Black Mesa Ranch
Snowflake, Arizona, USA
Artisan Cheese
Nubian Goats
Site Navigation and Links
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.
______________
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
____________
Click here to read the online version of Kathryn's booklet
______________
________________
____________
This site last updated:
March 29, 2008
© 2000-2008 Black Mesa Ranch Inc. All Rights Reserved
Arizona Grown!
July 01-6, 2003
Lots of last-minute work at the Dairy in preparation for a pre-inspection scheduled for Monday 7/7/03. We still don't have our pasteurizer even purchased yet and there will still be some finish work still to do but we want "Dairy Dan" to come out one more time before we finish everything up to avoid any big surprises for the final inspection.
The Cheese Kitchen
The office and the storeroom
The Milking Parlor
Monday, July 07, 2003
We’re a Dairy!! Inspection went fast and easy with no big surprises. Our anniversary is today so we have multiple things to celebrate.
Also worked on erecting new solar array. Got Rack built and installed and panels mounted plus some wires run. Need more parts to finish.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Made a double Gouda – first cheese in certified dairy!
D to Showlow: pick up cattle panels, feed store, PO, hardware store for parts.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Big goat works day: Trimmed all boys hooves plus Anise and Angel. Copper bolused everybody except wethers (did Ordoño).
Completed work erecting and wiring new solar array: Minor wiring fault took forever to trace and fix – it was dark by the time we got done.
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Ducks arrived! 16 live and kicking little ducklings from Welp.
Went to PO, feed store and hardware ( to get chain for Flash’s hobbles). Brought 3 bales of hay to each bucks and does.
Moved flour, sugar, etc. to dairy kitchen. Made butter. K organized dairy lower level. Moved feed to dairy lower level.
Tested new solar array: seems A-OK.
Friday, July 11, 2003
K worked on straightening out Ag Dept on our status, Re: brucellosis and TB testing.
Made chevre, ice cream base, biscuits, and bread all in new kitchen. New business cards (Nice!) and replacement pulsator (didn’t help the problem at all) arrived.
Planted 72 cells of Brussel Sprouts.
K organized at house and dairy lower level. Experimented with pyramid and cylinder molds.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
Made chevre.
Checked bees: added 2 honey supers to each.
Worked on little misc. projects on K’s computer.
Made ice cream. Called Dween and she’ll send more parts to try and get milker working.
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Separated cream and made rigotta.
Erected and stocked new hay feed/creep area NE corner of dairy.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Pukey hot!
Ordered shrink-wrap packaging system for dairy/candy. Started serious label design and shopping.
Filed Notice for Exemption for cheese labels (nutrition info) with the FDA.
Still trying to get an approval for The Vat pasteurizer from Dept of Ag.
Sears fridge door handle arrived.
Worked on new hay manger design.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Made 8 gallon Feta.
Got approval from state Ag. For general cheese labels and “The Vat” pasteurizer.
Ordered cultures: Dairy Connection. New chef uniforms arrived.
Dug all potatoes: got just a couple of pounds. The plants were all brown and shriveled, roots rotted but no sign of over-watering. Soil looked excellent. Tomatoes 90% gone, Brussels look bad, only 1-2 cukes alive = some major pest/disease is rampant.
Smoke from Kinishka Fire (White River) getting noticeable.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Trenched and ran phone and cable lines between house and dairy.
Researched ongoing garden problems.
Possibly located a 40 gal Pasteurizer at RL Perry in Phoenix.
K ordered new antibiotic (zero withholding) for goats. Hopefully we’ll never need it. Continuing minor goat health problems likely from low immunities due to copper and selenium deficiencies. But we are working to correct those.
Put on fridge handle. Smoke in the air from wild fires.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Made 8 gallon chevre.
Very smoky in the AM from wild fires.
Ordered “The Vat” pasteurizer and wired $8K to them, and arranged shipping. Should arrive in Phoenix on Friday, 7/25.
UPS brought spice order and shrink wrap system. Played with wrapping cheeses and candy boxes = fast, easy, and looked great!
Sprinkles in the PM.
Friday, July 18, 2003
D to Showlow: Pepsi, Hughes (for returns), PO, Wal-Mart, feed store, solar place. Met Todd our UPS driver and got packages so he didn’t have to drive all the way out to the ranch.
Put up shelves and blinds in cheese kitchen. Set up temp packaging station. K fixed window screen in cheese kitchen.
Vaccinated all goats and gave some BoSe (selenium/vit E supplement).
Played with yesterday’s chevre.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Made first big fudge batch: OK.
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Played wrapping and freezing fudge, hay to does, cleaned out barn, feed bees, filled water tank, watered orchard and garden.
Dairy planning session. Worked on product list/descriptions.
Did some cheese affinage
"The Cave" cheese aging cabinet (modified upright freezer unit)
Rain.
Monday, July 21, 2003
Made Chevre.
Worked on product list and descriptions some more. Recipe testing.
Ordered new phone service including 2nd phone line and ISP service, voice messaging, etc. Ordered nice Legal-for-Trade scale. Confirmed that pasteurizer has been shipped – should arrive in Phoenix on Friday.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Worked at doe barn opening it up to about 2 times bigger by taking out old hay room. Hay now stored in old milking room.
Big storm in afternoon. Lightning hit cedar tree by house and set it and the grass around it on fire. We dealt with it. Goats and dogs were out on a browse when the storm hit and got very soaked and indignant (at least the goats were indignant), but are OK overall. Flooding controls seemed to work fine this time.
UPS brought more milker parts. The new vacuum line helped but not enough. We’ve been trying to get this milking machine to work for months and we are losing faith that it will ever work correctly. Did research looking for bulk cheese cloth (butter muslin) source - found raglady.com.
July 27, 2003
D to Phoenix: pick-up new pasteurizer etc.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Our new pasteurizer has been uncrated and set-up (though we still have to get power and water to it)!
"The VAT" 15-gallon micro-pasteurizer