Milky Tales, Part One

For years I have dreamed about having my own milk goats.  I imagined I would casually stroll out to the pen, and with a light touch, the milk would flow into a waiting pail.  Cheeses would magically appear and my children would soon be sporting goat milk mustaches.

Reality hit with a thud in April when Ophelia had her kids.  I had not trained her to a milking stand and when one came in the mail she was terrified of it.  Of course, Lavender–Ophelia’s non-lactating buddy–thought it was great and spent hours leaping on and off until the metal began to separate from the battered sides.  With lots of coaxing and licorice flavored treats, I was finally able to get Ophelia to put her head through the stanchion and I was set.  “Hey, we got lucky!  I said to my husband “She has two streams of milk coming from one of her teats.  We can milk her twice as fast.”  Soon I found this was actually a genetic abnormality meaning that I shouldn’t breed her again and her babies couldn’t be used as studs.

As the babies were weaned, the milk supply began to grow.  Early on my family put their collective feet down and stated that they just weren’t all that in to drinking any of this fine milk.  Soon half the fridge was filled and it just kept coming – over a gallon a day.  Something had to be done.  Yes, the cheese dream!  My daughter Madeline and I took a class to learn how to make a tomme cheese.  I saved up the milk and spent the next day adding cultures, heating, adding rennet, cutting curd, carefully draining then pressing and turning my precious product.  After many hours I had a small round blob that would need to age for the next several months in our basement.  It better taste really good.

Related posts:

1. Milky Tales, Part Two
2. News from the Farmlet
3. Making Homemade Yogurt

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