The NY Times ran a story about New England cheesemakers in today's food section. The gist of the article was that many people are making cheese up there. Apparently, they can't make it fast enough and are really raking in the cash. Encouraging, I think. (Of course, there's more to it than that. You should probably just read the article).

A few weeks ago I ordered what many on the internet consider the bible of sheep dairying, Practical Sheep Dairying by Olivia Mills. The book is English and out-of-print, so the relatively slender paperback set me back about $40 or something ridiculous like that. It's an interesting read (and has some adorable sheep pictures) but assumes some knowledge I just don't have. I read about half of it, though, and will go back to it when I've done some more basic reading on the topic.

To that end, I just got a copy of Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep: Breeds, Care, Facilities by Paula Simmons and Carol Ekarius. I've only read a few pages, but this one seems a little more accessible.

All this talk of sheep has me thinking that perhaps the next farm visit should be to a sheep dairy. I know of one in NJ, Farmersville Cheeses, that seems like it would be a good place to visit. I know their cheese is good (they sell at the Union Square Farmer's Market), and the website looks promising. As soon as we get our car back on the road, I'm going to check in with them. Hopefully, they'll be into the idea.

I still need to define the farm visit project a little more fully. Right now, it's pretty vague. I've been thinking of it as a documentary of sorts, but I'm not really sure what the point-of-view is. In other words, we need an angle. Still, I think we're off to a good start and, as we progress, it should start to take shape. I plan on devoting some time to writing up the Bobolink visits. I think that'll help to clarify things for me.

We decided that since we can't take the summer off to intern on farms, nor are we going to buy a farm without more knowledge about running our own business—let alone farming and making cheese—we would instead visit farms throughout NY state and the surrounding area this summer to gather information and meet people living the cheese lifestyle. The plan right now is to shoot a lot of photographs, conduct interviews, and compile it all into a documentary-style project. It could become a website or a book, at the very least. At the very most, it could be the first step toward a new way of life.

We visited Bobolink Dairy in Vernon NJ on June 12, 2004. Since I already know Jonathan White and have visited Bobolink before, I figured it would be a good place to get started on the project before beginning more formal interviews with farmers I don't know. Kari photographed the farming and the cheese making process. Overall, it went quite well, but we still need to make sense of the project and figure out what we're doing. It was a great start, though, and I think that by the end of the season we should be solidly on our way to a great project.

Please take a look at the photographs. I'll write more about our experiences and observations soon.