Beginning of A New Adventure

I've finally run out of excuses (such as needing to go to France to visit cheesemakers) for delaying my cheesemaking plans any longer. My New Year's Resolution was to get in gear and actually make my vision of a sheep cheese dairy happen. So, suprisingly quickly and easily (so far...) things have begun to take shape. I found a farm to lease! Well, actually it is a little more complicated than that. Through my friend Reggie, who works for California Farmlink, I met a couple who have a 60 acre farm in Watsonville, California and are raising sheep, dairy cows, steers, rare breed hogs, turkeys, chickens and a few guinea fowl. They are looking to have someone lease some of the land in order to better utilize their resources and to have an additional person on the property to look after the animals. So, I am going to graze a flock of dairy sheep on their pastures (along with their sheep and cows) and potentially build a dairy there. I am buying a 2005 Airstream trailer to be my very own shepherd shack! Also, I have set in motion the purchase and transport of 50 yearling East Friesian/Lacunne cross ewes from Wisconsin to Watsonville at the end of March. I will be cutting back my hours at Gabriella Cafe, the restraurant in Santa Cruz where I am chef, but will still be able to have an income for the rest of the year, and give them a chance to replace me. Once I get settled at the farm I am looking to get a border collie puppy, too. I've been pretty manic and giddy for the past week or so since this all started to take shape and I've been trying to meditate and temper my desire to make everything happen all at once. My brother Tim and I entertained ourselves on the drive out to Los Banos to look at Airstreams by thinking of names for my business, names for the sheep, and decorating ideas for my very own trailer park. I've been compiling a list of flower names for my ewes, but Tim wants me to name them things like Megatron and Rayon. Maybe I'll let him name the ram. Well, as my new adventures proceed I will be posting updates on this blog for any and all interested parties to peruse. Wish me luck!