TaxLady, we went through about 100 lbs of cheese, but much of it was gifts I sent to family and friends across the country, in October, and then we gifted some to the deer hunters, and the pot luck. We have a 32 year old living with us, and he eats a lot of cheese and does hard physical labor, so there is that too.
Josie, I'd recommend following the youtube videos of Gavin Webber for recipes and processes. I bought his first e-book for $15 and it covers many cheeses, worth getting. He is working on his second e-book now. There are things to see in the videos that you won't learn in a book, it shows you HOW to stir, and how to handle cheeses at each stage, washing cheese with brines. When I begin a cheese, I start with sterilizing all the equipment, and while that is boiling, I sit down with my cheese log with pages for recipes, and write down the ingredients, timing, temperatures, processes from the video. By the time the equipment is boiled, I have my recipe in front of me and I'm on my way.
The book by David Asher, is great, The Art of Natural Cheesemaking. It doesn't cover the cheeses I made last year. It covers more of a natural approach, like using kefir or buttermilk or yogurt for cultures instead of direct vat inoculation (buy), it covers how rennet is made or has been made in the past. It covers using raw milk, instead of pasteurized, and goat's milk, instead of just cow's milk, I make cheese with pasteurized homogenized cow's milk from the store. It covers blue cheese, feta, white mold cheeses, some alpine cheeses, whey cheese, and chevre. The things he covered are a more natural approach than buying each item from a cheesemaking vendor--rennet, cultures. Good pictures, lots and lots of informative reading. I haven't been able to read it all yet.
I think though, you could start making cheeses by taking either route to make cheese, both are excellent, just different approaches really. I use mother cultures instead of DVI (google it if you want), and I make my recipes for 4 gallons in a roaster, instead of a double boiler, or the kitchen sink method. We made our own molds from buckets and a drill, we made our own press. Do what works for you.
Bliss
