Sweet Grass Dairy Part 2

Well, it is cold yet again this morning. Frost, cold wind, and no sign of a warm up for several days. I think this is what we Southerners call Dogwood Winter. The dogwood trees are showing buds, hence the name.
The pastured chickens slept with a brood light the last two nights and my yard has extension cords strung across the grass as proof that spring is not quite ready to stay just yet.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the rest of my short vacation to Sweet Grass Dairy, specifically on the town of Thomasville, GA.

When we decided to take the artisan cheese class I spent several hours online looking for a nice place to stay. We don't have a ton of cash to spend on accommodations, but we could splurge a little.

We decided to stay at the Paxton House Inn. Not only was it close to the downtown area, it was absolutely beautiful! It is a historical landmark as well.
It was built in 1884 as a winter cottage for Colonel J. W. Paxton of Wheeling, West Virginia and his family. The owner was very nice and the food was delicious. It is also up for sale, so if you think you might want to get into the B&B business in a warm part of the US, go for it! The owner is ready for retirement, and this place would be well worth the investment.

The downtown area of Thomasville is made up of old buildings renovated to accommodate shops and restaurants. Sadly, we did not get any window shopping or browsing in, as the shops close rather early and the entire town shuts down on Sunday, typical of the deep South.

We did find the Sweet Grass Dairy Shop though and it was packed!

We sat at the bar and ordered a platter that consisted of several cheeses, meats and fruits. The cheese shop also offers a wide selection of beer and wine. I also bought myself a ball cap with the dairy logo on it, which Devin might soon regret getting me. It seems that cap has been my great excuse to not fix my hair ever again.

There are several plantations to visit in Thomasville, but again we got out of cheese class to late to take a tour. We did, however, visit another huge landmark in the downtown area.

The Big Oak.
This tree was planted in the 1600's. It is also 27 1/2 feet circumference. It is so stinkin' huge!

The limbs span way, way out and are supported by steel rods now. This live oak is also covered in  resurrection fern. This fern appears dead until it rains, when it then greens up and looks alive again.

The locals were very nice and would stop and offer to snap photos for us. In fact the people were as you would expect in any good Georgia town, super nice!

I will say that the restaurants were all a little pricey. They were also very loud! I assume it is the nature of old buildings with poor acoustics, but every place we ate was loud with people chattering. It was difficult to hear a conversation and by the end of each evening my head was pounding. The food was always fantastic!....it was just not relaxing and very pricey.
The down town area is growing and new places to eat and shop are moving in all of the time In fact, Sweet Grass Dairy recently opened a restaurant Blue Coop. We didn't get a chance to eat there but heard fabulous reviews of the food.

It was a nice drive to Thomasville and, with the exception of Atlanta traffic, and easy drive home.
We would love to visit again sometime, although that is difficult to plan with a farm to care for too.

Speaking of farm and cheese, I crafted a 4 pound wheel of cheese just a few days ago and placed it in my basement for aging. Devin is drawing up ideas to build me a cheese cave down there...in all of his spare time.
We are building a chicken plucker this year, instead of borrowing one. Those parts just arrived so that is next on our "to do" list.

This weekend is also the homeschool prom in Huntsville, AL. My two oldest attended last year and we will go again this year. We have close friends who help organize the event and we are looking forward to visiting them!

Off to finish farm chores now!
Happy Monday!!!

Sweet Grass Dairy Farm: Part 1

I am a woman who can do many things. I have many talents. When we bought dairy cows, I was up and running soon after making butter, yogurt and ice cream. I even started soft cheese making and have been quite successful.
Artisan cheese, however, has eluded me. I have tried several times but it just hasn't been quite what I wanted.

This past weekend was an anniversary vacation. After 20 years of marital bliss, we celebrated like any other normal couple would celebrate and drove 5 hours south to Thomasville, GA to attend an artisan cheese making class. Romantic, right?

This is why Devin and I are so perfectly matched. Simple trips to learn new skills is quite fun for us, and of course the opportunity to do no farm chores and to sleep in are extra bonuses.

Today I want to focus on the actual cheese class and later this week I will give my penny's worth about Thomasville. I will say that we enjoyed this trip very much!

Sweet Grass Dairy is quite popular in town and it actually is just the *cheese* portion of the dairy. It is a small family enterprise where the dad owns the cows and milk. He then provides the milk to one son, who makes cheese and the other who makes yogurt. These cows are all on grass, which is quite possible in South Georgia. The weather is quite mild through winter and quite hot and humid through the summer.

The class we attended had a total of 11 students and everyone was very nice. There was a variety of folks from three different states too! Some were there to enhance their culinary training, some were interested in being more self sufficient and other were simply lovers of fine cheeses. I didn't find anyone who attended because they looked sexy in a hairnet, can you believe that?

The owner of the company, Jeremy, was the person who taught the class. He was very nice and knowledgeable, and I liked having him there to bounce thoughts and ideas off. We personally are planning to build a small cheese cave in our basement, so we utilized this opportunity to construct ideas and let Jeremy share his expertise.

                          *****Devin basking in a cave of aging Asher Blue wheels*****

One of the many great advantages of this class was the unlimited access to all areas of the facility. We were able to tour the entire place and ask any and all questions. We also helped make the cheese by adding rennet, cutting curds and filling the molds.

                      *** Cave of recently made Thomasville Tomme cheese wheels***

                                  ***Wheels of Thomasville Tomme aging***

After we molded our cheese wheels, the owner places them in a cave to ripen. After about 10 weeks, he will ship our 5 pound tomme cheese wheels to our homes. This means Devin and I will be getting 10 pounds of cheese by summer!!

This is an aging room for the Greenhill Cheese, similar to a brie. Notice the earlier wheels are still cream colored but as they age they are covered in a white mold. This cheese was delicious! All of the cheese wheels are hand turned daily.

The last portion of the class consisted of a cheese and wine tasting session. Sweet Grass is very generous with the samples too. We sampled over a dozen cheeses and were able to compare flavors and textures. We were full from all of the samples!

Raw milk artisan cheeses are part chemistry and part art. I think the art part of it is what I have had the most difficulty mastering. There are many, many variations within the same cheese that the cheese maker can adjust and create. Seeing the process in action and learning variations have given me the confidence to try again.
Visiting an actual cave and learning the feels and smells of a cave have helped us a ton in planning what to expect from our own home cheese cave.

This class was well worth the cost! I mean just in the cheese sampling alone it was worth the price! Sweet Grass Dairy and owner Jeremy are generous and friendly. We had a fabulous day in this class, and I understand why it sells out so quickly!

If you are planning a trip South through Georgia or to Florida, I highly suggest you stop through Thomasville. Sweet Grass Dairy is only one fine spot in this town, but it is well worth your time if you are interested in artisan cheeses. Later this week I will share a post about other aspects of this vacation.

Thank you Jeremy and Sweet Grass Dairy, another gem in the great state of Georgia!
PS. I will take you up on the offer to call if I run into any issues making my next tome at home!

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!