So... what about making some mozzarella (fior di latte)?

Home-made fresh mozzarella

Maybe I ought to wait till summer-time and tomatoes to post this, but I'll be so busy making mozzarella by then, I won't have time.

Mozzarella, really fresh mozzarella, made the old fashioned way is so good. I never knew just how good, until I met the Italian Cheese maker who taught me how to make it. So here is how to use the extra milk you get from your animals... 

I thought mozzarella was that, somewhat tasteless, rubbery, white block of stuff, you got at the grocery store, that is, until I had some of his. Whoa! was I mistaken. His was both firm and soft, each fist sized ball sliced into attractive white disks, each oozing with it's own creamy, slightly salty,'milk', and the taste...ummm...fresh and sparkly, like a summer breeze...coupled with some perfectly ripe tomatoes from the garden, fresh basil and locally produce olive oil, each bite was like a little piece of heaven. Oh, my goodness...

I am forever grateful to him for teaching me how he made his. He past away a few years ago, "Renato, may you rest in peace, my dear old friend."

WWOOFer, Kevin, straining fresh milk

It begins with the time of year, late spring-summer-early fall, is that time. The very best mozzarella comes from milk out of cows that are grazing green grass. For best results, you want to use fresh milk, still warm from the cows. After we milk the cows and strain the milk, it comes into the kitchen, from the barn, at about 90F.

leave some room at the top
for displacement

I fill up my cheese pot, leaving about 1.5 to 2 inches from the top. I check the temperature. If it is between 86F and 90F I add some freeze-dried culture (from www.thecheesemaker.com), a mesophelic, the 100-101- series, about a pinch (1/16th tsp) per gallon, sprinkled on top of the milk. I wait for a few minutes for it to hydrate, then I stir that in real well, for about a min. or so, there is usually a little cream on top, already starting to separate, I make sure to mix that in well. If the milk is colder than 86F I warm it up first,

86F to 90F when using a mesophelic starter

being careful not to overheat it, if it is cold, 40F or so, from the frig. I use a timer, when I warm it and check it after 10 min.'s, so as I don't forget and scorch the milk (done that, it's no fun to cool it down).

mesophelic culture MM 100 to 101 series 

Then I add the culture and stir it up. The cultured milk needs to incubate about an hour, in a 70-75F room, at the end of an hour I stir it up again, and if it has cooled below 86F I warm it again also (carefully attending to it again, that it does not over-heat), which takes hardly any time at all. Next I add the rennet to coagulate the milk. What kind of rennet? I've used several kinds, if you are a vegetarian the liquid vegetarian based one works just fine, follow the directions for coagulating it in about an hour, I, personally, use the freeze dried, calve's rennet, (also ordered from www.thecheesemaker.com). Following the directions, I add about a 1/16th tsp. per gallon, of milk to a little cool soft water in a separate container... 
(don't use chlorinated tap water, it will kill your culture), stir it up real quick, and then add rennet-water to the milk, vigorously mixing it for about 45

add the rennet in a bit of cold water

seconds to a minute. After that the milk must stand quietly, without any agitation what-so-ever, (the milk won't coagulate if it is disturbed) for an hour or so, until the milk coagulates into a smooth jello-like consistency, that pulls away from the side of the pot with a little pressure from a finger placed on the edge of the curd.

Clean break

You should see a slightly yellowish, translucent liquid separating, any where the 'curd' is broken, if the liquid is real white and milky looking, wait a bit longer. Now comes the fun part. Roll you sleeves up past you elbows, and wash your arm up to the joint, rinsing it real well after, to get off any soap residue. Then thrust you arm in the coagulated milk down to the bottom of your pot, and with your fingers splayed out, slowly, stir through the curd, in a spiral motion, moving upwards as you go. The object is to break the curd, you want the pieces to be just the right size and consistency, from about the size of a dime to a nickle, not too small, or the cheese will be dry, or too big, or the cheese will be too wet, and mushy. Slowly, so as not to break the already broken curd even finer, feel around the pot and break up any large 'chunks' of curd, you find, so they are about the same size as the others. This is a very sensuous process, you'll see. Draw your arm out, and scrap any curd that clings to it off into the curd pot, and then rinse your arm off. Let the curd in the pot 'rest' and settle, for 10 or 15 minutes.

resting the curd

At this point I begin dipping off whey for making ricotta. I use a 1 or 2 quart cooking pan for this, pouring the whey through a colander into another large pot (to catch any curd that makes it into the dipping pan, that I am going to heat the whey, to precipitate out the ricotta curd. When I've dipped off enough whey to see the curd, I prepare to transfer the curd to a cheese mould so the rest of the whey can drain out. To do this you need to set up a mould, which can be as simple as a colander for draining spaghetti (as long as it is big enough to hold all of your curd and is covered with small holes ) elevated above a larger pot to catch the whey,
destined to drain out, or you can use a mould bought specifically for this purpose. I use a 4 inch section cut off of a piece of 4" diameter PVC tubing, under the mould, to elevate it off of the bottom of the whey catching pot.

 Scoop the curd out, let it drip a bit and pour it into the mould, repeat until the mould is full, the curd will shrink, quite a bit as it drains, so if at first, you can't fit all the curd into the mould, wait a a few minutes, and put in the rest. Once all the curd is in the mould draining, leave it at room temp. to incubate further.

draining curd

To make ricotta, consolidate the rest of the whey, remaining in your curd pot, by pouring it through your curd strainer into the other reserved whey, also pour in any whey that has already drained out of the curd and caught in the whey-catch pot under the curd. Make sure the whey does not have any chunks of curd in it. They will become 'tough' areas in your ricotta.Turn the heat on under the whey cooking pot.The goal temperature is 180F. When that temp is reached, turn off the heat, a fine curd will have come to the top, this is ricotta ('ricotta', by the way, means 're-cooked' in Italian... and now you know why).

gently dipping out ricotta

Use a ladle to skim-dip this curd off and gently, gently pour it into either a ricotta mould, a small finely woven clean bamboo basket, or a sieve lined with a fine cheese cloth or linen, placed over a bowl or pot to catch the ricotta whey. It firms up in a few minutes as long as the ricotta curd remains above the whey.

Back to the mozzarella curd. It needs to be melted, in order to form it into balls.The whole secret to making good mozzarella balls is the PH of the curd at the the point of melting. Perfect PH for this is 5.1 down to 4.8. If you have a PH meter, you can tell exactly when the curd is ready. So, if you don't have a PH meter how do you tell? For myself, this has become a matter of taste. But for those who have no experience, temperature and timing have to do. I start my mozzarella around noon usually, it takes 2 to 2.5 hours to get in the mould, which makes it 2:30 to 3:pm, if it is summer and over 75F in my kitchen, I put the curd, mould and all, with a bowl under it, so as not to make a mess, in my 'fridge at around 3.5 to 4 hours later.  If it is really hot, I put it in the fridge, on the early side, if it is winter and under 75F in my kitchen, I may not put it in until I go to bed 5 or 6 hrs. later. The next morning, around 10 to 12 hrs. later, the curd is usually just right for melting. First, I test it. I taste the curd, it should have a hint of tartness to it, if it tastes distinctly sour, it may be too acid, and will turn out grainy if you melt it (try melting anyway though, just to be sure). Curd that is too acid to make good mozzarella, still makes a good cheese, so don't throw it out...(more on that later). To test the cheese for melting, heat some plain water up to 140F, cut a strip of curd from your block of curd and put it in the water, wait a few minutes, and then work it a bit with a wooden spoon, it should begin to melt...don't let it get too hot...(it will melt away) once it begins to melt, take it out and stretch it, if it 'breaks' with a snap after stretching a few inches, it's not quite ready, it's ready when it 'strings' out just like the mozzarella 'strings' out, when you take a slice of out of a hot pizza. If it 'strings' when you stretch it, its ready to melt... and form.
Forming balls takes practice. So don't be discouraged if they don't come out perfect the first few times. To form the mozzarella, first, I don a pair of latex gloves to protect my hands from the heat of the melt water. Next I take a 4 quart pan about half full of hot tap water and put it onto heat, the goal temp. is between 140f and 150f (I put a thermometer in the pan to make sure the water does not go over the goal temp. by regulating the heat underneath the pan).Then I upend the mould with the mass of curd onto a cookie sheet with shallow sides and slice it into pieces about a 1/4 inch thick. Put about 2 lbs of curd into the pan, wait a few minutes, before beginning to 'work' the curd with a wooden spoon. I use the wooden spoon to mass the curd together into a lump, working it as it begins to melt, at first there will be grainy lumps in the curd. Slowly these will melt together, getting smoother and smoother. Here is a good video about 'stretching the curd and forming the balls... this fellow uses boiling water to melt the curd, which works, and is a traditional method ... however, for myself, this does not work as well as keeping the water at 140 to 150 degrees F, because you will have 'hot spots' that can burn your hands as you work the curd. Click here for the video.the link about forming the curd. Once you melt, stretch and form the balls, drop them into a pan of cold water to which you've add a little salt, about a tablespoon per gallon. Let the balls 'rest' and firm up for at least a half an hour before you eat them. These will be best eaten within the first 3 days. To age mozzarella for future use, take them out of the 'brine' after 12 to 14 hours. Pat them dry (they will be soft on the outside), place them on a cookie-sheet lined with wax paper, so they are not touching, and put them in your fridge. Turn them every day till they form a rind, in about a week. Wrap them in plastic wrap, store in the fridge and use them as needed, on pizza, in soups, lasagna, pasta dishes or just to snack on. Enjoy!

It's RAINING!

Rain is glorious!

Yes! It is raining in California, whoopee! The ground is soaking up the wonderful wet like a sponge, already water is forming streams and rivulets which flow, foaming, into the reservoirs. According to the weather predictions, we face five days of steady rain... we celebrate our good luck! Rain and more rain really is the best gift we could receive this Holiday season.

Our milk supply is holding steady,

Couldn't resist adding the words...smile!

 and my cheese making has produced some nice big ones that are aging in my cheese cave now. Most are around 10 pound rounds. There are herb-ed ones featuring caraway, onions, and spicy ones, sprinkled over with peppers,  a few plain Jack style 10 pounders, and some smaller ones like Tomme d' Oro, and a couple of interesting, experimental, double cream ones...

aging cheeses

Making cheese fills up the winter time so productively, it is nice to have something to do that feels useful.

We've finished building the deck for my Mom's RV, I think she is going to really enjoy having the extra space. I see BBQ's, and the laughter and cheer of good friends there in the near future.... Happy Birthday dear mother!... (her's is Dec. 11...) My mother is a real treasure...and we value her very much... we are blessed by her very presence.

My mother, Ann McCarty, in her prime

The Holidays are nearly upon us, here is hoping yours are blessed with family and friends... Merry Christmas! Hang your stockings with care! & remember, t'is the season, to SUPPORT your LOCAL PRODUCERS!

Have a Mooooo...rry Christmas Everyone!

A time for valuation and reflection

Sun after rain..

Thanksgiving day is just around the corner. We have so much to be grateful for, the rains have come, replenishing our drought plagued farm, we have hay in the barn for our winter needs, the cows are giving us buckets full of warm, creamy milk everyday. We have our health, the happiness of being with friends and family. To 'Be' is wonderful, yet to 'Be' in the midst of all this bountiful good, is a joy beyond wonder.

Our WWOOFer friend, Jesse, came and went. We had a great time and made cheese almost everyday, plus he helped us, with a host of other things as well, not the least of which, was helping get the metal building prepped for the indoor market project we have begun!

The geese take flight at my approach, in the frosty morn.

The wild geese have come back just in time for the first frost, they are already jousting for the best nesting spaces, honking and squabbling, night and day. over who will get the best places to nest in the spring. There is something so primal, about the noise they make and they inspire one with their beauty, as they come in to the pond, circling in flight, lower and lower to skid, gracefully along it's length, till they settle into its quiet waters, or taking off, with a noisy, flapping, spiraling out from it, in an ever widening span of cyclic spread, announcing to all their intent. Honk, honk...honk, honk, honk... 

The honk of the goose calls to the wild 'something' in me, and reminds me of all that is untamed and undomesticated in this world. We have our neat domestic rows, which are beautiful also, garden rows, labeled rows of canned goods, hay rows stacked in the barn, we make such perfect symmetries. The wild is asymmetrical, honking in flight, spiraling upward and outward, like the heart does, in its crazy way, toward the highest parts of ourselves. Compassion, and open warmheartedness does not come in neat rows, it comes forth, in the face of our own selfishness, in the face of our own covetousness, twirling love unconditionally and overwhelms our heart with generosity, pushing out of us, almost unasked for, what is best in our selves. Yes, the wild sound of the geese, reminds me of how connected we are to everything, and especially how connected we are to each other.

We find the wondrous, beauty of Nature, quiet and simple, echoing in our own heart, when we take the time to listen. 

We bought a beautiful turkey for thanksgiving dinner, produced and processed on a local farm, pasture, raised and fed organically. We paid much more for it than if we'd bought one on sale at a box type grocery, we paid what it was really worth. For the fact that it was allowed to live a life un-caged, scratching under trees, taking dust baths with its buddies, flapped its wings in joy, it was allowed to go roaming through sun and shade, in a big pasture, as it pleased. It was cared for, and valued by the people who raised it, it was not just a number, inventory... a meat weight to be sold. The money we spent on it goes into our community, to our neighbors, not to some huge impersonal corporation, looking ever, to increase bottom line at the expense of individuals, of family, of community. To understand that there is something very fortunate in being able to actually live somewhere where we have the opportunity to express a monetary, valuation for the individuals in our community, growing food for themselves and others. In this world it is a rare opportunity, where so many people, have so little choice, as to the quality of what they eat, or the way in which it was grown or processed. We are blessed by our local farmers, who dare to compete with subsidized, factory-grown food. Our local farmers challenge us, to see through the artificial low prices of such food, and pay fair prices so our local farmers survive. Understand the Truth behind cheap food...that subsidized factory food-stuff, has a higher hidden cost, than we imagine, for all it is priced so cheaply. A cost hidden in subsidies coming out of our wages, the cost of the loss of nutritional quality, the cost of the loss of our country's viable farm lands, due to shoddy factory farming practices, the cost of good, would-be farmers, who are forced out of business, unable to compete, with their local produce, in the market place, against the artificially, manipulated, lower costs of factory foods. In the end, everyone must bare the burden of these hidden costs, eventually. So we, at least, try to buy locally, when we can and encourage you to do so also...and to pay fair value. Value the local farmer, help them compete, pay fair value for the work he or she does! Better yet...become a farmer yourself! Embrace what is essential in yourself, for what can be more essential, than sharing Nature's bounty, with your friends? Happy Thanksgiving!

Daisy is looking forward to the new grass surge!

Fall is well underway. The annual rains have started. Hopefully the drought of the past four years is broken.  We have had two storms that have delivered over two inches of rain, enough to break 'seed dormancy'. Fall is like spring here, the annual grasses have sprouted, and are dusting the pasture with a coat of pale green as they push up through the gold of last years growth. Already the cream line on the milk buckets is deeper, from the cows being able to munch on the new grass.

My little dog 'Boosky' is keeping 
his eye on things!

Today is Thursday, farm-stand day. This one will be the last one for the season. It gets dark now, with the time change, and it's chilly and wet, not much fun to be outside in the weather. The local produce is also getting difficult to find, the tail-end of summer's gardens fade, the last of the tomatoes are going, going.... along with peppers and eggplant, squash and cuke. Soon we will have our first frost, which will take out the last of Summer's tender bounty. The mushrooms will pop up soon, to be made into hot soups or dried for next summer's use and the winter greens will flourish. All is well that ends well. We are tucked in for winter storms. Let them blow! We will welcome them in!

Next Sunday, WWOOFer Jesse comes! He is a tried and true farm lover, and has been here before. He is into learning more about cheese making, so we will be having some sessions. With the cool weather we will be switching from making mozzarella, to making bries and hard cheeses for home use. The temperature is perfect for hard cheeses and Brie, along with the humidity they will age well. If we start our Brie now, it will be just right for eating over the holidays...yum!

Brie in the process.

As the year comes to a close, we have made our compost piles, in anticipation of next years spring gardens. Saved seeds fill the seed cupboard, and jars fill the pantry. We've started the indoor market project, and including installing a cheese processing area in our out-door metal building, which will be the main work for this winter. It's exciting, to begin. Long hours of research pay off, plans finally begin to materialize.

Every season, on a farm is interesting. Pouring over seed catalogs, planning next summer's garden fare, pruning apple and pear trees, tending to the cows, with their great puffs of wintry breath, floating on the air...Soon we will be sitting around crackling fires, enjoying the yummy 'put-up' fruits of summer, having dinners with friends and family, sharing camaraderie and good cheer. Feasting and wine! The season of celebration is at hand! Hope you'll be there too.

Fall is here...

It's Fall now. This past Summer we had to deal with drought conditions. Crop failures, from lack of irrigation water. Low fruit yields. Not much fun. We had only a few WWOOFers, since there wasn't much to process. Even so we had a good crop of calves and dairy production was smooth. This Fall and Winter though, California is expecting a very wet season, which we hope will fill all the aquifers, ponds, lakes and irrigation water reservoirs. We are planning a Fall/Winter garden now, and on planting more fruit trees during the dormant period of Winter. We get ready for a booming Spring now. There will be a lot to work on this Season.

The farm stand was a success, in spite of the drought, we were able to supply locally produced fruits and veggies all Summer, even, if not in the copious quantities usually available, we had heirloom tomatoes, squashes, grapes, Asian and regular pears, apples, nuts, salads, greens, local breads, eggs, the locally produced Apollo Olive Oil, all kinds of local cheeses (goat, cow, and even water buffalo) pies, cobblers, home made hummus, home cured olives, dried fruit and mushrooms, our own honey, canned jams, and preserves and all kinds of misc. goodies. This year we got a grain grinder and now can offer fresh ground organic grains, non GMO corn meal, organic wheat, and spelt. We are wanting to add sprouts and fresh mushrooms from our own mushroom grow house to the mix.

Around mid October, we are starting the next phase of the indoor private membership market, which is exciting. Having a separate area for all the packaging and processing of products will be great. It has been tough to do packaging and processing in our home kitchen, working around ordinary domestic meal chores. We look forward to the new developments which will appear once the area is finished. Later~Rebecca

This year's farm stand

summer market 2014 

The weather has been so warm and sunny, we have been thinking about opening the Thursday farm stand early this year.

Beginning in April, the sun set time is 7:30pm , if we are open 4:30 to 6:30 pm, it allows us an hour of sun light to break the stand down, and pack up our remaining goods.

Local foodies shop locally for the freshest produce

By April there will (hopefully) be enough produce to have a tasty selection for the market. There will be a lot of leafy greens, tender baby salad, turnips, beets, early onions, leeks, asparagus, nuts, oranges, lemons, dried fruit from last fall. Charlie's North Yuba Bakery Bread, jams & jellys, perhaps our new potatoes, honey, pickles, eggs, humus, beet salad and more. In addition we hope to have veggie seedlings for sale to go in YOUR garden.We'll announce the exact dates later. Hope to see you there.

Spring Prep

emergence

 Spring is just around the corner, the farm is waking up from it's long winter's nap. We have a lot of projects coming up. Participating, WWOOFers can get working experience dealing with spring farm jobs. Now is the time we do our spring shovel dance. We get our gardens ready for spring planting, that means moving compost onto our existing beds, working up the soil and laying out irrigation. We will also be building some experiential, new "no-dig" beds, a promising project. We are sorting our seeds, picking out the appropriate ones and seeding out heat loving varieties for summer,they need heating mats, and babying along of those tender sprouts. We will finish pruning those orchard trees, apples and pears, that are threatening to break dormancy.  Then, our goats will begin kidding soon, there will be bottle babies to feed, goat milking and goat's milk cheese making. We plan on fencing and crossing fencing a small underutilized pasture area for the goat's, allowing us to use it's lush ,spring, stand of grass, for rotational grazing. Lots of interesting, challenges ahead...

spreading compost

 If you are interested to explore farming at Oak Meadow, now is a good time to apply. We are especially interested in working with those who aspire to start their own farm in the future. We appreciate volunteers who just want to exchange a few days of their help, for a better understanding about how food is grown, that is a  noble cause. However, because our, resources, space and energy is limited, preference is given to those wishing to become future farmers. It is you; who have a strong desire, a "calling", so to speak, a longing to farm, for whom we wait. It is you who have a will, to acquire the skills, understanding and steadfast endurance, it takes to overcome the obstacles beginning farmers face; for whom we wait. We are dedicated to the task at hand. Together, responsible farmers change the world, one season at a time. 

Spring!