be standard practice to blog about an experimental goof-up when you first start blogging....but I did. That is just part of life. Mistakes and experiments that flop are all part of learning and living.....at least it is for us. 

So, with that said, we made cheddar cheese again. And  this time we used two cheese presses like we had in the past.  

We start off by putting the curd in the press for 20 minutes at 15 pounds pressure. We tighten the press down until it feels right.

After 20 minutes, take out the cheese, turn it over and press again for 20 minutes at 30 lbs. pressure.

At this point I pour out the whey that has been released during the first press. There will be more during the next few presses, but this is most of it and it can get messy.

After the cheese has been pressed twice, remove it from the press again and put on a new cheese cloth. Return it to the press for 2 hours at 30 lbs. pressure.

 

Frank noticed how I had tightened down the cheese press a while back and gave me some advice. At first, when I was trying to figure everything out, I wasn't paying attention to the alignment of the follower (the wooden or metal disc used to press down on the cheese) and the large screw handle used to push down on it. Several times I had it pretty crooked which wasn't working very well and eating away some of the wood around the hole in the wooden follower shown above. So, if you use these types of presses, make sure you have them aligned correctly or you may cause some damage. 

After the 2 hour press, remove the cheese, put on another new cheese cloth and press again for 24 hours at 40 lbs. of pressure.

At the end of 24 hours, remove the cheese and set it out to dry. This will take three to four days depending upon the humidity and temperature of your house.

Here are the two wheels fresh from the press.

 


Drying
Day 1 - darker rind beginning to form



 

Day 2
The rind is quite a bit darker, and feels drier to the touch.

There is not much cabinet space left to work with - 2 wheels drying and 2 more in the presses.

Day 3 was busy and went by without any pictures. 

On day 4 for the first batch of cheese and day 3 for the second batch, I decided it was time to wax all of them.

 Some of the cheese we made last year is a little dry, others have a good texture. So I am going to experiment, yet again, and see how these compare when they are aged.

This is my cheese wax pot. We had a small sauce pan that had been cooked dry and was discolored so I chose it to use for the cheese pot. Whatever pan you choose to use for wax needs to be dedicated to only wax because it is very hard to clean up. The wax is heated in a double boiler because it can explode if exposed to direct high heat. You have to be careful not to get water in the wax because it may pop similar to water in hot cooking oil.  

One of the great things about cheese wax it that it can be reused. When it is taken off of the cheese, wash it with warm water, dry it carefully then store it in the cheese pot. I need more wax for these four wheels, so I cut another piece off of the five

 pound block I bought and add it to the pot. I buy the wax in bulk, and keep some extra on hand just in case I can no longer acquire any more.

The first year I made cheddar, I had some mold grow inside the wax as it aged that gave it a bitter after taste. I read everything I could find about taste and made changes in the ripening time which will reduce the acidity. I also read that keeping the wax at 220 degrees will help kill any mold spore that may be on the cheese. And the third thing I read said to brush on a layer of vinegar to kill any bacteria that may be on the surface of the cheese from handling or sitting out to dry. So now I do all three of these things each time I make cheese. 

I label and date the cheese when it is waxed. If there is anything notable about a particular batch of cheese I put that on the label.  The ACV stands for apple cider vinegar.

For these two batches, the 'more dry' and 'less dry' comments will help me remember my experiment to see which one has the more desirable moisture content.

There are two methods of waxing - dipping and brushing. I choose to brush it on because it uses a smaller cheese pot and much less wax.  The brush I use is made for waxing cheese. The bristles will stand up under the high heat of the wax.

I coat a flat side first, then 'paint' around the edge, finishing up with the other side. I try not to make a mess and waste any wax, but as you can see it is drippy, so I have a piece of waxed paper on the cabinet.

Starting in the top, right corner and going clockwise: first wheel - no wax; second wheel - one layer of wax; third wheel - two layers of wax; and fourth wheel - three layers of wax and ready to have a label attached. Some books recommend five or six layers of wax, but I find three works just fine.

  
I 'paint' the label on after I have completed the three layers. I cover it with just enough for it to stick because I will peel it off when I wash the wax for reusing.

There. Four more wheels that we can eat...........in January! 

While I was waxing these four wheels of cheese and writing this post, I thought it would be interesting to show one of last year's wheels. I was surprised to see that the next one ready to eat was waxed one year ago today!

I try to take the wax off in just a few pieces. It makes it easier to wash.

After the first piece is off it is pretty easy to remove the rest.

Peel off the label.....

This wheel tastes like sharp cheddar! Yea! It is a little drier than I would prefer, but this is one wheel that is a success...one year later.

Making cheddar cheese definitely goes along with one of Frank's old sayings - Postpone gratification for long term gains. We have lived by that motto for years and it has always served us well.

Until next time - Fern