Our first stop Saturday was the Brattleboro farmer's market, a must see if you are in Brattleboro, VT on a Saturday between 9am and 2pm. Tons of fresh produce, food stands ranging from Thai to Malian foods, local artisanal goods, definite good value on the produce, and lots more! Worth the stop!
Should you want to visit, here's the map with the market's weekly location:
Next up was the retail store and cheese making outpost of Grafton Village Cheese also in Brattleboro. This was a sprawling shop stocked full of wines, cheeses, regional products, and up a few stairs, windows into the cheesemaking facilities. I think it is important to understand how food items are made, knowing where your food comes from and the amount of effort and care that goes into making it changes the way in which you ingest it and in turn enjoy it!
An exterior view of the shop
Moving along, the next stop we made was probably the most unusual and different from what we were used to. We thought that our next stop would give us an opportunity to view a dairy farm specializing in sheep's milk cheese and the sheep that so graciously give up their milk to create our cheese, however we were sorely mistaken. This was a back country operation that's for sure. After attempting to follow their directions which had us turning at the town's General Store, we took matters into our own hands and found the base of operations for Vermont Shepard cheese. Was it what we expected? Most certainly not! After driving down a bumpy, unpaved road, we arrived at a small shack that was labeled "Farm Store," with the door shut. There was a little sign though that said "help yourself.." So, we went in to the extremely small room, sure enough there wasn't a person in sight but plenty of awards adorning the walls and a fridge, which when opened, revealed a variety of pre-cut cheeses with prices on them on each shelf. We looked at each other and thought gosh do we just leave the money and go? What do we do? For the two of us New Yorkers, the notion of people being so trusty was both baffling and incredibly refreshing at the same time. I guess when you think about it, the cheese makers and farm hands have way better things to do than wait for the occasional person to come and visit.
What did we buy with the money we left in their little jar on the small table?
Well we bought their Invierno cheese, a mixed cow and sheep's milk cheese that is full of flavor -- creamy, mushroomy, buttery, and dynamic. You could tell that this was a small production cheese made with a whole lot of love!
A few from the side of their farm store.
Our next stop was more for my significant other than for the non-meat eater in the car -- the New England Championships of Barbecue at the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT. Events for both of us is what made this weekend so much fun! With over forty barbecue teams, this certainly was a cult event and a definite experience! Award winning Northeastern barbecue from far and wide!!
The last cheese stop of the day was Vermont Butter and Cheese's manufacturing plant which was the exact opposite of our previous rural cheese stop -- this was a large scale cheese operation. That is not to say that they make processed tasting cheeses, they certainly succeed in making some of my favorite American artisanal cheeses. More on them as I will be featuring one of their cheeses for this week's edition of Marriage Mondays!
Ready for part two of the weekend? A written and photo recap of the second annual Vermont Cheesemaker's Festival? Stay tuned!
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