Cosmic Gouda, as do all our fresh pressed cheeses, comes to you cut in 5 oz. pieces which are vacuum sealed to extend shelf life and preserve freshness. Right now, Cosmic Gouda will be in limited quantities until later in the season, but Hat Creek Cheddar and Sugar Hill Harvarti in all their varieties from the herbed, dill and spicy pepper flavors, will be available most market days. I think you will be very pleased and impressed with our new Cosmic Gouda.

We will also have available Goat Butter, sold in 4 oz. bars and later in the summer, Cow Butter and our Blended Goat/Cow Butter, the best of both worlds. This is not your ordinary butter, not meant for cooking or baking. I call my butter “table” butter meant to grace your table for spreading on crusty french bread or a flakey croissant.

Cosmic Gouda Wrapped & Labeled

Our Farmer’s Markets kick off on Friday, April 1 with the Chesterfield Farmer’s Market at the Chesterfield Town Center from 9 – 1pm. and on Saturday, April 2 at the Brandermill Green Market 10 – 2pm. The Brandermill Market is in the Shopping Center on 360W (Hull Street) at the 288 inter change. From Richmond it will be on the right before 288 and from the west, you will have to go up and then U-turn on to 360W and then it will be on the right. Please come and see me at either market and check out all of our wonderful cheeses, goat milk bath/body products and WASH TIME Eco-Friendly Laundry Soap.We will be vending theere for the month of March and posssibly throughout the season.

On Saturday, April 16, Night Sky Farm will be present at the 3rd GREEN SPRING EXPO on Healthy Living held at the Armory in Lynchburg, VA. 9 – 4pm. This should be a fun filled event for everyone with plenty of local food to buy and sample, music and demonstrations. This is the event to attend to find out what farms are producing in your area, where to find local foods and services, and to meet the folks that make it happen. Between the famer’s markets and the many Springtime events being held throughout the area, there will be plenty of opportunity to come out and show your support for sustainable agriculture and local producers. Our 2011 Farmer’s MArket schedule is not yet finalized, but this is what is confirmed right now: we will be in Newport News on Wednesdays at the Port Warwick Farmer’s Market, in Chesterfield on Fridays, a new farmer’s market in Forest on Saturdays, and at Goochland, VA two Saturdays, South of the James Farmer’s Market on 2 Saturdays. Yikes! I am all over the Commonwealth getting our fabulous products out to you and now you all need to come out and support these markets and keep them alive and vibrant! The exact dates for the Saturday markets still need to be mapped out, but this is the plan. I will be including the schedule in the next Night Sky Farm newsletter and if you have not yet signed up to recieve one, please click on the box above. It will take you to our sign up page.

SPRING IS OFFICIALLY HERE!

Eirinne Cow

Onto the website news! There is only one site you need to visit to buy both our cheeses and soap products: http://www.nightskyfarm.com      and    www.nightskyfarmgoatcheese.com site will disappear in favor of the other one. Once you go to www.nightskyfarm.com  you will see links to two sites, one for the cheese site and one for the soap site! The nightskyfarm site will continue to be the site for the farm and livestock and as I have time, it will be re-worked. Carts are set up on both new sites and it will accept either PayPal or Google Checkout. As a third option, you can email me your order, then send a check or M.O. or ask for personal invoice.  I can run your credit card right here on the farm.

There are new pages to my sites for MEMBERS ONLY! Sign up and register and to gain access to the special pages which will have offers on cheese and soap available to no one but you. There are two sign-ups, one at each site. These sign-ups are separate from the newsletter sign-up and eventually I am going to combine all into one; but for now it is the way it is. Please give me some feedback on both new sites and the parent site, www.nightskyfarm.com .

This is a GOOD way to start the New Year!

It has been snowing here and no one truly appreciates it except for perhaps the dogs, who decided to go rambling across the neighbor’s field for over an hour only to come back covered in snowballs and leaving small puddles throughout the house so I could step in them! Then, I needed dry socks, AGAIN! I did not shovel any snow, only the stalls which was bad enough in this cold wind, but everyone is cleaned out, snug and warm inside the barn with full hay feeders. I do hear that next Saturday it will be near 60 degrees! It is time to get to looking through the new seed catalogues that arrived last week.

Our Jersey cow, Emily is dry and due to calve 1 February give or take a week. What an exciting time that will be and at this point I’ll take anything a heifer or a bull. Annabelle Clover turned out not to be pregnant, but she is now!! and bred to a Guernsey bull. She is due on 17 August 2011 which is also my son’s birthday. That will give us a nice rotation for year round milk. Eirinne Cow has been sold and goes to her new home in Green Bay, VA very soon. She is milking still, but once a day and giving me 2 gallons which makes around 4 pounds of cheddar, havarti or cream cheese which I decide at the time of making. We have stopped making butter until Emily freshens and what a great product that butter was! We also tried with much success our hand at making goat butter! Again, it practically flew out of the freezer the minute it cam out of the molds. Many of my does are due to kid in early February alongside Emily because it is her milk that feeds all my goat kids and with her estimated production at 8 -9  gallons per day at peak, she will raise goat kids and supply the dairy with plenty of delicious milk for drinking, cheese and butter. Be on the look out for some baby pictures in the next few weeks of both the bovine and the caprine sorts!

Oh, I almost forgot! We have 3 new Nigerian Dwarf doelings; Java, Dawn and Evening. They are the start of my Nigerian Dwarf herd kept for their very high butterfat milk at 7 to 9 %! Their milk will be used to raise the overall butterfat of the bulk tank milk and can also be diverted for butter making when I need it. I hope to have  6 or more does by the end of next year and be milking them by that time as well. The next post will be some pictures of them. They are little jumping beans though! Three feet is not a problem, I wonder what that means for my fencing? A question for another day.

Performance Feed

Feed Detail

You can see the peanuts, cottonseed, cracked corn, textured protein pellets etc. The girls, big and small are enjoying this feed. There is also a substancial monetary savings with this feed over what we were feeding before and the savings allows me to pay off my hay man ( in pieces, but bigger ones)!

Fall has officially arrived in my book. I don’t really like it much because it means cooler weather, ramping up of the ongoing wood project, fence and barn construction, and the constant bellowing and arguing of does in heat! Bred Sweetie yesterday to my big Saanen, Nibbie. I am really liking those crossbred does. We will have some Nupines born next year, I am using Sugar Bear on a few of the Alpines to increase overall butterfat content of the mil. Here is a pic of some of Nibbie’s kids – Goats-in-waiting is what we call these girls! Three Nibbie Saanens, 2 Chribrydon Nubians and a Saanen/Alpine doe, Morning Glory.

Those Girls!

They hold a lot of promise for the dairy! Breeding them in late winter, January – early February 2011. I already have 6 -7 yearlings freshening this winter and at least 3 of them will be for sale late spring.  Now, I am ahead of myself! Market Day tomorrow – Back to Work with me!

100% Jersey BUTTER

The new addition is an electric BUTTER CHURN! Of course, I could only find what I needed in Alberta, CANADA!   A Gem Dandy 1 gallon churn. All I could find here if they did small amounts were in rough shape and all the new ones did a minimum of 2.5 gallons and were on the pricey side. I should have it next week which will greatly aid butter-making!

Butter Churn

Not to mention that ALL the does are cycling and I am breeding them in rotation. We will have lovely La Mancha, Alpine, Alpine/Saanen and Alpine/Nubian crosses, Nubian and Saanen babies next spring, many of which will be for sale. I have kept 2 reg. Alpine bucks, 2 reg. Saanen bucks, 2 reg. Nubian bucks and 1 La Mancha buck. Also, I am bringing in a French Alpine buck for late-October and  all of November to be used on at least 4 of my does. He is Tempo Aquila Bold Type and I have some of his lineage already in my herd. He will stand at Night Sky Farm for the time he is here for outside breeding. If you are interested in using him please send me an email. He has a reasonable service fee.

Production is remaining steady with 7 gallons of Jersey milk and 7 – 8 gallons of goat milk daily! We will be milking through the winter so far. Our first senior doe, Cranberry is due 5 November, none in December and several due January/February 2011. Oh, what a circle, it will be back to feeding kids again.

I would like to introduce you to Stella and Camille! They are handily taking care of all the extra milk and whey generated by the dairy. They will be in residence through the winter and early spring. I am actively searching for a breeding pair of American Guinea Hogs, small, prefectly sized farmstead pigs!

Stella & Camille

Stella is the banded one and Camille is the black beauty! That is mud on her snout. They were not terribly friendly for the first few days, but now I can scratch both of them without a bark. Camille actully barked at me the first couple of times I reached out to her!

So much to do, so little of me!

Eirinne Cow

It’s been a whirlwind of 3 weeks! My Brutus has found a new herd to reign over and a whole family of La Manchas ( Mother and 2 daughters )  left for their new home: together! The woman who bought them adores each and every one. She said the butterfat content in their milk is exceptional! Many, many bucklings and the 3 yearling bucks have moved out, leaving me with Karisma’s 2010  buckling, Equinox, a Nibbie son out of a WIllow Run doe in 2009, Shadow, the Pine Springs 2009 La Mancha, Cosimc Brownie my Smooth Operator grandson from 2009, Hans Solo, a 2009 American Alpine from Walnut Fork in W.VA and of course, our Nibbie, Bonnie Blue Sir Nibbler. Nibbie is our AI bred Companeros Cascade buck. Then, Night Sky Farm is leasing French Alpine, Tempo Aquila Bold Type from Rianbow Colors Farm to recreate a Bandit, the 2 yr old buck I sold last year who was a Bold Type son and with any luck give me some wonderful doe kids! He should arrive mid-October and will be available for use through November 2010. Just send me an email if you wish to book a breeding. Pictures of his daughters can be found on my FACEBOOK in the photos section. Listed the album: Bold Type Daughters please check them out!

We still have 3 Alpine does for sale and 3 Alpine doe kids, 1 Alpine buck kid, 2 La Mancha doe kids and 1-2 Grade La Mancha does, and one Grade La Mancha buckling still on milk. Our first kids are due 5 November and some each month thereafter till June! Annabelle Clover is still very large and is getting ready. EIrinne Cow is for sale and our dear, Emily Cow is due 1 February 2011. I want to get down to 2 milking cows.

Emily Cow

Annabelle Clover Cow

Today, I made 15 lbs of feta, and many, many lbs. of chevre. Tomorrow, I will work on the 100% Jersey milk and pasteurize it for Fresh Cream Cheese, Havarti and Cheddar.

Also, need to replenlish our stock of lotion, lip balm and laundry soap! Lavender Mint, Chamomile Sage and Saharan Sandalwood are on deck.

Emily Cow giving a "Raspberry" to the camera.

This is our registered Jersey cow, Emily. She is 5 years old and giving us 3.5 gallons of milk each day. Emily is due to calf on February 1, 2011 and she will be dried off in the beginning of December 2010, so she can take a break and get herself ready for the next go ’round. Her diet consists of  16% dairy ration grain, alfalfa hay, orchard grass hay and pasture. She is outside except to come into the parlor for milking or during bad weather she is in her stall. She has never been sick or had mastitis and she is vaccinated every year for cow illnesses and tested for Tuberculosis and Brucellosis. She is a happy cow and knows her name, comes when called and backs out of the milking parlor when I ask. So, for CREAM CHEESE, we begin with fresh, clean Emily milk. All our milk for fresh cheese is required to be pasteurized before I can sell it and so it is for this milk. I have an extraordinarily  small pasteurization system and can only process 3.5 gallons of milk at a time. Each 3.5 gallon pot has it’s temperature recorded during the half hour pasteurization.

The Recorder - a necessity

After pasteurization, the heating of the milk to 145 degrees and holding it there for a half hour to ensure all nasty bacteria is killed,  the milk is cooled in a cold water bath to approximately 90 degrees. At that time a bacterial culture is added and acidifier, better known as rennet is also stirred in. In effect, you have killed everything, good and bad in the milk and reintroduced special bacteria that you want so the milk will transform into a particular type of cheese, be it chevre, cheddar or havarti. Akin to an artist and her canvas. CREAM CHEESE requires a long culturing process of 12 -15 hours and a just as long draining period. The cheese room has a special “closet” for draining cheese that can be shut off from the rest of the room to keep airborne bacteria and yeasts at a low level. You don’t want those in your cheese. After culturing, the curd is cut, placed into cloth draining bags and hung in the closet for 8 – 10 hours or until I feel the consistency is to my liking. The curd is removed form the cloth bags, worked and salted with natural sea salt. This CREAM CHEESE is not your everyday, run o’the mill cheese; it is not like Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese at all. It is Night Sky Farm CREAM CHEESE and it is light and fluffy, easy to spread and delicious to eat on a bagel, topping a pizza or in a cheesecake. All of which I have done.

Fresh CREAM CHEESE!

Our CREAM CHEESE is sold in 8 oz. vacuum sealed packages with a blue Night Sky Farm label. They are sold at our markets and on the farm for $6.50 each. Our website lists them for a bit more, but shipping is included. The cheese freezes well, so you can stock up for the holiday season. Try mixing up a dip with our CREAM CHEESE or a spread by adding your own unique touches to an already naturally sweet, creamy 100% Jersey Cow Milk cheese. Night Sky Farm can be found Saturday mornings in Charlottesville and in Richmond, at the Charlottesville City Market and at the St. Stephen’s Farmer’s Market. Our products can be purchased through Fall Line Farms, Relay Foods, Off The Vine Market, Sprout Market & Cafe and enjoyed at Isabella’s Trattoria.

2009 doelings

Must Sell. Reg. Alpine does (some in milk), their 2010 kids (does/bucks), a 2 yr old proven Alpine buck and a couple of dry doelings ready to breed. Grade La Manchas and possibly a reg. Saanen doeling by my Companeros Cascade buck. Send me and email or call for details. Older does can be bred to any of my bucks before leaving the farm. I am willing to transport animals within a 100 – 150 mile radius of the farm to make sure these animals get a good home. Send me an email or place a comment on the post and I will send you pics, ADGA numbers etc. They must move out  soon!

100% Jersey Cream Ice Cream!

Also, I have been soaping AGAIN. I don’t know, I just can’t get around it. My soap is moving out almost as fast as my cheese and my lotion has left the farm in total, forcing me to make more this weekend. The new bars I made recently are all olive oil with goat milk and the scents are Dragon’s Blood, Night Sky and Felicity. I used my new Medieval Animals mold for the Dragon’s Blood and made the bar with a deep red swirl knowing the Dragon’s Blood scent would turn the soap a dark brown, so the scent was not put into the red. The bars did emerge a deep red color with the dark brown and are absolutely decadent, though non-edible. The Night Sky also will turn the soap dark, so this bar was made the same way only I used a different mold and ultramarine oxide instead of the iron oxide. It is turning more slowly than the Dragon’s Blood, but I think it will be just as stunning. The Felicity again accelerated the chemical process and turned out looking like a natural rock resembling agate, a deep red and ochre rock. The scent is fabulous though unexpected for a rock appearing soap.

Dragon's Blood Medieval Animals Mold

And no you can’t eat the soap!

Night Sky

The Agate Soap - Felicity

My next post will be our Fall Event Schedule for 2010 with the first being a new WIne Festival at the reconstructed Cloverdale Village in Appomattox on 28 August, 2pm to 8pm. Night Sky Farm will also be vending at the Foxfield Races in held Charlottesville on the 26 September. An exciting day for me and Meika watching the steeplechase event and the cross country racing. Oh, the horses! So, look for the next post with more info, dates and times.