Caciocavallo - Rekindling The Romance

One of the first cheeses I enjoyed while I was living in Italy was caciocavallo. I'd never seen the gourd shaped cheese before, and the shape and its ubiquity drew me to try it. It has a milky yet mildly piquant flavor, almost what you would imagine mozzarella would taste like if it were a hard cheese and aged. It's approachable as well as delicious and unique.

I moved to Milan when I was 19 to study design. Before then, although the cheese I had been exposed to was very good (you can't beat VT cheddar) it was pretty limited. Brie seemed pretentious and as a teen I had no reason or occasion to ever buy or eat real cheese other than cheddar. A whole new world opened up to me in the streets and shops of Italy

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Leasing vs. Owning for the Small Farmstead - Financial Considerations

Pastures at Vermont Shepherd in Westminster West, VT

One of our readers asked if we’d considered leasing land instead of owning it. When we first started down the mental farming road a little over a year ago that was one of the first things I researched, and I can’t say that we’ve officially decided on either option, but we are leaning heavily. Of course, the answer to everything in farming is "it depends", but that drives me crazy, so here's some thoughts off the top of my head.

Financial Considerations

 

Capital Commitment

Probably one of the biggest considerations in the lease vs. own dilemma is understanding your current capital position. If you are hell-bent on farming but have little capital then you are left with few options besides leasing.

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The Wedding Present/Future


My wedding present from Scrapple - a farm board for our future home! He worked with a great artist on Etsy to make a custom farm "skyline" cutout black board for me. For now I can dream up our future farm in chalk and someday we'll use it to leave notes for eachother and welcome guests. For now, it's hanging right over our dresser. It's the first thing we see when we wake up in the morning and a welcome first thought to the start of another day in the city, a cheerful reminder that we are on our way to a future of our own design. I love it! 

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