2011 - Remembering an Epic Year

If there's one thing I'll definitely remember about 2011 it's the over-use of the word "epic". It drives me crazy.
 
Ok, that's not completely true, 2011 was full of many wonderful memories and significant events. So much so that I want to recap some of it.
 

Winter

 

 
This time a year ago we were stranded in D.C. due to Snowpocalypse 2010 (Click for Photos). I was just finishing the book “The One Straw Revolution” and Sweetbreads was knitting me an alpaca wool cap (which she has since commandeered). Luckily, we have family in D.C. and were graciously hosted by Sweetbreads' Aunt and Uncle, along with their boisterous chocolate lab. At the time we were starting to formulate our plans for the future and over the course of 2011 it would all start to come together.
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To Pasteurize Or Not To Pasteurize...

fiorello, pecorino, cheese, italy, pasteurization, raw milk cheeseFiorello Checking The Temp - Porta Dei ParchiUntil recently, Scrapple and I had been focused on the idea of producing aged raw milk cheeses. It made sense to make the most of the delicious and nutrient rich milk our pastured cows would produce and it fit with our ideals and vision for Little Seed.

I say "until recently" because, well, we've started to consider the option of pasteurization for a small percentage of our cheesemaking milk supply. Why? 

Originally we had planned on working with cow's milk exclusively. Now that we've found our farm and come to know the land our animals will be grazing, we've realized that it would be best to have goats as well as cows. There's a lot of acreage on our farm that, while currently not grazeable by cows, would be browsing paradise for goats. We love the idea of working with goats to improve the land and now we'll have the chance.  

We hadn't really thought about goat's milk until about 2 months ago. I really love the idea of developing some mixed milk cheeses. A tomme, a blue, or even a cheddar could be really interesting, and for the first few weeks I mostly thought about creating those cheeses. That was before I started my internship a month ago in the subterranean caves of a cheese shop (joy!).

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Seeing Signs

our lucky tractorI'm a little superstitious...just enough.

Enough to have felt chills when the vintage jag I had dreamed of driving since I was 10 (I would look so badass!) sat abandoned in the driveway of the farm on our first visit.

Enough that the discovery of a toy John Deere on the ground next to our car seconds before walking into the lawyers office to close on the farm made me think "It's a sign!" and not "Some poor kid must have lost his tractor!".

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