Black Mesa Ranch
Snowflake, Arizona, USA
Artisan Cheese
Nubian Goats
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Cheese and
Candy Information and Online Ordering Page
Featured pages on this site
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
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:
March 29, 2008
© 2000-2008 Black Mesa Ranch Inc. All Rights Reserved
Arizona Grown!
Friday, November 01, 2002
Brought over a big wheat to boys. Trimmed boy’s hooves. Guajillo:120#, Ordono: 110#, Pima Bajo and Cayenne: 75#, Poblano: 56# and copper evaluations: Some improvement? Burned trash including tomato and potato plants from garden. Moved solar panels to winter position (almost horizontal). First of month maintenance chores: batteries, generator, etc. K removed south house window screens and washed all the windows. Master Bedroon floor OK to “soft walk” on, still needs curing. K continued to cook the shampoo batch. Little bit of cleaning out in garden: dumped compost in garden, brought over rototiller from barn. Temperature high: 65°F, low 39°F Great sunset tonight
Saturday, November 02, 2002
Garden: cleaning and rototilling. Staked out a couple of possible layouts for new goat house/hay barn: south of the current doe pen and in the "quad" area north of the does and west of the bucks. K finished shampoo batch. Temperature high: 68°F, low 43°F
Sunday, November 03, 2002
K prepped lower hall, taped and first mud. D web page and back ups. Equalized batteries. Walk up mesa: Nutmeg tripped coming down and hurt both front legs, not bad. Load of stuff to N house and barn. Measured for new dairy and south house sun room windows. Temperature high: 57°F, low 42°F
Monday, November 04, 2002
To town: gun range to look for lost fire arm magazine, feed store, Basha’s grocery, hardware store, bank, solar place (solar charger not in yet), PO, lunch at the Mexican place. Did rough plumbing and all electric in lower bathroom.
Rough plumbing in bathroom
Patched sheetrock, K got tape and first coat on joints. Nutmeg in standing heat. Numerous good breeding. Made 4 gallon chèvre. Temperature high: 65°F, low 31°F, Overnight rain, sleet – trace.
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Finished chèvre. More skim coats of bath and hall ceiling and walls. More rototilling in garden. Temperature high: 70°F, low 24°F
Wednesday, November 06, 2002
Big mesa walk with everybody.
South house work: Final paint prep lower bath, hall and stairs. First coat white on stair stringers.
Friends the Muchas email that they will be visiting one night, Saturday or Sunday, on their way to Phoenix. Temperature high: 68°F, low 22°F
Thursday, November 07, 2002
To town and Show Low: PO, gun store, Sherwin Williams, Wal-Mart, truck gas, McD’s lunch, SL Precision.
Primed all remaining downstairs rooms at south house ( not store room), got 2 coats ceiling done, bath color done and floor enamel around toilet location done. Broke bath window (oops). Temperature high: 73°F, low 27°F, windy.
Painting south house interior
Friday, November 08, 2002
South house work: Painted the hall and stairway. Cleared and organized MBR. Books to shelves.
Propane delivery. Load of misc. stuff to the North House. Organized and cleaned North House, secured doors. Temperature high: 65°F, low 48°F
Saturday, November 09, 2002
South house work: Cut in paint. Top out bathroom, set toilet. Installed heater in MBR. Loads of stuff to the barn and to the North house. Company cleaning and set up. Mucha’s arrive 6:15 PM.
Sunday, November 10, 2002
Mucha’s for visit. 3 bales of hay to goat girl’s barn.
Mike and Ava
Monday, November 11, 2002
Mucha’s left this AM. They will try to come back this way and stay another day on their way out of phoenix. Worked on toffee flyer. Discussed and worked on new goat barn/hay barn design and location: how about just NW of dairy?? Trial batch of honey comb candy. Temperature high: 67°F, low 38°F
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
A big doe rabbit died Many trial batches of honey comb candy.
Honey-comb candy cools
Painted rest of south house downstairs floors and 2nd coated white on stair risers etc. Temperature high: 65°F, low 30°F
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
Finished toffee flyers and mailed them. To town: PO, college library, Precision (for paint and closet stuff) McD’s for lunch, Painted south house stair treads,
Painting the stair treads
Ordered 50# of almonds:almondsonline.com. Still working on seeing if Great Pyr dog in San Diego might be right for us. Activated Mod Pac on line account. Got brand application from AZ dept of Ag.
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Went to Woodruff to look at a bunch of junk someone was selling: didn’t buy a thing. Seconded coated stair treads. Spent some time at current proposed goat/hay barn location, (North and West of North house) discussing various layout options and logistics (daily chores, hay deliveries, etc) Filled water tank to overflowing. Coleman Vertex acting odd: had to run it on half choke most of the 2 hours.
Friday, November 15, 2002
Kitchen Day; separated cream, made butter, made skim ricotta, bread, 2 gallon green hot sauce, pickled 4 quarts peppers ( 3 Fooled You Jalapenos, 1 Hot Jalapenos), dog biscuits. Worked on brand design. K worked on goat/hay barn designs. Did research on shrink-wrap systems for candy and other ranch products! Stairs OK for GENTLE use. Sent toffee emails. Temperature high: 56°F, low 23°F
Saturday, November 16, 2002
Watered plants. Worked on dairy plans. First goat fudge trial: too soft. K prepped board for closet work. Temperature high: 55°F, low 18°F
Sunday, November 17, 2002
Garden work: rototilling and winter prep. Goats browsed far and wide today!! Biomycin 200 shot to Poblano
Monday, November 18, 2002
South house work: MBR closet top out. Touched up stringers and risers. Filled sunroom with stuff for dairy house, touch up paint all down stairs. Reorganized MBR and laundry room – file cabinet to MBR, set up MBR office and computer.
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Made wreath for gates: roll of barbed wire with found "ranchy" items, bow, etc. Bear tracks in the wash!!
Bear tracks in the wash
Took truck load of stuff to North house. Made 2nd test of goat fudge – still too soft but GREAT flavor.
Chicken who was very sick and stationary for several days is all better! We did nothing but she’s eating, drinking and running around. Biomycin 200 shot #2 to Poblano: No coughing since first shot.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
To Show Low: Bank, solar place (got little 1.5 w/12v trickle-charger for house generator battery), PO, vets for Rimadyl, Glass shop to fix broken bathroom window, Wal-Mart, Wendy’s for lunch, FG Hardware, pick up glasses, feed store, Basha’s (turkey), and home! South house: Put back in lower bath windows. K painted cleats for utility room shelves.
Got word Great Pyr “Oso” will be coming here from San Diego. Arrives Phoenix Sunday around 4:30 pm.
Thursday, November 21, 2002
South house work: Built utility room shelves, installed lower level bathroom vanity and sink, put in MBR closet light, installed front porch light and timer light outside at goat barn. Foamed lots of various holes on house exterior.
Friday, November 22, 2002
Cooking day for early Thanksgiving meal with the Muchas tomorrow: Fudge, rhubarb crisp, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes. Tomorrow add: Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, parker house rolls, cranberry, stuffing, cheese and crackers, etc. K filled utility room shelves with animal stuff and organized storeroom a little.
Saturday, November 23, 2002
Mucha’s arrive at 3 pm. Had early Thanksgiving meal with them. Played with HTML with Mike for web page.
Ava and the goats
Sunday, November 24, 2002
Mucha’s left 8:30 AM D to Phoenix 9:30 AM for Oso, Sam’s, and Home Depot. K Got buck barn ready for Oso. D back at 7:30PM. Oso great with all dogs but Kira. She is very aggressive to him. Oso spent the night in the buck pen. K got us all moved in downstairs, organized MBR and music room (old upstairs bedroom). Looks GREAT!
Angie, Ava and Blue
Monday, November 25, 2002
Took Oso out on walk with whole group. Kept he and Kira on leashes (she’s still being very aggressive to him) At one point she lunged at him and broke her collar. Big fight but we got them apart – Oso had a slightly hurt leg. Took Oso’s collar and leash for Kira. Oso and Ford went off a little ways, Ford came back, Oso didn’t. We searched for 2 hours, had lunch and went out again. K spotted him on San Carlos from up on the Mesa. I picked him up in the truck. He was fine and happy. Put him alone in goat enclosure and hung out for a while. Had to run the generator – and it had to be jump started again. Made up 10 RV meals: Turkey dinners. Ordered 150#+ of Belgian chocolate from Shamrock for holiday candy orders.
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Installed 1.5 watt, 12 volt solar charger for LPG generator battery. Hung out a lot with Oso – on walk and in goat barn. Kira seems a little better towards him (maybe) and other dogs are fine. Trimmed some of his mats and brushed him. Confirmed Shamrock chocolate order – it will be in on Monday. Possible new names for Oso: Mat’a Hairry, Dirty Hairry, Oh So Hairy, Oslo.
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Thanksgiving pre-cooking, etc: Separated cream, made skim ricotta, dog biscuits, Parker House rolls, Pecan pie. Hung out in buck pen with Oso (Hairry) for a while: better.
Thursday, November 28, 2002
Thanksgiving Day! Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, Parker House rolls, cranberry. Watched parades and football (mostly PVR pre-recorded so we could fast forward the commercials!) Ate around 1PM. Too stuffed for dessert or dinner so had pie at 7:30PM. Worked on web page: new candy flyer page, fixed lots of links. Oso (who we're now calling Hairry) is much more interactive. Kira a little more tolerant.
Thanksgiving meal
Friday, November 29, 2002
UPS delivered Mod Pac order: 4 big boxes of stuff for holiday candy and shipping. Walked everybody: Kira off leash. Only a couple of minor “incidents” with her and Hairry. Got the rest of the garden equipment put up for winter. Candy stove to house, a barrel of pinto beans and one of wheat to buck/chickens. Non-burnables to dump, burned trash. Filled water tank.
Saturday, November 30, 2002
Worked all day on writing "all about BMR" for the web page – 6000+ words. K started a low suds soap. Rain on and off all day. Had to jump start the generator again <sigh>.
Ready for the Holidays