So it's official; I'll be doing an apprenticeship at Bobolink Dairy (see photos) this summer. I gave my notice at work a week or so ago. They weren't really surprised...I had asked them a few weeks prior if I could do this as a leave of absence. They said no, and my mind was pretty much made up. My last day of work is May 6th and I start on the farm on May 16th. From then on, I'll be living on the farm for 2-3 months. Yikes.

Seriously, though, I'm excited and really looking forward to this. I'm hoping that it's a way for me to decide whether or not this cheesemaking thing is something I really want to do in the future. Knowing next to nothing about farming (I have a feeling the cheesemaking is actually the easy part), I really need to get some practical experience if I have any chance of doing this for real sometime down the road.

Why now? It just seemed like the best time to do something like this. Kari and I have little in the way of financial responsibility (no kids, no mortgage, etc) and I've been restless at work for some time anyway.

Obviously, this will be a huge change for us - even if it is temporary. The biggest adjustment will be living apart from Kari. I'll be back in the city on my days off - and probably working in the city one day a week - but we haven't spent any significant time apart since we moved in together 7 years ago. That will take some getting used to, but ultimately I think doing this is good for both of us - in terms of our future work and life together.

The rest will come easy. Getting up at the crack of dawn, working twelve hour days, wading through cow manure and mud, eating nothing but bread and cheese? Piece of cake.

I plan on keeping this blog up-to-date during the experience. I'll have internet access and a digital camera with me, so I should be able to document the experience for anyone so inclined to read along. I assume my time will be very limited, but I'll try to carve out as much as possible to post here.

Wish me luck.

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.

Yes…it’s been a long time since my last post. Since then, some of my plans have changed. I’m not going to be able to do a full-month apprenticeship in May. The reason for this is that I had to find a full-time job; I just wasn’t able to build up my consulting clientele enough to match where we were pre-layoff. This fulltime job does not, unfortunately, come with one month’s worth of paid vacation time. I suppose that a sabbatical or leave-of-absence is a possibility sometime down the road, but not within the timeframe I was originally thinking about.

Still, I don’t think this is all bad news. The job, obviously, will help pay the bills. More importantly, we’ll be able to put money away towards a property purchase. We still very much need to create a plan, but stability and income now will only help in the long run.

That said, I do want the opportunity to experience the cheese lifestyle, as it were, before making any sort of meaningful monetary commitment. I still believe that a full immersion is the best way to accomplish this.

While I’m working, I think I need to stay focused on the cheese if I’m going to make it a reality. To that end, I’m going to enter into a phase of serious research. This means frequent trips to the library, maybe some magazine subscriptions, talking to current cheesemakers and dairy farmers, etc.

My plan is to post back here frequently with what I’ve learned. If anyone wants to be alerted when I make updates, let me know.

And, yes, I do realize this is the second time I’ve talked about starting research.

A few quick updates:

I neglected to mention a while back that I interviewed for the RFFP/Cheese Guild position. I still haven’t heard back, though I have heard that I’m one of two candidates being considered. It’s been a few weeks since the interview, so I think they probably went with the other person. Really, that’s fine. I have a feeling it would be a lot of work for very little money.

I also spoke with Jonathan at Bobolink about doing a month-long, full-time apprenticeship at the farm in the spring. It sounds like this could really happen. If all goes as planned I’ll be there from May 15th or so—that way he has time to get things running smoothly after milking resumes (around april 15th). It’ll be tough to do money-wise, but Kari and I think a month will be feasible. At the end, I should have a good idea whether or not this is something I really want to do with my life. I should also have a fair idea about how to get started on this myself. That’s the goal, anyway.

I don’t see much cheese activity happening between now and May. I think it’s time to start serious research. I need to know how much money I need to start this thing up. I also need to read up on running a small dairy farm. I’m pretty sure I’ve ruled out cows. Now I just need to decide on goats vs. sheep—or just outsourcing milk. I’m leaning towards sheep, mainly because I’m not the biggest fan of goat’s milk cheese, especially fresh chevre-style cheese; it’s fine, but boring. Maybe aged goat’s milk would be ok, though.

Anyway, if anyone knows of good books or other resources, please send them my way. Thanks.

Since spending the day at Bobolink, I’ve worked with Jonathan twice at Union Square Farmer’s Market. The first time I went was Jonathan’s first time at that market. He also sells at a bunch of other NYC farmer’s markets, but I’m pretty sure that USQ is the biggest of the bunch. The second time was the monday before Thanksgiving. Both times the amount of business he did was quite amazing. Customer traffic was literally non-stop the whole time.

I’m not sure how much we sold each day, but I think it was somewhere in the order of 6 or 7 full wheels plus a bunch of the individual pyramids. The wheels are 10-20 lbs each (depending on the type of cheese) and sell at $20/lb, so that’s a couple thousand bucks in a day. Not bad, really - and quite encouraging. I think it really helps to have such convenient access to NYC. I’d think that the market for expensive, fancy cheese is bigger here than just about anywhere in the country.

Bobolink has been getting a very decent amount of press, having been mentioned recently in the NY Times, New York Magazine, The Bergen Record (NJ paper), The Today Show, and more. The last time I was with him at the farmer’s market, Chef Dan Barber from Bluehill was taping a segment for Nightline on locally produced foods for the Thanksgiving table. He spent a lot of time talking to Jonathan, but unfortunately we were cut from the show.

I came across this thread on eGullet the other day: Alice Water’s takes on Artisan Cheese. (And, in case you were wondering, I spend way too much time on eGullet.)

While the entire post (and the linked article with Ms Water’s comments) is quite interesting, the part of the discussion I’m drawn to is, for my purposes, curdnerd’s (aka Jonathan White of Bobolink Dairy) post about the relative harsh realities of being an artisan cheesemaker. He does a good job explaining some of the basics of the business side of cheesemaking. For example:

From an engineering point of view, a cheesemaker converts milk->cheese->cash, with the two arrows representing “transfer functions”.

The first arrow means buying and transporting milk, adding labor, energy, capital equipment amortization, incidental ingredients, and packaging, and turning out a product. If it is an aged cheese, then there is a second phase to this function, namely the ripening room, which is essentially another capital cost, energy cost, plus a 2-18 month time lag.

The second function is the marketing of the cheese, which can be as simple as a cigar box and cooler out by the farm gate, or as complex as warehouses, distributors, salespeople, bill collectors, etc.

He goes on to explain some of the high costs of doing business and hurdles that are unique to the cheese biz, and some of the typical hardships any entrepreneur will face. While none of it seems insurmountable, it does go to show that quite a bit of planning and business savvy is required to make a successful go of it. There was one line, though, that nicely (if you can call it that sums up one of the biggest fears I have regarding the cheese dream:

A well-known cheesemaker of means likes to quip “if you want to make a small fortune in cheese, start with a large one”.

In my first post I mentioned that the cheese dream has often felt like a pipe dream. Part of the reason for that is that I tend to talk rather than act about a lot of different things. The main reason, though, is that it seems like there are lot of “second career” types who, after making their bucks, turn to a back-to-the-land “artisan” lifestyle. Look at Coach Farm (of the Coach leather fortune) and Maytag Blue (of the Maytag appliance fortune) for two (admittedly extreme) examples. I can’t help but think there are plenty of retired stockbrokers, lawyers, and CEOs out there making cheese.

That said, I do believe it’s entirely possible to overcome the fact that I don’t have a large fortune at hand to help make this thing a reality. I do, obviously, need to find out what sort of capital is required to start such a business. Then I’ll need a plan to acquire that capital.

I guess I have my work cut out for me.

I just got word that the NYS Cheese Guild marketing job is most likely still open, but the woman who was hiring the position has left the RFFP. I’m still waiting to hear back from them, but I’m not holding my breath.

Yesterday I sent an e-mail to Jonathan White at Bobolink Dairy inquiring about the possibility of doing an internship or apprenticeship at his farm.

My e-mail—which I’ve decided not to reprint, believing that private correspondence should remain just that—explained that I was very interested in such an opportunity, but I wasn’t sure I could afford to do a full-time apprenticeship. I suggested that perhaps an internship of a few days a week would be better. I also tried to convey that I’m serious about this; I’m not just burned out on this whole new-media thing.

Within half an hour, Jonathan had written back, inviting me to come and make cheese with him one weekend soon, so we could meet each other and I could see what Bobolink is all about. This is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for!

A few e-mails and phone calls later, and we’d set the date for Saturday, November 1st. He’d suggested I come on a Saturday or Sunday within the next few weeks as he’ll soon be “drying the herd off for winter.” I’m not sure what that means, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough. Kari thinks it means that the cows will get to return to “normal” cow life, rather than a constant state of lactation, which sounds good enough to me. If anyone knows for sure, please leave a note in the comments.

Anyway, on November 1st, I’m going to get to Bobolink at 7:30AM (!) so I can observe/help with the milking. From there, we’ll make cheese (probably around 9 or so) and then bake bread. (Apparently, bread is becoming a large part of their operation. I’m looking forward to this part too, actually, because I’ve been fooling around with baking myself lately. Baking bread myself, that is.) The day should be over around 2 or so, but I’ll probably stick around afterward for some bread and cheese. Apprenticeship or no, this sounds like it’ll be a good time.

I’m not sure, of course, where this will all take me. I’m hoping for an educational experience—an in-depth look into the life I think I want to lead. If nothing else, I’ll get to eat some good cheese and hang out with some cows.

I first learned about Bobolink Dairy on this thread on eGullet, where Jonathan posts as “curdnerd”. Anyone who’s read this far should really read through this thread to see what’s going on at Bobolink. The pictures are great, as is the discussion itself.