Where...and With Whom

On this first full day of our second farm expedition, our group followed an early breakfast with a visit to a small artisanal cheese maker here in eastern Vermont.  Our timing was fortuitous because their consultant from the French Alps was on site, supervising the operation.  We watched the two copper cauldrons filled with curds and whey stir; we saw the mixture shift to the draining and pressing equipment, and followed the progression of cutting and transferring the blocks of compressed curds into the forms that over the next 12 months will become their unique style of cow's milk cheese.  Afterward, sampling some of the finished product with Jeremy, the chief cheesemaker, and Eric, the consultant, we heard about the variant flavors of cheese made from spring milk verses summer or fall milk; we learned about the importance of which hillside the cows are grazing -- and when -- and the vicissitudes of the weather and the various other factors influencing the taste and the quality of the cheese.  Some of the conversation had alluded to "industrial" cheese and "artisanal" cheese, and I asked for their description of the difference.

After only a moment's consideration, Eric responded that "industrial cheese conforms the milk to the process, while artisanal cheese conforms the process to the cheese."  Because, we learned, the milk is different everyday; and these guys are far more interested in the milk and the cheese to which it leads than they are their procedural routines.

Mid-day, Willis Wood described their family's experience over the past 150 years making apple cider every October and maple syrup every spring.  You have to keep measuring and monitoring because every year the moisture content is different -- as is the sugar content -- and so you have to vary the process to accommodate the fruit and the sap.

When, at the end of the afternoon, we supervised the milking of 20 Jersey cows and talked at length with Lisa, the proprietess of this small dairy farm, we were hardly surprised when she independently stated essentially the same process.  "Everyday I remind myself that if I disappeared, they would still be dairy cows, but if they disappeared, I would no longer be a dairy farmer."  The cows -- their health, their happiness, their comfort and sense of security -- are the biggest part of the dairy equation.  "That helps me keep my perspective," she mused.  And her cows did, indeed, look delightfully happy.  The truth is that, apart from that whole milking problem, we would have been ready to volunteer to be her cows.

And so we heard afresh how it is that where a thing is of critical importance, plus the passionate care of those who are there alongside you stirring, pressing, condensing, tapping and milking.  They are critically important too.