Welcome home

I was almost home after driving back to New York in the rain all day yesterday, and when I got on the Jersey Turnpike I saw a huge, full end to end rainbow. I pulled off the road to freak out.

the 2009 Common Ground Fair

The annual Common Ground Fair is held in in Unity, Maine every September. It is hosted by MOFGA, the Maine Organic Farmers + Gardeners Association, which Little Falls Farm is certified by. The fair was great, a full throttle organic hippie blow-out. Crafters, the best farmers market you've ever seen, canoe builders, contra dancers, herbalists, bee keepers, compost toilet manufacturers, livestock, organic crop fields, a kids area, live music - if you ever have a change to go, take your shoes off and dive in - it's a 20,000 strong love fest with the good people of Maine. My favorite parts were the animals and class-A people watching.

The masses of fair goers

With the ladies of High View Farm, the lovely Darcy + Lisa

I love mule





This guy was straight out of Star Wars - I love merino sheep




I love ox




I love Scottish longhorn cattle




I love cows




Does this make my head look bulbous?





Herbal headress




Old timey style contra dancing




Look at her dreads




They dig a big pit, light a fire in the bottom, lower a cast iron kettle of beans into it and cover it back up to cook. They were giving them away for free!




Goodbye Common Ground

raw goat cheddar

8 pounds of delicious!

...guess the name of this one

The temperature gauge in the composted manure pile here at the farm reads 130 degrees. What should I call this post?

I love it when you call me Big Peppa

The biggest wheel I've ever made - a 10 pound Montasio with black peppercorn, made with the magic raw Jersey cow milk from High View farm

Fall at Little Falls

Meet my colleagues - baby goats, smiling goats and big white pigs! Not unlike my other job in New York.

the super secret caves

I visited my friend Zoe at her new job at the state of the art and ultra clandestine cheese aging caves at Jasper Hill in Greensboro, Vermont. Japser Hill are well known, high end cheese makers and have built the first aging cave of it's kind in the U.S. This place is enormous, literally like an underground airplane hanger built into the side of a hill. You can hardly find the place, it's on an unmarked road, doesn't come up on the GPS and there is no sign out front once you get there. Inside, you had better know somebody or you don't leave the tiny reception area. Zoe, who they stole away from her affineur job at Murray's Cheese in Manhattan, is their U.S. sales rep and is loving her new life in Vermont.
This is one of the seven caves there, and Zoe said it was the smallest.

one man's trash...

Zoe and I walked out to a pasture to visit the pigs that are kept at Jasper Hill Farm. Outside of their area were boxes of discarded cheeses that they weren't able to sell for one reason or another. There were stacks of them, some looking perfectly beautiful (and edible!) They would be fed to the pigs, who eat a steady diet of whey and expensive cheese.

cousin Em

I spent two days with my cousin Emily and her fine new husband John who live in Montpelier. Emily and I had a fun day at the Ben + Jerry's ice cream factory tour. She is beautiful and funny and we had a great visit.

blossom dinner

The chefs at cheese class cooked dinner for the group one evening - we enjoyed weird foraged mushrooms, baked zucchini with ricotta that we made ourselves, and stuffed squash blossoms.

Three Shepherds Farm

In back of the cheese making building is a community garden and apiary. I loved these bee hives, which were protected by a solar powered electric fence. There was a bountiful frame of hops growing that smelled amazing.

bigger cheese

The first stop on my Fall '09 cheese tour was advanced cheese making classes at the Three Shepherds Farm in Warren, Vermont. We made more complicated cheeses like Camembert and classic Blue. My teacher Larry has a great cheese making facility. The class was me, three chefs and a crazy man who traveled from India named Bala. The cheese room is cold - here's me in my down vest and white stormtrooper cheese garb.

back down East

It's beautiful in the Northeastern states this time of year. Perfect Fall weather, the colors are just starting to turn, crisp air and mellow people. I am so glad to be here.