A Visit to Blue Heron

Last Sunday the New York Times ran an article about a youth movement in agriculture. College-educated 20 and 30-somethings are seeking the outdoors, where, often without any experience, they are starting small sustainable farms. The article pointed to Michael Pollan and his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, as one of many inspirations of this new “back-to-land” idealism and activism.

Reading it I thought, with a smile, of evidence of this “small farm” thinking in our big state of Texas. We encountered it most recently at Blue Heron Farm in Waller County.

Two years ago, Lisa and Christian Seger were living in Houston and working respectively in marketing and country music when they decided contentment lay elsewhere. As Lisa explains it, “my marketing financial services job wasn’t making anyone’s life any better.”

Somewhat impulsively, they made a move that was as much a lifestyle decision as a political stance: they bought a 10 acre farm.

Neither has a direct farming background, but Christian’s family had farmed in Texas for generations. Relying in part on that lineage, he says, “something made me think I was going to be a farmer.”

Starting a farm without farming experience is one thing, but Christian is the first cheesemaker I’ve met who admits he didn’t like cheese. Nevertheless, they bought goats and started making fresh cheeses. Today they have about 16 milkers and have almost completed the building of a fine cheese-making room. Besides the goats, they have a few ducks and guinea hens running around and a couple of hogs fattening themselves on discarded whey.

And their cheese? They are making a variety of flavored chevres, a dry-cured feta, and a rich, creamy mozzarella. Made with the extra-rich milk of their Nubians, the cheeses have a luxurious tongue-coating texture and pure, clean flavor.

These are good cheeses: even Christian likes them.

To be featured soon at Houston farmers’ markets near you. Get there early before the mozzarella sells out. . . .

Rodeo 2008

This year's Best Bites Competition at the Rodeo was another adventure with the Veldhuizens.

Stuart brought along his cousin, Casey, who is the first vegetarian truck driver I've met, and one of the more effective cheese enthusiasts I've worked alongside.

The massive crowd was as welcoming as last year, and, like last year, got more and more jovial as the evening wore on. It made for a fun night, and gave us thousands of opportunities to answer the question:

"Where is Dublin, Texas????"

Weekend at Pure Luck

The family trio, Me, Cousin, and Mom

Pure Luck Dairy hosts workshops twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, and I had my turn at it this past weekend. As our business's name implies, we know cheese from start to finish. Only having witnessed the cheesemaking process, I anxiously anticipated my chance to understand it from experience. As I said on the first day of the workshop, during our introductions, I spend a lot of time with cheese AFTER it is made, but desired to know cheese better from its birth...milk to curd. For this cheesemaking expedition, I brought along my mom and cousin, otherwise known as the Dairymaid Assistants. Unsure of how much fun they would have, I was pleasantly surprised when they showed ongoing enthusiasm to learn more about cutting curd, goat life, and cultures throughout the weekend. It probably helped that the teachers of the workshop, Amelia and Gitana, were such warm and engaging teachers.

Tara and Gitana practicing the "Clean Break Test" on our cheese.

We arrived Friday afternoon to get started on our Sainte Maure and fresh Chevre. These two cheeses start with the same base recipe, but differ in what you do after you scoop the curd into the molds. Sainte Maure takes on a cylindrical form, is then dusted with vegetable ash and salt, then sprayed with a white mold. The spraying took place on the third day, and will take a few weeks for the mold to develop.

That's Tara with her Sainte Maure, pre-mold spores.

On that first day, we also milked goats!! It took me a while to figure out my way around a goat teet, but eventually milk did flow. Believe me, there is a technique involved.

Of all the things I learned during the workshop, there is one thing about cheesemaking I'd like to draw attention to -- it is an art. For example, hand-salting. There are several ways to salt your cheese and hand-salting is one way. It is the riskiest option when it comes to consistency, but Amelia and the cheese crew all have what it takes to do the job well. There is quite a bit of science involved with cheesemaking, but so much art as well. After watching Amelia, the other workshoppers, and myself salt our cheeses, I saw just how varied the approach can be. This is only one aspect of the process. Consider the milk source, the food of the goats, their lifestyle, temperature, humidity, timing....there are plenty of variables in the process that turn this science into an art form. Just as in the kitchen, a recipe is only as good as the cook can make it.
So if you plan to make cheese, I highly suggest a visit to Pure Luck, or any of the other artisan cheesemakers in Texas. Glean all you can, then go make it your own. We'll be here ready to take it to market!


Amelia salting a chevre.

Cheese Mania hits Vermont

Every year cheese makers, mongers, and the similarly cheese-obsessed gather somewhere in the country for three solid days of cheese talk and revelry.

This year the American Cheese Society Conference was held in beautiful Burlington, Vermont.


Days at the conference are filled with sessions. This year's theme was "Achieving Sustainability," and the subject was explored on many levels: on the farm, in business, and throughout the country.




At night, we had opportunities to explore the area. It's hard not to be jealous of Vermonters, not only because they have a lively cheese culture (ha! cheese pun), but because it's just so lovely there. But then again, come February . . .

The first night we attended a mixer in the "Breeding Barn" at Shelburne Farms. A working dairy farm that doubles as an education center, Shelburne's buildings date back to the late 19th century.


With Stuart Veldhuizen, we explored the old barns and fields. Stuart recreated for us a day in the life of a dairy farmer at the turn of the previous century.







The next night was a cruise around Lake Champlain where we were pleasantly wind-whipped alongside Paula Lambert.










The final night was the "Festival of Cheese" where all of the 1200-plus cheese entries are put out for tasting. Needless to say, it's a little obscene, all that cheese, but it was great to see the Texas cheesemakers enjoying their awards (together they took home 13!).




Award-winner Amelia Sweethardt from Pure Luck Dairy with her husband, Ben.




And great to watch this lady carve cheese into sculpture.

Gretchen's Cheese Blog

It’s never fun waking up before the sun does, but on this particular morning, June 15th, I was leaping out of bed, excited about my first introduction to an actual Texas cheese maker.

My name is Gretchen, and I started working with the Houston Dairymaids about a month ago. I have been helping out at the Farmer’s Markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays, learning from Kendra and Lindsay about the subtle and intriguing nuances of Texas cheeses. Until that Friday morning I had been peddling Blanca Bianca and Baby Caprino to Houstonians and really enjoying learning cheese monger tricks like ‘glass wrapping’ (a sophisticated method of sealing blocks of cheese in cellophane). It has been a thrill exposing market-goers to Texas cheeses.

That morning Kendra, Lindsey, and I drove east out of the city to Sealy to meet with Susan Holle, one of the newest among the growing number of Texas cheese makers. Susan left a career in healthcare with a dream of creating her own variety of vegetarian-friendly cheeses. To say the least, this is an ambitious task to undertake, but Susan had a dream and lots of guts. Cheesy Girl Cheese Co. is the product of her determination, and is bound to be a familiar name to foodies in the near future.

(Photo: Susan Holle in front of her cheese room)

We arrived at Susan’s shop in a Sealy shopping center, located between a Christian bookstore and an empty storefront. At first I wondered if Kendra had the right address. However, as I stepped inside I was awed by what Susan had created in her shop.

At first glance, I imagined I was in King’s Candy Shop in downtown Huntsville: to the left, a refrigerated candy display case, to the right, a salvaged beer cooler ingeniously transformed into a cheese cellar for Susan’s cheesy “girls”--Satin Doll, Sophisticated Lady, and Bella Ragazza. The bright green paint of the entryway showed in stark contrast to the pristine white of the cheese making room, which was visible behind an expansive plate-glass window.

Susan, at once, proceeded to explain the unique processes of vegetarian cheese making, which involves substituting vegetable enzymes in lieu of animal-derived rennet. A tour of the cheese room was impressive, especially so because, at this time, Cheesy Girl is a one-woman operation. A stainless-steel tub, large enough to hold 400 gallons of milk, dominates the room. It’s so large, in fact, and so uniquely shaped that Susan had to design specialized “paddles” to cut the curds. “Making batches so large is hard work for just one person,” explained Susan.

Some of Susan’s “girls” were, unfortunately, not quite ready for consumption. We did, however, get to sample a variety of her chevre spreads. My favorite was the plain chevre, smooth and creamy, without a “goaty” aftertaste, the perfect balance of tart and savory. Cheesy Girl also offers an Italian herb, a fiery jalapeño, and a delicate fresh herb chevre, sure to be popular in Texas. While many of Susan’s cheeses weren’t quite ready, Lindsey’s persuasive-/Jedi-mind tricks succeeded in coercing Susan into opening a Satin Doll (a camembert-style cheese) a month early. Smooth, creamy, and delicate, this cheese showed great potential.

Water temperature, air-filtration systems, and, of course, humidity are all factors that can influence a cheese’s final state. Susan is learning all of this as she goes, through honest and earnest trial and error. Her cheeses truly reflect her vege-centric and holistic approach toward cheese making.

My first introduction to a Texas cheese maker has left me with the desire to meet even more. I was so impressed with the entire experience and so inspired by the new insight I’ve gained form this one morning that I look forward to doing it yet again, and again…even at 6:30 in the morning… or maybe even 5:30.