The Cheddar King

When opportunity knocks on my door, I invite it in and offer it some Southern hospitality.

Such an opportunity knocked last month when Nature's Harmony Farm decided to offer a 2 day cheese making class. This is a class I have been wanting to take for a very long, long time.

Nature's Harmony just doesn't make mediocre cheese  and they have a cheddar, Georgia Gold, that has won awards and praises world wide. Yes, please let me learn a smidgen from the Cheddar King.

My mom and her dogs kept me company by driving me to Elberton, GA for this class. It is not a long drive from here but I was very happy to have the company.

Nature's Harmony Farm and its owner, Tim Young, are tucked away along several back roads. In fact I wasn't entirely sure we had found the correct farm because the farm sign didn't say "Nature's Harmony." Nonetheless, I found the cheese shop, farm and class, and despite the sign we were all welcome.

One of the things I really love about this cheese operation, versus the many others that exist, is that the owner milks his own cows and makes the cheese using more hands on methods. There were no huge tanks of milk being shipped in, but rather a smaller herd of Jerseys were milked twice a day and each cow has a name.

The cheese making room was not fancy and there were no automatic stirring arms for the milk and cheese. Young stirs the milk and curds by hand and this lends a more artisan approach to his cheeses.

The class size consisted of small number of homesteaders and cheese makers/hippies like myself. This not only allowed Young more one on one time with each of us (we all had special cheese questions and issues) but everyone was able to visit and get to know one another. There were folks who came from as far away as California!

The first day of class we crafted Camembert and Blue Cheese. I especially needed help with the blue cheese and Young was very happy to help me address my cheese making challenges. I feel very confident that I can make a good blue cheese now.

The second day we made cloth bound cheddar, a specialty of Nature's Harmony. Using methods that we could use in a home setting we crafted a very fine wheel of cheese.
Today I am actually making a wheel of my own and I plan to age it on wood for 10 months, just like cheddar royalty.

Young also showed us his cave and walked us through the steps of rind washing, brining and aging.
He was a very gracious instructor to allow us so much information, and he truly does enjoy teaching and interacting with folks.

Did I mention he let us help milk his cows? Yes! It was great for someone like myself, who would like to one day milk more cows, to see how it is done on a more commercial scale. Plus, who doesn't like being around these beautiful beasts? His cows were very well cared for and were very healthy. His management practices are clearly top notch, and they are a grass based dairy too.

If you ever get a chance to visit Nature's Harmony Farm, I suggest you do! His cheeses are fantastic and his methods of hand crafting artisan cheeses exceptional.

Of course he also sells his goods online as well in several stores throughout the Atlanta area.

You can also follow them on Facebook. This is the best way to keep up with classes. In fact, they are offering up a holiday class where the students craft and take home 3 Camembert cheeses. I promise that will be a great class!

Finally, I will part with a few more pictures of my class and all of the wonderful classmates!

 Happy cheese making ya'll!!!

Intervention

Hello, my name is Sam and I have a lamb living in my house...... and several baby chicks and dogs and cats and 7 kids.

Seriously, there are days I figure I need intervention. This little farm of mine grows every year, month, week, day and just when I think I have time to pursue one of my other many hobbies such as knitting, quilting or spinning, well...you know, life happens. Life with cows and sheep and chickens and pigs, lets not forget kids too, can be time consuming.

My new cheese cave is finished, and so far it works wonderfully. We have a storage closet in our basement that is mostly underground. Devin framed in a cave area and covered it with thick insulation board.

Now all I have to do is fill it up with cheese. I have been making a wheel a week and they are all aging nicely.

Most of the cheeses are basic tome style cheese with a few variations. If you follow me on FB then you have seen a picture here and there of my cheese making. I have discovered that a turkey roaster is a great cheese making pot. It will hold 4 gallons of milk and it also holds temperature well.

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We had another cold snap this week in which the people of N Georgia frantically cover tender plants and strawberry blooms  to protect from a 20 degree freeze. I am included in this group. Just when it seems like spring is here to stay with the 80 degree days, we are forced to decorate our yards with old sheets and towels to survive the 20 degree night followed by a rainy 40 degree day.

Usually by Easter we are settled into a spring pattern and it will not be long before the hot, humid summer arrives. The tulip poplar trees are on the verge of blooming and the bees are building up super well. Spring is here for sure.

I managed to get some spring cleaning done this week, a huge task no matter how many kids you have living under your roof.
The biggest task before me now is to wrap up the school year. I think we can finish up in another month.

Here are the farm activities happening the next couple of weeks: Sheep shearing, chicken processing, hardening off seedlings, banding and tagging calves, goslings arrive, bee packages arrive, and I drive to Knoxville to pick up bee hive nucs.

Did you see that part about goslings? Yes, a new critter for me. Goslings. I am excited....at least until my family calls an intervention.

Happy Friday Ya'll!

                                               ****Me and Fletcher, my partner in crime!****

Getting It *ALL* Done

There are some days and weeks when everything falls into place perfectly and all my chores and projects get wrapped up......no wait!! That never happens.

This week was a prime example of how these little chores and projects here and there can suddenly pile up and smack you in the face.

The animal chores have piled up nicely, along with the serious need to spring clean the house. Animals have taken priority, however, and the house will have to wait. In the meantime, I wanted to post an update but have found myself super busy. In fact I have been too busy and exhausted to even take photos.
This is why I am so happy to have kids who like to play with my camera:-) Today's pictures were taken by Indiana and Willow.

I need to add that Indiana celebrated her 14th birthday on the 7th and Quinn celebrates her 16th birthday today! Yes, a busy week here.

First, we picked up more bottle bull calves this weekend. We drove to get 2, but the dairy handed us 4.
I was apprehensive about the youngest of the 4, but we made sure to keep the little guys separated and they are all doing well.

This little guy is beautiful with his white patches!  I think the kids are calling him "Spot."

This guy is the oldest of the 4 and is almost 2 weeks old. Gosh I love those little Jersey baby faces!

In order to have room for the new calves, we moved the older bottle calves out to a far paddock with the horse. These guys are weaned and tagged and doing great. Athena is not like you would expect a horse to be around cattle. She is a nice companion.

This is the Brown Swiss-Jersey cross calf. We had to burn some of the horn buds too, ones that were too large for paste several weeks ago. The burner is quick and effective.

Speaking of Athena, she is a happy horse to see some green grass growing. Indiana and Willow have been really good about keeping her groomed. Indiana has been riding her nearly every day!

The weather has been nice enough to move the meat chicks outside, however we moved the back into the garage this evening. We have two days of rain and cold air moving through. By Friday it should be warm enough to get them back outside.

The ducklings enjoyed the warm day, especially when the girls let them go for a short swim!

Last, but not least, the house lamb Flicka is still doing fantastic! She is in the house more than she should, but it has been a great week to get her outside and acclimated to the outside world.

The kids have her completely spoiled, but I can't blame them. She is a sweet creature.

 

Devin and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary as well this past week, and we decided a short trip was in order! We will be visiting a grass based dairy in Georgia and attending an artisan cheese making class! We are looking forward to the class, and I will be sure to post updates. If you are not following me on Instagram, please do! You can find me @barefootfarm

 

Also, please look for me on Facebook! My Barefoot Farm

 

I post updates through those outlets and will likely use them often during my trip and class.

 

Enjoy the weather and make the most of your time outside! Spring is almost here!!!