We live approximately 10 miles outside of Edwardsville Illinois. We have about 12 1/2 acres for our goats and chickens.
It took about two years of negotiations with my husband in order to get goats. Before my husband and I were married, he used to raise baby doll sheep. I’m guessing he didn’t enjoy it all that much because he said they were boring and they didn’t have personalities.
We finally purchased 6 goats – five does and a wether. We waited till the does were over a year old and started breeding. We only breed two a year.
After the babies came, my husband was hooked and unfortunately refused to sell the first and second year of babies. He was hooked on goats.
The whole idea of getting goats was to raise show goats for people, but we don’t do milk testing and we don’t go around to the goat shows because my husband is still working and we just don’t have the time. So, unless they just want pets or just milkers, it’s hard to sell them. Therefore, we now have 15 goats and two does to deliver in April this year.
Fortunately, my husband is exceptionally good at building.
The goats are quite amusing and very lovable.
We enjoy the milk as we make our own soap, yogurt, cheese, and we make our own Macchiato’s (upside down lattes) instead of buying them at Starbucks.
Our yogurt:
We use New England Cheese Making Supply products like the Y3, and Y5 yogurt cultures. We like the yogurt thick so we strain it overnight and, oh my gosh, it is wonderful. (I have tried others yogurt cultures and it was the first failure I had in yogurt making. So, from then on I have only used your products.)
This is how I make my yogurt:
1. I heat a half a gallon of goat milk to 170 – 180F for a thicker yogurt.
2. Then, I remove it from heat and let it cool to around 112-115F.
3. I remove the skin that forms on the top and add my 1 package of Y5 or Y3 culture. (If I don’t have either one of those cultures, I use the C201 Thermophilic culture, about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon.)
4. I stir it well and then pour it into our two yogurt makers (in the picture below) for 8 hours.
I then place a large strainer over a bowl with cheese cloth, pour in the yogurt, and place in the fridge overnight. We love it thick like that.
I really love these yogurt makers because after heating, they automatically start cooling the yogurt down. In the morning I turn them off and, as I said above, get the yogurt ready and place in the fridge. So, I usually start my yogurt in the late afternoon.
Our cheese:
When making cheese, of course we use all your products.
Our press:
Our cave:
My Other hobbies:
I use the leftover whey for my bread making.
l also love making quilts and just sewing all sorts of things. One year I made Christmas gnomes for family members.
I love gardening. We put in a pretty good sized garden every year and do some canning. He is almost finished with our small greenhouse, which he added to our potting/milking shed. Doing this will enable us to open the potting shed window to provide heat in the greenhouse.
My goals:
So far I have made chevre, cheddar, and colby cheeses, but I would really like to start making different kinds like swiss, blue, etc. My problem is we only breed 2 Nigerian dwarf goats a year so it’s hard to get enough milk to make any of the more (what I call) complicated cheeses.
As long as what I make tastes good, I’m happy.
Bhaswati Pal Brink says
Hello Deborah, thank you so much for sharing. You are an inspiration
and a “problem solver”. I have been struggling with humidity in my
“wine cooler cheese cave”. Is your Q3 humidifier cordless ?
Deb Eddleman says
Hello Bhaswati, yes but you do have to plug it in to recharge. It comes with a rechargeable cord.
Blessings
Deb
Love your farm. Mine is so primitive. I’ve been using NEC cultures to make cheese for years. I have 3 Sable milk goats and I milk them for 2-3 years before I rebreed. They just keep going. And only breed I so we have a continuous supply of good goat milk. Have you tried Feta cheese. It’s our favorite and I have weekly customers for it.
From Deb:
Thanks Ronda,
Will probably put that on my list. We use our goat cheese(like the kind you buy in the store) on our homemade pizza.
We breed our girls one year on and one year off. During their off year we breed two different doe’s.
Have a wonderful day
Blessings
Deb
I’m so inspired. We live on 5 acres, 3 wooded and 2 open. We even have a small barn. If you have a couple of goats you’d like to régime, I’d be interested. I’m 5’2 and want small ones too. Email me if you’re interested in talking
Hello Yves,
Yes we sell our Spring babies. They will be kidding mid to late April.
If interested you can use messenger to message me and we can talk more about it.
Blessing
Deborah
I’d be interested. My email is couasnons@gmail.com.
Thanks.
Debra, with baby goats so cute, I can see how you can’t let them go. Is that a stained glass lamp in the goats palace? You two are amazing, I feel so fortunate to watch our cheese making family grow, year after year into the worldwide community it has become, all speaking the same language of curds and whey. The phenomenal energy of our collected family often brings me to tears. It bears witness to the goodness of people, and helps heal our world. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of this expanded world view.
In Peace and Love, Ricki
PS, While making your yogurt if you slowly top stir it a few times while heating it won’t form the skin and you will not have to remove it. I wish I was there to taste some, it looks delicious! Enjoy
From Deb:
Good Morning Ricki,
Thank you. The goats are quite amusing. Nope lol, no stained glass lamps in the goat palace. We love them but afraid with all the hopping and jumping around it would not last. Babies due in April. Praying for all does but most of all no problems.
Thanks for the yogurt tip will try it out.
Blessings
Deborah
Deborah, your goats are lovely! So glad you have a homestead upon which you and your family can flourish! Beautiful young kids!
I’m intrigued by the mister in your cave. I’ve had issues getting humidity over 80% in my current setup, basically a water bowl in the bottom of my wine fridge.
Keep up the good work! And to do one of the “more complicated” cheeses, just step up and do it! If you can make cheddar, you can make anything!
Peace to you and your husband!
Thank you Charles. The goats are fun but sometimes I wish we did not have so many, lol.
The little humidifier is not automatic and was purchased off Amazon. It has two little push buttons on front. One for the light and one for the mister.
Will most likely try more cheeses this year.
Have a wonderful night.
Description
NEW Q3 HUMIDIFIER USB RECHARGEABLE DESKTOP AIR PURIFYING MOISTURIZING SILENT HUMIDIFIER