Wayne and I just spent a couple of days in the bucolic Green Mountains of Vermont. We escape there as often as possible, which isn’t often enough. It is especially fun when I am partaking in the bliss of excellent dairy products, which as of this past weekend, I was.

We love to visit farms wherever we go and have a particular favorite not to far from home here in New Jersey, called Boblink Farm, where they make some of the most delicious raw milk cheeses and brick-oven, baked organic breads. We used to take the kids and the infamous Woody the wonder dog to their place near Vernon, NJ where Woody would terrorize the free-roaming chickens and we could walk up to the fields and visit all the happy cows (their website URL is aptly chosen – cowsoutside.com).

It is a little game for us to find local farms, farmers markets and restaurants wherever we travel and we are always in search of happy cows outside. Vermont is a great place to see happy cows outside everywhere, but we were thrilled to stumble upon a particularly nice place in Londonderry called Taylor Farm. We noticed the  cows roaming freely with no fencing and decided to stop at the farm store, which enticed us with promises of raw milk artisanal cheeses. We were greeted by an older man, who was working on some type of foot-powered wood lathe in the front of the shop. He wasn’t interested in us and didn’t let us disrupt his craft as we wandered into the shop.

I’m pleased to report that the cheese delivered on the promise of a yummy pit stop and we appreciated the cows even more as we walked out to notice that there was a couple of cows grazing lazily right outside the shop. These cows must have been very well treated and had no interest in wandering far from their happy home as we noticed that they had a dirt path that crossed the highway with nary a fence or gate to guide, protect or confine. They wandered among the fields on both sides of the road remarkably unfettered and apparently gave some seriously tasty milk in return.

We will continue to roam the countryside for evidence of happy cows outside. It’s a yummy journey as it turns out.

eat. blog. be merry!
gd meg