We’re making some cheese this weekend, and moving heavier into hard cheeses. This has necessitated some purchases of supplies and the making of a cheese press. If you’ve considered doing your own cheese, you’re gonna want a press eventually; look into them and you’ll find that anything decent is kinda pricy, and that many of the home made examples are kinda hokey. I’m very pleased with the one we’re building, and as soon as I know for sure it’s working as it should, I’ll share the design and the parts list with y’all.
Of course making good cheese requires, first and foremost, good milk. It’s a safe bet that more processing that milk gets, and the farther it travels to get to you, the less satisfying your home made cheese results will be.
Therefore, the closer, the fresher, the better, and that, thankfully, is pretty easy to find. Just jump over to the Campaign for Real Milk website, and you’re good to go. Click on the Real Milk Finder, and you’ll get state and town specific sources for the good stuff. There’s also a very informative section showing state by state and national status for raw milk accessibility.
Enjoy, and stay tuned!
UrbanMonique 
Minn. is a dairy desert. Only a couple milk vendors listed on your link (one with only two cows) and none are near. I’ve been checking various places, but think we may switch to goat cheese, since we probably can get goat’s milk (still about 60-80 mi from here for the closest). Maybe we’ll get a cow, like our ancestors! I know all about goats, so won’t be getting those wily creatures–they are fun, though!
Dang, C, that is SO wrong! Now, if you really are considering a cow, check out the herd share section at Real Milk – http://www.realmilk.com/herdshares/
That might just be the ticket!
Interesting…by the way, we just picked up some cheese from a small Latino market here in Effingham; a Salvadoran variety called Duroblando. I’d never heard of it before. It’s hard for grating and tastes a lot like mzithera. Not too expensive either. I believe I’d encountered it before sprinkled on pelotes at a taco wagon in Oakland.