The State of the Union

I titled this post as such because I want to fully disclose the nature of my current job and its future.  That sounds a lot more dubious than necessary but up until recently "the deal" hasn't been concrete.  Now that it looks like the transaction in its final stages of being sorted out, I feel like I can speak openly about it.  As you may know, I am an employee on a goat farm where the milk is used to make delicious, nutritious, organic cheese.  Yum.  Fraga Farm, where I work, is currently being purchased by a family who will move the entire operation: goats, milking equipment, cheese-making equipment and guard dog to their 35 acre property in Gales Creek, 45 minutes west of Portland (from its current location 2 hours south).  This is the same family whose goats I was milking all summer, the wonderful Monahan clan.  I have been hired by them to be their employee (the "linchpin", if you will) during this transitional stage and, hopefully, beyond.

So here I am in Brownsville, Oregon for the next six to eight months, learning how this business works.    (An aside: Fraga Farm is actually in Sweet Home, about 15 miles from my house, but you get it...I'm in the middle of nowhere and so are these goats.)  From the goats to the packaging, I would like to know it all.  How to care for the girls, how to get the cleanest, most delicious milk possible, how to turn that milk into all different kinds of cheese and how to sell that cheese for enough profit to live off of.  The scope of this operation is one of the things that intrigues me most about it: seeing the product through from start to finish.  The cheese is a value-added product created on a small scale.  In my opinion, it is businesses like Fraga that define "sustainable".  They create jobs and a good product, they care for their livestock and practice organic farming.  What's not to like?

Fraga Farm also raises meat rabbits, one of whom I am currently, at this very second, enjoying.  Rabbits are such wonderful animals to raise for meat.  They are cute, clean, fun and easy to take care of and the meat is hardy, delicious and lean.  All those backyard farmers raising chickens should really add rabbits to the mix as well.  Plus it's important, from my perspective, to see one's meat through from start to finish.  Rabbits are the perfect gateway animal for anyone looking to raise meat.

As far as the business deal, I will continue to update my readers as more of it unfolds.  It looks like papers will finally be signed this week after much to-do with the lawyers.  Until then, I'm going to finish enjoying this delicious rabbity meal I have before me, read my book and go to bed so I can wake up early and be my best self for the goaty girls, who I miss already.  Here is the recipe for rabbit that I cannot get enough of (replace 1 chicken with 1 rabbit, and cook for 2 hours rather than 25 minutes, or until rabbit is tender enough to pull off the bone easily with a fork).  Enjoy!