my first painting done in utah

It has been a while since I have picked up the brush but I have been inspired ever since we moved here to try my first sheep painting. I had to find the perfect sheep to photograph and see what I could get. We are so fortunate to have such great new friends here. The second week here I met a great couple, Dane & Beth Thurston. Beth approached me and we began talking, she had heard that we were interested in sheep for the purposes of cheese making and then told me that they had 5 Icelandic sheep on their property as a hobby. Well she told her hubby about our plans and he quickly approached me and said, "We need to talk." Well that led to dinner at their house when Joel was in town and I was able to take some great photos of his adorable sheep. His sheep are like pets to them. one ram actually comes to greet you and you must give him lots of attention, just like a dog, if you don't he will ram you. Needless to say, they are gorgeous animals. We were there talking sheep for hours. I could barely pull Joel & Dane apart they were having so much fun talking. I snapped this shot as Joel was petting him and fell in love with the image- I knew this was the image I was waiting for. If we can get things going we would love to buy this ram but of course, like everything else, it all takes time & patience.We have had great interest in the Icelandic sheep to sell for meat. They are extremely tender and considered a gourmet product but we won't bring that up at this point because they are so cute.

-dedicated to my sweet adorable husband Joel, keep your eye on the prize.

livin' the farm life- sheep trailing

I was informed that the yearly sheep trailing was happening at the end of September. I waited patiently for 2 hours and then spotted the dust. I was very excited to see this happen. Sheep trailing is when the herders collect the sheep that have been free grazing high up in the mountains all summer long. They gather them together and start sending them down the trail. A dog will lead the way while the herders stay behind and make sure the sheep stay together. They kind of got spooked when they saw me photographing them so I had to jump out of the way so they would keep going down the street. I couldn't let my kids miss such a neat first experience so I pulled them out of school early and had them wait for something coming down the road. Rocket said, "What is that? Are those... SHEEP!?" They loved it as they walked by within feet of us. It was so fun! What a great experince. Can't wait for the rest of the family to be here and experience all these fun new things with us.

how do you milk a sheep???

One of the first questions asked of us when the topic of sheep milk cheese comes up is, "how do you milk a sheep??" Well, I was sent this great youtube video from our friend, Dale Peel. Hopefully, this will shed some light on how to milk a sheep. Enjoy!

Milking sheep at Hawks Highland Farm

the stars must align

Now that I am here there are many things that need to happen in order for us to reach our goals. Let's list them so we can see what needs to happen:

-Ophiuchus: Officially register name & trademark logo
-Boötes: Business Plan & correct licenses
-Lyra: Loans for above items (eeks!)
-R136a1: Build/renovate cheese facility (be ready by spring)
-Mensa: Milk supply ready by spring
-Triangulum: Trucks or bags to deliver that milk
-Corona Australis: Cheese kitchen that meets dairy standards
-Corona Borealis: Cheese making equipment & holding tanks
-Vulpecula: Set up website & business office
-Sagittarius: Start making cheese to age and sell
-Delphinus: Delivery system in place
-Gemini: Get product out to public


WOW! That's a lot of stars! Holy Cow, we need to get the ball rolling.
Now that we got the logo drawn and the name picked I went and got it registered and trademarked in Salt Lake City. We are officially a business as of September 1, 2010.
OPHIUCHUS has aligned.











How exciting!
So... one down and millions more to go. Wish us luck!

our name & logo...

It only took well over a year to come up with a name for our company but we finally made the decision and here it is... drums....

Oolite Cheese Company

taking the big plunge

After a month of pondering we decided to make a huge leap of faith and have me and the three little kids move to our adorable house in Utah while having Joel and the two older kids stay in Huntington to work and have one more year of school. Our main goal for doing this is to make a push for the business and get repairs done on the house while there is still a great job, not to mention, stop putting money into the landlords pocket instead of our own. It isn't so bad plus I get to start scoping out cheese kitchen locations. Several have come up but there are pro's and con's to each. I guess we just need to weigh the options and the best one will step forward. We are also looking into bids for the house repairs- it is a very exciting time and things are moving along very fast.

back from mexico

Joel had the BEST time. He met lots of new friends (ages 13-25) and visited some of the most beautiful sights. Caves, mountain cities, there were funerals & birthdays, a little bit of street justice and lots of incredible food. He was literally in heaven.

I was surprised that they actually made it to a cheese-maker. He loved the set up,though it was very third world and simple, that is exactly what he loved about it.
He is figuring out what he wants for our cheese kitchen and realizes simple may be the way to go.

The press set up was very interesting too, it is so fun seeing how other people do it, especially with very little money. He said she was very sanitary and had all of her licenses up on the wall. What he was most impressed with was that she still did everything by hand. No machines, just a very artisan way of making cheese which is our main goal.


He really liked the boys, they helped their mother make cheese throughout the week. And the best part of the visit was when he told her he wanted to make cheese- she suggested to make cheese in Mexico... and find a single woman who is already making it. He didn't catch it due to the language barrier but his posse of boys told him what she said. Even they were saying... ya- you should marry her and move here, she's real pretty too. He had to let them know he was already married. Too awesome!