FARM PROFILE Lone Wolf Cheese: A One-Cow/One-Woman Operation

In the dark early mornings of winter, you'll find farmer and artisan cheesemaker Susan Adele O'Dwyer venturing out to milk her sweet Jersey cow, Greta. Even on the coldest mornings, the heat Greta produces warms O'Dwyer while she milks her with gentle hands. Susan then washes and dries the cow's teats and udder. &emsp;"Milking is a wonderful thing," says Susan. "There is no closeness on the farm more than that between the person milking and the cow." &emsp;She calls this a favorite part of her cheesemaking, as it allows her to nurture Greta. About four gallons come from her milking, which is done twice daily. &emsp;Susan, an artist and former children's book illustrator, moved to New Hampshire from New Jersey after earning a biology degree from Rutgers University. She says her illustrator job supported her and two of her three children, who were still home. That is until computers took her livelihood away by drastically reducing her income. &emsp;She met her current husband, Barry O'Dwyer, and moved into his Harrisville home after they married. She had always wanted to be a farmer and says reading John Seymour's "The Self-Sufficient Farmer" motivated her to realize her dream of creating a small farm on their property. The couple's 1.5 acre "tiny farm," called Freedom Farm, includes one cow, two barn cats, chickens, and various fruit trees, berry bushes, rhubarb and grapes planted on the land they cleared. Susan's cheese business, Lone Wolf Cheese, is named for her one-woman venture. &emsp;Yet the artist in her shines through in her entryway of their home, where she has painted the walls with many distinctive varieties of birds that frequent the farm and flowers that grow there. She has painted the stairway walls to the left with birch logs, spider webs, and a bird on a nest. At the top is a ring of trees surrounding a night sky with a moon and stars. &emsp;Susan explains that she loves to work hard, and experiencing her energy in action is evidence of this as she offers this writer a sample of baby Swiss with apples, introduces Barry, Greta, and the barn cats, gives a tour of the self-serve market room and shows some of her tools as she explains how she makes cheese. &emsp;The cheesemaking idea grew from wanting to find a way to save Greta's generous milk supply and make it even better, says Susan. &emsp;"I've always loved cheese, and cheese is good food," she says, quoting from John Updike, "'Cheese is milk's leap toward immortality.'" &emsp;On her kitchen table, beside a completed baby Swiss cheese wheel or "round," is one of St. Nectaire cheese still in process. It is one of the most popular cheeses in France and one of the more challenging cheeses to make. The cheese must be rubbed in brine every week for three weeks. Making brie is another challenge. The container must be dried daily while the white bloom occurs outside each cheese. &emsp;Among her other best-sellers are cheddar, gouda, Irish pub cheddar (cream cheese base with horseradish and other spices), chocolate cheddar (rich like a fudge), and her own recipe of pepper jack cheese she calls Mountain Man. She enjoys experimenting with other kinds of cheese and points out a thick binder of recipes perched on her kitchen shelf. &emsp;Susan first learned about cheesemaking from books and internet resources. She practiced and experimented and has now been making cheese for 14 years. &emsp;"I'm pretty good at it now," says the confident artisan cheesemaker, yet adds that there is still more to learn. &emsp;A gallon of milk makes a pound of cheese, so the rounds use 10 to 12 gallons, she notes, explaining that raw milk has all the cultures in it for making any cheese. &emsp;"Time and temperature, as well as pressing, are factors used to manipulate what type of cheese is made and whether it is sharp or sweet," she explains, adding that cooking at a higher temperature puts certain cultures to sleep and wakes up others. &emsp;New Hampshire is one of eight states in the country where you can sell raw milk, Susan notes. State inspectors come every three years to check for tuberculosis and brucellosis, ensuring the milk is free from these bacteria. &emsp;Greta's breed, a Jersey, is one of the cows considered an A2 cow, meaning that her milk is easier to digest and better for your overall health than A1 cows, such as the Holsteins used by commercial farms that seek higher milk production volumes. &emsp;Affinage, the process of aging, ripening and caring for cheese, is a combination of science and craftsmanship involving physical, chemical and microbiological changes. &emsp;"It's a long process with a lot of science and math calculations, and you have to be very patient," Susan notes. &emsp;Aging the cheese is done in a temperature and humidity-controlled cheese cave her husband, Barry, built. The retired engineer also uses his knowledge and ingenuity to create tools for her, like a precisely measured cheese press, a curd cutter, and an extra-long wooden stirring spoon for the huge pot where she cooks the milk. The couple even built their own barn for the animals. &emsp;"We're a cottage industry," says Barry of the family business run from their home. The cheese and other farm products, as well as Susan's prints of her artwork are sold right off the farm. Cheese is also sold at the Milford's Farmers' Market during its season in winter, spring and summer. BOX (with LOGO) O'Dwyer Dairy/Lone Wolf Cheese Cheese Shop 12 Meadow Road Harrisville, New Hampshire lonewolfcheese.com