A grand day out

Wallace and Gromit would have approved of what we did yesterday: we visited three farms on the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail. Yesterday was the 2011 Holiday Open House and all farms were open to visitors from 10 am to 5 pm.

Our first stop was 4 Tin Fish Farm, a goat dairy in Conquest. Owners Andrew and Kim have a small herd of Alpine dairy goats, and produce chevre and feta cheeses. Andrew took us into the barn to meet their very friendly and inquisitive goats. Aidan quickly made a new friend:


Andrew even let Aidan go into one of the stalls, where he was quickly surrounded:


Although it may not be apparent from the photo, Aidan loved being amongst the goats and we had a difficult time getting him to come out of the stall.

Doesn't it look like this goat is smiling?


Although there was no feta available, we tasted, enjoyed and purchased the herb chevre. Last night we topped our grilled hamburgers with the chevre and the result was delicious.

Once we pried Aidan away from the goats, we drove down to Auburn to have lunch at one of the restaurants that 4 Tin Fish Farm supplies, Bambino's Bistro. What a delight! We had a delicious, satisfying and very affordable lunch, and we would go out of our way to stop in Auburn to eat there again.

We then traveled down to King Ferry to visit Keeley's Cheese Company at McGarr Farms. McGarr Farms is a third generation dairy farm with Holsteins and Jerseys. We met Keeley, who makes a semi-soft Irish-style cheese in the washed rind style. She had both regular and reserve cheese available, and all three of us preferred the slightly sharper and more complex reserve. We bought a wedge, said hello to a few of the cows in the barn and headed to our third and final stop.

Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery produces probiotic raw milk kefir cheese using the milk from their Irish Dexter cows. The Dexters are more petite than many breeds and are very pretty:


I like the various rich colors of their coats:


Neither James nor Aidan cared much for the cheese, so we did not make a purchase. We pointed the car north and drove up the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake, enjoying the beautiful weather and the beautiful scenery.

Would you like some cheese, Gromit?

Spelling bee

Two days ago, Aidan participated in the Baldwinsville Central School District Oral Spelling Bee Championship, which determined the 14 finalists for the Post Standard/WCNY Regional Spelling Bee. Aidan was one of 54 students in grades 4 - 8 who participated and one of only seven grade 4 students who qualified.

There was a nice crowd in the Durgee Junior High School auditorium. We had no idea that all five grades would compete head-to-head, so I was even more nervous when the spelling started. Aidan's first word was "shamrock", which he spelled correctly:


In round two, he received and correctly spelled "praise" but was tripped up in round three by the word "quarrel" - he spelled it with an "i" instead of an "a". He handled it well and since he was by no means the first speller to go out, he was proud of his performance.

It took about two and a half hours to whittle the field of 54 down to 14. By the end, students were spelling words like "astrophysicist" and "slantendicular". I was spelling silently with the students and I held my own, thankyouverymuch. The audience seemed to hold its breath while each student spelled and we let out a collective "aww" if the student was incorrect. Even while Aidan was still in the running, I wanted each student to spell every word correctly even as I knew they were in competition with my son.

All students received a certificate of participation, and here Aidan receives his certificate:


Aidan had a great time, part of which I'm sure was due to missing the entire morning of class!

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Happy 500! Yes, this post is #500 in my little blog. It has been over four years since I started spouting off, sharing my stories and chronicling our lives. Here's to 500 more posts!