Menage a Fromage

After all that waiting and fiddling around, the cheese is ready. It rested in the fridge overnight and I had some with my toast and coffee this morning... it tastes like a slightly tangy cream cheese with a faintly herby flavor imparted by (surprise) the thyme and marjoram. Next batch is going to have half as much salt. According to the suggestion on the New England Cheesemaking Supplies website, we calculated that 12 grams of kosher salt would be 2% of the cheese's weight. Toooo salty. Not unpleasantly salty, but I'm definitely using less next time. I'm also trying to figure out how to get a slightly drier texture, which might be difficult since we don't have a cheese cave and there's no place in the house where the cats and dog don't go. I'd be pretty upset if I left a cheese to cure and one of the animals either made off with it or left bits of hair on it!
Still in the process of tracking down a local source for unpasteurized goat's milk, which is tricky since West Virginia prohibits the sale of raw milk. The grocery stores around here tend to sell ultra-pasteurized or canned goat's milk if they sell it at all, and neither of those are suitable for what I want to do. The rennet should show up in the mail either today or tomorrow, but since we don't have any goat's milk to make cheese with--in fact, we're completely out of milk of any kind O.O--it's going to have to wait in the freezer until we do find some. Preferably from goats who are TB- and brucellosis-free.
Mom, I blame you for this! Like I need another hobby. Knitting, spinning, and making soap are all bad enough.
Anyway... here's a picture.