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!
Thursday, May 01, 2003
David and Cynthia went into town to pick-up chicks (baby chickens, that is). Only 17 of the 25 were alive. Set up brooder in buck barn.
Big walk up mesa with Cynthia and Jim, goats and dogs and saw all the way to Humphrey's Peak in Flagstaff. Also saw some beautiful cactus flowers (closer).
Hedgehog cactus in bloom
Separated cream with Cynthia’s help. Got a great yield but it came out very light in body.
Cynthia did some tractor work, clearing out the doe barn and bedding pile from their yard.
In the evening D drove Cynthia and Jim to Hon Dah casino for slots (CFH) and dinner (all @ C's treat). Cynthia did well and ended up $110 ahead at the end of the night!!
Got word today from our dairy inspector that he is retiring form the state ag department in August and he wants to have us certified before then! That's almost eight months ahead of our original schedule for certification. Yikes.
The weather was beautiful today.
Friday, May 02, 2003
2 of the new chicks died.
Anise is way sick: Entero? Hypocalcemia? Called vet. Treated her for both plus bloat. Seemed much better in PM.
Cynthia and Jim left for Phoenix. Linda and Eddie cam over for a quick visit to see the heaters and dairy progress.
Garden work: move irrigation and bed work.
Made cream and butter.
Windy and cloudy.
Saturday, May 03, 2003
Anise much better. Made animal biscuits. Placed Spicer.com order. Worked on new goat data base.
Sunday, May 04, 2003
Worked on new goat data base. Anise good and bad, on and off.
Monday, May 05, 2003
Anise still not right. Looked very good at times and very bad at other times.
K serviced bees: removed queen cages and burr comb and filled feeders. They looked great, could not confirm queens though.
Made mozz.
New milk machine pulsator arrived. Planning session at dairy. Loaded new goat data base on K’s computer.
Weighed and trimmed hooves on Nutmeg, Angel, Ordono, Bajo, Cayenne, Poblano, Guajillo and Aragon. Dono 104.5 temp. Gave PenG, horn holes still not healed.
Calm and overcast all day.
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
Generator ran very early AM – first time in ages, started fine.
Anise last PenG, Dono #2 shot.
Moved 2 week old chicks to buck barn brooder with 1 week olds for a total of 22 chicks.
Installed 3 or 4 remaining Troffer light fixtures (one was broken) at dairy. Lots of rough electric work.
Ran out of water at tank – refilled it. (gotta blame it on the damned guests, right?)
East Diary deck is finished!
SE Dairy deck is done!
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
D to Showlow: PO, Presco, Hughes, Wal-Mart, Feed store, Bashas, lunch.
Anise much better. Dono’s temp 102, but still oozy horn wounds. PM: Anise has a temp of 104.4. Started her on PenG again.
Separated cream, made rigoata, and ice cream. Changed house water filter. K checked bees: doing OK.
Wind!
Thursday, May 08, 2003
PenG to Anise and Dono. Anise much better (again!).
More rough electric at dairy.
Finished filling water tank. Watered cane fruits at orchard.
Ordered 50 Heritage raspberries on line. UPS brought Spicer.com order (vanilla paste), etc.
Very windy PM – wind generator regulating by midnight!
Began transferring domain name to Khaimara from BuyDomains.com.
Friday, May 09, 2003
Separated cream, made butter and cheese. Made vanilla buttermilk ice cream with new vanilla paste.
Segregated meat rabbits in prep for butch
Almost finished rough electric today. Couple of this-and-that’s to do. er day tomorrow.
UPS brought K’s order for a bunch of goat meds, etc.
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Ford and Blue got bad porcupine quilled real bad. Vet came out and we operated on them right in the middle of what will some day be the cheese kitchen.
Ford (above) and Blue (below) meet up with the business parts of a porcupine.
Did Garden and orchard irrigation work, watered orchard, filled water tank.
Discovered that the right rear leaf spring on the truck is broken. Don't think I'll be welding that like I did the one on the horse trailer.
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Made blue cheese.
Butchered 19 rabbits.
Ford and Blue doing OK today.
Checked bees and gave them 3 gallons of sugar syrup.
Trimmed Angel and Nutmeg hooves. Installed new pulsator.
Gardening: planted melon, carrots, lettuce, beets, and peas.
Monday, May 12, 2003
Had Linda and Eddie follow us to Alvarez Garage to drop off the truck. They then took us to Basha’s to meet State Ag dept inspector "Dairy" Dan. Toured Sunrise Dairy then back to the ranch to shoe him our progress. Dan was very encouraging again. We will try to get certified before 8/1/03 when he retires.
Truck part won’t be in for about 5 days. Asked Eddie to work for us Friday and pick up some supplies in town.
Anise has funny swelling on belly, right side near udder.
Garden: planted cilantro, parsley, zucchini, collards. Made 1st tomato cage.
Had planning and supply ordering session at dairy. Made Feta.
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Major dairy work: Installed south milking parlor door and blew through hole for east door. K got huge amount of dry wall patching done. D mashed a finger pretty thoroughly.
Garden: watered, made 5 tomato cages.
Calm and overcast: ran generator a couple hours in PM.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Dairy work: K did lots of dry wall work. D got as far as possible on 2 door installations (needed more parts), and started kitchen plumbing.
Had Eddie stop by Precision Lumber while in town and pick up some things. He arrived here about 6 PM.
Made molded Feta. Marinated some of 5/12 Feta and froze the rest for crumbles.
Calm and cloudy – ran generator in evening.
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Dairy work: Installed front door and finished rough framing for east milking parlor door, worked on kitchen west wall plumbing. K sheetrocked a lot.
Blowing new door in Dairy milking parlor
Separated cream, made ricotta.
Friday, May 16, 2003
BMR cattle brand officially approved.
Eddie took D to pick up the truck. Then Eddie worked all day with us on the dairy. Finished wet wall plumbing, built wall and sheetrocked everything left to do. K taped and Durabonded. Eddie sanded texture from old sheetrock, TSP-ed the walls and ceiling and cleaned up.
Saturday, May 17, 2003
Day off!! Checked and fed the bees, burned garbage, watered orchard, filled water tank, moved solar panels to summer posiiton, checked batteries and generator. Made cookies.
Garden: set out 18 tomatoes, 13 broccoli, 6 basil, and about 50 scallions. Weeded around some of the cotoneasters.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Dairy work: mudding and taping. Eddie worked doing lots of clean up chores.
Monday, May 19, 2003
More mudding at dairy. K began cleaning and masking for painting.
Made Feta and animal biscuits.
Ordered cheese supplies from Dairy Connection.
Garden: set out 6 chervil and 6 marjoram.
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Finished skimming and sanding, caulking, masking, and cleaning. Got rest of dairy building painted (upper level) white ceilings, light yellow walls.
Final paint prep and painting in Dairy Milking Parlor
Made Blue Cheese.
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Made blue cheese.
Got haircut and beard trim from K.
To town: generator tire fixed, PO, bank, solar place, pizza, filled truck and ranch gas.
Watered cane fruit, pumped at well, prepped trailer for trip tomorrow.
Dairy work: finished electrical work and discussed lists and supplies for trip.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
D to Phoenix, left at 4:30AM. Back at 9PM. Sam’s and big order from Home Depot: flooring, doors, and lots more.
K walked the goats, fixed, prepped, and 1st coat painted dairy stairs.
Rain! Power went out with an "overcurrent" error because some outside open wires at dairy got wet.
Angel has a high temp and torn knee callus, PenG for 5 days.
Friday, May 23, 2003
Unloaded truck and trailer (mostly) and began installation of cement backer board on kitchen floor in the dairy.
Made blue cheese.
Saturday, May 24, 2003
Finished floor backer board in dairy, UGH. We’re exhausted!
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Garden work. Made chevre curd.
Monday, May 26, 2003
Began floor tile work in dairy. Eddie worked with us.
Tiling the Dairy Cheese Kitchen floor
Anise is very sick: high fever, grinding teeth, not eating.
Garden: Something dug up a bunch of bean seeds. Made netting strips and covered the rest of the rows.
Made chevre curd.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Finished floor tile work in dairy. Eddie worked half the day. We are pooped.
Anise is much better.
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Day off!
Gardening: set out 100+ chile and pepper plants, remaining 12 tomatoes and herbs, planted corn, cornichons, peas, beans, sugar Snaps and Italian beans and comfrey. Rototilled 15 – 20’ rows at orchard for sunflowers and set up irrigation for them.
USP brought an order of goat stuff including an auto waterer.
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Dairy work: grouted all 800 +/- square feet of tile. Nice job/hard day.
UPS brought rest of K’s goat stuff.
Friday, May 30, 2003
Worked installing east door at dairy and the door hardware locksets for 3 exterior doors.
To town: Bank, Valu Solar (Chuck and Val will come out Tuesday for dinner), Mexican lunch, PO, 2 Hardware stores with returns, feed store for Walla Walla onions, and goat, rabbit, and chicken food.
UPS arrived with raspberry plants.
Saturday, May 31, 2003
Separated cream made 1 gallon batch of ice cream base.
Garden: planted 50 new raspberries, and 3 rows of sunflowers (with covers)in the orchard. Planted 5 packs of Walla Walla onions – about 200 in garden.