Goat Song

When I saw the photo above of Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff holding a pack of St. Albert cheddar, I wondered where this "St. Albert" fromagerie could be? Alas, a little googling revealed that the cheeserie in question is in another St. Albert, in Ontario, not far from Ottawa. Le fromage, c'est dommage (our Alberta St. Albert would be perfect for an artisan goat cheese operation!)

Iggy seems quite pleased with his cheese. I don't blame him - cheese is a true delight. For me, one of the highlights of visiting BC's Salt Spring Island in the summer is a trip to Salt Spring Island Cheese, not far from the ferry dock at Fulford Harbour. This is a delightful place, with a gorgeous view over the Pacific. It was founded and is owned by David and Nancy Wood, who were refugees from the hectic urban life of Toronto. In 1990 Wood sold his hip Toronto gourmet grocery to "get a life" on Salt Spring. Perhaps the life of a goat cheese maker sounded bucolic, but Wood soon realized the hard work and headaches involved.

Two recent memoirs talk about the dream of packing in the city life for a life of artisan cheese making:

• Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding and the Art of Making Cheese (2009) by Brad Kessler - Novelist Kessler (Birds in Fall, Lick Creek) turns his skilled hand to the memoir, describing his escape from the urban grind of New York City to a 75 acre Vermont farm which he and his wife turned into a goat farm. He details the many difficulties of farming but is clear that the cheese makes it all worth it!
• The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese (2007) by Margaret Hathaway - Like Kessler, Hathaway and her husband were busy, busy, busy New Yorkers who yearned for an escape to the pastoral. Fans of goat cheese, Hathaway embarked on a yearlong "goat odyssey", traveling the U.S. in search of anything and everything goat.