The Kids are Alright

Violet (white saanen) and Carly (floppy eared nubian)

The kids are gone! I'm sad. Sammy came today, delivered milk and took most of the kids back to his farm. Four little kids remain, looking lost and making lots of noise. They're upset because their friends are all gone. I'm sad because my happy little friends are no longer just outside of my door. I loved going out onto the porch and having 20 young goats run over and want to nibble on my toes, fingers, pants, shirt, and hair. They're always happy and want to be with you. Too bad you can't housebreak them. Now they're gone. Sniff! The four remaining ones will join the herd on Wednesday. I hope Sammy can keep up with all of them. They're a handful for Lee and Jessie.

More my cheesemaking progress:

Today I got to fly solo making goat's milk camembert. Carrie Carrie had an appointment this morning so she entrusted me with the making of the camembert. I had Steve assist me, but he doesn't make camembert, that's Carrie's cheese. Steve makes the aged cheeses, Providence and Jersey Girl. So I had to tell him what to do! I like that. We set out 72 camembert moulds, and 56 crottin moulds and got the milk ready for making cheese. I took a sample of the milk to get an initial pH reading. When the milk was at the right temperature, I added the camembert culture, let it melt into the milk and then moved the milk from the pasteurizer into the vat. After an hour I checked the pH to make sure it was going down. Then I added the calcium chloride and the rennet and let the milk transform from a liquid into a gel. After 50 minutes I checked the curd and determined that it was at the right texture and ready to cut with the cheese harps (fancy knives.) I cut the curds into nice, neat cubes and let the cubes heal for five minutes. The whey starts to be released and the curds settle on the bottom of the vat. I then stirred the curds by hand, breaking up bits that the knives missed. I let the curds settle for a few more minutes. I pulled off the whey to just above the level of the curd and then it was time to scoop the curds out of the vat and into the empty moulds. You've gotta work fast because the curds really want to shrink and knit together. Carrie Carrie returned in time to assist me with the dip/scoop. We dipped the camembert first, adding a few curds to each mould and then returning to top them all off. Then we moved the draining table aside and filled up the crottin moulds. It was finished in about 15 minutes. Then came the flipping. In order to get a smooth texture, it is important to flip the knitting curds in the moulds as quickly as possible. Flip and flip again in thirty minutes. The crottin are flipped more often.

Little Maeve says hello to Four year old Shalom.

Tomorrow the camembert and crottin will be demoulded, salted and left in the cheese room on racks to dry. In ten days the crottin will be ready to eat, the camembert will be ready in 28 days. I won't get to see them when they're done. Oh well. Eight more days.

More signs of summer - or - All the animal at the zoo, they all ask for you...

More signs of summer:

I saw a half of a watermelon broken on the side of the freeway in Asheboro today. I don't know what happened to the other half. The days are getting much longer. The early evenings are warm and teeming with bugs. The scent of honeysuckle perfumes the air. I see honeysuckle blooms everywhere, along fence lines, in ditches, at the edge of the woods, along the road, and around old tobacco barns.

The quintessential symbol of the south is emerging once again. The magnolia trees are starting to bloom. Their shiny, stiff green leaves are the perfect counterpoint to the large, majestic, creamy white blossoms. There is a tall magnolia tree growing beside the White House. It overhangs the goat pasture. The kids love to chew on the fallen leaves. They seem to like the tough, crunchy, leathery texture of the leaves. A goat will chew on a leaf for about 10 minutes before it is small enough to finally swallow. That tree has blossoms all over it, but they haven't opened yet.

The strawberries are getting sweeter. Since most of what we eat is whatever is in season in the garden or at the farmer's market, we've been eating A LOT of strawberries. Strawberries and cream, strawberries and ice cream, strawberries shortcake, to name a few ways they've appeared on the table. The asparagus is done. The last spears were left to grow into huge, delicate looking fern-like plants. We are currently working our way around a new crop of rainbow chard, spinach, leeks, Vidalia onions, and more kinds of lettuce than I can name.

My friend Carly the kid.

The goats are still here for now. Sammy couldn't take them on Saturday due to equipment problems back at his farm. He'll probably pick up all of the goats, young and old on Monday or Wednesday. It will be a sad day when they leave.

I accomplished one more thing that I wanted to do while I was here: I went to the North Carolina State Zoo. Everyone has been telling me what a wonderful zoo it is and I should try to make it. It is only a few miles south of Asheboro, so I decided to spend my day off walking around the zoological gardens. Lee Tate was able to join me so together we looked at the animals on display. The weather was perfect, sunny and breezy, warm but not hot.

The zoo is divided into two halves, er, continents: North America and Africa. We parked in the North American Lot. We entered the park and followed the windy paths through Southern swamps full of cypress trees, carnivorous plant, alligators, turtles and snakes. Other areas of North America were highlighted like the central Plains, the rocky shores of the West Coast, and the mountains. The grounds of the zoo are beautifully landscaped in native wildflowers and plants. Each section had lots of trees to provide shade as well as habitat for the animals. The only downside was that almost every animal seemed to be on the same schedule. They were all asleep. We looked at cute arctic foxes, curled up in a tight little ball. Not quite sure what they looked like other than a bundle of fur. The endangered red wolf was lounging under a distant tree, yawning. The bobcats were snuggled up together in a corner of their enclosure. The alligators looked like sculptures. Don't they know we want to be entertained! The baboons were busy picking nits off of each other. I still enjoyed seeing everything.

My favorite feature was the tropical bird aviary. It is a huge enclosure filled with massive tropical plants and brightly colored birds. Scarlet ibises were perched in tall trees, looking down at visitors as they wandered through the aviary. Massive Victoria crowned pigeons strolled through the undergrowth. A kingfisher darted above our heads. Brilliant birds of green, blue and black fluttered around bird feeders placed near the pathways. There were many of birds you could hear, but not see. It was a well crafted exhibit. I also enjoyed watching puffins being fed. Their wings are perfectly adapted to let them fly through water as well as in the air. The smart ones stood near the staff member and would be conveniently fed by hand. By the time we looked at the bison in the Plains exhibit and the elephants in the savannah exhibit, we were pretty tired. It was also pretty crowded, with lots of families pushing strollers. We headed home around 3:00.

Tonight is another Dinner at the Dairy. Chef Chris is preparing another huge ham to serve with white kidney beans and fresh chard. I'm not certain what else is being served. I try to stay clear of the kitchen when my day off coincides with a dinner. I don't need to be in the way.

On the hunt in Asheboro -- more BBQ

Henry James Barbecue, Since 1977

Found an even better barbecue place in Asheboro. Henry James Barbecue on S. Fayetteville Street is surrounded by semi-abandoned factories and warehouses, industrial plants, and train tracks. It's not much to look at from the outside or the inside. There are many booths, several are filled with a wide variety of folks quietly eating piles of barbecue. It is like most barbecue places I've visited, unassuming. I look over the menu and go for the barbecue plate. It comes with fries, hushpuppies and barbecue slaw. Wash it all down with unsweetened ice tea and I'm good to go. Three out of the four staff members were high school kids. The other was an older woman who was clearing tables. I got extra "dip" and grabbed a booth by a window.

My paper plate was piled high with shredded pork shoulder. It was blanketed with a layer of thin reddish sauce. The coleslaw was minced and blended with a light red colored sauce, too. The sidecar of hushpuppies were hot and crunchy, fresh from the deep fryer. The French fries were also hot and crispy. This is the best barbecue I've had around here. It was juicy, tangy, slightly peppery, but not overly spicy. It wasn't too smoky, but that's ok. The meat was obviously slow cooked and extremely tender. The sauce wasn't sweet. It was much more of an eastern style of sauce. It had vinegar, pepper and a bit of zip. Perhaps a hint of ketchup for color, but it wasn't like most of the Piedmont style barbecue I've had elsewhere. There was a bottle of hot barbecue sauce on the table. I gave it a try. Too hot for this girl, but very flavorful, too. Loaded with pepper.

I went up to the counter to get a to-go container as well as a refill on my ice tea. The 16 year old behind the counter asked me where I was from. I told her "San Francisco." "Florida?" she asked. "No, California." "Oh, I thought you were from somewhere else. There aren't a lot of red-heads in Asheboro. Plus I know all of our regulars, and I don't remember you. You've got an accent." I've got an accent? Funny, she's got a pretty good Randolph County accent. She asked me what I was doing in Asheboro and if I liked it. She says it is a good place to raise kids. Not sure I agree, looking at the miles of strip malls that line Hwy 64 and the total lack of public transit. The older woman joined in our conversation. She's been working at Henry James Barbecue for 24 years. I asked her about the 'cue. She said it is cooked on a rotisserie in a pit, not in a smokehouse. They make their own sauce. I asked if it was Piedmont style. She didn't know. It is it's own style. Everyone makes their barbecue their own way. This is the only one she knows, so she's not sure what style it is. I told her I wanted to buy some to freeze and take back to California. "Oh, our barbecue has gone all over the country. People are always getting some to take with them. Buy a pound of it and be sure to ask for extra dip." She called it "dee-yip." I plan on going back there next week and right before I go home. It was really good stuff.

I've spent a bit more time around Asheboro. It is only 10 miles away. It is a classic example of unplanned growth. The city stretches out for miles, with countless strip malls and very few sidewalks. It is built around the idea that you drive everywhere. The downtown area is full of antique shops, a couple of thrift stores, a coffeehouse, and a gospel music store. The old brick buildings have seen better days. Hops Barbecue holds down one end of the two block business district and a couple of banks are at the other end of the strip. Train tracks cut downtown in half. Asheboro is a very old colonial town. It is sad to see what urban sprawl has done to it.

I just mailed five boxes home. They're full of pottery, books, cookware, towels, and things I don't need for the next 12 days. I've also been checking out the local thrift stores. No good finds, so far, but you never know what you'll run across. My current quest is for a butter churn. I want a glass jar butter churn with a crank on top like a hand beater. They come in quart and gallon size jars with a wooden (usually cedar) dasher. I've found ceramic butter churns, and old wooden churns shaped like boxes or barrels. I've also found an electric churn made by Dayzee. The antique dealers didn't have one. They had the other types, but not my little glass churn. I might have to break down and try Ebay. My quest continues.

No regrets as the clock winds down

I have less than two weeks left. I can't believe how quickly the months have gone by. This internship has really paid off for me. Miriam, the energetic retiree who cleans the cheese room in the afternoon, asked me if I was happy I came all the way to North Carolina. I told her that I absolutely no regrets

Steve and Carrie Carrie seem to be pleased with my progress and have been giving me more and more responsibilities. This week I got to make the camembert, sandy creek and crottin from start to finish. I can read the curd ok, and can judge when it is time to cut the curd mass. Preparing to make the cheese takes more time than anything else. Countless molds have to be placed either on the draining table or in colanders. Each mold must be sanitized. Then, at a critical moment, the curd is dipped into the awaiting molds as fast as possible. As soon as you start to dip, the curds begin to knit. By the time you empty the vat of curd, the curd has shrank and has lost a lot of whey. In order to try to achieve a uniform texture in your finished cheese, it is very important to try to get the curd into the molds as quickly as you can.

It is late spring on the farm. The garden is looking spectacular. The lettuce beds are full of big, leafy heads of lettuce. Tonight I made a big salad for supper with a romaine style lettuce that I harvested only minutes earlier. Milk was still seeping from the cut stem. I love eating super-fresh veggies. A couple of nights ago, I noticed three small rabbits running all around the pasture next to the White House. They scampered around and around while the three month old goats stared at them. Two of them dashed under the fence and began to race around the veggie garden. The days are getting more humid. The high humidity adds to the lushness that I feel all around me. I love to sit outside at twilight and watch the fireflies emerge. Between the cardinals and the lightening bugs, I just can't get my fill of 'em. I can watch them forever. The cardinals are just such pretty birds, unbelievably red. The fireflies just swirl and drift around the bushes and trees like tiny fairy lanterns drifting on an unnoticed breeze. Summer is nearly here.

The young goats will be leaving soon. Sammy is supposed to bring a trailer and haul them back to his place. All 50 of them. Most of them are weaned and now they're just growing and growing like the weeks that they love to eat. I've been spending more time with my favorites, scratching them and letting them nibble at my clothes. I'm going to miss these youngsters when they're gone.

I like the Nubians, even though they're the most whiny and loud. The saanens are the most docile, but they all look alike (white.) The Alpines are the most aggressive and feisty. Should I choose to keep a few goats, I might look into getting a few Nubians. They're herd animals, so you can't have just one, they get lonely and depressed. I still want to buy my milk for my cheesemaking enterprise, but these goats have gotten under my skin and I find that I really like them. They're very funny, smart, stubborn, and useful. Perhaps I can train one to pull a cart for me. Plus, fresh goat milk is the best. It only tastes gross if you don't feed them well and let the milk get old. Sammy's milk is sweet and buttery. It makes great cheese and is perfect with my granola in the morning.

More happy dining: I just can't help myself!

A southern treat: pickled watermelon rind. Slurp!

Miriam invited me out to dinner a few nights ago. She took us out to Ye Old Country Kitchen, a restaurant/buffet located east of Liberty in the town of Snow Camp. The beauty of these county style buffets is that they make no attempt at being healthy. Sure, there's a salad bar, but the entrees are usually some form of fried food. This one had fantastic fried chicken and biscuits. The biscuits were the best I've had since I got here. They were still warm, crispy on the outside and tender and light on the inside. They didn’t need any butter. The salad bar had pickled watermelon rind. Not something I find too often. There were several different kinds of beans cooked in different styles, too. Miriam and I were really pleased with our meals.

Eating local challenge, NC style

Eating local.

I've always eaten local. The media is enamored with people Jessica Prentice, a Bay Area chef who preaches the virtues of eating local and celebrating your "foodshed." She's a locavore. In my family, we've always eaten local, handing our $$ directly to the growers of our apples, eggs, potatoes, beef jerky, cheese. It is probably why I love to seek out those local treasures in small town grocery stores and farmer's markets.

There is a slight difference here in the Piedmont between eating locally and eating like a local. I try to do both. As I have said before, I love finding regional food. I don't want to eat at some fancy-shmancy restaurant. Read Calvin Trillan's "American Fried." I want to eat at the place that has the best fried chicken in town. (If you're in Kansas City, make a beeline to Stroud's. Their cinnamon rolls are superb, too.) If I DO go to a nice restaurant, they better have some local food on the menu. North Carolina has fantastic shrimp. The coastal waterways are home to some fantastic seafood that I can't find in California. This is what I want on my dinner plate.

My locavore challenge: eat as much barbecue from as many places as I possibly can before I leave on May 29. Now THAT is eating local. North Carolina has a huge pork industry. It is so big that the waste from the hog farms is a major pollution problem. The water quality of many towns is threatened by ponds of pig poop. But I digress….Barbecue. I go to the Blue Mist when I feel like something quick. But I've found a new favorite in Asheboro. Jed's Barbecue and Seafood on N. Fayetteville Street. Around here the barbecue is "Piedmont Style." The sauce is sweet and tangy, a blend of cider vinegar, brown sugar, pepper, salt, and ketchup. It is thin and juicy. Jed's barbecue plate is piled high with shredded pork shoulder that has been slow-cooked for 9 hours (at least.) It comes with freshly fried hushpuppies, barbecue slaw, fries, and must be washed down with ice tea. The barbecue is liberally covered with "dip," their own special barbecue sauce. The coleslaw is minced cabbage mixed with the barbecue sauce so it is slightly red in color. The slaw is sweet and crunch. I like to pile my fork with both barbecue as well as coleslaw so I get both flavors in one bite. Delicious!

If I want to find some good, eastern style barbecue, I must drive east, beyond Burlington. That's the continental divide for North Carolina barbecue. East of Burlington is Eastern 'cue with its spicy, vinegar based sauce. West of Burlington is Piedmont style which adds to the eastern style with a bit of brown sugar and ketchup. This is also called Lexington Style barbecue, I believe. Then comes the other contender, western style barbecue, which has mustard. I haven't had any western style 'cue around here because the locals hate it. There is a bitter rivalry between the styles and folks will argue for days about it. I hope to try a place north of Chapel Hill called Allen and Sons. A gentleman I met at a Dinner at the Dairy says I MUST try it before I go. Too bad they're closed Sundays.

What else is on the menu when you eat locally in North Carolina? Molasses. The traditional stuff is harvested in the fall and cooked down over a wood fire. I just bought some today that was made in Reidsville. Reidsville is north of Greensboro. It is home to another famed barbecue joint called Short Sugar's. I hope to eat there before I go, too.

Other local food finds: Today I took a drive past Piedmont International Airport to The Old Mill of Guilford. It is a water powered grist mill from the Colonial era. It is still in operation today, grinding corn and grain. I walked into the rough hewn timber building. The front room is filled with barrel label "Spelt flour." "Yellow Grits." "Corn Meal," "Rye Flour." The grindstone is on one side of the room and there are many mechanical devices used to convey the grain and the power from the water wheel outside. I threaded my way through the barrels and went into the anteroom on the right. This is the mill store. It is filled with many bags of freshly ground cornmeal, grits, scone mix, sweet potato muffin mix, several types of flour, and hushpuppy mix, among the wide selection. If you are lucky, you might catch "Mother" grinding the grain. They don't have a set schedule, the just grind whatever they need when they need it. I ordered several things and had it shipped home. Look out, Jim, another box is arriving! The corn is grown locally in Davidson County. I'm not sure where the wheat comes from. The shop was filled with other local items like jam, pottery, ironwork, honey, as well as molasses. It was a great find, and a beautiful spot on Highway 68.

My other local favorite: fried chicken. Every country kitchen/down home restaurant makes fried chicken. Even K&W Cafeteria makes a good one. Just ask my mother. Ginnie makes a fantastic fried chicken about every couple of weeks. She also chases it with a peppery milk gravy to die for. There are lots of local chicken farms so I must be eating locally when I eat fried chicken. This is my kind of eating local challenge!

Views around the farm this week

A good sign today.










Mom helps out with dessert.























A new cheese is in the works. It needs a name. Any suggestions?










Baby onions ready to roast. These were picked only an hour earlier.












Feta in whey brine. 100% goat milk, of course.

A visit from Adrianne

Mom stops by.

My mother came for a visit for a few days. She arrived late Thursday night and stayed at a hotel near the airport. I borrowed Ginnie's car and met Mom at her hotel. We drove back to the airport and signed me onto her rental car. She followed me back to the farm and brought her things into the White House.

Mom's been struggling with health issues so she's not as energetic as she used to be. It's a shame because she couldn't explore the gardens or walk around easily. We took our time and walked up to the Barn in order to say hello to everyone. It was just about lunch time so most folks were lingering while Ginnie prepared pizzas. She makes her own dough and likes to load each pie with lots of toppings. One had goat cheese, sausage, homemade tomato sauce, olives and onions. Another had artichoke hearts, cheese, and salsa. The third was covered with lost of sausage, cheese, olives, tomatoes, onions, and sauce. It was quite a feast.

Gareth, Steve and Lee's younger son talked about traveling to the Galapagos. He's only home for a few days so it was nice to hear some of his stories about Ecuador. They've been working him hard while he's home. He had the pleasure of turning the compost pile after lunch.

Once the pizzas were ready, all conversation stopped and we dove into the hot, gooey, slices. Ginnie makes a nice pizza. Her secret: get the oven as hot as it can go and use pizza pans. They always turn out nicely.

After lunch, everyone drifted off to accomplish their afternoon work. It was raining. In spite of the foul weather, Mom and I decided to go to Seagrove and visit the potters. I retraced the drive that I had taken with Ginnie two months ago. We headed southwest to Asheboro and hopped on Business 220 and drove a few more miles to Seagrove. It is only about 25 miles from the farm. It is surprisingly close. We had many maps and drove around visiting potters that I had been to with Ginnie and others that were new to both of us. I am amazed at the number of pottery studios that are set up around a small town like Seagrove. There are over 100 active studios and galleries. Many have been there for several generations like the Owens family. The abundant clay in the area originally attracted the potters and some still used the local clay. We stopped by the North Carolina Pottery Center and looked at some beautiful examples of local pottery from the past and present.

My favorite potters are the couple Laura and Blaine Avery of Avery Pottery and Tileworks. Both Mom and I love the shapes and colors that of their work. They have both decorative as well as functional tiles, bowls, vases, jars, and mosaics. When you pick up a piece of their pottery, it feels good in your hands. Not too heavy, but not too fragile. Just right. Plus, they are really nice and love Goat Lady Dairy's cheese. They both remembered me from my previous visit with Ginnie. It is fun being recognized as "that girl from California who's making cheese at GLD." I experienced the same thing when I was making cheese at Ticklemore in Devon, England. Around Totnes I was know as "the American girl."

Owens red glaze. Beautiful and lethal. It is full of lead. The tall handled jug is a Rebecca Pitcher, a local design.

Mom and I called it quits around 5:00. The potters close their doors so we had to leave. I had made dinner reservations in Greensboro, so we took our time driving up Old Highway 220 as well as Hwy 220. I thought Mom might like some good seafood from the East Coast so we went to Bert's Seafood on West Market Street in Greensboro. It is a well established restaurant well known for their fish. I figured it is one of the few places that might serve seafood that wasn't deep fried. Most "family style" seafood places only serve seafood one way: breaded and fried. All seafood is also served with hushpuppies. Bert's had fine hushpuppies. It also had the best flounder I've ever tasted. It was really delicate, pan fried with a coating of sesame seeds and breadcrumbs. It just broke apart as soon as it touched my tongue. Mom had fresh shrimp with cheese grits (a.k.a. polenta with cheese.) Her dish was also well prepared. The portions were ample and we both wound up taking a lot home. We were very happy with supper.

Mom wasn't feeling so hot in the morning. The plan was to drive to Floyd, VA in order to visit Ellen Shankin and see her open studio. The weather was still wet and we felt that the four hours spent driving could be put to better use. We drove back to Seagrove. Avery was hosting their annual Kiln Opening on Saturday and Sunday. Since most of it was still cooling in the kiln on Friday, we were eager to see what else they were making. We were happy we did. Both Mom and I found some pottery we could not pass up. We both bought tiles/trivets. I bought a bowl and Mom bought some vases. We both liked their designs and art deco inspired forms. Thank goodness for UPS. Jim will be getting a box in a week or two.

We spent several hours touring around the Seagrove area. I drove home using the backroads. The rain had mostly stopped so we were able to enjoy the quiet country roads and lush rolling hills all the way back to Gray's Chapel. I had to drive home on Erect Road. I stopped in the tiny town of Erect at Teague's mini-mart and service station. It is the only thing in town. There was a hand-written sign on the glass door announcing "Bluegrass music, Mondays 6pm." I asked about it at the counter as I was paying for our Lance crackers. The sizable gentleman seated behind the counter asked if I played, and if so, bring my instrument. Everyone is welcome to come and play. I told him I don't play, but I am a very supportive listener. He encouraged me to come back on a Monday and check it out. I might have to leave Climax and find Erect next Monday.

I am very excited by the fact that old time and bluegrass music is so popular and thriving in these tiny hamlets. It makes me want to pick up a banjo or mandolin and learn how to play in order to join in these jam sessions. It is infectious. The musical traditions are alive and well. I have found several places that have these bluegrass gatherings on different nights of the week. Most of them are in old service stations or tiny stores. They are not traditional music venues. I've seen signs in front of the stores that read "hoop cheese – music Friday nite". I still don't know what hoop cheese is, but I'm curious enough to explore both possibilities.