On my recent travels, I managed to visit a farm in the mountains behind Verona, Italy, in the Valpolicella Valley a well known wine growing region in Italy.

No, it wasn’t a winery I visited but a dairy. The dairy was very old and when I asked the owner how long the family had owned the farm (me in English/Italian – her in Italian/English – most comical conversation!!!) she shook her head and just said many many many grandfathers…..and perhaps it did look that way as well…..

Behind those doors are many a good thing but more of that later.

Can you imagine running a dairy where your herd is kept in barns for 7 to 8 months of the year? The only time they get out onto pasture is in late Spring and Summer and the pasture they go to is quite well grassed.

The yellow are a sort of Dandelion. Lake Garda is in the distance.

The conditions that the part of the herd I saw was rather boggy, but they weren’t all the milkers, just the calves and a few of the milkers. A shed nearby was still stacked with hay and covered.

The milking bales were rather old but worked and it would take a while even though the herd was around sixty cows

But the product that came from the milk – cheese – was some of the best cheese I have ever tasted. They make ten different types of cheese – all unpasteurised – which means they can only sell from the farm gate or at some markets, but what cheese!!! Of the eight I sampled there was only two that I didn’t really enjoy. The two year old mature cheese was so good as were the softer cheeses, some with added flavours…the chilli one was divine!!!

The fresh cheese just made that morning

The cheese room complete with mould.

The food produced from the farm was always value added and not much went to waste. Remember that doorway

Yes THIS door.

Behind that door was an array of salami, some of which had also been haging for a number of years. The smell was surprisingly pleasant and the taste…juicy and tender, full of flavour.

Just hangin’ ’round

Everyone on the farm just hung around together outside as well

I did like to see that chooks are the same all around the world in how they view that anywhere you want to is where you can sit and lay an egg!!!!

No I didn’t check to see if she had laid or was sitting on a clutch!!!

I hope you enjoyed my dairy farm visit as much as I did