Before I make a cheese cake I need to make cream cheese. Before I make cream cheese I need to make buttermilk. There are two ways to make buttermilk: allow the milk itself to culture. Which I will show you. But I am in a hurry now. Did you see the cheesecake recipe in the comments yesterday from Pseu? I want to make this cheesecake as soon as I can, so I am using the second, cheats method and I have started a buttermilk from a bought culture. I will always keep a starter going so from now on we can make some anytime.
AND Before I make lasagne I need to make ricotta. Before I make ricotta I need to make a hard cheese to give me the whey to make the ricotta. Some times I feel like the little red hen but with a white pinny!!
So I made a Monterey Jack cheese yesterday. It took from 11am until 2.30 pm and I had to stay clean the whole time which I find the hardest part of cheesemaking. No grubbing in the dirt, no visiting with the animals.
I started with two gallons of fresh Daisy milk and this morning at 4am I took a 1lb 10 oz bouncing baby cheese out of the press. Monterey Jack is an easier process than cheddar.
It is all written up in the cheese book, so in two months I will tell you if it worked!! Raw milk cheese needs 60 days before its first date. That is a long time before you know if I got the recipe right.. hence the book. I hope to make at least two cheeses a week. Usually they sit much longer than 60 days!
Coincidentally Eldest son and his lovely lady will be visiting the week this cheese is first tasted. So if I plan my menus ahead, I can plant the veges we will eat so we will pick them the week they come and have all the tasty cheeses and sauces and pastas prepared for the feasting. I better check to see if the basil is coming up, we will be wanting to make pesto too! Thinking way ahead.
Today I shall cook the whey to collect the ricotta, drain that for 24 hours and then tomorrow we will have lasagne with homemade pasta. I will take photos for you.
Oh and that fresh farmers cheese made lovely pizza, with some of yesterdays bread dough as a base. So maybe I will make it again!!
After dinner yesterday The Tall teenager took me for a ride in the chariot behind his bike to the neighbours so we could feed their chickens, and cats. It was a very bumpy mile. But once I relaxed I found it quite nice to be towed about. This was the view of our place on the way back. I don’t think you have seen the farmy from this point of view yet. 
We had a shower of rain yesterday morning which was well received. Very well received.
Daisy’s new bigger bucket arrived yesterday. It is heavy clear plastic. Bigger and lighter. I hauled it out of the box with such anticipation. But the base was broken. Poo. Deeply frustrating. My UPS man, who I give honey to every Christmas carefully carried it into the barn for me but he had left before I discovered it was broke. Isn’t that always the way.
Kupa was being nosy pretending to peck at insects about 3 inches from the box and said just use it anyway. See if it works before you call them and get a replacement. He cocked his head at a conversational angle. I find it fascinating that he often says exactly what I am thinking. It was just a piece of the base that was broken off so I sterilised the bowl and hooked it up and rung Daisy’s bell for her to come in. It was a wonderful relief not to have to worry about overflowing a bucket at speed and under pressure. Daisy was grateful to be able to milk right through without me having to take everything apart and empty the bucket half way through then start over again.
The new bucket is transparent. So it will be wonderful for photographs. I shall take the camera out this morning. Then I will call the supplier and send him one of the shots so he can see that it is broken. Well, after I have cleaned it up and made it look new again!! Am I being naughty!? They will only throw it away anyway.
Good morning. Have a lovely day. We will.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
69 responses to “Thinking ahead – way ahead”
You are amazing!!!!
So are you! c
I don’t see any reason why you can’t use that bucket while waiting for a replacement. What are you going to do with all that cheese as it’s waiting? Big frig or does it go someplace else?
Morning! I have a special cabinet in my cave cellar, which is nice and cool, cheese needs to sit at about 55 and will be turned every day for a while then every week. So I will do all that work in there.. c
Exactly, they are going to throw it away anyway – in fact, chances are they’ll probably just say you can keep the broken one! I am so excited about your cheese making adventures, I look forward to seeing the Monterey Jack when it’s ready.
I will take a shot today as it will sit out and air dry for few days now.. c
Oh Celi, the ride in the chariot must have been such a hoot……..the cheese diary is a splendid idea.
John has been so much help on making mozzarella without a microwave……….
The chariot was very funny, thank goodness the roads are still closed though, i was kind of crammed in there!! c
I’m so excited to watch the progress of the cheesemaking! We don’t have enough room for a Daisy on our tiny little farm, but we are considering goats.
Goats would do well on those weeds too!! Very good for clearing ground, what would you do with the kids? I would love goat cheese but I am not sure I want to eat goat and you have to have baby goats to get the milk!, so I stick to sheep.. c
Goat meat is delicious, nutritive and low in cholesteral – see http://www.goat-meat.co.uk/ .
I agree with vivinfrance – goat meat is excellent. I particularly like curry goat – apparently goat curry is the wrong way to say it 😉
Hmm I must remember to say that the right way in future.. hate to make a Goat Gaff!! morning mad! c
Yes, that’s always the rub isn’ it? I’m sure I could find recipes for goat. We are both pretty adventurous with food. We live in an area with plenty of 4H kids also–it would be great to be able to provide them with goat projects.
I’d return it! Lol, like you said, it’s broken already anyway, so it’s not like they are going to be able to resell it! I bought a new litter box for my cat Zeus, just bc I had, had the one he was using for a while, and figured a new one of the exact same would be a good freshen up. I get it home… too small! My cat is fat lol. So I had filled it already, and left it beside the old box to see if he’d use it, but he didn’t, so I just washed it and returned it for the next size up! LOL.
You are totally awesome woman!!! Seriously, reading your blog is mind boggling with all the wikid things you make from the farm. The picture is lovely by the way. It looks so well kept and cared for there! It’s cool how you plan and plant ahead to have the food, and especially the cheeses ready for when you know you’ll want to bake something special!
PS Thank you for commenting on my blog 🙂 Very sweet of you!
Your poor fat cat, he must have got a terrible surprise when he realised he could not fit!! c
You’re really “in the groove” now! It’s so wonderful to watch…but I would dearly love a taste of that cheese!
Tell me more about this pizza you made…red sauce for a base, or something else?
I still have three precious jars of summer 11 sauce in the cave and you know how hard it is to use the last of it. So I cheated and used a can of organic tomato sauce mixed with a tiny can of puree.. All my puree gone too, I cannot wait for the new tomatoes. Then just the farmers cheese which was perfect I was very surprised! and then other goodies including some of the pickled jalapenos from last year too.. one jar left! we are getting down!! morning marie.. c
I’m glad your new bucket arrived. That picture of your farm is wonderful – is that cloud positioned right over your garden for a watering? lol
Have a lovely day Celi!
Wouldn’t that be lovely if I had my own cloud! c
You think like a total pioneer woman! Back then there was no choice but to think ahead with no grocery store to run to for a missing ingredient. I love that you are making cheese! And all the different kinds! I wish we could taste over the internet! So nice that you have your son’s vist to look forward to. I bet he really looks forward to your cooking!
I wish you could hear over the internet too!.the birds are fantastic this morning..My son actually called to ask me for the steak and cheese pie recipe!! So I sent him the link! isn’t that awesome./. c
THere’s so much here I’m interested that I can’t really comment. Find all the cheese-making adventures fascinating!! And that photo of the farm is over-the-top gorgeous!!!! What beautiful light.
That shower we had yesterday just set a sparkle on everything.. morning charlotte! c
The shot of the entire farm from the chariot certainly makes it appear as a tiny island in the sea of prairie fields. How kind of the teenager to transport the Royal Queen of the Farmy in this charming manner. Did you wear a crown?
It was an experience!!
Really enjoying all these adventures in cheese making! 🙂 Good morning!
Well you certainly have your work cut out for you! I’m excited to see the milking process in progress, it’s hard to picture the whole thing!
The photo of the whole farm is gorgeous! Like your own private little world. Hope you have a lovely day! ~ April
Those are some mighty fine looking curds you got there, Celi! I’ve been waiting to see how you made your hard cheeses ever since you mentioned that you made Parmesan. Wherever do you store cheese for the 60 days in summer? I had toyed with the idea of making some of the hard cheeses early on and even thought of using an old refrigerator to age them. The negatives outweighed the positives, for me, and I abandoned the idea — and dairy herds in the area breathed a sigh of relief.
Too bad about the bucket. Hopefully you can get a replacement quickly and without a hassle. Have a great day, Celi. Cooler days ahead! I’m off to the Italian market to buy, you guessed it, some cheese!
My head is spinning! I admire so much your capacity to remember everything, to find everything, to organise your time splendidly.
The thought of a mile before your nearest neighbour is awe-inspiring. That couldn’t happen where I live, in lovely farming country – from my veranda I can see 4 houses within shouting distance. I love the idea of your ride behind the bicycle!