The Porker and the Cheese maker go to the farm store....

So the other day the head Porker and I are traversing our way through Coastal Farm and Ranch when the idea came to us that we wanted to be parents. We acted pretty fast and left with four of the cutest little baby cluckers imaginable (thanks mostly to my extraordinarily adept chicken wrangling skills) we immediately went back to his new house where I decided the bath tub was the best place for them until we could find a more suitable home for them.
Little did we know how cute the little chirps and peeps are and also how fragile!
It took only a couple days until our baby clucker parenting skills were challenged with the 'pasting-up' of two of the baby chicks.
For those of you that don't know baby cluckers have a 'vent' which is where the eggs and other poopy stuff shoot out of. Sometimes the 'vent' gets covered (by poopy stuff) and its very serious (not something to be laughed at all-don't laugh), much more serious than constipation because the little clucker can die from it- which is a very serious matter and shouldn't be laughed at all.
Thankfully our new little flock is chirping away nicely and with the help of some boiled eggs that we have been feeding them and some gerbal food they are progressing along nicely - (just kidding)
There are several things that one should know if you want to become baby clucker parents- it would be best to hire a consultant like I did when I got my flock but if your inclined to just do it! here are some helpful facts.

1. You should know all about baby cluckers vents and potential blockage hazards like cedar shavings
2. Lady cluckers lay eggs without a rooster present (you'd be surprised who doesn't know that!)
3. You should get a comfy chair and play with them daily so when they grow up and your trying to get them inside the coop at night they don't think they are going to die if you pick them up
4. You should not wash them with Ajax and a hose (I never attempted this btw but a dear friends mother did it on a regular basis) its not advised as traumatized chickens don't lay eggs very well
5. You should not take the baby cluckers on long walks - because they can die if they are away from heat and will make a very alarming distressed chirp

The most important fact that you should know about baby cluckers is that it takes up to six months for them to lay. Thankfully I have done exceedingly well and done all the hard work for you and now have a flourishing flock of curd eating cluckers that happily consume cheese and wriggly crawly things! This season at the market you will be able to get our eggs in stunning pink cartons which should make you (and I) very happy because who doesn't like a little pink?
If you are opposed to pink (I cannot imagine why) but your still charmed by our curd eating variety pack chicken eggs we will have some gray cartons on hand (and we wont even laugh at you if you ask for one!)

I have been up to my elbows in curd this week due to the reopening of the Portland Farmers Market at PSU this Saturday and of course the ever reliable Hillsdale farmers market on Sunday.
If this wasn't enough the Oregon Cheese Festival is also this saturday! Its supposed to be a glorious week and will be 75 degrees down in Central Point at the Cheese Festival this weekend so if your in the mood for a cheesy road trip come check it out!
We will have a hoopla (technical term btw) of new cheeses this week! Today I carefully ladled the new fresh lactic cheese, called Lily Pad , into its forms with non other than Lily herself perched on my back! In addition to the new Lily Pad we will certainly have all your favorites as well as a new cheeses Fromage du Terre the Fromage Blanc and Feta!
FFF! but in a good way :)
I had an artisan moment this evening when I was in the cheese room packaging my feta in the most lovely shade of honey/green brine your eyes ever laid eyes on. I am so very proud of all the cheeses on my table this week. Watch out because my electric overenthusiastic energy may zap you if you come to near!

Adieu Adieu
Yours always
Cheese Czarina!!

My Ode to blue

Hello everyone!

Yesterday as I was admiring my vat full of milk an order came in for some product- into the aging room I went and when I came out I carried with me the new blue which is a larger and much handsomer version of the Little Boy Blue- its hard to not love him in this new handsomely plump size. The Big Boy Blue is a smooth and gentle blue with a creamy undertone and the blue development was so beautiful it moved me to a place of poetry.

My ode to blue!
Oh my my blue is so new!
So lovely is my blue! You won't say eeeww or moo when you eat my blue
It doesn't even smell like poo!
My new blue has no clue its better than stew
Oh my my new blue
If you get blue on your shoe it will no longer be new but
ohohohohoh so yummy is my blue
My big boy blue!
My love is true this is my ode to you
Who knew it would be you?
Don't be a shrew eat my new Big Boy Blue!

Very soon the Portland Farmers market will be opening and you will be able to sample some of it! I am starting to get awfully excited. You will enjoy the delightful benefits of my enthusiasm in a new product I am launching : fromage blanc. The fromage blanc is a lower fat product that does not contain cream and is very similar to a chevre. Its had some wonderful reviews from my taste testers and we will have a small amount of it at the Hillsdale farmers market this Sunday.
I am also hard at work creating a buttermilk blue dressing for all those wonderful spring greens that will be popping up soon my mouth is watering thinking of it on top of some freshly steamed asparagus. Uuumm yum....
I love the fact that with three simple ingredients milk, culture and rennet you can unleash thousands of different flavors and textures and love exploring :)

For those of you that follow me on facebook you saw the udder glee I obtained from opening my big box of goodies from Nelson Jameson. I now have a pink mop and color coded cleaning accessories for the cheese room and color coordinated holding racks to keep them in their place :) There is a lot of pink and yellow to compliment the stainless steel in the CR now.
I even used my Dads drill and attached them to the creamery walls myself-even though the girls were a little scared being around me and power tools.

Here is a nice recipe that contains a nice variety of Jacobs Creamery products that I cleaverly cut and pasted from Epicurious without their consent :)

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter (that was hand churned fresh this week)
  
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large onions (about 1 1/3 pounds total), halved through root end, thinly sliced lengthwise
• Fine sea salt
• 1 16-ounce container sour cream
• 1 8-ounce container crème fraîche
• 1/2 cup fromage blanc or cream cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile powder or chives or green onions if you prefer
  
• Garlic pita chips or my new favorite carrot sticks!
  

Tally ho!
Yours always
Cheese Czarina!

Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any Lambs?

Oh boy!
Its so ON! I recently placed a BIG order for some very snappy looking water proof labels. You can wash them in water or submerge them in ice for several hours and still have a nice glossy finish- which could be perfect entertainment if you go crazy at our booth on the opening day of PSU and eat so much dairy you can barely move. We have a word for this - dairy overdose - and we are very happy suppliers.

In addition to all this hoopla we have pregnant Ewes on the farm popping out babie lambs! (we have real live baby lambs!)
I thought I would take this time to tell you what I know about lambs.

1. Sheep is the word for all of them
2. Lambs are the young sheep
3. Ewes are the females who give us milk
4. I am going to be little Bo peep and Vanae and Alanna are going to be my very cute sheep for Halloween this year
5. I am totally excited to make fresh sheep cheeses and you should be totally excited to eat them because they are going to be very very very very very very very very yummy

That's about all I know about lambs, ewes and sheep-thankfully I know a lot more about what to do with their milk so we shouldn't have any problems.
Thankfully you will have a plethora of sheepy cheesy products to choose from but one VERY special one will be available. It will be the Jacobs Creamery private reserve label cheese - and its going to be an aged full sheep's milk feta and sheep's milk ricotta that will make you fall in love.....OMG I get goose bumps just thinking about it.
One of the benefits of sheep milk is that it can be eaten by people who are lactose intolerant, like my mother :) Generally I tell these folks to pop the dairy pill but now they can happily consume more than one of my cheeses without having to be in close proximity to a loo!

Following last weeks Ode to Big Blue I have created a song for you to enjoy that was inspired by another cheese.

oooHHH aHHHHH AHHHHHH
Lovely Feta Feta I made
Lovely Feta Feta I made
Nothing can come between Us!
When it get gets dark I take your whey away!

Standing by the market booth
I caught a glimpse of you!
Going home from the Jacobs Creamery booth....da da da da

Lovely Feta Feta I made
Nothing can come between us
Lovely Feta Feta I made

In a tub you looked much older
But O how I longer to hold her
Sitting there you looked a little like a specialty cheese O o o o

Lovely Feta Feta I made
Where would I be without you!
Give a wink and make me think of you!!! O

OOOOOOOO- Feta!!!!!!

Ill finish with this fabulous greek pie recipe that is as simple as it is delicious.
Its best if you can grab some of Rick Stephens spinach freshly picked with some morning dew and of course my Lovely Feta!

1 pack o phyllo dough (if you dont know what this is omit)(nebs)
1 pound of cooked spinach - drained
3/4 pound of Jacobs Creamery lovely Feta
2 cups of ricotta cheese
1/2 thinly diced onion sauted in JC spring pasture butter
6 TB of all purpose flour
5 Jacobs Creamery curd fed chicken eggs lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Put the phyllo dough on the bottom of a buttered pan then mix everything else together well and plop it in a hot oven until the middle reads 160 then take it out and cool!
Voila

Yours always
Cheese Czarina!