goat love

I'm in the middle of reading "The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese " and find myself folding down the corners of the pages to mark the things I want to re-visit. I never fold down pages. I think it ruins a book. I used to scold my students for folding down pages in their textbooks. But I'm doing it. I just can't stop myself. I LOVE this book so much.

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The book is a tale of a couple who leave their lives in NYC to follow their dreams of a life with goats. They don't know much about them, but know there is some reason why they must travel 40,000 miles across the United States to learn all about all things goat. By reading the book, I'm able to travel the miles I would like to be traveling. My life at home with three kids just doesn't allow the possibility of such traveling, so I'm traveling from my rocking chair.

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It is more than inspiring. It satisfies my goat urges. (Wow, that sounds bad.) I mean, while our lives in city the just aren't ready for a life in the country with goats and chickens, the book satiates me. I feel like I'm traveling along side them, tasting cheeses, watching auctions, sleeping in a tent, laughing at the silly antics of the goats. Great goat fun.

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My favorite quote (as of page 114) is this:

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"We don't simply want to make goat cheese. Rather, we want to center our lives around something both great and simple: producing food and devoting our lives to the pursuit and cultivation of real flavor, in every meaning of that word. Connecting the palate to the place suddenly seems the most perfect goal of our lives."

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So there. It is perfect. I second that motion.

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Here's their website.