Silence of No Lambs

12.20.07
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As a food writer in Minneapolis, I live in a hive of continuous food news and gossip. But here's a story that hasn't hit the front pages. It's the kind of story Midwesterners won't tell you unless you drive across the snow-covered fields to talk to them. The story is that Shepherd's Way, one of the country's most esteemed cheesemakers, is teetering on the edge of its existence. (Shepherd's Way's Freisago, which is something like a Manchego, and its Big Woods Blue, a bacony, potent cheese, have won just about every award in the book.)

In the darkest part of the night, in the late winter of 2005 an arsonist crept into the lambing barns at what was once also the country's largest sheep dairy and cheesemaker, and the resulting fire devastated the farm. More than 500 ewes and lambs were killed, some perishing in the fire itself, and some succumbing later to the effects of the smoke and trauma.

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Two years later, Jodi and Steven Read, the Shepherd's Way shepherds, have discovered that the effects of a fire can take years to be felt. Their milk production that first year was totally destroyed. The second year they learned that insurance money wasn't going to be forthcoming, and without a lambing barn, they couldn't let their ewes give birth, preventing another year's milking. They let go their entire staff, put their milking facilities into cold storage, and bought sheep's milk from neighbors to make cheese. A conservation group "rescued" an historic local barn that was slated for destruction, and had it delivered to Shepherd's Way. A local architect donated his services to design and engineer plans for the foundation and masonry that would support the barn. And this year? The barn-top sits like a ship, on blocks. The Reads have learned that they won't be able to buy any more sheep's milk from their neighbors. They decided to let the ewes get pregnant and hope things work out, because they're running out of options. If the ewes don't lamb, and, thereafter, milk, they're done for.

So, why am I telling you this? In the hopes that you haven't finished your holiday shopping: For $100 you could adopt one of these forthcoming lambs. If you adopt one you get to name it, and you, or your gift recipient will get a picture of the flock, and, when it's born, a picture of your very own lamb. If a few dozen people do this it will help make all the difference in the world to artisanal American cheese, and to a bunch of pregnant ewes who, without a new lambing barn, are right now looking at the prospect of giving birth outdoors in a Minnesota January.

Shepherd's Way Farms
8626 160th Street East
Nerstrand, MN

507-663-9040

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