Processing and using all this milk

We are drowning in milk right now.  Well, not really since the 4 buckling's we have are drinking 2 and 1/2  gallons of milk a day.  But, still we have a lot of extra milk.  What an excellent problem to have.   The last couple of years we have had little or no milk so we are excited to have this abundance.
I have been making a soft spreadable cheese that we put on everything to eat.  It is really good with herbs in it and spread on toast or crackers.  The fun thing about it is that you can put different herbs in it depending on your mood.  The recipe is so simple and in the world of cheesmaking it takes little time to eat the fruits of your labor.  If you start in the morning, you can enjoy your cheese by dinner time.
You start with fresh milk of course.  We don't normally use the days milking but milk from the last day or so that is in the fridge.  We put it in our cheese pot and slowly warm it up to 88 degrees Fahrenheit.  At that point we put in a "starter" to help ripen the cheese.  If you are using raw milk you don't need to use a starter but we do.  Starter culture can be as simple at buttermilk or yogurt.  Once the culture is added and stirred in well it sets in the pot for a few hours.  Once the milk has "ripened"  I add rennet to the pot and stir well.  You  can use vinegar or nettle herb to "set" the milk into curd before you cut it.

The curd is cut and left to set for 10 minutes.  While the curd is setting I get a colander out and place it over another pot or bowl and line it with cheesecloth.  Then the curd and whey is poured into the colander.  The whey drains through the cheesecloth and the curds are left in the colander.  This is left to drain for a couple of hours before I tie up the cheesecloth in a ball and hang it from a cupboard handle over a bowl to drain more.  Once the cheese has drained 6 or more hours it is opened and placed in a bowl to mix in the salt and other herbs and spices.  At this point we will also put some into freezer bags without any ingredients for thawing out later. They whey that has drained from the curd can be used for many things:  Making ricotta, feeding to animals, soaking grains, lacto-fermenting vegetables, watering plants, making smoothies, and so much more.  It looks a little like skim milk from the store.

I also make other kinds of cheese, freeze and can some of the extra milk for use in the winter, make ice cream, pudding, and urge the kids to drink, drink, drink!