Susan is a freelance writer/editor and consultant. Her recent poetry has been published or is forthcoming in, among others, Apiary, Cleaver, Gargoyle, Prick of the Spindle, Schuylkill Valley Journal, and Spoon River Poetry Review. She is also the author of a couple of hiking books, a book of nature essays, and a poetry chapbook, plus many articles for newsletters, magazines, etc. Her website – susancharkes.com has more details.
I read one of her books – The Wild Here and Now and I think of her as a word artist, a teller of stories of the natural world in our own back yards. In her book, she paints a living portrait of the life all around us which mankind didn’t create – the wildflowers, insects, wildlife critters – actors in a play going on through all 4 seasons. If you have a minute to stop and ‘smell the roses,’ I recommend this book.
When Susan isn’t writing, she works full time at a land trust. She told us she is “Always looking for assignments. :-).”
Susan’s Story
How I Got Started Making Cheese
I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but it was around 1995. (I have the 1993 printing of Ricki’s first book – Cheesemaking Made Easy (now Home Cheese Making), and I have a 1995 receipt from New England Cheesemaking Supply for a basic cheese kit and cheddar making supplies.)
I attended a cheddar class that Ricki conducted and that got me going. In 2008 and 2009 I also took courses at UVM (U. of Vermont which used to have a cheese making program).
I love making cheese, nurturing the baby curds through to adulthood. My ability to make cheese has waxed and waned, because I haven’t always had the time or space to attend to the craft. Currently, I am in a waxing phase:-).
I started out making cow milk cheeses. Around 2003, I was attending a writing workshop in Vermont and took a walk down a country road. I ran into a herd of goats. They followed me on my walk and I was smitten. Ever since then I have done only goat cheese. Maybe someday I’ll have my own goats.
Meantime, I buy local (PA) raw goat milk from farms where I have at least met the goats at one time. Some say that goat milk cheese is less complex than cow. I disagree, of course. I try to express the unique goat personality in my cheeses.
On a couple of trips to France, I sought out farmstead goat cheeses. Meeting the cheese makers on their ferme was inspiring, and even though I speak no French and they spoke no English, we managed to communicate in fromage.
I first attempted to perfect simple Crottin-type cheeses, then expanded to ash-ripened and geo (geotrichum candidum) cheeses, then a goat tomme, which is my current project.
In a previous house, I had a perfect dirt-floor cellar for aging cheese, just below street level, with a constant temperature and high humidity. I experimented with all kinds of cheese there, from cheddar to gouda and provolone, all goat-based.
Now, I live in a house without a natural cave so I am learning to improvise. I was using part of a large wine cooler and recently got a mini-wine cooler so I can concentrate on aging one at a time.
My Goals
My main goal is to make a “simply delicious cheese” that you can’t have just one bite of! More broadly I want to become proficient at a variety of types so I can work at it year-round. A cheese like Saint-Maure is easier to make in the summer months, in my hot and humid Mid-Atlantic region; and at that time of year I do not spend as much time at home to care for an aging cheese. So the winter is better for a cheese that requires affinage care like the tomme I am working on now.
As I mentioned before, I want to express the goat’s unique personality. Though I am not on a farmstead, I want the cheeses to honor the goats and their farmers. I would like to specifically mention Dove Song Dairy (Bernville, PA) and Shellbark Hollow Farm (Honey Brook, PA) as sources for the raw goat milk I use.
Advice for Beginners
1. Take good notes so you can learn from experience. Little things make a difference.
2. Get advice from experts at NECS(!); and the home cheesemaking community, such as cheeseforum.org.
3. Have fun!
Alexia Allen says
At one point I was milking 5 different goats, including one belonging to a neighbor. We did a household-wide blind taste test of each individual goat. My milking buddy at the time named each goat as he tasted her milk. “They just taste like their personalities,” he said. I have five gallons of goat milk warming now to make.a Montasio, and I’m about to go out to the barn and squeeze another gallon! Thanks for letting the goats shine through your cheeses.
Megan says
Thank you for this article! We also are from the West Chester area and new to cheesemaking. We have a small herd of East Friesian sheep that we are milking and cheesemaking with. Its so good to see and hear of other people in the area doing the same!
Susan Charkes says
Wow! SO glad to know you are now part of of our local dairying/cheesemaking community.
Dear Susan, as the previous comment suggests your love of life, empathy and compassion is a treasure. The work you do in our world is outstanding and the ways in which you share it with others proves the theory we are all moving together on this fragile planet and what we do as individuals effects the entirety of humanity. Your endeavors express how the details in the time you take to notice the world around you, to tread lightly, to study, teach, share and grow in all you do is a remarkable achievement. Thank you so much for sharing your story with our readers, keep going for that bite of deliciousness in your cheeses and remember all the goodness you put in is already coming out.
In Peace, Love and Cheese, for all the creatures of the world, Ricki
Peace and blessings upon you Ricki. Many many thanks for your inspiration. In cheese is love.
Hello! I was very excited to see this article because I also live in WC, PA. I am new to cheesemaking and have been looking for other cheesemakers. I love that you are using goat’s milk. I often combine goat and cow because I like this earthy sweet flavor the cheeses have. Dove Song is my raw goat milk of choice. I hope some day to run into you and we can talk cheese!
Susan, your comment that you try to express the individual goat’s personality in your cheeses is intriguing! Your empathy and kindness in such a beautiful expression is quite remarkable! Just naming each cheese after the goat providing the milk would be quite an honoring itself, but I dream that you express your love for the goats in your love of your cheeses!
Your book The Wild Here and Now, if I remember correctly, is enticing!
Your cheeses and those you generally choose to make vary greatly from my own experience. My experience is limited to raw cows milk from a trusted farm, albeit 180 miles away!
Loved your story! May you continue to be blessed in your cheese making journey!
Thank you Charles! We are both striving to express beauty from mother Earth.