Posted by David Hamilton on December 12th, 2009

I just got a chance to have lunch with Friend-of-Bundoran Andrew Morley.  Andrew is an interesting fellow who has decided to take an extended break from the world of hedge funds (whatever those are) and focus on something really exciting: artisanal cheese.

During his journey through the world of artisanal cheeses, Andrew has worked and studied at Meadow Creek Dairy, and during his last visit to Bundoran Farm presented Leif and I with a slice of their award-winning Grayson that, well, let’s just say its’ farm-forward bouquet left its mark on the Shepherd cottage kitchen for about three days.  This is a cheese that separates the men from the boys…  Meadow Creek is a small family farm in Southwest Virginia, milking Jersey cows to produce some of the most desirable cheeses on the market.

Andrew’s most recent internship was, by coincidence, at Twig Farm in Cornwall, Vermont, about three miles from my home-away-from-Bundoran in Middlebury.  I’ve been running down to the farmers’ market on Saturdays here for about the last two summers to pick up some Twig tomme, and have always thought it one of the best cheeses around (having no knowledge of this field whatsoever).  I also liked Twig’s product because they sell it out of a screened cage, which besides keeping the flies off in midsummer, gives you the impression of withdrawing something precious from a vault…  Turns out, according to Andrew, the stuff is one of the most sought-after cheeses in the Eastern US, running about $35/lb in New York, and, like the Meadow Creek Grayson, has a regular place on the menu at Per Se, Thomas Keller’s restaurant in New York.  I’ve been eating it on triscuits, watching The Office…

I encourage the Bundoran Farm community to support these and other exceptional producers, who are walking the walk of sustainable, high-quality agriculture.  A great place to do some extremely pleasurable research is at Feast, the nexus of all things local and edible in Charlottesville.

Filed under: Agriculture, Baldwin Center for Preservation, Education and Inspiration