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
© 2000-2010 Black Mesa Ranch Inc. All Rights Reserved
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!
Some of the newly freshened girls ready to work
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Unmolded pepper Jack cheeses from yesterday and air dried, then put them (2) in the cheese cooler to age for a bit.
Worked on chocolating toffee and honey comb for an order going out tomorrow.
Rolled fresh cheese logs for finishing tomorrow for orders (including the shipment to NYC for the James Beard dinner).
Couldn't get the new generator to start this AM and K ended up milking by hand. UGH. There seems to be 2 problems - first it is still getting air bubbles in the fuel injector and has to be bled off every time I go to start it, and also in that the start cycle is only a couple of seconds so there really isn't enough time for the engine to catch and get running. K found a reference in a manual about changing a potentiometer setting on the control unit if the start time was too short and I was able to make the adjustment in the afternoon. It seemed to work much better, though still dealing with the air bubbles.
Made 5 qts + of chipotle sauce and canned most of it.
Filled well tank today - it was way down and needed about 3 hours to fill.
Martha left to return to Tucson this morning
K sat with Stella all day in anticipation of her kidding. Finally we decided to get all the babies fed and the PM milking done a little early so we could get back to watching her. We really blitzed through the chores, getting the milking of the 13 girls done in just 30 minutes. K kept sending me in every few goats to look at the barn cam monitor in the dairy office and I'd keep telling her "she's just standing there, nibbling hay". Less than 10 minutes after one of these reports I looked and she was done kidding! 2 lovely little girls, without any help on our part. We went right out and helped clean them off, get some colostrum for them etc, but Stella was all done. The kids (6.5 and 7 lbs) were in great shape and each chugged 8 oz of the colostrum immediately upon coming in the house. Froze another pint of it too.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Sunny, breezes, 80'’s
Prepped cheese order for Amelia's Garden. Bagged yesterday's Fresh Cheese batch.
D&K to Town/Show Low: PO, K eye exam, post flyers to sell Nigie bucklings, cheese delivery to Amelia's Garden, Mex lunch, Walmart, Pepsi
Friday, May 07, 2004
Mostly sunny, breezes, 80's
Kitchen day - Started a batch of fresh cheese. Unbagged and rolled logs of previous batch. Affinaged cheeses: 4 Capriana to Fridge, cleaned 2 cheddars and 2 Pepper Jacks - cut into one: too young, needs more age but will try cooking with it.
Sent invoice copy to Amelia's Garden. Sent EIN to Scottsdale Hilton so that they can finish processing our first payment.
K sold the 2 Nigie Bucklings (YEAH!) For$120. She worked on contract to do a rather complicated and extended trade for a special, yet to be conceived, doeling (value $600) in trade for Zinger and $520 in candy/cheese from us.
Uline order arrived: "perishable" and "UP" labels and tape dispenser.
Made double Goat Toastie batch (~50# dough). Made big batch of Tomato Meat Sauce.
K's father wrote that her mom is doing poorly and not responding to the last-ditch antibiotic they have been administering to her. K checked into flights to and car rentals in the area.
Bucks busted out of their pen. K was nearby and they never got near the does but it was close. They somehow managed to lift the gate off its hinge pins - no small feat. K hustled them into the currently unused old doe pen until I could repair the gate. Put them back in for the night but we'll have to look at a way to make the gate less vulnerable to lifting.
Got word late tonight that K's mother had died. K will be coordinating with the rest of the fam about when to go there to AR for the get-together.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Partly cloudy, 80's, breezes.
Bagged yesterday's fresh cheese batch to drain.
Got invoices ready for Monday shipping to Hilton and Bianco.
K worked on arrangements to get to and from her family visit. She'll be leaving tomorrow at about 10 :35 am, flying out of Show Low to Phoenix then to Memphis and into KC. Her return flight will be reverse and she will get into Show Low about 4:30 PM Thursday. She got most of her packing done. Got K some local access number for AR, KS, MO so she should be able to get online and use email while gone.
Finished baking goat toasties (they liked this batch a lot better than the last).
Disbudded & tattooed 2 nigie bucklings and 2 Nubians.
Froze 11 qts of spaghetti goat meat sauce from yesterday, kept some out for meals.
Chocolated some toffee for K to take with her and packaged some cheese to go too.
Worked in the garden: picked asparagus, thinned lettuces and beets, re-worked row covers with small wire frames to allow drip emitters to put water where they were supposed to (not run off somewhere else), transplanted out 1 row broccoli and put under new row cover.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Partly cloudy, wind gusts and a few sprinkles.
Worked on garden fencing for a couple of hours
Unbagged, salted and refrigerated previous fresh cheese batch. D milked alone PM and did OK. Got a Local Harvest order for some cheese I'll send off tomorrow.
K off to MO, KS, AR for mother's memorial service etc. Left at about 10:30 form Show Low airport (to Phoenix, then Memphis on route to KC) and will return about 4:30 PM Thursday to S.L. Got K all packed up and to airport for her flight.
Worked in the garden for a while setting up row covers and fencing.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Sunny, upper 70's, quite windy
Packaged lots of cheese and candy for delivery and shipping. Unbagged previous fresh cheese batch and froze most of it.
K still in AR/MO.
D to town: PO (shipped a number of cheese and candy packages), mcd lunch, Feed store, Amelia's (deliver cheese and drop off for Torreon), Vet for health checks of Marigold and Serrano in prep for their going to NM
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Sunny and beautiful. Afternoon breezes
Kathryn home, home, home!
Did a bunch of cleaning for K's return.
Started a fresh cheese batch.
D to Show Low to pick up K @ airport @ 4:30 PM. Also: gas in the truck, vets for travel papers for goats going to NM, Home Depot shopping, KFC for lunch and dinner to go, new kitchen supply place to meet owners and get them to check prices on some things.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Sunny, gorgeous, afternoon breezes
Bagged yesterdays fresh cheese batch.
Banded 2 nigie and one Nubian buckling. Continued eye meds to Saffron for infection."
D to town: vets for eye meds, PO.
Garden: some fencing work, repaired/replaced floating row covers damaged by last few day of strong winds, planted some Broccoli seeds, transplanted 9 spinach and about 14 cornichons, planted seeds for 3 more, moved a number of wall-o-waters off potatoes and on to cornichons, rototilled area between cotoneasters and new south fence (will be putting a row of sunflowers there eventually, picked asparagus and weeded bed, thinned lettuces, prepped are for zucchini, started work on preppping anther portion of herb bed.
K brushed dogs - they really needed it and look mucho better. Roc having a hard time of it getting around and is getting full Rimadyls now.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Sunny, 80's, nice
Finished initial erection of new garden fence cattle panels. Still have to put on hardware cloth, add some T-posts, do some more fastening etc.
A local couple came out to look at buying the Nigie bucks. They're not sure what they want to do and asked to be put on our waiting list for a doeling form next spring's kiddings.
Finished previous fresh cheese batch, rolled 60 logs and froze a bag of curds.
Banded nigie boys are doing OK, Serrano is doing fine.. Continued twice a day application of eye goop in saffron's infected eye. It seems to be clearing somewhat.
Worked in the garden much of the day. Water tank about 1/2 full.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Mostly sunny, breezes, 80's
Worked on garden fencing for a couple of hours
Man, woman and kid from NM arrived for AM milking to buy a couple of goats. "Marigold" and "Serrano" went back to Las Cruces with them."
Made Boules and did an experiment trying to make ricotta in the pasteurizer. It pretty much flopped.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Mostly sunny, breezes and some wind, 80's
Worked more on garden fencing
Disbudded 3 Nubian girls, one Nigie girl and re-burned Diablo. Looks like K has every single goat sold/dealt with that we want to for this year with the exception of Visa, a Nubian buckling!
Unloaded truck of HD materials for new generator shed etc. Brought 3 bales to bucks. Worked in the garden for a while. Cut up 2, 4x8 sheets of foam for packaging materials. Filled well tank. Worked in orchard for an hour and watered out there.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Partly sunny, windy, 80's
Made 2 Caprianas.
K placed an order form Caprine Supply for spare milk machine parts plus. Saffron's eye is better after K discovered that it was entropic and fixed the problem (and continues to) - she is still on the eye goop 2-3 times a day.
Ordered a new commercial fridge from Standard in Phoenix ($998 vs. $2521 in Show Low - I try to shop local, honestly but…!).
D to town: PO & Amelia's Garden for cheese deliveries, and to bank for deposit..
Starting to eat scallions from the garden. Asparagus still going good.
K found a bird's nest complete with baby birds over the doorway of the "Anex" trailer in the buck pen.
Bird's nest in buck trailer
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Sunny, windy, 80's
Fariborz @ BMR for dairy inspection "Dairy inspection went well. Fariborz checked calibration of pasteurizer thermometers, and gave us a clean report. He left a 2001 copy of the PMO and promised to get in touch with a firm list of requirements for us to begin selling raw milk.
Started a Capriana batch. And move previous batch to cheese cooler.
Made a big batch of bread and a double batch of Goat Toasties.
Called Airborne to see when they were going to deliver the package that was supposed to arrive 3 days ago. They said that it had been left "at our door" yesterday at 2 PM. I looked all over the place but couldn't find it anywhere, not surprised since we were both around the house/dairy all around that time and surely would have noticed a delivery. Besides, it was supposed to have been signed for which it apparently had not been. I spoke with Kate at Airborne and Stephanie, a supervisor who later called back saying that the driver now says that he left it at our GATE! (not too smart a guy I guess). We had several visitors none of whom said that there was anything on the gate when asked.
UPS delivered and Todd didn't see anything on the gate either.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Mostly sunny, windy, 80's
Woman and her friend came to pick up 2 Nubian wethers and 2 Nigie wethers.
Packaged cheeses for retail on ranch sales.
Worked several hours in garden: prepped corn/melon/pumpkin bed and got irrigation set; divided some perennial herbs (sage, thyme and oregano); planted 8-9 each red, yellow, purple and mixed bell pepper, ancho chile and jalapeno chile seedlings (2 true leaves), ; transplanted 9 parsley and 9 fennel seedlings.
A driver form RPS/Roadway came by this AM to "get me to sign a receipt" for the missing Dell delivery he said he left at our gate 2 days ago. Fat chance after he lied to my face about his trying to deliver it. I have filed a claim with them that should be forwarded to Dell very soon.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Sunny, 70's breezy
9:30 AM woman @ BMR to pickup 3 Nigerian Dwarfs (Zinger, Good-n-Plenty & doe kid).
11:30 AM group from Flagstaff Slow Foods convivium @ BMR for tour, lunch, etc.
Started a fresh cheese. Turned last Caprianas for air drying.
Alisha is acting funny with one eye rolling up into her head and she is doing odd neck movements/stretches. Gave her a vitamin B shot, temp OK, milk up, good appetite. Maybe she got a head injury?"
Filled well tank (it was WAY too close to empty!)
Garden work, orchard watering and some weeding/trimming out there."
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Mostly sunny, windy, 70's
Bagged yesterday's fresh cheese. Did cheese affinage.
Alisha's seems a bit better but still weird eyes, gave her 2 more vitamin B shots and some Banamine (72 hour milk withdrawal) in PM in case there is brain swelling.
Made cheese coffee cake and devil's food cake today.
Garden work: planted last 8 potatoes (Red Golds and Caribes), and last red onions. Removed wall-o-waters from 6 tomatoes and caged, transplanted 9 basil. Zucchinis and broccoli from seeds just up. Transplanted peppers, chiles and fennel not doing well: sand blasted and wind spun.
Both of us worked on web site for several hours
Monday, May 24, 2004
Sunny, windy, near 80*F
Laura returned to BMR to buy our one remaining ND goat - the buck Snickers, and to buy the registration on all of the goats she purchased form us. "We are now 100% ND free!
Unbagged fresh cheese, rolled 50 logs for Bianco order and froze the rest. Started a batch of Capriana.
Alisha got another vitamin B shot and more redcell. She seems to be doing fine now but we'll keep her on B for a while more.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Overcast, 70's with breezes
Flipped Caprianas around in brine and later took them out to begin air drying. Shipped off 2 cheese orders plus a package to A Dog's World.
D to town: PO, Feed store, drop off "buckling for sale" flyers, Basha's for pizza.
Garden: planted a few more Gherkins to infill, took off remaining w-o-waters form Roma tomatoes, thinned lettuces, started 72 more Fresno pepper seedlings inside, worked on fence line prep for adding hardware cloth around perimeter.
New commercial fridge and pan slide racks are ready at restaurant supply place in Phoenix for pickup so we'll have to plan a trip for me down there soon.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Mostly sunny, breezy, 70's
Made a batch of cheddar. It, like the last one, did not knit well. I discovered an error in my new recipe conversion to 14 gallon which included more than doubling the proper amount of salt - a very likely cause of the problems I've been having.
The owner of a natural food store in Show Low called and wants to discuss putting some of our cheese in his store. I will send him some info and try to arrange a meeting in the next week or so.
Dell says that they have no record of the battery loss claim I filed with Airborne but would be sending a replacement in about 5 days. Airborne showed up with the replacement battery.
UPS delivered a package form Caprine Supply for the dairy.
Garden: all tomatoes are out of their wall-o-waters. Transplanted out 12 purple ruffle basil seedlings. The previously Transplanted peppers are all almost dead - too much wind? Will try some more as soon as the wind dies or wall-o-waters are available.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Sunny, high 70's
More garden fence work. Got about 175' of the perimeter 1/2"" hardware cloth installed. Maybe 50 more feet to go, plus the new gates.
BMR Board meeting this afternoon. Took about 2 hours discussing lots of different things. Good refreshments!
Does this company know how to entice board members to meetings, or what??
Spoke with Chris Bianco in Phoenix about my pending trip down there - he said he'll like to get together Thursday 6/3 for lunch. I'll be bringing his cheese order down with me along with some candy samples he's requested. He cut his standing cheese order to 8# fresh cheese a week, plus periodic Caprianas.
Took lots of garden pix.
Baked bread and made pizza/focacia for meeting. Worked in and around garden most of the afternoon.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Sunny, 70's, windy
Made another cheddar batch (2 cheeses), correcting the recipe to include the proper amount of salt. The cheeses came out looking GREAT.
New hardy generator has been starting erratically but I can't find anything suspect so far
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Sunny, breezy, 70's
Banded little "Ziggy" and tattooed Sage, Sassafras and SAM.
Got an order from Mike G in Mexico for some candy and cheeses to send to his sister for hr B-day."
Lots more garden work: more work on fencing, transplanted out last of peppers/chiles started inside (except for another flat of Fresnos I just started), set out 15 more basil.
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Sunny and gorgeous
Kitchen day for D. Made 5 truffle bases, a batch of cheddar (2 cheeses), 50# batch of ""Bis-Goaties"", planned the production for the week 9so far). Took order from Torreon.
K took LOTS of goat pix for documentation/web page. Played with Hardy generator adjusting the hertz - it had been running too slow.
Ford watches the kids David with his buddy Clove