Saturday at Everona by Martha

Janet, Susan, Nancy and Martha took a little field trip on Saturday to the Virginia Piedmont, specifically to visit a cheesemaker in Rapidan called Everona. We headed south mid-morning and even though it was Saturday, and sunny and warm, mimicing a mid-summer day, there was no traffic on I-95. (That's worth mentioning.) Just at the Fredricksburg exit we headed west for about 35 miles into the countryside. Virginia is one beautiful state, with rolling hills and lots of trees. We first went to a little town called Orange, which is the site of James Madison's home, Montpelier. Orange is pretty much a farm town, with beautiful brick storefronts along Main Street. But it also attracts folks from horse country, so you have a 1960's-like variety store across the street from a trendy cafe, which, of course, is where we had lunch. Elmwood at Sparks is a neat little surprise. Although not a destination restaurant, Chef Randy Cooper's open kitchen, with well used and nicely cared-for copperware hanging from the ceiling, turns out really tasty lunch food and a dynamite blueberry pie.

From Elmwood we headed to Everone Dairy, an artisan sheep farm tucked alway off of a country road in Rapidan. The cheesemaker, Carolyn Wentz and her six year old daughter, Sadie, proudly showed off both the farm and the cheesemaking operation.

The farm is owned by an amazing woman, who we did not meet because she was a little under the weather. Dr. Patricia Elliott is a Renaissance woman. A practicing physician in her 80s, she started Everona in the 1990s. You can read a bit about her at the Everona website, www.everona.com. But the thumbnail is that she owns the farm, practices medicine, is the country coroner, breeds Border Collies and is the mother of seven children. What a life!

Our tour of the farm started in a small "stable" where there were about 10 head of sheep (I think they are heads) housed for a variety of reasons. We sympathized with the mother who was in labor ... it was such a hot day and she was ready to deliver. There were two baby lambs who were only two or three weeks old.

In the next crib were the 4 month olds

and then a there was a "recuperating" crib for a couple of sheep who had lost their way! (ha, ha) There were a couple of rams, one of which had a broken horn. Carolyn explained that it's a pretty serious injury for a ram. They can actually bleed to death from a broken horn.

We didn't see any of Dr. Elliott's Border Collies, but there were two beautiful dogs present. They are Polish dogs called Tetra. Stunningly beautiful, the older dog was content to sleep in the shade on such a hot day. The new puppy only visited for a minute. Carolyn said the puppy was still a handful.

Once we finished with the farming tour, we headed back to the dairy. (Which means we took about 20 steps. Everona has about 300 sheep, but seems to be a very compact operation.) Carolyn explained that they start milking their sheep at 5:30 every morning and they milk 6 at a time. So you do the math .... She said it takes about 3 hours to milk the entire herd and guess what? TWO milkings a day. If you have kids, but haven't taken them to a farm, it's a real good first-hand reminder for adults and lesson for kids about what goes on to put food on our tables.

From the milking room, we moved to the cheesemaking room where Lucy was hard a work. Through conversation, we learned that although Carolyn carries the title of cheesemaker, Lucy should probably be rewarded a similar title. The vat where the milk is churned was in operation. It's a stanless steel vat with a hollow lining that carries water heated to different degrees. The temperature of the water that circulates around the milk actually determines the type of cheese (hard, soft, feta, etc.) that's produced. Once the cheese is drained in colendars, Lucy shapes and labels it with the date and places it in the cave for aging. Sheep cheese does not develop a rind in the aging process, so it's totally edible. The aroma of the cheese cave, and I think their cave holds about 500 rounds of cheese, is intense and mouthwatering.

We moved into the front room for a cheese tasting. We had tucked a couple of bottles of wine into a cooler, (don't you always travel with wine?) so we were well prepared. (And guess what .... I was the designated driver. Who would have ever thought ....) I don't know how many varieties we tasted. Piedmont, Stony Man, Blue, Ash, Garlic, Herbs de Provence, Feta, Truffle, Marble and summer sausage, along with two mimbrillos ... fig and cranberry. Sheep's milk cheese is mild tasting, so it's the delicate flavoring that makes a difference.

Everona sells about 40% of their cheese at Farmer's Markets. In the DC area, I know they are at Crystal City on Tuesday afternoons, Columbia Pike on Sunday morning and Glover Park on Saturdays. They sell at Cheestique in Del Ray and their cheese is served in some pretty nice restaurants, including the Inn at Little Washington. So this is no slouch cheese!

You can visit Everona at their website where you will find their contact information. But keep in mind, this is a working farm. It smells like a working farm, the farm animals aren't bathed for your visit, and the tasting room isn't picturesque. But I'm so glad we made the trip. I have a couple of pieces of beautiful cheese in my frig and I also bought a pot of this amazing skin lotion. I also brought back a container of cheese whey, which Carolyn said cats like. I poured out some for Kochi and she looked at me as if to say, "You want me to drink this? It smells like a sheep!"