It's a new year here at Georges Mill Farm, and one we are sure will be filled with exciting new things- including opening our doors as a licensed creamery!  In the whirlwind of researching and buying materials, the holidays, the arrival of new goats at the farm, moving, and the various everyday crises and solutions that come with all of that, 2012 completely got away from me. And just when I felt like I had finally gotten used to it being January, its already February! Time is flying by, which is both exciting and scary for me as I look forward to opening in a couple of months, and then think about all that still must be done. 

Every dream must begin somewhere. In my case, the dream of a farmstead creamery began all the way across the country, during a dreary Pacific Northwest winter; since then we have been moving slowly towards that goal. So far that has involved quitting a job, moving across the country and taking up residence on the family farm.

Georges Mill Farm is home to me, my husband Sam, many extended family members, chickens, goats, and Georges Mill Farm Artisan Cheese. Located only 50 miles from the hustle and bustle of Washington D.C., we are a world away.

Although the land here has been in our family for eight generations, we are a farm in transition. Over the years Georges Mill has been many things: a family farm, a riding stable, a home for rescued horses, a bed and breakfast, and now it is changing once again into a farmstead creamery.

Tough choices as usual!

We didn't give you all a lot of time to dream up fresh rhymes for this year's contest (just a week or so), but we still saw an outpouring of casienated love.

Poems tended strongly towards the sweet (who win Briar Rose Creamery's goat cheese and chocolate truffles) with fewer works addressing the spicy (who win a selection of Virginia Chutney Co.'s tasty cheese lubricants). The field also tilted heavily towards submitter Lisa, who crushed the competition with sheer volume.

The Winners

♥ A top pick from our lovelorn staff was Jaclyn Stevenson's travelog in free verse, with our expatriot "foreign girl" falling for the charms of an open-air market. Sweet is the word.

I was pondering about what to write about in my blog this week and I was just stumped. I’ve written (and bragged) enough about my role at Culture.. I’ve posted snazzy cheese inspired dinners and movies.. I’ve even stooped to ragging on other Culture bloggers. I turned my lovely girlfriend for suggestions, “Well, spring is just around the corner..why don’t you write about something that you think of with warm weather?”

While most folks are on the long holiday, we're on a conference call talking about the summer issue. Sometimes magazine work can be a grind.

Time for a goat massage:

Brought to you by the fine folks at Becky's Homestead.

Tipster Matt Spiegler sent along another entry in the annals of adorable goat video.

I'm gonna cut this out before this place turns into Cute Overload.

Mead Open Farm has a live webcam of adorable goats. Nothing I can say can possibly add to that, except, FULL SCREEN MODE.

When I saw this section from Liam Lynch's podcast Lynchland, I thought of our own efforts in the field of talking goats.

Liam is the creator of MTV's Sifl and Olly Show, brought to you by the incomparable Precious Roy Home Shopping Network.

The response to our V-day contest has been tremendous: thanks to everyone who sent in their verse. We've read the entries, and it was a tough choice selecting the winners of the Capriole Farmstead Bourbon Chocolate Hearts.

Limericks dominated the field: Kira Jefferson's cheese mite ditty recalled John Donne's classic "The Flea", while bridgette submitted an autobiographical verse which somehow seems universal.

In honor of V-day, we are holding a contest for the best cheese-related love poetry in America.

Use any meter or verse you wish—sonnet or limerick or free-verse, and employ any muse, be it a fair lad, lass, monger, or succulent cheese—but your masterpiece must include both l'amour and le fromage.

Prizes will be awarded to the three best versifiers: a trio of Bourbon Chocolate Hearts ♥ ♥ ♥ from Capriole Farmstead Goat Cheeses.