Milk Trekker : March 2014

Who I am and what my mission is.

I spent ten years making cheese in the US before beginning to travel globally volunteering with cheesemakers and herders in 2019. I wish to document the intersection of traditional and modern techniques, and portray the global diversity of dairying, cheesemaking, and grazing practices. In doing this I want to show how the final cheese is the end product of a complex series of relationships and decisions made by humans, that are embedded in a a cultural, geographic, and climatic setting. I advocate for raw milk, a natural starter cultures, heritage breeds, regenerative or ecologically responsible grazing, and the right of all humans to ferment milk in their own homes, selling in local markets. In order to further my mission I am writing a book, and hope to build an online archive, a global database of cheese, dairy, and grazing knowledge. I would love to talk with anyone interested in hosting me anywhere in the world and hearing about how you do things.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Fruition Farms Larkspur Colorado

1st night On The Road, Big Sur

I left California in April 2013 to go on the road and seek greener pastures. After a few months
living out of my modified minvan in the southwest and doing backpacking trips I visited Fruition Farms in Larkspur Colorado. I met with owners Jimmy Warren and Alex Seidel, made some cheese and helped with milking. After this I went to spend sometime in my hometown of Port Orchard WA. I had expressed interest in working at Fruition and I got a job offer which I accepted and spend another month on the road getting out to CO to start work in November.

Cold morning on the farm, frozen frost.

Winter was getting started when I showed up and we had some good long frosts. I learned how to take care of feeding the sheep, doing farm chores and making cheese once a week. I live out on the farm in a small apartment with a wood burning stove. I'm very excited to be out here, part of a good company, working with awesome people. We are having lambs right now and have just started milking again, making cheese regularly. I'm juiced!!

My buddies, the yearling rams