It's a Sign....

We have been talking about having a grand opening party since the spring and it looks like we will be lucky to have it by mid to late fall with everything going on these days but that ain't a bad thing. We did however get our marvelous, stupendous, beautious sign made by our artist friend Sandy. More about Sandy when I sneak a picture of her. We hung it up on the barn last week and it sure makes us feel official. It was like the first time we held in our hand the little circular Chevre label (designed by Randy Wemhoff of Advertising that Works - and boy does it work - of course the cheese is great too but anyway). It really makes you think "Wow, this is for real." but when you have been working at it for 8 years that shouldn't really come as a surprise but somehow it still sneaks up on you. You get so wrapped up in all the details and just getting through one day and on to the next that you don't often take the time to step back and look at how far you have come. But there it is and here we are and it feels good to step back for just a minute and be thankful for the good fortune we have already had on this adventure in cheesemaking.

Another Family Farm

Part of our business plan has always been to help foster and support a network of small dairies (goat, cow, and even sheep if anyone out there is interested) in Western North Carolina to supply us and other artisan cheesemakers in the region with good, local milk for cheesemaking. I believe that what is good for one of us cheesemakers is good for all of us and our individual successes add up to a collective advantage in promoting Western North Carolina as a culinary destination for the dedicated cheese-o-phile.

Times have changed and good, local, legal milk ain't that easy to come by. Not too awfully long ago there were many small family farms in this area that had dairying as a viable part of their diversified operation but as the push to Grade A came along those farms fell to the wayside but the history of milk is a story for another post.

We recently started buying additional milk from another milk producer, HeatherLane Farms in Woodfin, NC. Heatherlane Farms (named after Yvonnes daughter Heather and son Lane) is owned and operated by Yvonne and Ken Coburn. It is a small farm in a little hollow off a dirt road not all that far from the Kmart on Smokey Park Highway just outside of downtown Asheville. Pretty amazing.

We met Yvonne and Ken a couple of years ago at the IHOP on Tunnel Road to discuss our plans of dairying and cheesemaking. At that point it was nothing more than pipe dreams and possibilities for each of us. We had been put in touch by Tommy Harrell of the NCDA who thought we might benefit eachother. At the time I was still working at Blackberry Farm in East TN milking sheep and making cheese. For a variety of reasons, our plans took longer to get off the ground than theirs did and they were licensed last year as a dairy and have sold their milk to other cheesemakers in the area. Recently we have been able to up production and are happy to also be buying goats milk from Heatherlane Farm.

Yvonne got into goats with a goat named Curiosity that was bought as a companion animal for her horse. That is how people tend to get into goats, they back sideways into them before they realize what amazing and intelligent animals they are. They buy one to mow their lawn (which they aren't that great at - they prefer trees, or shrubs over grass but too late) or as a 4H project or to supply milk for a baby that can't tolerate cows milk and then all the sudden the goat bug bites. One goat turns into 20 and then 50 and then "What are we going to do with all this milk?".

Anyway, the Coburns have settled into a life with goats and goat showing. They raise primarily Nigerians with a few Nubians and other breeds thrown together. Ken says that many of their goats are rescues from unfortunate situations that have found a good home and a productive life with the Coburns.

Nigerians, while small like Pygmy's (they have a couple of those too), have the much more petite and elegant frame of classic milk breed and not the squatty dwarfishness of the pygmy. They are known for the very high butterfat content of their milk that rivals sheep milk in the density of its components. Nubians too are known for higher butterfat than the average milker and supposedly have the sweetest milk of all, but who knows? Anyway, Heatherlane Farms produces the perfect milk for our much sought after Early Bird and Ellington, our two mold ripened cheeses. We had several loyal customers calling us on Friday night to reserve them an Ellington or Early Bird for the Saturday morning market in Black Mountain to avoid the woeful situation of arriving too late to get one.

We are grateful to be able to buy the milk from Heatherlane Farm and to get to know them and their story a little more. Ken now does most of the milking and animal maintenance in their small but very functional and clean milk house made of block and painted crisp white. Two goats at time enter the mini-parlor for a meal and to be milked with a stainless steel bucket milker. On the day I was there it

was early in the morning and raining and the girls were happy to enter but very unhappy about having to hazard a raindrop before returning to the barn. The kids help out where they can and Yvonne is primarily responsible for making the fudge. In additon to working full time as a City of Asheville Detective she also makes amazing goat milk fudge sold under the label of Heatherlane Farms Mountain Made Fudge which you can find at more and more places around town and at the Black Mountain Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. Now you know where the great milk comes from to make our lovely Ellington and Early Bird as well as their fantastic fudge (my favorite is coconut).

The Second Season of Grass

Every Tuesday for the past few weeks when I drove to pick up milk at the Hostetlers farm I kept on forgetting my camera. When I leave the house at 6am it is lucky if I remember the important stuff like my hot tea, matching shoes on my feet, and my check book to pay for the milk much less a camera. Now that school is out I often have to drag along my reluctant six year old on my milk hauling excursions which only serves to complicate matters as well.

Anyway, the second season of grass is upon us and the sorghum is high. Jacob has his pastures divided up to rotate the herd thru. There are three large divided pastures in the front and probably just as many or more in the back. I knew I didn't have more than a few weeks before the last untouched pasture was grazed by the goats but I missed the mark. I finally brought my camera but the herd had already been through and nipped off the tops of the leaves. They will be back again to regraze the pastures in 3 or 4 weeks I am sure. Sorghum to me looks a lot like corn and I guess that makes sense since it is also in the grass family. It tolerates the hotter drier conditions of summer better than other forage options and the goats love it. I often taste the milk before I start cheesemaking (don't tell the government they might arrest me) to see if I can tell the seasonal differences and the changes in the pasture grasses. I will keep you posted on that.

I haven't gotten the chance to discuss the Sorghum with Jacob because lately when I am there he is off at his day job building barns. He hopes that someday the dairy will make enough money so he doesn't have to work an outside job but that day hasn't come yet. While I am sure everyone helps out with everything, it is his wife and daughter who usually do the morning and evening milking while he and his sons manage the herd and the pastures.

Market Day

We only do one tailgate market, and that is about all we can handle. We were lucky to stumble upon the Black Mountain Tailgate Market in lovely Black Mountain, NC. Nick and Susan of Highlander Farm, the most amazingly wonderful people and sheep farmers I know suggested we take a look at the Black Mountain Market, that it would be a good fit for us. It is and they were right. This is our first experience of being a vendor and we were very fortunate to have landed where we did. It was a mad scramble at first and I thought we might not get into any market at all but we did and it is the perfect place for us. The Black Mountain Tailgate market isn't too big but it isn't too small either. There is a great group of hardcore regulars who already feel like family to us and all the vendors are a nice bunch of people too. Even though it is a huge effort to get out the door on Saturday morning, we all look forward to a day at the market.

We started production in February but only sold wholesale up to the start of the market. Our wholesale customers have been fantastic but the only connection you get to your customers through wholesale selling is that your cheese sells and they want more. While that is a good connection to have sometimes when you are feeling exhausted and unmotivated and wondering "Why did I sign myself up for this?" you need something more than that. Our first market day was a real boost to our spirits, it was like the sky opened up and rays of light started shining down upon us and when our customers came back the next week asking for more, that was even better.

Here are a few photos from the market today. The market is always a feast for the eyes and I can't wait to see what vegetables or flowers will be a added to the palette of color. The flowers were so pretty today I couldn't resist taking more than a fewI was so busy taking photos and talking it up that I forgot to take pictures of us and our cheese but you will see plenty of that anyway.

Ellington

Fast on the heels of Early Bird comes Ellington. Ellington is my favorite cheese to make and the most lovely of all. I developed this cheese while working at Blackberry Farm in Walland TN. Since three is the magic number, I saved it to be number three. I milked sheep and made cheese during the day and tinkered with cheese recipes in my basement at night which is where I came up with Ellington. The inspiration for this cheese was one of my most favorite American goat cheeses, Humboldt Fog by Cypress Grove out of California. It is super fantabulous. A wonderfully visual cheese that is also delightful in taste and texture. While Ellington is no Humboldt Fog, thats for sure, it is my humble homage to that amazing cheese.

Ellington is an ash coated pyramid with a mold ripened rind. It is aged about 3 to 4 weeks. It has a creamy texture, and a subtle but distinctive flavor. The pyramid, while traditional for a goat cheese, is also an architectural marvel of cheese, hence the name. As most of you know, Ellington was a well known American architect who designed several signature art deco buildings in Asheville including the S&W cafe, Asheville City Hall, Asheville High School, and the First Baptist Church of Asheville.

There tends to be two shapes of pyramid out there. One that is more narrow and pointy and one a bit more squatty and fat. While I have no idea what the man looked like, the cheese is of the more squatty and fat variety. I think that shape lends itself better to being more approachable as well as creamy and delicious. The more narrow pyramids better lend themselves to cheeses with personalities that are more stodgy and withered. There is a time and a place in the world for both but Ellington is wonderfully rotund.

The process of making pyramids is almost as enjoyable as the cheese. The curds are ladeled into a pyramid mold where they sit overnight until they unite and emerge as a delicate and improbable pyramid form. The next morning, they are handsalted and coated in ash. Ash is used to neutralize the surface of the cheese and create a friendly environment for the growth of penicillium candidum or white mold. I always found the use of ash in cheesemaking interesting. While I am not sure, I think its use was introduced with the cows milk cheese, Morbier. According to the story, the milk from the afternoon milking was formed into curds and left overnight. To prevent insects from getting into the cheese the farmer sprinkled ash over the surface. The following morning the curd from the morning milking was ladeled on top and Voila (sort of), you have Morbier.

My question is this, I have always been told that when ladeling curds, you only have an hour or so to add additional curd to a form and get it to knit together properly. How on earth can you ladel curd onto a layer of curd that is 12 hours old and it comes together? It may simply be a function of proper pressure or technique but having never tried it, I don't know and will have to try soon. Of course, always and nevers tend to be dangerous and that rule may only apply to certain styles or soft bodied cheeses. That is the funny thing about cheesemaking ask any cheesemaker a question and you will get as many different answers as there are cheesemakers as to what works and what doesn't and what to "always" do and "never" do.

I digress, after salting and ash, Ellington is then moved to the aging facility where we watch it eagerly every day for that first hint of gray. At about day five or six that black coat begins to soften to gray as the white mold emerges and finally turns to white. Within a week or two of the finished coat the cheese is ready and even better if you leave it another week or two. Ellington is sporadically available the next few weeks at the Black Mountain Tailgate Market and coming more reliably to our retail outlets soon.

The Results Are In.......

We had a lot of great entries and it took us days of hemming and hawing to whittle it down to the finalists. And here they are in no particular order:

Noble Crottin - the name of the lovely road we live on and the family who has been in this area for many generations. We almost named our cheesemaking business Noble Creamery so this had a lot of appeal to us. My only hesitation with this one is the word Crottin. Crottin is a french word and in the cheesemaking vernacular refers to a cylindrical shaped goat cheese, the most famous and protected variety being Crottin de Chavignol. I am no french speaker but it is my understanding that crottin can also mean dung or other variations upon that concept. Something to think about........

Hemlock Honey - like the name, sounds good

The Opera Box - I can't sum up the explanation any better than the submitter so here it is "The Opera Box is a favorite spot to sit and take in the views of Chimney Rock. According to a park website, "On your way up the Skyline trail, just a short distance from the Chimney, catch your breath and enjoy the views of Lake Lure and Hickory Nut Gorge from the Opera Box. When you enter this unique spot, you are covered by a rock overhang with a narrow horizontal opening that presents panoramic scenes of sky, water, and trees while the wind and the birds provide the perfect soundtrack.
"Also, because the cheese's shape is small and round, it mimics the appearance of opera boxes in music halls. There is also a vague literary connection to The Scarlet Pimpernel (like Looking Glass with Alice in Wonderland), but that is stretching it a bit to make the connection (and maybe the French Revolution doesn't conjure up delicious cheese!).

Bear Wallow Blend - Bear Wallow Mountain isn't far at all from here. Whenever I drive by the road sign I just want to take a detour and find out where the bears do wallow. Love the name.

Early Bird - After Ella Early, a well-known local who passed on several years back. She was tougher than a pine knot despite her waifish constitution. A colorful character who yelled "EARLY BIRD" into the phone if you dared answer one of her many phone calls. She was an amazing gardener with a sharp wit and a generous spirit. You never left her house without a sweet potato pie. While she may have aggravated some, you can't be as strong and independent as she was without ruffling a few feathers. She was a real southern character.

Lady Sandburg Bliss - another great submission, having read a lot about Paula Sandburg, her dairy, and her meticulous breeding records this was a top contender.

Klakalak - a unique name with regional roots

Chestnut Knob - like the name and the connection to Looking Glass Rock

Capricorn - I like this name being a capricorn myself but it was eliminated early given that it wasn't really local/regional enough.

Homeward Angel - great name with local roots

And from the long list it went to the short list:
Homeward Angel
Noble Crottin
Early Bird
The Opera Box

And from the short list we went to the really short list.

And the winner is.......

EARLY BIRD
Ella was a local character, the words are short and fit on a small label, and it is our first aged cheese, our very own early bird. May our humble cheese inherit the longevity of its namesake. Thanks Ella.

CONGRATULATIONS ANN - We will be in touch to coordinate the delivery of your free cheese! Thank you to everyone for all the great and well thought out entries.

The Great Cheese Contest

THE CONTEST: Name Our Next Cheese
THE PRIZE: Three Pounds of LGC Cheese
SEND ENTRIES TO: thehappyhen@yahoo.com
DEADLINE: Entries must be received by June 15th, 2009.

ABOUT THE CHEESE

Welcome to the the Great LGC Cheese Contest. We are looking for a name for our new cheese. For years now we have plotted and planned our cheese enterprise which included names for all our cheeses, except for one. This little guy has escaped a formal name to date. This cheese is a charming little bloomy-rind crottin made from fresh goats milk. The round is aged for about 3 or 4 weeks. The result is a semi-soft body and slightly wrinkly rind. The flavor is mild with a distinct yet pleasant tangy finish.

We start with fresh raw goats milk and gently pasteurize it before adding cheese cultures to ripen the milk followed by rennet to help set the curd. The curd is cut and scooped into crottin molds to sit overnight. The day after the cheese is made it is removed from the molds and hand salted before being transferred to our aging facility. We turn the cheese by hand everyday and watch for the first "bloom" of white mold to begin emerging. We then wash the surface of the cheese with a special brine for about a week to give it more depth and character. After aging the round typically weighs about 5 ounces and is the perfect centerpiece for any cheese plate.

THE CONTEST DETAILS

So here is where you come in, we need a name for this nameless wonder. The contest runs from today until June 15th, 2009. For their efforts, the winner will receive one pound of cheese in each of the months of July, August, and September for a total of three pounds of marvelous Looking Glass Creamery cheese. Submissions can be sent in via email or in person at our booth at the Black Mountain Tailgate Market on Saturdays from 9am to noon.

If submitting via email, put "Cheese Contest" in the subject line and send your best suggestion to thehappyhen@yahoo.com. Our only guidelines for naming submissions is that they be regional in character and/or related to an element (music, art, the outdoors, local culture, architecture, etc.) of Western North Carolina that make it such an amazing place to live. Please include your name, where you are from, and your phone number with your entry. Feel free to include any explanation or detail regarding your entry.

There are only two locations to try and buy the new cheese before the end of the contest. The cheese is available at Trout Lily Market in Fairview, NC or at the Black Mountain Tailgate Market from 9am to noon on Saturdays.

After June 15th all submissions will be posted on the blog along with our choice for the winner. To repeat, the winner will receive one lb. of Looking Glass Creamery cheese for 3 months - July, August, and September. So send us your best and brightest ideas to thehappyhen@yahoo.com and you could have the cheesiest summer ever.