She only makes those two types primarily because of time & equipment investment and her tastes. Mozzerella is very 'hands on' for an hour or so - the rest of the time it's just sitting there, and all you have to do is check the temp every so often; it stores well & can be frozen fresh. Feta, likewise, keeps a long time and can be frozen without notable loss of quality. Neither of them require much (or anything) in the way of molds or presses, so equipment needs are minimal. She's a type1 diabetic, so the excessive fat content of things like cream cheese doesn't fit into her eating plans, and she's a widow, so the storage time of things like cottage or pot cheese aren't long enough for her to use up a batch before it spoils. She runs 14 nannies, and most of her excess milk is actually either used in soap or fed to her chickens... chickens love, and do very well on, any kind of milk. I, OTOH, only have two cows that *can* be milked, and only one that I do. Both of them are also feeding calves, so a gallon a day per cow is my max production; from which I have to produce the farms' butter, sour cream and drinking milk, so my chickens only get whey - which contains most of the protein, and they love as well. Most of what I make are hard cheeses (Jack, Cheddar)- and brie. I am addicted to brie, LOL. There are ways to produce many other cheese with goat milk; many of them come out softer than you're used to, but they do work. She just doesn't have enough interest/time/equipment to bother with them.
we have been using that recipe in ours for 3yrs with no problem
I agree
Take a look at doing an aquaponics system using the duck pond to water the garden. Another member on here has done that and reports great success at keeping the water clean and nice results with the growth in the garden. Aquaponics also cuts your water use for the garden dramatically. If I can give you one piece of advice.... plan before you build, then plan again, then look over your plan again. Build it as efficient as you can the first time. Also you should start a compost pile now. Mix in green material (i.e. yard trimmings if you don't use pesticides, garden/veggie/fruit waste) with brown material (i.e. fallen leaves from last year) and water it and turn it every couple of days. If it works out well you might get some larvae in there, I have Black Soldier Fly larvae in mine, which will aid in the composting and can be used as a high protein treat for your chickens. Other than that water collection or a well and some sort of energy production (solar/wind) and you'll be doing well.
