Black Mesa Ranch
Snowflake, Arizona, USA
Artisan Cheese
Nubian Goats
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Updated!
6/07: We have revamped our Ranch Workshop Packages!
In addition to our one and three-day cheese making and goat management workshops learn about our free open- house days and lodging accommodations.
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Award Winning Artisan Goat Cheeses
4 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
3 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
(available seasonally)
2 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
2 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
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Click here to read the online version of Kathryn's booklet
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This site last updated:
October 04, 2008
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Arizona Grown!
Friday, September 03, 2004
Continued work on prepping up for the Corn festival tomorrow. K gathered all the non-food type stuff together (tent to tables, to signs and labels, to pens and tooth picks. We wrapped more product and got transport boxes ready to go. Checked and re-checked all lists.
Several of the baby meat chicks got out of their area and were running around outside in the horse’s area this am. K was trying to round them up but Kira got a hold of one and was making off with it until K yelled at her. She dropped the chick which later was still doing fine, except for a bruised wing.
The guys showed up around 9:30 to finish getting set for placing the new septic tank for the Dairy. The tank showed up around 10:30. Like the situation at the house, the guys were concerned that the leech field may be clogged there as well and gave us some ideas about how to deal with it ourselves, if it is.
Martha called this morning. They have decided that they can’t come up for the weekend tonight after all. We were counting on them to bring Ford to his new home in Tucson as well as help with the corn festival. K will now have to come along to help me at there, which I will like a lot better, but it’s not the best situation for her.
Mostly sunny and very windy. T-storms rolled in at 9pm and it rained for hours - enough that we may get rivered in tomorrow after all this work and not be able to get to the festival. THAT would be a royal pain in the butt.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
wet am, clearing some to a nice cool fall day
Our plan was to get up at around 5am, milk the girls a bit early, get all packed up and be out of here by 7am. At 5am it was still pouring rain, after having rained all night. We figured that we were “rivered in” but d drove down to check: YUP. Back to bed for an hour. By 6am the rain had stopped but we could still here the wash running hard. We did a normal morning chore set and got the truck packed up. We decided that we’d just head into town and wait at washes if we had to. The big wash was running well but we pushed through it anyway (fortunately K had insisted we cover the stuff in the truck bed with a tarp!). That was the worst of all the washes and we made it into town and to the rodeo grounds a little before 9am. There were not too many people around and still plenty of vendor spaces still open so we picked one and began setting up. Before we even had the tables set, potential customers were already hanging around awaiting samples. We set up as quickly as possible and jumped right in on conducting business which stayed brisk for the next 7 hours with barely a break. At one point D had to run to Basha’s for crackers and lunch (ran out of toasts) The booth fee was $35 and we grossed a little over $1200. A good day’s work and we learned a lot in the process. NOTES to self for next time: a) if there is going to be a fireman’s muster, it would be good to know in which direction the hoses are going to be pointed (and avoid setting up the booth in the direct path of the water). B) take the time to go to the bathroom before you open for business.
Started breaking down a little before 5PM, got all cleaned up and home in time for K to take the girls out for a walk (and D to get most of the food put away) before a late milking
Sunday, September 05, 2004
sunny but cool all day
Made feta
Hustled to get most of yesterday’s festival mess put away and the dairy seriously cleaned for expected guests. Finished in time for first group - a rep from Victory Farms CSA in Phoenix who came to check us and the cheeses out as possible supplemental provider to their members. They brought a some demanding kids so I’m not sure how much they really were able to pay attention to the business at hand.
Ranch visitors
The people came to pick up Ford while the CSA people were still here. K spent time with them, showing them all around before they came in to sample some cheese. Both groups bought some cheeses before leaving. Ford is on his way to his new home. A good move for everybody, I think.
Monday, September 06, 2004
sunny, 80’s
Made Boule, divided last fresh cheese batch and froze it, drained yesterday’s feta and flipped it in the pan.
Got ready for a group - 2 families w/ home schooled kids who called this am wanting to come out.
Group arrived around 11:30. K entertained them (4 adults and 5 kids, I think) while I finished the Boules and did a quick clean-up. They were here until after 1PM and bought a little bit of cheese.
Made appointment to have truck brakes looked at/worked on at Alvarez tomorrow AM. I’ll also probably be shipping the Golden Valley order on the shuttle instead of trying to hitch up with them in Phoenix/Gilbert.
Finished unpacking the truck from the Corn Festival
Thursday, September 09, 2004
mostly sunny with afternoon breezes
Made Feta
Tried hard to goof off and recuperate from yesterday’s big trip to the valley.
UPS delivered some dairy cultures for us.
Sandy and her new friend (“Li’l?, Pebbles?, Rocksy?, Flurry”?) are getting along great. Li’l has a bit too much aggression toward the dogs and even the goats but we’re monitoring her closely for trouble. Tonight the two of them stayed out and had not returned to their pen by 9PM. We are both thrilled that they are getting out and mortified that they might get into trouble. Sandy is an old hand at range life and we’ll have to trust in her instincts and for them to rub off on Li’l.
Li'l and Sandy
Updated the web site.
Friday, September 10, 2004
mostly sunny, 90’s
made a fresh cheese batch. Affinaged all cheeses. Baked bread.
Angel has been terrible about getting milked - hiding and running from us. She’s been demoted to 3rd shift with Flash with Laurel taking her spot on first shift. Grain bugs are VERY BAD so we’ve resorted to moving all the grain out to the barn and only bringing in just enough for each milking at a time and spraying nearly the whole milking parlor with special pesticide.
Called Bianco (he was in Boston) and got an order for next week when they re-open after 3 weeks off. I’ll probably end up taking it down with me when I go to pick up the Arabians. Made a couple of chocolate mousses for K’s first b-day desserts.
Sandy and the Appy are getting along great. They were home this AM after staying out all night. Sandy looks a little tired and is kind-of cranky today. They figured out the dog feeders today (K re-jiggered) and got around exploring all over the place. K also ended up putting chains across the goat pen gates so they could have a space where the horses can get (they’re still pretty scared of them). Found out that the lady with the 2 Arabians we will be getting for free wants them gone by the end of next week.
Esther confirmed that she and Linz will be coming up from Tucson tomorrow. We’ll meet them in town, have lunch before heading back here.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
sunny, breezy
Got orders ready for today’s and tomorrows deliveries including the first raw Caprianas and the first raw cheddar samples going out. Started a 4-gallon brie experiment.
Started BoSe shots on all does, starting today with the milkers.
Got the trailer set for the trip to Phoenix tomorrow.
The people giving us the 2 Arabian horses have decided to have their hauler bring them up next week (at no cost to us) and to have their stable foreman accompany them up to make sure they have a good ride and get settled in here with out problem.
UPS delivered most of K’s order for horse tack, but not the saddle which had been backordered for ???
D to Show Low: 3 cheese deliveries, PO, diesel, truck gas for trip tomorrow, p/up chinese lunch/dinner
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
sunny, warm
K milked both sessions by her self.
K played veterinarian to the horses after they crashed a section of barb wire fence. Li’l was OK but Sandy had some pretty good leg cuts and a bad puncture (complete with HUGE wood sliver sticking out) in her left shoulder. K needed to use a general anesthesia and cut through some of the surrounding tissue to get to all the wood. After flushing it out she used the skin stapler to pull everything together again, leaving a vinyl glove finger in the cut as a drain. It looks like a good job and while Sandy is definitely sore, she seems in good spirits and is moving around pretty well.
Sandy hurts her shoulder
D to Phoenix: cheese to GVO and Bainco. Sam’sClub shopping, Pick-up 3 tons of Estrella, got Chinese take-away. 102*F in valley still. Good trip for having to go
Thursday, September 16, 2004
sunny, warm, breezes
Made 2 raw Caprianas. Punctured Blues, wrapped and put back in cooler. Got brie unmolded, salted and set-up in cooler.
Grain bugs have been extremely bad. We have been leaving the barrels of COB out in the sun to no effect. We are now just bringing in what we need for each milking session and leaving the rest in the barn. Can’t wait for a couple of hard freezes to get rid of them.
Ordered a re-conditioned convection oven from Miller in Phoenix. 120 volt, converted to LPG, with legs and 6 racks 6mos part/30 day labor warrantee for $1000 K’s Birthday! Had scallops over pasta in cream sauce and a chocolate mouse Waldorf cake. Her new saddle showed up unexpectedly (it was supposed to have been 2-week delay) so she got it as well as some things from CFH.
K's Chocolate Waldorf birthday cake
Sandy seems to be doing well with her injuries. We flushed the deep puncture with an iodine solution and re-applied wheat germ oil to the cuts. Li’l is doing fine.
One meat chick died today.
D to town: vets for Bute, PO, Basha’s and bank.
Friday, September 17, 2004
mostly sunny, 90
Took down the barbed wire for the ¼ mile section of 4-wire fence from the dairy northward. Also picked up a number of piles from the main compound area and the area around the big concrete slab to the north. Worked the bries, blues, and last Caprianas. Made new Caprianas.
K trimmed several more of the girls hooves and gave the last of the big girls their BoSe shots Sandy is doing well. K irrigated the big puncture with iodine and swabbed it out. Sandy was a trooper about it all. Li’l was NOT helpful, at all.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
cloudy with sprinkles all day and breezes
made a fresh cheese batch - took longer than usual to acidify but curds looked fine. Probably just the cooler weather (70’s today for a high). Baked 2 big batches of bread for toasts etc and did a bunch of other prep for ACF fundraiser coming up on Tuesday (250 ppl grazing among 15 or so chefs’ offerings).
Bred Flash to Guajillo - first pairing of the season! K did major cleaning of milking equip and came up with the thought to get rid of the 2 meters and replace them with scales - much less equip to get fouled and cleaned, plus the scales (we’ll need 2 complete set-ups) should come in handy for other things. She found a great deal on some from Sam’s and ordered them online (after fighting the registration process for HOURS.
Cleaned Sandy’s big puncture wound well. It’s not looking any worse but is hard to evaluate with all the seepage and wheat germ oil residue etc all over the place. Li’l continues to be a handful-and-a-half.
Monday, September 20, 2004
partly cloudy, windy
Spend several hours picking up rolls of barb wire form around the property, taking down small pen sections and running junk to the dump. Also moved the rock/concrete climbing pile and climbing logs from the horse pen (old buck pen) to the doe/kid pen.
Prepped for tomorrrow’s ‘Taste the Greats” ACF fundraiser
K took Li’l out under saddle for some ground work. K says she needs it BIG TIME.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
sunny, 70’s, beautiful.
Did final preparation for ACF fundraiser tonight, did mock table set-up, prepared props, finished packing.
Made a raw cheddar batch (and some “squeaky curds”)
Pumped 55 gals of diesel into the generator tank, almost filling it. Serviced the oil etc too.
D to Pinetop/Lakeside: PO, Bank, Feed store, ACF fundraiser then out for a couple of drinks with some of the chefs, purveyors and attendees. Home late ACF event @ Pinetop Country Club
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
sunny, cool (low 70’s) was 37*F this AM!
Made a raw cheddar batch.
Unpacked the truck from the ACF benefit last night
garden work, harvesting
Bountiful harvest
Got word that the Arabian stallion colt Smitty will be delivered tomorrow but Kobe will not be coming (they don’t get along).
We reorganized the feed around everywhere and K did much barn straightening and cleaning. D serviced the tractor fuel filter.
Freezer space at house and dairy is reaching critical after lots of harvest and meal prep work this summer. We realize that there is NO ROOM for the 25 meat chickens who will be ready for butchering in just 4 more weeks.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
sunny and gorgeous
Finished previous cheddars.
Young stallion “Smitty” (Smokey?) arrived today in his stretch (limo) trailer rig. Unfortunately he had gotten injured on getting into the trailer and was pretty banged up on both of his front legs. The good news was that once he caught sight of the 2 fillys he was fine and seriously raring to go. The three of them flirted unceasingly from early evening and well into the night. We worried about him in the cold but he was running himself around so much NO WAY was he going to get cold.
Friday, September 24, 2004
cool, mostly sunny, lovely
Made 2 cheddars, 50# bis-goaties, and vanilla truffle balls, chocolated truffles for orders
K saddled Sandy up and took her fo a little spin. She has a mind of her own, but K controlled her OK. Lunged Li’l and did some other ground work under saddle. Smitty (Smokey) has dinged himself up in a dozen places running around the pen trying to impress the mares but nothing much more than a scratch.
K and Li'l
Friday, September 25, 2004
partly sunny, breezes
Re-did the plans for the generator shed, with material lists for shopping etc. turned and continued drying most recent cheddar, wrapped previous one.
Worked on ADGA cheese competition application forms that need to be submitted by the end of this month.
Tried to remove Sandy’s staples but she was very resistant. Tied her up well, injected lydicain but she still fought. K got one of the four of them out. At one point she reared, breaking the 2 lead ropes she was tied with and sauntered off, At least she doesn’t seem to hold a grudge - she was back in minutes to allow the halter to be removed before taking off again with Li’l.
D ran into town to get a couple of repair parts for the generator vent lug he snapped off yesterday. Unfortunately they ended up not QUITE fitting. Siliconed up the stub of the piece left and re-fitted it to the generator, but it still leaks like a sieve. Can’t wait to get the right stupid things ordered Monday.
10 am 2 people and a kid came to pick up a cheese/candy order. Showed them around a little and chatted a bit before they left.
Sunday, September 26, 2004
mostly sunny and lovely - 70’s, calm,
made a raw cheddar batch, 6 toffee layers, rolled 30# fresh logs, prepped candy and cheese for orders going out tomorrow,
Bred Angel to Guajillo - let him out to “play” with her for most of the day while the rest of the herd was contentedly left in their pen, oblivious of the doings on the other side of the building.
Bob, recently from Tucson, (previously WY) is thinking about starting a goat dairy there and will be coming up next Sunday for a look-see at our operation.
Got entry submissions (13 of them!) finished for the ADGA cheese contest for mailing tomorrow.
Monday, September 27, 2004
sunny, 70’s
Made a raw cheddar. Packed orders for shipping.
ACF meeting @ Charlie Clark’s in Pine Top. Met with their Gibson Rm Chef Nicholas after the meeting with cheese and truffle samples and got promises of future orders.
Also sampled for Jim ??? ACF VP form the Scottsdale chapter who was suitably impressed as well. Ordered replacement generator venting screws from Hardy for the one I busted. They’re supposed to be shipped “UPS “Red”“ service and arrive quickly.
D to town etc: Amelia’s, PO, Bank, Feed store, Diesel, Torreon, Walmart, Home depot, 6PM ACF @ Charlie Clarks
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
started generator shed project - did layout work, dug pier holes and formed up footings for concrete (doing it all while running around between t-storm showers!) Should be ready to mix and pour in the morning.
Amanda from Phoenix is coming for a visit tomorrow, maybe do some horse riding, play with the goats etc.
Got your ducks in a row??
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
rain overnight and a little in the morning, clearing to cool and bright, 70’s
Poured footings for generator shed
Made 2 cheddars
Amanda arrived around 10am. She and K worked with Sandy and Li’l and rode them to the gate and back. Li’l threw Amanda but she said she was fine but for some bumps and bruises and jumped right back on for the rest of the ride.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
gorgeous!, sunny, 70’s
Took a long walk with the goats to whoop-whoop for pottery shard hunting - all had good finds. Amanda and K played with horses the rest of the day, riding Sandy and Li’l and leading and lunging Smokey. She left around 4PM for home after a very nice visit.