A Day of Cheese-making at Caromont

Posted on July 15, 2013 by hautepasture

Guest post from Cheenius! Thanks, Cheenius!

At last! Cheenius‘ dream has come true: She was able to spend a whole day (with spouse even!) at Caromont Farm, learning about cheese-making, complete with hands-on experience! Here was the itinerary:

7:00 AM Help milk goats
8:00 AM Feed baby goats and visit rams in the pasture with Stuart, Intern
9:30 AM Make cheese with Bridge, Cheese Maker
4:00 PM Cheese tasting with Gail, Owner

Feeding the baby goats

The goats seemed to have a great life — lots of sun and pasture, and shelter from the rain (which they really don’t like). They get their high-protein grain when they come to milk, so jostle each other to move up in line. Of course, the baby goats were the highlight of the morning!

Milking the mama goats

The milking process seems pain-free, and the goats aren’t given any weird chemicals or forced lighting to increase production.

A vat of curds and whey

Once we were properly suited up for the cheese-making area we made chevre and feta, and helped with some other cheese-based tasks. The workspace is small but efficient, with cheeses waiting to be salted and turned, cheeses still in liquid form needing stirring, and cheeses ready to be “caved” (put in a refrigerator specially engineered for the proper cold and humidity). Bridge patiently taught us all about proteins, fats, flocculation, whey, and resting times. Turns out successful cheese-making means knowing a lot of biology and chemistry, as well as understanding the craftsmanship side of the product. It’s also a lot of cleaning! They’re very careful about who and what goes into the cheese-making area, and recognize the importance of cleanliness in every aspect of production.

An educational cheese tasting

Afterwards, Gail taught us how to properly taste cheese and some of the finer points of the craft, and then sent us home with some of Caromont’s first rate cheeses. We left full, happy, and newly appreciative of the art of cheese-making. Cheenius may try to make some feta or chevre at home, but is humble enough to admit that some things are best left to the experts . . .

Fruit Grafting and Propagation Class

Posted on April 8, 2013 by hautepasture

Guest post from Cheenius; also posted on the Transition Charlottesville blog.

You have to love a class where one of the first questions the instructor poses is: “Does anyone here faint at the sight of their own blood?” Good stuff. Luckily, Cheenius is known for being fearless and intrepid.

About a dozen current and wannabe orchardists met for a one day workshop led by Alexis Zeigler of Living Energy Farm. Alexis has hundreds of fruit trees at various properties, and this self-taught expert provided a wealth of information as well as hands-on experience. He pointed out that we have all been duped by a culture of deception when it comes to fruit, thinking that the shiny apples and plump peaches of the grocery store are desirable. In reality, those fruits have been sprayed with fungicides and pesticides up to 14 times during their growth. Meanwhile, because industrial farming only serves up a relatively small number of fruits varieties, we don’t realize that fruits like the paw paw, persimmon, and muscadine are much better suited for the mid-Atlantic and are incredibly disease and insect resistance. In some cases, these little-known fruits also offer more vitamins and even protein than we get from the ubiquitous red delicious apple. I was definitely inspired to think about my fruit tree choices in a completely different way.

After learning the characteristics and hardiness of some of the main fruit and nut tree families, we moved on to propagation. We covered seed and root cuttings, and then spent the rest of our time learning to graft. Turns out, once you know which parts to line up, it wasn’t that hard, but it was invaluable to have Alexis there — definitely not the kind of thing you can learn from a book. Along with knowledge, we all left with some actual grafts that we should be able to plant in 4-8 weeks. What did I end up with? Pretty excited about some blight resistant pears, hardy almonds, and some paw paw seeds that I’ve already put into pots. Planning to add kiwi and persimmon to my yard as soon as I can figure out a good location. Great class!

Thanks, Cheenius! Can’t wait to hear how your new plants turn out!

“Women and Land” Workshop

Posted on December 9, 2012 by hautepasture

Guest post from Buzzy! Thanks, Buzzy!

Thanks to Haute Pasture, Buzzy recently attended the “Women and Land” workshop, put on by the Virginia Department of Forestry. They gathered together four different federal, state, and local agencies, and introduced the 36+ women in attendance to all their services. Turns out, the government actually offers some great programs and cost share incentives! I would encourage anyone who has even a small amount of land to call the agencies directly; they seemed incredibly willing to do phone consultations, site visits, etc. Here are some tidbits to get you thinking about the possibilities:

Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District will pay to convert turf grass to either native grasses or trees.
TJSWC will also help you with a rain barrel and rain garden.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service can provide you with watering system plans for your livestock, plant establishment guides, and all kinds of other expertise. Their website features this amazing Web Soil Survey where you can find out all about your land’s soil content, even to the point of knowing what will grow best, whether it will perk, and which sites are the best building sites.
The Farm Service Agency has 41 field offices in the state, and will give farming advice, as well as provide low-cost farm loans — particularly to those of us who are “socially disadvantaged” farmers!
The Forestry department will pay you to thin your pine trees so that they grow better and don’t invite the dreaded pine beetle. They even told Buzzy at what diameter trunk she needs to start thinking about this!

Essentially, farmers and ranchers have a whole panel of experts just a phone call away. Buzzy’s got some dialing to do!

Thoughts on an egg.

Posted on September 21, 2012 by hautepasture

Friday musings from Chicken Leetle:

My landlords have chickens. I just ate one of their eggs and it was good.

The egg was brown. I boiled it and ate it. It tasted very fresh. The chickens live in Crozet.

Meet Yer Eats: Happy Piggy Photos

Posted on September 6, 2012 by hautepasture

I’m working on assembling a real post on our fun and educational day visiting Babes in the Wood, Caromont Farm, and The Rock Barn (I, the squeamish pescatarian, watched a pig get butchered–and took photos, don’t worry) as part of the Meet Yer Eats Farm Tour. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few of my favorite (live) pig photos from Babes in the Wood. Those are some happy pigs. Enjoy!

Cheenius fights the law: Urban Chicken Keepers vs County Planning Commission

Posted on July 25, 2012 by hautepasture

Guest post from dear friend Cheenius, who got political last night to fight for the right to keep chickens in her backyard. Go Cheenius!

Cheenius likes to stay active politically from time to time, and this evening she made it to Albemarle County’s Planning Commission meeting. Why? Because the topic was urban agriculture, and like all HP readers, she knows that favorable zoning is crucial to the local food and sustainability movements. Andy Sorrell, Senior Planner for Albemarle County, gave a thorough report to the 10 commissioners on pros and cons and how other cities and counties are handling this issue. Then the commissioners gave some initial thoughts before opening it up to the public. Cheenius, as a gardener, beekeeper, AND chicken-keeper, felt compelled to get up in front of the microphone and shout out: “MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR!” Well, actually, not quite. She thanked the planners and the commissioners for moving urban agriculture forward, and said that they seemed fully capable of hashing out the details, but that they should keep in mind that if they want to impose maximum hen numbers, chickens are flock animals so they should really keep the number at 4 or more. Also, since the county is strained for staffing, requiring permits seems like a waste of time, when you can just have reasonable regulations that can be enforced as needed. After the standing ovation (I can’t rule out that that was only in Cheenius’ head), she sat down and realized that if there isn’t a clear zoning mandate now, then possibly she’s currently in violation on all three counts of gardening, beekeeping and chicken-keeping. She considered running for the door, but decided that would draw even more attention to her lawlessness. Instead, she’s confident the commissioners will ultimately do the right thing when it comes to letting county residents grow their own food. Initial language they’re looking at adding to the County’s Comprehensive Plan:

“Urban Agriculture Objective: Support local food production and consumption through the use of urban agricultural practices as a means for increasing access to healthy, local, and affordable foods and encouraging the productive use of vacant land.”

Cheenius gives it two eggs up!

Paradox Pastry

Posted on July 22, 2012 by hautepasture

In a break from the usual HP posts, there’s a new pastry shop in Charlottesville, and I felt duty-bound to check it out and report back here. Paradox Pastry recently opened in the Glass Building next to Bluegrass Grill. The owner is also a personal trainer; hence, the paradox.

It was hard to choose. I went with a gluten-free concoction of peanut butter mousse on a base of chocolate fudge, and my friends got a savory croissant and a blackberry pie.

The savory was as good as the sweets. My only complaint was that the desserts were too big and I don’t have the willpower to stop eating when I’ve hit my sugar limit.

In addition to the downstairs seating area, there are a few tables upstairs and a TV. They did a great job with the space. Go check it out!

Catch-up

Posted on May 21, 2012 by hautepasture

Work has been crazy, making me not want to sit in front of my computer when I’m not at work, so I haven’t been a good blogger lately. Here are some catch-up items from the last couple weeks.

First: the Charlottesville Locavore Expo

Charlottesville had a Locavore Expo at the City Market a couple weeks ago. Charlottesville Tomorrow has a good write-up. I had an interesting chat with the girl from Homegrown Virginia, a new company helping local farmers and food producers to source their ingredients locally, and I had a gluten-free brownie sample to die for at the Integral Yoga table.

Next: Eat Local bingo. Forgive the crappy picture.

This was hiding in the back of the new Buy Fresh Buy Local guide: a bingo card for eating a wide variety of local foods! The Piedmont Environmental Council is giving away prizes for completed bingo cards. If you are a nerd like me, you will want to find the bingo card in the back of your Buy Fresh Buy Local guide and have some fun (and eat some delicious local food) playing.

Finally: Gail Hobbs-Page’s presentation for the Blenheim Artisan Series

Cheenius and I had a lovely evening at Blenheim Vineyards for the first event of the Blenheim Artisan Series. Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm spoke about cheese making, animal husbandry, and local food, before screening a short documentary called The Rise of Southern Cheese, created by the Southern Foodways Alliance.

We got to sample some delicious Caromont cow and goat cheeses, and drink a couple glasses of Blenheim wines. I liked the Viognier.

It was an enjoyable and educational evening. I recommend trying to attend part of the Artisan Series. Again, I apologize for the picture quality, but here’s the poster with the remaining speakers.

Cheers!

Local Food Hub’s Open House

Posted on May 9, 2012 by hautepasture

On Sunday we visited the Local Food Hub’s Educational Farm for “A Taste of the Farm,” their spring plant sale and open house. Here’s what the Local Food Hub does, from their website:

We are developing a sustainable local food distribution model right here in Charlottesville, Virginia. By working together with farmers, eaters and our community, we are addressing three major issues in our nation’s local food system: distribution, supply, and access.

It was a dreary day, but that didn’t stop people from touring the farm, petting animals, and buying plants and packaged food. We arrived late in the event in a misty rain, and were impressed by the number of cars in the lot.

Stop 1: the chicken yard.

“A happy, healthy chicken produces even healthier eggs for us to eat!” Amen. These chickens were living the life, other than having small children chasing them around. But they didn’t even seem to mind that. They had run of a big yard, with a large, wheeled henhouse that could easily be moved to a new patch of grass.

Notice how the chickens are under the house–that was to avoid the enthusiastic clutches of the children racing around their yard. These two hens were captured, but seemed happy to sit in the boys’ laps and be petted! Tame chickens = happy chickens = happy eggs?

The chickens weren’t the only animals getting loved on. In a pen down the hill were two pygmy goats and a baby cow. Children and adults both were lined up to enter the pen and commune with the animals. Giving people the opportunity to meet the types of animals that produce food for them is a great way to get them thinking about where their animal products actually come from.

We were happy the goats (presumably) couldn’t read the sign in front of them at the truck selling local goat meat kabobs and burgers!

We walked a signed route through the crop fields and ogled the sprouting produce, but were most impressed with a sign describing a farming apprenticeship program the Local Food Hub offers at their educational farm. A husband and wife team are apprenticing on the farm, cultivating their own plot of land, and learning on the job before striking out on their own. The farm provides them with support, in equipment and advice.

The Local Food Hub is one of the things that makes the Charlottesville locavore scene so healthy and vibrant. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for their next community food event!

Alice Waters came to Charlottesville

Posted on April 23, 2012 by hautepasture

Alice Waters visited a school in Charlottesville last week. Beyond the Flavor has a beautiful post from the event. The City Schoolyard Garden Facebook page has several more pictures.

Who: Alice Waters, celebrated chef and owner of Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, CA restaurant consistently ranked among the world’s best. She is an author, and an activist for local, organic food; school lunch reform; and related education and outreach efforts.

What: Ms. Waters visited the City Schoolyard Garden at Buford Middle School, which is inspired by the Edible Schoolyard Project, which was created by Waters, and parents and staff from Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley.

When: April 18th, a dreary, rainy day.

Where: The City Schoolyard Garden at Buford Middle School, where students get hands-on learning about gardening, cooking, nutrition, and science.

Why: Ms. Waters came to Charlottesville to speak about the importance of schoolyard gardens and show her support for the City Schoolyard Garden at Buford. From a description of Chez Panisse Foundation’s mission:

Using food systems as a unifying concept, students learn how to grow, harvest, and prepare nutritious seasonal produce. Experiences in the kitchen and garden foster a better understanding of how the natural world sustains us, and promote the environmental and social well being of our school community.

Haute Pasture

raising awareness of farm animal welfare

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