The End of the Season is Bittersweet

There were a few bitterly cold days recently. When I came in from the barn my pinky fingers (the only ones not involved in milking) were little blocks of ice. If you had visited on those mornings I would have said that I couldn't wait to stop milking. But in truth, when I begin to dry off the herd it always feels a bit sad. Morning and evening milking becomes so much a part of my life, that I begin to depend on these half hour breaks at dawn and dusk as a quiet time to refocus and reflect. The same is true for the daily routine of cheese making. The simple beauty of cracked pepper on a plate, plain cheese in a stainless bowl, the scent of freshly sliced herbs and garlic, and cheese hanging in a flour sack never gets old. The whole process is so aesthetically pleasing that it feels more like reward than work.

Time away from what we love, however, refuels our passion and the goats have earned the weeks of rest when their only job will be to grow the 1-5 healthy kids which are now brewing in all of our 13 bred goats! So I began by switching to just evening milking and soon will milk every other day and by the end of January, they should all be dried off.

Perhaps the perfect celebration of this transition in the season was our final cheese making class last weekend. Eight eager cheese makers gathered for an afternoon to try their hand at milking a goat, snuggle our kids who are now 8 months old, and to make chevre, feta and cajeta. It was such fun to share the magic of turning milk into cheese with others and we had a ball. When the class was done, my energy was renewed and I couldn't wait already to start all over again in the spring.

There will be mornings in February for sure when I miss the splash of milk in a pail, miss leaning against a warm goat to fight the cold, the soft sounds of a goat enjoying grain, but there will be plenty of cold ones, when it will be just fine to ignore the first alarm and sleep in an extra half hour.  There's always next year.

Long Overview News!

The tricky part about a cheese making blog is when you are really busy making cheese, there is no time to keep it updated. Hopefully this fall I will do a better job, for now, this a sweeping overview. It has been an exciting summer! This summer we are milking 8 goats by hand, finished our cheese kitchen and had a great visit with the new state dairy inspector which was followed by our dairy license! We are the 70th of the licensed cheese makers in the state of Maine! We hope all our readers will have a chance to visit the farm. We are very proud of the kitchen, our girls and the product!

We also got excellent test results back from the state lab! Our cheese is super clean! Feta, Chevre and Cajeta (caramel) all tested at ZERO coliform. Our milk has 5.29% butterfat content (which means we can make more cheese from every quart of milk than milk from most other goat breeds) and 4.23% protein (average protein of goat milk according to The University of Delaware Extension is 3.4 percent-so we are high in protein!) All great confirmation that our hard work at making healthy and delicious cheese is now a tested reality!

You can now find our Cheese at Bow Street Market in Freeport, the Walnut Hill Market (across from Ames Farm & Feed) in N. Yarmouth, Sweetser Apple Barrel in Cumberland and at Orchard Hill Farm in Cumberland.  Or e mail or call and come stop by the farm. Our production will be limited in our first year, about 100 cheeses a week.

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FALL Schedule of Sunflower Farm Events

Sunday, September 16, 2012
Eco Appetito
Cinque Terre, Portland, Maine
Noon-3pm
Sunflower Farm Cheese will be featured at Eco Appetito in September. Eat, drink & mingle for a good cause!
Executive Chef Lee Skawinski and his staff at Vignola Cinque Terre will highlight the best food and drink Maine has to offer:local meats and seafood • area artisan cheeses • locally grown veggies • desserts • hand-crafted beers • area wines
Event also includes: Silent auction • Door prizes • Live entertainment
Tickets are $40 in advance (available online at http://ecoappetito.org/ and $50 at the door. All proceeds will benefit Ferry Beach Ecology School and its Food for Thought program which teaches healthy food and sustainable living choices to children and adults throughout New England.

Sunday, October 7, 2012
Open Creamery Day & Sunflower Farm Opening Party for Friends & Family
FREE
Farm and kitchen will be open from 11-3 for the general public with an opening party for friends and family to follow from 6-8. If you are interested in also visiting other cheese makers around the state, see more info on The Maine Cheese Guild Website.

Saturday October 20, 2012
Womens' Cheese Happy Hour
4:00-6:00 pm
$30.00
Come visit in the cheese kitchen, cook up a few goat cheese appetizers to enjoy together and get creative mixing your own herbs in spices in to plain chevre to take home. A delicious chance to get a taste of cheese making and to visit with other fun women!
Call 829-8347, E mail hope.hall@thorntonacademy.org or message me on our Sunflower Farm Page to reserve your spot.