Dairy Report: Feeling Good (and a Quiz)!

Many of us have fantasies about owning a little café or having a farm, and this week Lisa Jacobs of Jacobs Creamery shares some of the realities of starting her own dairy business. One new venture is going to be a delivery service for her products, beginning with the Hood River, White Salmon, Lake Oswego and Milwaukie areas. If you're interested, you can e-mail her and let her know.

I woke up the other day and said "Hell, yeah!" The sun was out, my walk-in was full, my muscles were really sore and I thought, "Wow! Life is good!"

Challenge #191: Making cheese in 90° weather. Oh my, what not fun the cheese room was this week! So you can imagine that I am greatly looking forward to the soaring temperature next Monday. Not.

Since I don't have any time for real dates, I like to call the hour after I have hooped and pressed my cheese my "dates with Henry." Henry is my cheese vat. Dates with Henry are very hot, usually between 135-165°. This week I averaged about a 1 lb. weight loss with each date, but we are still "seeing each other." As I sent product down to (the farmers' market in) Cannon Beach last Tuesday and headed back into the cheese room for the third day, I thought that doing a triathlon might actually be easier than running six markets and producing all my products in a three day time span.

One of my college professors spotted me at my booth this last week and her comment was, "Oh, its so great that you do this! I'm sure it's nice to get out of the office." She was so certain that I would be practicing law by now that she figured it was a weekend job of some sort. It made me ponder what on earth I would do if I wasn't making cheese. I suppose with my expert cleaning ability and fleet of vehicles I could easily have a cleaning business or a moving company, but just thinking about it made me extremely thankful that I am able to do something I love and enjoy.

After several months, it's nice to finally get a routine down: walk-in full, walk-in empty, must make more cheese. And repeat.

Sadly, some of my cheese minions will be going back to school shortly, so I am looking for some additional help in the cheese room and markets. To help me weed through applicants, I created a quick little questionnaire. If you know someone that is a sparkly cheese enthusiast, have them fill it out and e-mail it to me.

1. How many tubs can you package, label, stack and crate in 2 minutes?
2. If you were tired and it was 1 a.m. and you saw a bit of curd on the wall in the cheese room would you: a) go to bed; b) get a sanitizing solution and start methodically cleaning the walls from top to bottom; c) not say anything but send me a text after you're far far away?
3. Do you believe in the five second rule?

Since my dairy babe twins have worked out so well, preference will be given to triplets and those with triathlon endurance levels, of course!

---

Newsflash: Lisa just informed me that she and her cheese will be featured on ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday, Aug. 4, as part of a visit the show made to the farmers' market in Cannon Beach. Tune in if you can!