June 2, 2009
Summer is here! The ewes are spending more nights on pasture, and more days lying in the shade of our trees. The good news is that this year's spring rains appear to be carrying over into summer a little - the grasses are still green and growing.
Our cheese production for the year has just barely kept ahead of our sales. This concerns us a little as we anticipate being out of stock of some of our cheeses over the winter, but what a wonderful problem to have. We anticipate milking about 85 ewes next year, so our production will be increased to meet our customers needs. To assist in that increased production, we have hired another part-time cheesemaker and two additional part-time milkers. What a great asset these three have been to the team. We are considering taking on an intern in 2010 to help with general farm chores; that too, will be a welcome relief during our busy months.
Our young 2009 cheeses have been wonderful! We are anxiously awaiting the dates in July when our two Reserves cheeses begin to come out of the cave. I know a lot of customers are anxious for that date also, as our Reserve cheeses are our most requested cheeses.
We are currently participating in several "farmer's/open air markets" around East Tennessee. These markets have been a huge hit as the demand for local, quality products seems to be on the rise. For information about which market we are participating in which is closest to you, please click on our "purchasing" page.
March 29 , 2009
What a beautiful time of year in East Tennessee. This has been such a fascinating year for us - a year of changes, growth and education. With lambing season behind us we are already looking forward to planning for the coming season. Our wonderful ewes provided us with 99 lambs this year, a great number for a growing dairy. We currently have 52 ewes in production and will continue to milk through August.
The young cheeses have begun to come out of the cave and are truly amazing. The rain this spring is a true gift, the wonderful spring grasses are providing excellent nutrition for the lactating ewes and for all of the adorable new lambs. The coming season looks to be a promising one!
December 23, 2008
Lambs are coming!!! Whoo Hoo! My favortite time of the year. We expect to begin lambing around January 7th and are expecting FIVE sets of triplets this year! I think it will be a very exciting start to the 2009 season.
Cheesemaking will begin around the middle of January, which means our young cheeses will be available again in mid-March.
To help with the wonderful growth we have experienced, we will have 5 part-time employees this coming season...
Susan is our returning cheesemaker from last season. She also works the booths at some of the farmer's markets and has been invaluable with her creative nature and dedication, not to mention her attentive care of the cheeses in the cave.
Ivy has joined us as a new cheesemaker this year and will also be helping with packaging and a few farmer's markets. Ivy has already contributed fantastic ideas and brainstorms about the direction of the Locust Grove. I am very excited about Ivy joining us.
Hilary will be returning as a milker/shift worker this season. Teresa and Sarah will be joining us as additional milkers this year. We are thrilled to have them added to the staff and look forward to the season ahead.