Recent Happenings at the Ranch

UPDATED 11/8/08

 From the Holiday Gift Giving Department:

Candy Kitchen Opens for the Season

   11/8/08  It's that time of year where David, our award winning Cheese Maker, gets to show off his other talents.  David is a trained gourmet chef with a passion for confections.  From now until Christmas David will be making his award winning (and very tasty) candies.   He uses only the finest ingredients including fine Belgian chocolates, locally grown pecans, fresh goat's milk, and flavorful real vanilla beans.  Our candies are available from our on-line store. 

We also do corporate gifting, gift baskets, and special orders.  Feel free to email David with any questions or orders. 

All our candies are freshly made to order so there is a little bit of lead time necessary. We need to have your order before 12/14/08 for delivery in time for Christmas in the continental USA (earlier for other destinations).

Try our candies - you'll be spoiled for life!

Butter Almond Toffee, Truffles, Chocolate dipped Apricots, Vanilla Bean Caramels

 Awards Department report:

BMR Cheeses Win First Place!

   10/20/08 Two of our cheeses recently took first place in their categories at the American Dairy Goat Association Cheese Contest!  Our Boule (pictured on the right) is a creamy pasta-filata style cheese just great for cooking.   Our Feta is a brine cured Mediterranean style cheese that is fresh-tasting and creamy, perfect for Greek cooking, salads, or omelets.

 In the News:

Phoenix New Times Award

   10/4/08  The Phoenix New Times, a weekly newspaper in the Phoenix area, has recently honored us with one of their "Best Of Phoenix" awards.  Below is their article about us.

Best Homegrown Goat Cheese

"Though Snowflake, the northern Arizona town nestled in the White Mountains, is outside our coverage area, we make an exception for this fabulous cheese that is available for purchase at boutique food stores around the Valley (Whole Foods is one) and at fine restaurants such as Quiessence. If you consider goat cheese to be an overpowering, overly pungent experience, think again. Black Mesa's cheeses are made exclusively from the milk of their own herd of Nubian goats, an African breed known for their adaptability to the hot summer temperatures.

The family-owned and operated company's Web site declares that Black Mesa never works on more than 14 gallons of milk at a time. That allows it to pay the closest detail to every step of the cheese-making process. The various cheeses — we especially like the goat's milk feta — are available online and at very reasonable prices. In a previous life, one of the owners was a pastry chef, and Black Mesa's commercial candy kitchen includes Goat's Milk Fudge and Butter Almond Toffees. Let's hear it for the goat! "

Other winners of this year's "Best of Phoenix" awards who use BMR cheeses include:

Binkley's Restaurant · Best Destination Dining

Rancho Pinot Grill · Best Place to Take a Slow Foodie

Pizzeria Bianco · Best Gourmet Pizza

Atlas Bistro · Best BYOB

The Farm at South Mountain · Best Patio Dining

Pane Bianco · Best Sandwiches

Quiessence · Best Seasonal Cuisine

Whole Foods · Best Cheese Selection

Congratulations to all!  We are proud to supply these fine establishments with our wonderful goat cheeses!

 BMR Utility Company Update:

BMR Goes SOLAR...Again

   9/10/08 Since we are totally off grid we have little choice but to be our own utility company.  Our main power sources are the sun and the wind.  Our well, however, has always required the use of a gasoline powered generator.  Finally, we have a solar powered water pump and it is really a treat.  When the sun shines, our water tank fills!  The overflow is directed to a cattle tank and the cows are enjoying having a second source of refreshment.  While this was a very pricy upgrade, the cost was somewhat ameliorated by the fact that when we pulled the old pump out, we discovered that one of the plumbing fittings was so corroded that it would have totally disintegrated within the year, necessitating emergency repairs.

Earlier this year our wind turbine was damaged during a storm.  The good folks at Val-U Solar promptly came out, climbed the 50 foot tower, and brought the turbine down to send in for repair.  Unfortunately, the only company that does the repairs took two months to return the equipment!  Once the turbine was finally sent back, the Val-U Solar dudes came right out, climbed the tower, and installed the turbine.  Good folks, those Val-U Solar people!

The old raised tanks are not in use and the old wind mill is just decorative for now, but some day may be put back into service. Our 4500 gallon tank is set on the ground (lower left hand corner of the picture). The new solar panels are mounted on the wind mill framework with a custom rack designed by Chuck.

Chuck, one of the Val-U Solar owners, installs the repaired turbine at 50 feet above the ground!

 Reunion Committee Report:

A Good Friend Comes Back To The Ranch

   8/15/08 Several years ago the wonderful folks at Jacob's Pride helped us get our dairy running by loaning us some of their beautiful milking does for the season.  One of those girls has now rejoined our herd and we are so thrilled to have her back.  And this time Gem, along with her friend, Marlyn, are here to stay.

Gem is a Superior Genetics doe with the softest udder we've ever felt.  She is an incredibly sweet, productive, and beautiful girl.  She has one Grand Champion win and one Reserve Grand Champion win.  Her buddy Marlyn also has her Superior Genetics title and is the mother of an ADGA Spotlight Sales buckling.  She is also the full sister to Bridget Bardoe, the high selling 2004 Spotlight doe who went Jr. Grand Champion at the ADGA National Show the following year.  Marlyn has been awarded the title of Reserve Grand Champion four times.

Gem, Marlyn, and the rest of our herd can now be seen on our new "Our Goats At A Glance" web page as well as on their own, more detailed pages.

We welcome Gem (left) and Marlyn

 Herd Manager Update:

The Goat Lineage Pages are updated!

   8/5/08 Our Goat Lineage Pages have been updated with new pictures and information.  Our pictures are not formal portraits, but rather snapshots of our goats going about their everyday lives.  We feel that our goats don't need to be artificially posed in order to look great!

David and Kathryn working to get new pictures of the goats...

and even succeeding thanks to our friends Martha McClements and Glenda Bonin of Story Works Group.

 News from the herd:

Kid Reservations Now Being Taken!

   8/3/08 Our 2009 kidding schedule has been posted. Most of our goats are purebred, registered Nubians and in addition to having some wonderful kids available from them we will also have some Saanen cross kids and Oberhasli kids available for sale. Our goats are G6S tested, CAE free, and free of abscesses. Our herd is on DHIR and participates in the ADGA Linear Appraisal program. Please check out our goats and get your reservations in for next year's kids.  If you aren't sure about which kids you want, check out our Goat Shopping Guide.

 Webmaster report:

BlackMesaRanchOnline gets Downsized!

   7/7/08 After years of dreaming, research, and just plain impatient waiting, we've finally been able to acquire the domain name BlackMesaRanch.com.  The "online" part of our old domain name has been dropped.  Web site access and email addresses will work with either the new or old name for now, but soon we will change over to the shorter version - so please update your favorites list!

A Word from the Herd...

Linear Appraisal 2008

   6/11/08 We take great pride in our goat herd. They are a wonderful bunch and work hard making milk so that David can turn it into our award winning cheeses. We know that they can crank out the milk. We are on DHIR milk test so every month a supervisor comes to monitor the quantity and quality of the milk. Our girls consistently earn their milking stars. However, since we don’t show our goats, we don’t get a lot of feedback on their conformation. So last year we starting doing Linear Appraisal (LA). LA is an American Dairy Goat Association sponsored program where a trained appraiser evaluates every goat. The goat gets scored on many different attributes. We were incredibly pleased with the results of the appraisal. Last year the appraiser commented several times about what a wonderful, strong herd we have here. This year they did even better!  The results of the LA will help us continue to breed attractive, productive animals. Five of our girls scored as Excellent with most of the rest of our mature herd scoring 88 or higher. Their scores are listed on their individual lineage pages.

BMR Linear Appraisal 2008

Many thanks to the appraisers for all their hard work.  We really appreciate the time they spent with us teaching us how to breed productive and beautiful goats.

 Continuing Education at BMR:

BMR Classes, Seminars and Workshops

Take a look at our updated 1,and 3-day Goat herd Management, Artisan Cheese-Making and Ranch Life Educational opportunities.

6/1/07 So many people have asked us to do seminars and get-away weekends we finally have taken the plunge and said "yes".  Click here for more information on our Ranch Workshops and Retreats.