The Old Chatham Sheepherding company

A dear friend and I were assigned a project for our gastronomy class on a chef named Melissa Kelly who owns Primo restaurant in Maine. It consisted of a power point presentation and an eight page essay, and while we were rooting around for information on her, we discovered that the first place she worked after graduating from our school (first in her class, certainly a mammoth task!) she became executive chef for the Old Chatham Sheep herding company bed and breakfast; which is only an hour and a half drive from our campus. Road trip!

So we loaded up the car with a few other delightful kids and took the drive through the simply gorgeous Hudson Valley to a primarily farming community called Old Chatham. We found the sheep herding  farm, which is the largest in the United States and makes cheeses and yogurt from the sheep milk, and began to roam. We came across a man who worked on the farm and asked if we could have a poke around, to which he told us that they do not really do tours but he would be happy to show us around. Fabulous! We got to see the milking equipment and the baby barn, the sounds that those little guys make will melt your heart. Then we bought lots of cheese and went out in search of the bed and breakfast after a great deal of petting. Sheep are way too cute.

 http://baby-animals-photos.blogspot.com/2011/03/sheep.html

We could not find the address of the bed and breakfast which Chef Kelly had worked at, so when we saw some joggers we asked if they could help. Much to our chagrin they informed us that it is no longer open! But they did show us to the building, which is now a private residence. Oi Vey! 

But creep we did.

We could not let the trip end so quickly, so we drove over to the neighboring town and had some lunch. There was a yarn shop there! Oh I almost cried when I found the sign saying that it is closed on Sundays. I have been searching for a yarn shop! But as disappointing as that was, there were some other great stores there too, we found a great health food store who had my very favorite Tazo tea, Lotus blossom.

http://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Decaffeinated-Green-Tea-Bags/dp/B00028PVAO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326154601&sr=8-2

Finally we headed to a town called Hudson, and got some gorgeous chocolates from a confectionary that we found on a doodle map of the area, so good!

**

I took the written portion of my baking and pastry techniques final today, as well as my knife cuts test. I think that I did alright, but only time will tell, I can't wait to get my grade!

Only one more week in this clump of classes before finals, oh goodness!

One more quick word, started a new lace scarf pattern that I found on knitpicks, it is beautiful, and it is definitely helping me not lose my marbles over all the tests that I have coming up. Thank goodness for knitting!

Love and laceweight,

Paige