Hanna's Internship Story 

Working at Flint Hill Farm as the cheesemaking intern was a great experience. I would like to have my own farm one day and and this was my first step to getting there. I learned everything from milking the cows, goats and sheep to packaging and selling dairy products at farmers markets. My favorite part was working with the animals. It is a great feeling when everything goes exactly how you planned and all the animals go exactly where they are supposed too.  I also had the pleasure to halter train some calves and sheep. Seeing the outcome of the work I put into those animals makes so much of a difference when they need to be milked or vet checked.

 

I wasn’t so sure how well I would do with the cheesemaking, I haven’t really had any experience with cheese other than eating it. After making various cheeses I found out that it is quite fun to see milk become cheese, especially when it is the milk that you yourself got from the cow that same morning. Some of the cheeses I made were cheddar, mozzarella, and chèvre.  I learned how to make other dairy products as well, such as yogurt, kefir and buttermilk. It is amazing to think that different breeds of cows can make different tasting cheese.  For example Jersey cows have way more cream in their milk and because of that their cheese tastes a lot better than from some other breeds like Holsteins. After working on the farm for about a year and working with lots of different animals I figured out that I would like to have a sheep dairy farm so I can continue making cheeses.