As we prepare to replace the fence posts and fencing around the garden, I’ve been considering a fenced area on the other side of the garden, or perhaps on the upper terraces, for a chicken coop, a little barn-shed and a couple of milk goats. It would be a big step for us to go into livestock (that’s not dogs, cats or doves), but with the food shortages expanding and the prices rising fast, it might be something that makes good sense.

The folks we bought this place from some 15 years ago raised goats and horses, also kept bees. I’d love to get some bee boxes, know right where to station them at the edge of the woods facing the garden. But we’ve plenty of wild bees and other insect pollinators for the fruit and vegetables and wildflowers. I’d be doing it for the honey! Chickens will have to be well protected from foxes (we have a couple of fox families on the property, and we don’t plan to kill them). We used to keep chickens in the fenced back yard of a house in town when I was a kid, they aren’t difficult if they’re protected.

My experience with goats hasn’t been so encouraging. Got our first goat in Virginia from a friend. She was half alpine, half Nubian, the cutest critter God ever made! All legs and full of energy. By the time she’d grown up enough to breed (yes, they have to be bred regularly in order to give milk), she was convinced she was a dog. Who ever heard of milking a dog? She made an great pet, but we never had her bred.

Toggenburg goats give the most milk per capita. Had a friend in New Mexico who got one in payment for a debt, gave 2 gallons a day! Since he didn’t like goat milk that much, we told him we’d take all the excess. He’d deliver a gallon daily, and my kids went through it fast. It’s naturally homogenized (you have to mechanically separate the cream), more easily digestible than cow’s milk, tastes sweet and creamy, and makes some of the best cheese on the planet. My family loves cheese, and that is way more expensive than milk at the store. Worse, they don’t label cheese as to whether it comes from rBST treated cows, and unless you can afford organic, it probably is.

If we do get goats, I’ll be making cheese. And goat cheese isn’t difficult to make if you know what you’re doing. You don’t have to separate the cream for cheese, but a separator does allow you to make butter. Heat the milk in a double boiler to 80º. Be precise, get a good long digital thermometer. Because we are vegetarian I’ll be using a mushroom-based rennet alternative. Rennet is produced from cow stomach lining. Testing for pH is also recommended for making hard cheeses.

Cheese flavoring is introduced with the lactobacillus, which you can get from buttermilk or purchase online along with the rennet or rennet substitute. At home a gardener can flavor fresh cheese with fresh herbs, too. A good herbed chevre (goat cheese) can go for $50-$60 a pound, if you can find it. Here’s a simple recipe for chevre:

5 quarts goat milk
1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
2 tablespoons diluted rennet (or vegetable rennet)

Warm milk to 80 degrees. Stir in buttermilk and mix well. Let sit a few hours. Add rennet. Stir at least one minute. Let sit at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Curd is ready to drain when it looks like thick yogurt. There may be a thin layer of whey floating on the top.

Ladle curd into muslin bag and allow to drain for 6-8 hours, or until it’s the consistency you like. Freeze, unseasoned, in Ziplock bags, or add salt and herbs to taste and put in a wooden cheese mold. When set, remove from mold, bag and freeze.

Check out some of the recipes at GourmetSleuth or surf around for others. Find out if anyone in your area offers cheese making classes (extension service sometimes has lists). You don’t have to have your own goats to make cheese. Just hook up with a dairy!

Links:

Cheese Making, Milk, Dairy Home
GourmetSleuth: How To Make Cheese
CheeseSupply: Cheese Making Supplies
Cheese Making Ingredients