James Ranch Is the Tops!

Becca and Dan James really make quite the duo.   James Ranch is a living and thriving example of living off the land and doing what you love.  Visiting them was an incredible finish to our cross-country trek.  

Dan grew up on the very farm on which they now live.  So what brought this college boy back from Seattle and traveling around the world to settle back into the mountains of Colorado? Maybe it is the clean, crisp mountain air.  Maybe it is because it is a great place to raise a family.  Or maybe it is a family trait passed down through generations that creates the need to craft quality products from the land and animals.   Maybe it is a combination of them all but whatever his reasons are, we are mighty, mighty glad he does.

Before the couple started selling cheese, they played around with recipes and styles for a year and a half using milk from their one cow, Dolly.  Their cheese was destined to be great.  If you believe in the idea of terroir and its effects on the final product then there was no other future then fabulous for James Ranch cheese.  And it all starts with water.  None of this would be possible without the historic water rights when settlers claimed stake to ample amounts of natural water flow.  This water allowed for what is now James Ranch to remain lush and bountiful on the sole food source for James Ranch cows, GRASS. 

Some cheeses claim to come from all grass fed cows but some claims fall short when it comes to milking time.  Some cheesemakers offer feed to the cows to coax them into and out of the milking stall.  But you wont find any of that at James Ranch.  Dan and Becca’s cows are 100% grass fed all year round.  And if that didn’t make them unique enough, the fact that they only milk their cows once a day and only seasonally adds another layer of awe to their practice.  Most cheesemakers, whether they milk cows, goats, or sheep, milk twice daily. 

But, even if you are starting with the best raw materials, you still need talent to pull off an outstanding cheese.  Dan’s natural talent was only further inspired by education and travel.  He took a short course in Utah.  He and Becca also traveled all around Europe, minus France, including Holland, England, Whales, and Italy and learned all they could in 3 months. Then they went to New Zealand to pick brains down-under and, like the Feats, learned that those New Zealanders really know what their doing in terms of running an efficient successful dairy.

To make their Belfort, Andalo, and Leyden, they needed to buildup their cheesemaking facilities.  They installed a custom fit cheese press to fit in their compact space.  Their small cheese vat was a loaner from a man in New Mexico who was interested in getting into the cheese business.  In exchange for fixing up the vat, Dan was lent the Double O cottage cheese prototype until the guy was ready to make his own cheese.  It was the strangest vat I had seen on the trip.  

Small enough to fit into the room but how the heck did he get in there to scoop the curd?  Dan jokingly remarked that his tall thin physique allows him get in there and easily reach over the large milk vat.  Anyone with a bigger belly or short stature would have trouble getting his or her hands down into that heavenly curd.  Years later the New Mexican decided not to make cheese and Dan offered to buy it from him. 

So where did this love for milking cows come from?  Dan’s parents were in the meat business (Black Angus), not the dairy business. While he makes cheese with his wife, his other siblings are involved at James Ranch as well.  One sister raises chickens to produce the farm fresh eggs, which they sell, and his other sister grows seasonal vegetables for the market.  Dan’s brother has chosen to use food as his medium at his own nearby restaurant.

Dan now does all the cheesemaking and does it all by hand.  There are no chemistry sets measuring levels and balance when Dan is making cheese.  He does it all by feel judging when to add rennet and when to drain all by the feel of the raw milk passing through his hands.  WHAT?  That’s right.  All by feel.  As the seasons change he feels the milk change and through feel works to make the most consistent product he can.

Their flagship cheese is Belfort, a gouda style cheese that is aged for at least sixty days.   Belfort is covered in cream wax that allows it to breath so that the cheese ages nicely for much longer (up to a year or beyond).  They sell it in young form and aged form.  They also make Andalo, and Italian style cheese and Leyden a Dutch style cheese with whole cumin seeds up in the da mix!

The James’ graciously invited us to dinner with the whole family.   The children beautifully set the table while Becca baked a fresh fig tart (gluten free to boot).   I was so inspired by that tart that I tracked down and bought some lard at the Ferry Building and have it waiting until my friend can bring me some fresh figs from her in-laws’ tree! (Of course I talk about dessert first) Whew!  We had a spread of a cheese that night and a gorgeous farm fresh salad.  

Our cheese board consisted of their young and aged Befort, and the Andalo.  They also included a super aged goat cheese from another local cheesemaker.  Their toddler daughter (who might I add shamelessly flirted with Darren) liked the stinky one the best!  I love kids who love stinky cheese.  She must have been introduced to “The Stinky Cheese Man Cometh” at a very, very early age.  We contributed Old Kentuky Tomme from Capriole and another flavored cheese from Mozzarella Co.  We sat and talked cheese, kids, family and more cheese.  We hope they enter their cheeses this year at the ACS competition.  They really deserve a ribbon.

The young Belfort was our favorite so we asked the James’ to send a wheel out to us.   Buh-bang!  Wow.  Who you wit’?! We have been sharing with everyone, passing along the scrumptiousness, mouth-watering cheesyness of Belfort!   There has been an absolutely unanimous response from novices to some of the most sophisticated palates in the San Francisco Bay area that this cheese is a winner.  Bravo! We have helped add fans to James Ranch cheese.  You should start a facebook page cuz youz got a lot of friends!  Thank you Dan, Becca and family.

p.s. There was so much more to our visit.  After two pages of text, however, I had to reign it in.  I didn't even get to talking bout the construction of their cheese cave (or their Whey Good Pork).  But I put in a pic of the construction anyway.  

Mission [Utterly] Accomplished

 

 There’s something about being involved in the opening of a new business—the excitement, the press, the trials and errors.  Liana and I have both experienced this sensation when helping to open new restaurants in New York.  At Jumpin’ Good Goat Dairy the mountain air was buzzing and alive with all of that electricity. 

Set high up in the Rockies (where the mountains are named after Ivy League schools) this relatively new and quite sizeable dairy is owned and run by Dawn Jump, a veteran Washington state cheesemaker with serious skills and sharp business sense.  The facility is large and is growing by leaps and bounds.   Construction began in 2008 and was complete by March ’09.

      We arrived in time for their 4pm milking tour which was led by farm guide and volunteer Pat.   His wife used to volunteer as well until she was offered a paying position at the dairy in the Country Store doling out samples and educating tourists. Pat gave us a very detailed tour of the facilities, walking us through the different types of cheeses made by Jumpin’ Good Goat while providing us with a history of the farm.

To begin the tour I, Darren, milked a goat!   This was a top priority; a goal of utmost importance (unknown to Liana until that moment) and sweet success is what I feel now.  I even got a blue ribbon for my fearless effort.  The glorious utter was mine, for just a brief moment, all mine.  Yes!

      Liana’s prize moment was when we got enter the baby goat pen and one of the little rascals jumped up on her and tried gnawing on her sweat shirt.  I’m surprised she didn’t try to sneak on of them home! Definitely adorable! When they say “Jumpin” goodgoats, they’re not kidding!  

      Currently Jumpin’ Goat is home to 95 does and 4 bucks of La Mancha and Alpine breeds.   They milk six days a week on the 43 acre farm.   This farmstead milk is always used to make their goat cheddar and also to make a few other cheeses.  Jumpin’ Good Goat Dairy has a very special arrangement with a nearby minimum security prison by which inmates milk goats for them.  Twice a week they go to pick up that milk from the 1,000 more goats milked daily by the inmates.  Their goal is to process 250,000 pound of milk (or 25,000 pounds of cheese) per year.   

      This dairy sells 10 different spreadable chevres  such as maple, pumpkin and lemon dill.  My favorite was the Rocky Mountain Dawn Chevre Lemon Dill flavor (a 2009 winner at ACS in the Chevre category).  It is outrageous:  creamy chevre, lemon zest and fresh dill.  I was inspired instantly with a receipt that would utilize this delightful cheese.  Simply begin by whipping the RMDC up with a little bit of crème fraiche.  Let that sit for 5 minutes.  In the mean time, take Ruffles chips and layer each on with a piece of smoked salmon.  Now drizzle each salmoned chip with the chevre/fraich mixture and sprinkle with fried capers, then BOOM!  We are talking dee-lish.  

In addition to the chevres Jupin’ Goat makes goat cheddars and some interestingly flavored ones too.  One flavor is called Hot Chocolate Cheddar.  The cheese consists of their Champion Hill Cheddar with a vein of chipotle and an additional vein of cocoa.  Soon they plan on making goat milk ice cream (look out Haagen Daz!).

The tour also includes a trip to their aging caves.  We were led to their subterranean cheese cave to spy on the maturing cheese.  No booties or special boots required since all their aging is done via cryovac.  This also allows for the aging of cheese on wood racks without any hassle from the health department.                        

Right now they sell quite a bit of their products to local restaurants.   Her three brothers are all chefs who I’m sure take pride in using her cheeses in their cuisine. 

Funny anecdote:  

A woman named Laurie, who lives near what is now Jumpin’ Good Goat Dairy, owns a towing company.   She was offered a questionnaire, sometime before the dairy was built, asking how she felt about having a goat farm nearby.  “Cool!” she thought.  Months later, as a neighborly gesture, she rode over to the new dairy to plow the driveway and who does she run into?  Her old childhood friend from Washington, Dawn Jump!  What a surprise that was, and now the old friends are reunited.

Creativity is Harder than Expected but I'm Tryin'

It has been almost three months since we left NY and we still have 2.5 cheese visits to report on. I have found that sitting down at the computer and reporting somewhat creatively about our cheese adventures has proven more difficult then expected. Motivation comes in putting spurts! I am moderately motivated now but when I look back on our notes, I have a hard time reading Darren's handwriting. For this posting I will give you a heads up on the remaining posts to come in addition to an into the other aspects of this blog (which are included in it's title) such as the trials and tribulations of starting a family business, and our first cheese and wine catering gig!

Our last two plus visits landed us in Colorado, first at Jumpin' Good Goat Dairy in Buena Vista, CO. Then in Durango, CO with Becca and and Dan James at James Ranch. After Colorado we high tailed it to Utah for a loose appointment with the owners of Beehive Cheese Co. in Uintah, Utah. I guess it was too loose of an appointment since when we arrive neither cheesemakers were there. We were, however, greeted nicely by the young woman running their store. Since we bought some cheese at the store I thought we should at least review our experience, so I deemed it half a visit.

Since arriving in San Francisco, we have finished our business plan (minus that darn balance sheet), sent it to several potential investors, decided that our initial location is yuck and we are reconsidering our site options and dreading redoing the whole demographic section, have attended a seminar on commercial real estate leasing, are planning on taking a series of bookkeeping classes, and have catered our first "unofficial" cheese and wine event. Darren has also gotten a job at Quince as their new Maitre'd, and I am still unemployed! Weird that I can't carve away a few hours (or days) to finish what we started!

Have I mentioned that we have spent half our savings buying cheese since arriving?

We have had some awesome experiences with the cheese-workers and mongers of the bay area in such cheese shops like The Pasta Shop, The Cheese Board, and Cheese Plus. The day before our catering event we were scouring these shops for the perfect cheeses and ended up talking cheese most of the day, not bothered by our dwindling yet precious prep time. The wine and cheese event went off without a hitch for the most part. Darren had to work so I hired my little sister to be the waitress while I prepped all the food and such. And I have learned a great lesson. People are hard to peg! The cheese that I thought the peeps at the party would like the least, was indeed the favorite. This cheese I am referring to is a favorite of many, Vacherin Mont d'or.

Christmas gifts this year were cheese and wine centric (OF COURSE!) A Raclette Grill with the additional granite stone (which we were turned onto at Meadow Creek Dairy), several bottles of fine vino, the book Mastering Cheese by Max Mccalman , and about 5 other books on wine. Also our (but really my) very first piece of Le Creuset. A heafty light green, almost limey, dutch oven. My next piece? Terrine mold!

We have our work cut out for us for 2010! Our new year's resolution to drop ten pounds and limit the alcohol intake is always thwarted by our passion for such delectable, intriguing, taste bud bursting, gotta have more now, and just plain awesome dairy, grape, and meat products! Here's to the everlasting 10!