Fun Photos!

Slow Food Columbus did a tour of Athens, Ohio a few weekends ago. We had a great time at Green Edge learning about fungi in the mushroom house, snacking on sprouts, and touring their farm. If you click on Athens Hills CSA in my blog list, that's their website. They have a great winter CSA you can sign up for!

Oyster Mushrooms at Green Edge Gardens.

Sunflower Sprouts in the greenhouse at Green Edge.

This is Nate. We'll be working together in March. Hi Nate! I stole this picture from facebook. :)

The Cheese Biz

I got a job at Katzinger's Deli! I'll be manning (womaning?) the cheese counter Friday nights and Sundays. I've been instructed by Scott from Olde Oak Farm to taste as many cheeses as I can before I move to the farm in March. So this works perfectly. I'll get to talk about and taste and learn about over 100 cheeses--recommend wines and breads that go with them. Get people excited about cheese! Excellent. If you're in the Columbus area, stop in on Sundays 11a-7p or Fridays after work and we'll have some cheese.

Katzinger's Deli website

Michael Pollan speaking in Ohio

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma (which I am currently reading) is speaking at Oberlin College on Tuesday, October 28. I don't think I'll be able to make it. Oberlin is a 2+ hour drive from Columbus.

But I do encourage anyone else out there to go see him if you can. I am really enjoying his book. I can only read a little at a time because he's so in depth--there is a lot to learn and think about. I'm still on the first part of the book --Corn. He covers everything from the history of farming in the U.S., the invention of chemical fertilizers and the boom of corn production to factory farms and feedlots. It's so fascinating...and moderately horrifying. A few of my friends have read or are currently reading this book also. We're all amazed at Mr. Pollan's story.

I found this on the Penguin Books website:

A few facts and figures from The Omnivore's Dilemma

• Of the 38 ingredients it takes to make a McNugget, there are at least 13
  that are derived from corn.

  One in every five American meals today is eaten in the car.

  
  The food industry burns nearly a fifth of all the petroleum consumed in
  the United States¯more than we burn with our cars and more than any other
  industry consumes.

  
  It takes ten calories of fossil fuel energy to deliver one calorie of
  food energy to an American plate.

  
  Industrial fertilizer and industrial pesticides both owe their existence
  to the conversion of the World War II munitions industry to civilian uses—nerve
  gases became pesticides, and ammonium nitrate explosives became nitrogen
  fertilizers.

  
  Because of the obesity epidemic, today’s generation of children will be
  the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy will actually be shorter
  than their parents’ life expectancy.

Integration Acres

Last weekend some friends and I visited Integration Acres near Athens, OH for a tour with OEFFA. We arrived a little late, but met up with the group in the cheese plant where Chris was explaining the cheesemaking process. He also spoke about the pawpaw trees that he grows at Integration and we tasted the two cheeses he makes, a basic feta and chevre.

From there, Chris showed us where he milks the ladies outside. His farm used to be a cow dairy, so he has incorporated that into his goat milking operation. He can milk 4 goats at a time and next year plans to use the already installed pipeline that will pump the milk right into the cooling and storage room.

Chris then took us for a walk up the hill to the top of the field his goats were happily browsing. Chris milks about 15 goats. He has a mix of Nubians, LaManchas and Alpines. He just started making cheese last year and everything he knows, he's learned from reading books.

I noticed that Chris doesn't disbud the horns on his goats. He said that he does everything at Integration acres naturally. He said he also does not bottle feed his goats. But they seemed pretty personable. This one actually followed us partially through the field.

Chris rotationally grazes his goats. He has 35 acres of land and over the summer installed about 3,500 feet of fencing. We will be rotationally grazing the goats at Olde Oak Farm next year. Scott says Olde Oak will be the only dairy goat farm in Maine practicing rotational grazing.

I need to begin thinking about what I will do when I get back to Ohio next year. I had a great time in Athens this weekend and I think I may move to that area if I could find a way to make a living. The farming scene seems to be very active with lots of young and old farmers in the area. Athens also has a well known farmers market, and it's a town that supports a lot of organic and locally grown products.

Would you like to check out Integration Acres? http://www.integrationacres.com/

Olde Oak Farm

I'm very happy to announce that I'll be a member of Team Cheese! at Olde Oak Farm come March, 2009. I made the decision based on several factors. A big consideration was where in their evolution the farm and cheese makers are. Olde Oak farm is still growing. Jen and Scott have big ideas and are excited to try new things. I'll need to be flexible and creative when starting up my own farm and these will be invaluable lessons to learn. I also felt more of a connection with Jen and Scott and Nate, and that's also important for me because I'll be working so closely with them for the time that I'm in Maine. That said, I know I'll miss out on Caitlin's years and years of experience as a cheese maker, and I'm hoping to get another chance to visit her at Appleton Creamery next year.

And check it out! Olde Oak Farm was featured in the Bangor Daily news yesterday! What excellent timing, don't you think? Go read it!
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/90969.html

Fleet Foxes feat. Goats!

AAHHH! This is great! I love Fleet Foxes! They are coming to the Wexner Center this Wednesday, and I'm very excited to see them live. If you haven't heard their music, I really hope you check them out.
What does this have to do with goat farming??

Check out their video HERE on Youtube!

This is just a quicky...
still working on my trip to Maine post. Should be up soon!

Mainly Maine

Wow! What a trip. Russ and I had a great time in Maine! We spent a few days hiking around Acadia National Park. Definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I took so many photos, it was hard to keep my camera out of my hands. Everywhere I looked there was a gorgeous view of the ocean or the rocks or a mountain. We actually went into Bar Harbor one afternoon just to give our eyes a rest. On our last day in Acadia the fog was rolling in up Cadillac Mountain from the ocean. We spent the afternoon hiking to Dorr Mountain and back up Cadillac, taking lots more photos along the way. I can't wait to go back and explore more of this park! (You can see my photos at my Picasa web album.)


Bring on the Goat Farms!!

I spent the last few days of my trip to Maine on two different farms. Sunday with Caitlin at her farm, Appleton Creamery and Monday/Tuesday with Scott, Jen and Nate at Olde Oak Farm.

Caitlin put me right to work in the dairy using a sausage maker to form logs of chevre. She was working on Halloumi cheese, a mix of sheep and goat milk cheese that is good for grilling. We talked for hours and she explained everything she did. Between rain showers she gave me a tour of the place. I didn't have my camera on me, so no photos to show. But I was impressed with all that she does in a limited amount of space.

Caitlin milks about 30 ornery Alpine goats twice a day, and she makes cheese with the milk from her goats and some sheep milk from a neighbor when she can get it. She sells her cheese at 6 farm markets in the area, needless to say she's a busy woman! I stayed for the evening milking and watched as she used a machine pump to milk 2 goats at a time. I tried, not very successfully, to help her coral the goats and get each one through milking...It took a while as some goats busted into the room every time Caitlin opened the gate. It was quite an experience.

The following day Russ and I arrived at the Olde Oak Farm in Orono. Jen and Nate showed us around and introduced us to the goats. They have Nubians at Olde Oak, which were in heat so they were very sweet and wagged their tails a lot. (I get a kick out of that.)

As we looked around, Jen explained that a couple years ago, a housing development moved in next door. Since then they have looked for a new farm, and are currently in the process of expanding and building a new house on a 100 acre farm in a place called Maxfield. The cheese plant,and the buck barn are actually mobile, so they will be moved to the new farm with goats and all later this year.

Jen said that everything they do now will basically be doubled next year. They plan to be milking 21 does next year and are adding a couple more farm markets to their schedule.

We drove up to see the new farm, and as Nate went off to pick apples looking very Jonny Appleseed-esque, Scott showed us around the structure that will become their home. I was really impressed with the level of detail and planning that has gone into the design of the house. They are building with apprentices and guests in mind, and I can't wait to see it completed.

When we got back to the current farm, I helped Jen and Scott with milking. They also used the machine pumps, but only do one goat at a time. The machine doesn't get all the milk from the teats, so I got to help hand milk the goats! It was slow going and I accidently sprayed myslef with milk more than once, but I think I did pretty well overall. Only one or two goats tried to sit on me while I was milking. Apparently, they can tell when someone is new to milking and just like school kids, try to take full advantage of the newby. I didn't spill the bucket, which both Scott and Jen said is the most important goal. When you spill the bucket...you stop and clean everything.

Both Caitlin and Scott, Jen and Nate tried to impress on me the amount of work that goes into working and living on the farm, especially during peak season--May and June. Scott said that we'll laugh and cry and be exhausted, phsically and mentally, but that most importantly, it's worth it. He says he wouldn't change a thing. And in March I'll get to experience all of this, for better or worse I guess. But I have a great feeling about it all. I can't wait to get to work and make it work.

End of summer, bring on the Fall!

The Flying J Dinner on Saturday was just what everyone expected: Delicious, warm, fun and inspiring. Unfortunately, I'm on the road in Maine and don't have the means to upload my photos...those will be delayed until I get home on Oct. 2. But you can read and see photos of our Shake the Hand that Feeds You dinner here on Colleen's blog.

Today, Russ and I woke up in Stonington, ME. We got in last night to this small, coastal town located right on the southern tip of Deer Isle. It's all so picturesque. I can't wait to upload my photos. The combination of salty air, inviting cafes and little art galleries make me wish I could spend more time here in each little town. But I must stay focused! We will be traveling to Acadia National Park today. Then in a few days, back down to Camden, where Russ lived and worked last summer. Finally, Sunday I will spend the day at Appleton Creamery with Caitlin and Monday I'll drive back up to Orono to hang with Jen and Scott at the Olde Oak Farm.

Yesterday, Russ and I drove up from Brooklyn, NY through Portsmouth, NH, where we stopped to have lunch at the Friendly Toast, a recommendation from Jane, a fellow Slow Food member. I'm so glad she recommended it! I had rhubarb bread french toast and it was soooo good! Thanks for the rec. Jane!

More to come soon...

Pawpaws to the People

Yesterday, I visited the Pawpaw festival with some Slow Food friends. The pawpaws were so good! Sweet and rich like custard. Banana/mango sweetness!! I finally met Chris from Integration Acres. Our Slow Food group would love to visit his farm, but understandably, he's been very busy lately. He was very busy yesterday handing out pawpaw samples along with a variety of products made with pawpaws, spicebush berries, and goat cheese!
Integration Acres added a small dairy goat herd a couple years ago and has been making cheese for about a year now. I tried the chevre. It's nice and mild. And when I tried it, I immediately wanted to try my hand at making some.

I also attended a short workshop yesterday that was more like a Q and A about goat farming. I felt pretty knowledgeable about everything they mentioned...which means I must be doing my homework...but I still have no actual goat experience. I spoke with one of the ladies giving the talk afterward. Her name is Jen and she has worked with goats on her family's farm for 14 years. She also currently works for Chris at Integration Acres and is responsible for daily milking of the goats. It was good to meet someone my age who is so experienced and knowledgeable with goats. We will definitely keep in touch. OEFFA is doing a forest harvesting workshop at Integration Acres on October 11. I will definitely be there. And hopefully, I can plan more visits soon.

Now the pawpaw festival is over.
Next is our Slow Food dinner at Flying J farm!
And immediately following that, I will be leaving for a 2 week vacation to Maine Next Sunday. I am visiting Olde Oak Farm and Appleton Creamery to learn more about their apprenticeships.
April will be here before I know it...and my own "year of the goat" will take shape.

Green Living Fayre

The Ohio Green Living Fayre was Monday. This was the second year for the fayre, but the first time I went. What a great event! Met so many people, and even learned a little.
Mostly, it was a relief to see so many people interested in and excited about sustainable living. All these people are making an effort to do something positive, to live by example, to change the way we all think about our impact on the earth. It was held at Flying J Farm, the perfect setting for the event. Such a beautiful place, I felt right at home.



Most interesting to me was the workshop on straw bale construction by Jay from Blue Rock Station. www.bluerockstation.com

Jay gives workshops on how to build your own straw bale structure, and I plan on attending one of these workshops next spring.



Other highlights from the fayre included learning about solar power from Matt from Dovetail Solar and Wind, Snowville Creamery icecream and milk tasting, meeting the guys from Rootdown, learning about Simply Living, and Heart of Ohio.



I was there representing Slow Food Columbus with Natalie and we're already looking forward to next year's event.

Kefir Success

Mmmm! Can you taste it? The sweet taste of success! Kefir is actually very simple to make...but somehow I botched the first batch. I left it sit out too long and it separated into curds and whey, which is still drinkable according to my dealer. But I was unhappy with it. I want my kefir to be smooth like runny yogurt.
My method: I poured 1 pint of milk over 1 tbsp. kefir grains in a 1 litter glass jar with lid. I found the jar by chance at a yard sale for $1 the previous weekend. I used skim milk because it was all they had left at the greener grocer last weekend. (I hear it works well with any milk.) I sat the jar on a shelf in my basement for just about 24 hours. The basement is good because the temperature stays very regulated...not too warm, not chilly. I checked it at 12 or 14 hours and it was just getting into the slimy phase. So I left it there over night and by morning it was ready to go! I blend 4 to 5 oz. of kefir with a frozen banana, some honey and a bit of fresh peach slices. Delicious breakfast!



My kefir dealer gave me this website on her instruction sheet. It's helpful, but I must say this guy is a bit more kefir-crazed than I am.

Kefir!

It's mid-August and the summer should be winding down. Kids are headed back to school soon...but my summer is only getting busier as autumn approaches!

Saturday, I'm stopping by the Clintonville farmer's market to pick up some *free* kefir grains from a girl who has spent her summer working at Flying J farm. I tried out some store-bought kefir last week and really enjoyed it as a base for a fruit smoothie! Just add 4 to 6 oz. of kefir with a frozen banana and any other bits of fruit you may have sitting around. Blend and Enjoy!!

What is kefir? you ask...well kefir is basically fermented milk. The kefir grains are a mixture of good bacteria and yeasts.

Just add kefir grains to some milk and let it sit out in a nice, warm place for 12 to 24 hours. And ta-da! Kefir!!


Aside from my great kefir experiment, I am also in the process of contacting the farmers in Maine that I have applied to work for through MOFGA. My plan is to go to work on a dairy goat farm in April, 2009 - September/October, 2009. I've turned in my MOFGA application and had it forwarded to 4 dairy goat farms in Maine. Later in September, I'm planning a vacation/road trip to Maine in order to meet some of these farmers and do a little camping at Acadia. I'll keep it posted ...my little dairy goat adventure!

Guerrilla Gardening

So it's not exactly goat related, but....what a great idea!!
This NYT article follows Richard Reynolds, author of "On Guerrilla Gardening" on one of his late night gardening excursions in London. Apparently this illegal movement is growing in popularity around the UK but it got it's start in NYC in the 1970s. I really admire the idea of cultivating a space, any space, especially if it's rundown, ugly and unused. Of course I'm also drawn to the subversive nature of the movement. It's illegal because you're gardening on someone else's land without permission.
There's a website with forums for people who are interested. If you're in the Columbus, Ohio area, look me up and let's get out there and garden!
Homepage and forums for gardeners

Fun Facts!

* Both male and female goats can have beards!
* Goats are intelligent, inquisitive and very playful!
* The vicious rumor is untrue; goats do not eat tin cans!
* Goats don't have any upper front teeth! They do have a tough toothless “dental pad”. Goats also have teeth on the top and bottom of their jaw further back in the mouth.

The following is from the current issue of the Dairy Goat Journal (link above)

"Llamas, donkeys and trained dogs can guard goats quite effectively."

"We keep two gelded male llamas to guard our
goats from coyotes and stray dogs. They are rescue
llamas from SELR, (South East Llama Rescue), and
they are happy to eat what the goats eat. That keeps our
costs down. Goat babies love them and play on them like 'llama mountains.'"

I was just having a conversation at work this week about the dangers of predators to a herd of goats. This is an issue I cannot fully appreciate since I've never lived on a farm or had to deal with it before. ...Well I do live in a house with both a ferocious kitty and a dwarf rabbit...we keep them on separate floors and so far they've never met. I plan to keep it that way.

"Goat berries and urine are pH neutral, beneficial to the environment, and suitable for composting or immediate application to the garden."

"This is very sandy soil with no rocks to be found. Few plants can survive in sandy soil, but the dairy goats and llamas have augmented this land tremendously, which makes it ready for a greater variety of plants. We use a snow shovel to collect loads of goat and llama berries to add to compost, moving it with a nifty little garden trailer that follows behind a lawn tractor."

Wrap up: National Goat Show

Russ and I attended Sunday evening and Monday of the goat show down in Louisville, KY. Got a chance to see and pet a lot of goats, talk to some of the owners and watch the Toggenburg competition.

It was great to see so many goats and talk to the owners. I was probably most surprised to learn that many farmers do not use the milk to make anything. Many just feed it to their pigs, dogs or kittens. I think I'm realizing that many goat keepers do it as a hobby...a very expensive and time-consuming hobby. This is a little discouraging to me because my ideal situation would be to work a part time job on the side in the beginning, and work towards full time farming and cheesemaking. I guess like anything else, it's a process and it takes patience, time and energy.


Currently I'm enjoying the Tomato Basil farmstead goat cheese from Split Creek Farm in S.C. Mmmm!!! Very good! I also met some goat farmers from southern Ohio. To my surprise, I fell in love with some Nigerian Dwarf goats from South Salem, Ohio. When I mentioned my hometown is Chillicothe, I was in. *grins* A woman whose name is Helen (i think?) was very encouraging and she showed us around and introduced us to a few other farmers including Evan Evans of Split Creek Farm.











Other than that, we watched a lot of Toggs be shown and judged. I had never seen a goat show before. It takes a long time and a lot of walking the goats around the ring to decide on a winner. When the judge announced the results from each group of goats, he or she would line them up and go down the line explaining why each goat placed above the one next to it. So it was very informative and very interesting to see them compared and judged side by side with such scrutiny.
Full results are posted at the ADGA website!!

Oh-Ky Nationals

This week I'm planning my trip to Louisville to attend the National Dairy Goat Show!! I will be there Sunday and Monday and ready to learn as much as I can soak up in 24 hours.

I'm sure I'll have a million questions when I get there, but there are several things I want to focus on at the show:
Breed standards and differences between the breeds
Physical aspects/makeup of a good dairy goat

There's a good mix of events on Sunday and Monday:
Sunday:
Toggenburg Junior Show
Recorded Grade Jr. Show
Monday:
Toggenburg Senior Show
Recorded Grade Senior Show
Oberhasli Milkout
Oberhasli Junior Show
Saanen Milkout
Saanen Junior Show

I'm hoping to learn a lot about these breeds. And this is a good mix of breeds to get familiar with. (From reading, I sometimes feel like Alpines and Nubians get all the dairy goat glory.)

Hopefully there will also be some good goat cheese to sample/purchase and lots of people to talk to and learn from. I'll have a full report next week along with some cheese recipes that I'm looking to try out!

Real Milk

"Contrary to current popular belief, pasteurization of milk is not a step forward in nutrition and health. It is a step backward. Certain important nutritional elements such as vitamins, enzymes and minerals are lost. Low standards of milk production are encouraged; incentive for high-grade milk production is discouraged; competition in distribution is narrowed; monopoly control of producers is made possible; and the dietary value of milk is lowered, while the cost to the consumer is increased." Jean Bullitt Darlington, 1947.

Also, while looking into cheese making recipes this week I learned that the process of pasteurization actually breaks down the natural calcium content in raw milk. In order to acidify the milk for cheese making, calcium chloride must be added back to the milk first. And most of what I read this week said don't even bother with "ultra-pasteurized" milk. All the milk on the shelf at my local Giant Eagle grocery store is of the Ultra-pasteurized type.

It's an outrage to me that we have let the food corporations and our greed take control of and exterminate local food production in this country. I think we are beginning to realize what is going on and I think it's shifting towards more local production...but raw milk lags way behind the recent popularity of organic produce. I know if more people were educated on raw milk or could read the unbiased studies for themselves, they would choose real milk over the ultra-pasteurized, homogenized "milk."

Farm Cheese!

I had my first "cheese making" experience yesterday! I found this website on Youtube that shows how to make a SIMPLE cheese. Sorry no photos as I have just moved and have no idea where I stuck my camera. :(
But the cheese turned out nice. It was pretty bland. I added salt and some fresh oregano from my herb garden.
Here's the website where I found the recipe. It's called the Urban Home on the free range:
http://web.mac.com/laurenfritz73/Urban_Home/Home.html

The cheese just includes some fresh milk and some vinegar. Very easy.

Show Goats (and a short PSA)

The National Dairy Goat Show is in Louisville, KY this year--a 3 1/2 hour drive from Columbus--so I'm going! I don't have any goats, but I assume that it's open to the public. I can't hang out for the whole week, but a couple days of goat-filled activities sounds great! My plan is to attend the Sunday afternoon Toggenburg and Recorded Grade junior show, then stay through Monday for Senior Toggs, Senior Recorded Grade, Oberhasli Milk Out and junior show and Saanen Milk Out and junior show.
I think I'm going to learn a lot. At this point, I don't even know what they mean by "milk out." And what is a Recorded Grade...I should probably look that up...

...Recorded Grade: Does who do not qualify for either the Purebred or American herd books (adga.org)
So a doe may be considered either Native on Performance (if she attains the status of a star milker) or Native on Appearance (if she meets a specific breed standard.)
Excellent! I'm looking forward to the National Show, which is July 12 - 18....coming up soon!

And a final thought for today...a quick public service announcement from yours truly...
There has been a lot of press on the current nationwide Salmonella scare with tomatoes. Sadly, it seems the local media in this area at least, are not suggesting the most obvious way to protect yourself...BUY IT LOCAL! Of course if you're getting your food off the conveyor belt from some place in California or Mexico, you have no idea where it's been or what has been done with it. I've been really annoyed visiting Giant Eagle this week and seeing the produce section lined with strawberries from -- California???!! So expensive! They don't even taste like strawberries. Buy it local and you can ask the person who grew it where it's been and if they've used any chemicals or pesticides.
Pickyourown.org lists state by state and county by county places to pick your own produce straight outta the field.

Slow Goat

Well it's been a long few weeks. As it turns out, I did not get a chance to visit Capriole Farm in Indiana. But I am re-scheduling a visit later this summer.

I recently learned about Caprine Estates, a dairy goat milk manufacturing and marketing company in Bellbrook, Ohio. With the price of gas, this sounds like a much more economical choice. Caprine is the first Grade A goat dairy processing plant in Ohio since the 1930s, and they have a herd of over 1,000 goats!! Much, much bigger than anything I plan to do in the future, but definitely worth a visit I think.

Forgot I said I'd do a book report on Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats...coming soon-ish!!!

Currently I'm reading The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. It's not so much about goats, but definitely a good read on the history of cow's milk production in America and the shift from raw milk to the ultra-pasteurized, homogenized "milk" found at your local grocery store.
(Also, I should probably mention now that no, I have never tasted raw or un-pasteurized milk. I'm working on that too...it's hard to come by!!! And I hope to help change this in the coming years.)
But I think this book is really a great read for anyone interested in knowing where their food comes from. It says a lot about our culture and where we've come from in the past 100 years.
I just skipped ahead to the chapter on homogenization, because I don't understand that process yet, and I learned something ...
Apparently General Electric (GE) ran a campaign in the 1950s to bolster the popularity of homogenized milk production with the slogan, "Progress is our most important product." This campaign "succeeded in convincing Americans to accept a product designed solely for the profit and convenience of manufacturers and distributors...and hastened the demise of traditional foodways, of which milk with the cream on top was one." p. 239. My favorite part of this little story is that Ronald Regan was GE's choice mouthpiece for the campaign. Apparently he hosted some popular TV show called "The General Electric Theatre."

Well that's all for this week. Enjoy!

Slow Food Columbus

Well it's been a busy week!
Wednesday evening I attended my first Slow Food meeting! The Columbus convivum is brand-newish and we all got together over some great food (and wine) to generate ideas and plan out future events.
My assignment: Look into the Pawpaw and if anyone is currently growing them in Ohio. I also met Dick and Elizabeth of Flying J Farm of Johnstown, Ohio. Will have to visit soon. Though not a goat farm, they raise grass fed beef and organic produce.

On the goat front I've been reading and taking lots of notes from Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats. I'm learning a lot of the logistical aspects to raising goats such as barn construction/layout and milk storage tips. I just began a long chapter on the diet of goats. So much information! Book report coming soon!

And finally, I'm visiting my first dairy goat farm!! Capriole Farm in Greenville, Indiana. I read about this farm in The Year of the Goat and looked up their website. Tomorrow is their Spring Farm Day so we're packing a picnic, maybe a bottle of wine and heading West. Hoping the weather is fair tomorrow and hoping to meet some of the Alpines who supply the milk for Capriole's award winning cheeses !! Full report coming next week...