Cheese, milking and lambs... repeat daily.

This is what a wheel of Tomme de Gaston looks like brushed, sticker-ed and ready to head to a restaurant or deli.

Milking!

We bring the ewes into the parlour in groups of eight at a time. The vertical black tubes near their heads are filled with a cup of grain which we can release as a distraction while we milk each of them individually. It usually works as a distraction but there are always exceptions to the rule...


Like this girl. She does this every milking (yup, twice a day, every day) and likely will until the end of the season. Her nickname is "the Aviator".


Lambs out back

First market & soap!

Sylvie and myself finally selling our goods at the Kemptville Farmers' Market
(Photo credit: Richard Garner)














Pine Soap



















The whole gang

Cheese is so photogenic...

Here's the result of the first cheese photo-shoot. More pictures are definitely to come!

Bleu de Sophie:
These little blue cheeses weigh just over a kilogram each. They are now wrapped in tinfoil to keep them as moist as possible until they've been ripened long enough to be eaten (they'll be much more blue by then!). Holes are poked through the wheels to promote veining (when mold grows on the inside of the cheese).

Tomme de Gaston:
Our staple cheese. Traditional and steadfast we will age this for a minimum of 60 days, but it can be aged for longer. We've got a piece in the fridge from last season we're still eating!






























































Mixed rack:
Top shelf is an experiment, the orange is our first shot at a washed rind cheese (similar to Oka), and the bottom two shelves are Corsican-style basket cheeses that we'll be ripening with a natural rind.

Shearing: The butcher of Madoc

Waiting...















Knowing she's next...





















































































We got almost two full bags like this one

First day of cheese making

Me and Richard the morning of our first batch



















Numbers soaking in sanitizer














Our first 2 wheels of Tomme de Gaston!















Proud apprentice

First milking... May 18th.

The girls waiting for their first milking!



















Richard making sure everything is ready











The first time is always rusty...














The first eight to be milked

Lambing is over (we think)

Sylvie holding our oldest (William) and
youngest lambs



















We have a special area only lambs can get into...















Tell-tale signs the fences are being used as back-scratchers...















Retiree Margot peeking in on the lambs
















Retirees chowing a bale out in their paddock














Morning dew

Waiting, waiting, waiting for lambing to end...

Albert, the flock wether















Sylvie and I stumbled across a nest of duck eggs
while foraging for 'wild' asparagus















Daycare
(Photo credit: Sylvie Morel)



























William yearning for pasture... soon enough














Hoof trimming
(photo credit: Sylvie Morel)

Late nights, early mornings & lots and lots of babies

tube feeding















































late night/early morning lambing






























lambs!














Sylvie bottle feeding



















one of many barn mice



















this ewe's so big she has to sit like a dog to relieve the pressure















sleeping on moms back