Nearly open at last...

Amazing how blind optimism can see one through. If we had known what we know now about how long all this would take, we would never have taken on the shop. So thank goodness! Final touches to plumbing, compliance signed off, last stock in place and we can open. Hallelujah. Still lots to organise but amazing to think people will be walking through the door in just a few days' time. See you there!

Shoppy-shop shop: "cultured." be its name.

We have a shop. Well, an empty one right now but it is coming together nicely. We've had the keys for 10 days now. Painting is done, carpets are up, floors are being polished this week. 3 group Wega is ready to go in, electrics to pump up, plumbing to install etc etc....but we are moving in the right direction! Am loving building new relationships with artisan cheesemakers for the shop and there will be a few reccies to do in the next month or so. Here is a pic of inside, looking out to Jackson Street:

And now...a cow!

Well, finding a source of fresh, unhomogenised milk has proved so tricky (in this dairy crazy economy - like being thirsty in the sea, so near yet so far!) that I am now seriously looking into getting a retired dairy-herd Jersey cross cow.

I figure if a can go shares with some other, like minded cheese and raw milk enthusiasts, it will be very cost-effective. Then I can make cheese once or twice a week and start putting some away for Christmas ripening. Exciting! And lovely healthy yoghurt for the children too. Our wonderful friends at www.beesblessing.co.nz have offered to collect and home my cow, which I think will be an excellent collaboration. Fingers crossed...Petone shop isn't off the drawing board btw, the lease etc is taking a bit longer than expected as the landlord and current tenant sort things out at their end.

And now a shop...

Well, a really cool one has come up on Jackson St Petone and we are THIS FAR from signing a lease. All v exciting - can stock and promote lovely wee NZ artisan cheesemakers, gather up and sell cheesemaking stuff, have workshops on how to make cheese and other home feed-yourself-in-a-recession goodness. And barista training too, cos we love the java. Already have gorgeous suppliers in the wings and many many ideas and plans. Woohoo! Watch this space...

Two weeks post-artisan cheesemaking course...

Wow - what a week it was. We made quark, cheshire, feta, washed rind, ricotta, mozzarella, red leicester, brie, halloumi and romano....so much cheesey goodness! Sue and Neil (and Dan and P.H) were so generous with their time, patience and wisdom. It was a pleasure to turn up each day and get stuck in to those curds and whey.

Since I got back I have made halloumi and ricotta twice, once from raw milk sourced on the way home, from Hohepa in Havelock North. I made paneer and ricotta one night when I had a halloumi curd issue...but all is never lost with cheesemaking, it just becomes something else!

Conrad and the children bought me a lovely book for my 40th last week, Making Artisan Cheese by Tim Smith. I can't wait to get into the slightly trickier cheeses like Muenster, Gruyere and White Stilton. And Caerphilly too, and oh yum Cabra al Vino (goat cheese brined in red wine).

I have even been offered a cow for milking! But that may be a little complicated....thinking about it though. Difficult and expensive to get enough non-homogenised milk without having shares in a cow for lovely fresh, raw milk.

Great first day of cheese school

Phew. What a day: chemistry, regulations, conventions, pasteurising, cultures, rennet variations(animal or vegetable) and other such important things for makign cheesy delights.

And we helped get some lactic curd started to make into soft cheese tomorrow.

Our group is making Cheshire cheese tomorrow - exciting!

We have been very well fed, with a trio of delicious goat cheeses for morning tea and various tasty rich delights for lunch. Luckily Mindi and I bought 10kgs of carrots in Ohakune on the way up and a big bag of brussel sprouts for penance...

12 lovely keen types on the course - 10 women and two men! Funny. Many milkmaids : )

Mindi and I are very excited about future opportunities this new knowledge (and hands on skills) will bring.
Our lovely morning tea cheeses (a half and half goat and cow camembert, a goat brie and goat blue) all available from www.overthemoondairy.co.nz - go there now and buy up - such deliciousness cannot wait!

: ) x

7 days and counting

Oh yes, only seven more days and my lovely friend Mindi and I will be arriving in sunny (fingers crossed) Putaruru for a week long adventure into the mechanics of cheesey goodness. We are doing the New Zealand Cheese School's 5 day artisan cheesemaker course and it is all very exciting!

In a couple of years I have gone from a run-of-the-mill cheese eater to an appreciator of stinky, washed rind, blue, sheep, goat....all sorts of cheesey delights. Spurred by 6 months in Europe (mmmmmmm such memories, cabecou de rocamadour, mont d'or, comte, gruyere from the Pyrenees, etc etc)and then re-entering the land of cows and milk and of course cheese, I appreciate with a whole new passion the work of the artisan cheesemaker. Now a big fan of anything Kingsmeade, surprisingly good Kapiti Ramara and Raclette, prohibitively expensive imported Comte from Ontrays in Petone (where you can also buy Jamon Iberico, btw but that's another story...), I want to know how to play with cheesemaking myself. Maybe even one day sale-able cheese. Yay.

So Mindi and I have spurned the day or evening "make a cheese" class and decided to immerse ourselves in this unique Cheese School and see what comes out the other end. Stay tuned to find out!

(pic courtesy of www.nordiccheese.com)