KOOKOOLAN FARMS
A small, diversified family farm in Yamhill, Oregon, committed to organic farming practices, rotational grazing, grass-based animal husbandry, humane animal handling practices, and producing the healthiest, best-tasting, premium poultry in Oregon.
We offer classes on farmstead skills almost every Saturday! Different instructors, different demonstration cheeses, different special topics and techniques every time. Most of our classes are $50 per person, always course fee includes a $10 coupon good toward anything we sell. Cheesemaking classes include a truly spectacular cheese tasting plate, with a selection of 6 to 8 premium artisan cheeses, both local and imported, relevant to the day’s topic, and intended to inspire your sense of confidence and adventure in your own cheesemaking! We have a full line of home cheesemaking supplies from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, Portland's own Urban Cheesecraft, and soon from Canada's Glengarry Creamery as well. We do accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and debit cards.
Wow, we're a little dazzled, our little cheesemaking school just showed up on page 80 of the May 2010 issue of "Food and Wine" magazine! as one of the Top 100 (in the world!) new food and culture experiences!
Schedule for 2010:
Sat Sept 4, 1 to 4pm -- Basic hard Cheeses (Scott Catino), space available. This is a great introductory class which will introduce all the ingredients, supplies, equipment, and techniques necessary to make any of a multitude of hard (pressed) cheeses at home. You'll enjoy a tasting plate of six different styles of great local and imported artisan hard cheeses that you can make at home. $50 per person includes a $10 coupon good toward the purchase of anything we sell, plus the generous gourmet tasting plate.
Sat, Sept 11, 1 to 4pm -- How To Butcher Your Own Chicken. Kookoolan Farms
owners Chrissie and Koorosh Zaerpoor will walk you through the process
of humanely and cleanly killing and butchering a chicken in your own
house or yard. This is a great class for those of you with a few hens
in your backyard who have an accidental rooster or a spent hen whose
time has come. You will have the opportunity, but not the obligation,
to actually kill a chicken in this class. You may BYOC (bring your own
chicken) or we will have ours available for an additional $15. Your course fee includes
bringing *one* of your own chickens for supervised butchering, which you
will be able to take home in a plastic bag ready to cook. Please call
us for special pricing if you have more than one. Please note that this
class is *NOT* a "coded" invitation for custom-processing of chickens.
No one will be allowed to bring more than three live chickens. We will
also have our own fully-dressed-out poultry available at the farm for
sale as usual. Please dress appropriately. LIMITED to 16 PARTICIPANTS, $50 per person. SORRY, CLASS IS FULL.
SUNDAY, Sept 19, 1 to 4pm -- Mozzarella 201 Artisanal Mozzarella (Mary Rosenblum). This class is a step up in complexity and flavor from the basic quick-method handmade mozzarella. We start with handmade curd from our own raw cow milk, refrigerated overnight, and you'll have hands-on experience kneading and forming the curd using traditional, artisanal, slower methods. This class does not have a brought-in cheese tasting plate because you'll be eating the cheese you make today, along with organically-grown basil and tomatoes picked the same day from Kookoolan Farms's own fields! No prerequisite. Highly recommended for beginners. Our Mozzarella 101 class is not a prerequisite. space available
NEW OFFERING! Sat, Sept 25, 1 to 4pm -- Washed Rind Cheeses (Rudy Marchesi), space available Sat Oct 2 1 to 4pm-- Mozzarella 101
(Quick and Easy Method) (Mary Rosenblum) Learn to make quick and easy fresh mozzarella. Easy
no-hassle method is ready in less than an hour. Get plenty of hands-on
experience kneading, stretching, and shaping -- and then enjoy eating
what you've just made! SPACE AVAILABLE. Sat, Oct 9, 1 to 3pm -- SOAP MAKING (Kristin Gardner). Learn hot-process soap making! You'll learn safe handling, needed equipment, where to buy ingredients and supplies. Kristin will make a batch of soap from scratch while you watch! You'll be able to take home two bars of soap and a complete handbook written by Kristin. Simple hot-process soap making
lets you complete your soapmaking in only two hours. Learn hot process soap making. Make your own soap and
use it tonight: with hot process soapmaking there is no waiting
several weeks for your soap to "cure." Make your own soap with
all-natural ingredients including milk. The make-it-yourself price
works out to about $1.50 material cost per bar for natural, homemade
soaps. Great for allergies and sensitive skin, and great as a
thoughtful, handmade gift for the holidays or having on hand for
last-minute gift-giving year-round. Your instructor is a
safety-conscious mother of young children, and she will also share her
tips for sourcing, buying and (not!) storing the highly caustic lye used
in all soapmaking. Kristin's handmade soaps are also available for
sale in our farmstore. Space available. Sat Oct 16 1 to 4pm – Washed Curd
Cheeses (Mary Rosenblum). This is a basic hard cheese making
class, suitable for both beginners and those who have made a few hard
cheeses. Washed curd is a specialty technique used to make Gouda,
Havarti, and Colby style cheeses. The tasting plate features
several aged and young washed-curd style cheeses. If you've been
wanting to graduate from soft- to hard-cheese making, this is a great
class! SPACE AVAILABLE Sat Oct 30, 1 to 4pm -- Italian Hard Cheeses (Rudy Marchesi). Enjoy an afternoon of wine and cheese. Local winemaker Rudy Marchesi owns Montinore Estates Winery in Dilley, Oregon. Learn the art of cheesemaking and enjoy a selection of Montinore's biodynamically produced and certified wines, plus a cheese tasting plate of eight fine imported Italian hard cheeses. Learn the techniques that will enable you to make Asiago, Parmiggiano, Romano, and many other favorites at home, for far less than the cost of buying the finished aged cheeses. SPACE AVAILABLE. Sat Nov 6 1 to 4pm – Traditional, Artisanal Cheddar (Mary Rosenblum) space available
Sat Nov 13, 1 to 4pm -- Basic Soft Cheeses (Scott Catino). One
of our most popular classes, the ideal beginner's introduction to
cheesemaking. Soft fresh cheeses are instant gratification! space available
NEW OFFERING! Friday Dec 3rd, 4pm to 7pm -- Handmade Chocolate Truffles (Charlene Vojtilla). Charlene will show you the secrets for making beautiful, hand-dipped chocolate truffles for holiday parties and holiday gift giving, or just for gracing your own table. Use the most natural, best quality ingredients; save money; have fun; and learn a wonderful craft that will give you years of enjoyment! You'll get plenty of hands-on practice for each step of the process (shaping, dipping, decorating, and packaging), plus take home a box of truffles! This class also includes a comparative chocolate tasting. Charlene Vojtilla has taught truffle-making and other
cooking/baking classes in the San Francisco Bay Area at Viking HomeChef, Linda
Carucci’s Kitchen and Whole Foods.
Sat Dec 4, 1 to 4pm – Basic Soft Cheeses/Surface-Ripened Cheese (Brie) taught by Mary Rosenblum, space available. Covers the basics of fresh drained cheeses, and introduces the next step of using surface molds to ripen your cheese. Brie is the classic example of this style, and is the demonstration cheese for this class. space available
Sat Dec 11, 1 to 4pm - Mozzarella 201 Artisanal Mozzarella (Mary Rosenblum). This class is a step up in complexity and flavor from the basic quick-method handmade mozzarella. We start with handmade curd from our own raw cow milk, refrigerated overnight, and you'll have hands-on experience kneading and forming the curd using traditional, artisanal, slower methods. This class does not have a brought-in cheese tasting plate because you'll be eating the cheese you make today, along with fresh bread, herbs, cured meats, and condiments! No prerequisite. Highly recommended for beginners. Our Mozzarella 101 class is not a prerequisite. space available
Due to past experience with the vagaries of winter storms in Oregon causing last-minute cancellations, we do not offer classes from December 15 through January 31 each year.
Saturday, February 5, 2011, 10AM to 4PM, ALL-DAY Cheese Theory Class. Includes a full farm lunch with all-Kookoolan ingredients, plus a cheese tasting (taught by Mary Rosenblum). This
class is a more detailed, more advanced
class. It is suitable for people who have made a couple of batches of cheese
already
and who are ready for acid testing and troubleshooting discussions.
Beginners who intend to be serious about
their hobby are welcome as well, and will not feel left out! This class also inaugurates out new six-class series culminating in a certificate of Home Cheese Making. Covers milk, pathogens, rennets and cultures, acid
testing, troubleshooting, and the cheese making environment (ripening
and sanitation), cheese lab, and demonstration of techniques with a
simple cheddar and stretching mozzarella. Lunch includes a cheese
contest, with students encouraged to bring their homemade creations for
instructor and student feedback. $95 per
person, SPACE AVAILABLE.
2011 schedule coming soon with even more new classes!
Date TBD – Home
Creamery (Scott Catino). Learn how to make butter, sour cream,
creme fraiche, ice cream, yogurt, kefir, and soft fresh cheeses, and
culturing milk generally. A great introductory class that will give you
the confidence to safely make these great products at home in your own
kitchen! SPACE AVAILABLE
Date tbd -- INTRODUCTION TO HARD CHEESES/FETA FEAST! (Mary
Rosenblum). This popular class is our most basic introduction to
making hard cheeses. Feta is the quickest and easiest of all
hard cheeses, and is a great transition from
making soft
fresh cheeses (very easy) into making pressed hard cheeses (more
difficult than soft cheeses, plus for aged cheeses you have to wait a
long time to find out whether you got good results).
Feta was perhaps one of the earliest cheeses to have been
developed, but is not as well known in the U.S. as some other cheeses.
This class will teach you not only how to make this cheese, but also how
to serve and enjoy it. Enjoy a meza plate of middle eastern appetizers
along with a sampling of several different
fresh and aged fetas. No pre-requisite, no cheesemaking experience
required, ideal introductory class for anyone wanting to try making hard
cheeses at home. SPACE AVAILABLE
Date tbd – Basic Soft Cheeses (Scott Catino). One of our most
popular classes, the ideal beginner's introduction to cheesemaking.
Soft fresh cheeses are instant gratification! space available
ABOUT THE LOCATION: Kookoolan Farms is a diversified, small family farm in Yamhill, Oregon. We raise chickens for meat and for eggs, cow and goats for milk, and we offer a full line of cheesemaking ingredients, cultures and supplies from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.
Bin for future offerings:
Online registration and shopping cart coming soon!
