New doors for the dairy

April 16, 2016

The dairy is the extremely clean room to the right of the cheese shop, as you stand on the road looking at our hayloft barn. Milk flows directly to the dairy in the pipes that leave the milking parlor. We have made our cheesemakers very happy this year, I hope, with renovation and fresh paint. The new doors, back and front, went on this week. They match the spanking new white washable walls, the new overhead lighting, the new drains - and the new boiler.

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The boiler was a surprise upgrade. And a lucky, just-in-time one. Back in March, we were spring-cleaning. On a Wednesday evening, our gas plumber, Randy Bean, made a late stop to run his eye over the pasteurization boiler. Unknown to us, our cleaning that day had dislodged a vital section of the boiler. If the cheesemakers had switched it on in the morning, it would have blown up the barn. Randy saved us, unbelievably.

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We had a day of hand-pasteurizing the milk to feed the babies, while Simms Plumbing searched northern California for a replacement boiler. Elias Sumano and team spent the entire next day installing the new boiler. Two plumbers, two trucks, all day into dusk - you can imagine the bill! But if it hadn’t been for Randy, we wouldn’t be here at all. We’d need a lot more than new doors for the dairy. We are so very lucky to have expert plumbers, electricians, carpenters and contractors as friends and neighbors.