Dear Friends,
Spring is here and at the farm we're enjoying the beautiful blossoms on our apple and stone fruit trees. For me, the best part of Spring is that our new baby goat kids are born. I would like to invite you, along with my niece Nicole, pictured here, to come visit us and the baby kids this year at one of our Annual Spring Farm Tours. We all look forward to meeting you!
Along with our new baby goat kids, Spring means more milk for our hard cheeses that are made and aged at Redwood Hill Farm Creamery each year, including our popular goat milk Feta. We experimented with the versatility of this cheese in two new recipes — both easy to make yet special for a holiday brunch too.
Farming is a wonderful life and I am so proud that a former Redwood Hill Farm employee, Emma Bello, has chosen it for her profession bringing goat dairying and cheesemaking to Hawaii. My brother David visited Emma at her Oahu, HI goat dairy farm, and shares her story with you in this blog post.
What are your plans for spring? I do hope they include some time enjoying nature's bounty wherever you live.
Warm regards,
Jennifer Bice
Founder & Managing Director
Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery |
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From Redwood Hill to Hawaii |
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Running your own farm, living close to the land and making cheese in Hawaii - sounds like a dream, doesn't it?
It was for former Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery employee Emma Bello. Our own David Bice visited Emma at her Oahu Sweet Land Farm & Creamery to learn how this determined young woman is making her dreams come true.
CLICK HERE to read about Emma's journey |
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Save the date for our ANNUAL SPRING FARM TOURS |
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May 7 & 8 and May 21 & 22
11am to 3pm Saturday and Sunday There's sure to be a lot of kidding around at Redwood Hill Farm this May!
Our free Spring Farm Tours are designed for families with kids, but also feature kids of a different sort - dozens of cute and nibbly little baby goats. You are invited to come and enjoy an introduction to life on our solar-powered and Certified Humane® goat dairy farm. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about our sustainable farming practices and will be able to see up close how we care for and milk our herd of more than 300 goats. Guests also will have the opportunity to purchase some of the cheese, yogurt and kefir produced at Redwood Hill Farm Creamery in Sebastopol.
During our popular open house you will have the joy of exploring our farm at your own pace. Among the highlights: The kid barn where guests can pet and interact with this year's baby goats. Our Gravenstein apple orchard, where guests can eat lunch at picnic tables and enjoy live music in the shade of the apple trees. A tasting area, where we sample a wide assortment of goat dairy items. The kids' corner (for human kids) featuring a straw-bale pyramid and crafts as well as information about goats. A pen with adult goats, where guests can brush and feed the animals. Farm Manager Scott Bice will lead tours of the milking parlor (where we milk our goats twice daily) and answer your burning questions about goats and farming. Also, our most patient herd does will be available for anyone wanting to try their hand at milking!
If you're planning to come, please carpool. Our tours are popular, the road up to the farm narrow, and parking limited. Consider sharing a ride with friends from downtown Sebastopol or, if you live nearby, biking to the farm. The west Sonoma County countryside is a joy to behold in spring and an exhilarating sensory experience from the saddle of a bicycle.
Please visit our website or facebook page for directions and updates; rain or excessive mud cancels! |
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| | | Creamy, mouth-watering aged goat milk feta —a gift from springtime |
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Featured Cheese: Goat Milk Feta With the birth of our goat kids this spring will come an abundance of fresh goat milk. For the cheese makers at our creamery, this marks the time of year to begin crafting our hard, long-aged cheeses, including the cheese that began our artisanal line 26 years ago: versatile goat milk feta.
In the beginning, we used to craft two versions of our goat milk feta, one with raw milk and another with pasteurized milk. To streamline the make processes at our Sebastopol creamery and to ensure the highest level of quality, we transitioned all goat milk cheese, yogurt and kefir to be pasteurized in 2015. This included the feta, which was our only raw milk item.
In its native Greece, feta cheese is traditionally made from goat or sheep's milk, or a mixture of both. After being cured and stored in a salty brine, it’s hallmark is a distinctive tang and a creamy, crumbly texture.
Back in the day, shepherds of the Balkan Peninsula would take their animals to the mountain pastures in the spring and summer to graze, then milk them and make feta once a day, over an open fire to preserve the milk. As refrigeration was not available, they would pack the cheese in wooden containers and immerse them in water and heavy salt. This brine would preserve the cheese until they came down out of the mountains.
Because of modern-day refrigeration and the American palate, we craft a lower-salt feta that still enjoys a nice salty tang to balance the fresh flavor of our spring goat milk.
While feta is often crumbled on top of a Mediterranean salad, the cheese is a wonderful addition in many recipes like the Roasted Vegetable and Feta Galettes and Savory Muffins with Feta recipes we have featured here. |
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