Mmmm…. Alfalfa

Contrary to popular opinion goats do not eat just anything. Yes, they can be impish and grab a piece of paper out of your hand and start to chew it up, but when it comes to the food they ingest for nourishment they are fastidious, choosing only those hays and forages which give them the nutrients they need. We learned this quickly living in New York as we watched in dismay as they rooted through a clip of hay for that choice piece of timothy while a large pile of rejected grasses accumulated below the feeder.

Now that we are in New Mexico the goats are eating alfalfa-grass mix grown right down the road from us in the South Valley and are no longer as wasteful because they LOVE it. The three of them look great and their milk production is on the mark.

Desi with a mouthful of the good stuff.

Basil, Garlic and Walnut Goat Cheese

One of my favorite recipes for herbed goat cheese I learned from a friend I knew in San Francisco. He was a chef and explained the recipe is those vague chef like terms, just add a bit of this and a bit of that. At the time, I still needed recipes to follow, though now I’ve graduated to the bit of this, bit of that cooking school.

Basil, Garlic & Walnut Goat Cheese

1. Toast approximately 1/2 cup walnuts (I generally toast a lot more and then add extra nuts to cheese or save for snacking). When cool, chop. Set aside.

2. If using store bought chevre, let cheese come to room temperature. Blend 8oz of cheese in a small bowl till smooth and soft. Add a handful basil, finely chopped. Add one or two minced or crushed cloves of garlic, depending on how garlicky you like your food. If you’re not a fan of garlic, mince the garlic and use a small clove. Add the walnuts to the cheese. Adjust seasonings to taste. Sometimes I sprinkly finely chopped walnuts over the top of the cheese before serving.

This cheese is always a big hit. Caveat: I never measure amounts, and I usually make 2 pounds at a time with this cheese (this is based on the amount of milk my goatie girls produce on a daily basis) so take the recipe amounts with a grain of salt. -Jen

Thanks, Desi!

Making Goat Cheese

Making your own goat cheese at home is simple. Chevre, queso fresco, neufchatel, farmer’s cheese are all varieties of the same type of fresh soft cheese (though neufchatel is traditionally made with cow milk). If you can’t get fresh raw goat milk, then I suggest using cow milk, as store bought goat milk has been pasteurized and is usually “goaty.” Fresh raw goat milk has a clean sweet taste like cow milk (only better). A fresh soft cheese made from cow milk will be much more bland than goat milk but you can dress it up with herbs.

I usually make cheese with 1 1/2 gallons to 2 gallons of milk because that is what I get from a day’s milking right now. You can make smaller amounts with say half gallon, just adjust the amount of culture and rennet you use. For reference a gallon of milk will make approximately 1.5 to 2 pounds of fresh cheese, depending on the animals stage in lactation (has to do with milk solids vs. water in the milk).

Step 1. Gather your milk. Only use clean fresh milk. I don’t like drinking pasteurized or homogenized milk, but you can use this kind of milk. Just make sure it is as fresh as possible.

Step 2. Sterilize your cheese pot. Using a large stainless steel or enameled pot (no aluminum please), place about a half inch of water in the pot. Bring to a boil, covered. Let boil/simmer for about 5 minutes. The steam will sterilize the pot. I pour the boiled water over my whisk to “sterilize” it, then place the clean whisk in a glass jar so it doesn’t get recontaminated.

Step 3. Pour the milk in the pot. If you’re using fresh milk straight from the goat or cow, you will not need to heat the milk; it should be at about 68 degrees. Milk comes out of the goat at about 90 degrees, so by the time you’ve strained the milk, and gotten around to cheese making, it should have cooled down a bit. If you’re using milk that has been refrigerated, then heat the milk gently until it is about 68 degrees. I don’t get real specific with this. Just warm it slightly. I don’t pasteurize milk for making soft cheese, though many recipes will have you scald milk.

Step 4. Once the milk is warmed, whisk in 1/4 cup buttermilk. You can also use mail-order chevre cultures at this stage. I never do this because buttermilk works just fine. The purchased cultures are costly over time, but they make give you a sharper “chevre” flavor, where this recipe will produce a milder soft cheese.

Step 5. Add the rennet. You have two choices here:

1) Use inexpensive sort of easy to find Junket Rennet tablets. Junket rennet won’t actually be that easy to find in an urban grocery store, but ask the store manager, they’ll probably order it for you. Stores in rural settings will be more likely to carry junket rennet tablets. You can also order them online. Some cheesemakers are very particular about not using junket rennet, but really, it works just fine for a simple cheese, is inexpensive and lasts for years. If you’re using junket, use a half tablet dissolved in lukewarm water. Stir into the milk (don’t overstir).

2) Use vegetable or animal based rennet (traditional cheese making used animal rennet which was a piece of a sheep or calf stomach lining -the enzymes found here are essential for making the curd. Although you can make vinegar cheeses or cheeses using other substances to curd the milk besides rennet). You will need to buy rennet from a cheese making supply or you may be lucky to find some at your local co-op. I ordered some vegetable rennet years ago from our local co-op, but haven’t seen it lately. If using liquid vegetable rennet add two to three drops to the milk and give a quick brief stir. If using animal based rennet, then add two drops to a quarter cup water, then use two tablespoons of the water -briefly stir into the cultured milk.

Step 6. Cover the renneted and cultured milk and let sit for approximately 24 hours. Cooler temperatures may require longer time to set. Higher temperatures will make the curd set faster. For example, if you leave the milk on your stove, and bake something in the oven, the milk will likely overheat, set curd too fast and become drier in texture. Better to leave the milk to curd on a counter.

When the milk has set, a fine layer of whey will appear over the curd. The longer you let the curd set, the more whey will appear, till your curd is half the size usually floating at the bottom or top of the whey. Don’t let this happen. Try to cut it when there is just a quarter inch to half inch of whey on top.

To cut the curd, take a straight spatula or knife and cut straight down from the top of the curd to the bottom (hitting the bottom of the pot). Cut parallel lines from one side to the other, about 1/2 inch apart. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Then rotate the pot, and make the same cuts perpendicular to the first, from one side of the pot to the other. Then take a stainless steel strainer spoon and scoop out cubes of curd, about a 1/2 inch layer at a time.

Set colander in the sink (over your pot if you want to collect the whey). Put a flour sack cloth/dish towel in the colander. You can use real cheese cloth (not the webby stuff you buy in the craft store), or an old pillow case, or even an old clean t-shirt. Scoop the curds into the cheesecloth/colander. When finished, I usually let it drain for a half hour or so to make the bulk of curd easier to handle, but you can tie up the curd right away.

Tie two edges of the towel together. Using a wooden spoon or other strong straight implement (not a chopstick), tie the other ends over the stick and knot them. You will be able to rest the stick between two cabinet knobs or find some other method in your kitchen or fridge to hang the cheese.

I hang the cheese usually overnight. If it is very hot out, I will put it in the fridge after 6 hours or so. The curd is ready when the whey stops dripping. I usually let the cheese age and further drip whey out in the fridge for a day or so. This makes a firmer cheese that I prefer. At this stage I remove the cheese from the cloth and blend with salt, about a teaspoon or two per pound of cheese according to your taste. I generally put less salt and more herbs. The resulting cheese will keep, covered in a glass container or packed in olive oil, for about a month in the refrigerator. You can also rewrap the cheese to further drain whey and make an even firmer cheese. Enjoy!

Family Farm Festival

Here is a link to photographs from our 4th Annual Family Farm Festival. A big thanks to volunteer Keiko Sono for taking these wonderful pictures.

Taking a Break from the Chicks

Gerri - one of our original hens from 3 years ago and the only one to go broody each season - takes a break from her latest brood of seven who hide below her in the broccoli.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Of the 8 summers we have spent in Olivebridge, this one has been the most spectacular. It’s been incredibly sunny and dry so far and, miraculously, no biting bugs! Usually we stop sitting out on our deck in the evenings by mid June because of the mosquitoes, but so far we have had dinner outside every evening.

5:30 rolls around (yes, we eat early) and like clockwork, the dogs and cats and Rita the chicken (the beggar of the group) assemble on the deck with us.

New Kids on the Block

In December we bred Tosca and Betty who kidded 150 days later on the dot in May. Tosca had 2 girls and Betty a buck. Here is a photo of the trio at 4 weeks helping Jen weed the garlic and rhubarb growing down at the field.

Requiem for Frenchy

I am sad to report that upon our return from our first vacation day this year (spent down at the Jersey Shore), our wildly eccentric, fiercely protective rooster was found missing.

Frenchy, aka “the general,” aka “little Richard,” aka “damn you frenchy!”, was a Golden Polish Crested Rooster that was one of our original batch of chicks that we purchased from Murray McMurray Hatchery. He was originally second in command to Big Red our beautiful Rhode Island Roo who was killed early on by our neighbor’s dog (along with 13 other hens, grrr).

After Frenchy assumed the post of Top Roo on the farm, he went about his job with gusto, keeping watch for the hawks (ever on the hunt for an easy meal), neighboring dogs, fox, you name it. Each time a hen laid an egg and exited the coop in her typically loud squawking fashion (omigod I laid an egg, I laid an egg!), Frenchy would run to the coop and shepherd the hen back to wherever he had them foraging at the moment. He led them around a large perimeter, almost 2 acres, searching out the choicest grub for his girls.

When we took in a lonely old hen from a neighbor whose flock had dwindled, he carefully positioned her against the wall of the coop at night, putting himself between her and the other bitchy hens who were eager to show Helga where she belonged in the pecking order. Indeed, out of doors, when the hens were overeager to take their turn bossing Helga, Frenchy would rush over and protect her, putting his wing outspread like a matador’s cape and doing his Catalonian dance around her.

Frenchy was not without flaws. I (Jen) was rarely without a “Frenchy stick.” Something, anything, to hurl at him when he came full force to attack and protect his hens from us mean Two-Leggeds Who Steal The Eggs. He never made contact with me, but Tree got a whack or two. And many a visitor stayed in their car till we came out. He was persistent, relentless and excellent for chasing off Jehovah’s Witnesses. He scared many a strong-armed manly man who had the unfortunate job of checking the electric meter, or replacing the pump, or whatever.

We tired of his protective nature but could never give him the ax. He was so good to his girls. And he was so beautiful and amusing to watch. He had a colorful crest of feathers that grew up and spilled over his face, so that he would have to peer sideways underneath them to figure out who you were. (If you’re of my generation, think Flock of Seagulls or Kaja Goo Goo). Tree took to trimming them short in the front, keeping them long in the back (now his hair took on that horrible rocker doo look, the mullet, which also continues to plague many lesbians).

So who killed Frenchy, you ask? We don’t know. We found his feathers scattered around in front of the goat barn. As a neighbor put it, “he was probably defending his girls,” since they liked to forage around the goats. Although the chooks are plagued by hawks, I don’t think it was a hawk who would leave the feathers in a nice neat pile. Hawks are very fastidious about getting all those feathers off a bird before eating it. We can always tell when a hawk took a bird. It was probably a roaming dog or a coyote. With all the wildlife here in rural suburbia, it is most often a neighboring dog who does the most damage. Alas and alack.

So here’s to you Frenchy, you old curmudgeon. We miss you. Really we do.

Bear Redux

I took the dogs for a walk in the woods and ran into (almost literally) the bear I had just finished writing about in my previous post. At least I think it was the same bear. It appeared to be as big as the one Jen watched bang up our chicken feeder.

As the dogs took off after it, I remained where I was and watched the bear gallop in big wide turning arcs. It was moving fast, living proof, I guess, that they are capable of short bursts of speed. Maggie and Tessie, who are 5-year old lab mixes in incredible shape, kept their distance and were running no where near as fast as they could. As I was taking this all in and deciding whether or not I should run away(never turn and run from a bear, a voice said) the bear made another wide turn and was headed straight for me. Damn those dogs, I thought. They are going to get me killed. The only thing I could think to do was duck behind a tree, but that was scary too because I could not see the bear until it passed me - about 5 feet away - and then scampered up a tree. This all happened in about 20 seconds, but it plays out in my mind in slow motion, kind of like what you see in a movie dream sequence.

p.s. After a slow start, Jen and I are geared up to get this blog going. We hope to make it entertaining, educational, and a fun place to visit every once in a while. Jen’s in the kitchen as I write this making a soft herbed goat cheese from this week’s milk and herbs from our land. She’ll share how she makes the cheese and the herbs she uses soon. Even if you don’t have access to fresh goats’ milk, you’ll be able to use her recipe for herbing store bought chevre.

A Bear Visits Sunstone

There are many black bears in the Catskills. And this year, in particular, it seems more and more people are having close encounters with their ursine neighbors. Our good friend Sue Ann, for example, just the other other day looked out the window and saw a large black bear in her backyard. She’d seen bear footprints over the years, but never one in the flesh. I’m told they have a 25 mile range, so perhaps the one she scared away with primal shrieks (her words) was the same one Jen caught with its paw in our chicken feeder a few days later.

The chicken feeder hangs just inside the door at the top of the ramp the chickens use to enter and exit the coop. Here’s a picture of Geraldine and Lulu doing just that:

Jen was coming back from a walk in the woods when she saw what she thought was our neighbor’s dog near the coop.(Our neighbor’s dog killed 13 of our chickens last year, but that’s another story). It was twilight, when everything looks a bit shadowy around the edges and is hard to distinguish. As she got closer, what came into focus was a large 300 pound black bear with its meaty arm thrust through the chicken door. The bear ran away when it saw Jen, and left us with a galvanized steel feeder that now looks like this:

Bears apparently make rounds which means it will be back for more feed if it’s available. So we removed the feeder from the coop which gives us till winter to pound it back into shape. Our hens free-range all day, eating insects, worms, grass, and other good things that make their eggs tasty with deep yellow yolks that stand nice and high like the ones you see in old cartoons. In the spring and summer, they go through very little feed. In fact, it’s probably consumed mostly by Frenchy, the resident rooster who spends the majority of his time ushering around his girls and calling their attention to bugs and other crawly things that chickens like. To make sure he, and anyone else who wants it, gets their fill, we’ve decided to put out a pan of scratch under the tool shed where the chickens take their dustbaths. We just need to remember to take it in at night.

By the way, if you’re wondering what I mean about cartoon eggs…