From the editor

Of all the stock you can have on a block, goats are probably the most misunderstood. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re so smart, perhaps a bit too persistent (less generously, you could say stubborn), or because people don’t expect an animal to have quite so much personality.

One of the big life lessons I’ve learned in the last year is the need to have stronger personal boundaries with other people. That’s ironic since I’ve known for a long time that the best way to manage tenacious goats and live a happy life is to build and maintain high, tight, easy-to-see fences, with an electrical zap to reinforce them.

Once you have good boundaries, the possibilities are endless. That’s why it’s so delightful to feature Jennifer and David of Belle Chèvre Creamery in this month’s issue (see page 14). Their story of town to country to artisan cheese is remarkable in its ambition, speed, and award-winning success.

It’s almost 10 years since I stood in my friend Jean’s beautiful farm kitchen, trying my (and her) first goat milk cheese. The cabra al vino had a soft, snowy-white centre and a gorgeous ruby-red rind thanks to an expensive bottle of merlot, taken from her husband’s wine collection (much to his horror when he realised what she’d done with it). Normally you’d age this kind of cheese for at least 12 weeks, but we were taking it to a cheese workshop and had to taste test it after just three.

We both took a bite, looked at each other, and I can still see Jean’s eyebrows pop up and her face transform with delight as we simultaneously got a hit of the divine.

It was the same for Jennifer and David, and they have some good life lessons to share too: give yourself plenty of time, find joy in the simple pleasures offered by life and livestock, and most crucial, always have good boundaries.