Black Mesa Ranch
Snowflake, Arizona, USA
Artisan Cheese
Nubian Goats
Cheese and Candy Information and Online Ordering Page
Featured pages on this site
Updated!
We have revamped our Ranch Workshop Packages!
In addition to our three-day cheese making and goat management workshops learn about our free open- house days and lodging accommodations.
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Award Winning Artisan Goat Cheeses
2 Awards 2008 ADGA National Competition
4 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
3 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
(available seasonally)
2 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
2 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
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Click here to read the online version of Kathryn's booklet
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This site last updated:
July 19, 2010
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Endorsed by more than 36 humane organizations, the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® program is nationally recognized as the Gold Standard for certifying animal welfare.
Arizona Grown!
Trudy, Angel and Nutmeg enjoy the spring flowers
5/1-7
On the 1st of the month we took a big day trip into Flagstaff (about 2 ¼ hours each way) to do some major shopping at Sam’s Club, Home Depot and a metal supply yard for materials from which to build the rabbit hutches. We got up early, milked Trudy and hustled off. Along with the shopping, we had also made arrangements with a woman there to see her Satin rabbits with the possibility of purchasing some and ended up buying 4 does and a buck from her. We got home in time for evening milking. The rabbits were made temporary quarters in a section of the chicken house and everybody settled in nicely.
On the 2nd we began construction of the rabbit hutches, which we have named the “Rabbitats”. K worked the chop saw, cutting the pieces from the cutting list while I welded. Unfortunately, early in the process the saw died. I jury-rigged it a couple of times and got a few more cuts but in the end it quit completely. We called around to find a saw to rent for the project but the one we found locally was no bargain. We found a new one for sale in Show Low at a reasonable price so we made the trip down there and bought it. With the new saw K cranked out parts faster than I could weld them but even so the project took 4 more full days to complete, about twice as long as we had planned. They sure did come out fine though and the rabbits seemed to take to them as soon as they were moved in on the 6th.
The Caprine Supply and Bass orders arrived (several of the rabbit waterers were back-ordered from Bass). Part of the herb order from Gurney’s arrived but all were VERY dead. I called them and they said they would send another batch.
After numerous calls, missed appointments and one failed attempt to fix the tank, the tank guys came out again on the 3rd and pulled the tank one more time, welded the bottom inlet closed and cut a new hole in the side for the fill. Our solar guy, who was the main contractor for the project didn’t show up and the tank guys didn’t have the time or materials to make the plumbing connections. We were fortunate enough to have a small supply of spare parts and were able to make the connections ourselves, otherwise who knows when we would have been able to have water again. We deducted a bit from the solar guy’s last bill when we sent him the check to cover our expenses.
Got a couple of good overnight frosts on the 4th and 5th, down to just below freezing but enough to seriously nip some of the baby veggie plants just coming up. Most of the squashes were killed and will have to be re-planted. The official "last-frost-date" for the area is May 30th so, while a disappointment, the frosts are not a surprise. The garden is pretty well set for planting again, when it warms up a bit.
We went into town on the 7th to get some shading materials for the rabbits and put it up. The rolls of ground cloth we bought were supposed to be 50’ but in actuality were 35’ so we’ll have to go get more soon.
We moved the solar panels to their summer position (almost directly horizontal) about a week later than we meant to.
5/8-16
We got all of the rabbits bred this week except for Lucy. She has not been feeling very good and has had runny eyes and has been unable to keep her rear end clean (pasting up). We don’t know what is causing the problems and have requested info from several sources including her previous owner. The other rabbits had also suffered from diarrhea briefly but all except her got over it in a couple of days. They all (except Lucy) are having trouble adjusting to their new waterers. They are a new spring-tension type, which seems to be too difficult for them to operate. I’ve written the company to see if there are any adjustments or tricks to getting them to use them.
I made some cheeses including my first hard cheese, a Colby-like goat’s milk cheese I call “Goalby”. Also made some Goatserella and Rigoata. My cheese-pressing equipment at this time leaves a lot to be desired. For now, I'm forced to pile heavy things (cases of soda pop, ammo boxes etc) on the molds and hope the leaning tower doesn't tip over. It often does.
We worked on the feed room at the chicken coop and got it all organized and shut off from the birds.
The weather was just beautiful and the valley is filled with wild flowers now.
Went to town on the 11th and got more shade cloth for the buns. Got the manager to make up the difference to us for the amount the roll was short by giving us some extra. Turns out ALL the rolls were 35’ (not the 50” marked on the wrapper) so we got some extra on the 2nd roll we had to buy too. Also went to the feed store and were surprised to find that they had a very nice selection of veggie plants and herbs. Bought some peppers, tomatoes and several herb plants and got them planted that afternoon. Also got 50 hills of 3 sunflower seeds planted (about ½ of what we’re going to have). The next morning we found that something had come and methodically dug up some of the sunflower seeds, starting at one end and working his way up the row leaving tiny little excavations. After that night we didn’t see any evidence of repeat visits. (Must not have agreed with him I guess).
We did our first chicken “harvest” this week. We chose 10 male birds and put them into seclusion without food Friday then Saturday AM did the slaughtering and processing. It was our first attempt at doing any of it but went pretty well (except it took WAY longer than we had anticipated). After the first chicken we got smart...Since we don’t eat chicken skin we decided to forgo plucking and just skin them. It worked fine. In general we thought the birds were a bit on the small size and kind-of bony so we are going to wait another couple of weeks before doing any more. We’re also going to look at getting a meatier breed next time. Had our own chicken wings for dinner and, though they were a bit tough, they were really tasty. Had Rotisserie Chix the next night and it was great!
Chicken plucking is for the birds. This was our one and only.
Chickens in the water! Fry-fry "wangs", oh yeah!
The Gurney’s order with all the trees, and shrubs arrived on the 14th and we worked for the next several days putting in 2 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 12 raspberries, 5 blackberries and 2 currants in the orchard plus getting the 60 asparagus, 6 rhubarb, onion sets, and assorted herb plants and seeds in the vegetable garden. The herbs, again were in very bad shape, but alive and the order was short 1 blackberry bush. I might have to call them and get a credit instead of getting more sent.
Planting the bare-root fruit trees Himrod grapes get planted
The LP gas company guy came on the 15th to set up a ~150 gallon propane tank for our generator. We have contracted with them to get 1001 gallons of gas between now and next spring at $1.29/gal, about $.20/gal below current pricing.
5/18/01:
We built 6 nest boxes for the rabbits. Even though we only have 4 does right now we figured we’d just build one for each “hole” we have since Paul (our buck) might like some privacy or protection from the elements from time to time, and the 6th hole will be getting another doe in the future. Made mostly out of scrap ¾” CDX plywood and screwed together, they cut out and assembled quickly. We put them in the cages, added some straw and the girls took to them right away.
5/19
We got a nice rainstorm through. As it was cloudy most of the day and our batteries were about ready for “equalizing” (a periodic maintenance procedure which entails bringing them to an overcharged state for a little while) we decided to run the generator for a while and get it done. As a bonus, because we can’t push all of the generator’s power into the batteries we got to do some extra “domestic loads” (laundry, dishwasher etc.) and even fired up the smoker for a big batch of pork ribs for the freezer.
5/20/01:
Irrigated the Orchard, and filled the water holding tank up at the well. Also drenched all of the new plantings with a B-1 supplement to continue discouraging transplant shock.
5/23/01:
Did a bunch of gardening. Planted cilantro, head lettuce, leaf lettuce, and thyme seeds; another batch of scallion onion sets. Some more of the herb plant order arrived from Gurney’s, again in very bad shape. I put the few that were marginally alive in the ground immediately but have little hope for them. The local feed store has much better quality plants at better prices so I think I will be sticking with them for the future, plus it’s nice to be able to keep our money in the community.
5/24/01:
Worked in the Orchard all day planting posts for the barbed wire fencing for the area. We set a selection of large (6”x6” to 8”x12”) braced wooden posts at the corners and gateways and sunk quality “T”-posts (all salvaged from various locations elsewhere on the property) at 20’ intervals between them.
5/25/01:
D went into town for some errands and picked up some nice Basil and Thyme plants at the feed store. Planted them in the veggie garden in the afternoon. K cleaned out the birthing area of the goat house and prepared it for Angel’s kidding, which we expect soon.
5/26/01:
Installed the water misting system for the rabbits. The day-time highs are regularly getting over 80 degrees F. and this should help to keep them more comfortable which should translate to them being more productive for us. They all seem to be settling in pretty well so we will probably begin to try breeding them again in the next week or so. Also did some garden work; planted another couple of rows of sunflowers along the east side of the veggie garden and did some general puttering there.
5/28/01:
Spent the whole day working on the Orchard fencing and got 3-strands of barbed wire (all salvaged from various other locations around the property) stretched around the whole perimeter.
5/29/01:
Built the gates for the Orchard. One pedestrian gate up at the Northeast corner (closest to the irrigation control valves) and a large single vehicle gate at the Northwest corner (nearest to the Barn). All was made from used, salvaged materials from our supply depot. They ain’t high style but they are functional and there is a certain rustic appeal to them, enhanced by the fact that they were basically free to build!
5/31/01:
Today we tackled the over-due project of installing some outside lighting to the rear of the South house so that we can hang out, BBQ, etc after dark without having to drag out the flashlights every time. After some investigation work with K up in the attic crawlspace and me poking around in the walls we found a partially wired circuit, now abandoned which we were able to hook into. We snaked it to the outside through the bird boards at the eaves for the light and down through the furred-out space inside the cinder block exterior walls for the switch. We were, with some work, able to gang on another box to the existing one for another switch and make it all fit really nicely in the narrow space we were allotted. The light, which we had salvaged from a structure at the “Trailer Park” area of the property, also mounted quickly and with little difficulty so we took on a bit more work and added an electric receptacle below the light for use with the BBQ’s rotisserie or???