A Day on a Goat Farm.

    Today was an exciting day for me because for those of you who do not know me well...I LOVE cheese (another reason that attracted me to France I have to admit.) At our current Wwoofing location at Boulangerie Les CoPains, they were able to arrange with a friend for us to come and spend the morning on the goat farm. It appears to be quite common that different hosts will exchange Wwoofers for the day with one another to allow travellers to experience the most they can from a region. I love being able to visit different farms and truly experience what the region has to offer first hand while meeting the farmers and seeing where products come from.
    We woke up around 7:30am and took a small road that winded through the colourful fall trees to a house at the end of the road. The house was of traditional Normandy style with bricks and post and beam structure. We were cheerfully greeted at the door by the woman who makes the cheese, inviting us in for a tea. It was cozy inside with a large wooden table in the center of the room, a fireplace and jars of preserves on all the shelves. We met her husband and daughter and visited briefly before heading outside to the goats.

    There were around 30 goats waiting in the barn when we opened the door, all excited to eat their breakfast. Goats are really beautiful animals and each one is so unique. After spending time around goats I have come to love how each one has such character. These goats in particular were very friendly and you could nuzzle right up to them. I scratched their ears when they jumped up on the fence and then they would lean their head on my shoulder affectionately.

     Grain was scooped into the troughs in the milking station then five goats were lead in to be milked. At this goat farm the milking is done all by hand and everything is very rustic. You will not find any machines, special stalls or equipment...it's simply an old wooden platform with wooden bars to close around the necks to ensure the animals remain in place.

 We were given a quick lesson on the milking technique then we were given a goat. It was a little tricky at first because when there is so much milk it is hard to squeeze the initial milk out, but after a few tries I managed to do so. It was great to milk the goats and to see the fresh milk right from the source. I really enjoyed the process and I could see how getting up in the morning to milk could be almost therapeutic (very hard work though!) Watching the connection between farmer and animal was amazing...she knew each ones behaviours so well and you could tell she truly loved her goats and they loved her.

     After we had two milk cans full, we ventured up to the cheese laboratory. We put on a white lab coat, lab shoes and hairnet before entering the room to ensure no unwanted bacteria made its way into the delicate room. The cheese lab was quite small and like other ones we had seen, was sparse. There was a fridge, stainless steel table, washing table and a hose. She brought out a dozen or so molds to the washing table and we helped her unmold the finished cheeses.

I learned that the cheese will vary greatly depending on what mold you use. For example, a cheese made in a cylinder will taste much differently than a cheese made from the same batch in a pyramid. This is due to the amount of air that can penetrate the cheese while aging. Next, we sliced the larger cylinders and spiced the outsides with cumin, cinnamon, pepper and herbs (not all on the same piece). Then we used the previous days separated milk to make another batch. Depending on many factors of the day, the curd will behave differently. Ideally, the added culture will separate the whey and curds so the curd is smooth almost like yogurt. If the curd is not creamy, but more like the consistency of a tofu dessert, then you need to place it into a tray and combine until soft.

 

After this step you fill your desired mold and leave it in the fridge overnight. The following day you unmold the shape, season if desired, position on racks and place back in fridge to age. I didn't realize until recently how fast the goat cheese process is. You can be eating your cheese from the milking stage in as little as a week.

   It was a fantastic day of learning for us, and I will enjoy goat's cheese even more now after seeing the process. Having the opportunity to watch fresh milk be transformed into a beautiful piece of cheese all in one day was fascinating. It encouraged me to be even more conscious about purchasing cheese from artisan farmers who are still so passionate about their products. Watching the connection between farmer and animal was wonderful and to see only fresh, basic ingredients used demonstrated why it is so important to buy from local, artisan farmers if possible.