A few days ago, the Associated Press released a story on American artisanal cheeses, and listed six they thought were specifically "worth the hunt." We're third on the (alphabetically ordered) list, which makes us hope they pick the Appalachian next.
Locally, the article was picked up by the
Charleston, SC Post and Courier, and
the Stamford, CT Times (just the cheese list). If you know of any other papers that ran the story (or any other story about us, for that matter), please
drop us a line!
In non-media news, we've been enjoying the winter break and the chance to catch up. Helen has been very active in her role as chair of the Slow Food
American Raw Milk Cheese Presidium. This year the Presidium will be conducting an evaluation of new cheeses and participating in
Slow Food Nation in San Francisco and
Salone del Gusto in Italy. The slow time is short, however; we're heading straight into calving season, a time of much excitement and exhaustion at the dairy. You may recall that we're a seasonal operation, which means all our cows give birth in an eight-week period starting in mid-March. We're expecting more than 80 calves this season, which makes for some very busy workdays.
So what does "calving season" mean for the dairy? The first thing that happens is that Rick and Helen have to get up in the middle of the night, to check on the herd. For the most part the cows can manage on their own as instinct takes over, but once in a while human assistance is required, so we try to keep an eye on the births. At the peak of calving season, we will be having as many as ten cows calve within 24 hours!
The next big job will be caring for the calves, who take very little time to turn into little brats. Just imagine: Paddocks of 10 calves who weigh half as much as you, are far faster, have very hard foreheads, and are
hungry!
Around the middle of this chaos -- in early April -- cheesemaking will begin. The dairy's seasonal nature also means that we only make cheese when the cows are eating fresh grass rather than hay. This season we are planning on continuing to make cheese five days a week. The big change from last year will be us making two cheeses at the same time three of the five days. Last year's experiment -- the Whitetop -- has proven quite a hit in the local stores, and we'll be making it again this year.
Being seasonal and raw milk, it's very hard for us to avoid a gap in cheese availability. We're out of Appalachian for the moment, but expect to have Grayson and Whitetop the end of March, and the longer-aged Mountaineer will be available throughout the summer. The new season's cheeses will be ready in early June, so be sure to check back for your summer cheese offerings!
More updates soon, with cute calf pictures!
