Kids and Cheese

     The season officially begins when the first baby goat (kid) is born. That happened on March 11, a beautiful healthy single doeling. Her name is Orlee and she is growing so fast. In a typical year, we are over half done with our kidding by mid-March. It is April 8 and only 8 does have kidded. We are waiting (impatiently) for another 24 mothers to have their kids, which means approximately 48 more babies. Goats most likely will have twins, and triplets are not uncommon. We have had quads in the past, but we prefer the mother to birth 2 nice big kids rather than 4 little kids. Kids have a much better start if they have some weight when they are born. Hazel, our lovely Alpine, had triplets on April 1, two girls and a boy. She is giving us lots of milk, a very good milker for Dreamfarm, and we plan to keep her does (baby girls) to join the milking herd next year.
     Soon we will have enough milk to make our first batch of fresh goat cheese. It is exciting to get back into our cheeserie and craft cheese; once the cheese schedule starts, the days and weeks are filled.
     The first cheese we will make is our fresh goat cheese, also known as chèvre. After 4 milkinsg (2 days) we will have enough milk to process. The milk is hauled from our milkhouse to the cheeserie in sanitized buckets. All the milk is gently poured into our vat/pasteurizer and heated gently to 145 degrees for 30 minutes. This is a federal requirement for all fresh cheese. Then the milk is cooled to 75 degrees, and culture and vegetarian rennet are added. The vat of milk is left to develop overnight into a wonderful yogurt-like consistency. In the morning, it is gently hand-ladled into cheesecloths lined baskets and drains until the following morning. This creamy cheese is mixed with salt and herbs and hand packed into containers. It is stored in our walk-in cooler until delivery.
     Dreamfarm offers this fresh cheese through our CSA. Shares are still available. If you would like to receive this cheese every other week through the season, please check out our website at www.dreamfarm.biz. We would be happy to have you join us!
     Dreamfarm cheese is also available at the Westside Community Market beginning April 16 at the Hillfarms Office parking lot, and at the Willy Street Coops.