Caromont Farm

In case you missed the local CBS news broadcast last week, Steve Russell from Edible Blue Ridge talked about goat cheeses and Caromont’s Alberene Ash and Green Peppercorn Pyramid were featured! Here’s a link to the Edible Blue Ridge page with the video clip. Enjoy!

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/blueridge/videos/cbs-19-segments.htm

Hey All! Amelia, the new intern here, well new as of last month. I’ve volunteered to add a new post to the blog, and I figured what better way to share my experience on the farm so far than to post a video. For those of you who have never been to Caromont, this is a brief introduction to the goats, some other farm critters, and, unavoidably, me. I hope you enjoy and perhaps (if this works) I’ll post more videos in the future.

Caromont will be hosting its monthly open  house on Saturday, October 3rd. Come out and meet Gail with her goats, get a tour of the farm, and learn about goat dairy farming. The open house will run from 11:00am to 2:30pm. If you plan on attending, please email us at caromontfarm@yahoo.com. Hope to see you this Saturday.

July  has been a virtual blurr to us here at CaroMont. We’re making  cheese everyday, fending off 95 degree heat ( famsteading is easier when it’s not hot and humid, I suspect) But the signs of transformation are surely here. While preparing for farmers market last Friday  I looked outside and noticed at 8:30 that it was already dark. Not so many fireflies in the night air, and I’ve already seen two wild turkeys crossing Old Green Mtn. Road. Not to mention countless sightings of young bucks with only two points on their heads…their first seasonal outing. Tails are wagging in the ”Go-Tel” and the Caromont gals are thinking about breeding season. Tax Man, Mandella,  Zubris, and Ludwig (the Caromont boys) are well conditioned and are ready for ”dating season” My– what a personality shift these fellows go through from August to September. My shy sweet fellows become something altogether different!

Caromont is sending out it’s first official ”shout out” to our departing  Middlebury College  intern, Eric Harvey– “Safe travels and Good Luck, Eric! ” What a marvelous thing to see a city boy from Portland, Oregon come to a true and real understanding of what we call farm life. He came with a willingness to work and an open heart and ended up becoming a part of the family. Daniel and I consider it  a privilidge to be a part of hosting these kids and teaching them hands on cheesemaking and sustainable ways of cooking and eating. I don’t think Eric will look at the cheese case or the grocery store the same way ever again. I hope he won’t… Thank you so much for all your hard work, Eric, and we look foward to September when the talented Sara Adducci of River City Cellars in Richmond will do her stint here. Amelia will arrive in October, via Connecticut, and all is open after that. Please contact us at caromontfarm@yahoo.com  if you are interested in an apprenticeship in cheesemaking and small farm management.

There is a popular demand for Caromont cooking classes! I was very fortunate to have been  part of The Wintergreen Performing Arts Cooking Class Series the last week of July. We were graciously accepted into the kitchen of Dan and Betsy Brown, and had a blast! The menus focased on “placed based” foods with local procurement of meat and produce. As I go out into the community, I see a real need to get folks back into their kitchens. To put it bluntly, most people don’t cook anymore! We buy what we could be making and although convenience is nice, it is no substitute for creating a meal with your hands. We plan to post a schedule for the Fall Series with prices and menus –  so stay tuned. If you have ever looked at your CSA Basket in bewilderment, help is on the way. After this class, you will look at it and start heading for the kitchen. I promise!

Remember to Vote with Your Fork — August is recess month for your elected officials. They will be in their districts monitoring support for Health Care overhaul and New Food Security Regulations that empower industrial food systems. See any connection here? Make your choices in food known to them– that’s what we pay them to do – listen to us . Local Food is here to stay, and we want them to know that!!!!

Farmers that grow your food need support on many levels. Thank you for buying our products and staying in touch with the folks in Washington who make the rules.

For more on Local Food Issues –  visit The Salatin’s at Polyface Farm, The Farmer to Consumer Legal Defense Fund  or Weston A. Price Foundation.  Click on to Caromont’s Vote with Your Fork Page for links to our legislators.

You can’t have chevre without first going through the agony and the esctacy of kidding season.  After hundred of baby goat births here at Caromont, we still get a thrill out of kidding season.  There is nothing that can spring you out of bed on a chilly February evening than the thought that there could be a steaming hot baby goat waiting to be dried off and waiting for it’s first good dose of colostrum. Our last “barn checks” are at midnight. After that our trusty peakcock Weldon sounds the alarm if there is any action in the barn. (A little known fact about peacocks, I suspect) The tension and worry all melt away in that astonishing moment  when the little one ”gets it” and latches on for it’s first meal.  After  years of  tending goats the one thing that I still find astonishing is that these little babies are tougher than you think. My first few years of birthing I strung heat lamps, made goat coats, and heaven forbid, I have even brought them into the basement. (my husband thought I was crazy) But now? we watch in amazement as these little creatures are up and at ‘em after a few minutes. It’s as if the cold weather forces them to get going. Our first round of 12 kids arrived February 3rd. I know the exact date because I was on a marketing trip to DC , on the Beltline changing lanes in horrific traffic– when my cell phone rang. It was my neighbor telling me that birth was imminent. I made it back to the farm in time to see the first set of triplets bouncing around the “Go-Tel”. Kidding Season continued into the spring as 35 more gals followed.  The last batch of 15 were weaned last week, and as much fun as it is to see them arrive, it’s equally  a relief to see them grow up.

The milk is still flowing as we get into the long hot days of summer. Now the challenges are different — parasites, heat stress, milk production, and hay procurement for next winter. Yes, I did say next winter. In February we begin anew. We are already thinking about holiday cheeses, the next round of interns, breeding matches, and that first frost….

We now have links to websites that support and buy CaroMont Chevre. Take a “stroll” on these websites and you’ll see fantastic menus.  We thank you for supporting them.  Also think of doing a bit of shopping at  your local  Farmer’s Market! The Blue Ridge has some of the best ones in the country offering anything and everything you need to make a great meal.  Farmers Markets are the best of everything…food, farmers, friends, and community. Here’s a guide to finding the ones in your area.

 Many of you may be familiar with the “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” campaign, which has been initiated by the Piedmont Environmental Council. This is a national movement, which we’re pleased has finally come to the Charlottesville area. You can get more information about buying local from their website here:  or try here. The American Farmland Trust is a great resource for information about the importance of supporting local farmers, as well as other farming and food related issues. 

We’re so thankful to all of you for your support and we’ll be in touch about upcoming events. Hopefully we’ll see you at the market soon!

For those of you familiar with the Nellysford area, you may have seen our goats. Peter Agelasto with the Rockfish Valley Foundation graciously offered us pasture space there and you can see our boys on any sunny afternoon, grazing peacefully in the pasture across Rt 151 from the Camille Memorial Trailhead. The Rockfish Valley Foundation’s mission is “to preserve the natural, historical, ecological and agricultural resources of the Rockfish Valley….enriching the lives of our community by supporting the Rockfish Valley Loop Trail system, Spruce Creek Park and the lands associated with them. The mission further supports conservation, recreation, preservation and environmental education and promotes a rural tourism experience in the Rockfish Valley of Nelson County, Virginia.” You can find more information at their website: http://rockfishvalley.org We would like to express our deepest appreciation to them for providing us with this wonderful resource and allowing us to be a part of all that they’re trying to accomplish. Thanks to Peter, Betsy, Raphael, Jenny, and Teddy for all of the hard work they’ve invested in helping us care for the goats this summer. We can’t thank you enough.

Gail was recently intereviewed by Martha Woodroof of VFH Radio, and the interview aired on September 28. Read Martha’s introduction below, then click here (mp3 format, 3.5 minutes) to hear Gail, in her own voice, speak of how Caromont Farm came to be.
Introduction to VFH Feature story, by Martha Woodroof: “Decisions. We make them everyday, from picking a breakfast cereal, to the choice of a career. VFH Radio at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities presents a feature series on the decisions Virginians make, and how they come to make them. Today we’ll hear from Gail Hobbs-Page. For years, she worked as a chef in some of Virginia’s finest restaurants. Now, you’ll find Gail and husband Daniel raising 100 goats on a 23-acre farm in southern Albemarle County. On a recent afternoon, Gail Hobbs-Page sat next to a goat pen and talked about her decision to trade in her sauté pans for milk pails.”

Gail was the feature Chef of Episode 106: “Virginia”, on Public Television’s THE ENDLESS FEAST. Her five-course meal of locally raised rabbit, chicken and pork, hand-crafted goat cheese and fresh-picked produce and raw honey took place in a lush vineyard in Virginia’s Hickory Creek Valley.The Endless Feast brings together local farmers and food artisans, food lovers and star chefs to explore the connection between the land and the food on our tables. In each episode, a rotating group of chefs celebrate the bounty of a particular region by creating tantalizing menus with local specialties. The dinners are staged in beautiful outdoor locations, from farm fields to vineyards to urban community gardens, celebrating food at its source. During the feast, guests hear about the origins of each dish, including how it is grown, raised, caught or prepared.