Finger Lakes Cheese trail Saturday Nov. 19, 2011

          Chats with two female farmers.  First Englebert Farms in Nichols, NY.  As I drove towards the farm, signs of flooding devastation still around.  The Susquehanna River on the right seemed closer to the road than the last time I drove along it last year.  Rte 17/I86 on the left in the distance, plus a creek.  Turned into the road to the farm.  Mud everywhere, churned up by heavy farm vehicles, some parked nearby.  Stepped into the store.  I'm the sole customer.  Snacked from the cubes of assorted cheeses, avoided the tidbits of meats as tempting as they looked, discovered the tub of horseradish cheese spread from which to sample.  Fell in love, although I usually avoid cow's milk.  Lisa was friendly and we conversed.  Large sealed photos of the flooding of the farm.  I sensed she wanted to talk about it, moving the cows to higher ground, the farm vehicles under water, the water up to the ceiling of the store.  It had to be traumatic. 
          She showed me the lines on the barn wall outside, marking the height of each of the past 3 major 100 year floods in the last few years. The first flood line is below the window following the left rim.  The 2006 flood line is 1/3 way up beside the left rim. The most recent flood's line was above the top rim of the window.  Barn's windows all cracked an/or broken from the surging waters.  First, the creek savaged out of its course, wildly, powerfully.  From one side.  From the other side came the river's waters rising steadily.  I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been to have waters coming at you and all you love and work for on both sides.  When I asked what her plans were for the next flood which will come, she said she intends to move to higher ground, that she grew up on the farmland nearby.  She pointed in the direction, intimating that she does not want to move away.  But for her kind of farming, organic, etc., she needs 200 acres.  Finding that amount of suitable acreage in the area for a reasonable price is hard.  People are holding on to land in hopes of striking it big from gas drilling.

          The cows outside looked really happy and at peace. A huge bunch of them were relaxing on the ground behind the store.


          I secured my purchases and drove to Candor for a visit to buy more cheese.  I talked with the owner, asking how business was going.  She has customers but people in general in the area are hurting, that she's expanded the stock in her store to include regular items that the local residents could come in and purchase for a reasonable price, relating the story of a man with a wife and three kids who was making good money before but who was now humiliated about getting food stamps. I suggested that he did not need to feel humiliated, that it's the system, the culture. She got a new double wide, drastically marked down.  She pointed to it outside the window.  We spoke a bit about gas drilling.  I mentioned confidentiality agreements, what they are and what they mean.  She had never heard of this. We talked about some other maters related to politics and how certain legislators had become less reasonable after they got leased.   I selected an herbed cheese log, a block of raw yogurt cheddar and a jug of kefir.  She pointed out that it was kefir.  I said yes, I know it's cultured milk and the word is in big green letters on the front.  She explained that she started pointing up it being kefir after a woman returned a jug saying the milk was spoiled, wanting a free replacement.  Even though the owner of the dairy explained that it's supposed to taste sour as it's kefir, the customer would not hear her and even demanded a refund of the difference between the cost of a jug of milk and a jug of kefir. Lots of different kinds of education needed.
          Since then, I've been having the kefir with small homegrown strawberries stirred in, sweetened with a splash of agave nectar, as a morning treat.  Yum!