August is always a month of change here on the farm. We’re midway through our cheesemaking season, with four months of cheesemaking under our belts and four more to go. On the farm, both haymaking and breeding season are finished, leaving the crew with time to think about other projects that may have been shorted during the busy season (like the new cheesehouse!) The end of breeding season means the milk will shortly be changing, moving down the lactation curve into the richer, denser milk of fall. And of course we’re starting to incorporate all the new ideas, information, and feedback we took in during the hectic five days of the American Cheese Society Conference.
The end of summer is our essential breathing space to plan for fall, lest the changeover in weather, milk, and season catch us unprepared!