Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Today was a another wonderful day of hunting down what is right in our own backyards. This morning we headed out to a visit to Adams Farm, known in our circles as the "Meat Farm". This trip up to Athol included a stop at Smith's Country Cheese, a little bit off the beaten path, but worth the field-trip. Adams Farm does carry a small selection of Smith's products, but this meant we had a little more to choose from.

Smith's Country Cheese has a small retail store and gift shop where you can purchase not only their wonderful cheeses, but they have a selection of their beef on hand as well. Along with their own cheeses they carry several other Dairy and Farm products. We picked up Smith's Havarti Dill, Smoked Gouda (so yummy) and two of their Gouda Spreads (Garlic and Sundried Tomato & Basil), along with two cheeses from other dairies.

They carry Great Hill Dairy's Great Hill Blue which I'm looking forward to cooking with next weekend. I love blue cheese and I was scouting out sources here in New England. Great Hill Blue is located in Marion, MA. Lex liked their Cheese because their logo has cows on it. Smith's also carries Boggy Meadow Farm cheeses. Boggy Meadow Farm is located in Walpole, NH which is within our 100 miles (Thank God!). They make their cheese twice a week by hand in a barn across from their Dairy Parlor. We picked up a Baby Swiss Cheese, which I'm dying to break into.

Along with the cheese Mad Dog found two books in the gift shop, one for me, one for him. Mine was The Locavore Way by Amy Cotler. Flipping through it I found some great stuff, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you here. Amy Cotler is local to Massachusetts stemming from Western, MA. She sites sources and a recommended reading and film list in the book which sights Plenty, and Food Inc. (which I have form Netflix to watch). Mad Dog's book is a little more "Tin-Foil" Hattish for me. It's a surviving a disaster, but does have some great sources such as "How to Make Cheese". Should come in handy!

Three new sources and a lot of cheesy goodness and two great books. We're looking forward to exploring more of New England has to offer in the way of cheese, and we're both planning on taking a Cheese Making class in the near future.