Milk Trekker : March 2016

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.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Visit to Cricket Creek Farm

I visited Cricket Creek Farm in the Berkshires of Massachusetts and got to see the cheese making facility there. It is a gorgeous diverisfied farm with an onsite store and bakery. I had a blast meeting everyone who works there, tasting farm products, and making cheese.

The aging room is my favorite part of any cheese tour. All aging rooms smell similar but slightly different. They all smell like musty cellars but each has a unique aroma probably due to the particular balance of microbes, the climate and humidity, and the amount of airflow.

Gorgeous Jersey cows on pasture.

The quaint farm store where you can buy cheese, raw milk, bread and other goods baked onsite, meat, and products from other surrounding farms. A strong community farming spirit in the Berkshires.