Say Cheese!

Making cheese really isn't very complicated, in the same way making toast isn't very complicated. Unless you are really making the toast. To make toast, start with well turned fertile ground, plant wheat. Water. Wait for wheat to grow, blah blah blah. So, when decided to make cheese I started with a sheep. Breed sheep to ram. Wait for lamb to gestate, blah blah blah.

Dancer getting milked.

Dancer came to us as a Christmas present for middle child, already bred. Unfortunately, we were unsure about when she was bred. The gestation period for a sheep is 147 days. And Dancer was, well, kinda large when she arrived, but she was hefty all over. Hard to tell how far along she really happened to be. But, we started a lambwatch on the 26th of January when her udder started getting more firm and full. Lambwatch means you go check on the sheep about every 2 hours, round the clock. On January 28th we prepared a lambing jug for her. This is a smaller enclosure where she can peacefully have her baby(ies) and nurse them without interference from the rest of the flock. Well, by mid February, she still had not given birth, and lambwatch had somewhat slackened. We crutched her ( cut the wool away from her bottom and udder) and just watched her vulva to see when it started to relax. Finally, in early March, parturition looked more imminent. On March 4 she gave birth to a large ram lamb (that would be a boy). He was white, and he was not alive. After failed attempts to change that status, great sadness ensued. Poor Dancer, she was upset and anxious. So, we had no lamb from her, but we did have a wonderful great big udder full of milk. When Dancer came to us, she wasn't really used to being handled. Being milked involves a lot of handling. But, eventually, she would call to me in the early dawn, and settle near the wall as I placed the stainless steel pail next to me, sit on my stool, clean her udder and teats with warm water and mild soap, rinse and massage her udder, bump it and then massage some more. (The bumping imitates what the lambs do to get the milk flowing). Strip the teats, (this is squirting the first few milk flows out on the floor which may have bacteria)  and then place the pail under the teats, one arm in front of her stifle to prevent her from being able to kick over the milk pail, and start the rhythmic milking. Talking softly, resting my head on her springy soft fragrant wool, morning milking is one of my favorite times. It is kind of like going running, in that when I leave for a run, I am reluctant, but once I get going, the pleasure of the movement and the rhythm takes over and peace happens. Milking a sheep on cold March mornings, with breath of steam, waiting to the last minute to take off gloves to keep hands warm (goodness knows you don't want to grab a teat with ice cold hands!), I could still be in bed. But, the barn is warm, and the milk is too. Peace happens. Evening milking isn't quite as easy to arrange, but it must happen, and at the same time every night. If the lamb had lived, that would have been his job!  At first, Dancer was giving about 12 oz. each milking, but in a week or so, she was up to 24 oz. each milking.

Draining the whey off the curd into the sink. This is what cheese cloth is for!

I strained and pasteurized the milk and stored it until there was enough for a first batch of cheese. I made a extremely rich and creamy soft cheese. Beautiful flavor and spread smooth and thick. Wow, terrific. Making cheese is easy. Just start with a sheep.