The Stinky Business of Cheese; Spicy Shrimp
One of our activities last weekend was to visit 3-Corner Field Farm where they raise sheep and make sheep’s milk cheeses. It was a great tour, given by one the daughters of the family that owns the operation. I thought that the cheese-making operation of this tour would be the most impressive part of it, and the cheese cave certainly was amazing and fragrant in a stinky cheese way. However, I was more impressed by the work required to tend the livestock.
The farm has over 100 sheep that need to be milked twice each day when they’re lactating. At each milking they would need to be rounded up from the fields by the energetic and effective collie dogs, brought into the milking station, and led back out to the fields when they were done. The males were kept in their own bachelor corral with their own dedicated sheepdog to keep watch over them. And the babies that you see in this picture were kept in their own space and led out to the pasture and back throughout the day. Of course they also need to be fed, the barns and milking station need to be cleaned, and the dogs need to be tended as well.
Not only do you need to be organized to run a sheep farm, you needed to be able to tolerate a pervasive stench of animals, hay, fecal matter, and compost. My appreciation for what goes into making the delicious, farmstead cheese we enjoy with a good glass of wine has grown to a level more appropriate to the effort required. If only we took the time to really appreciate what goes into the food we eat we’d probably be a lot less wasteful.
Good to Eat: Spicy Shrimp
I was taken out for an early birthday dinner by mom and dad the other day. I ordered this spicy stir fry shrimp dish that was served over Mexican rice. The sauce was spicy and piquant and the vegetables were cooked to the perfect degree of tender but not mushy. The jicama cubes added a little extra crunch. Thanks Mom and Dad!
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This post reminds me of the many tasty sausages I’ve had over time and the time I saw sausages being made. I’m not sure if experiencing any part of the food production industry enhance ones appreciation of the food.
Well, it wasn’t so bad in this case. We saw the sheep and we saw the cheese in the aging cave, but what happened in between was merely described. Probably all for the better.
Now you know where cheese gets it’s stink from!