Cheesemaking at Oregon State University

Photo: OSU Pilot Plant.

Last month Jim and I spent a few days in Corvallis, Oregon, home of Oregon State University. We signed up for a three day cheesemaking class held on campus in The Food Science Department at Wiegand Hall.

Wiegand Hall is named for Professor Ernest Wiegand. He is a professor that made a huge impact in the science of food preservation, specifically with cherries. Cherries grow really well here in Oregon. From 1925-1931 he developed a way to preserve them in brine, trying to keep them from getting too soft and mushy. Before that, canned cherries were a European import preserved in liqueur, tasty, but expensive and mushy. Wiegand's bit in history? He found that making a brin by adding calcium chloride, a form of salt also used in cheesemaking, his cherries stayed firm. No more alcohol needed and we could preserve our homegrown cherries. The maraschino cherry was perfected! And cocktails have been thankful ever since.

His fellow professors continued his work and developed ways to bleach the cherries, and make them any color in the rainbow, blue, green, white, or red. The red ones contain the same food dye (red dye #40) used in gum or according to this website, Dorito's. A portrait of Professor Wiegand graces the lobby of the Food Science building, greeting visitors. There is an article next to his portrait, explaining his notoriety.

The cheesemaking class: The class was lead by Lisbeth Goddik, an Associate Professor at OSU. She's the dairy processing specialist for OSU's extension service. She's the person that fields all of the cheesemaking questions. There were about 25 students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some had dairies, one was a chef with a cooking school, there were families who had goats, there was a fellow cheese monger and blogger, and several of the dairy inspectors from the Oregon Department of Agriculture were attending the class, too. The format was split between classroom lecture and hands-on cheesemaking. The mornings were spent learning about the dairy industry, how cheesemaking works, how do we keep a clean environment, and what's going on in the regulatory world. The fun stuff happened in the pilot plant down the hall.

Photo: Students gather around the vat pasteurizer.

The pilot plant at OSU is a big working laboratory for food science. There are big tanks for brewing beer, a bottling line, incubators, kettles, vats, pasteurizers, lab tables and several sinks. Stainless steel pipes run throughout the building, carrying steam, milk, or water to where it is needed. There is another lab specifically for winemaking. They were working on some Pinot Noir while we were there.

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Time for some cheesemaking. There were four cheese stations set up. We split up into groups to focus on one cheese, but we still could observe the other groups and see what was going on all around us. I worked on Havarti, Jim was on Team Camembert. My team's vat of milk took forever to set up. Don't know if it was the temperature of the room, if we added the wrong amount of rennet, or what the issue was, but we stood there waiting for our cheese to have a clean break for over an hour. It should have been around 30 minutes. But, the curd dictates when to cut, not the clock, so we waited and waited and waited. Finally we cut the curd, let the curd rest and began to stir. Havarti is a washed curd cheese, so we got to heat up water, drain some of the whey off, and added warm water back into the curds. Fun! Then we got to use a mult-form system to full the empty forms full of the knitting curds. Then came the flip with the fancy draining trays that OSU recently purchased from Servi Doryl.

Photo: C. van't Reit small pasteurizer at OSU

One of my favorite lectures was on Starter Cultures and their role in cheesemaking. This is a subject that I find fascinating and am beginning to get a better idea what they actually do in your cheese. Yes they acidify the milk, but they also affect flavor, texture, as well as control how it ripens down the road in the aging cave. The starter cultures develop enzymes that produce amino acids. The amino acids give us more flavor compounds and aromas. They can be buttery, nutty, toasty, fruity, etc. This is the stuff that makes me say "Yum!" when I eat a piece of cheese. Understanding bacterial cultures can help you predict what your final cheese will taste like and what texture it will have. The good cheesemaker is an artist coaxing the best flavor out of a cheese's potential. As many have told me, good cheese is made in the vat. If you start out with great potential, your final results will be that much better.

Photo: Tools for Queso Blanco.

We mixed things up the second day of cheesemaking. In the morning we all made Queso Blanco. This is a fresh, Mexican style cottage cheese made with whole milk. Quite easy to make, with quick results that we can eat in 90 minutes. It is acidified with buttermilk and set with junket, a tablet form of rennet also used in making pudding.

Photo: Fresh Queso Blanco.

We divided up into two groups. One group tried to make a drier cheese, the other wanted a moist cheese. It was good practice seeing how curd size, as well as the firmness of the curd mass at point of cutting will determine the amount of moisture left in the curd. The firmer the curd at the initial point of cutting, the softer the cheese, the smaller the size of the curd, the drier the cheese will be. These are all decisions made every time you make cheese.

Photo: Mary and Sasha work on Havarti.

We also got to switch cheeses in the Pilot Plant. Jim moved to Team Havarti and I went to Team Mozzarella. Jim became defacto team leader and got a lot of hands-on cheesemaking. Our Mozzarella didn't turn out. We used store bought milk and didn't add calcium chloride. The curd got over stirred and the curd never stretched. A waste! I was sad. I want to practice stretching mozzarella with someone who knows what they're doing.

Our evenings were spent socializing with fellow students. Jim and I went out to dinner at a brewpub with Sasha Davies of Cheese By Hand, and Professor Marc Bates formerly of Washington State University. Had a great time talking about living in Oregon, cheesemaking, and current events.

The second night we went to Evergreen, an Indian restaurant with Sasha and fellow students Pete and Cecil. More great conversations about what we all want to do, dairying, and what it takes to get going.

There are many reasons to continue to take cheesemaking classes. Not only do I continue to get new ideas and a better understanding of the process of cheesemaking, but I always meet some really nice people with similar interests. Now that I've been following this dream for a few years, I feel more comfortable asking questions and understanding the answers. I'll keep taking classes and working with others so long as there is someone to teach me. I am happy to show others what I've learned and maybe inspire them, too.

Photo: Goat cheese with green peppercorns from River's Edge Chevre.

We ate a lot of cheese. We had a sampling of cheddars from Tillamook. We also got a nice selection of goat cheeses from River's Edge Chevre. We also got to sample some cheeses from Europe. We were never hungry.

Photo: Brian of Oregon Gourmet Cheeses in his cave.

The final afternoon was a field trip to Oregon Gourmet Cheeses in Albany. Brian Richter graciously let our group come into his plant where we heard his story, try his cheese and pepper him with questions. The scale of his cheeseroom is modest. Not small, but efficient. He uses a 500 gallon milk tank as his vat. He makes both raw as well as pasteurized cheeses. His raw milk Sublimity is dense, like an alpine style cheese. The texture is well knit and it is chewy like a tootsie roll, but not sticky. He likes to add dried herbs like lavender and herbes des provence to some of his wheels. Like most cheesemakers, he'd love to have more aging room and is at capacity. I'd like to visit him again so I can ask more questions. Albany is about an hour away. This would be an easy repeat trip.

Makin' Cheese in the Kitchen

Photo: Sarah cuts the curd.



Got a call from some friends that are building a dairy and creamery about 15 miles away. They had 10 gallons of goat milk that they couldn't use and were offering it to me. It thought about it for three seconds. Long enough to take inventory of our spare fridge. Do I have room for ten gallons of milk? You bet! Woo hoo! I jumped on the chance to grab some milk and make cheese.

I had to get my cultures, too. Luckily, there is a place on the way that sells cheese cultures as well as raw milk, eggs, and chicken. Kookoolan Farms is a great resource. They built their own chicken processing plant so that they could ensure that their chickens were treated humanely from hatching to slaughter. They are big cheerleaders for the consumption of raw milk. To make it easy, they provide the cheesemaking supplies to encourage folks to make cheese at home. Nice folks! I also mail ordered other cultures from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I also like to stock up on stuff from Glengarry Cheesemaking from Canada.

Jim and I drove to Scott and Summer's place. In the fridge was the milk that they had promised. Two gallon milk cans and a bunch of half gallon jars filled with the goat's efforts. They milk 16 Nigerian Dwarf goats. I've never worked with the milk from this type of goat so this will be good experience for me. The goats are much smaller than the standard dairy breeds, about a third of the size. The give less milk but the milk is much richer. It is higher in butterfat as well as in yield (more solids held in suspension) as I soon found out.

We packed the milk in our coolers and rushed home to start the cheesemaking process. As we drove I was running over my recipes in my head. What to make? I want to make chevre so I can make a big batch of my chocolate chevre truffles. They freeze nicely so I can have them ready to give away for the holidays. I also want to make some raw milk, aged cheeses. Hmmmm.

We got home and transfered the milk into fridge in the garage. I pulled out my recipes and decided to go with the semi-firm aged goat cheese from Ticklemore. The first time I made it I dubbed it Sarahmore. This one will be different because I'm using fresh, raw milk from Nigerian Dwarf goats. Plus I don't have the same culture I used before. Kookoolan didn't have it, so I'm trying a different one and we'll see what happens.

Photo: Freshly hooped curd starting to knit into cheese in my fancy cheese molds.


Massive clean up of the kitchen took a while, so I didn't get the milk on the stove until 4:00. I use the double boiler method to heat three gallons of milk so I can ensure even heating and less chance of scorching. Gently heating means better cheese. Goat milk is very fragile. The more it is handled the more likely it will break down and add off flavors. Milk can get bruised! If it gets jostled around too much, the structure of the milk gets bruised and you get off flavors. Be nice to your milk and it will reward you in the end.

Slow heating means lots of time to get the molds cleaned, the sink scrubbed and everything sterilized. Gotta have a clean environment to make cheese. Lessens the chances of bad microorganisms entering the cheese. I want good food, not toxic sludge.

The milk heated to my target temperature and I added the culture. The ripening culture is freeze dried. When added to milk, the culture "wakes up" and begins to eat all of that tasty sugar a.k.a. lactose and makes the milk more acidic. A cheesemaker selects certain cultures for certain cheeses. If you want to make Monterey Jack, you want a culture that gives you a nice even texture without any eyes or holes. If you want to make something like an Havarti the cheesemaker will select a culture that produces a bit of gas and leaves small eyes in the cheese. Ecoli makes eyes that look weepy. Those weeping eyes must be crying because they can make you die. These are bacteria that have been selected by The Culture Houses of Europe because they produce consistent end results. These strains have been around for many years. It is only in the past century that these cultures have been isolated and replicated.

Some folks create their own starter with the naturally occurring strains in their milk and environment. Traditional English Farmstead Cheddar makers use their own starters to keep their cheddars tasting so good. Some have used the same mother culture for generations. If you ever eat sourdough bread from San Francisco you've experienced the same thing. A small amount of sourdough is held back after each batch to start the next day's bread. Remember kids, this stuff is alive!

Photo: Draining fresh goat cheese.


Got another pot on the stove with two more gallons of milk. This other vessel of milk will be pasteurized so I can make chevre. The pasteurized milk will be cultured and left to sit overnight in a warm room. In the morning, the milk is transformed into a solid curd mass that looks like two gallons of tofu. When I think it is firm enough, I gently ladle the curd into a cheesecloth lined colander. The ends of the cheesecloth are tied together and I hang it up to drain for several hours. When the cheese is drained and as dry as I like it, I'll take it down, add salt and enjoy my fresh chevre.

Back to the other pot. The culture is acidifying the milk and the rennet is added to firm things up. More waiting. My molds are clean and sterilized. My knife is ready to cut the curd. I keep checking the texture, looking for a clean break. This is the point at which the curds hold their shape, and a small puddle of greenish whey is released from the cut surface. It is ready. I take my knife and I begin cutting the curds. I use a firm, assertive motion, trying to keep my cuts straight. I cut one direction and then rotate the pot and cut in the other direction, at a angle. The objective is to cut cubes or diamond shaped blocks of curd of a similar size. Large cubes = soft cheese, small cube = firm cheese. I finish cutting and wait again. This is the healing time. The cut surfaces are all releasing whey and contracting. Waiting allows the surfaces to literally heal so that when I begin to stir, they will maintain integrity as well as continue to release whey. We want the whey to go away, but at a controlled rate.

Time to stir. I stir slowly at the beginning. The curds are very fragile at this point. I want them to gently bump into each other, but not clump together. Stirring will go on and on. I pull of part of the whey and continue to stir. I add fresh water back in to wash the curds. Washing the curds removes some of the lactose, and will make a chewier and sweeter cheese when the cheese is ripe in a few months. You gotta put a lot of investment in the beginning and won't know the results for months. This is why keeping good records is critical. If the cheese turns out really well, I want to be able to repeat what I did. If something goes wrong, I want to know why.

I can see that the milk from Nigerian Dwarf goats doesn't need as much rennet as "regular" goat milk. This batch is a bit firmer than I would like. Better reduce the rennet for the next batch. The milk is thicker, almost like sheep's milk. Higher yield, too. Amazing stuff.


Photo: New cheese after the third flip.

The curds have shrunk and are ready to go. Time to hoop! I've got my colanders ready to go, sitting on a cookie sheet over the sink. As fast as I can, I scoop all of the curds out and it the plastic forms. The curds are eager to mat. They're bonding to each other. They liquid that held them in suspension has now been removed and all they want to do is bind together. Putting them into a form like a colander or a traditional cheese mold helps give them a shape but also controls how quickly moisture is lost. In my case it seems to be losing moisture pretty fast. If I use a different form with different perforations, I'll get a different cheese because the moisture loss will change. Every little variable will make a big difference in the end result. This is one of my countless reasons cheesemaking fascinates me.

As soon as my colanders are filled, I flip them. The newly formed cheese needs to drain evenly, so flipping is essential. What was once in the bottom side of the cheese is now the top. A few minutes later I flip the cheese again. This process will be repeated over the course of a few hours. In the morning I'll flip them again and then I'll turn the cheeses ever day until they're ripe.

In order to free up my kitchen, I turned our laundry room into our curing room. The cheeses are set on racks over a clean and sanitized sink to drain and dry. The light is kept on so the room stays warm. This will encourage draining, too. My chevre bags are draining into the sink as well. I like this set up.

Photo: An aging wheel of cheese, two weeks old.


I repeated the process two days later, but this time all of my milk was pasteurized. We'll see how this will affect the aged cheeses. I don't know.

Now the wait. I made cheese on October 31st and November 2nd. They might be ready in January. I'm thinking February will be a better bet. The first batch of cheese is looking good, but a bit dry. Hmmmm. The second batch looks amazing. Funny, the better looking batch is made with pasteurized milk. We'll see what happens in a couple of months.

This cheese needs a name.

Coming attractions

photo: deer in my garden in the morning.

Coming Attractions.

Our place seems to be a magnet for everything. Sure, squirrels love us. We've got 500+ filbert trees for their dining and hoarding pleasure. There is so much good food that trying to poison them or entice them with other treats like peanut butter doesn't work. Not that I'd ever try to kill a cute, little rat with a fluffy tail. And we're bad shots, so there's no point in trying to shoot the little buggers. Yes, we've got a Daisy air rifle. It is a pretty good one for us wimpy, city folks.

Can't get away from my liberal, anti-arms race past. Guns are a very effective tool that can kill people. Violent, unstable, crack-crazed, speed-fueled individuals wielding weapons of mass destruction kill people. Governments kill people. I'm pretty much a peacenik. I try to maintain a live and let live existence. My bloodthirst comes out on my dinner plate. Yes, I eat meat. I love a well marbled steak. I adore lamb. I am not opposed to eating something that might have been adorable when it was on the hoof. I try to buy meat that is local and raised in a sustainable manner. We've got a butchered lamb in our freezer that lived a very nice life a few miles away in a pasture at Figment Farm on Mineral Springs Road outside of Carlton, Oregon. I don't want to be the one to pull the trigger, but I'll butcher the beast if asked to do so. I can filet a fish like a pro! If you have to be a vegetarian to achieve enlightenment, I guess I've got a long way to go.

Not only do we attract squirrels, our place seems to be a haven for every critter that lives in the Red Hills of Dundee. We've got several deer that hang around, day and night. I've seen a doe with her teenage twins in our garden. There's a three prong buck that I've chased out down the driveway on several occasions. Since our gate broke, the deer have been enjoying our cosmos and lower limbs on our apple trees.

Our lawn is a haven for every burrowing creature that exists in the Pacific Northwest. We've got Willamette Valley Pocket Gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks, voles, moles, and mice. The hawks and other predators can't keep up and our dog just likes to sniff the holes. I think we need an outdoor kitty.

Photo: Box Elder bug

And then there are the flying insects. Paperwasps, yellow jackets, honeybees, bumblebees, and hornets among the many flying bugs. Currently we're under siege from a swarm of box elder bugs. They're slow and like to cling to the screens and windows. They go where the sun is, so in the morning they're all over the front of the house. They're harmless and gross.

Photo: The western edge of the hazelnut orchard. Hazelnuts on the left. Douglas fir trees on the right.

Several days ago I spotted another creature in our orchard. I saw something dart across the driveway as I was driving up the hill towards our house. I pulled up slowly to where it was and visually traced its path into the orchard. Sitting several feet away, under the green canopy of hazelnut trees was a bobcat! It blended in perfectly with the dappled sunlight and shade. I could clearly see the tufts on its ears, the lack of tail and the feline face that was staring me down. It didn't seem to be afraid of me. Actually it seemed to be eager to stand its ground. Lots of fat squirrels to eat for dinner. I rolled down the window and watched it for a few seconds. I then said, "Good kitty! Eat them squirrels!" It just looked at me and looked away. I drove away slowly, happy that our place is so inviting to local wildlife of all stripes, spots, and shades.

Photo: squirrel and coyote habitat.

What else is hanging around our 12 acres in the Red Hills of Dundee? Coyotes! Two days ago, Jim and I had to take Alistair, our newly adopted English Springer Spaniel to the vet to get snipped. It was dawn as we cruised down the driveway, past the orchard. As we passed the broken gate, I see coyote emerge from the upper orchard, cross the driveway, and speed through the lower orchard, making a mad dash for the woods. Three more followed it. They were the size of small German shepherd dogs. Jim and I have seen mystery poop around the trees, especially on the west end of the orchard, near a tall stand of Douglas fir trees. This is a spot popular with the squirrels. Maybe they're looking for some tasty squirrels and field mice. I won't discourage that, but I'll keep the dog close. He doesn't wander, so I'm not too worried about him. The feral cats in the neighborhood might have to be on their toes.

The harvest is going on all around us. The vineyards are buzzing with activity and air cannons. Birds like to dine on ripe grapes. The cannons are going all day long, trying to scare away the flocks of hungry birds. Being surrounded by vineyards isn't so pretty this time of year. The cannons can be nerve shattering at times.

Photo: late afternoon Autumn light on our neighbor's vineyard, dry grass, and trees on the other side of the fence.

Our swarms of fearless hummingbirds are starting to diminish. They must be migrating south for the winter. The nectar stays in the feeder longer these days. The big leaf maples and the poison oak are turning pretty colors. Fall is here!

Make more friends, serve more cheese

Help! I need to impress my friends and look like I know something about cheese! What should I put on a cheese plate?

Not to worry, my dear. Putting out a good cheese plate is easy. Let me be of service and help demystify at trip to the cheese counter, or (heaven forbid) a trip to the specialty cheese case in the grocery store.

First, shop around. Every cheese counter and grocery store will have a different selection of cheese. Some will be better than others. Locally owned stores might have a few more locally produced products. I always start looking there. Don't be shy about asking for help. See if the person in charge of the cheese counter is available. I love asking for help. I want to know what's in peak form today. If everything is in shrink wrap, I want to see what's freshly cut. Cheese is a living food! It begins to break down and lose flavor the moment it is cut. If it has been enveloped in plastic for a month, even breathable plastic, it won't be very tasty. When I prepare to serve a cheese, I like to take a knife or a cheese plane and scrape the cut surface of the cheese. This takes away the dead, plastic-y taste and gives you a fresh surface to enjoy.

See if the store will cut you a fresh piece of cheese. Or see it they’ll open a package so you can taste the cheese. Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco is happy to let you try before you buy. That way you'll know how a cheese tastes. If you buy an artisan cheese regularly, you might begin to taste the seasonal variations. There is a huge difference between Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam made in the winter and a Mt. Tam produced in the summer. Eat more cheese and see for yourself!

How much to serve? It depends. Is this an appetizer course? Are other dishes being served? I figure an ounce of each cheese per person. Two ounces if it is the only thing being served.

Always serve aged cheeses at room temperature and each cheese should have its own knife or cheese plane.

When selecting cheeses for a party, I usually go for three or four cheeses. As a general rule of thumb, vary the milks and mix up the texures. Sometimes I'll go with a theme, like all cow's milk cheeses, or cheeses from Spain. But my favorite plate usually consists of a cow's milk cheese, a goat's milk cheese, and a sheep's milk cheese. If I'm feeling sporty, the fourth cheese will be either be a cheddar or a blue cheese.

For example, I might take a piece of Garrotxa, a Spanish goat cheese with a semi-soft, slightly chewy texture, match it with a buttery, French Triple Crème like Brillat-Savarin, and pick a sheep's milk cheese like Pecorino Foglie di Noce with walnut overtones. If I want to have the slam dunk crowd pleaser, I'd throw in a piece of Montgomery's Cheddar from Somerset, England. With this, I'd serve a full flavored honey; my favorite being a locally produced blackberry honey. A great cherry jam would work wonders, as well as some dried apricots and cranberries. Apple slices would be nice, too. I would serve everything with thin slices of a crusty, sweet, baguette and I'd call it complete.

Photo: Ticklemore Goat, aging to perfection.

Other suggestions: A cheese plate of the British Isles, a.k.a. the Neal's Yard Dairy cheese plate. Cow's milk: Trethowan's Gorwydd Caerphilly, from Wales. Bright lemony flavors and beautiful layers as it ages. Goat's milk: Ticklemore Goat. Why? Because I worked there! And the semi-soft texture with the slightly salty, mushroomy bloomy rind is sublime. For a sheep's milk cheese, go for Berkswell. It can have toasted nutty notes with hints of pineapple. Then grab a piece of Harbourne Blue, a goat's milk blue and you've got a party.

Photo: Sierra Mountain Tomme from La Clarine Farm, Somerset, CA.

How about Spain? Go for Mahón (cow), Ibores (goat), Zamorano (sheep), and Valdeon (blue). I like Spanish cheeses, so here's another one for you, all goat: Nevat (semi-soft, bloomy rind with a light, creamy, and tangy), Pata Cabra (washed rind with a chewy open texture, can have green apple, fruity overtones), and Pau Sant Mateu (wash rind with a smooth paste that can be slightly strong and full flavored.)

American Artisan Plate sampler to die for: Mt. Tam (cow,) Humboldt Fog (goat,) and Nancy's Camembert (sheep.) All bloomy rinds, all creamy, all luscious, and all the trifecta of milks.

The California Plate: Harley Farm's Van Goat – fresh goat cheese with edible flowers or Elk Creamery's Goat Milk Camembert de Chevre, Rinconada Dairy's Pozo Tomme - a semi-firm sheep cheese from San Luis Obispo County, and Vella's Mezzo Secco or Cowgirl's St. Pat, finish with Pt. Reyes Original Blue.

Oregon Cheese Plate: Willamette Valley Cheese Company's Brindisi (cow), Rivers' Edge Chevre's St. Olga (washed rind goat), Ancient Heritage's Hannah Bridge (sheep), and Rogue Creamery's Echo Mountain (cow/goat blend blue).

Photo: A cheese plate from the Cheese School of San Francisco

If you're wonderinig about the cheeses that I'd always bring home without hesitation, here are a few--

Sarah's Personal Cheeseplate for Today: Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon (Goat Gouda), Cowgirl Creamery's Sir Francis Drake (cow, washed rind, triple crème), Jasper Hill Farm's Constant Bliss (cow, bloomy rind), La Clarine Farm's Sierra Mountain Tomme (goat), Abbaye de Belloc (sheep, French-Basque), Cabot Clothbound Cheddar (cow).

My absolute favorites will change every day, depending on my mood and the condition of the cheese at my local cheese counter. I might go in with a list, but I'll make substitutions if I have to.

There are no hard and fast rules, if you like one cheese, serve a big piece of it on a nice cheeseboard, and have a big knife next to it so that others can enjoy, too.

Now you will make friends at every party if you just grab a few well selected cheeses and a fresh baguette and share with your friends.

It's like herding bats

Photo: Bats at dusk.

Crawled into bed at a late hour, tired from too much time spent in the car. While Jim was reading, I noticed something fluttering around the ceiling. Did a big moth fly in? Do we have a bird in the here? It fluttered closer. No. That's no bird. Nor is it a moth. That winged creature's a bat. "Jim! We've got a bat in here!" I cried. It darted across the room. "Really? Oh sh*t."

We jumped out of bed and tried to figure out what to do. No time to wonder how it arrived in our bedroom, just wanted it out. It flew into the bathroom. We closed the door and pried the screen off of the small window. Waving our arms furiously, we tried to shoo it out into the cool night air. It just flew around in circles, screeching with its high pitched voice. Flying around and around, wingbeats audible as it passed my ear, it didn't know where to go. Suddenly another bat appeared in the room. It flew in through the open window. Great! Now we had two freaked out bats flying around our heads. The new one must have heard the cries of the trapped bat and came through the window to investigate. Not too smart, neither one could figure out how to fly back out again. We shut the window and got them back into our bedroom. We have a sliding glass door that opens onto a small balcony. We opened the door and turned on the light outside, hoping they might head towards the light where tasty bugs were ready to be eaten. The bats just kept flying all around the room, swooping past our heads, skirting around the corners of the room, seeking a way to escape.

Photo: This is not my bat. It is only a photo of a bat.

I grabbed a sheet and Jim ran downstairs and grabbed an old fishing net. Together we tried to herd them outside, through the open door. I waved the sheet furiously, and Jim would swing the net, hoping to grab a bat in flight. One actually flew outside, only to return a moment later. Argh! Frustrated. The bats kept circling and circling. We kept chasing them and scaring them. Finally a bat flew out the door for good. One down, one to go.

The little brown bat (or was it a big brown bat?) was getting tired. Who knows how long it was in our house, trying to get out? Who knows how it got inside? I just wanted it gone. It kept trying to perch on our ceiling, but it couldn't get a grip. I flew into our closet trying to find a place to hide. We chased it and Jim caught it in his net. Only the net also caught one of my hairclips and the bat escaped. We were all getting tired at this point.

Jim and I switched weapons. I took up the fishing net, he grabbed the sheet. More circling ensued. I followed the creature into the closet a couple of times, narrowly missing it as it dodged the net. Then, as it was about to fly past me, I swung my arm and got it! I pressed the metal opening up against the wall of the closet and clasped my hand above the netted bat. Time to go outside! We took the frightened thing to the balcony and gently opened up the net. It was tangled and clinging on for dear life. We tried to unravel it, and left it so it could fly away.

Off to bed where we both saw imaginary bats flying past our heads as we drifted off to sleep.

In the morning I went back to the balcony. The bat was asleep, still in the net! It had a wing caught and couldn't fly away. I grabbed my garden gloves, scissors, and jacket and sat down to extricate the bat from the net. I woke it up and it tried to move away from me. It was trembling from fear or cold or both. I got a chance to get a good look at it. It had very soft, brown fur, tiny eyes, minuscule feet, and very delicate skin stretched across its bony fingers that formed its wings. It had its mouth open and I could see many sharp, tiny teeth, perfect for eating flying insects or biting me. It voiced it's complaint when I picked it up. I gently pulled the net away from the bat, making sure I didn't tear its wings. It kept a firm grasp on the net, making it very hard to remove. I ran inside and grabbed a silk wine bag. I figured I could get it to go into the dark bag, where it would feel safe and let it recuperate in a soft, dark, warm place. I snipped one thread on the net to free the caught wing. It started to come loose. I nudged the bat inside the silk bag and it grasped onto it. Eventually I was able to get the little thing into the bag. Success! I set it down on a corner of the balcony, with the top of the bag slightly open. I left it alone and went to eat breakfast. When I went back, about 45 minutes later, the bag was empty. Our little visitor had flow away!

Now we're trying to figure out what happened. How did it get in here? Will it return? I hope not.

Yes, I thought about rabies. Since it appeared to be a healthy bat, active at night, I'm not too worried. I wore gloves when I handled it. Plus, I was not scratched nor bitten. If it should happen again, I will keep the bat and have it tested. Calling all bats, consider this a warning!

Wandering around Ilwaco, Washington

Photo: Chef Larry Piaskowy enjoying the local bounty. King Boletes a.k.a. porcini a.k.a. cepe mushrooms.

Jim's birthday was on Tuesday. To celebrate, we went to Ilwaco, Washington. My friends Larry and Jennifer own the Port Bistro at the Port of Ilwaco so we decided to let Larry cook Jim's birthday dinner and also explore the Long Beach peninsula in southwestern Washington.

Photo: Larry and Jennifer's restaurant, The Port Bistro in Ilwaco, WA

I used to work with Larry at Cowgirl Creamery. He's a chef by trade, having stood behind the stove at places like Indigo in San Francisco. He took several months off to learn more about the world of cheese. An opportunity came up to buy this restaurant and two years ago he and his partner Jennifer packed up a truck and left the wilds of the Bay Area and landed in Ilwaco. Jim's birthday was the first opportunity we've had to see Larry and Jenn in over two years.

The drive was easy and scenic. It took us 2 ½ hours to make it from Dundee to Ilwaco. We passed through miles of farmland, the pine and spruce forests of the Coast Range, and wound up at the Pacific Ocean near Seaside, Oregon. We drove north, hugging the coastline until we hit Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River. A large, green steel bridge spans the river linking Oregon with Washington. Twenty minutes later we were in Ilwaco on the north side of mouth of the Columbia. The port is host to numerous fishing vessels, many anchored due to high fuel costs and a closed salmon season.

Photo: Jim checks out the wetlands at China Beach Retreat.

We stayed in the Lewis and Clark room at the China Beach Retreat, a B&B just outside of town. The room had a view that encompassed the river, marsh, wetlands, and Cape Disappointment. This is the westernmost point on Lewis and Clark's Journey of Discovery. They found a place where the Chinook Indians camped and traded with lots of Europeans via passing ships. Most of the inhabitants had moved inland by the time L&C showed up because winter was approaching and this place gets some fierce rain and winds. Every August there is a big Kite Festival in Long Beach because the wind is so reliable.

The weather was just like San Francisco. It was cold and foggy. When we arrived, we could barely see a quarter mile. It was damp and brisk. We didn't see the sun at all during our visit. We checked in and relaxed until our 7:00 dinner reservation.

The Port Bistro was bustling when we pulled up for dinner. Tuesdays are good nights for them. The tables were filled with locals and visitors. Jennifer greeted us with a big hug and sat us at table overlooking the harbor.

Photo: Clam Chowder at the Port Bistro.

With Larry at the stove and Jenn running the house we were prepared for a fun evening full of great food prepared with love. They didn't let us down. The staff was friendly and efficient. Our meal was superb. We were thrilled to find wild mushrooms incorporated into almost every menu option. Larry has gone to great lengths to find and cultivate close relationships with his food purveyors. He insists on only serving the highest quality ingredients so that he can coax the best flavors out of his dishes. His fish is all local, right off of the boats that you see bobbing in the harbor. The greens come from local growers, the beef comes from a co-op that inspects the restaurant before they agree to sell their beef to that restaurant. He bakes his own bread and makes his own desserts.

Larry makes a mean bowl of clam chowder. He uses fresh, local clams. Not a can in sight. This chowder is rich and explodes with flavor. It has been getting noticed, too. The steak that Larry prepared was perfectly seasoned and so tender that I could cut it with a fork. This steer did not die in vain. Jim's salmon was just as skillfully prepared. They treated us well and Jim had a fantastic birthday dinner. It was a thrill to eat at the Port Bistro.

We had the good fortune to meet Veronica, his mushroom forager. Larry and Jennifer joined us for breakfast on Wednesday at the Shelburne Inn. A woman came out of the kitchen with a basket of Porcini mushrooms. She was going a mile a minute and wanted to show off her morning's work. Larry and I went out to her car to see her efforts.

Photo: Veronica's mushrooms. Soon to be on the menu.

Her Mini was filled with crate of mushrooms. Lobsters, porcini, chanterelles, hedgehogs, hen of the woods, were all to be had, along with a bucket of huckleberries, and a big bag of pickleweed (Salicornia virginica.) I was in love. I want to be like this Gypsy senior citizen when I grow up. She was a riot.

Jim and I went to Jimella's Seafood Market and Community Store upon Larry's recommendation. Jimella and Nanci used to own The Ark (now closed,) a pioneering restaurant focusing on local, Northwest cuisine. Their oysters came from 50 yards away in Willapa Bay. We met Jimella, as Larry said we should. We talked about the local cheesemakers, mutual friends, and their upcoming plans to open their store up for evening dinners.

"No reservations!" she declared. "Just come in and grab a table. If you have to wait, grab a chair." She was fun to talk to. She called a local fellow, also named Larry. He has goats and used to work at Jumpin' Good Goat Dairy. He and his wife want to get licensed and make cheese, too. Nice how folks want to help us network.

Photo: Jimella's Seafood Market

We left Jimella's after eating some great clam chowder and headed up to Leadbetter Point State Park. "Mushroom heaven," Chef Larry declared. He wasn't kidding. There were mushrooms everywhere, growing under every huckleberry bush and Sitka spruce. We wandered along a narrow path and had lots of fun taking pictures and exploring the woods. We had been hiking for about twenty minutes when we both stopped suddenly. "Did you hear that?" Jim asked. "Yes, I did." I said nervously. A low, deep growl came from the bushes directly ahead of us. Hmmm. Bear? Cougar? Bobcat? Angry wood spirits? We turned around and walked quickly back the way we came. We tried to make lots of noise and I whistled Souza marches. Nothing would attack someone whistling a Souza March. No more growling beasts in the bushes, just lots of birds chirping and singing, and distant waves crashing on the shore.

Photo: Hikers proceed with caution.

We managed to catch Jimella's friend Larry later in the afternoon. He was in his garage, sanding part of a spar on a sailboat. He welcomed us with a big smile, and we chatted about goats, cheesemaking, organic gardening, and oyster farming. He was an oysterman for 25 years, providing oysters to many restaurants including the Ark. He also had a U-pick oyster operation. I'd love to pick my own from the oyster beds. You know its fresh! A very interesting guy.

We had another excellent meal at Pelicano, another harbor restaurant in Ilwaco. We had well prepared steaks and salmon and got to watch the boats in the harbor again. The evening wrapped up at the Raven and Finch, a wine bar and café down the block from Pelicano and the Port Bistro. Larry and Jenn joined us, and we sat and chatted over glasses of red wine. It was great seeing them again. Nice to see others following their hearts and living their dreams.

Photo: Larry and Jenn see us off.

Morning came far too quickly. Time to return to the farm. Our animals need us, animals=three cats and one dog. We quietly gathered our things together, ate breakfast, said our goodbyes, picked up a fresh albacore tuna loin from OleBob's Fish Market and returned to Dundee. We were home after lunch. That tuna grilled up nicely for supper.

This is Dundee. Not Crocodile Dundee.

Argh! Enough about me, here's more about the place we call home.

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Dundee, population 3100, 26 miles southwest of Portland, Oregon. It is a wide spot in the road on Highway 99W. There are a cluster of businesses that line the highway. I've visited the birdseed and outdoor statuary shop, but there's a bakery that is never open, a real estate office, an elementary school, a dentist office, a hair salon, and a few other small businesses.

There are several restaurants, mostly high-end places like Dundee Bistro, Tina's, and Red Hills Provincial Dining. Other options are Chan's Chinese Cuisine, a Teriyaki hut, Lumpy's Tavern, La Sierra Mexican Restaurant (quite good,) and Calamity Jane's, a burger joint and country-western bar. There's also the Riteway Meat Company, home of the five-foot long pepperoni, great beef jerky, and house-cured bacon. They sell only locally produced meat and provide mobile slaughtering services. Support your local farmers!

Other highlights of this place are the wineries. As I've mentioned in previous posts, Dundee is where the Oregon wine industry began in the late 60's and early 70's. David Lett, Jim Maresh, Dick Erath all planted grapes on this hill that I now call home. Who knew that I'd be the cheesemaker in the middle of all of this great wine? I'm happy to be of service to the folks who flock to the vineyards and wineries. You just gotta buy some fine, hand-crafted cheese to go with those wines, right? I can help anyone that wants to put together a great picnic lunch feature our cheese and their wines. Our neighbors are very happy we're going to be making cheese.

And we just discovered a local apple cider. The daughter of the winemakers at Bethel Heights Vineyard makes English style hard cider. It is called Wandering Aengus Ciderworks. I tried it at the Portland Farmer's Market on Saturday. It is as good as what I found in Somerset! I bought a bottle. Now I've got to get a piece of Montgomery's or Westcombe Cheddar, some Branston Pickle, crispy lettuce, tomato slices, and some crusty bread and I've got the perfect ploughman's lunch. I'm getting hungry.

Portlanders hate Dundee. It is home to a traffic light that can snarl traffic in two directions, slowing down everyone heading to or from the coast and the casino. If you tell someone around here that you're driving to the coast, often you'll be asked, "Which coast?" From Portland you can go one of two ways; North Coast or Central Coast. Cannon Beach or Lincoln City. We live on the route to Lincoln City, about an hour and 10 minutes away. It is an easy drive, through farmland and forest, hugging the Salmon River.

Dundee is also very close to Portland. We can make it to our friends' house in southwest Portland in 35 minutes, faster if no one is looking. Our place is just beyond the Urban Growth Boundary. That means that we live in scenic, rural splendor and have to drive through the sprawling suburbs to get into the city. That also means that we have to get into the car and drive everywhere we want to go. Not fun, but I can get into Portland faster than I could get into downtown San Francisco, or North Beach taking public transit from our old house in the Sunset District.

Oh! Our house sold very quickly, thank you very much! We're quite pleased. If you need a realtor in San Francisco, I highly recommend Danielle Lazier at Zephyr Real Estate. No, she did not ask me to write that. I am simply amazed with how well the deal went. She really helped guide us through what might have been a very stressful process.

The closest town to Dundee is Newberg, population of 20,000. It is about three miles away. We go shopping there, do our banking, and hit the Cameo Theater, a small, family-run movie house. They also own the 99W Drive In, also in Newberg. For most other services, we head south to McMinnville, about 12 miles away. There's a great farmer's market in McMinnville every Thursday that I try to attend. I've met some really nice people there, like Seth and Leslie from Figment Farm, and Katie and Casey from Oakhill Organics. We bought a lamb from Seth and Leslie. Tasty meat, raised about nine miles from here. I like McMinnville because it has a nice, small town feel to it. You still have a bakery, a health food store, several grocery stores, a liberal arts college (Linfield) and all of the service that one might need without having to drive into Portland. You can even visit the Spruce Goose!

Speaking of eating locally, we joined a CSA – community supported agriculture -- called Gaining Ground Farm outside of Yamhill. This means we bought a share in the crops grown on the farm. Every Tuesday for 20 weeks, we get a bag of produce often harvested that day. This keeps us going all week until we return to the farm and get a new bag. I'll be sad come November when the bounty is over. I wish it was a year-round CSA like Terra Firma Farms, the one we belonged to in San Francisco. Not too many growers sell produce year round around here. Such a shame. I'd support them. I know of only two year round farmer's markets, one in the Hillsdale neighborhood of Portland, and one in Salem. There is a local chapter of Slow Food. Perhaps I'll encourage our local members to seek more venues. If we build it they will come, right? Sure, it is cold and rainy for six months, but we still have to eat!

I cannot begin to add up how different this place is compared to the bubble I lived in, in San Francisco. For one thing, everyone is SO NICE. Sure, I might have very different political views, or spiritual beliefs from some of the people we meet around here. But I am always greeted with a warm, genuine smile and a hello. People look you in the eye and talk to you. They are interested in meeting you. At first I was very suspicious of this behavior. I'm used to brusque interaction, and an empty "Have a nice day!" And you never make eye contact or smile at a stranger! They might be crazy and start talking to you. I spent too many years riding on Muni in San Francisco. If you talk to your seat mate, everyone gets annoyed and shoots you mean looks. Chances are pretty good, there's a crazy person on the bus or train annoying everyone. Muni will make anyone bitter.

I'm not totally new to this thing called being nice to strangers. I've gotten into the Country Wave. That's where you wave at the driver of the car passing you in the opposite direction on a country road. Nothing too vigorous, just a casual lifting of four fingers off of the steering wheel when you're close enough for the other driver to see you. I use to do this in college when I drove around the backroads outside of Columbia, Missouri.