Redwood Hill Farm and Creamery!

My parents and I drove to Sebastapol yesterday to visit the Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery! This weekend was a tour weekend.
It was GREAT fun! Upon arrival at the creamery, you are immediately welcomed to taste their cheeses and yogurt (I must admit- there is no better way to my heart).



You are then required to get your feet into "booties"- basically large boot-shaped plastic bags. This is presumably to prevent you from tracking in unwanted dirt and germs into the creamery.




After this, we shuffled our bootied legs through the creamery after the owner of the redwood Hill farms, Jennifer, as we began with a tour of the yogurt making facilities.




(Above, two shots of the yogurt-making utilities are pictured).



(Pictured above is a shot of me with Jennifer, the woman behind the Redwood Hill Farm creamery!)

We then started the tour I was there for- the CHEESE tour!


Here I am with our lovely (and admittedly cheesy ;)) guide!



Voila. Beautiful and amazing cheeses ready to be packaged and delightfully consumed!



The cutter! This nifty thing stirs the curds in this big vat in order to do... something that clearly needs to be done!



Cheese curds in a bowl!


Cheese curds in cups! Here they consolidate and gain their cheesy shape- oh my goodness, how simple and wonderful.



Wow! Jammin' out while making some quality cheese- what a life! I wonder what they listen to :)



Oh my goodness, it's the cheese :). Notice how it's a different color and consitency on the bottom than the top...interesting.


It is fresh, rindless and interestingly textured on the sides.


Wow! It's only a week later and already it is growing friendly fuzzy mold. This is cool, guys! Theese cheeses grow their own natural rinds of mold.


Voila! C'est fromage. Here a man HAND-WRAPS every single cheese in seran wrap and a little descriptive sticker.



Here I HAND-WRAP a wonderful complete cheese, upon my own dorky and fascinated request! Woopdeedo.

It was fascinating and fermenting fun! I recommend taking a tour of this creamery or any creamery local to you, given that they offer tours, because the cheese-making process is quite awe-inspiring. First there is milk and then...there is cheese! But there are many, many steps in between so check it out!