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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 24, 2005 The Sustainable Kitchen Oregon’s fruit of the goat Spring is here! Walking around a farmers’ market one weekend, I saw overflowing baskets of local strawberries. What better way to celebrate the season than with a hunk of chèvre, a pint of strawberries and a baguette. Stu Stein Like no other, goat’s milk cheese signifies springtime to me. It’s a fitting association. Unlike cows, goats have a breeding cycle that is still strongly influenced by the seasons. During spring, they would bear kids and start giving milk. Goat’s milk cheese is most abundant and best during the spring. With that in mind, on a recent sunny afternoon, I drove out to Juniper Grove Farm. I had an absolutely stunning view of the majestic Three Sisters mountains, barely covered in snow, and the pastoral beauty of the gently rolling, golden high desert hills. Sad little wails of young goats greeted me as I pulled in the driveway of Juniper Grove. Cute, stubborn and hungering for attention, these young ones were happy to act as greeters pointing the way down the driveway, to a cabin carrying a sign designating it as the “Cheese Shop.” Pierre Kolisch has been making cheeses in central Oregon for about 18 years. A former practicing attorney, Kolisch left the practice of law and spent several years in France learning to make cheese. He brought back the knowledge and experience of the continental masters to central Oregon and now, with his herd of 70 to 80 milk-producing goats, makes 12 types of goat cheeses. For me, one of the most impressive things about Kolisch’s approach to cheese making is his commitment to the craft. Juniper Grove Farms is a true farmstead, where the milk used to make the cheese comes from goats raised on the farm. It’s not just for marketing purposes. Kolisch focuses on cheese making the way winemakers make wine — seeing not just the goats or the milk but also the terrôir. Terrôir is a “taste of a place,” that combination of complex variables, climate, feed and seasonal shifts, that contribute to the character of the end product. Kolisch prefers to use raw milk in his cheeses, enabling him to take advantage of the flavors lost in the heat pasteurizing process (in the U.S., cheese made from raw milk must be aged 60 days before being sold). Kolisch recycles the whey from the cheese-making process by using it as feed for the Red Duroc pigs he also raises on his farm. Not content with just visiting one producer, I headed out to Alsea Acre, a small goat dairy, literally one acre, located in an isolated valley of Oregon's Coast Range. Definitely not “mega-goat industries,” this small herd of French and American Alpine dairy goats is lovingly cared for by artisan cheese maker Nancy Chandler, a former marketing manager for a high-tech firm who quit the rat race and “bought the farm.” Every farmer I know has a story, and Chandler is no different. Her son, Daniel, started a 4-H project with two doe kids, Rhyme and Reason. As Chandler’s herd grew, so did the idea of starting a dairy and making cheese. As Chandler perfected her craft, she cautiously entered the local Oregon retail market with unique flavors of her fresh chèvre. Chandler was greeted with wildly enthusiastic responses and burgeoning demand cheeses including her smooth, creamy Fromage Blanc, a tangy aged goat Feta and a Sicilian-style, low moisture Ricotta Salata. As long as I was in the area, a fellow cheese-o-phile suggested a detour to her friends Janice and Larry Neilson, proprietors of Fraga Farm cheeses. As newlyweds, Janice and Larry lived on Janice’s grandmother Agnes Fraga’s farm, where they forged their love of the farming life. After living the urban life for 20 years, Janice and Larry made a radical transition — Janice left her massage therapy practice and Larry retired early from the Navy — and they moved to Sweet Home (in the Willamette Valley near Eugene), starting the new Fraga Farm. They started out raising goats, learning the ropes and experimenting with making ice cream, yogurt and the like. Crafting cheese took time and experimentation with cultures and techniques — “a lot of the cheese went to the chickens at first,” Janice says. One thing that distinguishes Fraga Farm from other northwest cheese makers is that they are a certified Oregon Tilth organic goat dairy (and are Oregon’s only such goat dairy). In the context of dairies, organic means that a farm must comply with organic standards on multiple levels; not only must the land itself be maintained in accordance with strict standards, but the animals must be cared for, fed and handled according to USDA guidelines. Regulations also govern handling of the milk and cheese products. Although it’s a complicated set of rules to navigate, organic certification signifies that the farm is committed to organic and sustainable farming practices. Fraga Farm specializes in fresh chèvres in a variety of flavors. They also make a feta cheese and the wonderfully, addictive goatzzarella (a goat’s milk version of traditional mozzarella). Fraga Farm also makes a raw milk goat cheddar exclusively in the winter. These artisan cheeses might prove tricky to find, but as with most artisan products, it’s well worth the effort. With one taste, you’ll almost see the little goats frolicking about in your mind’s eye. 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